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

May 6.—President Felton, of Harvard University, informs the Adjutant-General that ‘between three and four hundred students have entered their names for a drill-club; and between one and two hundred have brought their fathers' certificates, that they consent to the watch. In a day or two, I shall probably be able to furnish you a complete list of both.’ The ‘watch’ here spoken of was in reference to a guard of students to watch the State Arsenal at Cambridge.

May 10.—Colonel Newell A. Thompson presented ‘a roll of one hundred past members of the “Boston City Guards,” who have voluntarily placed themselves under my command, and authorized me to tender their services as a Home Guard.’

The foregoing extracts, from letters received by the Adjutant-General in the first days of the war, serve to show in a degree the patriotic spirit of the people. They are selected from a great mass of letters received by him in those early days of the war; all of which bear more or less on the same subject, and are imbued with the same spirit and determination.

From the time the three months troops left the State until a call was made for three years volunteers, May 3, communication with the departments at Washington was dilatory and unsatisfactory; which caused the Governor to request Ex-Governor Boutwell, Attorney-General Foster, Judge Hoar, and William L. Burt to go forward, and endeavor to keep up a line of communication with him. This will explain some of the letters and telegrams given in preceding pages. One great point to be gained was authority from the War Department to garrison and man the forts in Boston Harbor, the defenceless condition of which exposed the city to attack, and caused much uneasiness among the merchants, underwriters, and other citizens of Boston. After the attack upon the Sixth Regiment in Baltimore, on the 19th of April, inquiry was made by the Governor in regard to establishing hospital accommodations for the sick and wounded who may return to the State. The matter was referred to Dr. William J. Dale, who, on the 21st of April, reported, ‘I have conversed with Mr. Rogers, chairman of the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the institution will be open for soldiers in the service; and, at short notice, ’