The desire of the volunteers to enter upon active service was soon gratified. On the 15th of April, only two days after the date of this letter, a telegram was received from Senator Wilson at Washington, requesting twenty companies to be sent to Washington to act in the defence of that city. This was followed on the same day by a formal demand by telegraph from the Secretary of War, calling for two full regiments of militia. This demand was at once complied with, for, on the same day, Special Order No. 14 was issued by the Governor, “directing Colonel Jones of the Sixth Regiment, Colonel Packard of the Fourth, Colonel Wardrop of the Third, and Colonel Munroe of the Eighth, to muster their respective commands on the Boston Common forthwith.” The order was transmitted by mail and special messengers to the various colonels, who severally resided at Lowell, Quincy, New Bedford, and Lynn. The companies composing these regiments were scattered throughout the cities and towns of the counties of Essex, Plymouth, Bristol, Norfolk, and Middlesex. But during the day and following night, nearly every man was notified, and on the morning of the 16th the regiments arrived in Boston. The Third and Fourth regiments were ordered to proceed “forthwith” to Fortress Monroe, Va., while the Sixth and Eighth were sent to Washington. The Fourth left Boston on the 17th of April, and the Third on the following day, the two regiments arriving at Fortress Monroe on the 20th of April, and becoming a part of the garrison at that post. Neither of the last two commands contained the maximum number of men; the Third Regiment having, both officers and enlisted men, only 450, while the Fourth, somewhat stronger, numbered 636.
It appears from the Report of the Adjutant-General of 1861, that from the 13th of April to the 20th of May,--the former being the date of the attack on Fort Sumter,--one hundred and fifty-nine applications for leave to raise companies were granted. These applications were not in every instance made in pursuance of the Act of February 15, 1861 (Chap. 49), but were often, and perhaps in the majority of instances, made by private individuals and the persons who desired to enlist. We have before us a copy of one of these rolls, the agreement of enlistment being as follows:--