Nine new companies came into existence within two years, mostly by the process of subdividing older commands, while the Tigers continued their organization as Co. A. Charles F. Harrington, former Captain of the Tigers, became colonel in 1869. Distinguished soldiers were willing to serve as company commanders in the 7th. B had for a Captain, Walter Scott Sampson, who had led the 7th Co. of Col. Cowdin’s regiment, the Washington Light Guard, into the 6th, and had commanded it (Co. K of the 6th) during its famous march thru Baltimore. Capt. Sampson had meanwhile been in command of a company in the 22d Mass. He was, in civil life, a successful Boston builder. E was commanded by no less a personage than Henry J. Hallgreen, war Captain of A or the Tiger Company in the 43d. A had for its Captain, David W. Wardrop, war Colonel of the 3d Reg. The entire regiment was quartered in a single armory, at Pine and Washington Sts. Co. B had developed by fission from Co. A in 1864 and was first called the Handy Guard or 32d Unattached Co. In 1869 so many veterans of the old Washington Light Guard joined Co. B that the Handy Guard became known as the Washington Light Guard. In 1873 the company transferred its headquarters from Boston to Cambridge, and, as part of the process, the name was again changed, becoming the Massachusetts Guards. Claim has been made that Co. B perpetuates the old original Washington Light Guard, and it also claims to be the Tigers, as truly as the 2d Company;--it exists today as the 6th Company, Mass. C. A. Gen. W. E. Lombard holds its older record books. The 7th Company, Mass. C. A., the Pierce Light Guard, came into existence as Co. E of the 7th; Henry L. Pierce after whom it was named donated $1,000 to the company treasury. Young men, however, are more successful than veterans in maintaining the interest of an active regiment; and apathy concerning military matters characterized the public thinking during the years immediately following the war. By 1870 the 7th had only four live companies remaining; on July 20 of that year the regiment was reduced to a battalion. The Tigers now recovered their old regimental number--they became the “1st” Battalion, and Maj. Douglass Frazer commanded. The 1st Battalion was on duty in 1872 at the great Boston fire, and protected the most important section of all, the financial district along State Street.