Location: Greenlawn Cemetery, 15 High Street, Nahant
Coordinates: 42°25’36.5″N 70°55’39.0″W
Date dedicated: 1866
Design/Sculptor/Manufacturer: Unknown
The two sandy almost-islands that make up Nahant, the smallest town in Massachusetts by area, were home to just 380 people in 1860. The town was credited with 42 men who served in the Civil War. A significant number of these, nine in all, enlisted in the 45th Massachusetts Infantry, a nine-months unit that served in North Carolina and fought in the vicinity of Newbern.
According to the inscriptions on the monument, Nahant lost four servicemen in the war. Charles Warren Johnson enlisted as an ordinary seaman in the Navy in Boston at age 38 in March 1862. He died at Norfolk, Virginia on July 25, 1862, possibly due to disease.
George Franklin Newhall enlisted as a private with the 11th Massachusetts Infantry, was missing and presumed killed in the Second Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1862. There is a gravestone for him in Lynn but he is not buried there.
William L. Rand enlisted as a private with the 12th Massachusetts Infantry. He was wounded at Antietam and Fredericksburg but survived. After the remnants of the 12th Massachusetts and other units were transferred to the 39th Massachusetts, he served as a corporal in the color guard and was killed in action at the battle of Five Forks, Virginia on March 31, 1865, just ten days before Lee’s surrender.
Patrick Riley, an Irish immigrant, enlisted as a private at age 35 with the 28th Massachusetts Infantry (an Irish unit that eventually was part of the famed Irish Brigade) and was at some point promoted to sergeant. He was wounded at the Battle of Chantilly (an after-shock of the Second Battle of Bull Run) on September 1, 1862 and held as a prisoner for two days before being released.[1] He was sent to the U.S. Army General Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia to recover. He died there on December 1, 1862, three months after receiving his wound. His cause of death was given as “vulnus sclopetarium tentanus,” a Latin phrase meaning tetanus infection of a gunshot wound.[2]
The Nahant Civil War monument is inscribed with the date “1866.” This would place it among the earlier Civil War monuments in the Commonwealth, though the month of dedication matters here as there were 12 other Massachusetts monuments dedicated in 1866. Unfortunately, the date of dedication or indeed any details as to how this monument came to be are elusive. It does not seem to have been reported on in newspapers of the period and inquiries to the local historical society have yielded no information. Perhaps some information about the monument will surface in the future.
[1] “Patrick Riley,” findagrave.com
[2] “U.S. Registers of Deaths of Volunteers,” National Archives and Records Administration, accessed via ancestry.com.