MY DEAR SIR: I am compelled earnestly and emphatically, though with
entire friendliness, to call upon you, without delay, to resign your
commission as Colonel of the First Massachusetts Regiment. The
testimony is so unanimous and constant and overwhelming that the
Regiment has suffered every day, for want of competent management,
that I am compelled to this step, which I take with the utmost
regret.
Yours very truly,
J. A. ANDREW.
I inquired of Mr. Sumner what it all meant, and he informed me that the
Governor was very much dissatisfied with me, and had written to him and
Senator Wilson, asking them to urge my resignation. I told him I was then
an officer in the United States service, and that if the Governor, or any
one else, had any charge to prefer against me to present them to proper
authorities, and I would willingly be tried by a court-martial and abide
the result without a murmur. I then returned to camp, and wrote to Gov.
Andrew, in substance, what I had stated to Mr. Sumner, and that I should
_not_ resign.
Not satisfied with this result, I was honored, in the course of a few
days, with a visit from His Excellency, who informed me that he had come
to inspect my horses, wagons, and other camp equipage, of which there had
been so much complaint. I showed them to him, but he appeared perfectly
indifferent to all that I said. I invited him to dine with me, which he
did. I then invited him to stay and witness my drill, but he very abruptly
declined. I was informed, and from the best authority, that, during his
visit in Washington, he called upon the President and urged my removal,
but was told by him (the President) that he could not remove me before
having the advice of Gen. Scott and Secretary Cameron. He then called upon
Gen. Scott and asked, as a personal favor, that he would recommend to the
President my removal. He was asked for what reason, but being unable to
give any satisfactory one, was told by the General that his request could
not be complied with. The next morning he was to start for Boston, but
before leaving he called upon Senator Sumner, who had not risen. He was
shown to his chamber, when he again requested him to call upon me and urge
my immediate resignation. Consequently I was, in the course of a few days,
_honored_ by a visit from Hon. Mr. Sumner, Hon. John B. Alley, and Dr.
James W. Stone, since deceased. I conducted them around my camp,
entertaining them as best I could, when Senator Sumner then broached the
subject and again urged me to resign, intimating that I _might_ be
removed. I replied, as on a previous occasion, adding that I had spent too
much time and money for the militia of Massachusetts to be driven out in
such a disgraceful manner. Mr. Alley then made a few remarks relative to
the subject, as did also Dr. Stone, but I assured them that I was more
than ever _determined not to resign_. And, furthermore, informed them that
I had had trouble enough from the interference of outsiders, and if any
one called again for the same purpose, they should see the inside of my
guard-house.
About this time my Regiment was inspected by Gen. Tyler, commanding the
Division, and he pronounced the men in good condition, and the Regiment
has stood number one at every inspection since. In a few days after we
were ordered to the front, and the conduct of the First Massachusetts
Regiment on that occasion is a matter of history. One brave man, however,
upon whose banner was inscribed "three or five years, or during the war,"
melted like _Snow_ before a hot fire.
On the 13th of August I was Brigaded under Gen. Hooker, at Bladensburg,
and on the 14th of October was assigned by him to the command of the First
Brigade. On the 23d of the same month he gave me a recommendation for
Brigadier General, of which the following is a copy:--
_Headquarters, Hooker's Division,
Camp Union, Oct. 23, 1861._
BRIG.-GEN. S. WILLIAMS,
_Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac_.
GENERAL: After giving the subject the deliberation it requires, I
respectfully name Col. Robert Cowdin, 1st Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteers, for promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General, and
request that he may be assigned to the command of the First Brigade
of my Division. He is at present exercising that office. I recommend
Col. Cowdin for the following reasons:--
He is the senior officer of the Brigade.
He displayed great courage while in command of his Regiment, in the
skirmish at Bull Run, on the 18th of July, 1861.
He was the first Colonel in the United States to tender a Regiment
for three years, already armed and equipped for the field, to the
Government, at the hour of its greatest peril, and his promotion will
place Lieut.-Col. D. G. Wells, an officer of uncommon merit, in
command of his Regiment. Very respectfully,
Your obt. servant,
JOSEPH HOOKER,
_Brigadier-General, commanding Division_.
"Official Copy," WM. H. LAWRENCE, _Aid-de-Camp_.
I was told by General Hooker that General McClellan had informed him that
any one he should recommend for Brigadier-General should be appointed, and
that I might expect mine in the course of ten days. It so happened that
Gov. Andrew in a few days after made it convenient to be in Washington;
and there was a prevalent rumor in camp at that time that he was there to
oppose my nomination, but whether or not I am unable to say, but will
leave the public to decide as the appointment was not made at that time,
and I did not receive it for more than eleven months after. About this
time Senator Wilson, in command of the 22d Regiment at Halls Hill, Va.,
one Sunday afternoon, called on one of his Captains, and, in course of
conversation, my recommendation by General Hooker was discussed, when
Senator Wilson said: "Col. Cowdin will never be confirmed by the Senate."
On hearing of my recommendation by Gen. Hooker, the Mayor, Aldermen, and
Common Council, in both branches of which I had been a member, very kindly
forwarded a petition from their respective Boards to the President, urging
my appointment. A short time after this three more petitions were gotten
up, one by the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, one from the
leading men of Boston, and one from the War Committee; these petitions
were all sent to a Massachusetts Senator to be presented to the President,
but in my heart I firmly believe that he (the President) never saw them.
It is presumed that they were either destroyed or kept in abeyance. On the
8th of January, Mayor Opdyke of New York wrote the following letter in my
behalf:--
_Mayor's Office, New York, January 8, 1862._