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

[320] indorsement of the officer in command of the brigade. If the person recommended appeared, by the roster, to be junior to others of the same rank, the colonel was written to for his reasons for deviating from the military rule of seniority: if the reasons returned were satisfactory and properly indorsed, the promotion was made, and the commission issued; but, if the reasons given were not satisfactory,—if they disclosed favoritism, family influence, or unjust prejudice,—the appointment was not made, but the officer properly in the line of promotion was commissioned. The Governor's mind was eminently just; he despised trickery and treachery, and all the small devices to which mean natures resort to gain their ends.

On the 11th of January, the Governor writes to Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General, calling his attention to a bill reported in the United-States Senate by Senator Wilson, ‘providing, among other things, that vacancies occurring in regiments of volunteers mustered into the United-States service shall be filled by presidential appointment,’ and gives strong reasons why it should not become a law. He concludes by saying,—

It is simply impossible that the volunteer officers can be well selected at Washington. I make mistakes, make some exceptionable appointments, find it out, and try to avoid similar errors again; and I know how difficult is the task. Knowing its difficulty, I write you this note, though the passage of the bill would relieve me personally from much irksome and anxious duty.

The bill here referred to never became a law; and appointments continued to be made by the Governors of States, until the end of the war. On the same day, he writes a long and interesting letter to Major-General McClellan, thanking him for the ‘assurance of your valuable aid in establishing our coast defences, furnishing instructors for our volunteer artillerists,’ and asking his influence to have a company accepted, ‘the rank and file of which will be mechanics, riggers, carpenters, smiths, &c., for the special duty of garrisoning Fort Independence, putting the fort in order, mounting and serving the guns.’ This company was, long afterwards, raised and accepted, of which Stephen