When the First Defenders departed from Camp Curtin and were the first troops which arrived at Washington from any State to defend the National Capital, the real activities of this famous training camp began. Beginning on the morning of April 19 every inbound train brought troops to Harrisburg, and soon Camp Curtin was a hive of activity. Eli Seifer, Secretary of the Commonwealth, assumed the discharge of certain military functions, such as replying to telegraphic offer of troops, etc., but beginning April 19, Captain G. A. C. Seiler, the commandant, assumed the responsibilities, and displayed great energy. His administration was characterized by earnestness and activity, until by exposure and over-work, he contracted a disease from which he died. He was succeeded July 31 by Colonel John H. Taggart, of Philadelphia. Colonel Taggart was the editor of the Sunday Times, in Philadelphia, and when the news of hostilities reached there, he raised a company of volunteers called “The Wayne Guards” and marched them from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. They arrived at Camp Curtin June 7. Governor Curtin was not over sanguine that the war was likely to be concluded at the first contest so when the responses to the first call for volunteers brought enough to make twenty-five regiments instead of only the eight asked for, the Governor did not disband them, but directed that they preserve their organizations, and immediately applied to the Legislature for authority to form a corps of thirteen regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, to be organized and equipped by the State, to be subject to the call of the National Government if needed, and at all times to be in readiness for immediate service. On May 15, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the organization of the “Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth,” and Governor Curtin issued his call for men to compose the corps, and apportioned the number that would be received from each county, in order that each section of the State and every class of its people should be duly represented in it. Four camps of instruction were established; one at Easton, under command of Colonel William B. Mann, of Philadelphia; one at West Chester, under Captain Henry M. McIntire, of West Chester; one at Pittsburgh, under Colonel John W. McLean; and one at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, under Colonel G. A. C. Seiler, of Harrisburg. George A. McCall, a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, of the class of 1822, a distinguished soldier in the war with Mexico, was appointed a Major General to command the corps. General McCall immediately organized his staff by appointing Henry J. Biddle, Assistant Adjutant General, and Henry Sheets and Eldrige McConkey, Aids-de-Camp. Subsequently, Professor Henry Coppee was attached to the staff as Inspector General.