Company E was raised in Randolph and Stoughton in August of 1862, and its three company officers, Captain Niles, Lieutenant William Palmer, and Second Lieutenant J.W. Ingell were all from Randolph. The company joined the regiment for a few weeks of training at Camp Lynnfield, north of Boston. It was while they were in camp that the soldiers presented Captain Niles with an elegant officer's sword with a sharkskin grip and scabbard, which is still in the collection of the Randolph Historical Commission.

After their training, the 35th Massachusetts shipped down to Washington and joined General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, on its way to intercept General Lee's Confederate forces that had just entered Maryland heading north. They "saw the elephant" and had their first fight at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14th. A few days later they were encamped along Antietam Creek across from the town of Sharpsburg, where General Lee had taken up a strong defensive position.

The battle of Antietam commenced at dawn on September 17, 1862 and raged throughout the day, mostly to the north of the 35th's position as part of General Burnside's Division. The morning of the battle, Capt. Niles may have had a cup of cayenne pepper tea, which he took on the march as a stimulant, and was said to have read the 108th Psalm.

At noon, the 35th, as the junior regiment of General Ferrero's brigade was assigned as reserve with the 20th Massachusetts, as the other two regiments in the brigade, the 51st Pennsylvania and the 51st New York, stormed the bridge over Antietam Creek and took up a position on the other side of the bridge. The 20th and 35th were quickly brought up and fell into line between the New York and Pennsylvania regiments. Ahead of them was a long sloping hill with about 600 Confederate troops at the top, with their artillery.

One of the soldiers in Capt. Niles' company, eighteen year old private Alfred E. Waldo of Stoughton described the fighting in his diary:

"We went into battle again this morning, the 13th [sic] was the first one to charge across the Antietam Bridge, the rebels ran and we charged up a hill after them, we had to get over 2 very high fences and we were all tired out when we got to the top"

"The rebels had 6 cannon pointing at us and they got to sacking us down pretty fast and we were ordered to fall back under the brow of the hill. We left that hill and went over to the left of the bridge where we had the fight our batterys [sic] got out of ammunition and left us at the mercy of the rebel Artillery."

"We fired all the amunition [sic] we had then we fell back and stoped [sic] till Thursday night and then we went back across the bridge and drew rations, the first since the Saturday before the So. Mountain fight. In the last two fights we had about 30 killed and wounded."

Private Waldo provided additional detail of the company's advance in an October 23rd letter to his parents:

"Capt. Niles marched at the head of the company the orderly Sergt. next to him then came the front ranks of the Company in which was L. J. Madden who was 1st Cpl. Cpl. Chas. Cook. Cpl. Bartlet and I. ln the 2nd ranks was Isiac Hunt. David Beals and 2 men from Easton . David Beals was wounded slightly in the elbow and heel & P. Hunt was wounded also Sunday night. They were both side of me when we were in line of battle in the Wednesday fight. The Capt. and orderly, Cpl Cook, Cpl. Bartlet were all wounded and Cpl Madden went to the hospital. He said he was slightly wounded so it picked them off all around me."

Six Randolph men from Company E were killed that afternoon, and twenty-six were wounded, along with three other Randolph men from other regiments, the single largest loss of Randolph citizens in its history.

News of the battle reached Randolph the next day, thanks to the technological wonder of the age, the telegraph. The Town sent residents George N. Johnson, and Dr. E. A. Allen to tend to the wounded.

Capt. Niles had been badly wounded in the thigh and died the evening that Johnson and Allen arrived in camp. They escorted the body back to Randolph, where he was honored with one of the largest funerals in the town's history on the rainy afternoon of October 2nd. According to the Randolph Transcript "The coffin was covered with the flag of our country, and there were placed upon it his sword and equipments, wreaths of flowers, and the portrait of the deceased, whom we have so lately seen in these streets, but now borne to his last resting place."

After the war, Post 151 of the Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans’ organization, was named the "Capt. Horace Niles Post." Ten years after the battle, Esther Niles presented her husband's sword to the post in his memory, and when the post passed out of existence in the 1940s, the sword remained on display in the G.A.R. Room at Stetson Hall, where it can be seen today.

