Item No. 2438983

A nice little handbill advertising a dance hosted by Company K of the 3rd Massachusetts. Handwritten in ink across the top of the flyer indicates the event was to take place in West Bridgewater on October 15. The 3rd Massachusetts Volunteer Militia had been raised in the response for the government’s August 1862 call for 300,000 men to serve for nine months. The men were recruited in August and September and were organized and trained at Camp Joe Hooker in Lakeville, where they were mustered into federal service on September 26. Soon after the men were furloughed for one week, giving them the opportunity to visit with family and friends before heading to the front. It was during this furlough time that the West Bridgewater dance took place. “For there is a time to Dance,” the flyer reads, before specifying “Light Marching Orders, Dress Coat, Thin Boots, One Day’s Rations” for the men. It lists several men from the company as the “body-guard & staff” and another group of men as “floor managers.” Music, is reads, was to be provided by Alden White’s Band of Weymouth, “assisted by FLAGG of Boston.” The flyer is in very good condition with light toning and creases where it was originally folded. It measures about 5” x 8”. An attractive piece suitable for framing.

Just one week later on October 22, the 3rd Massachusetts left Camp Joe Hooker bound for Boston, where they would board two transports for the journey south to Newbern, North Carolina. The regiment would spend nearly the entirety of their enlistment on the North Carolina coast, returning to Camp Joe Hooker the following June.

The Body-Guard & Staff:
Private Selden M. Washburn
Private Asa F. Shaw (POW Poplar Grove Church and died of disease at Salisbury, NC, 12/22/64)
Private George T. Shaw
Private Albert W. French
Private John O’Neil
Private Henry M. Mitchell
Private Horace Wentworth
Musician Joseph C. Norton
Private John Holmes
Private Beza Hayward
Private Seth W. Conant (Killed 7/30/64 at Petersburg as member of 58th Massachusetts)
Private Francis D. King
Corporal Elijah Hinkley
Private Ezra F. Sampson
Private Alfred Gurney
Private Bartholomew Coughlin (POW 7/30/64 at Petersburg as member of 58th Massachusetts)
Musician Isaac H. Lincoln
Corporal David P. Reynolds
Private Isaac P. Osborne
Private Luther M. Morse
Private Albert L. Marshall
Private George Phelan
Private Augustus Davenport
Private Elisha Reynolds

The Floor Managers:
Sergeant Linus E. Hayward (Wounded 5/15/64 at Spotsylvania and POW 7/30/64 at Petersburg as member of 58th Massachusetts)
Corporal Thomas P. Ripley
Sergeant Samuel E. Hawes
Private Isaac R. Alden (the company’s drummer)
Sergeant John B. Fisher
Corporal Seth B. Edson
Corporal Henry Manley
Private Nathan F. Packard