Henry Sleeper
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VOL. VIII.—No. 393.] NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1864.
$1,00 FOR FOUR MONTHS.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1864, by Harper & Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. CAPTAIN J. HENRY SLEEPER.CAPTAIN J. HENRY SLEEPER, who commands the Tenth Massachusetts Battery (and whose Portrait we here give, together with a sketch of the Battery), is a Bostonian by birth, the son of Hon. JACOB SLEEPER, a well-known citizen, and one of the members of the Governor's Council with General BANKS and Mr. ANDREW. Captain SLEEPER is twenty-three years of age, and has been in the army from the beginning of the war. He entered the service as First Lieutenant in the Fifth Massachusetts infantry, one of the first regiments to respond to the call for troops, and won praise from his superiors for coolness and bravery in the first battle of Bull Run. When his time was out he returned home, but almost immediately joined Captain PORTER's First Massachusetts Light Battery as Lieutenant. With this battery he made the entire Peninsular Campaign, and was noticed every where for dashing bravery, skill as an artilerist, and coolness under fire. When new batteries were to be raised, he was called by Governor ANDREW, on the recommendation of the division and corps generals under whom he had served, to assume command of the TENTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. This battery was largely recruited from among the hardy seamen of Marblehead, Lynn, and other small ports of the State; and sailors are famous as artillerists. He drilled his battery carefully and constantly, and when it came into active service it gained at once a reputation for activity and brilliancy of execution. In the present campaign SLEEPER'S battery has served with the fighting division of the fighting corps of the Army of the Potomac, BIRNEY'S Division of HANCOCK'S Corps. It was one of the very few batteries which would not be denied even in the Wilderness battles, but managed by sheer hard work and determination to take part in these terrible actions, when most of the artillery could not be brought to bear on account of the dense woods. By its conduct then and ever since, the battery has gained the sobriquet from the corps of " the saucy battery." The Times correspondent writes of it the following incident of the great fight at Cold Harbor: "About nightfall a desperate charge was made by the rebels upon our extreme left, where a number of batteries of the Second Corps were in position. In front of these guns, and below their level, was an open field. Rather more than half-way across this space ran our line of breastworks—at this point not more than one hundred yards from those held by the enemy. Every thing was perfectly quiet, mutual respect for each other's fire preventing unnecessary exposure. Suddenly a perfectly devilish volley of musketry was delivered from their works, accompanied
CAPT. J. HENRY SLEEPER, COMMANDING
THE TENTH MASSACHUSETTS
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