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

[340] before Richmond. The losses in the Army of the Potomac were fearfully great. The newspapers, for weeks, had daily published the long lists of dead and wounded; many of our bravest and best had fallen. Homes had been made desolate; the maimed, with their ghastly wounds, crying for help, reached us daily. But never was the war spirit more determined and buoyant than at this time. Never was recruiting more active; never did men flock to our camps to enlist more eagerly. In Boston, many of our merchants closed their places of business at two o'clock in the afternoon, that they might devote the remainder of the day to recruiting. Meetings were held, and addresses made, on the Common and in Roxbury; recruiting tents were erected in Haymarket Square, Court Square, and on the Common. Meetings were held, and speeches made, in front of the Old South; and men, unused to public speech, were fired with eloquence. A general camp of rendezvous was established in the city of Worcester, and named ‘Camp Wool,’ in honor of the veteran, Major-General Wool. To this camp all recruits from the counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester, were sent. The old camp at Lynnfield was continued, and designated ‘Camp Stanton,’ which served as the general rendezvous of recruits from the counties of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Nantucket, Plymouth, and Suffolk. Until further orders, Lieutenant-Colonel Lincoln, of the Thirty-fourth Regiment, which was then being recruited, was placed in command of ‘Camp Wool;’ and Colonel Maggi, of the Thirty-third Regiment, which was also being recruited, was placed in command of ‘Camp Stanton.’ Surgeon-General Dale was instructed to have a surgeon at each of the camps, to examine recruits.

These camps were intended for recruits who were to form new regiments; and ‘Camp Cameron,’ at North Cambridge, under the command of the United States military commander, Colonel H. Day, was the general rendezvous for recruits intended for regiments already in the field.

The necessity of filling the quota of Massachusetts in the shortest possible time was strongly pressed upon the Governor by the President and the Secretary of War, and by him urged