William Schouler, A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War: Volume 1

‘ [126] ten thousand dollars, payable to my order, being the gift of William Gray, Esq., for the benefit and relief of the families of the Massachusetts privates and non-commissioned officers called into active service. It was tendered to me before the formation of the “Committee of one hundred;” and I now, with Mr. Gray's consent, at your convenience, desire to place it in your hands, as the treasurer of the committee, for appropriate distribution according to the methods and rules of that organization. I cannot perform this pleasing task without adding a feeble expression of the deep sensibility with which I received this noble and characteristic munificence, and of the honor I feel in being made the instrument of its transmission.’ Also, a similar letter to Mr. Mason, transmitting a check of Mrs. Hannah F. Lee for one thousand dollars. To Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, ‘We cannot furnish you with muskets, as we have exhausted our store. Will you co-operate with us, and have some bought by our agent in England?’ To Dr. William J. Dale, ‘Express to Mrs. Tyler, and other citizens of Baltimore, my thanks for the care they have taken of our wounded men in that city.’

These extracts show the variety of topics which, in the first two weeks of the war, engaged the Governor's attention. The letters on file in the Adjutant-General's office, embracing the same period, also disclose much that is of interest, though in a more limited and local sense. They are chiefly confined to answering inquiries made by selectmen of towns, and applications made by young men to raise new companies, many of whom were afterwards officers in the volunteer service, and rose to high commands. On the 25th of April, the Adjutant-General received a letter from Addison Gage & Co., of Boston, tendering to the Massachusetts soldiers a ship-load of ice. The letter says,—

The Massachusetts troops who have so nobly responded to the call of our Government for the defence of the capital, being, for the most part, in the habit of using ice, and now called to a warm climate, where it is more a necessity than a luxury, we shall be happy to contribute a cargo for their use, the time to be at your disposal, whenever you deem it expedient to send it. In case there is no suitable place to receive