CDV – Colonel Albert S. Follansbee, 6th Mass Volunteers

Description

CDV – Colonel Albert S. Follansbee, 6th Mass Volunteers.  Photographed as Colonel of the Nine Month 6th Massachusetts Regiment.

Captain Follensbee had first enlisted in the 6th Regiment in 1859, from Lowell, Massachusetts, the senior captain, had command of the battalion of 6th Mass companies (C, D, I, and L) that had to endure the onslaught by rioting civilians in Baltimore, trying to reach Washington by train on the morning of Friday, April 19th. 4 men were killed and 11 wounded.

In August of 1862, Follensbee was commissioned as colonel in the 6th, with some guard duties and action against confederate forces under the command of Gen. Longstreet, around the City and area of Suffolk,Va. This regiment mustered out in June of 1863.

Once again, Colonel Follensbee commanded the 6th, this time as a 100 day regiment, performing duty around the Washington area, and guarding 7000 confederate prisoners at Fort Delaware.  He mustered out with his regiment in October of 1864.

Follansbee’s roll in the riot at Baltimore will always be linked to the alarm of April 19, 1775, when the ancients of the “Old 6th Massachusetts” marched toward Lexington and Concord on the first day of The American Revolution. How decisively and dramatically did history repeat itself with such a significant date in our nation’s history, linking such similar events on the very same date, involving the very state (colony), county and families that bleed in both of these armed conflicts. Take the time to go to the web and read up on the 6th Massachusetts’ march through the harrowing mob scene in Baltimore at the beginning of the Civil War. Follensbee was the right man for the task.

Photographed by Warren, Lowell, Mass.

Ex Collection Gil Barrett.