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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Horace
B. Welch
2nd
Lieut., Co. F, “California Battalion,” 2nd Mass. Cavalry
Captain,
5th Mass. Cavalry (Colored)
Horace Welch got a late start with his military service, compared to his comrades in the California Battalion. He joined Capt. David A. DeMerritt’s company in San Francisco with the rank of 2nd lieutenant. But this last company of the California Battalion was slow to fill it’s ranks. The rest of the California Battalion, including some members of his company, sailed for the East a month before Welch and the later recruits of his company departed San Francisco on April 24, 1863. By the time he arrived in Massachusetts, his fellow Californians, along with the rest of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, had already left for the seat of war. Late again. Welch was soon detached for recruiting duty in Lowell, Mass. He finally rejoined Co. F in October, 1863 with 100 fresh recruits for the regiment. However, at this point, Co. F had been detached for picket duty at Muddy Branch, Maryland. Lieutenant Welch still was not to see the frontline action for which he enlisted. Overall morale was poor and growing worse among this detached group of Californians. In February 1864 Welch transferred, along with several other members of the 2nd Mass. Cavalry, to the newly-forming 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, a colored regiment. Fast promotion was the usual reason for white officers transferring to a black unit and, not surprisingly, Welch was quickly appointed captain. If he was seeking more than rank, frontline service still escaped him. Captain Welch and his regiment spent nine months at Point Lookout guarding prisoners. They finally saw combat during the siege of Petersburg. It cost the regiment the lives of nine men. Welch led a triumphant squadron of black cavalrymen into Richmond, Virginia on April 8, 1865. Victory at last. These weren’t the troops he led when he left California. But this was the cause and the final resolution for which he enlisted. With the Confederacy vanquished, a new threat to the country was perceived. The French were in Mexico. The 5th Mass. Cavalry was part of the massive troop build-up along the Texas border in 1865. They were ordered to that state and served in Clarksville until they were mustered out in October 1865. At this point, Horace Welch fades from history. He never applied for a military pension and it is not known whether he returned to California of sought his future elsewhere. But wherever he landed, by then he was certainly accustomed to traveling. Bio and photographs courtesy of Richard K. Tibbals |
