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manly hearts, leading their regiments into the very jaws of hell without flinching or faltering.
At this hour they pass again,
In dim procession led,
reminding of a sacred companionship, born of patriotic devotion, nurtured in the fire of battle, and strengthened by a common sacrifice,--a tender, a sweet companionship, that admonishes, as we bear the burden of our daily cares, to be true, to be honest, to be brave.
And when,--
At times unbidden notes shall rise,
Confusedly bound in memory's ties,
Entangling as they rush along,
The war-march with the funeral song,
and time covers with its mosses the stones that mark the resting-places of our heroic comrades, we shall appreciate more and more that the proud record of this regiment would be a barren story without the history of all those noble souls — officers and privates-who gave up their lives for their country.
On a day about the twentieth of May, 1861, I handed
Governor Andrew, at the
State House, a complete list of every officer for the Second Regiment in the order in which I wished them to rank.
Taking from my hand this paper,
Governor Andrew, in my presence, delivered it to the
Adjutant-General, with this injunction: “Let commissions issue to these gentlemen, in the order of rank as designated.”
And thus commissions were made out, though the dates were irrespective of
Governor Andrew's order, which was prior, as I have every reason to believe, to any order of his concerning any other of the then designated six regiments; irrespective, too, of the date of muster — in to the
United States service, for, at the especial suggestion of the mustering officer, the colonel of the Second Regiment was mustered into the
United States service prior to any
