Mills, Charles James

CHARLES JAMES MILLS. Second Lieutenant 2d Mass. Vols. (Infantry), August 14, 1862; First Lieutenant, August 17, 1862; First Lieutenant 56th Mass. Vols. (Infantry), August 22, 1863; Captain July 7, 1864; Captain and A. A. G. (U. S.Vols.), July 25, 1864; Brevet Major, January, 1865; killed at Hatcher's Run, Va., March 31, 1865. CHARLES JAMES MILLS was born in Boston on the 8th of January, 1841; being the son of Charles H. Mills, a Boston merchant, and of Anna Cabot Lowell, daughter of Edmund Dwight, of Boston. During boyhood he was never long separated from his parents, and after thorough preparation at the schools of Mr. T. G. Bradford and Mr. E. S. Dixwell, he entered Harvard in July, 1856. During the College course he joined heartily in the sports common among students, and was nowise behindhand in study. A part at commencement, on graduating, gratified his parents' wishes and his own ambition. When the Class of 1860 departed from Harvard's halls to make good the boast of its song, " Side by side we 've sought for honors, Sought the front in every fray," no more honest, earnest, warm heart entered upon the world than that of Charlie Mills. Younger than the average of graduates, he had not yet made choice of a profession. For mental training and useful occupation he entered the Scientific School, and undertook the study of Engineering. He also devoted much time to computations for the Nautical Almanac. In April, 1861, came that great blow to the nation which left no young man cause for hesitation as to duty or occupation. Mills was soon interested, and, on hearing of the Bull Run disaster, became devoted to the cause. From that period until August, 1862, his time was employed in vain attempts to procure a commission. The first effort was signalized by a characteristic trait of magnanimity. A friend, who had gone through the Bull Run campaign in the ranks, was an applicant together with himself for a vacancy in the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers. On learning this, Mills at once withdrew his application, on the ground of his friend's previous service. Disappointments seemed only to redouble his zeal. A trip to Washington in February, 1862, was fruitless; and in May he enlisted as private in the Fourth Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, which was discharged by the government a few days after. In July he was appointed a recruiting officer for the Thirtythird Massachusetts Volunteers, and after much labor and expense failed to secure enough men to obtain a commission. "If I don't get any commission at all, I shall go off somewhere, perhaps enlist. I won't be seen at home," were his words. At last, on the 14th of August, 1862, perseverance received its reward, and he was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts Volunteers, which had just immortalized itself at Cedar Mountain. The evening of August 17th found the young lieutenant with his regiment at Culpeper, in temporary command of Company D. "The regiment, both officers and men, seem in excellent spirits," he wrote; "the true Devil-may-care spirit pervades them, though of course they feel the loss of their comrades severely." His introduction to the field was of the rudest, and his experience of one month most discouraging to any nature less undaunted. Joining his regiment on the afternoon of the 17th of August, he set off at midnight of the i8th on that disastrous retreat of Pope which culminated in the second Bull Run. He wrote:" August 19.-We marched about two miles in blissful ignorance of our destination, except that it is somewhere in the rear, there being rumors of a fight, in which every one, with characteristic and gloomy calm, assumes that we have been thrashed. However, soldiers always grumble, I suppose." "August 20.- I began to appreciate how little an officer has to eat on the march. It is rather ridiculous." "August 23. —We were aroused by the pleasant process of having our wood shelled by the Rebels. I must confess it was highly disagreeable..... We could not raise anything to eat but a few unripe apples." " August 24.- Last night one of the officers said he wished he was dead, or a prisoner, or with the wagon train, he did not much care which; and I think we all felt pretty much the same way then. Now that we have feasted on mutton, we feel better!" "August 25.- We then, after an ear of corn apiece, sought our couch on the grass. This marching without knapsacks, sleeping on the ground without blankets, and starving, is beginning to tell very severely on men and officers." " August 26.- Joy of joys! Two wagons arrived, one with rations and one with officers' bedding. I suppose you know that letters are cut off. The Waterloo of this war will, I think, be fought in a few days in this neighborhood. You have no idea how heartsick one feels at a mail's arriving with nothing for one in it. I am very much struck with the difference of the feeling about the Rebels here and at home. I hear no bitterness of feeling expressed towards them by officers or men. They want to thrash them in order to end the war and get home, but do not seem to hate them in the least." "Seitember 2. - Completely used up: couldn't have marched a mile farther. This starving takes a man's strength down awfully." " CAMP NEAR KENLYTOWN, MARYLAND, September 4. "I hope you duly appreciate the magic of the word camp. It means tents, food, washing, clean clothes, the presence of my valise, and, in short, all the comforts of what now appears to me a luxurious, in fact, Sybaritic life. I feel so rejoiced thereat, that even the present disastrous state of affairs sits comparatively lightly on my mind." On the same day Mills was detailed as Acting Adjutant. He wrote: — " I should as soon have thought of being ordered to act as Major General. It is a very arduous and important post. One advantage is, that I have a horse, - an immense blessing on the march which we shall have to-morrow." Mills had now suffered whatsoever of hardship a campaign has to offer, except