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

In the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Gooch having accepted a government appointment, Ex-Governor Banks was elected to fill the vacancy.

These Congresses extend over the period immediately preceding the war, and that of its duration and close. The Massachusetts Senators and Representatives served with distinction on several of the most important committees, and thus were prominent in perfecting bills and shaping the legislation of Congress. It does not, however, come within the scope of this volume to speak of their varied and valuable services in behalf of the Union, although, if properly recorded, they would add materially to the renown of the Commonwealth. The story of their services will hereafter be told by the historian of the nation, for it was the nation, and not merely a part, that they served.

The whole number of enrolled militia of the Commonwealth, in 1860, was 155,389; and the number of the active or volunteer militia, 5,593. The active force was organized into three divisions and six brigades; nine regiments and three battalions of infantry; three battalions and eight unattached companies of riflemen; one battalion and five unattached companies of cavalry. Officers and men found their own uniforms. The State furnished arms and equipments, except to officers. Each company had an armory for the deposit of its arms, and for drill purposes, the rents of which were paid by the Commonwealth.

The State, on the 1st of January, 1861, had at the arsenal at Cambridge, and distributed to the active militia, seventy-one field-pieces, of various calibre, and about ten thousand serviceable muskets, twenty-five hundred of which were of the most approved pattern of the Springfield rifled musket, which, as a muzzle-loading arm, is the best in the world.

It was plain, from the tenor of his inaugural address, that Governor Andrew believed war between the North and South was imminent. He advised, among other things, an inquiry, whether, in addition to the active volunteer militia, the dormant militia, or some considerable portion of it, should not be placed on a footing of activity. ‘For how otherwise,’ he asks,