Rodney and Consider Edmands were shoemakers, then soldiers
By NANCY BERTRAND
Wakefield Historical Society
On May 31 the town of Wakefield will keep its promise to honor the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War on a grand Rededication Day, when the newly restored Soldiers and Sailors Monument will be rededicated to their memory. To remind ourselves of the individual men who fought and sometimes lost their lives during this War, we thought it would be appropriate to offer some of their individual stories.
WAKEFIELD — Rodney Edmands descended from families of the earliest settlers of New Hampshire and Lynn. In 1860, he made his home in South Reading, where he worked as a shoemaker. His wife Mary Wade was from Lynnfield and bore him 10 children, six sons and four daughters.
Like his father, Consider Edmands worked as a shoemaker at one of the many thriving shoe shops in South Reading. On June 13, 1861, at the age of 18, Consider enlisted for three years into the 11th Mass. Vol. Inf. Co. I 81st Regiment because he wanted to do his part to support the Union cause. Two days later, Rodney joined his son in the same military company.
The 11th Mass. was a very active force, participating in the First Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861, and then, in 1862 at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill and Catlett’s Station. The 2nd Battle of Bull Run began on August 28 and went on for three days. By the morning of the second day of the battle, the Confederate soldiers were forcing a Union defeat, and the losses were heavy. In fact, sources say, the Union was shocked by the carnage.
It’s rare that we know details about individual soldiers’ military placement in a battle, but a popular periodical of the time, Youth’s Companion, related that Consider Edmands had been placed in a very vulnerable front-line position to try to hold back a rebel attack. His father ordered him to exchange positions with him but, as the action began, Consider literally threw himself in front of his father, only to be mortally wounded as two shots tore through his body. Consider Edmands, 19-years old, died on August 29, 1862, after serving his country for 14 months. His place of interment is unknown.
Rodney Edmands was wounded in the hand on the same day, and later was given a disability discharge, only to re-enlist for three more years as a private. He served till the end of the war, mustering out on 30 June 1865. Upon his return, he found that his wife Mary had died two weeks before his release from military service.
Three years later, at the age of 51, he met and married Josephine Edwards, and went on to have four more children (14 in all!), one of whom was given the middle name “Consider.” Rodney Edmands died at the age of 92 in 1909 and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery.
No photographs survive of the two Edmands men, but the memory of Consider’s sacrifice is kept here, in the town of his birth.
Rodney and Consider Edmands were only two of the 505 men who enlisted to represent South Reading in the “War of the Rebellion.” The soldiers’ stories, their souvenirs and the story of the families who supported them and the town that celebrated their victories, prayed for their return and mourned their losses, will be told at the Wakefield Historical Society’s exhibit at the Wakefield History Museum, opening on Saturday, May 31 from noon to 2:30 p.m. this week.
The Historical Society’s exhibit and Open House are only part of the overall celebration of the restoration of Soldiers and Sailors Monument (http://www.wakefield.ma.us/monument) taking place on Rededication Day. The public is cordially invited to attend and experience the story of our town in this time of war. For more information, visit http://www.wakefieldhistory.org or email wakefieldhistory@gmail.com