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

The Twenty-seventh Regiment was recruited at ‘Camp Reed,’ Springfield, from the four western counties in the State. It left the Commonwealth for Annapolis on the 2d day of November, 1861, and formed a part of General Burnside's command. The field officers were Horace C. Lee, of Springfield, colonel, who afterwards rose to the rank of brigadier-general; Luke Wyman, of Northampton, lieutenant-colonel; and Walter G. Bartholomew, of Springfield, major,—both of whom were made full colonels before the close of the war.

The Twenty-eighth Regiment was recruited at ‘Camp Cameron,’ Cambridge. Its officers and men were chiefly of Irish birth or descent. It did not leave the State until January, 1862. Its field officers were William Monteith, of New York, colonel; Maclelland Moore, of Boston, lieutenant-colonel; George W. Cartwright, of New York, major. The colonel and major had served in one of the New-York regiments in the three months service. The lieutenant-colonel had been for many years connected with the militia of Massachusetts, and commanded a company in the Eleventh Massachusetts Regiment, three years volunteers, from which he was discharged for promotion in the Twenty-eighth.

The Twenty-ninth Regiment was composed of seven companies originally raised as militia in the three months service, but which volunteered for three years, and were sent by detachments to Fortress Monroe, while the Third and Fourth three months regiments were still there: on the return of the three months regiments, these seven companies remained at the fortress, and were formed into a battalion, under the command of Captain Joseph H. Barnes. Permission was given by the Secretary of War to recruit the battalion to a regiment, by the addition of three new companies. The field officers of the regiment were Ebenezer W. Peirce, of Freetown, colonel; Joseph H. Barnes, of Boston, lieutenant-colonel; and Charles Chipman, of Sandwich, major. Colonel Peirce, on the breaking-out