Massachusetts in the American Civil War The Commonwealth of Massachusetts played a significant role in national events prior to and during the American Civil War . Massachusetts dominated the early antislavery movement during the 1830s , motivating activists across the nation . This , in turn , increased sectionalism in the North and South , one of the factors that led to the war . Politicians from Massachusetts , echoing the views of social activists , further increased national tensions . The state was dominated by the Republican Party and was also home to many Radical Republican leaders who promoted harsh treatment of slave owners and , later , the Confederate States of America . Once hostilities began , Massachusetts supported the war effort in several significant ways , sending 159 , 165 men to serve in the army and navy . One of the best known Massachusetts units was the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , the first regiment of African American soldiers ( led by white officers ) . Additionally , a number of important generals came from Massachusetts , including Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker , who commanded the Army of the Potomac in 1863 , as well as Edwin V . Sumner and Darius N . Couch , who both successively commanded the II Corps . In terms of war material , Massachusetts , as a leading center of industry and manufacturing , was poised to become a major producer of ammunitions and supplies . The most important source of armaments in Massachusetts was the Springfield Armory . The state also made important contributions to relief efforts . Many leaders of nursing and soldiers ' aid organizations hailed from Massachusetts , including Dorothea Dix , founder of the Army Nurses Bureau , Henry Whitney Bellows , founder of the United States Sanitary Commission , and independent nurse Clara Barton . Antebellum and wartime politics . Massachusetts played a major role in Civil War causation , particularly with regard to the political ramifications of the antislavery movement . Antislavery activists in Massachusetts sought to influence public opinion and applied moral and political pressure on Congress to abolish slavery . William Lloyd Garrison of Boston began publishing the antislavery newspaper " The Liberator " and founded the New England Anti - Slavery Society in 1831 , becoming one of the nation ’ s most influential abolitionists . Garrison and his uncompromising rhetoric provoked a backlash both in the North and South and escalated regional tension prior to the war . The antislavery wing of the Republican Party was led by politicians from Massachusetts , such as Senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson , who espoused Garrison ' s views in Congress and further increased sectionalism . In 1856 , Sumner delivered a speech on the Senate floor so scathing and insulting to pro - slavery politicians that Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beat him with a cane . More moderate Massachusetts political leaders adopted the views of the Free Soil Party , seeking to limit the expansion of slavery in the western territories . The Free Soil Party was eventually absorbed into the Republican Party , which became the dominant political party in Massachusetts . By 1860 , the Republicans controlled the Governor ’ s office , the state legislature and the mayoralty of Boston . During the 1860 presidential election , 63 percent of Massachusetts voters supported Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party , 20 percent supported Stephen Douglas and the Northern Democratic Party , 13 percent supported John Bell and the Constitutional Union Party , and 4 percent supported John C . Breckenridge and the Southern Democratic Party . Support for the Republican Party increased during the war , with 72 percent voting for Lincoln in 1864 . The dominant political figure in Massachusetts during the war was Governor John Albion Andrew , a staunch Republican who energetically supported the war effort . Massachusetts annually re - elected him by large margins for the duration of the war — his smallest margin of victory occurred in 1860 with 61 percent of the popular vote and his largest in 1863 with 71 percent . Recruitment . Massachusetts sent a total of 159 , 165 men to serve in the war . Of these , 133 , 002 served in the Union army and 26 , 163 served in the navy . The army units raised in Massachusetts consisted of 62 regiments of infantry , six regiments of cavalry , 16 batteries of light artillery , four regiments of heavy artillery , two companies of sharpshooters , a handful of unattached battalion s and 26 unattached companies . Minutemen of ' 61 . Governor Andrew took office in January 1861 , just two weeks after the secession of South Carolina . Convinced that war was imminent , Andrew took rapid measures to prepare the state militia for active duty . On April 15 , 1861 , Andrew received a telegraph from Washington calling for 1 , 500 men from Massachusetts to serve for ninety days . The next day , several companies of the 8th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from Marblehead , Massachusetts were the first to report in Boston ; by the end of the day , three regiments were ready