On second thought Col. Cowdin decided that he and his men were going to get into active service in spite of all difficulties. It had just become known that the Government desired three-year regiments, and this opened a door of possibility. The 1st would go to war for three years. To be sure this was a plunge in the dark. Suppose the war should not last three years--would the troops be kept in service anyway? Moreover, there had never been any three-year volunteers in the United States, during any previous war; and it requires courage to set a precedent. But Col. Cowdin and his men made the necessary readjustments demanded by the prospect of prolonged absence from home, and volunteered as a three-year regiment. Owing to their promptness, they were able to win an honor greater even than came to the “minute-men;” for they became the very first long-term volunteer regiment to enter U. S. service anywhere in the country, the first not only of the Civil War but of any war. Their adventures, and the battles they fought, are “another story”; and will be told in a later chapter. One of the three old original artillery companies having been lost to the 6th, another was destined to go with--no, the correct expression is, to “become”--the 13th Regiment. Late in 1860 the 8th Company, the “Boston Artillery,” became interested in organizing a “crack” battalion or regiment for Boston. They were already members of the best regiment in the Commonwealth, but they were not satisfied with that. Capt. Baldwin did not share in this new ambition and declined to have anything to do with it. In civil life he was a merchant and wholly practical in his tastes; as a soldier he was a plain, blunt man, “full of strange oaths,” “who loved his friends.” The new departure did not appeal to him. So Capt. Baldwin transferred to the 4th Company, the Pulaski Guards, and remained with his old regiment; while the Boston Artillery chose Gen. Samuel H. Leonard, recently of Worcester, as their captain. Under Capt. Leonard the Boston Artillery absorbed what survived of the disbanded Columbian Greys or City Guards of the old 1st, and proceeded to expand into the 4th Battalion of Rifles. It was on Dec. 15, 1860, that the new battalion was formed. Before the enthusiastic officers and men had time to do much toward developing their ideal of a “crack” regiment, they found themselves upon the threshold of the great war. On May 25, 1861, they volunteered to garrison Ft. Independence for one month; and almost before the month had expired, the 4th Battalion of Rifles had expanded once more and become the 13th Regiment, and on July 16 they were mustered in for three years’ service. Col. Cowdin’s men felt that they could well afford to lose their grand old 8th Company, when their loss resulted in the addition of an entire regiment to the Union army. The 13th served as part of the first corps in the army of Virginia, and later the army of the Potomac. Their regimental monument