he took necessary measures to secure the rendition of the fugitive. For this act he was severely censured, by a portion of the public, as if he were the willing instrument of power in oppressing the weak. The facts which follow show the injustice of these censures. In 1855 he endeavoured, through the agency of Rev. L. A. Grimes of Boston, to obtain the freedom of Sims, offering to pay whatever sum was necessary to secure that result. The effort at that time was fruitless. Years passed by, when just before the breaking out of the rebellion, Mr. Devens learned that Mrs. Lydia Maria Child was making applications for money to purchase the freedom of Sims. He immediately addressed her a letter, requesting her to return all the sums which had been given, and leave him the privilege of furnishing the whole from his own purse. The note, which ought to be printed in golden letters, was as follows:

"I have heard that you are trying to raise money to redeem Thomas Sims from slavery. If you have received any contributions, please return them to the donors, as I wish to contribute the entire sum myself."

In reply, she informed him that the price demanded for Sims was eighteen hundred dollars. His answer was that the sum demanded was subject to her order whenever she chose to call for it.

Before the affair could be arranged, the war rendered negotiations with the master impossible. In the course of time, Sims found himself near enough to the lines of the Union Army to escape thither with his wife and child. They were thus practically, as they are now legally, free. After peace was declared, Sims came north, and General Devens then sent one hundred dollars to Mrs. Child, for his use while finding business to support his family. In a letter accompanying the gift, he expressed his conviction that the negroes ought to have the right of suffrage secured to them, as a result of the war, because that was essential to their safety.

Returning to the war, it appears that when his commission arrived, General Devens was immediately detailed to the command of a brigade in Couch's Division, Keys' (Fourth)

Army Corps. He took leave of his old regiment in the trenches before Yorktown, with the strongest expressions of mutual regret and esteem, on his own part and that of the regiment. Each felt that they were parting with comrades who had been tried in difficulty and danger, and not found wanting. General Devens assured the regiment that if he consulted feeling merely, he should prefer to remain with them than take any other command. Their mutual confidence and regard had been strengthened by being under fire in the same conflicts. This fact would be a bond of union if ever permitted to meet together in after life.

The brigade of which General Devens now took command, contained the Second Rhode Island, the Thirty-sixth New York, and the Seventh and Tenth Massachusetts Regiments. He thus had in his command a large number of Massachusetts troops, although General McClellan did not feel able to gratify his request that the Fifteenth might be in his brigade.

The first action in which General Devens' Brigade was seriously engaged, was the battle of Williamsburgh, where its conduct was most creditable. It was the first brigade whose colors crossed the Chickahominy, and it took part in all the conflicts of the left wing of the army, up to the time of the battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, in which engagement the brigade held the important position where the road to Fair Oaks crossed the Williamsburg and Richmond Road, and known as "Seven Pines." Without entering into the particulars of this battle, it will be recollected that although the final result was a brilliant victory for our arms, the result of the first day's contest was so far unfavorable to us, that we were compelled to yield about a mile of ground. The Federal lines having been broken to the right of General Devens, his brigade was compelled to fall back to prevent being outflanked by the enemy, who had so far passed to the rear of it before it commenced retreating, that it took forty or fifty rebel prisoners behind it on its short retreat to its new position. The horse of General Devens was shot under him,

and he was himself wounded by a musket-ball, which struck and slightly splintered the bone of the right leg below the knee, passing into the muscle. He did not however quit the field, notwithstanding the earnest request of Dr. O'Leary, the brigade surgeon, but continued in command until night brought a temporary cessation of hostilities.

The report of this action in the Cincinnati Commercial, speaks of the "inspiring efforts" of General Devens when meeting a "vehement shock of the rebels." "His energetic gallantry" was recognized by Major-General Keys, the corps commander, in a letter added to his report of the engagement.

The next day General Devens found himself utterly disabled on account of his wound. He was kept from active duty about five weeks, during which time he visited the North for the purpose of medical attendance. On consulting the late eminent Dr. J. Mason Warren, he advised against the attempt to extract the bullet. It still remains in its place, a perpetual memento of the battle. A day or two before his return to the army, General Devens addressed a war meeting held in Fanueil Hall, and presided over by Mayor Wightman.

