Discover the Civil War at Mount Auburn - June 21, 2014

On Saturday I attended a Civil War theme walk at Mount Auburn Cemetery entitled Discover the Civil War at Mount Auburn, an ongoing series of walks held at Mount Auburn regularly during the year.

The walk focused on notable figures who participated in political or civilian service on the home front and in military service in the Civil War.

We traveled along a wide loop of the cemetery, beginning and ending at the Story Chapel near the entrance gate. We stopped at famous gravesites visited on previous walking tours, included the Sphinx, the Shaw Memorial, Dorothea Dix, Henry Todd, Dr. Samuel Howe and wife Julia Ward Howe, Edwin Booth, Charles Sumner, the Revere family, Colonel Thomas Cass, Joseph Hills, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. For additional information about these famous burials please visit Splendors of Mount Auburn Cemetery for the Sphinx and the Shaw Memorial, Boston in the Civil War Walk at Mount Auburn Cemetery for the Howe family, Charles Sumner, the Revere family, and Colonel Thomas Cass, and Discover the Civil War at Mount Auburn Walk - September 21, 2013 for Dorothea Dix, Henry Todd, Edwin Booth , Joseph Hills, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In this post I am focusing on gravesites not visited in previous Mount Auburn walking tour posts.

Our first stop was the memorial to mathematician and astronomer Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) on Chapel Avenue, situated near the Sphinx and across from the Bigelow Chapel. Nathaniel is buried in the Bowditch family lot on Tulip Path, which was not included on our walk.



Rev. Charles Turner Torrey (1813 - 1846) was a Congregational minister and a tireless abolitionist who died for the abolitionist cause. In 1844 he was sentenced to six years in the Maryland State Penitentiary, convicted on slave-stealing charges while attempting to lead slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad in Baltimore. During his captivity in prison he succumbed to tuberculosis.

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William T.G. Morton (1819 - 1868) was a dentist who pioneered the use of ether as anesthesia for his patients. During the Civil War he enlisted as a volunteer surgeon and administered ether to wounded soldiers at the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness.

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Lieutenant Colonel James Savage of the Second Massachusetts Infantry Regiment died October 22, 1862 as a prisoner of war from wounds received at the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 9, 1862. This gravestone in Mount Auburn Cemetery is a cenotaph, as his body lies in Virginia. A carte de visite photograph of Lieutenant Colonel Savage can be viewed on the Massachusetts Historical Society website.

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Edward Everett (1794 - 1865) was a U.S. Representative and Senator from Massachusetts and also served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1836 to 1840. He was recognized for his elocution skills, most notably for his long speech at the dedication of the Soldiers’ Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 21, 1863. Everett’s two-hour speech preceded the two-minute speech of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s 272-word speech, the Gettysburg Address, eclipsed Everett’s presentation and has since been recognized as a masterpiece of our historical landscape, . After President Lincoln’s concise and eloquent delivery at Gettysburg Everett remarked to Lincoln, "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

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Thomas Edward Chickering (1824 – 1871) was the son of Jonas Chickering, founder of Chickering and Sons, one of the earliest piano manufacturers in the United States. During the Civil War Thomas was promoted to Colonel of 41st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which was later consolidated with three Cavalry units to become the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry during the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, in 1863. He was also appointed military governor of Opelousas, Louisiana. In 1866 he received the honorary rank of brevet brigadier general for his Civil War service. In postwar civilian life he was the senior partner of Chickering and Sons until his death in 1871 at the age of 47 years.

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Sergeant Major Joseph Oliver Miles served in Company D of the 13th Massachusetts Infantry and died of disease on August 5, 1864.

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George Lewis Ruffin (1834 – 1886) was an attorney and judge. He was the first African American to graduate from Harvard Law School. George served on the Boston City Council and was elected to the Massachusetts State Council. He was appointed as a judge to the Charlestown District Municipal Court, becoming the first African American judge in the United States. His wife, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842 – 1924) was a pioneer for social justice, founding the first newspaper for African American women, Women’s Era, and organizing the advocacy group, the National Federation of African-American Women, which later merged with the Colored Women’s League to become the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. Josephine also founded the Women’s Era Club which later became the New Era Club.

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Charles Appleton Longfellow (1844 – 1893), son of Fireside poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and second wife Fanny Appleton, served as a Lieutenant in the First Massachusetts Cavalry during the Civil War. He survived the war and resumed his passion for yachting, making sea journeys to Russia, China, Japan, and Indonesia.

