For the reasons already stated, it seems necessary to give a brief account of the doings of the Fourth Regiment while in the field, embracing as they do a part of the record of the companies of Captains Barnes, Leach, and Clarke, of the Twenty-ninth Regiment.
The Fourth Regiment was originally composed of nine companies. Of these, Norfolk County contributed four: Company “A” of Canton, Captain Ira Drake; “C” of Braintree, Captain Cephas C. Bumpus; “D” of Randolph, Captain Horace Niles; and “H” of Quincy, Captain Franklin Curtis. Bristol County, three: Company “B” of Easton, Captain Milo M. Williams; “G” of Taunton, Captain Timothy Gordon; and “F” of Foxborough, Captain David L. Shepard. And Plymouth County, two: Company “E” of South Abington, Captain Charles F. Allen; and “I” of Hingham, Captain Luther Stephenson, Jr.
The regiment mustered for duty, at the time of its departure from Massachusetts, 636 officers and enlisted men.
Its field and staff were as follows: Colonel, Abner B. Packard, Quincy; Lieutenant-Colonel, Hawkes Fearing, Jr., Hingham; Major, Horace O. Whittemore, Boston; Adjutant, Henry Walker, Quincy; Quartermaster, William H. Carruth, Boston; Surgeon, Henry M. Saville, Quincy; Surgeon’s Mate, William L. Faxon, Quincy.
As was the case with nearly all the militia regiments that entered the service of the United States in 1861, the Fourth Regiment afterwards furnished from among its officers and men, a large number of officers, some of them of high rank, for the various three years’ regiments of Massachusetts and other States.
For instance, Captain Charles F. Allen of South Abington became Major in the Thirty-eighth Massachusetts. Lieutenant-Colonel Fearing subsequently became Colonel of the Eighth New Hampshire; Major Whittemore, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirtieth Massachusetts; Captain Luther Stephenson, Jr. (Co. I), Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty-second Massachusetts; and Corporal W. D. Tripp (Co. G) became Captain of Company F of the Twenty-ninth Regiment.
While waiting at the State House, on the 17th of April, where the regiment had reported itself for duty upon only twelve hours’ notice, it was addressed by Governor Andrew in the following manner:—
“Officers and Soldiers of the Fourth Regiment:
“It gives me unspeakable pleasure to witness this array from the good Old Colony. You have come from the shores of the sounding sea, where lie the ashes of Pilgrims, and you are bound on a high and noble pilgrimage for liberty, for the Union and Constitution of your country. Soldiers of the Old Bay State, sons of sires who never disgraced their flag in civil life or on the tented field, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this noble response to the call of your State and country. You cannot wait for words. I bid you God-speed—an affectionate farewell!”
A special train conveyed the regiment to Fall River, where it arrived on the afternoon of this day, and embarked upon the steamer “State of Maine,” for New York. Quite late in the afternoon of the 18th, it reached the latter city, and on the following morning sailed for Fortress Monroe on the same steamer.
At the time of the departure of the regiment from New York, great fears were entertained for the safety of this fortress. It was known that Colonel Dimick, its commander, had but a meagre garrison; that the fort was in a poor state for defence, and was being closely besieged by the hostile militia of Virginia, then under cunning and able officers, formerly of our regular army, who knew every weak point about the works. The fortress was momentarily expected, therefore, to fall into the hands of the enemy, and when the steamer “State of Maine” hove in sight, on the morning of the 20th of April, it was not considered prudent by the officers of the regiment to attempt a landing, till daylight should solve the troublesome mystery.