IT was a raw, gloomy day. A drizzling rain fell at intervals, and the
pavements were slippery with mud. The batteries paraded in heavy
marching order—knapsack, haversack, canteen, and mess-kit—and wore
great-coats and leggings. The line of march was: Irvington Street,
Huntington Avenue, Copley Square, Boylston Street, Berkeley Street,
Beacon Street, School Street, Washington Street, State Street, Broad
Street, to Rowe's Wharf. In spite of the inclement weather, the streets
were crowded, and it seemed that the whole population of Boston had
turned out to give the regiment a fitting farewell. The women were
particularly enthusiastic. At one place on the line of march an elderly
woman leaned far out of a window, as the regimental colors were being
borne past, and cried to the men in the throng on the sidewalk below,
"Take off your hats; take off your hats! I'm ashamed of you!" The wide
granite steps of the Institute of Technology were densely packed with
students, who cheered lustily as the batteries, with not a few graduates
and undergraduates of the school in their ranks, swung by before them.
At the State House there came another ovation. On the same spot where
Governor Andrew, on the 25th of May, 1864, had welcomed back the
regiment on its return from three glorious years of service with the
Army of the Potomac, stood Governor Wolcott, with the officers of his
staff, to speed the Old First on its way to yet another war. There was
little ceremony; there was no oratory—but the moment, none the less, was
impressive. On the one hand, as the long column took its way over the
hill, was the grand bronze memorial to Shaw and his heroic men, mutely
eloquent of duty done and history made; on the other, as mutely eloquent
of duty yet to be performed and history yet to be written, was the
Governor of the Commonwealth, erect and motionless, standing uncovered
under the lowering sky as his troops, with his own son a private in the
ranks, tramped steadily past in parting review.
[Illustration:
Copyrighted photograph by T. E. Marr, Boston.