Roster of the Third regiment Massachusetts Cavalry.
[503] the making of a complete Roster of the Third Massachusetts Cavalry meets with difficulties greater than those connected with most other regiments. The Forty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry left the State on November 5, 1862, with eight companies and seven hundred men. In Baton Rouge, two companies from the Thirty-third Massachusetts Infantry were added, ‘I’ and ‘K.’ On June 17, 1863, while in Louisiana, the regiment was converted into the Third Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry, and other companies that had preceded them with Butler's Expedition were added, the First, Second and Third unattached companies. These were added as Companies ‘L,’ ‘M,’ and Read's Company. On March 26, 1865, Colonel Burr Porter joined the regiment and assumed command. With him, certain detachments of troops that had been recently recruited in the State were received and merged with Companies ‘L’ and ‘M’ By the addition of these different companies, and by the recruits received from time to time, the rolls were increased to over twenty-five hundred men.On May 20, 1865, the original members of the regiment were mustered out of service. On July 21, those remaining were, by order of the War Department, consolidated into six companies, in which position they continued until September 28, 1865, when the entire regiment was mustered out of service. Because of these changes, the same person may have been at different times a member of more than one company.
There is no complete Roster, arranged alphabetically by companies, at the Adjutant General's office of the State, but there are records compiled from the muster rolls of the regiment, together [504] with such added information as could be obtained from the War Department at Washington. Work is now in progress, by which we may hope in the near future to find at the State House a complete Roster of every regiment, systematically arranged, containing all available information.
The Roster of the regiment here presented has been made from the records of the Adjutant General's office of Massachusetts, under the direction, and with tile assistance of the officials in the office. They have afforded every facility for the work, and rendered much valuable aid. The compiling of this Roster has required the copying of the name of each member of the regiment, together with such information as was available, upon a separate slip of paper, one slip for each name. After this, these names were arranged and transcribed in order as they appear below.
By reason of the loss of muster rolls during the war—once several of them fell into the hands of the enemy—much valued information has been lost. This may in part account for the absence of certain facts, for which some may look in vain in the Roster. It is possible a few errors may be discovered, growing out of the transcribing, twice over, of the two thousand five hundred names, together with all the information connected with them. However, we have spared no time nor pains to make the Roster complete and correct. We ask the indulgence of the surviving members of the regiment in their study of it.
The commissioned officers we have arranged by themselves without regard to company relations. The order of their names is essentially the same as that found in tile Adjutant General's Report of the State of Massachusetts. The enlisted men are arranged in companies, tile First Sergeants heading the list of each company, the other sergeants arranged alphabetically, then the corporals, musicians, etc., followed by the privates. Each name appears but once in the Roster. Many of the cooks were colored men, enlisted in the South, but no mention of the race is made on the rolls. As a rule we have followed tile spelling found in the records.
A large number, three hundred and sixty-two (two hundred and sixty of whom were recruits), are borne on the rolls as enlisted, who never left the State with the regiment. Opposite their names we find recorded: ‘Never joined the Regiment,’ ‘Rejected Recruits,’ ‘No Record,’ ‘Deserted.’ By advice of the Historic Committee, [505] these names have been omitted altogether in this Roster, as they were not thought worthy of notice. We have striven to report the name of every man who left the State with the regiment or afterwards joined it. We have given the different grades of each commissioned officer, but of the non-commissioned officers the information is so incomplete that we have simply mentioned their highest rank.
The name of each man is recorded as above described, and (unless a private) followed by his rank; also his place of residence, his age, single or married, occupation, date of enlistment, any particular fact of his history while in the service; closing with the date of discharge or muster out of service.
For the sake of brevity we have used the following
Abbreviations.
| Adv. | Advocate |
| A. G. | Adjutant-General |
| Batt. | Battalion |
| Corp. | Corporal |
| Com. Serg. | Commissary Sergeant |
| C. T. | Colored Troops |
| Com. | Commissioned, Commissary |
| Cr. | Credit |
| Disch. | Discharged |
| Disa. | Disability |
| En. | Enlisted |
| Exp. Serv. | Expiration of Service |
| Hosp. | Hospital |
| m | Married |
| M. O. | Mustered out |
| M. V. M. | Mass. Volunteer Militia |
| M. V. I. | Mass. Volunteer Infantry |
| Prom. | Promoted |
| Prior Serv. | Service in the war previous to enlisting in the regiment |
| Q. M. Sergt. | Quarter-Master Sergeant |
| Regt. | Regiment |
| Re-en. | Re-enlisted |
| Sergt. | Sergeant |
| s | Single |
| Stew. | Steward |
| Sub. Serv. | Service after leaving the regiment |
| Trans. | Transferred |
| U. S. C. T. | United States Colored Troops |
| U. S. Inf. | United States Infantry |
| Unof. | Unofficial, but presumably correct |
| V. R. C. | Veteran Reserve Corps |
