AFTER bringing to its conclusion another eventful chapter in its already
long and honorable history, the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery
again has left the service of the United States to reënter that of the
Commonwealth. In addition to the jealously cherished "White Diamond"
badge, eloquent of its campaigning from 1861 to 1864 with the old Second
Division, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, it now has won the right to
bear the device emblematic of service in the Artillery Corps of the War
of 1898—the crossed conical projectiles, surmounted by the spherical
shot. The record of the regiment in this, its latest war, is in every
way worthy of its proud traditions. During its term of service there
were no desertions from its ranks, no dishonorable discharges blemish
its rolls, and the records show that its men, in conduct and discipline,
steadily maintained the high standard for which the command long has
been noted. The work allotted to the regiment was intelligently and well
performed, and it is a most significant fact that of the seven hundred
and eleven discharge papers issued to its officers and men on Nov. 14th,
1898, there was not one which failed to bear the endorsement coveted by
every true soldier: "Service honorable and faithful."
It is much to be regretted that certain enlisted men of the regiment,
and even a few among its officers, since their return from the service,
have felt constrained to apologize for the nature of the duty which it
fell to their lot to perform. It equally is a matter for regret that
some of their civilian friends, unquestionably through honest ignorance,
have made the absurd mistake of commiserating the command on its failure
to reach what they are pleased to term "the front." While it seems
almost a waste of energy, it yet may be worth while to note here a few
facts concerning the functions of the coast artillery in the late war,
as well as to emphasize the point that any probable foreign war of the
future will demand precisely the same sort of service from troops of
this arm.
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