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Nantucket Hero:
General George Nelson Macy

By Robert F. Mooney

The Macy name has always been prominent in Nantucket history, but no one in the family surpassed the achievements, bravery, and patriotism of George Nelson Macy during the Civil War.

Born on Nantucket in 1837, he was the eldest son of George Wendell Macy, a successful island businessman. Macy graduated with honors from Nantucket High School in 1855, and set off to Boston to make his own fortune. He was employed by the merchant banking firm of Warren & Osborn on State Street, where he soon made friends with several promising young men, mostly Harvard graduates, who belonged to Boston's prestigious old militia company, the New England Guards. With the advent of the Civil War, they readily accepted young Macy and together they volunteered for the Union army in, as it was called, the Harvard Regiment.

Most of Harvard's Class of 1860 were eager to enlist in the newly formed elite regiment, the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In the burst of enthusiasm following the attack on Fort Sumter, no Harvard man was refused a commission by Governor John Albion Andrew, and thus the regiment contained illustrious names like Henry Livermore Abbott, William Francis Bartlett, Caspar Crowninshield, and Oliver Wendell Homes Jr. They soon added their non-Harvard friend, George Nelson Macy, of Nantucket, as first lieutenant of the regiment.

Macy had command of Company I of the 20th Mass., and soon proved himself a natural leader of men. One of the duties of a junior officer was recruiting, and Macy was an excellent recruiting officer. Going home for a weekend, he left with twenty-three Nantucket men in tow; then he stopped at Martha's Vineyard and picked up five more. In those days, part of the appeal of the volunteer army was the chance to serve with one's friends and neighbors. As the islanders eagerly joined Company I, the company included about sixty island volunteers, thanks to Macy.

The story of the 20th Mass. is the story of the Army of the Potomac, which fought in every battle from Ball's Bluff to Appomattox. Originally numbering about 750 men, the regiment incurred over fifty per cent casualties. George Nelson Macy suffered three crippling wounds as he fought in every battle (except for detached duty at Antietam), and rose from lieutenant to major general.

On October 21, 1861, the regiment was tested at Ball's Bluff, near Leesburg, Virginia, in one of the Union Army's early disasters. After crossing the Potomac River in small boats, they were atop a seventy-foot bluff, surrounded by Confederates, with the river at their backs and no boats in sight. The 20th Mass. served as the rear guard for the army, then had to make the decision: swim or surrender. Lieutenant Macy swam the river to find more boats to rescue survivors, gain the admiration of the regiment, and win promotion to captain.

In December of 1862, the regiment was part of the army under General Ambrose Burnside, who ordered the assault on the colonial town of Fredericksburg. The Massachusetts men were chosen to lead the way, crossing the Rappahannock River in small boats, then marching through the streets in the face of deadly rifle fire from well-concealed Confederates-the first instance of genuine street fighting in the war. Captain Macy led the way through the streets, losing forty men during an advance of fifty yards.

After securing the town, the Union forces attempted seven charges up Marye's Heights, a deadly killing field swept by Confederate cannon and rifle fire. Among the 12,000 casualties of the Union Army at Fredericksburg were seven Nantucket men killed in action-the saddest day of the war when the news reached home. Amid all his wartime travails, Macy carried on a romantic correspondence with his island sweetheart, Mary Hayden. They numbered each letter for continuity and ready reference. In February he requested fifteen days' leave from the army, explaining: "I ask for fifteen instead of ten days for the reason that as much time is required to go to Nantucket as to Canada." He returned to Nantucket, where George and Mary were married on February 16, 1863, and honeymooned on the island.

Returning to the army, Macy was at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and when Colonel Paul J. Revere, grandson of the Midnight Rider, was killed, Macy assumed command of the regiment. Facing Pickett's Charge that day, the 20th Mass. was in the front line of General Hancock's men on Cemetery Ridge. Macy led his men into the mélée that stopped Pickett's Charge. A minié ball shattered his left hand; the arm was amputated and, after recovery in Boston, he was fitted with an artificial arm.

Despite his disability, Macy returned to action. As a full colonel in the Wilderness, on May 6, 1864, he was ordered to lead a charge to save the Union line of defense. Charging up the Orange Plank Road, he was shot in both legs, but survived.

The unsinkable Macy returned to duty in Virginia in August 1864. At the battle of Deep Bottom, near Richmond, he was leading his men on horseback when his horse was shot and fell upon him. Macy arose and pushed forward with his men until he fell senseless on the field. When he returned to Nantucket to convalesce, he had to be carried on a litter from the steamship to his home on Main Street.

For his distinguished conduct at the Wilderness and Deep Bottom, Macy was promoted on February 6, 1865, to the rank of brevet (temporary) brigadier general. He was then twenty-seven years old. Later he was appointed brevet major general by General Ulysses S. Grant.

At the Grand Review of the Army held May 23, 1865, Macy led the parade before President Andrew Johnson and General Grant, in a scene immortalized by General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: "Now rides the Provost Marshall General, Gallant George Macy of the 20th Massachusetts, his (left) arm symbolized by an empty sleeve pinned across his breast."

After the war, Macy returned to Boston, where he became an officer of the Suffolk Savings Bank and of the Union Club. He and his wife were the parents of three daughters. While working at the bank, he was accustomed to carrying a small Derringer pistol in his vest pocket. Returning home on February 13, 1875, he suffered a dizzy spell and fell, the pistol firing and sending a ball through his heart. He is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.

Macy's widow married, but after her second husband died she was obliged to return to the Macys' home at 123 Main Street, Nantucket. She petitioned for a pension as the widow of the Civil War hero, supporting it by testimonials from several Civil War generals. By Act of Congress, Macy's death was found to be the result of his many wartime injuries, and his widow was awarded a full pension in 1902.

There is no memorial to George Nelson Macy in Nantucket, although there should be. His home at 123 Main Street is still standing, largely as it was during his day, privately owned.

It was not customary during the Civil War to award medals to officers, although some were authorized years later. Officers were rewarded by brevet promotions. In any other war, Macy, for his many campaigns, his steadfast courage under fire, and his three major wounds, would have merited a Congressional Medal of Honor.

Robert F. Mooney is coauthor of "The Civil War: The Nantucket Experience", with Richard F. Miller, whose research contributed to this article. Bob is also a member of the NHA's Editorial Committee and sometime contributor to Historic Nantucket.