Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Diary of Private John J. Wyeth, August 7, 1862

THE ORGANIZATION.

On the evening of August 7th, 1862, the 4th Battalion Infantry (New England Guard) held a meeting at their Armory, Boylston Hall, Boston, Major Francis L. Lee presiding. It was resolved unanimously to respond to the order of Gen. Davis, and to accept the offer of Gov. Andrew for the battalion to recruit to a regiment. At the call for members to sign the new roll, there was a general rush, each being anxious to get his name on the list first between two and three hundred men enlisted. On the same day the battalion paraded the city, with Flagg’s band. This battalion was the nucleus of our regiment, our company being raised by Mr. Spencer W. Richardson, under the auspices of the Mercantile Library Association, of Boston (of which organization he was a prominent member), with the assistance of Messrs. James S. Newell and James S. Cumston. Our head-quarters being in the large hall of the Association on Summer Street.

SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 5

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