Location: Center Cemetery, Westhampton
Coordinates: 42°17’58.4″N 72°46’23.4″W
Date dedicated: 1869
Architect/design: Unknown
Some monuments in small towns in Massachusetts escaped the attention of regional newspapers and later historians. Westhampton’s monument seems to be one of those monuments. Perhaps some local source will turn up but at present, it appears there are no extant details about its construction or dedication. The base of the monument bears the year 1869. It stands in the small, quiet Central Cemetery in the midst of a rural town center. The primary inscription reads, “Erected by the town of Westhampton in grateful remembrance of her brave and patriotic soldiers who sacrificed their lives in defense of liberty and union in the Great Rebellion.” It lists twelve men who died in service.
The multi-volume Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War produced by the Massachusetts Adjutant General’s office in the 1930s lists 29 men from Westhampton who served in the war. Nearly half of them (12) served in the 52nd Massachusetts Infantry, including the pastor of the Westhampton’s First Parish Church, Rev. Edwin C. Bissell, who recruited Company K of that regiment in Westhampton and surrounding towns and was elected captain. He served at the head of this company until the end of their term in August 1863.
The 52nd Massachusetts was a nine-months regiment recruited in Hampshire and Franklin counties. Like many of the Massachusetts nine-months units, the regiment was shipped to Louisiana and fought in the Siege and Assaults on Port Hudson, one of the last Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. Marching through bayous and camping in unhealthy locations, these units suffered severely from disease. One of Westhampton’s soldiers, George W. Snyder, died of disease during this campaign and another was discharged due to debilitating illness. The assaults on heavily fortified Port Hudson were also particularly hazardous for relatively inexperienced troops.
The regiment did not take part in the first assault in May 1862 but played a significant role in the second assault on June 14, 1862 when they were deployed as skirmishers in an exposed position to screen the main column’s assault. They were forced to remain in this dangerous position to cover the retreating Union troops. Westhampton’s ten remaining soldiers in the regiment escaped injury during this action.
A noteworthy number of Westhampton men—eight (a little more than a quarter of the total)—served in the 27th Massachusetts Infantry, a three-year unit recruited in western Massachusetts. The regiment served in North Carolina and was later attached to the Army of the Potomac to fight at Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg. Corporal Frederick Jassamine of Westhampton was seriously wounded during the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864. He is the only man listed on the monument as killed in action, though in fact he died three days later in a field hospital in White House Landing (this minor discrepancy certainly doesn’t diminish his sacrifice in any way).
