



Produced by Rosanna Murphy and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)





Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.




    THE OLD FIRST

[Illustration: OUR FIRST STATE CAMP, NEPONSET, 1849]




    THE OLD FIRST

    Massachusetts Coast Artillery
    IN
    War and Peace


    By
    FREDERICK MORSE CUTLER, B.D.
    First Lieutenant, Chaplain

    [Illustration]


    THE PILGRIM PRESS
    BOSTON CHICAGO




    COPYRIGHT 1917
    BY FREDERICK MORSE CUTLER

    _First Edition, March 21, 1917_
    _Second Edition, April 30, 1917_


    THE PILGRIM PRESS
    BOSTON




CONTENTS


    CHAPTER                                                     PAGE

       I. The Coast Artillery                                      1

      II. 1784-1840                                               12

     III. 1840-1861                                               31

      IV. Responding to the President's Call                      46

       V. The Fighting First                                      58

      VI. 1866-1878                                               80

     VII. The Old "Tiger" First                                   89

    VIII. "The Cape"                                             112

      IX. Since 1878                                             127

       X. Finally                                                152

    APPENDIX I. Genealogy of the Coast Artillery--The
          Present Companies--Their Captains                      157

    APPENDIX II. Bibliography                                    174

    INDEX                                                        179




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


    Our First State Camp, Neponset, 1849              _Frontispiece_

                                                       OPPOSITE PAGE

    The Train-Band, 1832. Why It Was Abolished?                   26

    Artillery in 1917                                             34

    Artillery in 1784                                             34

    Maj. Poore Pays His Bet                                       40

    The South Armory, Boston                                      70

    Fort Monroe in 1861                                           70

    The Fusiliers About 1845                                      90

    The Gray Uniform--The City Guards at Baltimore, 1844          96

    The Author                                                   144

    Col. E. Dwight Fullerton                                     144

    Col. George F. Quinby                                        144

    Modern Battery                                               154

    The Chaplain in Action, 1916                                 154




THE OLD FIRST




THE OLD FIRST




CHAPTER I

THE COAST ARTILLERY


When Chaplain Minot J. Savage first listened to the "March of the
First," inspiration fired his soul; the music was repeating a message to
him. Was there something in the brazen voice of the horns, a magical
harmony of sound with sense; or was it merely the loyal Chaplain's
imagination? At any rate this is what he heard:

              "We're brothers of all noble men,
                Who wear our country's blue,
              We brothers find in any race,
                Where men are brave and true.
              But we've a pride in our own band,
                And we are all agreed,
              Whatever grand deeds others do,
                The 'Old First' still shall lead.
                      So while our feet keep music time,
                        Our hearts are proudly beating
                      An echo to Man's forward hope
                        That never knows retreating."

And now, whenever "Adjutant's call" sounds and the companies move into
line with the precision and rhythmic swing characteristic of
well-trained troops, they also hear the message which was written down
for them by the Chaplain many years ago, "The Old First still shall
lead." They hear and believe.

Today it becomes the privilege of another Chaplain to set forth in this
little book the reasons why the Old First believes in itself. We shall
see how the present grows out of a long and noble past. Back in Civil
War times observers noted that the regiment was one to be proud of;
there was a large proportion of sensible, solid men who enlisted because
it seemed duty, whose patriotism was not silly or vulgar, but strong and
serious. Today likewise the Inspector General reports that the personnel
is unexcelled; only men of good character are enlisted; standards are
very high. And for the largest part the men are not in the service for
any personal profit to themselves--there is too little pay to make money
the attraction. They are soldiers at the sacrifice of their own leisure,
and often of their comfort. A modern National Guardsman is averse to
boasting or heroics--he is the most matter-of-fact citizen of all. But
surely the Chap