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

[347] The Forty-first Regiment, Colonel Chickering, left the State Nov. 5, and was ordered to report to Major-General Banks, at New York, who had superseded Major-General Butler in command of the Department of the Gulf, and who was then in New York, superintending the embarkation of troops destined for his command. The Forty-first Regiment sailed from New York, direct for New Orleans.

In addition to the nine new regiments, and the four thousand men recruited for the regiments in the field, two new batteries —the Ninth and Tenth—were recruited and organized within the same period. The Ninth Battery, Captain De Vecchi, left the State Aug. 21; and the Tenth, Captain Sleeper, Oct. 6,— with orders to report to the Adjutant-General of the army, at Washington. Thus, within three months from the date of the receipt of orders from Washington, Massachusetts had furnished her contingent of fifteen thousand men; had sent forward nine new regiments and two light batteries, completely armed, clothed, and equipped, to swell the number of those already in the field, and more than four thousand men to fill the gaps in the old regiments, which the waste of war had caused. To these noble men, and to those who preceded them, not a dollar of bounty was paid by the Commonwealth.

Rapidly as this contingent of fifteen thousand men had been recruited, it was but half filled, when President Lincoln, on the 4th of August, issued another call, for three hundred thousand more men, to serve for nine months, of which, by some process of arithmetic known only to the authorities in Washington, the proportion assigned to Massachusetts was nineteen thousand and ninety men. These men were to be raised by ‘draft, in accordance with orders from the War Department, and the laws of the several States.’

Early in July, Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, and General Buckingham, of the War Department, visited Massachusetts to ascertain, by personal examination and conference, the means best calculated to encourage enlistments and raise volunteers. The Adjutant-General had a long and satisfactory interview with these gentlemen, and gave them his views at length, which he was requested to put in writing, and forward to Washington.