Harvard memorial biographies ...

5o

Harvard Memorial Biographies.

good old city of Boston cry, ' God of our fathers, as thou wert to
them, so be to us! ' We can do no more."
Early in 186o he had joined the Independent Company of
Cadets; and on the day after the attack by the Baltimore mob
upon the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment, determined to serve
his country in the field, he tendered his services to Fletcher
Webster, Esq., to assist in enlisting the Twelfth Regiment of
Massachusetts Volunteers for three years' service, and opened
recruiting papers for that purpose on the morning of April 22,
1861. In three days the list was closed, and in sixteen days
the regiment was full, officered, and in camp. On the 25th of
April he was elected by Company D as its Captain. The
regiment remained in camp at Fort Warren nearly three
months, constantly improving in drill and discipline. It arrived
at Harper's Ferry, July 27th, and was placed in General Banks's
division. They soon proceeded to Hyattstown, Maryland, where
Captain Shurtleff was taken dangerously ill with malarious fever,
and was brought home on sick-leave early in September. He
returned to duty on the 14th of October, and devoted himself
to the care of his company with all his natural energy. On
the 26th of January, 1862, he was detailed as Divisionary
Judge Advocate, and performed the duties of his office to the
entire satisfaction of his cormnanding general until his regiment was transferred to Major-General McDowell's division.
On the IIth of March, 1862, he was sent to Boston to recruit
for the regiment, and returned in the latter part of April.
But as he enlisted the first in his regiment, so was he the
first to fall. The sad circumstances of his death are best
given in letters from Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan, at the time in
command of the regiment, and from Lieutenant J. Otis
Williams, of the same company:" On the night of Saturday, the 9th instant (August, 1862), the
Third Brigade, General Hartsuff commanding, was ordered to take
a position on the extreme right of General McDowell's corps.
Whilst the Twelfth (the left regiment of the brigade) was crossing
an open field but a'few yards distant from some woods, which Generals Pope, McDowell, and Banks, with their escort, were on the.point of entering, the enemy, seeing and hearing the horses, opened
a sharp fire upon them. We happened to be immediately in the