sentences:  On April 19, 1861, word reached Salem that the Sixth Massachusetts had been attacked in Baltimore while on its way to defend Washington, D.C. Cogswell turned his office into a recruiting station and in 24 hours raised a full company, the first company in the country recruited for the war.This became Company C of the Second Massachusetts Volunteers, with Cogswell as captain in command.Cogswell was commissioned a captain in the Second Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, May 11, 1861.