it was hastened, as the rebel steamer "Page" had been trouble. some a day or two before, and troops were needed at that point. No orders having come for winter-quarters, the regiment was not slow in providing comfortable log-houses for the coming winter. This camp was named, in honor of the division-general, Camp Hooker.

In February, Gen. Naglee was placed in command of the brigade, and Col. Cowdin returned to his regiment. The advance of McClellan's army began to pass down the river about the middle of March; but the First Regiment did not leave camp until the 7th of April, when it went on board the steamer "Kennebec" for Fortress Monroe. On the morning of the 16th, it moved to the front before Yorktown, and encamped in line of battle; Gen. Hooker's division having the centre of Gen. Heintzleman's corps. Here began a routine of fatigue and picket duty. On the 26th, three companies, I, H, and A,-under command of Lieut-Col. George D. Wells, were detailed for special duty, whose object was a rebel redoubt just erected, the guns of which were exceedingly annoying to the pickets and working-parties. The expedition was successful. The rebels evacuated Yorktown May 4; and, in close pursuit of their retreating columns, Gen. Hooker's division the same evening bivouacked within five miles of Williamsburg. The next morning, advancing at an early hour, the division met the pickets of the enemy. The First were deployed as skirmishers. An engagement took place, in which the regiment took a prominent part, and lost many men. For services on this occasion, it was specially complimented by Gen. Hooker; and Col. Cowdin was appointed a brigadiergeneral by the President for his gallantry in the engagement. On the 6th, the enemy evacuated Williamsburg: the regiment was detailed for provost-duty until the 15th, when it resumed the march; a troop of cavalry having been ordered to relieve it. On the 24th, it crossed the Chickahominy at Bottoms Bridge close upon the heels of the enemy, and on the 25th encamped on Poplar Hill. Heat, exposure, and want of rest, now began to tell upon the health of the troops. In the First, out of a thousand and fifty men who had left Boston one year before, not more than six hundred were fit for duty. On the 4th of June, they moved to Fair Oaks, where the battle had been fought a few days previous. During their stay here, they were on picket-duty at the extreme front every third day. On the 25th, an attempt to advance our picket-lines brought on a general engagement; the

IN THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.

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First driving the enemy's skirmishers through the woods for a long distance, and holding the new line several hours before being relieved. In this engagement the regiment lost heavily, -six officers and fifty-five enlisted men. On the 29th, the movement towards the James commenced: the First moved to the front, and relieved the skirmishers of the Jersey brigade. When the entire line had fallen back and taken another position, this regiment followed, being the last one to leave the bloody and desolate field of Fair Oaks. At Savage Station, the regiment supported Battery K, United-States artillery. On the 30th June, the battle of Glendale was fought, during which the regiment charged the enemy at the point of the bayonet, turning the head of their column. In this engagement the regiment again suffered severely, losing sixty-three men. Major Chandler and Lieut. Sutherland were killed. On the morning of July 1, it marched again, and took part in the battle of Malvern Hill; the next day, through a pelting storm, it reached Harrison's Landing, where the army encamped.

From this time until the army commenced its retrograde movement, nothing of note affecting the regiment occurred which can be recorded here. This movement began Aug. 15; and Aug. 26, the command of the army having been transferred to Gen. Pope, the regiment was again at Warrenton Junction, and on the 27th was in pursuit of Jackson's forces, who had, on the previous evening, made a raid on the railroad at Catlett's Station. They came up with the enemy about half-past one o'clock, P.M., at Kettle run. A brisk engagement ensued, lasting until dark, when the enemy retreated to Manassas Junction. Next day they continued their march down the railroad, passing Manassas Junction to the south side of Bull Run, near Blackburn's Ford, where they encamped for the night. Next morning, the regiment crossed the run, moved forward to the battle-ground of 1861, and became engaged with the enemy in what is known as the second battle of Bull Run. The loss in this engagement was severe; they having been detailed by Gen. Siegel as skirmishers. After holding the enemy in check several hours, the brigade was brought up, and charged into the woods, driving the rebels before them, until, meeting an overwhelming force, it was compelled to fall back; the First losing in killed and wounded more than one-third of the command. The regiment was under fire nearly all of the next day, and that night fell back to Centreville. Sept. 1, Col. Cowdin being in command of the brigade, and Lieut-Col. Baldwin in command of the regi

ment, they started in the midst of a heavy storm towards Fairfax Court House. At Chantilly a skirmish took place, in which the regiment, supporting a battery, was under a heavy fire, and remained in line of battle until three, A.M., of the 2d, when it resumed the march to Fairfax Station; the next day reaching Fort Lyon.

