Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
In Lowell the regiment paraded in Huntington Hall, and there received a
cordial welcome from the people of that city. Taking the cars we arrived
in Boston about noon, and were assigned quarters in one of the armories
in Faneuil Hall. With a view to better accomodations, the regiment in
the afternoon marched to Boylston Hall, and there prepared for as
comfortable a bivouac as circumstances permitted.
Up to this time the weather had been as gloomy as war and dripping
clouds could make it. Having (figuratively) pitched our tents in
Boylston Hall, the discipline of camp-life was at once established, and
communication with the world outside, was largely cut off. This however
did not interfere with the free admission of many tokens of regard from
friends outside, in the form of refreshments of various kinds.
Two memorable incidents of the evening will long be remembered. The
pretty and graceful daughter of Col. Jones was adopted, with all the
honors, as "Daughter of the Regiment"; and secondly the comfortable and
becoming overcoats prepared with wise forethought for the regiment were
issued. The motley outer-garments, in which, up to this moment, we had
found shelter from the storm, were at once discarded. In our new
garments we not only found great comfort;--we also felt that the inner
as well as the outer man could boast a resemblance to "regular" troops.
On the morning of the 17th we were marched to the State House, then and
there to receive the salutations of the Governor, and also to receive,
what at the moment struck some of us as a pretty forcible reminder that
we were now occupying positions that were entirely new to us.
Drawn up in military array in Doric Hall we were each of us "donated"
two blue flannel shirts and some corresponding under garments. This
gratuitous equipment implied _service_. To those of us who within a
twelvemonth had figured in the hall over our heads, as representatives
of the sovereign people, it indicated a very marked change of
circumstances.
Among other tokens of the confidence reposed in our patriotism and
prowess, a heavy cavalry revolver was bestowed upon each of the field
and staff officers. As these could not be conveniently carried, on the
return march, by those who had been made the happy recipients of these
bulky favors, they were bundled together and consigned for safe-keeping
to the Chaplain, to be borne on the line of march back to Boylston Hall.
Why that functionary should have been chosen to carry a whole armory of
weapons, in the sight of the admiring crowds that lined the streets of
Boston remains a question. Opinions are equally divided as to whether,
_as chaplain_ he would be most likely to prevent a hasty and rash
use of fire-arms; or whether, he was _de facto_ a "common carrier,"
on the ground that ministers were made and designed for "bearing
burdens."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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