The work was indeed severe. Through the treachery of arch traitors while in government office, the fortress had been dismantled to a great extent of its customary armament. These ravages had to be repaired, guns mounted upon the high parapet, and others, whose carriages had gone to decay, remounted.
Of draught-horses or mules, there were few, if any, in the department; but there were plenty of wagons, and into these the men were harnessed, drawing heavy loads of ammunition and stores from the wharves into the fortress. While one party was doing this labor, another was engaged in unloading vessels and steamers at the piers, and still another employed in the very severe work of mounting heavy guns, a work which consisted in slinging the gun (oftentimes a large columbiad, weighing several thousand pounds) between two heavy iron wheels, dragging the whole from the ordnance-yard into the fort, up the steep embankment, and then placing it in position. This labor was often performed while the mercury was ranging in the vicinity of 100°, and was not seldom followed by a drill.
On the first day of July, the regiment was ordered to Hampton Village. Here it occupied a number of deserted houses, and picketed the country for several miles around the town. On the 4th, it marched from the village to Camp Hamilton, where, in connection with other troops, it was reviewed by Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War.
Returning to its quarters in the town, it remained there till July 16, the latter date making the expiration of its term.
On this day, the regiment was ordered to Fortress Monroe. Here it and the Fourth Regiment, whose term expired the same day, were reviewed by General Butler and Colonel Justin Dimick. Colonel Dimick was in command of the fortress at the time of the arrival of these regiments. He was an old soldier, having seen service in Mexico and in several Indian wars. Like most professional soldiers, he rarely indulged in speech-making; but the trying circumstances under which he had been placed during the early days of the Rebellion; the timely and almost Providential arrival of these troops, which enabled him to hold the fortress against the machinations of several of his former associates in arms, who had resigned their commissions in the regular army and espoused the cause of the Confederacy; the intelligent appreciation of the situation which the volunteers had manifested, and their willingness to do any service required of them, no matter how menial or severe, had touched very deeply the heart of this old officer, and he could not suffer them to be dismissed without expressing to them his sense of gratitude for what they had done. Mounted upon his little dapple gray, with uncovered head, and voice as tremulous with emotion as that of an aged father taking leave of a beloved son, he recounted the exciting events in the early service of the regiments at that place, the confusion and distrust that prevailed at the time of their arrival, bore eloquent testimony to the manner in which they had performed their duties, and concluded by thanking them in the name of the Republic which they had helped to save.
When the old hero turned away, his eyes were suffused with tears, and the troops sent up cheer upon cheer as their only response.
The reception tendered these regiments upon their arrival in Boston proved that their services were as well appreciated by the people of Massachusetts as by their veteran commander.
CHAPTER X.
The Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Militia at Fortress Monroe—The Service It Rendered the Country—Ordered to Newport News—Battle of Great Bethel—Return to Massachusetts.