Crowninshield, Francis Welch

FRANCIS WELCH CROWNINSHIELD. Second Lieutenant 2d Mass. Vols. (Infantry), December 25, 1861; First Lieutenant, August 10, 1862; Captain, March 30, 1863; mustered out, July 14, 1865; died May 21, 1866, of disease contracted in the service. FRANCIS WELCH CROWNINSHIELD was born in Boston, May 12, 1843, the son of Edward Augustus and Caroline Maria (Welch) Crowninshield. Never a robust child, he yet was not absolutely delicate, though brought near death in boyhood by two successive fevers. In 1856 he accompanied his father, who was at this time rather an invalid, to Europe, - having for the three years previous attended the public Latin School in Boston. They passed one winter at Pau, and another on the island of Madeira, returning home in 1858. Frank immediately resumed his studies at the Latin School, remaining there until July, 1860, when he entered Harvard College as a member of the Freshman Class. Previous to this he had thrice broken an arm and once a leg; but these accidents, like the fevers already mentioned, had not affected his general health. At this time he was tall and slender, with small and delicate features, a fair complexion, and dark blue eyes. He was not muscular, but he was the possessor of great nervous strength. Whatever he did, he did with his whole soul, seeming to forget himself in what he had undertaken; and it was only when that was accomplished that he appreciated his own exertions. He was of enthusiastic temperament; and this distinguishing trait in his character, so often and so fully displayed in his army life, was very noticeable in his short college career. His enthusiasm was not seen, but rather felt; it did not show itself in hasty action, but rather furnished strength for protracted effort. He was not a student, for he was not fond of study; his temperament was too ardent; he was too eager for action to be content with quiet reading and reflection. His college life, however, was very pleasant, and he made many warm friends during the short year he spent in Cambridge. Among these was George Washington, a grand-nephew of the first President, and, curiously enough, also born on the 22d of February. As the winter vacation of 1861 drew nigh, the Southerners in the Class, feeling that it was very doubtful whether they should return to Cambridge in the spring, gave a farewell supper to a few of their Northern friends. During the evening both Crowninshield and Washington replied to a toast expressive of the hope that all the party would meet again, to continue their college life as pleasantly as they had begun it. The evening passed agreeably, and the friends separated, - these two to meet again, but under widely different circumstances. A year after this, Crowninshield, having been detailed to bring in the wounded after the first battle at Winchester, was walking through the hospital, when he heard a feeble voice say, "Crownie," " Crownie." He stopped, and recognized his college friend. Washington had been shot through the lungs, and, being too weak to talk, could only press the hand of his friend. His release was speedily obtained, and he was sent home to his mother. Nothing has been heard from him since, but there is every reason to believe that he died, soon after, of his wound. The second term of Crowninshield's college life was passing quietly, when Fort Sumter was fired on, and immediately all was excitement in Cambridge as elsewhere. Many of the students determined to go to the war, and Crowninshield was among the number. He left College in June, 1861; and, being just eighteen years old, expressed his determination " to fight out the war, provided his life and limbs were spared." His course once adopted and stated to his friends, without saying anything more upon the subject (for he was a person of few words, and of very few when speaking about himself), he devoted his whole time and energies to obtaining a commission. He suffered many vexations, and was often disappointed; but was always hopeful, and never relaxed his endeavors. Earnest efforts, combined with patient waiting, at length obtained for him the appointment, which was received in February, 1862, bearing date December 25, 1861. He was immediately mustered into the United States service as Second Lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts, and proceeded to Frederick, Maryland, to join this regiment, which had left Massachusetts in the July preceding. Soon came the disastrous battle before Winchester, in which several balls passed through Crowninshield's coat and hat; but he seemed unconscious of the fact, and remained cool and collected. His company was slowly covering the retreat, when he was wounded in the leg. Then came the long retreat, the return home, the protracted confinement, and the slow recovery; but he was patient through it all. What he suffered will appear in the following extract from an account of this wound by Dr. J. Mason Warren: "The case is given somewhat in detail to show to what extent the soldier is exposed, independently of the danger from his wounds. That a young man scarcely nineteen should be able to march thirty-five miles with