Civil War Service
Bartlett initially enlisted in the 4th Battalion Massachusetts Infantry, also known as the New England Guards, which was garrisoned to defend Fort Independence in Boston harbor. At the time, the three forts in Boston were entirely unmanned and Boston harbor almost defenseless. Fort Independence was the only of the three forts equipped with cannon, however most of them were facing the city and not the water. The 4th Battalion, including Pvt. Bartlett, had much work to do to put Fort Independence in order. Bartlett served with the battalion for the unit's full 90-day term, from April to June 1861.
Read more about this topic: William Francis Bartlett
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, civil, war and/or service:
“To the cry of follow Mormons and prairie dogs and find good land, Civil War veterans flocked into Nebraska, joining a vast stampede of unemployed workers, tenant farmers, and European immigrants.”
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.”
—Walter Lippmann (18891974)
“From the beginning, the placement of [Clarence] Thomas on the high court was seen as a political end justifying almost any means. The full story of his confirmation raises questions not only about who lied and why, but, more important, about what happens when politics becomes total war and the truthand those who tell itare merely unfortunate sacrifices on the way to winning.”
—Jane Mayer, U.S. journalist, and Jill Abramson b. 1954, U.S. journalist. Strange Justice, p. 8, Houghton Mifflin (1994)
“The ruin of the human heart is self-interest, which the American merchant calls self-service. We have become a self- service populace, and all our specious comfortsthe automatic elevator, the escalator, the cafeteriaare depriving us of volition and moral and physical energy.”
—Edward Dahlberg (19001977)