Half forgotten by the very citizens for whose protection the regiment was assigned to its stations; wholly ignored by the press, which ever has failed to comprehend the exacting requirements of efficient coast-defence,—the men of the First Massachusetts, like their comrades of the regular artillery, quietly stood to their guns during the time of possible peril, and as quietly returned to the routine of peace when that peril had passed. Time alone can fix the relative value of many things, and while that final adjustment is taking place the regiment may rest content with its own consciousness of having carried out well and faithfully whatever orders came to it. JAMES A. FRYE. _Boston, 25 April, 1899._ INTRODUCTORY I. THE Spanish-American War has passed into history. Regiment by regiment the troops of the United States have been transported to Cuba and Porto Rico, to take quiet possession of the stations relinquished by the departing remnants of the Spanish colonial army, and now our flag flies over even Havana itself. Of the six regiments—the First Heavy Artillery, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Infantry—sent out by Massachusetts in response to the calls of the President, all now are home again, while the officers and men of the gallant Naval Brigade have returned from their service afloat on cruiser and monitor to rejoin the command from which they volunteered. Gradually, but none the less surely, the stirring events of the spring and summer of 1898 are becoming but memories—memories to be recalled in years to come at the reunions of those who served together in the war so happily brought to a conclusion.