A Nine Months' Man
Carte de visite by Robert W. Addis of Washington, D.C. The 11th Rhode Island Infantry spent the majority of its enlistment in the Defenses of Washington holding the western portion of the line against possible enemy attack. One of its officers is pictured here: Capt. Edward Taft of Company F. Born and raised in Providence, Taft, he served for a three-month stint in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry from June to August 1861. Commanded by Col. Ambrose E. Burnside, the Rhode Islanders participated in the First Battle of Bull Run.
A year later, Taft returned to the army with the 11th for a nine-month tour in the relative safety of the nation's capital. A regimental historian put their service as nine months' men into a context that gave men and officers a reason to feel good about their bloodless duties:
"They were in one sense emergency men, and in another sense they were really the reserve of the great armies. That there was an emergency, and a great and critical emergency, in the affairs of the country at the close of the summer of 1862, hardly needs assertion. It goes without saying. The defeated but still unconquered Army of the Potomac had lost immensely in men and material, and, more than all, it had lost its prestige, and nothing tangible or visible in the way of success had been accomplished. The credit of the country had been strained, as it seemed, to its utmost capacity. General McClellan was losing the marvelous confidence the country had reposed in him. Lee, flushed with apparent success, was moving northward and threatening our capital and its northern and western connections."
The historian continued: "It became a vital question whether timely enlistments could be made for three years so as to recruit the shattered regiments in the field to meet Lee's advancing columns and still provide for the safety of Washington; a matter of paramount political and military necessity. Under these circumstances time was of equal value with money. These nine months' volunteers could as well man the defences of Washington, until they were fitted for service in the field, as those who had undergone the active campaigns of the peninsula and elsewhere, and who were still in the field. The one great demand was to strengthen the two armies in Virginia, now practically united again as the Army of the Potomac, never, in all time, to be known by any other name, and not only prevent Lee from marching northward, but drive him back again within the defences of Richmond."
The 11th served its time and returned to Rhode Island. Taft went on to become a wholesale liquor dealer and died in 1905 at age 65. He outlived his wife and one child and was survived by two daughters.
He is posed here wearing a stylish overcoat and mud-spattered pants and boots with spurs.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.
A Nine Months' Man
Carte de visite by Robert W. Addis of Washington, D.C. The 11th Rhode Island Infantry spent the majority of its enlistment in the Defenses of Washington holding the western portion of the line against possible enemy attack. One of its officers is pictured here: Capt. Edward Taft of Company F. Born and raised in Providence, Taft, he served for a three-month stint in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry from June to August 1861. Commanded by Col. Ambrose E. Burnside, the Rhode Islanders participated in the First Battle of Bull Run.
A year later, Taft returned to the army with the 11th for a nine-month tour in the relative safety of the nation's capital. A regimental historian put their service as nine months' men into a context that gave men and officers a reason to feel good about their bloodless duties:
"They were in one sense emergency men, and in another sense they were really the reserve of the great armies. That there was an emergency, and a great and critical emergency, in the affairs of the country at the close of the summer of 1862, hardly needs assertion. It goes without saying. The defeated but still unconquered Army of the Potomac had lost immensely in men and material, and, more than all, it had lost its prestige, and nothing tangible or visible in the way of success had been accomplished. The credit of the country had been strained, as it seemed, to its utmost capacity. General McClellan was losing the marvelous confidence the country had reposed in him. Lee, flushed with apparent success, was moving northward and threatening our capital and its northern and western connections."
The historian continued: "It became a vital question whether timely enlistments could be made for three years so as to recruit the shattered regiments in the field to meet Lee's advancing columns and still provide for the safety of Washington; a matter of paramount political and military necessity. Under these circumstances time was of equal value with money. These nine months' volunteers could as well man the defences of Washington, until they were fitted for service in the field, as those who had undergone the active campaigns of the peninsula and elsewhere, and who were still in the field. The one great demand was to strengthen the two armies in Virginia, now practically united again as the Army of the Potomac, never, in all time, to be known by any other name, and not only prevent Lee from marching northward, but drive him back again within the defences of Richmond."
The 11th served its time and returned to Rhode Island. Taft went on to become a wholesale liquor dealer and died in 1905 at age 65. He outlived his wife and one child and was survived by two daughters.
He is posed here wearing a stylish overcoat and mud-spattered pants and boots with spurs.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.