Tufts & the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia

[Traintime]

A true puzzlement. Sample of place spoon in Tipped or Tipt pattern manufactured and plated by James W. Tufts of Boston sometime from circa 1875 to about 1903. Engraved in the top was the mysterious lettering “Mch. 5th”. This seemed likely to be a military unit of a state level national guard before this stuff became federalized. Given Tufts was based in New England, Michigan didn’t seem as likely as Massachusetts to explain that ‘Mch.”. Now the problem was finding what could be a fifth organization. There was in the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (MVM) an Infantry Regiment, an Artillery unit, and a Cavalry group (some distinguished African-American service, even without horses), but all seemed to be mustered out at the end of the Civil War nearly a decade before Tufts shifted beyond soda fountains and into manufacturing. Eventually, I was able to find photograpic proof that the MVM in general had a continued existence into the early 20th Century prior to World War I. And there seemed to be evidence that a 5th Infantry Regiment was operating in 1906. But none of this could answer for 1875-1903 for this specific unit. (Part 2 is coming.)

[Traintime]

Part 2. Luckily, extensive pleading with the gods of the internet hell and their mechanical mindless minions labeled search engines, with some fancy footwork to dodge the operating system land mines invariably dispensed with every new system programming upgrade download from the people who claim to be making life easier (ha ha), led to the Internet Archive wherein was found to be stored the following: Full text, “Regiment and armories of Massachusetts; an historical narration of the Massachusetts volunteer militia, yada yada, etcetera etcetera, ad infinitum.” by Charles Winslow Hall, published by W.W. Potter of Boston around 1899-1903. And thus, on page 219 concerning the year 1898, “blah blah, May 25, War Department asked for another regiment…so on”. Next, “Governor Wolcott wired in return, that a regiment was ready and fully equipped. Colonel Jophanus H. Whitney, of the Fifth Massachusetts Infantry, recruited his regiment to the maximum company strength, and went into camp June 30.”. Additional information shows the 5th contributed some 1315 working bodies to the effort in the Spanish-American War. So there we have it…a 5th Regiment of Infantry Volunteers seemed to still be in existence in the decades following the Civil War, even if most available sources try to mislead us. Unless anyone thinks this can’t be quite right or finds another explanation for the item as it is, I think we can conclude that Tufts was doing some business with military organizations either directly or through a supplier. Presumably, the flatware was part to a service that outfitted the unit officers’ mess as enlisted personnel generally didn’t rate finer dining. Whether it was part to a travelling canteen or kept soley for some base quarters has yet to be determined. I’ve worn the boots but am certainly no expert on this stuff from the long past.