Barry M. Stentiford - The Richardson Light Guard of Wakefield, Massachusetts: A Town Militia in War and Peace, 1851-1975

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

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e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-0285-1

2013 Barry M. Stentiford. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

On the cover: Rifle Team, Co. A, 6th Regt M.V.M., Richardson Light Guard 1895 (courtesy Wakefield Historical Society); background (iStockphoto/Thinkstock)

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
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For the thousands of men who gave their money, time,
blood, and sometimes lives to serve
in the Richardson Light Guard in all its incarnations
from 1851 through 1975. They showed
the true meaning of community and service.

This book has been a work in progress for several years and along the way I have benetted from the assistance of several people. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Mr. James Buckle, who served in Co. E of the 182d in World War II, earning a Silver Star, and who spent many years afterward compiling records of the men with whom he served. Much of the material for chapters VIII and IX came from his collection. I also need to thank Drs. Sally J. Southwick, William M. Donnelly, and Eleanor L. Hannah who carefully read early versions of the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions and corrections. Colonel (Ret.) Leonid Kondratiuk, the director of the Massachusetts Army National Guard Museum and Archives, gave consistent support both through the collections he oversees and through his own vast knowledge of the military of Massachusetts. Dr. Robert McFarland made a detailed critique of a paper extracted from this and made numerous useful suggestions that greatly enhanced the nished product. The Journal of Military History published an article drawn from the manuscript in July 2008 and has graciously allowed the reprinting of the material here. My friend Mr. Michael Boucher and Ms. Nancy Bertrand were very helpful in getting photographs for me. I must also thank the people of Wakeeld, who support the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library and its ne local history room, and Mr. Mark Sardella, who graciously allowed me to use images from the librarys collection.

And lastly, I must thank my wife, Vitida, and son, Geoffrey, for patiently allowing me to spend too much time engaged in this project over the past few years.

Co. D, 7th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 18511855

Co. E, 7th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 18551861

Co. B, 5th Reg. Mass. U.S. Volunteers (3 months): 1861

Co. E, 7th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 1861

Co. E, 50th Reg. Mass. U.S. Volunteers (9 months): 18621863

Co. E, 7th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 1863

Co. E, 8th Reg. Mass. U.S. Volunteers (100 days): 18631864

Co. E, 8th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 18641866

Co. A, 6th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 18661898

Co. A, 6th Reg. Mass. Infantry U.S. Volunteers: 18981899

Co. A, 6th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 18991901

Co. A, 6th Reg. Infantry Mass. Volunteer Militia: 19011913

Co. A, 6th Reg. Infantry Mass. National Guard: 19171919

Co. H, 12th Reg. Mass State Guard: 19171921

Co. A, 6th Reg. Regiment (Provisional): 1919

Co. K, 9th Reg. Infantry Mass. National Guard: 19191923

Co. E, 182nd Reg. Infantry Mass. National Guard: 19231945

Co. H, 23rd Reg. Infantry Mass. State Guard: 19401943

6th Company, 23rd Reg. Infantry Mass. State Guard: 19431946

After the disbandment of the World War II State Guard, no company ofcially designated as the RLG.

Co. E, 182nd Regimental Combat Team: 19461959

Combat Support Company, First Battle Group, 26th ID: 19591963

Co. C, 1182d Infantry Mass. National Guard: 19631975

Reading Company, North Regiment: 16441680

Reading Company, Lower Regiment of Middlesex: 16801773

Reading Company, First Regiment of Militia: 17321812

South Reading Company, First Regiment of Militia: 18121840

Cavalry Troop: 1658

Train Band (Minutemen): 17701775

Cavalry Troop: 17931828

Washington Rie Grays (aka Greens): 18111846

Co. E, 16th Reg. Mass. U.S. Volunteers (3 years): 18611864

Med. Det. 182d Infantry Mass. National Guard: 19261946

HQ Co., 2nd BN 23rd Reg. Infantry Mass. State Guard: 19401946

2d Batt. Sec., Med Det. 182d RCT, Mass. National Guard: 19461948

Med. Company, 182d RCT, Mass. National Guard: 19481950

Tank Company, 182d RCT, Mass. National Guard: 19501955

Co. B, 7th Reg. Mass. Volunteer Militia: 1812(?)-1854

Co. D, 50th Reg. Mass. U.S. Volunteers (9 months): 18621863

Reading Home Defense Corps: 19411943?

The declaration of war against Spain on 26 April 1898 sent waves of excitement through cities, towns, and villages across the United States. Although some apprehension must have existed beneath the surface, most Americans responded enthusiastically to the new war. The Civil War had ended thirty-three years earlier, and the public memory of that conict had evolved from horror into a kind of nostalgia, where the brutality of the battleeld had been romanticized into a noble crusade and test of manhood. A new generation of young men longed for its own test of manhood on distant battleelds. The last Indian Wars had largely been affairs of the Regular Army in remote parts of the West, and had offered no opportunities for civilian men in the East to quench their thirst for adventure.

For the men of the Richardson Light Guardthe local militia company of Wakeeld, Massachusettsnews of the declaration of war brought a sense of relief after weeks of uncertainty. The war with Spain would be their chance to show their fellow townspeople that they were worthy successors to earlier generations of men from the town who had marched off to war. Militia companies from the town fought in the colonial wars against the Indians and later the French. Companies from the town fought the British from the opening battles of the Revolutionary War. The town had even supported the War of 1812, which most of New England bitterly opposed. Only during the Mexican War, for which the town shared the distaste most New Englanders felt for that struggle, did no units march from the town to war.

Four times during the Civil War the Richardson Light Guard left the town to enter federal service. Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the RLG remained the towns militia. For the next thirty-three years, the RLG led an existence typical for many militia units in the Northeast; they competed in rie matches, fought sham battles, and held numerous banquets and balls. They paraded for their fellow townspeople and participated in most public events. Ofcers were selected through the time-honored method of company-wide elections. The hometown consistently supported its militia company, building it one of the best rie ranges in the state in 1891 and a ne new armory in 1895. The RLG had never performed service during labor unrest, and so remained untainted by that onerous duty. Instead the RLG gave men of Wakeeld an institution through which they could nd camaraderie, athletics, prestige, and a sense of community. But the RLG had always seen itself as a military organization above all, and now that self-image was again to be tested. After years of newspaper stories of Spanish outrages in nearby Cuba, war came to Wakeeld. The weeks between the sinking of the U.S.S.