his regiment, constantly fighting and without food, keep guard all night and engage in a battle lasting four hours the next morning, be wounded, and, while suffering and bleeding, lie thirty-six hours with a man on his swollen limb, and with nothing to sustain him, except on the second day a swallow of whiskey given him by a woman who saw his head hanging out from the ambulance with his pale and fainting face, show how much the human frame will bear when assisted by spirit and determination." Crowninshield, though not fully recovered from his wound, went through all the hardships of Pope's disastrous campaign, though his regiment was not actively engaged. Before this he had been promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, his commission bearing date August 10, 1862. Then followed the battle of Antietam, where he was again wounded in the leg. This wound, though severe, healed more readily than the preceding, and after a short furlough he went into winter quarters with the regiment. He was promoted Captain, March 30, 1863, and passed through the battle of Chancellorsville without a wound, though badly bruised by a spent ball which struck him in the chest. He was next present at the battle of Beverly Ford. At Gettysburg, which soon followed, the regiment was exposed to a very hot fire. In a few moments half his company, and he among the number, were shot down. His wound proved very serious, and he was unable to return to the army until Oetober, when he rejoined the Second Massachusetts in Tennessee. Early in December following, the question of re-enlistment became a subject of grave consideration to the officers and men of this regiment. Captain Crowninshield's opinion was quickly formed, and he urged the measure with the whole force of his enthusiasm; being, it said, the first officer who addressed the men on the subject. Many of his friends will remember the scene which Beacon Street presented as the Second Massachusetts marched up the street upon its return home on a furlough of thirty days. Probably no one in the regiment had more friends watching for his appearance, and anxious for a recognition from him. But he marched straight forward, turning his head neither to the one side nor to the other, and keeping his eyes to the front. Once only, when he passed the window where he knew his mother was standing, did he suffer his eyes to wander for a second, and to show what he could not then speak. Crowninshield returned with the regiment to Tennessee, where he was on guard duty until the ist of May, when the campaign of Atlanta commenced. He was in the actions at Resaca, Cassville, and Dallas, and was subsequently, while on escort duty, shot in the leg by a guerilla, as he was preparing to bathe in Raccoon Creek, after a hard day's march. Then followed another long illness. The hardships of two long years were telling on his constitution, and he did not easily rally from this wound. But his sense of duty was such that even before he had fully recovered he hurried to the West. Prevented by Hood's campaign from joining his regiment, then stationed at Atlanta, he was placed in command of some provisional troops at Chattanooga for a time, but at length joined his regiment at Atlanta early in November, a few days before it set out on the grand march. We cannot follow him through this campaign. His leg was very painful when he left Atlanta; but, to use his own words, "he soon walked it well." He participated in all the marches, skirmishes, and battles of the long and glorious march from Atlanta to Savannah, and from Savannah to Raleigh. He took part in Sherman's grand parade at Washington, where he remained for several weeks on provost duty. He returned to Boston in July, 1865, and was mustered out of the service on the 14th of that month. Ten days later he was commissioned as Major, but was never mustered. He was now once more a civilian, and, in outward appearances, very little changed by his army life. " Tall, erect, he was like a lily for grace, and also, perhaps, for delicacy of appearance; and notwithstanding the storms and shocks of war to which he had been exposed, the words of the Psalmist exactly described him still, 'Thou hast the dew of thy youth.'" Yet the exposure and privations, the numerous and severe wounds to which he had been subjected, the very enthusiasm which had nerved him for every, hardship while the emergency lasted, had told severely upon his constitution, and all his friends rejoiced with him in the prospect of rest. Having spent the summer quietly at home, he went abroad in the fall with two of his classmates, and, with the exception of slight attacks of illness, everything passed pleasantly until the middle of the winter, when he had several severe hemorrhages. His friends became alarmed, and sent for his mother, who joined her son at Rome on the i8th of April. There was hope almost to the last, but his shattered constitution could not bear the strain; and, after enduring great suffering without complaint, he died on the 21st of May, 1866, upon the heights of Albano, of enlargement of the heart occasioned by the fatigues and excitement of his army life.