On May 11, 1787, the Governor’s Council voted to approve an application signed by Thomas Adams and fifty-three others, and to charter a company. Gov. James Bowdoin presided at the Council meeting and himself introduced the petition. On the following July 4, he stood with the members of the new company on the slope of Bunker Hill and, at that shrine of American liberty, presented them their official charter. They next proceeded to the home of John Hancock, soon to be Governor, and at his liberal table, as his guests, enjoyed an inaugural dinner. The Fusiliers have excelled in many military lines thruout their long and honorable history--by no means least of their attainments is the masterly skill with which they have maintained the custom of dining together. Their motto, _Aut vincere aut mori_, seemed high-sounding in the early years. “Conquer or die” presented harsh alternatives. But the time was to come seventy-five years later when the nation needed just such stern, self-sacrificing devotion; and then the Fusiliers indeed lived up to their motto. The Fusiliers wore red coats, in commemoration of certain gallant foemen with whom America had recently been engaged. As the Cadets were then clad in white and another company in blue, a striking patriotic ensemble was produced by the grouping of uniforms whenever the independent companies paraded. William Turner was elected the first Fusilier Captain; the names of his successors are recorded elsewhere in this book. No wonder that the Fusiliers, actives or veterans, have always been noted for maintaining the most successful and distinguished military ball in all Boston, the military-social event of the year; for their first Captain was, by profession, a dancing-master. Capt. Turner was succeeded by Capt. Joseph Laughton, who when not on militia duty, was occupied as a clerk in the Treasurer’s office. [Illustration: THE FUSILIERS ABOUT 1845]