THIS book forms but a single chapter—the latest one—in the eventful and
ever-honorable history of the First Massachusetts Regiment. It has been
written in the hope that it may aid in maintaining the splendid _esprit
de corps_ which always has been characteristic of the command.
Nor does this corps-pride lack warrant. Since 1844, under one
designation or another, the First Massachusetts, as a regimental
organization, has been continuously in the service either of the
Commonwealth or of the Nation; through long years of peace it faithfully
has held itself in trained and disciplined readiness against the hour of
need; in two wars it unhesitatingly has responded to the call of the
Government, returning from each with an untarnished record of duty well
done. Furthermore—in part, at least, if not as a whole—it has been
identified for over a century with the making of American history; for,
like the sturdy oak, the regiment may trace its growth from still
vigorous roots which reach far back into the historic past. "D" Battery
(Roxbury Train of Artillery) was chartered in 1784, bearing upon its
original muster-rolls the names of many veterans of the Revolution, and
first seeing active service in the Shay Rebellion of 1787; "G" Battery
(Boston Fusileers) dates its organization from 1786 and its record of
active service from the War of 1812; "K" Battery (Boston Light Infantry)
was first enrolled at the time of our brief naval war with France in
1798, and served with the coast-guard in 1812.
The story of the heroic work of the regiment in the Civil War already
fills a volume by itself: Blackburn's Ford, First Bull Run, Yorktown,
Williamsburg, White Oak Swamp, Fair Oaks, Savage's Station, Glendale,
Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Locust Grove, Spottsylvania—tremendous
names like these may hint at the regimental record which was written in
blood from 1861 to 1864. With an honor-roll of one hundred and
seventy-three dead, and with a grim list of six hundred and forty-three
discharges for wounds and disease, the First Massachusetts honestly
bought and dearly paid for its treasured place among the "Three Hundred
Fighting Regiments" of the Union Army.
This latest chapter in the regimental history deals neither with battles
nor with foreign service—and yet it ill could be spared from the records
of the Old First. Nothing possibly could have been finer than the spirit
in which the young men of the regiment sprang to their places under its
colors at the call of 25th April, 1898, believing, as they most
sincerely did, that the very first of the fighting was to be theirs;
nothing could have been more honorable than the unvarying discipline
maintained during the dull months of garrison duty, when, day by day,
their hope for action waned.
Half forgotten by the very citizens for whose protection the regiment
was assigned to its stations; wholly ignored by the press, which ever
has failed to comprehend the exacting requirements of efficient
coast-defence,—the men of the First Massachusetts, like their comrades
of the regular artillery, quietly stood to their guns during the time of
possible peril, and as quietly returned to the routine of peace when
that peril had passed. Time alone can fix the relative value of many
things, and while that final adjustment is taking place the regiment may
rest content with its own consciousness of having carried out well and
faithfully whatever orders came to it.