Shortly after 2 o'clock on the afternoon of May 5th, the Eighth marched onto the State Camp Grounds at South Framingham. The Second and Ninth Regiments turned out with a hearty welcome as the Fife and Drum Corps swung through the gate playing "Teddy Was a Sojer."
When the four volunteer regiments were mustered into the service, they dispensed with bands. The Eighth, however, took its drum corps, which as early as March 16th had volunteered, through the Drum Major. Drum Major Thomas was and still is (1908) an institution in the regiment. No one remembers when he was not Drum Major. Rumor says he was drummer boy at Bunker Hill, Lundy Lane and Chepultepec, and all know he marched with Sherman to the sea. Invincible against fever and malaria, he is never sick. Always busy, never complaining or tired, he is a cheerful regimental inspiration. Time does not change him, except as it adds new glories in the form of service stripes. His reveille from Low Scotch, through Austrian, Hessian, Double Drag, Dutch, to Quick Scotch, is always welcome as an eye opener. It is a tradition that the Colonel gets up before reveille for the mere pleasure of seeing Thomas lead, and of watching the drum sticks rattle. It is certainly true that the regiment was never late when Thomas led the band.
Camp was soon established. The Second Regiment, which assembled May 3rd, occupied the right of the line; next came the Ninth, which came into camp May 4th, followed by the Eighth. On the left was reserved a position for the Sixth, which was to assemble the next day. Adjutant Edward H. Eldredge was detailed as Brigade Adjutant General, and his place on the Regimental Staff was filled by Lieutenant Thomas D. Barroll of L Company.
Dame Rumor was soon busy spreading reports that the United States, personified by impartial and inexorable army surgeons, was rejecting men as unfit for foreign service. Already ten officers of the Second had been rejected for physical deficiencies. What pledges, words and wills had been unable to accomplish, the dread of a full service medical examination accomplished, and officers and men, who for years had smoked or broken minor rules of health, stopped on the moment to brace themselves for this ordeal.
The officers were ordered before the doctors the day after arriving in camp, and at intervals of twenty minutes they reported in groups of threes. Major Dudley B. Purbeck, who had recently suffered from a serious illness, was rejected. There was much excitement in the streets of Company C when it was reported that Captain James Tucker, Lieutenants Edgar J. Marshall and Frank B. Denning had failed to pass. The Selectmen and influential citizens of Marblehead were appealed to, and in some way secured a re-examination and a reversal of the finding in the case of Lieutenant Denning, who was finally mustered and commissioned as Captain.
After the officers had passed, the enlisted men faced the surgeons, the companies going up in alphabetical order. Many men were rejected and sent home. It was the rule not to muster a company until it had a full complement of qualified officers and men. The process was slow, and it was not until May 10th that the first company of the Eighth was mustered, followed in rapid succession by the others. The last company was mustered May 11th, and the Colonel sworn in.
The ceremony of mustering was interesting and impressive. Companies were marched to Brigade Headquarters, with the men arranged alphabetically in line. Facing the colors, taking off their hats, and raising their right hands, after roll call, they subscribed the following oath administered by Captain Erastus M. Weaver, U. S. A.:—
"All and each of you do solemnly swear that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and that you will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies whomsoever, and that you will obey the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over you, according to the rules and articles of war, so help you God."
There was much pleasant rivalry between the Eighth and Ninth Regiments in a race to be first mustered in the United States service. The last company of the Ninth was mustered in just before the last company of the Eighth, and the Colonel of the Eighth being the last officer in the Regiment to be mustered into the service, was mustered in before the Colonel of the Ninth. The important question was never settled, which regiment was first mustered into the United States service.
After a company was mustered into the service, its Captain was given a copy of the Articles of War, and directed to read them to his company. From this tiresome reading of all the articles at once, a company wag said it was the general impression that the whole regiment was ordered by the President to suffer death or such other penalty as the court martial should prescribe.