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

[107] behavior, and, at his request, remained on duty two weeks after their term of service had expired. This battalion was from Worcester, ‘the heart of the Commonwealth.’ Company C was originally a local organization, composed of men of Irish birth, who, on the call for troops, offered their services to the Governor, which were accepted, and the company was attached to the Third Battalion. It was the first Irish company to reach the seat of war, and be mustered into the United-States service; and Company D, of the same battalion, was the first to reach Washington by the Potomac River.

Major Cook's Light Battery, which left New York with the Fifth Regiment and Rifle Battalion, arrived at Annapolis on the 24th of April, and was quartered at the Naval Academy, where it remained until the 4th of May, when it was sent to the Relay House. On the 13th of June, it was ordered, with the Sixth Regiment, to Baltimore, to protect the polls on election day. It remained in that city until the 30th of July, four days beyond the term of its enlistment. Two detachments were stationed in Monument Square, and others at the Custom House. The battery arrived in Boston on the 3d of August, where it was cordially received by the Mayor of the city, and a large crowd of people. The First Battalion of Dragoons, the Second Battalion of Infantry, and the National Lancers honored the corps with an escort to their old quarters.

In the preceding pages, I have sketched the departure, the services, and the return of the first three-months men. They made an honorable record. Speaking of them, the Adjutant-General, in his annual report for 1861, says,—

They were the first to respond to the call of the President; the first to march through Baltimore to the defence of the capital; the first to shed their blood for the maintenance of our Government; the first to open the new route to Washington by way of Annapolis; the first to land on the soil of Virginia, and hold possession of the most important fortress in the Union; the first to make the voyage of the Potomac, and approach the Federal city by water, as they had been the first to reach it by land. They upheld the good name of the State during their entire term of service, as well by their good conduct and gentlemanly