ON the completion of the mustering-in there came an incident which was
characteristic of the spirit of the First. Since all of the volunteer
commissions due the regiment would bear the same date, it was evident
that a decision must be made to settle questions of seniority. Army
regulations prescribe that lots shall be drawn in cases similar to this,
and, had this legalized lottery been held, there was a tempting chance
that the officer of less than a year's commissioned service might find
himself out-ranking another who had served faithfully in the militia for
years in a like grade. To the everlasting credit of the regiment, its
officers declined to avail themselves of this opportunity for unearned
advancement, and by their wish the first general order issued from
headquarters of the newly-made volunteer regiment published a roster of
the command, determining the rank and precedence in the several grades,
as established by previous service in the militia of Massachusetts.
As mustered into the volunteer service, the regiment was officered as
follows:
1. Col. Charles Pfaff.
2. Lt.-Col. Charles B. Woodman.
3. Maj. Perlie A. Dyar.
4. Maj. George F. Quinby.
5. Maj. Howard S. Dearing Surgeon.
6. Maj. James A. Frye.
7. Capt. Sierra L. Braley "M" Battery.
8. Capt. Joseph H. Frothingham "D" Battery.
9. Capt. Charles Williamson "I" Battery.
10. Capt. Norris O. Danforth "F" Battery.
11. Capt. Albert B. Chick "G" Battery.
12. Capt. Frederick M. Whiting "L" Battery.
13. Capt. Walter E. Lombard "B" Battery.
14. Capt. Charles P. Nutter "C" Battery.
15. Capt. Walter L. Pratt "H" Battery.
16. Capt. John Bordman, Jr. "A" Battery.
17. Capt. Frederic S. Howes "K" Battery.
18. Capt. Joseph L. Gibbs "E" Battery.
19. 1st Lt. Horace B. Parker Adjutant.
20. 1st Lt. Charles F. Nostrom "C" Battery.
21. 1st Lt. John S. Keenan Quartermaster.
22. 1st Lt. John E. Day "B" Battery.
23. 1st Lt. David Fuller "M" Battery.
24. 1st Lt. Ferdinand H. Phillips "F" Battery.
25. 1st Lt. John B. Paine Range Officer.
26. 1st Lt. William L. Swan "L" Battery.
27. 1st Lt. William Renfrew "H" Battery.
28. 1st Lt. Frank S. Wilson "G" Battery.
29. 1st Lt. E. Dwight Fullerton "A" Battery.
30. 1st Lt. P. Frank Packard "K" Battery.
31. 1st Lt. William A. Rolfe Assistant Surgeon.
32. 1st Lt. Norman P. Cormack "D" Battery.
33. 1st Lt. Harold C. Wing "E" Battery.
34. 1st Lt. George E. Horton "I" Battery.
35. 1st Lt. George S. Stockwell Signal Officer.
36. 1st Lt. William S. Bryant Assistant Surgeon.
37. 2d Lt. Marshall Underwood "B" Battery.
38. 2d Lt. Frederick A. Cheney "L" Battery.
39. 2d Lt. Bertie E. Grant "H" Battery.
40. 2d Lt. James H. Gowing "G" Battery.
41. 2d Lt. Albert A. Gleason "K" Battery.
42. 2d Lt. Frederick W. Harrison "M" Battery.
43. 2d Lt. Wellington H. Nilsson "I" Battery.
44. 2d Lt. William J. McCullough "D" Battery.
45. 2d Lt. Sumner Paine "A" Battery.
46. 2d Lt. Joseph S. Francis "C" Battery.
47. 2d Lt. James E. Totten "F" Battery.
48. 2d Lt. Charles H. Fuller "E" Battery.
