We were as good soldiers as ever marched the roads or ever went in under our battle flags--at Fredericksburg--Chancellorsville, Gettysburg--and on to the Seige of Petersburg. We needed no long, drawn-out intensive training--because there was no time to give it to us-- Our superb officers all recognized that--and, as soon as we had got our _balance_, and recovered from the battle shock--we fitted into the bloody game of war without any waste of time, effort or lost motion. Our manual of arms would not have undergone the critical scrutiny of a "_yearling Corporal_" at West Point--or a "color man" "throwing up" for colors at guard mount--nor would our crude attempts have excited much pride in the tactical officers at a perfect West Point dress parade. Our shooting in the open at from 150 to 500 yards might also have aroused the merry laugh of a target range sharpshooter with all of his implements for making a record score. But we were _not striving_ for a _record score_--just shooting into massed formations and closed up battle lines to kill--and we got there just the same with the official record as cited. That record tells the story-- At midnight on May 8, 1864, near Spottsylvania C. H., in a hand to hand fight with the Sixth Alabama, the regiment captured their colors and more prisoners than were in the ranks of the Twenty-second Massachusetts. Two of these brothers, on account of their youth, refused commissions, although their father, who had spent two years at the Mil. Academy in the class of 1836, was then Chairman of the Mil. Com. of the Mass. Senate; was in daily conference with John A. Andrew, the great war Governor--and could, by a "pull" have easily secured them. One was "specially commended" for good conduct at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., while the other untrained brother, (Walter Carter) as Sergeant Major of the regiment, was specially mentioned in the report of the Commanding officer of the regiment for "_coolness under fire_, and _personal bravery in all battles of the campaign_"; (Reb. Rec--Ser--I--40: 459) this Campaign, May 4 to June 18--1864--from the Wilderness--Laurel Hill--Spottsylvania C. H. (May 8-22--under fire day and night), Jericho Mills--North Anna, Totopotomoy Creek, Bethesda Church--Cold Harbor--Jerusalem Plank Road (Norfolk and Petersburg R R--later, the spot where the Battle of the "_Crater_" was fought). If there was ever any better soldier than this untrained but not _world-advertised_ Sergeant-Major of one of the best fighting regiments in the Army of the Potomac--the writer, in nearly 60 years since those old days, has not met him. On May 10, 1864, while acting as liaison officer for the Major--commanding the left wing of the regiment, which was cut off from the right wing and in a cul de sac swept by a frightful cross fire--he was directed to cross the Brock Road (about a mile or more from Spottsylvania C. H.) and communicate to the Colonel the perilous position of the left wing.