ments by the Union Committee. The ominous bullet-holes were everywhere present in the depot, and we were credited with being the first regiment passing through the city with unloaded arms since the unfortunate attack upon the Massachusetts Sixth, April 19, 1861. As soon as a freight train could be secured, we were forwarded to Annapolis, arriving there at three A.M., November 5th, where we were quartered in the Naval School buildings. At noon of the same day we marched westerly to a plain a mile distant, and established "Camp Springfield." The ground was rolling and well suited for its purpose as a rendezvous of troops, and camp of instruction. Here we found the Massachusetts Twenty-Fifth, Colonel Upton, and the Fifty-First New York, Colonel Ferrero, already in camp, and were soon after joined by the Twenty-Third and TwentyFourth Massachusetts, and Eighth and Tenth Connecticu regiments. The change from Massachusetts to Maryland was like moving the seasons backward, and exchanging November for September. Hardly had the lines been established, with the men fairly at work pitching their tents, than the ubiquitous darkies, uncles, aunties, shades, quadroons and octoroons, - bowing, scraping, and scratching, plied us with their hoecakes, fried and sweet-potato pies, banjos and clog-dances, until all work was well-nigh suspended, and in desperation they were ordered beyond the lines. October 23d, Brig. Gen'l Ambrose E. Burnside had been ordered to organize an expedition, with headquarters at Annapolis, Md. It was first intended that this expedition should contend with the batteries on the Potomac River and other waters of Virginia, and hence it was composed of troops from the Atlantic States, as possessing greater nautical skill and fitness for the experience likely to fall to them. After the arrival of many of the troops at Annapolis, and upon further consultation with General McClellan and FIRST ACTIVE SERVICE. 25 the War Department, the original plan was given up by General Burnside, as will appear in this history. Rumors prevailing of a contemplated raid by the rebels, on the Annapolis Branch Railroad, General McClellan ordered the patrol doubled to the Junction, some twenty miles distant; and Company A of the Twenty-Seventh Massachusetts reported to Colonel Morse of the Twenty-First Massachusetts Regiment for this duty. The company was divided into three detachments; Lieutenant Spaulding with the first being left about seven miles; Lieutenant Clark with a second, five miles; and Captain Vance with the remainder at Anderson's Switch, two miles, from Annapolis Junction. It is not given out that there were any raids or hair-breadth escapes, except for certain luckless "cullud individuals" returning from seein' Dinah on de nex' plantation." These were several times halted with an exhibition of molar ivory suggestive of discomfiture. The company returned to camp the 13th, and prided themselves with the honors of the first active service of the Twenty-Seventh Regiment. 66 On the 17th of November, Brig. Geu'l Ambrose E. Burnside, who had been placed in command of the forces in the vicinity of Annapolis, made his first inspection, attended by Secretaries Seward and Cameron, with Gov. John A. Andrew of Massachusetts, and officers of high rank in the army. On the 27th of November sixteen regi ments were present, and were brigaded as follows: First Brigade. Brig. Gen'l JOHN G. FOSTER, Commanding. Twenty-Third Massachusetts, Col. John Kurtz. Twenty-Fourth Massachusetts, Col. Thomas G. Stevenson. Twenty-Fifth Massachusetts, Col. Edwin Upton. Twenty-Seventh Massachusetts, Col. Horace C. Lee. Tenth Connecticut, Col. Charles L. Russell. Second Brigade. Brig. Gen'l JESSE L. RENO, Commanding. Twenty-First Massachusetts, Col. Augustus Morse. Third Brigade. Brig. Gen'l JOHN G. PARKE, Commanding. Fourth Rhode Island, Col. J. P. Rodman. Battery F, Capt. Charles Belger, Rhode Island Artillery, consisting of one hundred and fifty-six men, one hundred and twenty horses, four ten-pound Parrott guns, and two twelve-pound field howitzers, constituted a part of the division. General Burnside's staff consisted of Capt. Lewis Richmond, Assistant Adjutant General; Capt. Herman Biggs, Division Quartermaster; Capt. T. C. Slaight, Assistant Division Quartermaster; Capt. Charles G. Loring, Assistant Division Quartermaster; Capt. E. R. Goodrich, Commissary of Subsistence; Capt. William Cutting, Assistant Commissary of Subsistence; Capt. J. J. De Wolf, Assistant Commissary of Subsistence; Lieut. D. II. Flagler, Ordinance Officer; Lieut. Duncan C. Pell, Lieut. George Fearing, Aides-de-Camp ; Maj. W. H. Church, Division Surgeon. General Foster's staff: Capt. S. Hoffman, Assistant Adjutant General; Capt. Daniel Messenger, Brigade Quar MAJOR-GENERAL BURNSIDE. 