The 52nd Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment was comprised of men from Franklin and Hampshire counties in Massachusetts who enlisted for nine months. The 52nd Volunteers were raised in Greenfield in October, 1862. The regiment had ten companies of about 100 men each, with men in each company coming mostly from the same town. By December, they were in Louisiana where they fought only one battle- Port Hudson in June. Three men died and seven were wounded. In July they were sent back to Massachusetts; they were discharged in August, 1863. Almost all of the soldiers never served again. The names on the tombstones in this painting show only the men lost to disease during those nine months. The regiment’s battle deaths were probably recorded elsewhere. The willow trees on either side of the graveyard are typical for the time and represent sorrow.