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

The proposition here made was found, upon examination, to be for the time impracticable. Veteran regiments, as they were called,—that is, regiments composed of men who had not been less than nine months in service,—were subsequently raised, and served to the end of the war. All of them were in the Army of the Potomac, and advanced, under the lead of General Grant and General Meade, across the Rapidan, fought their way through the thickets of the Wilderness, and in every battle of that memorable closing campaign of the war, marched to the front at Petersburg, and, in the early spring of 1865, advanced with the great Army of the Potomac upon Lee's works, from which he was driven, the rebel army routed, and the war closed.

About this time, the Governor was anxious to have the volunteer militia of the Commonwealth recruited to the full limit prescribed by law. He wished to have three regiments of infantry raised in Boston and vicinity. It was suggested to him, that they could be raised, if assurances were given, that, in no event, would they be sent beyond the boundaries of the State. On the 10th of September, he wrote to Colonel Henry Lee, Jr., one of his personal staff,—

It would be as well to have no force as to limit its operations to the State line of Massachusetts. If Portland or Newport should be invaded, Massachusetts men would be unspeakable fools, as well as arrant cowards, not to repel that invasion equally with one over our own borders. . . . If the people of Boston, men of money, of business, of influence, of intelligence, and of families, have not interest enough in their own lives, fortunes, families, and honor, to raise three regiments, I hardly think any tinkering on my part could do any good. We are in imminent danger—never so great before—of foreign war. Are we to cavil about the exertion needed to train three thousand able-bodied citizens for our defence? When the enemy thunders at the gates of our citadel of fancied ease and security, it will be too late.

It was not, however, until after the close of the Rebellion, that the militia of the Commonwealth was recruited to five thousand men in the entire State, and properly organized.

The success which attended the recruitment of two regiments of colored infantry induced the Governor, at the instance of Professor Parsons, of the Dane Law School, Cambridge, to