a wound. His enthusiasm had been toned down to steady pluck. One great battle, and he would be a veteran among veterans. During the early part of the battle of Antietam he passed safely through a heavy fire, but was finally shot through both thighs. After a perilous hobble to the rear, in a storm of bullets, he reached a field hospital. In two weeks he was at home, passed two months in bed and for four months more used crutches. He was never able to dispense with the use of a cane. His wounds had left the bone uninjured, but a branch of the sciatic nerve had been injured. It was becoming evident that he was lamed for life, though it is doubtful if he ever fully admitted the fact. His commission as First Lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts, bearing date August 17, 1862, had been issued; but in April, 1863, the War Department sent him an honorable discharge for disability, in pursuance of the policy then adopted towards officers severely wounded. In May, 1863, he accepted an appointment as Secretary of a Scientific Commission which met in Washington to determine upon the merits of inventions offered to the Navy Department. This occupied his time till August. His whole thoughts meanwhile were of the time when he should be able to resume his place in the field, and of his friends who remained in the service. "If the Secretary keeps his promise, I shall at once be restored.... I am perfectly determined that, as soon as my leg is well, I shall prefer the army very much to any other profession, as long as the war lasts." After Gettysburg: "We certainly have paid very dear for our success. Boston, as usual, has her fair share to mourn. However, as I -remember Wilder Dwight quoting the night before Antietam, apropos to the same subject, 'Men must work and women must weep'; there 's an end of it." In August, 1863, he returned home, improved in walking, and quite able to ride. Soon after, he was offered the position of Adjutant of the Fifty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteers, then organizing. He accepted the place, and, in spite of lameness and much suffering, was able to show himself in camp at Readville, through the winter of 1863 - 64, the thorough soldier he was. His original intention had been to accept an appointment on the staff of Brigadier-General Gordon, but the presence of several warm college friends in the Fifty-sixth induced him to remain with this regiment. New duties in no way weakened his pride in the Second and his love of his comrades of 1862. In January, 1864, that regiment returned on veteran furlough, and he "had the great and glorious satisfaction, together with Abbott, Shelton, and Gelray, also cripples, and formerly officers of the Second, of riding along with the Second." "It was the proudest day of my life," he adds. In March, 1864, the Fifty-sixth Massachusetts joined the Ninth Corps at Annapolis. On the 2oth of April, BrigadierGeneral T. G. Stevenson took command of the First Division, and detailed Mills as his Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. His excellent qualities as regimental Adjutant, his method and accuracy in books and accounts, together with his strict enforcement of discipline, rendered him eminently fit for the place. While still a First Lieutenant, he was retained in this capacity by three successive generals. The duties were arduous, but were rendered pleasant by the friendship and commendation of the admirable soldier who commanded the division.. On the 23d of April the Ninth Corps set out for the front; and, in spite of unusual labor, Mills was able to write, " Well, my mind is relieved, I can stand the marches." On the march to the Rappahannock the tired indifference of the young infantry officer disappears. "The march from Washington here, over ground every foot of which is now classic, and with a good deal of which I have my own associations, was very interesting. I find that the facts that the grass is green instead of burnt up by August suns, and that I ride instead of walking, give me quite a different idea of Virginia, which I have begun to think is quite a nice place, after all." " May 3.- The whole army is to move to-morrow, A. M. We are to flank Lee by the left, I think, and have every hope of success." The exhausting march of thirty miles made by the Ninth Corps, on the 4th of May, nearly broke him down; but on the 7th he announces: "A great and glorious battle yesterday, at the end of which, to my astonishment, I found myself unhurt. It seemed very unnatural, I assure you, and somewhat agreeable. It was little more than a drawn battle; but, in conjunction with other movements, I rather think it answered every purpose of victory." On the 10th, General Stevenson was killed, and Mills wrote:" Imagine our horror and grief. There was not the slightest hope. Why in Heaven's name could it not have selected some other spot, and even taken one of us. His loss is irreparable to the division and his friends. He was the most gallant, brave, and thorough soldier, the most kind-hearted, considerate, generous-spirited man, and one of the most agreeable companions, I ever knew. I always liked him; and, in the three weeks that I was with him, became very, very deeply attached to him. He did everything for me that man could do, and always thought of my lameness." " May 12. - It is uncommonly disagreeable to rally running men under a hot fire, and I had plenty of it." "May I5.- To-day is Sunday. I wish I could have a quiet Christian Sunday with you all at home, away from all this weary fighting and slaughter..... We are gradually using up the Rebs, but it is slow work. In the ultimate result I have every confidence..... I like General Crittenden much." " May 18. —We made a fruitless attack on the enemy's works. Shelling is trying to the nerves, but seldom very dangerous. It's these venomous little bullets that we are afraid of." " June 3. - It is about six o'clock of a beautiful evening, and the day's fighting is over. The siege of Richmond has begun, they say." "June 11.