Crane, William Dwight

WILLIAM DWIGHT CRANE. Private 44th Mass. Vols. (Infantry), August 11, 1862; First Lieutenant 55th Mass. Vols., June 7, 1863; Captain, June 19, 1863; killed at Honey Hill, S. C., November 30, I864. WILLIAM DWIGHT CRANE was born in East Boston, Massachusetts, November 29, 1840. He was the son of Phineas Miller Crane, M. D., a native of Canton, Massachusetts, and Susan Hooker Dwight, daughter of Seth Dwight, a merchant of Utica, New York, and one of the earliest settlers of the place. His grandfather on his father's side was Elijah Crane of Canton, for several years Major-General of the militia forces of Massachusetts, and also Grand-Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of the State. General Crane was a man of strict integrity and uncommon firmness of will. His grandson William, though he had never seen him, had conceived a great admiration for his character, and frequently expressed the wish that he might prove himself worthy of such an ancestor; a wish afterwards fulfilled in a manner little anticipated. He was admitted at an unusually early age to the Lyman Grammar School, and afterwards spent three years at the English High School in Boston. In his conduct at these schools he was exemplary, and in scholarship always successful. He became gradually so fond of study, that, although originally destined for a business life, he finally resolved to spend two years in the public Latin School, to fit himself for college. He entered the Freshman Class at Cambridge in July, 1859. Before this time he had devoted a good deal of attention to music, vocal and instrumental, occupying such leisure as he could command at home in practising on the piano-forte. In the spring of 1857 he began to play the organ of the East Boston Unitarian Society, and to give lessons in piano-forte playing. His labors as an organist and teacher he continued until the period of his enlistment in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment; and at that time was esteemed a fine performer on both instruments, as well as a conscientious and successful teacher. Having thirteen pupils in music, to whom he gave one lesson each per week, he was obliged to be very industrious at Cambridge and very economical of his time in East Boston, to keep both his college standing and his professional engagements. So desirous was he, however, of paying the expenses of his education by his own exertions, that he made the most of every hour, and not only ranked well as a scholar, but also succeeded in his financial enterprise. His college chum, John T. Hassam, thus writes of him: "His recitations at once showed his fine abilities. His marks for Greek and Latin were very high, while in mathematics few equalled him. He was one of the best mathematical scholars in the Class, and enjoyed the somewhat dangerous honor of being invariably called upon by the tutor in the recitation-room to solve the problems which proved too difficult for most of us. During the Freshman year he devoted himself a great deal to gymnastics, and was a prominent member of the base-ball and cricket clubs. His musical taste led him likewise to take much interest in the class for singing. He was one of the members of the Temperance Society connected with the University, of which he was successively Secretary, VicePresident, and President. During the Sophomore year botany and chemistry were included in the course of instruction, and into these studies Crane entered with enthusiasm. Few of the students under the instruction of Professors Gray and Cooke made such rapid progress in these departments. He also attended the lectures of Professor Agassiz on Comparative Zo6logy, and gave much time to the French and Spanish languages. He entered heartily into all the innocent relaxations of college life. When a military company was formed among the students, he showed great alacrity in joining it, and was conspicuous for punctual attendance at drills, and for eagerness to perfect himself in tactics." He had become a member of the Unitarian Church at East Boston, in company with eight of his young companions, on New-Year's day, 1860. At the time of his enlistment in the army he was not only organist to the society, and teacher in the Sunday school, but also librarian of the parish, and Secretary of the Mutual-Improvement Club; and his departure caused a gap which it was found very difficult to fill. When the war broke out he was a member of the Harvard Cadets, whose services were tendered to the Governor. Their going into the service was, however, opposed by the Faculty, and the offer was not accepted. A year later, however, Crane, with ten or a dozen other young men from East Boston, enlisted in Company D, Forty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment. This was on the 11th of August. Daily drills were had in Boylston Hall and on Boston Common until Friday, August 29. At that time the military ardor of the people was so great, that most of the stores closed at two, P. M., and the entire populace turned out to witness drills upon the Common or parades through the streets. The Forty-fourth went into