William Schouler, A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War: Volume 2

[23] Their young men went naturally into the military service, and every one counted to their military quotas. Not so in Massachusetts and other New-England States, where a large number entered the navy.

The course pursued by the Government in refusing to allow credits for men in the navy bore with great hardship upon this Commonwealth, and especially upon the counties and towns bordering upon the sea, the leading interests of which were maritime. A large proportion of their young men were already actively in the service of the United States, on board war vessels guarding the Southern coasts from blockade runners, or on far-off seas in search of piratical ‘Alabamas;’ and yet they were made to furnish their full share of men for the military service, and this they did under every call of the President without complaint or murmur. In this connection we would call especial attention to the proceedings of the town-meetings held in Barnstable County and in other places whose interests were almost wholly maritime. In no portion of the Commonwealth or of the loyal States was there less fault-finding, or a more ready and determined purpose evinced to sustain the Government and the Union to the last hazard. Knowing, as we do, intimately and thoroughly the difficulties under which these towns labored to fulfil the requirements of the Government, and the generosity and will with which they did it, we cannot refrain from expressing in an especial degree our acknowledgments of the great service they did the cause, and the lasting and especial honor which their patriotism under the most trying circumstances cast upon the Commonwealth.

In considering the matter of bounties, we should also take into account the fact that a very large portion of the men of Massachusetts, between ‘the war ages,’ were mechanics at work in our various manufactories, which are scattered all over the Commonwealth. At the commencement of the Rebellion, mechanical and all other branches of labor were stagnant, and few were remunerative. As the war progressed, they became busy and profitable. Labor was in great demand; and wages rose to an unprecedented height, owing to the demand occasioned by the war, and the inflation of the currency. But, with these,