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the morning of the 18th.
The latter regiment arrived at Fortress Monroe on the 20th.
It was agreed that Colonel Jones' regiment, strengthened by the addition of two companies, should march as soon as possible, and he took the cars on the night of the 17th of April.
His route to New York was an ovation.
His reception there was one of extravagant and tumultuous joy. By the invitation of Mr. Stetson, the host of the Astor House, his regiment was treated to a sumptuous breakfast, and at eleven o'clock, on the 18th, they took the cars for Philadelphia, arriving there at night.
The authorities and citizens of Philadelphia encamped them at the Girard House.
They were under orders to go to Washington via Baltimore, and not a word had been said to them or to anybody else, that the route through Baltimore was not open.
The direct orders from the Secretary of War to Governor Andrew being that they should go through Baltimore, they left Philadelphia for Baltimore, arriving on the 19th.
I stayed behind to see that the other two regiments sailed for Fortress Monroe, and to finish all needed preparations, and to wait for the Eighth Regiment, under Col. Timothy Munroe, to get in readiness with equipments.
During the 18th of April, the utmost diligence was used.
In the afternoon the regiment was paraded before the State House, where Governor Andrew made a very appropriate, patriotic, and brilliant address, to which I added a few words.
While we were speaking to the soldiers, the tailors busied themselves in the rear of the regiment, sewing the buttons on the backs of the overcoats of the men.
There was still another reason for the delay of the day. The railroad company found it difficult to provide suitable cars, the weather being cold, sufficient to transport the regiment.
It was then about nine hundred strong, and it was to have another company added to it when we reached Springfield,--that of Capt. Henry S. Briggs.
We left Boston at six o'clock, and were received everywhere on the route with loud plaudits, cheers, and the blessings of all the good people.
We arrived at Springfield somewhere between nine and ten o'clock, where Captain Briggs' company, from Pittsfield, joined us. Here we were welcomed in the most friendly manner, and here, too, an incident occurred which gave me personally very
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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