Gen. Pope having been relieved of his command, and Gen. McClellan re-instated, Gen. Hooker was assigned a corps. By the express wish of the latter, his old division was allowed to remain within the defences of Washington for a few weeks to rest, and to be refitted for the field: this accounts for the First Massachusetts not having been at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam in Maryland. Sept. 26, Col. Cowdin having been appointed brigadiergeneral, and assigned to command the second brigade, Abercrombie's division, the command of the regiment devolved upon LieutCol. Baldwin. On account of the frequent and successful raids of the rebel cavalry under Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, it was thought advisable to establish well-guarded outposts on all the roads leading to the Federal capital. The First Regiment, with a battery of artillery, was ordered to garrison Munson's Hill, a commanding eminence within six miles of Washington; but, as the utmost vigilance could discover nothing in that vicinity indicating an intended approach of the enemy on Washington, this with other outposts was abandoned, and the troops ordered to join in the advance on Richmond by the way of Falmouth and Fredericksburg. Gen. Carr now commanded the brigade, and Gen. Sickles the division, at Centreville. The First Regiment was detached from the brigade, and ordered back to Fairfax Court House to do provost-duty. The duties here were light, and without any particularly exciting incidents. The regiment remained here until the 25th of November, when it was ordered to rejoin its brigade on the Rappahannock in front of Fredericksburg. On the 11th of December, with the rest of the army, the First took position and remained on the heights opposite Fredericksburg during the bombardment of the 11th and 12th. On the 13th, it crossed, and took part in the battle of that and the two succeeding days; recrossing when the army fell back on the morning of the 16th, and reaching its old camp in the afternoon. After the evacuation of Fredericksburg, the regiment, under command of Lieut.-Col. Baldwin, returned to its old quarters between the Acquia-Creek Railroad and the Rappanhannock River; and here Col. McLaughlin took command of it on the 19th of December.

THE FIRST AT FREDERICKSBURG.

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In the latter part of January, 1863, another advance upon Fredericksburg was ordered by Gen. Burnside; but the execution of the order was found impracticable on account of the inclemency of the weather and the impassable condition of the roads.

At his own request, Gen. Burnside was now relieved of the command of the army, and Gen. Hooker appointed to succeed him. A thorough inspection of the army was ordered by Gen. Hooker. Of over one hundred and fifty regiments, but eleven were considered worthy of special commendation. One of these eleven was the First Massachusetts.

April 27, the army received orders to be in readiness to march at any moment. May 1, the regiment was detailed as rear-guard; crossed the United-States Ford, and halted a few minutes; again formed line, and joined the brigade, which had halted two miles nearer the Chancellorsville House. Heavy firing being heard in front, the brigade advanced at double-quick down the Chancellorville plank-road to check the advance of the enemy, who had attacked and driven the Eleventh corps. The First Massachusetts was ordered to a position to the right of this road, and to hold it at all hazards. Here the men soon improvised quite a good shelter for themselves, which they held until the next morning against two fierce assaults. Holding the same line of works was a Maryland regiment upon the left of the road. The rebels advancing with a bolder front than usual, this regiment gave way, and fled to the rear. The regiment upon the right flank then also yielded. Both flanks being thus open to attack, the First was obliged to fall back, about a quarter of a mile, — and again formed a line of battle in the road leading from the ford to the Chancellorsville House.

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May 5, about noon, preparations were made by Gen. Hooker to abandon his position, and fall back across the river. At half-past six, P.M., the First received orders to report to Capt. Randolph, chief of artillery, Third Corps. The regiment then moved out of the woods, proceeded towards the river, and arrived at the ford at midnight; crossed at two, A.M. On the 6th, it rejoined the brigade, and moved to its old camping-ground at the Fitz-Hugh House, near Falmouth. It was while the regiment was occupying its advanced position on the plank-road that Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded. The circumstances, as related by Col. McLaughlin, are as follow:

During the early part of the night, a rebel came down the plank-road, driving a pair of mules. He was halted, and asked where he was going

when he replied, that he had been ordered by Capt. Stewart (C.S.A.) to go and get a caisson the Yanks had left alongside the road. He was immedi ately arrested, and sent to the rear.

At half-past eight o'clock, P.M., a cavalcade of a dozen or more horsemen drove down the plank-road; when my men immediately opened fire upon them they turned about, and rode furiously back up the road. From the official report of the rebel Gen. Lee, I am led to believe that Gen. Stonewall Jackson formed one of the cavalcade, and that he was killed by my

men.

:

Until the first week in June, the hostile armies confronted each other; Gen. Hooker's at Falmouth, Gen. Lee's at Fredericksburg. The movements of the enemy induced the belief that he was designing an invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. By a cavalry reconnoissance at Beverly Ford, papers disclosing this intention were obtained, and sent to the authorities at Washington. In furtherance of this design, a combined attack upon the defences at Winchester was made by Gens. Ewell, Early, and Johnson. Gen. Milroy, overpowered by numbers, abandoned his defences; and the way into Maryland was thus opened.

The Army of the Potomac was strengthened as much as possible, and put in rapid motion on the right of Gen. Lee's columns, to act on the offensive to cover Washington, on the aggressive to drive the enemy from Maryland.

The weather was oppressive, the water scarce, and the daily marches of the troops unusually long. The narrative of fatigue and suffering in this campaign is common to all the regiments of the army.

On the 22d of June, Gen. Potomac from Leesburg up.

Hooker's forces held the line of the On the 27th, the army was in the vicinity of Frederick, Md. ; and one column of the enemy had advanced as far as York, Penn. Gen. Hooker was now superseded in the command of the army by Gen. G. G. Meade.

From Frederick, the Third Corps, to which the First Regiment belonged, proceeded to Taneytown, where it was joined by Gen. Sickles. The second division of the corps arrived at Emmetsburg, on the Pennsylvania line, July 1. On approaching Gettysburg, after dark, a mistake was made in the road, the advance guard coming upon the enemy's pickets. They quietly retraced their steps, came upon the right road, and rejoined the remainder of the corps at two, A.M., July 2.

At daylight, the men were formed in line of battle. At eleven, A.M., the First Regiment was ordered forward, and deployed as