Captain John Frederic Dunning

The current 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry represents Company D of that regiment.  It was therefore of great interest to the organization when a photograph of the the first Captain of Company D, John Dunning, recently surfaced.  In 2008, the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Inc. proudly acquired the photograph of "our" first Captain.

Research on Captain Dunning's early background is ongoing.  Thus far, it appears he was born on August 1, 1832 in Brunswick, Maine and lived in Brownville, Maine before the Civil War.  He was the son of Colonel John A. Dunning who had served in the War of 1812.  He married in 1856 and his wife Marie bore him at least one son, John, in 1857.  By 1860, Dunning was living in Boston and working as a carpenter and master house builder.  Before the war even began, he was serving with the peace-time militia as a lieutenant.  In April 1861, with the commencement of hostilities, he was mustered in as a lieutenant in Company K of the 6th Massachusetts, a "90 days regiment".  He served out his enlistment and returned to Boston. 

According the the 22nd Massachusetts regimental history, Dunning was the true spirit behind the creation of Company D.  Upon his return to Boston in August of 1861, he immediately began recruitment efforts to round up a new company of volunteers.  Holding former Massachusetts Governor and U.S. Senator Edward Everett in high regard, Dunning wrote to Mr. Everett requesting permission to call his company the "Everett Guards."  Everett approved and thus Company D would be so known. 

Dunning opened a recruiting office in the Boston Museum, a exhibition hall once located on Tremont Street across from King's Chapel.  In a little over a week, he had nearly half a company signed up.  It took a bit longer to recruit the remaining half, but by October 1861, Dunning had a full company.  The men of the "Everett Guards" were from many, many towns throughout the Boston area and beyond.  About a quarter of them were from Boston itself, and nearly a quarter were from Reading.  "The Everett Guards," were assigned to the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, then forming, and Dunning was commissioned Captain of Company D.

Captain Dunning led the company through its early service in the war, including the Peninsular Campaign.  A favorite toast of his was, "Here's for a yellow sash or six feet of Virginia soil!" meaning promotion to a General or death.  During the Battle of Gaines Mill on June 27, 1862, Dunning was killed in action.  Gaines Mill would always be remembered as the darkest day for the 22nd Massachusetts.  The unit suffered the second highest casualties of any regiment in the Army of the Potomac that day, according to the regimental history.  In addition to Captain Dunning, the unit had lost its much esteemed Colonel Gove.  Many men of the unit were taken prisoner and sent to Libby Prison in Richmond.  One soldier of the 22nd was taken prisoner at the point of Captain Dunning's pistol by a Confederate who had robbed the revolver from Dunning's body.

Dunning is buried in Brownsville, Maine.  Tragically, his 5 year-old son died just months later, doubtless a difficult trial for Marie Dunning.

The regimental historian wrote of Dunning, that "he was a good disciplinarian and a courageous officer, and his early death on the field of Gaines Mills cut short a career that doubtless would have been a brilliant one."

The original photograph of Captain Dunning is now part of a growing collection of memorabilia pertaining to the the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry and is stored in a climate controlled archival library.

(Research by Jack Williams, Don Ellis and Patrick Browne).

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