Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the war of 1861-1865, vol. 1: prelminary narrative

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[7] a company which he had raised at his own expense; although the governor of New York had afterwards the discernment, after one or two battles, to take this young officer from his lieutenancy and make him colonel of a regiment.¹ He had also the tendency, common to strong-willed men, to stick to an appointment, even when an obvious mistake. He once said of an officer of foreign birth, ‘He is the best field officer who ever went from Massachusetts.’ There being rumors of insubordination and inefficiency in regard to this officer, Governor Andrew was asked, a month or so later, if he still held to the same opinion. ‘I will go further now,’ he said, striking the table with his hand; ‘I will say that he is worth all the other field officers who have left Massachusetts, put together.’ Yet the career of this particular person was by no means a success, and he left the service early.² On the other hand, his dislikes were as warm and impetuous as his likings, and he could not always be trusted to exercise patience or justice in dealing with any one who had forfeited his good opinion.³

On the evening of the very day on which Governor Andrew's inaugural address was delivered (Jan. 5, 1861) he sent confidential messengers to the governors of the New England States, urging military preparation on the part of all. Col. Albert G. Browne, afterwards the governor's military secretary, was sent to the governors of Maine and New Hampshire; Colonel Wardrop, commander of the 3d Mass. Volunteer Militia, was sent to Vermont, and others to Rhode Island and Connecticut. The military historians of Maine and New Hampshire make no reference to this communication; and it is evident that in Vermont it led only to some correspondence but to ‘little open or actual preparation for fighting.’⁴

The first direct and overt step taken by Governor Andrew was the apparently mild one of causing a salute to be fired on Jan. 8, 1861,⁵ in commemoration of the battle of New Orleans, this being at the suggestion of the Hon. Charles Francis Adams. The next step took place on January 16,⁶ when an order was issued requiring each company commander in a militia regiment to revise his muster roll, to ascertain whether any of the members