One can scarcely overestimate the importance of these early days at Monroe. The fort has always been the coast artillery headquarters of the United States. During the Civil War it was far more than this--it was the gateway of Virginia. Its possession enabled McClellan and Grant to operate against Richmond. Without it neither the Peninsular campaign nor the siege of Petersburg could have taken place. Nearby Hampton, fanned by the sea-breezes, became the sanitorium of the northern armies. Burnside’s expedition, which made possible Sherman’s march, depended upon Monroe as a base. When on July 16, five days after the 4th Regiment had departed, the men of the 3d embarked on the S. S. “Cambridge” to sail for Boston, they felt with reason that they had rendered priceless service to their country. One company of the 4th Regiment, Co. G, which served three months at Fort Monroe, and subsequently for nine months of 1862-63 at New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Port Hudson, became, in 1866, Co. G of the 3d; and in 1878 was consolidated in the 1st. Co. G had been organized at Taunton as the “Light Guard” in 1855. In the fall of 1862 a call came for nine-months troops. The companies of the 3d had maintained their organization, and altho constantly depleted to supply recruits for other regiments, were relatively well prepared for service. They now determined that the 3d should reenter the U. S. service. In order to distribute town quotas more justly, the Assonet Light Infantry was united with the Halifax Light Infantry as Co. A, under Capt. John W. Marble of Assonet; (Capt. Marble was subsequently to command the 22d Unattached Company during the one-hundred-days of 1864;) the Samoset Guards of Plympton and the Bay State Light Infantry of Carver were consolidated with the Standish Guards as Co. B, under Capt. Thomas B. Griffith of Carver. The New Bedford City Guards became Co. E, under Capt. John A. Hawes. New companies were organized: C and D in Fall River under Capts. Elihu Grant and Andrew D. Wright (Capt. Grant later became a minister); F and G in New Bedford under Capts. George H. Hurlburt and William S. Cobb; H in Rehoboth under Capt. Otis A. Baker, who had a notable war record. (As private in the 1st R. I., he had been wounded at Bull Run. Later he had served as 1st Sergeant and 2d Lieutenant in the 44th R. I.; subsequently he was to be Captain of the 18th Unattached Company,) I in Fairhaven under Capt. Barnabas Ewer, Jr., who as Major of the 58th Mass. was killed at Cold Harbor in 1864; K in Bridgewater under Capt. Samuel Bates. Co. D of Fall River continued its existence after the war, and was active until 1876. The regiment was commanded by Col. Richmond; the Lieutenant Colonel was James Barton of New Bedford, who had been 1st Lieutenant during the three-months’ service; the Major was John Morrissey of Plymouth, who had been “legislated out” of the captaincy of the Standish Guards by the recent consolidation. Maj.