Commanding Third Battalion.
]
Since this battalion was a complete tactical unit, under command of its
own field officer, it did not lose its identity on becoming a part of
the garrison at the fort. Both its officers and men, sharing tours with
the regulars, were carried on the rosters of the post for guard and
fatigue duty; but for purposes of discipline and administration the
battalion organization remained intact. The acting battalion staff was
composed of Lieutenant D. Fuller, adjutant; Lieutenant Phillips,
quartermaster; Lieutenant Horton, signal officer; Lieutenant Wing,
commissary; and, until relieved on June 23rd, Lieutenant Rolfe,
assistant surgeon. The officers of the volunteers also were called upon
for the performance of many duties under post details: Major Frye served
as president of the post council of administration, as presiding officer
at garrison courts martial, and later as trial officer of the summary
court; Lieutenant D. Fuller was appointed post treasurer and librarian;
Lieutenant Totten was detailed as post adjutant and recruiting officer,
as well as mustering officer for the regiment at large, the latter
detail requiring many visits to the scattered stations of the command;
for much of the time the signal system of the works was under the
supervision of Lieutenant Horton, owing to the absence on detached
service of Lieutenant Catlin, the regular signal officer; Captains
Braley and Williamson, with Lieutenants D. Fuller, Phillips, Wing,
Harrison, Nilsson, and Totten also served as members of general courts
martial.
As at the other posts of the regiment, the earlier days of the detached
tour at this station found much work requiring immediate attention:
range charts for each gun-group were plotted; guns, carriages, and
equipments were overhauled and made ready for action; ammunition was
prepared and stored at hand in the service magazines. Department orders
called for three hours' gun-drill daily, and in addition to this—in
order that the command might be ready for any kind of service required
by later developments—an hour more was devoted to battalion drill as
infantry. Evening parade was held daily by the volunteers, though the
regular batteries at the post omitted this ceremony. Aside from its
record of steady and faithful work there were but few events during the
summer which concerned this portion of the regiment. On August 16th it
was presented a battalion color by its friends in Boston, which it
carried so long as on its detached service. Beginning on August 20th,
there was test firing of all the recently mounted guns—12-inch mortars,
10-inch rifles, and 4.7- and 4-inch rapid-fire guns—under the
supervision of Major Crozier, A.I.G., who visited all the posts in the
harbor on this duty. It may here be noted, as a curious matter of
record, that poverty in ammunition had forbidden the expenditure of even
a single round from these modern guns until after the suspension of
hostilities. On September 2nd, the men of the garrison lined the
parapets and cheered lustily when the squadron of nine warships, led by
the grim _Massachusetts_, steamed into the harbor for the naval parade.
On the following day the Third Battalion paraded in Boston as escort to
Captain Higginson, and the officers, seamen, and marines of the vessels
under his command—the _Massachusetts_, _Machias_, _Detroit_, _Castine_,
_Wilmington_, _Helena_, _Marietta_, _Topeka_, and _Bancroft_. Orders for
change of station now arrived. On the 17th of September the battalion
tendered a final review to Colonel Woodruff, and on the 19th marched out
from the fort, taking transport on the _City_ _of Philadelphia_ for
Boston, and thence proceeding by rail to rejoin the regiment in camp at
Framingham. Officers and men alike left the post with feelings of
sincere regret, since their relations with the regulars of the garrison
had been most pleasant. On relieving the battalion from duty under his
orders, Colonel Woodruff took occasion officially to compliment it on
its uniform state of efficiency and discipline.