The 5th Company promptly responded to the call for help; but it was evident that assistance must come from outside; local forces were entirely inadequate to meet the emergency. At 5 P. M. the other companies were assembled at their armories; and at 8.30, after eating a hearty supper, they started for their posts of duty. The work was of the usual sort, rescuing property and saving lives, guarding the property from vandals and thieves, and assisting the young, the weak and the aged to places of safety. Only men in uniform command confidence at such a season of disorder; only disciplined men, working together, can accomplish results. Right nobly did the Corps meet its responsibilities during its three days in Chelsea, and many a firm friend did it win for the organization. The 5th Company continued on duty five days longer.
Upon the local company fell an especially cruel test. First, their new State armory came in the path of the flames and was swept to ruins—while the troops, on duty in the streets, were aware that their own civilian clothing in the lockers was going up in smoke. Worse yet, the fire spread until it involved the homes of many militiamen. The soldiers could hardly keep their thoughts on their work, while their own loved ones were in danger, and their own household effects in need of removal to places of safety; their minds wandered homeward—but the men themselves quietly kept their posts. There never has been any question about the discipline of the Corps in seasons of emergency; the 5th Company proved true to the ancient traditions.
The Author
| Col. George F. Quinby | Col. E. Dwight Fullerton |
| [Page 151] | [Page 147] |
Companies of the Corps had been visiting Washington at inauguration time ever since 1835; and almost the entire command went in honor of T. Roosevelt in 1905; finally, in 1909, the Corps went as a regiment and participated in the inaugural parade of President William H. Taft. Participants in such a parade invite comparison between themselves and troops from many other states—military critics, such as Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell and Brig. Gen. E. M. Weaver, were unanimous in asserting that the Mass. Coast Artillery Corps and the West Point Cadets bore off the palm for fine military appearance, not even the N. Y. 7th doing as well.
By 1909 the Corps had settled in its custom of holding coast defence exercises at the harbor forts; consequently, it was with disappointment and even resentment that they found themselves ordered to serve as infantry in the so-called Cape maneuvers in August of that year. A difference of opinion had arisen between the Adjutant General of Massachusetts and the Corps officers concerning money matters; and this tour of duty was laid on the latter as a penalty. Soldiers must obey orders; however irksome and unwelcome the service, no one in the “blue army” could truthfully say that the “red-legged infantry” fell below their comrades in efficiency.
Col. Walter E. Lombard was in command from March 17, 1910, until Feb. 21, 1915. At the latter date he became a Major General on the retired list. Col. Lombard had been Captain of the 6th Company during the Spanish War.
In June, 1911, the War Department detailed a regular army officer to the Corps as Inspector-instructor, Capt. Russell P. Reeder being the first to perform that duty; at once the standards of instruction were improved, and the artillery work profited greatly from the presence of such a skilled teacher. Sergeant-instructors, four in number, were presently added as assistants to the commissioned officer who performed the chief duties. An immediate result of the Inspector-instructor’s work was the wonderful shooting done by the 4th, 12th and other companies during the 1911 tour of duty. After that date all officers were required to qualify in the technical part of their work by passing regular War Department examinations. The fourth officer to fill this detail, Capt. William H. Wilson, commenced service in Jan., 1915, and soon succeeded in systematizing the work of drill and instruction to a point far beyond anything previously attempted; so that his term of duty brought about a great increase of Corps efficiency. Capt. Wilson was especially qualified for this service in that he had himself been a National Guardsman, and had entered the U. S. army from a New York regiment. Capt. Wilson not only emphasized the artillery work; he also laid stress upon matters thitherto slighted,—company administration, higher infantry, and gunners’ instruction.