camp at Readville on the 29th of August, and began at once the regular routine of camp life. The men were mustered into the service of the United States on the 12th of September, and left Battery Wharf for Beaufort, North Carolina, on board the transport Merrimac, Thursday, October 23. Beaufort was reached Sunday, October 26, and the regiment immediately proceeded by rail to Newbern, North Carolina, ninety miles up the Neuse River, and thence by transports to Washington, North Carolina. Private Crane participated in the campaign against the Wilmington Railroad, in November, the objective point of which was Tarborough. The forced marches and unusual hardships of this expedition proved a severe trial to the young soldier, but served rather to enhance than abate his enthusiasm. On Wednesday, November 12, the Forty-fourth returned to camp at Newbern. On Friday, December 5th, he was detailed for special service in the "contraband" branch of the Quartermaster's Department at Newbern, and was also selected to play the organ on Sunday in one of the churches of the town. He remained on detached service about three months, when he was relieved at his own request, and returned to the regiment on Tuesday, the i7th of February, 1863. His 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 [sic] 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, Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, and at once entered enthusiastically upon the work of preparing his men for the field. He occupied every hour of his time in regular and extra drills, and, for six weeks previous to their departure for Newbern, labored incessantly to bring them into a soldierly condition. In this endeavor he met with perfect success, and the appearance of his company was most creditable alike to him and to the men. The record of events subjoined, most of them subsequent to those already narrated, has been kindly furnished for these pages by Captain Charles C. Soule, one of Captain Crane's former playfellows in East Boston, and like himself a graduate of Harvard College, a member of the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and an officer in the Fifty-fifth; and by Brevet Brigadier-General Alfred S. Hartwell, under whose command Captain Crane served to the moment of his death. Captain Soule's account is as follows: "Some months after graduation, in 1862, I enlisted in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and found there my old friend Crane, a private in Company D. During our nine months' campaigns we saw little of each other, as he was for some time a clerk in the Freedman's Bureau at Newbern, and our companies were for a long time separated. On returning to Boston, however, at the expiration of our term of service, we both entered the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers. He was first commissioned as a Lieutenant, but gained his captaincy before muster-in, by hard work and soldierly aptitude. We were barracked together in July, 1863, and from that time until his death were rarely separated. It was a pleasure to be with and watch him, square, sturdy, fresh, and handsome soldier that he was, through the desert heats of FoUy Island, the toilsome fatigue of the trenches before Wagner, the malarious picket details on marsh and sand-hill, the fervid drills upon the seabeach, the sickness and weariness of the autumn of 1863, the mingled rest and activity of the succeeding winter, and the toilsome Florida marches of February, 1864. Here we were separated for two months, to meet again in May, when he recounted in glowing terms his adventures at Pilatka, among the orange-groves and flowers of Central Florida. " With the regiment, sullen, turbulent, and mutinous at the neglect of government to give them their just pay, we returned to our former position on Folly Island, taking new ground near the fortifications at Stono Inlet. Here we erected comfortable tents, and solaced ourselves in the intervals of drill and duty with frequent games of chess and such vocal music as we could muster. Captain Crane was the best chess-player of the regiment, and his sweet, clear voice made him a cherished member of our little gleeclub. "In July, 1864, we had our first brush as a regiment, on James Island, where we charged and captured a small field battery. I well remember the Captain's appearance as he came up to me after the charge, glowing with exercise and exultation, and the weary expression of his face later in the day, when he had but just come in from a terrible tour of skirmish duty in the open field, under a torrid July sun. He had nearly received a sun-stroke, and, careless of the enemy's shell, lay down on the top of the bushy bank behind which we were sheltered, and slept quietly for two hours. On our final retreat from the island, several days afterward, he returned to the command of Fort Delafield, and we to our old camp near by. He was selected to act as Judge-Advocate of a court-martial, and satisfied his superior officers so well in that position, that he was fast rising to places of high trust. On his table could always be found the standard works in