Emilio, Luis F., History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , 1863-1865

[322] patriotism, which nerved them to contend against national dissolution, brought on by Southern politicians to perpetuate their waning power, under the guise of a struggle for slavery and State rights.

It has been written that ‘the regiment is the family.’ To the soldier his true commander is a father; his superiors, elder brothers to be deferred to and obeyed; the recruits, his younger kinsmen whom he cares for and supports by example. He cherishes and proudly recounts the traditions of glorious deeds and dangerous enterprises.

The flag is the object of his sentimental devotion, which he has sworn to defend with his life. Every hole in the tattered silk or mark upon its staff tells of valorous strife in a just cause. Each legend inscribed upon its stripes is the brief story of regimental glory.

Such esprit du corps in its fullest perfection has served to carry men joyfully to death in the effort to win the imperishable renown secured by famous regiments. It earned for the Fifty-seventh Demi-Brigade before Mantua, in Napoleon's first Italian campaign, the name of ‘The Terrible;’ for the Forty-second Royal Highlanders, whose black tartans shadowed many a battlefield, its undying reputation; and for the Zouaves of the Guard who led the assault upon the Malikoff, the plaudits of their countrymen. The gallant deeds of these foreign regiments were rivalled in our Civil War; but, unlike them, our organizations were of brief existence, and are of the past.

A recent writer upon our late war has said of the private soldier:—

‘He does not expect to see his own name on the titlepage of history, and is content with a proper recognition of the old ’