Harvard memorial biographies ...

William Dwight Crane.

377

position and surroundings as a clerk had been more congenial
to him than life in camp, but he rejoined his comrades from
the conviction that it was his duty to share with them all
the hardships and perils to which they were exposed.
On the night of Friday, March 13, a large body of Rebels
took position opposite Newbern, and the next morning they
opened an artillery fire upon the defences of the town and
the barracks of the garrison. They were at once driven back
by Union gunboats in the Neuse River, and before night of
the i4th retreated into the interior. It was subsequently
reported that the Rebel force had marched north to attack
the town of Washington, which had been captured by our
forces soon after the taking of Newbern. The Forty-fourth
Massachusetts was despatched by steamer to relieve the
garrison, and remained there until March 22d, when the
siege was raised. Lieutenant Crane accompanied this expedition, and has left a minute and careful narrative of the
siege.
When it was decided to recruit a second colored regiment
in Massachusetts, commissions were offered to several noncommissioned officers and privates in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts, of whom Crane was one. This was precisely
what he had most desired. He was an uncompromising
opponent of slavery, a sincere friend to the colored race, and
felt confident that, if negroes were allowed a fair trial with
other soldiers, they would prove themselves worthy of the
trust. While acting as clerk in the Quartermaster's Department at Newbern, he was continually brought in contact
with colored men and their families, most of whom had
been slaves before the occupation of the' place by Union
troops; and in letters to various friends, as well as in private conversation, he had repeatedly expressed faith in their
military capacities.
He was commissioned on the 7th of June, 1863, First
Lieutenant, and on June 19th Captain, of Company H, Fiftyfifth Massachusetts Volunteers, and at once entered enthusiastically upon the work of preparing his men for the field.