The act provided for the ‘discipline and instruction of the military forces,’ and gave the Governor the power to appoint such staff officers as he might consider necessary, which power continued in force until the end of the war.
After the six regiments first called for by the Secretary of War for three years service had left the State, and ten more had been accepted, a constant demand was made upon the State until the close of the Rebellion, for all the troops that could be raised, which were sent forward to the front as they were organized. Therefore the establishment of a State camp, as contemplated by the act of the Legislature, for drill and organization, was never established; but, instead thereof, temporary camps were formed in different parts of the State to accommodate the local demand. Thus it was, that the First Regiment, Colonel Cowdin, which was recruited in Boston and its immediate vicinity, was sent to ‘Camp Cameron’ in North Cambridge, where it remained until June 15, when it was ordered to Washington. The Second Regiment, which was recruited by Colonel Gordon, and officers under his command, established a camp in West Roxbury, which was called ‘Camp Andrew,’ in honor of the Governor.
Governor Andrew determined that the regimental number should not be duplicated; hence it was, that the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Regiments should retain their own designations, and should not be confounded with the three years regiments. Therefore the next three years regiment which was recruited by Colonel Couch at ‘Camp Old Colony,’ near Taunton, was called the Seventh Regiment. The Eighth Regiment, being a three months regiment, retained its original number; and the next three years regiment was called the Ninth Regiment, which was composed of men of Irish birth, and their immediate descendants, and was recruited and organized under the superintendence of Colonel Thomas Cass, at Long Island, in Boston