tactics of all arms, in strategy, or in military jurisprudence. "Just before Thanksgiving, in 1864, I visited my parents, then living on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. As an old friend he accompanied me, and during our brief stay on the plantation won the esteem and affection of all whom he met, by his courteous manners, his cheerful temper, and his musical tastes. When about to return, we were startled to hear of a new expedition in progress, and found our regiment at Hilton Head. Captain Crane's company, however, had been left in garrison at Folly Island, and, dreading lest he should be ordered back, he volunteered to act upon the staff of Colonel Hartwell, commanding the brigade of which the Fifty-fifth formed a part. To his great glee he obtained an appointment as acting aid and chief of staff, and we parted at Hilton Head; he with vigor and spirit forwarding the embarkation of the brigade, I on the way to join my company. "After landing at Boyd's Neck, and while marching up to the miserable failure of November 3oth, Captain Crane rode along, as we were halted by the roadside, listening to the first shots in the advance, and made a' few entries in his note-book, where he said all the events of our campaign should be minutely recorded. An hour or so afterward we were marched in column across a field of burning grass, and halted for nearly another hour upon a rise of ground, under the direct rays of a burning sun. During this pause Captain Crane and myself sought what shade we could under a dwarf pine-bush and beneath our handkerchiefs, and looked at some photographs of friends at home. He was in good spirits, and said that he was hopeful of our success. At the order to*move forward we separated, never to meet again. The regiment went up the road at double-quick, became entangled in the woods, and while three companies, of which mine was one, became engaged on the right, the main body, headed by Colonel Hartwell and Captain Crane (on horseback), charged directly through the narrow gorge of the road toward the enemy's batteries. The charge of three hundred men, cramped and broken by the narrowness of the path, exposed to canister at close range from seven guns, and in the focus of an infantry fire from over a thousand rifles, was utterly vain, and those men who escaped death fell back into the woods, leaving the brook which filtered across the road piled with slain, among whom was the gallant Captain. I have heard that he was instantly killed by a shot through the head, and attracted the attention of the Rebels, who held the field after the battle, by his fine, handsome face and touching attitude. He was honorably buried, - so we learn from participants in the battle, - both out of respect for his bravery and because of his being a newly made Freemason. In a recent search over the battle-field, however, I was unable to find any separate graves. In probity, singular purity of life and conversation, in upright manliness and military talent, I know of no young man who could surpass the brave soldier who thus met death and an unmarked grave, not in victory, but in defeat. It was a sad loss to us who remained. The men of his company almost idolized him." Brevet Brigadier-General A. S. Hartwell thus describes the same occurrence: "In November, 1865, he took a few days of rest, to spend Thanksgiving with some friends at Port Royal. On his return he found his regiment at Hilton Head starting upon an expedition, but his company left behind at Fort Delafield on Folly Island. He volunteered to go in any position where his services were needed, and was assigned to my staff as aid. While going up Broad River in a dense fog, with no pilot and with uncertainty whether the vessel was approaching the enemy's land batteries or not, he urgently requested to be allowed to land with a small force sent ashore to reconnoitre, but was refused, as his services were likely to be more needed when the entire command were landed. "The troops landed at Boyd's Neck, and marched out on the morning of November 30, 1865, to the disastrous field of Honey Hill. Captain Crane rode at the head of the column, dressed, as I recollect, with his usual neatness and precision, and appearing to be in a very serene and cheerful mood at the prospect of hard fighting. Just as the command got under fire I remember giving him an order to carry to Major Nutt of his own regiment. The fire was rather severe at the time, and the formal military salute with which he received that last order was noticeable. Shortly afterwards he fell, shot in the head, directly in front of the enemy's battery, cheering and urging on the men, he himself being on horseback. His gallantry was conspicuous to the enemy, who gave his body an honorable burial. Colonel Colcock, commanding a portion of the enemy's force in that action, says that he saw his body about three hundred yards from their guns after the battle, and that he was struck by his beautiful appearance, and ordered a party to bury the remains. Thus fell this true Christian gentleman and soldier. No purer offering has been laid on the altar of freedom."