CHAPTER I.
History of the Third Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, 1861—Three Months’ Service.
“Pride of New England! Soul of our fathers!
Shrink we all craven-like, when the storm gathers?
What though the tempest be over us lowering,
Where’s the New Englander shamefully cowering?
Graves green and holy around us are lying,—
Free were the sleepers all, living and dying!
If we whispered the truth, whisper no longer;
Speak as the tempest does, sterner and stronger;
Still be the tones of truth louder and firmer,
Startling the haughty South with the deep murmur;
God and our charter’s right, freedom forever!
Truce with oppression, never, O, never!”
J. G. Whittier.
The Third Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, as its number seems to indicate, claims relationship with the earliest forces of the Commonwealth. The claim is well sustained by the fact that seven companies from Bristol and Plymouth counties helped to compose the original regiment, and became the nucleus of the Third Regiment which served in the Civil War. These seven companies were: