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

[394] The Adjutant-General of the State was detailed to receive the company, in behalf of the Governor, at the camp, and to thank them in his name for the honor they had conferred on the State by coming so many miles to enter a Massachusetts regiment, and carry its flag in the war for liberty and Union. It was five o'clock in the morning when the company arrived. Colonel Charles R. Lowell, Jr., who was to command the regiment, Brigadier-General Peirce, Major Crowninshield, and a number of the line officers, were present to receive them.

On the arrival of the company, a salute was fired, and an escort of the cavalry conducted the company to their quarters, where a good warm breakfast had been prepared, and was ready for the men. The officers were taken to Colonel Lowell's quarters, where they were welcomed to Massachusetts by the Adjutant-General, whose speech, in behalf and in the name of the Governor, was responded to by Captain Reed; and in this way, on a cold January morning, were the Californians received, and took their places in the Union army on the Massachusetts line. In a report made by the Adjutant-General to the Governor on the same day, he says,—

To-morrow, at eleven o'clock, General Peirce, Colonel Lowell, and the officers of the California company, will pay their respects to your Excellency at the State House. The Californians are mostly Massachusetts men, though not exclusively so; some are from New York and New Hampshire; one is a native of California, a celebrated thrower of the lasso. The captain told me that five hundred men applied to go with him to Massachusetts. He selected his men with great care, and came with a full and complete company. I never saw a finer body of men; Colonel Lowell is delighted with them. If your engagements are such that you cannot receive the officers at eleven, to-morrow, please appoint a time when they can be received.

The engagement was kept, and Governor Andrew gave the officers a hearty welcome.

So great was the success of the arrangement, and so well satisfied were the California men, that three other companies, making a battalion, were raised in California, and joined the regiment; Massachusetts paying expense of transportation, and allowing the bounty to the volunteers which the Legislature