He resumed his command at Harrison's Landing about the tenth of July, whither the army had retreated, after the series of battles known as the "Seven Days' Battles," in which his brigade had borne an active part. The history of any officer is of course that of his command. The brigade of General Devens, while at Harrison's Landing, participated in the reconnoissance in force under General Hooker, usually known as the second battle of Malvern Hill, and with the rest of the army, retreated down the Peninsula. Thence, with Couch's Division, of which it formed a part, it was transferred to Alexandria. It moved out to the contests fought under General Pope at Chantilly and Centreville. Retiring to Alexandria, it formed a portion of the left column under General Sumner, by which McClellan, who had now resumed the actual command, was aided in his operations to repel Lee's invasion of Maryland. After the battle of South Mountain and Crampton's Pass had enabled McClellan to

cross the Catoctin range of mountains, the division of General Couch was dispatched, but too late, down the valley, to the relief of Harper's Ferry. General Couch found it was in possession of the enemy, and the roar of artillery admonishing him that a general engagement was in progress at Antietam, he immediately turned to that point, which was reached at the close of the first day's fighting. At daybreak he was posted in the front line for the renewal of the engagement. It was not however resumed, except in a desultory manner, by the skirmishers of the army; and on that night General Lee made good his retreat into Virginia. In riding out alone, to examine more carefully the position assigned to his brigade, which General Devens did without his staff, in order not to attract the fire of the enemy, his horse was shot under him.

After the battle of Antietam, General Devens, with his brigade, took part in several of the minor combats of the army which occurred between that time and the battle of Fredericksburg, on the thirteenth of December.

Meantime a movement was made at home to call him to a different service. On the eleventh of October a meeting was held in Fanueil Hall, called the "People's Convention." It was composed of delegates representing the main body of the democratic party in the state, and the conservative republicans. The call for the convention was very numerously signed by gentlemen living in different parts of the Commonwealth. The Hon. Linus Child, a well-known and highly respectable republican presided. By this body, General Devens was chosen as their candidate for governor. It is not necessary, at this late day, to question the designs of those who led in this movement. It is enough for our purpose to know the motives which governed General Devens in accepting the nomination. In regard to this there is no ground for doubt that he was anxious to see the people united on the best policy to suppress the rebellion at once. Schouler's "History of Massachusetts in the Civil War," has this remark: —

"The Fanueil Hall Convention was a highly respectable body of men,

and the nominations were very proper to be made. General Devens, who was put forward for governor, had rendered efficient service by his bravery and capacity in the field, and was well and favorably known throughout the Commonwealth; but nothing could shake the confidence of the people in Governor Andrew, or cause a change in the State Administration. Governor Andrew was triumphantly re-elected.”

It may be added that the cordiality which existed between Governor Andrew and General Devens, was not affected in the slightest degree, by the political campaign.

At the time of the battle of Fredericksburg, the division formerly commanded by General Couch, including General Devens' Brigade, had been assigned to the Sixth Army Corps, and General John Newton had been assigned as its commander. The left wing of the army, composed of the Sixth Corps, under General W. F. Smith, and the First Corps, under General Reynolds, and both under command of MajorGeneral Franklin, were to cross the Rappahannock two miles below Fredericksburg. General Devens' Brigade was selected to lead the advance. To this brigade, the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts, Colonel Edwards, had been recently added. The crossing of the left wing was delayed in consequence of the resolute resistance to the right, at the town of Fredericksburg, but just before sunset, the signal being given, the brigade rushed across the pontoon bridge, promptly cleared the negro huts of a plantation which the enemy were using as a line of defence, taking prisoners a considerable number of the rebels in their sudden assault, and establishing themselves firmly on the opposite side of the river. Howard's Division had done the same thing at the right, but as it was then too late in the day to attempt the passage of the main army, these two bodies of troops remained alone that night on the farther bank, resisting resolutely all attempts to dislodge them. The next day the main body of the army crossed, and the unfortunate battle of Fredericksburg followed.

When the retreat was determined upon, General Devens requested that his brigade might be the last of the left wing to re-cross, as he had been the first to advance.

In conse