Norwich bulletin., 1914-05-08
CAMPFIRE FOR
 VETERANS OF THE asTH
Given by Sons of vsterans-War Tales
 of Port Hudson Told.

Under the auspices of Sedgwick camp, No. 4, Sons of Veterans, a campfire that gave great pleasure to the 30 men attending was held on Thursday evening at the Buckingham Memorial. The surviving veterans of the 18th Connecticut Volunteers were the special guests of the evening and several of them were present
 Commander A L. PeaIe presided and there were selections given on the graphaphone by George E. Zimmer- man while the comrades were gath ering.
 Commander Peale expressed a cor dial welcome, with complimentary ref erences to the gallant services of the Twenty sixth regiment
 N. Douglass Sevin, who was hos pital steward with the regiment gave number of "reminiscences of their service and was followed by John kimball of Co. B who spoke interest 1ngly Of charges they made at Port Hudson and how the rebels agreed
 to surrender when they heard the
 Union troops firing a salute and learned it was to celebrate the fall of Vicksburg.
 William N. Perkins gave a number Of details in connection with the naval operations around Port Hudson, and Orrln M. Price, commander of Sedg- wick Post. who was a member of the 18th Connecticut and one of the For lorn Hope Volunteers before Port Hud- son spoke of what that regiment did
 under Col. Birge.
 Philip Spelman gave some vivid de- tails Of operations by the 18th army corps, both in Louisiana and in the Shenandoah Valley and Col. George R. Sanders, also of the 18th corps, related experiences as hospital steward. He
 was the first man to tend the wounds of Col Kingsley of the 26th who was
 wounded before Port Hudson. Charles w. Spalding. who served seven years in the state militia un-
 der Col. Kingsley, spoke with affection of his former commander
 Among the selections played during the evening on the graphaphone was
 the 18th Regiment march. Ice cream
 was served before adjournment of the thoroughly enjoyable campfire The 18th regiment was recruited in New London and Windham counties and rendeZVoused at Camp Russell Norwich. It numbered BIO men and left the state for Camp Buckingham Centerville. L. l., on Nov. 13, 1882. Il
 was commanded by Col Thomas A Kingsley and was attached to General Banks army corps.
 Its first general engagement was or May 27, 1863, in an assault on Port Hudson, in which 1t bore a conspicu- | ous part, and distinguished itself by its energetic action. The regiment occu. pied the third line in the assault. ano
 was exposed to a murderous fire ot ! sheil, shot, grape and canister, which ! moved them down by scores As il ! advanced the ranks were tbinned untI
 after an hours severe fighting the mer
 were compelled to seek shelter behind l stumps and logs. The generals com manding division and brigade were | both wounded as was also Colonc Kingsley, commanding the regiment i Its total loss in the engagement wa. | 1o7 officers and men.
 On the 18th of June the regiment commanded by Lieut. Col. Joseph SeI. den, participated in a skirmish befor, | Port Hudson and sustained a loss O. eight men in killed and wounded | Again on the 14th it was engaged witl | the enemy before Port Hudson anC 1 sustained loss of 59 officers and mer l in killed and wounded. The record. show that when the 26th came out O. | the assault its loss was nearly one half of the entire brigade. It took mt
 action 235 officers and men. none O l whom faltered, but each one doing al | that was required of him, and per 1 ability.
 The regiment returned to Connecti 1 cut and was mustered out of servic, ! at Norwich on the 17th of August | 1863. The casualties of the regimen 1 were as follows: Killed in action Is died of wounds 30, died of disease 72 discharged prior to muster out of reg
 iment 52; total 169.