- We have plenty to eat, drink, and smoke, for the first time during the campaign. I don't think we shall finish this campaign for some time yet." "June 19. - I wrote you a line yesterday just to say that I was safe, after the toughest time yet. These night marches are very pleasant when there is a moon, except for sleepiness; but when they are continued through the next day, they are frightfully exhausting." On June 17th he says: "Just before sunset the charge was ordered, and, in the midst of a frightful flanking fire of grape and canister from the battery on our left, in addition to the severe musketry fire in front, was made. They took the works, however, at the point of the bayonet. I was up all night, getting things to rights again, and was under more and worse fire than ever before, but, thanks to a merciful Providence, escaped. Pro patria mori is all very well, but it is a contingency to be avoided if possible; and the more battles one goes through, the less inclined one feels to come to grief." From that time until the 3oth of July the division lay in the works before Petersburg; head-quarters being constantly exposed to random bullets and mortar-shells. "July 30. "We have made a well-planned, but frightfully disastrous and unsuccessful assault, which has used up about half the division. Don't think that I have given up yet, for I haven't, but it always takes me some time to get over even a victory." On the 3d of August, command of the division was assumed by Brigadier-General Julius White, whom Mills soon found reason to respect and admire. After passing safely through the successful actions of the 19th and 22d of August, he was assigned, owing to the breaking up of the First Division, to head-quarters Ninth Corps, as Assistant Adjutant-General. He had previously received promotion as Captain in his regiment, and as Assistant Adjutant-General, with rank of Captain, from the War Department, in accordance with nominations sent in two months before. " I was never desillusionne when I went out before, but became so pretty rapidly this time," is his conclusion as to the effect of the summer campaign. Passing unhurt through a very hot fire in the fight of September 3oth at Preble's Farm, he enjoyed quiet until the 18th of October, when he was assigned to the head-quarters of the Second Corps as Assistant Adjutant-General. His gallantry and coolness at Hatcher's Run, on the 26th of October, established his reputation at once in the Second Corps. At last, in the latter part of November, a long-desired leave of absence was obtained, and the memory of all sufferings drowned in the delights of home. After a stay of thirty days he returned; but in the latter part of January, 1865, was sent home again under a severe attack of illness. Those last days at home were among the brightest of his life. A brevet as Major for gallantry in action reached him then, when such rewards are sweetest. On the 23d of March he set out for the army. At Fortress Monroe he proposed to remain a day with a friend, "but soon after breakfast, hearing that there was fighting at the front, rushed down to the wharf, and luckily found a steamer just starting with despatches, and came up on her." The last campaign of the Army of the Potomac had begun. Wounded at Antietam, Major Mills had passed safely through the battles of the Wilderness, two at Spottsylvania, North Anna, Shady Grove, Bethesda Church; June 17th, at Petersburg, - the mine, the siege, the Weldon Railroad; Preble's Farm and Hatcher's Run, October 26, 1864; besides skirmishes. On the 31st of March, 1865, at Hatcher's Run, Virginia, on the same spot where he had been exposed to the fire of a Rebel battery the year before, he fell. Major-General Humphreys, on whose staff he was, thus describes his death: "I rode a short distance to a small hollow, from which I could, unseen, as I believed, observe the operations that were going on under my direction; but in a few seconds I was conscious that some one by my side had fallen. Turning towards him, I received the last look of recognition from your son. So fatal was the shot, he could have felt no pain." A solid shot had struck his side, and he must have dropped dead from his horse. The funeral took place at the College Chapel in Cambridge. His body lies in the cemetery at Forest Hill.
Thus passed to the other world one more pure and noble soul. Those who knew him best know how his character deepened and strengthened throughout his term of service. From principle and conviction, rather than from enthusiasm, came his determined perseverance, his controlling fidelity; and, as if springing from the same root, his naturally strong affections quickened and grew tenderer. Life was never worth so much to him, but it was worth most as part of the price to be paid for his country. Of his worth in the field, the esteem of the general under whom he served speaks most eloquently. The words of General Humphreys bear testimony to a reputation in the Second Corps, of which 'Mills's modesty never permitted his becoming conscious. "His gentle manners, intelligence, manly courage, and other noble traits, had already won my affection, and his loss has caused me sincere sorrow." General White, his old commander in the First Division, Ninth Corps, says truly of him: "Gentle as a woman, brave as the bravest, fervent in patriotism, frank, genial, truthful, and benevolent, he sleeps wrapped in a mantle of glory, his memory fragrant with all that is sweet in the poetry, the romance, and the truth of a patriot's life and a patriot's death. If his pure spirit can have witnessed the unfurling of the flag over every foot of American soil, and over four millions of slaves set free, which was the immediate result of the contest in which he fell, I think he would rejoice at the sacrifice of his earthly hopes so far as they related to all else." But dearer than all praise of a soldier, to those who love him, is the memory of the pure heart, the tender affection, the magnanimous generosity of Charlie Mills.