cession. Each in turn seized the public property, Florida and Louisiana ignoring their purchase by the government at a cost of about sixty millions of dollars, and Texas the fact that her place in our constellation had been secured by upwards of two hundred millions of dollars, and large numbers of valuable lives.

Friday, April 12, 1861, at half-past four in the morning, a shell from a mortar battery near Fort Johnson, Charleston, S.C., described a curve high in air, and fell within Fort Sumter, then occupied by Major Robert Anderson, with a garrison of one hundred and twenty-eight men. After a bombardment of thirty-six hours, by forces under General Beauregard, the fort was surrendered and evacuated April 14th. Thus was treason consummated, and a conflict inaugurated, which, in gigantic proportions, and far-reaching results, must ever stand as one of the boldest monuments in political history.

66

Troops could

These acts narrated, resulted in a proclamation for convening Congress July 4, 1861, and a call for seventy-five thousand troops for three months. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, now cast their lot with the South, while Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri refused their quota, and notified the government, not pass over their domain to coerce the sovereign States." By this accession, the seceded States embraced a population of five and a half million whites and three and one-half million blacks, with a territory of five hundred and sixtyfour thousand square miles. Cotton had been king, yielding to these States upward of two hundred millions annually, in addition to immense revenues from other crops, and from

mines and forests of ship-timber. The conflict must be waged, if at all, along an inland line of upwards of twelve hundred miles well suited for defence, and twenty-four hundred miles of seaboard, containing the best harbors and strongest fortresses of the Union.

From the Potomac to the far West, all was chaos and lurking treason when Congress met. An insurgent army was gathered at Manassas, Va., threatening the national capital. Kentucky had decided to remain in the Union, but Buckner and Breckenridge, and other leading men were secretly plotting to lead it into the rebellion; Missouri was rent in twain by treason and contesting forces, and its governor and the rebel General Price, were actively at work to force it into the Confederacy. Privateers sailing under letters of marque were destroying our merchant marine upon the high seas, while the nations of the Old World pointed with scorn at one more failure of a republican government.

Even while Congress was debating the right or advisability of coercion, the battle of Bull Run was fought; and the retreating, demoralized Union army of twenty-eight thousand five hundred and sixty-eight men, as it fell back upon the national capital, awoke the two houses from sentimentality to a conception of duty. The needed appropriations were quickly made, and the call for five hundred thousand volunteers was authorized.

Before a step could be taken to retrieve our national honor, this army must be enlisted, equipped, and drilled. A great danger also threatened the nation in the expiration of the term of the three months troops; but, thanks to their

unwavering loyalty, these troops volunteered to remain until such time as new levies could replace them. Fortunately, the call for volunteers was met by an uprising and response without parallel, exceeding by two hundred and fourteen thousand one hundred and forty the number called for, a sight which startled the nations of the world, and awoke in our enemies a new conception of the conflict they had precipitated.

Suspecting that the national government would be forced to resort to arms- with eminent wisdom-Gov. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, had issued his General Order No. 4, Jan. 16, 1861, requiring the commanding officer of cach militia organization, to perfect, recruit, and equip his command with men ready for service at a moment's notice; and to discharge such as were unfit and unwilling to enter active service.

By virtue of this forethought, Massachusetts was able to respond so promptly to the call for troops, that the unfading honor of the first response to the nation's call, belongs to her, and to the valiant Sixth Massachusetts Regiment. The morning following the call, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment mustered on Boston Common, and the evening of the 17th was en route for Washington.

The President's first call was met with such an uprising that but a small proportion of the volunteers could be accepted; but after the battle of Bull Run, with a more vivid conception of the conflict before it, the government once more appealed to the States for help, and Governor Andrew issued his proclamation, "Your country calls you to the post, where the heroic soldiers of April hastened with generous alacrity and sublime devotion."

CHAPTER I.

TWENTY-SEVENTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT.

AUGUST 28, 1861, Horace C. Lee, City Clerk of Springfield, a gentleman of large experience in the Massachusetts State Militia, received a telegram from Governor Andrew, offering him the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Twenty-First Massachusetts Regiment, then in camp at Worcester. He telegraphed his acceptance, and the next morning went to Boston for instructions, when he was informed that five additional regiments were to be raised, and that the governor had decided to authorize him to organize one of these in the western part of the State.

September 3d, he received written authority from Governor Andrew to organize a regiment, to be recruited in the four western counties. It was then supposed that the regiment would be called the Twenty-Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, and all its earlier orders were so given.

Colonel Lee at once communicated with fifteen gentlemen of former prominence in the militia, offering commands and positions as he considered them competent, in return for enlistments.

September 10th, recruiting offices were opened at Northampton, Amherst, Greenfield, Athol, Ludlow, Chicopee, Springfield, Westfield, North Adams and Pittsfield. So intense was the enthusiasm that on the 15th instant Northampton and Westfield reported full ranks; Ludlow, seventyfive men enlisted; and other places that they were meeting unexpected success.

September 17th, the companies at Amherst, Adams, Chico

pee and Ludlow, were ordered into camp on "Gunn's Lot," situated upon the Wilbraham Road, about a mile east of the United States Armory, at Springfield, Mass. The camp was well situated upon high and level ground, far enough from the city to facilitate discipline, and yet easy of access for visitors and supplies. Luke Lyman, Esq., of Northampton, Register of Probate for Hampshire County, was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment; and, as Colonel Lee's time was largely occupied in closing his business and facilitating recruiting, the command of the camp devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Lyman until about the middle of October.

66

Dr. George A. Otis, of Springfield, was appointed surgeon, commenting on which, the "Springfield Republican” congratulated the regiment on having secured one of the foremost, best educated, and most successful physicians in the county, and every way fitted for the post." Walter G. Bartholomew, of Thompson's Express, formerly of the United States Sappers and Miners, was made commander of the North Adams company, and ordered to bring the same to camp.

In consequence of the drain upon the Quartermaster's Department at Boston, it was impossible to obtain camp equipage, so that for the lack of these when the Pittsfield and Amherst companies arrived at Springfield, the 19th inst., the City Guard offered them the use of their armory for the night. The morning of the 20th, a portion of the tents arrived, and our rendezvous was named Camp Reed, in honor of Gen'l John H. Reed, Quartermaster-General of Massachusetts. During the day, the Amherst, Westfield, and Pittsfield companies repaired to the ground and pitched their A tents, which furnished accommodations for six men each. Official notice was also received of the appointment of William H. Tyler, a former merchant of South Adams, as Quartermaster of the regiment. This for the time created