On July 23rd all the state knapsacks were condemned. They were little box affairs, covered with enamel leather, and had seen service at many a Framingham muster. They were piled at the head of each company street and burned. Blanket bags were later issued and were more acceptable. The tents brought from Massachusetts had been earlier condemned as unserviceable, and were replaced by a new issue.
August 1st, Lieutenant George N. Jewett of Company H resigned.
On August 9th the regiment was presented with a new set of colors. During its term of service it had three sets, two furnished by Massachusetts, and one drawn from the Government Quartermaster's department. The Regimental flag furnished by the Quartermaster's department, bore the coat of arms of the United States upon a blue field. This flag was rarely carried, and is the only one of its kind in the collection of flags carried by Massachusetts regiments, preserved at the State House.
By the middle of August the camp in the woods was water logged. Continual rain had saturated the soil. The drains took care of surface water, but as there was no seepage through the clay the drains were powerless to carry off the mass of water imprisoned in the soil, and for which evaporation was the only escape. Rain and evaporation were in equilibrium. The mud on the legs of the men like mercury in a thermometer, registered the fluctuation from this equilibrium. Ordinary rubbers were useless, and sometimes rubber boots were inundated.
Although the Government had furnished no lumber for tent floors, the men had quite generally appropriated means to raise their beds above the ground. The larceny of boards was encouraged as a sanitary virtue. A few buildings which the Park authorities cherished as ancient landmarks, about which the tide of the great battle ebbed and flowed in 1863, has entirely disappeared. The companies of the Third Battalion had purchased lumber at Chattanooga and constructed tent floors. The quarters of the enlisted men were on the highest ridge and were less exposed. The quarters of the Colonel and Staff were approachable only through a sea of liquid mud, and were shifted onto higher ground.
Application was repeatedly made for permission to change the camp. The order for a change came just before the regiment moved to Lexington. The First Battalion was the only unit to occupy the new camp, which was located in an open field on the eastern side of the Alexander Bridge road.
On August 19th Lieutenant Roland H. Sherman of Company L, resigned and was discharged.
In order to fill the vacancies in the line officers of the regiment, the following promotions were made while at Chickamauga: Second Lieutenant Augustus G. Reynolds was promoted to first lieutenant in Company H, and First Sergeant Thomas O. H. Pineau of that company was commissioned second lieutenant. First Sergeant Eugene Larrivee, of Company L, was commissioned second lieutenant in that company.
On August 21st orders were received to furlough all sick men, as the regiment was to leave Chickamauga. Some two hundred furloughs were issued. On the night of August 22nd a huge bonfire in camp celebrated the last night at Chickamauga. Early the next morning camp was broken, and the regiment marched to Rossville, Georgia, where it entrained early in the morning and was enroute to the blue grass region of Kentucky. Chickamauga was left with no regrets.