The non-commissioned staff, as finally mustered in, was made up of
Sergt.-Maj. William D. Huddleson, Q.M.-Sergt. Edward E. Chapman,
Hospital Stewards George Y. Sawyer, Ira B. Phillips, Thomas White,
Principal Musicians James F. Clark and Frederick A. H. Bennett. Of the
old non-commissioned staff, Paymaster-Sergt. George R. Russell and
Color-Sergt. Axel T. Tornrose, whose militia grades were not recognized
in the volunteer service, refused to be left behind, and proved their
devotion to the regiment by enlisting as privates. The regimental band,
as well as the corps of field musicians attached to headquarters under
the militia organization, could not be mustered, and until the close of
its term of service the regiment was obliged to rest satisfied with the
music of its battery buglers, save for the short period at Framingham
prior to going on furlough, when the thoughtfulness of the State
authorities allowed the band to rejoin.
[Illustration:
Photograph by T. E. Marr, Boston.
FIELD, STAFF, AND LINE OFFICERS.
]
Under the terms on which the mustering of the regiment had been ordered
by the War Department, it entered the service with forty-eight
commissioned officers and seven hundred and three enlisted men, an
aggregate for duty of seven hundred and fifty-one. In its _personnel_
the command was exceptionally fortunate. Of its officers, twenty-five
per cent. were college bred, while in its ranks were to be found
representatives of nearly every college and technical school in New
England. In machinists, electricians, and skilled mechanics—the sort of
material without which an artillery command never can attain its full
efficiency—the regiment was encouragingly strong. A newspaper sketch of
the Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, recently published, gives a roll of
twenty-one Harvard men who served in that command, and accompanies it
with this comment: "Harvard University contributed her quota to the army
last summer, and the Sixth had as many of her sons in the ranks as any
regiment in the service." It is perhaps worth noting, though it hardly
need be a matter for controversy, that no less than thirty-four
graduates and undergraduates of the Cambridge University went out with
the First, of whom nine were commissioned officers, while the remainder
served faithfully and with credit as enlisted men. It is a matter for
regret that statistics relating to men from other colleges who served in
the regiment are not available, but it may be of interest to record here
the Harvard roll, which may be considered approximately complete:
Commissioned officers: James A. Frye (1886), major; John Bordman, Jr.
(1894), captain; John B. Paine (1891), first lieutenant and range
officer; E. Dwight Fullerton (1898), first lieutenant; William A. Rolfe
(M.S., 1890), first lieutenant and assistant surgeon; William S. Bryant
(1884), first lieutenant and assistant surgeon, later promoted major and
brigade surgeon, and assigned to Seventh Corps; Albert A. Gleason
(1886), second lieutenant; Sumner Paine (1890), second lieutenant;
Joseph S. Francis (1897), second lieutenant.
Enlisted men: Louis H. Brittin (L.S.S., 1901), corporal, "A"; Arthur H.
Howard (1898), corporal, "A"; Edward D. Powers (1898), corporal, "A";
Ralph W. Black (1886), private, "K"; Edward A. Bumpus (1898), private,
"A," later appointed second lieutenant, Twenty-first United States
Infantry; John Corbett (temporary student), private, "B"; Charles W.
Cutler (1898), private, "A"; Eugene H. Douglass (1898), private, "A";
Howard B. Grose (1901), private, "K"; Frederick Heilig (1897), private,
"A"; Edwin B. Holt (1896), private, "A"; Benjamin Kaufman (1900),
private, "D"; Charles H. Keene (1898), private, "A"; James L. Knox
(1898), private, "A"; John F. McGrath (1895), private, "A"; Moses I.
Reuben (1889), private, "K"; George R. Russell (temporary student),
private, "K"; Francis R. Stoddard, Jr. (1899), private, "A"; Harry C.
Strong (1899), private, "K"; Edward A. Thurston (temporary student,
L.S.), private, "M"; Calvin S. Tilden (1898), private, "A"; John A.
White (1896), private, "B"; Charles H. Williams (L.S.S., 1900), private,
"A"; Francis C. Wilson (1898), private, "A"; Roger Wolcott, Jr. (1898),
private, "A."