FORT RODMAN AND ITS GARRISON
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Thesecond of the three general divisions into which the regiment had been separated—Lieutenant-Colonel Woodman's command, "G" (Chick's) and "L" (Whiting's) Batteries—arrived at its destination at New Bedford on June 1st, reporting to Lieutenant-Colonel Haskin, Second United States Artillery, commanding officer at Fort Adams, R.I. The post to be garrisoned was then borne on the army register as the "Fort at Clark's Point," the designation by which it had been known since 1857, when ground first was broken for its construction. The fort is an excellent type of the clever military engineering for which this country was noted at the middle of the century. It is an enclosed work of granite, with two tiers of casemate guns and provisions for a third tier in barbette, though the guns of the latter battery never have been mounted. In June last its armament was made up of 8- and 10-inch Rodmans, 100-pounder(6.4-inch) Parrott rifles, and 24-pounder (5.8-inch) flank-casemate howitzers. All through the summer and fall months the Engineers were steadily at work on exterior emplacements for 8-inch breech-loading rifles, on disappearing mounts, while mortar and rapid-fire batteries also were projected for the post; but during its occupation by its volunteer garrison the only available ordnance was that of the types of the Civil War.
The site of the works is at the extremity of Clark's Point, three miles and a half from the centre of New Bedford, at a point commanding not only the channel entering the harbor, but also all water areas for bombardment to the southward of the city. Prior to the war with Spain, a solitary ordnance sergeant formed the garrison at the post, but on May 6th a detachment of thirty men from the Second Artillery, under command of Lieutenant Lyon (later relieved, on May 27th, by Lieutenant Connor), had been ordered over from Fort Adams for guard duty. The casemates on the landward face of the fort, originally intended for use as quarters, never had been placed in condition for occupancy, and the detachment of regulars therefore was quartered in an old building standing on the reservation, while the battalion of volunteers pitched camp in an open field to the northwest of the fort. It would have been difficult to find a more desirable site for the encampment. Lying on dry and level ground, between two arms of the sea, it not only afforded a pleasant outlook, but also was constantly swept by cool breezes from off the water. Under such circumstances, camp sanitation afforded an easy problem, and during its tour at this post the health of the command remained excellent.
LIEUT.-COL. CHARLES B. WOODMAN, U.S.V.Second-in-Command.
LIEUT.-COL. CHARLES B. WOODMAN, U.S.V.Second-in-Command.
LIEUT.-COL. CHARLES B. WOODMAN, U.S.V.Second-in-Command.
At this station the post administrative staff was made up of Lieutenant J. B. Paine, adjutant; Lieutenant Gowing, quartermaster and commissary; and Lieutenant Bryant, surgeon. In addition to his duties as battery commander, Captain Whiting also performed those of ordnance officer, an assignment for which he was eminently well fitted by previous study and training. There was much work to be done in the early days at the post, for its armament, after long years of neglect, was in horrible condition. Both batteries turned towith a will, however, and in a creditably short time the fort itself was cleaned and swept until it would have satisfied the most exacting inspector, while guns and carriages were freed from rust, scraped, painted, and put into condition for immediate action. It is due to the command to say that when it marched out, on September 19th, it left behind it a post which, in point of absolute neatness and readiness for action, might well have served as a model for any artillery garrison, regular or volunteer.
There was little to be recorded beyond the ordinary garrison routine. One incident, which occurred during the work of preparing the fort for emergencies, is worth relating. There were found one or two guns in which, at some forgotten period, priming wires had been broken off in the vents, eventually becoming firmly fixed there by rust. With this fact as a foundation, an enterprising New Bedford reporter built up a lurid story of spiked guns and Spanish spies, which went the rounds of the newspapers, causing infinite disgust to the garrison and endless amusement to the rest of the regiment. The choked vents were drilled out as soon as discovered, and theguns at once made available; but to this day the mention of spiked guns will provoke an explosion if made in the presence of any Fort Rodman artilleryman.
On June 15th, Lieutenant Connor and his detachment of regulars were relieved and ordered back to Fort Adams, which meanwhile had been reinforced by the Forty-seventh New York Infantry, a fact mentioned to show the straits in which the Government found itself in obtaining garrisons for its artillery posts. On the 9th of June, Lieutenants Wilson and Cheney served as members of a general court martial at Adams. Having been promoted major and brigade-surgeon, Lieutenant Bryant left the post on July 8th, to report for duty with Lee's Seventh Corps, then at Jacksonville, and from this date the affairs of the medical department were placed in charge of a contract surgeon from New Bedford. At one time during the summer certain turbulent spirits among the engineer employees at the post required attention from the garrison, but firm and prompt action by the artillerymen put an instant end to the trouble, and effectually discouraged any further outbreaks of a like sort.By general order from army headquarters, dated July 23rd, the post officially was named "Fort Rodman," in honor of the memory of Lieutenant-Colonel William Logan Rodman, Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Infantry, who fell at the head of his regiment in the assault on Port Hudson in 1863. Thus, after waiting forty-one years for a name, the old fort at last received that of a Massachusetts soldier, while a garrison of Massachusetts volunteers was on duty to assist at its christening.