ments were called into camp under such depressing circumstances. But the honor and patriotic spirit of the old Third district were at stake. It had been asked to raise a regiment-all its own. Field officers from its own territory had been assigned, and they were men in whom the people had confidence and who they knew would prove worthy leaders of a brave and gallant regiment. It was determined that the regiment should be raised! For these men, who thus volunteered, there was no "come in out of the draft" argument needed; "town bounties" had but little influence with them. There was at once manifested an esprit du corps that nowhere else existed. Officers and men were

They were all neigh

knitted together in a common bond. bors and friends in a united band to uphold the honor of the Granite State and do manfully its part for the preservation of government.

Recruiting progressed rapidly. A full company was raised in Lancaster, although the quota of the town was much more than full, and the most encouraging reports were received from other stations in the district. The adjutant-general in his report says:

"The officers and men enlisted in the full expectation of immediate service, and evinced their patriotism by responding to the call for volunteers. The records of this office show that after its officers were commissioned there were enlisted for it seven hundred and ninety-one men."

It was the decision of the governor that the regiments should be called in numerical order. Under this order the Fifteenth and Sixteenth went into camp at Concord in October. Meanwhile the officers of the Seventeenth were waiting impatiently the governor's call for them, but it did not come until November 19th, when immediate orders were issued to rendezvous at Concord without delay. The field and staff were early on the ground. Company A of Lancaster with full ranks, under Captain Jared I. Wil

liams, reported next day. Company B, Captain Isaac F. Jenness, from Portsmouth, came in next morning. This company while outside the district, by the special request of the people of Portsmouth, had been raised for, and was permitted to join, the Seventeenth. Company C, Captain Calvin S. Brown, came next with partially filled ranks.

There were then in camp two hundred and twenty-six men and it became evident that the efforts of the officers and men of the Seventeenth Infantry to be first in the field were likely to result from circumstances over which they had no control, to their very serious disadvantage, and in possible disaster to the regimental organization.

CHAPTER X.

THE SITUATION REVIEWED.

The flesh may fail, the heart may faint,
But who are we to make complaint?

Whittier.

It

While from first to last the adjutant-general's record credits 791 men enlisted for the Seventeenth Infantry, there were actually enrolled and ready for service the moment the organization should be completed over 900 men. was stated in the last chapter that the regiment went into camp with 226 men. Where were the more than 600 other volunteers from the Third District, who had so early enlisted under the expressed condition that they should be incorporated in this command? We again quote from Senator Proctor's report as chairman of the committee on military affairs:

“The Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments assigned to the First and Second districts, not being filled, by reason of the failure of some of the towns to raise their quotas, and there being great pressure for troops in the field, made by the War Department upon the state authorities, it was determined by the latter to transfer the men raised in the Third district for Colonel Kent's regiment, to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth, thereby completing those regiments and hurrying them to the front. This was accordingly done, leaving Colonel Kent with but a small portion of his men,"

Governor Berry's statement of this transfer of the Seventeenth's volunteers is as follows:

The Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments being in camp, but not full, by reason of the failures of some towns in the First and Second Congressional districts to fill their quotas, and the War Department

urging haste in forwarding regiments, men and companies from the Third Congressional District were ordered into these regiments, the intention being to supply their places in the Seventeenth by filling these quotas for that regiment at a later day. As a result of this policy the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments were sent to the front early in November, 1862. The Seventeenth regiment was ordered into the barracks vacated by them during the same month."

Of course this action taken by Governor Berry under the extreme pressure brought to bear upon him from the War Department, had been anticipated by the officers of the Seventeenth, and vigorous protests had been made, but they were met with the reply that the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments being already in camp, and the demand for troops so urgent, it was absolutely necessary to fill these two regiments at once and get them off to the front; that it was impossible to do this unless men who had volunteered from the Third district were impressed, and that the end justified the means. And so, irrespective of location, the companies first raised were ordered into camp, and mustered at once into the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments, until over 600 men from the Third District who belonged to and were enlisted for the Seventeenth had been thus taken from that command to fill the ranks of other regiments!

Had the governor ordered the assembling at Concord of the three nine months' regiments at one and the same time, it is evident that the Seventeenth would have been first filled to the maximum, and first sent to the front, since under such an order the men enlisted for it would have been properly assigned, and the energy and patriotism of officers and privates would have brooked no delay. But, owing to his decision to despatch the Fifteenth and Sixteenth before the Seventeenth was called, the results already chronicled

were a necessary consequence.

Governor Berry was a patriotic, diligent, and faithful executive. His chief desire was to subserve the public

good. It is not for a moment to be supposed that in his disposition of the nine months troops he was guided by other than the best of motives. He acted from a sense of duty; and it is in evidence that he deeply regretted that apparent exigency of the times, which compelled him to deplete the ranks of the Seventeenth to fill up those of the other commands, and, by so doing, to contribute more immediately to the support of the government in its hour of need.

But while feeling most keenly the disappointment and delay thus engendered, there was found no place for complaint and no halting in the patriotic endeavor to get to the front. It was a matter for congratulation that the Seventeenth had contributed so largely to the early exodus of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth. They were both good regiments, and both did good service. The Seventeenth had ever a more than brotherly interest in their action, and should. receive proper credit for the men it furnished to fill their ranks. And all honor to the brave men who were thus, without consent, but impelled by a military necessity, transferred from the regiment of their own district, for which they had been enlisted. They proved themselves, as was to be expected, good and true soldiers, sinking their own disappointments, and cheerfully submitting to the inevitable, in the patriotic endeavor to give their best services, wherever needed most, to the defence and welfare of their country.

Six full companies were formed of men enlisted in the Third district, and assigned to other commands, as follows:

TO THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.

Company B.-Plymouth and vicinity, in Grafton county, John W. Ela, captain. Recruited by Major Henry W. Blair. Company C.-Bath and vicinity, in Grafton county. Moses H. Long, captain.