It hardly need be said that on the receipt of this intelligence the officers of the regiment, from the Chief to the last subaltern, passed through the successive stages of astonishment, humiliation, and bitter chagrin, to a final condition of supreme disgust. It seemed evident that the First Massachusetts, after its half-century of honorable service in peace and war, either had been forgotten, or else was destined to be entirely ignored. The action of the War Department seemed inexplicable under the circumstances. The country suddenly had become involved in a war in which attacks on its coast cities were possible, if not imminent; while wofully lacking in trained troops of all arms, it stood most distressingly in need of garrison artillery; Massachusetts, alone among the States, was ready and waiting to offer a regiment of fairly disciplined and fairly trained artillerymen—and was called upon for but three batteries! And this, it should be noted, in the face of an exigency which compelled the Commanding Officer of the Department of the East (General Orders, No. 21, 6th June, 1898) to issue such instructions as these: "In case the regular artillery troops at any post are not sufficient properly to man all the guns, the commanding officer will apply for such officers, companies, or details from the infantry supports, to be assigned to these duties, as may be necessary. At fortifications where _no artillery troops are stationed_, the post commander will select such companies or number of troops as shall be necessary, and assign them to that duty." It is a matter of record that such assignments had to be made, and that the raw troops used for the purpose not only were absolutely useless as artillerists, but even, in some instances, proved themselves incapable of properly caring for the expensive artillery material placed under their control. [Illustration: Photograph by W. H. Caldwell, Brockton. FIELD AND MACHINE GUN BATTERY. For Defence of Submarine Mines, Fort Warren. ]