Company E was raised in Randolph and Stoughton in August of 1862, and its three company officers, Captain Niles, Lieutenant William Palmer, and Second Lieutenant J.W. Ingell were all from Randolph. The company joined the regiment for a few weeks of training at Camp Lynnfield, north of Boston. It was while they were in camp that the soldiers presented Captain Niles with an elegant officer's sword with a sharkskin grip and scabbard, which is still in the collection of the Randolph Historical Commission.

After their training, the 35th Massachusetts shipped down to Washington and joined General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, on its way to intercept General Lee's Confederate forces that had just entered Maryland heading north. They "saw the elephant" and had their first fight at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14th. A few days later they were encamped along Antietam Creek across from the town of Sharpsburg, where General Lee had taken up a strong defensive position.

The battle of Antietam commenced at dawn on September 17, 1862 and raged throughout the day, mostly to the north of the 35th's position as part of General Burnside's Division. The morning of the battle, Capt. Niles may have had a cup of cayenne pepper tea, which he took on the march as a stimulant, and was said to have read the 108th Psalm.

At noon, the 35th, as the junior regiment of General Ferrero's brigade was assigned as reserve with the 20th Massachusetts, as the other two regiments in the brigade, the 51st Pennsylvania and the 51st New York, stormed the bridge over Antietam Creek and took up a position on the other side of the bridge. The 20th and 35th were quickly brought up and fell into line between the New York and Pennsylvania regiments. Ahead of them was a long sloping hill with about 600 Confederate troops at the top, with their artillery.

One of the soldiers in Capt. Niles' company, eighteen year old private Alfred E. Waldo of Stoughton described the fighting in his diary:

"We went into battle again this morning, the 13th [sic] was the first one to charge across the Antietam Bridge, the rebels ran and we charged up a hill after them, we had to get over 2 very high fences and we were all tired out when we got to the top"

"The rebels had 6 cannon pointing at us and they got to sacking us down pretty fast and we were ordered to fall back under the brow of the hill. We left that hill and went over to the left of the bridge where we had the fight our batterys [sic] got out of ammunition and left us at the mercy of the rebel Artillery."

"We fired all the amunition [sic] we had then we fell back and stoped [sic] till Thursday night and then we went back across the bridge and drew rations, the first since the Saturday before the So. Mountain fight. In the last two fights we had about 30 killed and wounded."

Private Waldo provided additional detail of the company's advance in an October 23rd letter to his parents:

"Capt. Niles marched at the head of the company the orderly Sergt. next to him then came the front ranks of the Company in which was L. J. Madden who was 1st Cpl. Cpl. Chas. Cook. Cpl. Bartlet and I. ln the 2nd ranks was Isiac Hunt. David Beals and 2 men from Easton . David Beals was wounded slightly in the elbow and heel & P. Hunt was wounded also Sunday night. They were both side of me when we were in line of battle in the Wednesday fight. The Capt. and orderly, Cpl Cook, Cpl. Bartlet were all wounded and Cpl Madden went to the hospital. He said he was slightly wounded so it picked them off all around me."

Six Randolph men from Company E were killed that afternoon, and twenty-six were wounded, along with three other Randolph men from other regiments, the single largest loss of Randolph citizens in its history.

News of the battle reached Randolph the next day, thanks to the technological wonder of the age, the telegraph. The Town sent residents George N. Johnson, and Dr. E. A. Allen to tend to the wounded.

Capt. Niles had been badly wounded in the thigh and died the evening that Johnson and Allen arrived in camp. They escorted the body back to Randolph, where he was honored with one of the largest funerals in the town's history on the rainy afternoon of October 2nd. According to the Randolph Transcript "The coffin was covered with the flag of our country, and there were placed upon it his sword and equipments, wreaths of flowers, and the portrait of the deceased, whom we have so lately seen in these streets, but now borne to his last resting place."

After the war, Post 151 of the Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans’ organization, was named the "Capt. Horace Niles Post." Ten years after the battle, Esther Niles presented her husband's sword to the post in his memory, and when the post passed out of existence in the 1940s, the sword remained on display in the G.A.R. Room at Stetson Hall, where it can be seen today.