In the early morning of April 19, 1861, Daniel Lawrence rode into the town of Concord on horseback, rousing the town militia with orders to report to Boston in response to President Lincoln’s call for militia volunteers. The method and timing of this call were no accident. Fresh off the heels of Longfellow’s “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” published in 1860, Colonel Samuel Crocker Lawrence, Commander of the Fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, dispatched his brother Daniel to ride the same route of Midnight Riders to energize his men with the memory of their ancestors of 1775 who answered the same call years ago. As the militia of Concord gathered and moved to Boston, they became the minutemen of this generation, heading first among their countrymen into the bloodiest and most consequential war of the young nation’s history, the American Civil War. 

By 1861, Concord had already had a long history of militia service. 1775 may have been their most famous moment in American history, but by 1804, Concord was among the earliest towns to form their own volunteer militia unit known as the Concord Artillery. The men who joined this company differed from the mandatory enrolled militia and were instead similar to the minutemen of 1775 based on their training regimen and specialization. When the Artillery was established, it acquired two small field pieces dedicated to Major John Buttrick and Captain Isaac Davis, both of whom served in the American Revolution. By 1861, the Concord Artillery was organized into Fifth Massachusetts as Company G and was the oldest continuously serving unit in the regiment. 

Captain George L. Prescott, Commander of the Concord Artillery, arrived with his men in Boston on the afternoon of April 19, ready for the fight ahead. Among his company were three Buttricks, descendants of 1775’s Major Buttrick, who first gave the militia the order to fire on British Regulars at the North Bridge. Their ranks were quickly bolstered in Boston by men eager to answer Lincoln’s call for soldiers. Within two days, the Fifth left Boston, sailing from New York for Annapolis and then marched into Washington. 

Colonel George L. Prescott, commander of the 32nd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

| Library of Congress. https://lccn.loc.gov/2023631080

At the Capitol, the Concord Artillery occupied the Treasury Building and was immediately scrutinized by the Federal troops present. These professional soldiers were often dismissive of the discipline and effectiveness of state militias, but they found little to take issue with among the men of the Fifth. They earned the nickname “Steady Fifth” among Federal soldiers, due in part to Capt. Prescott’s style of command. Known as a firm and rigid commander on duty but kindhearted off duty, he took his meals exclusively with his men, eating only when they ate, and sleeping on the ground among them instead of in his own quarters.

Capt. Prescott was a quiet disciplinarian, and his methods didn’t just extend to his soldiers but also to his peers in the Federal Army. On one occasion, when a young West Point graduate used profanity while assisting in drilling the Concord Artillery, Prescott pulled him aside and reminded him of the regulation against officers using profanity. This private correction was not only well accepted by the young officer, but his personal tact was noticed by the men in Prescott’s ranks. 

Like all militia companies that responded to the federal summons to the Capitol, Company G had signed a three-month contract of service. At this early stage of the war, this was the maximum amount of time President Lincoln could legally call up state militias for federal service. These 90-day men, as they were called, were eager to put a quick end to the rebellion, but frustratingly for them, spent most of their time bolstering the defenses of the District of Columbia. By the time plans were made to advance toward Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, the Fifth’s time in federal service was almost up. Hearing this news, Col. Lawrence called the regiment together to let them know they were under no obligation to march to Richmond, but that he planned to go with Union forces. To a man, all of the Fifth prepared for battle, and Lawrence was pleased to report to superiors that “The Fifth Massachusetts will go anywhere you order it.”

This initial advance led to the first major battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run. There, the Fifth was ordered to take the hill in front of Confederate batteries, and they attacked “with as much coolness as if they had been on an ordinary muster-field.” Holding the hill, they experienced heavy artillery shelling and fought back an assault by Confederate infantry. The Concord Artillery and the rest of the regiment held their position until the final order was given to retreat. 

Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia charging up a hill in Washington during training.

| Library of Congress. https://lccn.loc.gov/11027018

But just as the withdrawal began, a Confederate artillery shell exploded into a tree near Col. Lawrence, riddling his body with shrapnel and splinters. Refusing to leave their commander behind, the men of the Fifth pulled their wounded commander off the field, just barely avoiding Confederate capture. The battle was over. A battle that many thought would put a swift end to the rebellion ended in defeat and disaster, foreshadowing the next four years of conflict to come. 

Beaten but not defeated, the Fifth returned to Massachusetts but was eager to return to the front. Many of the men of the Concord Artillery signed up immediately for the newly forming regiments that the Commonwealth was preparing to send. Now experienced veterans, these men made up the leadership of the inexperienced regiments yet to enter the field. 

For his part, Capt. Prescott was also insistent on returning. He raised a new company attached to the First Battalion of Infantry, Massachusetts Volunteers. Back in the Capitol region, he commanded a convalescent camp at Alexandria, Virginia, during the fall of 1862. He served at the Battle of Fredericksburg and afterward was promoted to the rank of colonel, now commanding the 32nd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, through the Gettysburg and Wilderness campaigns. Tragically, on June 18, 1864, at the Siege of Petersburg, Col. Prescott was mortally wounded as he led his regiment in charging the Confederate earthworks and driving them back across an open field. Dying one day later on June 19, he was posthumously breveted a brigadier general in recognition of his valiant sacrifice that day. 

Though Prescott never saw the final Union victory, many of his men in the old Concord Artillery did, and they strove to remember the service of Concord’s most highly decorated Civil War officer. To that aim, these Concord veterans formed the George L. Prescott Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in recognition of their minuteman of 1861 commander and martyr in the cause of liberty and union.