The Maine bugle ... campaign; 1-5 Jan. 1894-Oct. 1898 - Maine.gov

RECOLLECTIONS OL- GE/V. BERRY. 237
[)arolctl. I was the tenth on the Hst. At three they formed us
ami marched us to the office outsitle, where we signed the
parole as best wc couUl and then were carried to the boat that
was waiting for us. There were only a few of us who could
walk that tlistance. Before leaving the building we divided our
effects with tin- !)o)'S who were left. And so we bade good-bye
to old Lib!))' I'rison forever.
Recollections of General l)erry.
I!V \l. S., (•(•. K, I7TII MK. VDI.S.
The rendezvous at Portland, from which the Seventeenth
Maine Regiment startetl to the front August iSth, 1S62, was
called Camp Berry. The writer at that time did not know for
whom it wa-; named, but subsecjucntly he became aware it was
in honor of one of the bravest and ablest generals who liad
gone from the old l*inc Tree State. Coincidently, General
lliram G. Berry was the first officer who commanded the
brigade to which the Seventeenth Maine belonged, after its
arrival at r'almouth, Va., its last camp biTore it partici[)attHl in
the battle of Fredericksburg. The recollection of most of the
events associated with the general during his brief official cgn-
ncction with the regiment are shadow}' in the memor)' of the
writer, after so many intervening years, but there arc two or
three that stand out in sharp relief, which will perhaps bear
relating.
On the thirteenth of December, '62, the regiment was astir
as the pallid light broke over the smoky hills. A signal gun
had been fired, the " pack up " had been sounded from regi-
mental head(|uarters, and we were soon in line. Birnc)', the
division general, rode by with his staff, and then came the sturdy
General Berry at the head of the column in which we were to
join as soon as certain regiments had passed. As he looked at
us, standing there, from beneath his slouched hat, he seemed
like a father to us all, and we felt that he was saying to us.