There was never a more thoughtful or solemn assemblage than this meeting; party lines had been wiped away by the bloody events of the 19th of April; the political differences of the late campaign seemed by common consent to have been buried and forgotten, and every voter felt that a part of the responsibility of saving the then disrupted Union rested upon him. In this meeting, it was unanimously resolved, “That this town will raise what money is necessary to uniform a volunteer company, and to properly provide for the family of each member.” The sum of $4,000 was appropriated, and it was voted to pay each volunteer of the proposed company $10 each month while in active service, it being supposed at the time that the soldiers were to serve a term of three months.[5]
There were but few citizens of the town who possessed even the slightest knowledge of military matters, and these were mostly old men who had served in the war of 1812, or had trained at old-fashioned musters. At a time like this, they were naturally looked to for advice; but they had little to give, for their experience as soldiers had been a bloodless one. Wisely estimating, however, the importance of their new position, they furbished up all their well-worn yarns of camp-life at the “Gurnet” and “South Boston Flats,” and told them over again with scarcely enough of exaggeration to make them interesting.
The majority of these old worthies had forgotten the most of their drill, and had they remembered it, it would have been of little value to the volunteers of 1861, for the tactics of Steuben had been replaced by those of the gallant old Scott.
The volunteers were compelled, therefore, to depend upon themselves, and in order to prepare as much as possible for active service, held nightly drill-meetings at the town-house, using muskets that had been procured from the State Arsenal.
The company had not been accepted by the State as a part of the militia, and the selectmen of the town for a while were compelled to act as quartermasters-general and commanders-in-chief. As quartermasters, they provided the uniform under the vote of the town, and fixed upon its style, which was very odd, being a sort of cross between the dress of an artilleryman and a common sailor, but not having the comforts or beauty of either. This uniform consisted of gray hip trousers trimmed with red, a blue shirt with a rolling collar ornamented with red braid, and a gray fatigue-cap; shoes, stockings, and underclothing were also furnished, while the patriotic women of the town provided each soldier with a neatly-arranged case of thread, needles, yarn, pins, towels, and other articles of use.
On the first day of May, a meeting of the company was held for the election of commissioned officers (in the building now occupied by the Catholics as a church), presided over by Captain William C. Lovering of the State militia.
At this meeting, Thomas Bates was elected Captain;[6] Nathan D. Whitman, First Lieutenant; Josiah E. Richmond, Second Lieutenant; Elisha S. Holbrook, Third Lieutenant; and Lucius D. Burbeck, Fourth Lieutenant.
Eight days after this, Captain Bates received an order from the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, directing him to proceed to Boston with his company on the following morning. The news that the company had been ordered away spread over the town in the course of a few hours, so that when it took up its march for the depot on the morning of the 9th, nearly the entire population gathered to witness this novel sight, for the like had not been seen in the old town since the year 1814, a period of nearly fifty years.
The ardor of the volunteers was destined to encounter a severe check. Arriving in Boston, they were met by Colonel Horace Binney Sargent of the Governor’s staff, who ordered them to repair to the hall in the depot-building of the Old Colony Railroad Company, where was assembled Captain Chipman’s company from Sandwich. Here the men of both commands were addressed by Colonel Sargent, who told them that the Governor had received instructions from the War Department that no more militia troops would be accepted by the United States Government, and that unless they were prepared to re-enlist for the term of three years, they must give up their arms and go home.
There was no doubt about the patriotic intentions of these men; but many of them had families, and none had made, before leaving their homes, suitable preparations for so long a period of absence, and accordingly both companies voted not to enlist at that time for the long term of three years.