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I was deeply moved by episodes in the lives of the Bowditch family observed during a recent PBS American Experience documentary entitled Death and the Civil War, and I decided to visit the Bowditch lot on Tulip Path after the walk concluded to pay my respects.

Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) was a mathematician, astronomer and navigator, and the founder of modern maritime navigation. He authored a book on navigation, The New American Practical Navigator, which is widely used today and is carried on board every commissioned U.S. naval ship. ⁹

Nathaniel's son Henry Ingersoll Bowditch (1808-1892), was a physician and abolitionist. The recent PBS American Experience documentary, Death and the Civil War, based on Drew Gilpin Faust's book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, showcased Henry's devotion to his son Nathaniel, a Lieutenant in the First Massachusetts Cavalry, who was mortally wounded during a cavalry charge at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863. Dr. Bowditch believed that his son would not have died if an ambulance system had been available to evacuate his son from the battlefield in a timely fashion. Motivated by grief but inspired by love Dr. Bowditch became an unceasing advocate for an ambulance system that was instituted by the Union Army in the spring of 1864.

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Nathaniel Bowditch (1839-1863), Henry's son, was a Lieutenant in the First Massachusetts Cavalry Brigade and Assistant Adjutant General to Colonel Alfred Duffié. He was mortally wounded during a cavalry charge at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863.

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For additional information about Civil War walks at Mount Auburn please visit http://mountauburn.org/tag/civil-war/. For other events at Mount Auburn please visit their calendar of events at http://www.mountauburn.org/category/events. For additional information about previous Civil War walks at Mount Auburn Cemetery please visit my blog posts labeled Mount Auburn Cemetery and Civil War Walking Tours.

For additional information about the excellent American Experience PBS documentary Death and the Civil War please visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/death/. A full transcript of the documentary is available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/death-transcript/.

References:
¹Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts), Charles Turner Torrey monument, Spruce Avenue, Lot 1282, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Charles Turner Torrey," Charles Turner Torrey - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Turner_Torrey: 27 June 2014).
²Mount Auburn Cemetery, William T. G. Morton monument, Spruce Avenue, Lot 3940, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "William T. G. Morton," William T. G. Morton - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._G._Morton: 27 June 2014).
³Mount Auburn Cemetery, James Savage marker, Walnut Avenue, Lot 178, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Massachusetts in the Civil War 1861-1862," Massachusetts Historical Society: Cedar Mountain (http://www.masshist.org/features/massachusetts-in-the-civil-war-1861-1862/cedar-mountain: 27 June 2014).
⁴Mount Auburn Cemetery, Edward Everett marker, Magnolia Avenue, Lot 17, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Edward Everett," Edward Everett - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett: 27 June 2014).
⁵Mount Auburn Cemetery, Chickering family monument, Magnolia Avenue, Lot 2282, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Thomas Edward Chickering," Thomas Edward Chickering - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edward_Chickering: 27 June 2014).
⁶Mount Auburn Cemetery, Joseph Miles marker, Chestnut Avenue, Lot 1053, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014.
⁷Mount Auburn Cemetery, Ruffin family monument, Indian Ridge Path, Lot 4960, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "George Lewis Ruffin," George Lewis Ruffin - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lewis_Ruffin: 27 June 2014). "Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin," Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_St._Pierre_Ruffin: 27 June 2014).
⁸Mount Auburn Cemetery, Charles Appleton Longfellow marker, Indian Ridge Path, Lot 580, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Charles Longfellow," Charles Longfellow - Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (http://www.nps.gov/long/historyculture/charles-longfellow.htm: 27 June 2014).
⁹Mount Auburn Cemetery, Nathaniel Bowditch marker, Tulip Path, Lot 1207, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Nathaniel Bowditch," Nathaniel Bowditch - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Bowditch: 27 June 2014).
¹⁰Mount Auburn Cemetery, Henry Ingersoll Bowditch marker, Tulip Path, Lot 1206, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014. "Transcript: Death and the Civil War," Transcript. Death and the Civil War. American Experience. WGBH|PBS. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/death-transcript/: 27 June 2014).
¹¹Mount Auburn Cemetery, Nathaniel Bowditch marker, Tulip Path, Lot 1206, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 21 June 2014.