On the 19th of April, the company was organized by the choice of Jonas K. Tyler of Boston, Captain; Samuel A. Bent, First Lieutenant; Albert Blakeslee, Second Lieutenant; E. Dexter, Third Lieutenant; and Thomas H. Adams, Fourth Lieutenant.
As no quarters were provided by the State, the men were lodged in hotels and boarding-houses, and were drilled daily by a competent drill-master in the school of the soldier and company evolutions. The expense attending the organization of the company and quartering the men was borne by the officers and men, for which they have never been reimbursed.
On the 3d of May, the President having made an actual demand upon the State for troops, the Governor consented to the issue of arms to the men, and on the following day Captain Tyler obtained a requisition for a partial supply of underclothing.
On the 9th of May, Captain Tyler received orders to leave for the seat of war on the 10th; but at this time not a member of the command possessed a uniform, and, what was still more embarrassing, the State had none to furnish.
How was the outfit to be obtained in so short a time? Happily, Boston possessed a mayor, the Hon. Joseph M. Wightman, whose whole heart was enlisted in the cause of the country. In this emergency, Captain Tyler turned to him for assistance, and the promptness with which that aid was furnished reflects the greatest credit, not alone upon the Mayor himself, but upon the city of Boston.
It was well into the evening when the Captain called upon Mayor Wightman and made known the wants of his men. The Mayor comprehended the nature of the situation at once, and in company with Tyler, immediately commenced the search for clothing. Going upon School Street, a number of hacks were found in front of the Parker House, and these were at once secured. The first person called upon was Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, who furnished them with a large number of useful articles not included in the list of military equipments. From thence the two gentlemen went to the various depots of clothing belonging to the city, where were obtained a sufficient number of coats, trousers, shoes, and stockings. These articles were quickly loaded into the hacks and conveyed to the hall on Washington Street, where the company had assembled upon its brief notice to march.
At eight o’clock the next morning, May 10, the command reported at the State House, ready for service, and were here joined by Capt. William D. Chamberlain’s company from Lynn. The men of both companies engaged to serve for three years without hesitation, were inspected by the Adjutant-General, and ordered to embark at once on the steamer “Pembroke.” The commissions of both captains bore date of April 19, but Captain Chamberlain having at one time held the rank of major in the militia, was given the command of the battalion, and, at the same time, sealed orders, with instructions not to open the same till the vessel had passed beyond Boston Light. On the march to Rowe’s Wharf, where the “Pembroke” was lying, the battalion halted at a place on Federal Street, and there received the gray overcoats.
The short notice to march made it impossible for Captain Tyler to warn all his men, some of whom lived out of the city, and consequently about twenty were left behind; these, however, afterward joined the company at Fortress Monroe.
The “Pembroke” was at this time in the service of the Commonwealth, was armed with two 42-pounder Dahlgren guns, had a guard of armed seamen, and flew both the State and National colors. As she passed the forts in Boston Harbor, she was saluted by them, and the men, being gathered upon deck, returned the salutes by rounds of cheers. It was not until the vessel had passed beyond Boston Light that either officers or soldiers learned their destination. Then the sealed orders were opened, revealing the fact that they were bound for Fortress Monroe, Va., and were to be assigned to the Third Regiment.
There were few events of the trip that were of much moment, though the voyage under such circumstances was necessarily different from any which the soldiers (some of whom had been sailors) had ever before taken. They were going to war,—to the rescue of the nation’s most important fortress, which was already being besieged by the traitorous militia of Virginia.