The Second Mass and Its Fighting CaliforniansA Reference site of images, articles, artifacts of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry including the Cal 100 and the Cal Battalion.
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Nathan Fogg's Colt Army
click on image to enlarge Nathan
H. Fogg
Co. L, 2nd
Massachusetts Cavalry
One thing about Nathan Fogg, he wasn’t afraid of much. Like heading out from
Saco, Maine across two oceans to seek his fortune. Or landing in California at
the age of about twenty without a clue of how he would support himself. But
today Nate was scared. Today he was trying to control an equally-frightened
horse while John Mosby’s rebel cavalrymen charged through him and his
comrades. Today — in fact just a few minutes ago — he had been wounded. It
was a hot, steamy July day at Mount Zion Church near Aldie, Virginia. And
Private Fogg and his comrades were in trouble. Fogg
was a San Francisco carpenter as the war heated up. When the call went out for
recruits for the California Battalion, he jumped at the chance to enlist in
Capt. Zabdiel Adams’ company on Feb. 5, 1863, the first day the company’s
recruiting books were opened. They would soon be designated Company L, 2nd
Massachusetts Cavalry. Private Nate Fogg was 24 years old and a slight 5 feet, 4
1/2
inches tall… an advantage for a cavalryman, some would say. For
the next year, Fogg’s story was much the same as that of the California
Battalion. From training at muddy Camp Meigs to a series of small, deadly
skirmishes with Mosby’s Rangers. Fogg and his company missed the disastrous
ambush at Dranesville. But on July 6, 1864, he and his comrades would see all
the action a soldier could ask for.
Private Fogg was part of a scouting detail of 150 men under Major Forbes. Near
Mount Zion Church outside of Aldie, they were met by an equal-sized group of
guerillas led by Major John Mosby. A small howitzer and an impetuous, well-timed
charge straight into the union troopers made all the difference for Mosby and
his men. Some yankees fled. Most Californians stood and fought, putting up a
stubborn, hand-to-hand resistance — at least for a while. Nate Fogg, revolver
in hand, hung in with his company. But the southern momentum was too much. Fogg
was wounded in the close fighting. He eventually fled for safety with other
Californians in what could only be called a rout. The
nature of Fogg’s wound is not known. Apparently it wasn’t serious. In fact,
while some sources place him on the WIA list, others do not. Interestingly,
neither his military records nor his pension records mention a wound. After
Mount Zion Church, he was assigned as the orderly of Lt. Peleg
Irwin, the
Regimental Commissary of Subsistence. In this capacity, Fogg took part in the
Shenandoah Valley campaign that helped define the fighting spirit of the
California cavalrymen. He was assigned to the Remount Camp at Chapel Point,
Maryland in December 1864. He languished there through April 1865, missing the
regiment’s final, decisive engagements of the war. With hostilities ended,
Nate Fogg rejoined the main force of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry in
May and was at long last appointed corporal. Proudly, he was mustered out with
the rest of the regiment on July 20, 1865. When
he settled final accounts with the Army, Fogg arranged to keep a couple of
souvenirs. For the sum of $11.00 he purchased the cavalry saber and Colt 1860
Army revolver that he carried for the last 21/2 years. After all, these were the “friends” that helped him out of
the scrape at Mt. Zion Church, among others. At some point in time he had a
small silver escutcheon set into the Colt’s walnut grip. It was simply
inscribed, “Nate Fogg.” Fogg’s
post-war life reflected much the same sense of adventure as his earlier years.
He never returned to California, possibly because the government refused to pay
for the return ticket. But in an era when the average American spent his entire
life in one county, Nathan Fogg bounced from Boston to Hagerstown, Indiana to
Cincinnati to Springfield, Massachusetts, to Boston again, then to his hometown
of Saco, Maine. Along the way, he picked up a loving 18-year-old bride, three
daughters and a knack for working with the new-fangled concept of electric
lighting. Like his days in the service, not all was joyful. Nate and Olive Fogg
lost their second daughter before she reached her first birthday. In
1884 the Foggs made one last, bold move. They pulled up stakes and moved from
Maine to sunny Florida. The once-swaggering cavalryman would spend the rest of
his life in Altamonte Springs, outside of Orlando. The
carpenter/soldier/electrician was now raising oranges, pecans, tropical trees…
and a family. Eventually his eyes, hearing and back began to fail him. But not
his memory. Fogg was active in the local GAR post and served his time as post
commander. In 1902 a crippling Florida freeze destroyed his fruit crop. Fogg,
now in his 60’s, swallowed his pride and applied for a soldier’s pension. By
now he was one of the most respected, well-liked citizens in the area.
Cancer finally took 77-year-old Nathan Fogg on a warm Sunday morning in 1916. He
was buried in the GAR section of Greenwood Cemetery in Altamonte Springs. The
locals remembered him as a remarkable gentleman, a first-rate citizen and a
neighbor who always worked for the betterment of his community. No one at the
final ceremonies could picture him as the young, gamecock cavalryman who was
willing to wade into a charging enemy. But that was Nate Fogg, too. Artifact and biography courtesy of Richard K. Tibbals
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