It went into Camp in Lakeville, Mass., on Sept. 16, 1862, and was the second company of the regiment to arrive at the camp. It was given a patriotic and affectionate send-off by the people of the Bridgewaters, and was escorted to the train and from the train at Haskins Station to Camp Joe Hooker by the Bridgewater Cornet Band.
The barracks at Camp Joe Hooker were new. The main buildings, twenty in number, were each about 70 × 25 feet on the floor and nine feet high in the walls. They were built of matched boards, planed on the inside, with good tight floors, and shingled roofs. The bunks were built double “like two sinks, one above the other,” and each accommodated four men, two in the upper and two in the lower berth. Each barrack held one hundred men, or a company. They were well ventilated and comfortable. The barracks, cook-houses, officers’ quarters, stables, etc., fifty buildings in all, were built in one week.
The company consisted of one hundred and one men, exactly the legal maximum for an infantry company. The towns furnishing the men were as follows: Bridgewater, thirty-four; East Bridgewater, twenty-four; West Bridgewater, twenty-five; North Bridgewater, eleven; Easton, four; Middleboro, one; Boston, one; Gloucester, one; total, one hundred and one. It will be seen from the above that the members of the company were from contiguous territory with only two exceptions; First Sergt. Winter was imported from Gloucester as a trained and drilled man and was almost the only man in the company with military experience even in the militia, and he had never been in the United States service. With him came his friend “Natty” Ackerman who hailed from Boston. The remainder of the company was recruited amongst friends and neighbors. Nearly all were of American parentage, and most of them were men of standing in the community both before and since the war. They were “men of their hands,” too, and there are few things that could not be built, or machines that could not be run by members of the company.
The occupations of the recruits were given as follows: Boot and shoe workers in some form, forty-six; farmers, seventeen; moulders, seven; machinists, four; laborers, four; carpenters, three; salesmen, three; students, three; bookbinders, two; druggist, one; “railroader,” one; civil engineer, one; surveyor, one; butcher, one; nailer, one; wheelwright, one; painters, two; box maker, one; stone cutter, one; teacher, one.
The officers were as ignorant of military usages as the men, and, as may be supposed, the discipline at first was not of the most rigid character. But the members of the company as a rule were disposed to do the right thing, and perhaps enjoyed themselves better and did just as good service as they would have done under more severe officers. The men of the company owe a debt of gratitude to their officers who were all kind-hearted men and devoted to the welfare of the company, and whose mildly used authority was much better adapted to a company of intelligent men of pronounced Yankee blood than would have been that of military martinets.
Fifty-two members of the company were married and forty-nine were single.
The average age was between twenty-eight and twenty-nine years. Twenty were twenty years old and under, twenty-four were between twenty and twenty-five, nineteen were between twenty-five and thirty, twenty-two were between thirty and forty, and sixteen were more than forty.
Company K was the color company throughout its service, and its position was therefore on the right centre when the regiment was in line of battle.