to start for Washington . While passing through Baltimore on April 19 , 1861 , the 6th Massachusetts was attacked by a pro - secession mob and became the first volunteer troops to suffer casualties in the war . The 6th Massachusetts was also the first volunteer regiment to reach Washington , D . C . in response to Lincoln ' s call for troops . Lincoln awaited the arrival of additional regiments , but none arrived for several days . Inspecting the 6th Massachusetts on April 24 , Lincoln told the soldiers , " I don ’ t believe there is any North . . . You are the only Northern realities . " Given that the 6th Massachusetts reached Washington on April 19 ( the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord , which commenced the American Revolution ) and other Massachusetts regiments were en route to Washington and Virginia on that date , the first militia units to leave Massachusetts were dubbed , " The Minutemen of ’ 61 . " Recruiting the three - year regiments . As the initial rush of enthusiasm subsided , the state government faced the ongoing task of recruiting tens of thousands of soldiers to fill federal quotas . The great majority of these troops were required to serve for three years . Recruiting offices were opened in virtually every town and , over the course of 1861 , recruits from Massachusetts surpassed the quotas . However , by the summer of 1862 , recruiting had slowed considerably . On July 7 , 1862 , Andrew instituted a system whereby recruitment quotas were issued to every city and town in proportion to their population . This motivated local leaders , increasing enlistment . 28th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry . The 28th Massachusetts Infantry regiment was the second primarily Irish American volunteer infantry regiment recruited in Massachusetts for service in the American Civil War . The regiment ' s motto ( or cry ) was Faugh a Ballagh ( Clear the Way ! ) 28th Massachusetts was assigned to the II Corps as the fourth regiment of the famed Irish Brigade , commanded by Brig . Gen . Thomas Francis Meagher . the Irishmen of the 28th Massachusetts saw action in most of the Union Army ' s major eastern theatre engagements – Antietam , Fredericksburg , Chancellorsville , Gettysburg , the Overland Campaign , and the siege of Petersburg – and were present for Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s surrender to Gen . Ulysses S . Grant at Appomattox Court House . 54th Massachusetts Infantry . One of the best - known regiments formed in Massachusetts was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry , the first regiment in the Union army consisting of African American soldiers , though it was commanded by white officers . With the Emancipation Proclamation in effect as of January 1 , 1863 , Andrew saw the opportunity for Massachusetts to lead the way in recruiting African American soldiers . After securing permission from President Lincoln , Andrew enthusiastically backed the recruitment of two regiments of African American soldiers , the 54th and the 55th Massachusetts Infantries . The 54th , because it was the first such regiment , received tremendous publicity during its formation . To ensure the success of the experiment , Andrew solicited donations and political support from many of Boston ' s elite families . He further guaranteed the endorsement of Boston ' s elite by offering the regiment ' s command to Robert Gould Shaw , son of prominent Bostonians . The 54th Massachusetts won fame in their assault on Battery Wagner on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor , during which Col . Shaw was killed . The story of the 54th Massachusetts was the basis for the film " Glory " . General officers . Generals from Massachusetts commanded several army departments , and included a commander of the Army of the Potomac as well as a number of army corps commanders . One of the most prominent generals from Massachusetts was Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker . Born in Hadley , Massachusetts and a graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point , he served in the Regular Army during the Mexican – American War . At the outbreak of the Civil War , he was commissioned brigadier general and steadily rose from brigade commander , to division commander , to commander of the I Corps , which he led during the Battle of Antietam . Following that battle , he was placed in command of the V Corps and then the Center Grand Division of the Army of the Potomac , consisting of the III and V Corps . On January 26 , 1863 , he was promoted to command of the Army of the Potomac . Although he was successful at rejuvenating the " esprit de corps " of his army by better distributing supplies and food , he was unable to effectively lead the army in the field , and his inaction during the Battle of Chancellorsville led to his resignation of his command . Transferred to the Department of the Cumberland , he commanded the XI and XII Corps during several western campaigns and distinguished himself during the Battle of Lookout Mountain . Hooker resigned his command upon the promotion of Maj . Gen . Oliver O . Howard to the command of the Army of the Tennessee , a post to which Hooker felt entitled . Hooker served the remainder of the war in an administrative role , overseeing the Department of the North ( consisting of army fortifications and troops stationed in Michigan , Ohio , Indiana and Illinois ) and the Department of the East ( which encompassed installations and troops in New England , New York and New Jersey ) . Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks , former governor of Massachusetts , was among the first men appointed major general of volunteers by President Lincoln . In July 1861 , Banks came to command the Department of the Shenandoah . In May 1862 , he was completely out - generaled by Stonewall Jackson and forced to abandon the Shenandoah Valley . He then commanded the II Corps during the Northern Virginia Campaign and was eventually transferred to command of the Department of the Gulf , coordinating military efforts in Louisiana and Texas . In this capacity , Banks led the successful and strategically important Siege of Port Hudson in the summer of 1863 , but also the disastrous Red River Campaign in the spring of 1864 , which he commanded under protest . The campaign ended his military career in the field . Another significant general from Massachusetts , Maj . Gen . Edwin Vose Sumner , born in 1797 , was the oldest general officer with a field command on either side of the war . He had served in the Regular Army during the Mexican - American war and numerous campaigns in the West . Sumner commanded the II Corps during the Maryland Campaign and later the Right Grand Division of the Army of the Potomac during the Fredericksburg Campaign . Following the Battle of Fredericksburg , he resigned his command in January 1863 and was to be transferred to command the Department of the Missouri , but died of a heart attack en route on March 21 , 1863 . Other important generals from Massachusetts included Maj . Gen . Darius Couch , who commanded the II Corps and the Department of the Susquehanna , Maj . Gen . John G . Barnard , who organized the defenses of Washington , DC and became Chief Engineer of the Union Armies in the field , and Maj . Gen . Isaac Stevens , who had graduated first in his class at West Point and commanded a division of the IX Corps . War materiel . The advanced state of industrialization in the North , as compared with the Confederate states , was a major factor in the victory of Union armies . Massachusetts , and the Springfield Armory in particular , played a pivotal role as a supplier of weapons and equipment for the Union army . At the start of the war , the Springfield Armory was one of only two federal armories in the country , the other being the Harpers Ferry Armory . After the attack on Fort Sumter and the commencement of hostilities , Governor Andrew wrote Secretary of War Simon Cameron , urging him to discontinue the Harpers Ferry Armory ( which was at that time on Confederate soil ) and to channel all available federal funds towards enhancing production at the Springfield Armory . The armory produced the primary weapon of the Union infantry during the war — the Springfield rifled musket . By the end of the war , nearly 1 . 5 million had been produced by the armory and its numerous contractors across the country . Another key source of war materiel was the Watertown Arsenal , which produced ammunition , gun carriages and leather military accouterments . Private companies such as Smith & Wesson enjoyed significant U . S . government contracts . The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee became one of the nation ’ s leading suppliers of swords , side arms , and cannons , and the third largest supplier of heavy ordnance . Although Massachusetts was a major center of shipbuilding prior to the war , many of the established shipbuilding firms were slow to adapt to new technology . The few Massachusetts shipbuilders who received government contracts for the construction of iron - clad , steam powered warships were those who had invested in iron and machine technology before the war . These included the City Point Works , managed by Harrison Loring , and the Atlantic Iron Works , managed by Nelson Curtis , two Boston companies that produced Passaic class monitor s during the war . The Boston Navy Yard also produced several smaller gunboats . Relief organizations . Several instrumental leaders of soldiers ' aid and relief organizations came from Massachusetts . These included Dorothea Dix , who had traveled across the nation working to promote proper care for the poor and insane before the war . After the outbreak of the war , she convinced the U . S . Army to establish a Women ' s Nursing Bureau on April 23 , 1861 and became the first woman to head a federal government bureau . Although army officials were dubious about the use of female nurses , Dix proceeded to recruit many women who had previously been serving as unorganized volunteers . One of her greatest challenges , given the biases of the era , was to demonstrate that women could serve as competently as men in army hospitals . Dix had a reputation for rejecting nurses who were too young or attractive , believing that patients and surgeons alike would not take them seriously . U . S . Army surgeons often resented the nurses of Dix ' s bureau , claiming that they were obstinate and did not follow military protocol . Despite such obstacles , Dix was successful at placing female nurses in hospitals throughout the North . Henry Whitney Bellows determined to take a different approach , establishing a civilian organization of nurses separate from the U . S . Army . Bellows was the founder of the United States Sanitary Commission and served as its only president . An influential minister , born and raised in Boston , Bellows went to Washington in May 1861 as head of a delegation of physicians representing the Women ' s Central Relief Association of New York and other organizations . Bellows ' s aim was to convince the government to establish a civilian auxiliary branch of the Army Medical Bureau . The Sanitary Commission , established by President Lincoln on June 13 , 1861 , provided nurses ( mostly female ) with medical supplies and organized hospital ships and soldiers ' homes . Clara Barton , a former teacher from Oxford , Massachusetts and clerk in the U . S . Patent Office , created a one - woman relief effort . In the summer of 1861 , in response to a shortage of food and medicine in the growing Union army , she began personally purchasing and distributing supplies to wounded soldiers in Washington . Growing dissatisfied with bringing supplies to hospitals , Barton eventually moved her efforts to the battlefield itself . She was granted access through army lines and helped the wounded in numerous campaigns , soon becoming known as the " Angel of the Battlefield . " She achieved national prominence , and high - ranking army surgeons requested her assistance in managing their field hospitals . Aftermath and Reconstruction era . In all , 12 , 976 servicemen from Massachusetts died during the war , about eight percent of those who enlisted and about one percent of the state ' s population ( the population of Massachusetts in 1860 was 1 , 231 , 066 ) . Official statistics are not available for the number of wounded . Across the nation , organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic ( GAR ) were established to provide aid to veterans , widows and orphans . Massachusetts was the first state to organize a state - wide Woman ' s Relief Corps , a female auxiliary organization of the GAR , in 1879 . With the war over and his primary goal completed , Governor Andrew declared in September 1865 that he would not seek re - election . Despite this loss , the Republican Party in Massachusetts would became stronger than ever in the post - war years . The Democratic party would be all but non - existent in the Bay State for roughly ten years due to their earlier anti - war platform . The group most affected by this political shift was the growing Boston Irish community , who had backed the Democratic Party and were without significant political voice for decades . After the war , senators Sumner and Wilson would transform their pre - war antislavery views into vehement support for so - called " Radical Reconstruction " of the South . Their agenda called for civil rights for African Americans and harsh treatment of former Confederates . For a time , the Radical Republicans made progress on their agenda of dramatic reform measures . According to historian Eric Foner , Massachusetts state legislators passed the first comprehensive integration law in the nation ' s history in 1865 . On the national level , Sumner joined with Representative Thaddeus Stevens from Pennsylvania and others to achieve Congressional approval of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 , and the 13th , 14th and 15th Amendments to the U . S . Constitution , outlawing slavery and granting increased citizenship rights to former slaves . As early as 1867 , however , a national backlash against Radical Republicans and their sweeping civil rights programs made them increasingly unpopular , even in Massachusetts . When Sumner attempted in 1867 to propose dramatic reforms , including integrated schools in the South and re - distribution of land to former slaves , even Wilson refused to support him . By the 1870s , Radical Republicans had diminished in power and Reconstruction proceeded along more moderate lines . Culturally speaking , post - Civil War Massachusetts ceased to be a national center of idealistic reform movements ( such as evangelicalism , temperance and antislavery ) as it had been before the war . Growing industrialism , partly spurred on by the war , created a new culture of competition and materialism . In 1869 , Boston was the site of the National Peace Jubilee , a massive gala to honor veterans and to celebrate the return of peace . Conceived by composer Patrick Gilmore , who had served in an army band , the celebration was held in a colossal arena in Boston ' s Back Bay neighborhood designed to hold 100 , 000 attendees and specifically built for the occasion . A new hymn was commissioned for the occasion , written by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr . and set to " American Hymn " by Matthais Keller . Spanning five days , the event featured a chorus of nearly 11 , 000 and an orchestra of more than 500 musicians . It was the largest musical gathering on the continent up to that time .