27 termaster; Capt. E. E. Potter, Commissary of Subsistence; Capt. P. W. Hudson, Aide-de-Camp; Lieut. E. N. Strong, Lieut. G. N. Pendelton, Lieut. J. F. Anderson, Volunteer Aids. As we were but indirectly connected with the Second and Third Brigades, the staffs of these are omitted. MAJOR-GENERAL AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE, who commanded this force, was born May 23, 1824, the fifth child of Edgehill Burnside, Esq., an attorney of Liberty, Union County, Ind., who was in direct descent from Revolutionary heroes, and in early life had moved from South Carolina to the above place, where he was favored with many public offices and trusts. His son Ambrose received an appointment as a cadet at West Point in 1843, from which he graduated in Artillery July 1, 1847, with a commission as brevet second lieutenant of Artillery. He was promoted to second lieutenant of the Third United States Artillery Sept. 8, 1847, and joined the army in Mexico, but too late for active service in the field. On his return he was stationed at Fort Adams, Newport, R. I., and was subsequently ordered to New Mexico, where he was connected with Bragg's famous battery. Leaving the army in 1853, General Burnside was for a time engaged in the manufacture of fire-arms, which proving unremunerative, he was found at the opening of the Rebellion in Chicago, as treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad. Accepting the command of the First Rhode Island Infantry, he was present at the first battle of Bull Run, acting as brigadier-general in command of the First Brigade, Second Division, and rendered conspicuous service in saving the routed Union forces. The successful organization and exploits of the Burnside Expedition were worthy of the man whose name it bore, and the magnanimity with which he shared his success with others, was a trait rarely exhibited. General Burnside was continuously in command of the Ninth Army Corps, from its organization until the close of hostilities, save the brief times in which he commanded the Army of the Potomac, and when temporarily surrendering it to Major-General Foster, at Knoxville, Tenn. His service was rendered on the fields of North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as on the stubbornly contested fields of Virginia and Maryland. At the close of the war he was repeatedly chosen governor of Rhode Island, from which position he was advanced to the Senate of the United States, and was still holding this honorable position at his death, which occurred at Bristol, R. I., Sept. 13, 1881, at fifty-seven years of age. General Burnside died at the pinnacle of fame, not worn and laid aside by service and age, but in the vigorous use of all his powers. "Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!" His heroic patriotism, noble magnanimity, tender sympathy and self-sacrificing spirit, were traits endearing him alike to his command and his country. His life was clear and frank as an open book. No suspicion of jealousy of superiors, or wilful neglect of subordinates ever justly rested upon him. He was not of stolid mind, able to disregard the sacrifices and sufferings of the field, for his nature recoiled at carnage, and we say it charitably- this led to a hesitancy in precipitating contests where it is possible a little more promptness might have resulted in greater economy of life and limb. No corps commander had a stronger hold on his command than General Burnside, and in the hour of exultation, when receiving the intoxicating applause of a grateful people, he nobly and magnanimously, as at Cincinnati, reminded them, "It is not to me, but to the grand army of |