Dated "Poplar Grove Church, VA. Nov. 11, 1864”. Pre-printed form. 2pp., plus handwritten memo, both exhibiting fold-marks, else fine.

These documents detail the transfer of Springfield muskets and other ordnance, and order all company commanders to turn in all surplus ordnance equipment by order of Capt. Willard Triff, Cmdg. 29th Regiment.

Attached at front is Special Order 69 dated “HdQrs 29^th Mass Vet. Vols / Near Pegram House Va No. 9^th 1864”. lower right of the memo in red ink is the name of Capt. John M. Deane, comdg. Co. K. Text reads:

“Company Commanders will turn in each of their Ordnance and Ordnance Stores as have become surplus in order tha the property may be turned over to the Act Dir Ordnance Officer. By Command of / Capt Willard D. Tripp / Comdg Regt. / David P. Sculley / !st Lieut and Acct. ________”. At lower right in red ink is the name Capt. John M. Deane, Comdg Co. “K”.

A 29-year old teacher when the war broke out, Deane had served in the 3^rd Mass Militia before the war, making sergeant in August 1860 and lieutenant in Co. G by February 1861. He is listed in the wartime rolls of the 3^rd as “Ensign,” an alternative designation for 2^nd Lieutenant and was one of the “Massachusetts Minutemen of 1861,” enrolling for active service in the 3^rd Mass Volunteer Militia on April 16, 1861, and sailing to Fortress Monroe, where they were officially mustered into U.S. service for three months’ duty on April 23 in answer to Lincoln’s call for 75,000 troops for three month’s duty. During that time they took part in evacuating and burning the Gosport Navy Yard and garrisoning Fortress Monroe. Deane mustered out of the 3^rd MVM 22 July 1861 and in June 1862 was commissioned 2^nd Lieutenant in the 29^th Massachusetts, making 1^st Lt. 12/29/62; Adjutant 11/1/63; Captain 6/8/64, and Major 5/15/65 with a later brevet to Major of U.S. Vols to date 3/25/65, mustering out 8/8/1865.

The 29^th Mass. served in the Irish Brigade in the Peninsula Campaign and at Antietam, fighting at the Sunken Road. Transferred to the 9^th Corps, they served in Mississippi and Tennessee in 1863, returned east and were briefly in the 5^th Corps before rejoining the 9^th again for Grant’s overland and Petersburg campaigns. Seeing action at Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and Fort Stedman, Lee’s last attempt to break the siege of Petersburg, where Deane was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for helping to man an abandoned artillery piece under heavy fire and aiding in the repulse of the Confederate attack. The regiment lost 4 officers and 53 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded during their service. Deane penned several of the regiment’s official reports for 1864 and 1865, and his letters have been published. He was credited with participation in twenty battles. In later years he lived in Freetown, Mass., where he was a member of Richard Borden G.A.R. Post #46, and died 9/2/1914.  [JP/sr] [ph:L]

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