Yesterday at noon I learned from Governor Andrew by telegram that he did not intend to raise another regiment. I was thunderstruck. My work for three weeks would nearly, or quite, fall to the ground. I telegraphed in reply: ‘ You told me to take all the men I could get without regard to regiments. Have two hundred men on the way; what shall I do with them ’ The reply came simultaneously with your letter: ‘Considering your telegraph and Wild's advice, another regiment may proceed, expecting it full in four weeks. Present want of troops will probably prevent my being opposed.’ I replied: ‘I thank God for your telegram received this morning. You shall have the men in four weeks.’ Now all is right.The Surgeon-General had detailed one Dr. Browne for duty at Buffalo to examine Mr. Stearns's recruits, and if found fit for service by him there was presumably no need of a second examination. This, however, did not suit the medical examiner at Readville, who either from ill will or from some unknown motive, insisted on rejecting every sixth man sent there
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
[267]
Stearns telegraphed to the Governor: “I can fill up another regiment for you in less than six weeks,” --a hint which resulted in the Massachusetts Fifty-fifth, with Norwood P. Hallowell, a gallant officer who had been wounded at Antietam, for its commander.
The Governor, however, appears to have suddenly changed his mind, for on May 7th Mr. Stearns wrote to his wife:
1905. E. P. DUtton and Co. Boston,.
Tufts University. provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.