Harvard Hero or Reluctant Patriot

Harvard Hero, Henry Abbott, might have initially been a Reluctant Patriot, however as an officer in the famous Harvard Regiment, his valor and bravery would become legendary during the Civil War. Abbott, was known to be a little reckless, but there was never a doubt regarding his leadership ability or his coolness under fire. A Harvard graduate, Class of 1860, Henry was a bit hostile towards  Lincoln and the idea of abolition was not an attractive proposition and even though a caustic elitist, he still joined the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment in order to support the Union cause.

Henry Livermore Abbott, was born January 21, 1842, the third of eleven children, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Henry’s family had a long military history dating to the Colonial Army and the Revolutionary War. A potentially brilliant student, the young Abbott was accepted at Harvard at the age of 14. After graduating in 1860, he began reading the Law at his father’s firm. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Henry was reluctant, at first to enlist, but since many of his fellow Harvard brothers were answering the call of duty, he turned down an offer for a commission his father had obtained and at 19 years old, joined the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, at the urging of one of his best friends, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior.

In August of 1861, Henry Abbott, with no military training, was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 20th Massachusetts,the Harvard Regiment, with many of his fellow officers and comrades, either Harvard students or alumni, the rank and file of his company being sailors and fishermen, from Nantucket.

Abbott and the Harvard Regiment, saw their first action at Ball’s Bluff, on the Peninsula Campaign, especially at Fair Oaks and covered the retreat at the Seven Days’ Battles. On June 30, 1862, Henry Abbott was wounded at the Battle of Glendale, but did not leave the field until after the Battle of Malvern Hill the next day. The young Harvard officer and his troops fought at Fredericksburg, the Mud March and the Second Battle of Fredericksburg.

On July 2, 1863, the Harvard Regiment, under its new colonel, Paul J. Revere, arrived in its position on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the second day of the battle. Later that night, they came under heavy shelling and Colonel Revere was mortally wounded. The bombardment was followed by Pickett’s Charge which the 20th Regiment took a key part in repelling. Abbott assumed command when his superiors were wounded. Realizing that they had repulsed the Confederate advance at great loss to the attackers, the Massachusetts soldiers began to shout “Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg” as they believed they had avenged their defeat and loss in that terrible battle. Although the battle had been won, over half of the enlisted men and 10 of the 13 officers had been killed or wounded.

Henry Abbott was promoted to Major in October of 1863 and his Harvard Regiment was next engaged at Bristoe Station, Virginia.

At the Battle of the Wilderness, on May 6, 1864, Major Henry Abbott was shot in the abdomen while encouraging his command from an exposed, standing position, after he ordered his men to fight while lying down. Mortally wounded, he died at a field hospital the same day. Henry Livermore Abbott was only 22 years old.

Henry Abbott’s body was returned to Lowell, Massachusetts and is interred at the Lowell Cemetery. On March 13, 1865 he received a posthumous brevet promotion to Brigadier
General, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 2, 1867.

Abbott’s best friend, fellow classmate and a thrice wounded veteran of the Harvard Regiment, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior, remembered his comrade in a portion of a 1884 Memorial Day speech,

“There is one who on this day is always present on my mind. He entered the army at nineteen, a second lieutenant. In the Wilderness, already at the head of his regiment, he fell, using the moment that was left him of life to give all of his little fortune to his soldiers. I saw him in camp, on the march, in action. I crossed debatable land with him when we were rejoining the Army together. I observed him in every kind of duty, and never in all the time I knew him did I see him fail to choose that alternative of conduct which was most disagreeable to himself. He was indeed a Puritan in all his virtues, without the Puritan austerity; for, when duty was at an end, he who had been the master and leader became the chosen companion in every pleasure that a man might honestly enjoy. His few surviving companions will never forget the awful spectacle of his advance alone with his company in the streets of Fredericksburg. In less than sixty seconds he would become the focus of a hidden and annihilating fire from a semicircle of houses. His first platoon had vanished under it in an instant, ten men falling dead by his side. He had quietly turned back to where the other half of his company was waiting, had given the order, “Second Platoon, forward!” and was again moving on, in obedience to superior command, to certain and useless death, when the order he was obeying was countermanded. The end was distant only a few seconds; but if you had seen him with his indifferent carriage, and sword swinging from his finger like a cane, you would never have suspected that he was doing more than conducting a company drill on the camp parade ground. He was little more than a boy, but the grizzled corps commanders knew and admired him; and for us, who not only admired, but loved, his death seemed to end a portion of our life also.”

Harvard Hero, Henry Livermore Abbott, might have begun his service as a Reluctant Patriot, but his actions and fortitude proved an inspiration to the men he lead and died for.

Bummer