Andrew that we should go on the Burnside Expedition, for which preparations were already being made.

We soon fell into disfavor with our friend Governor Hicks. One of his slaves had been seen to be passed by the guard into the Academy grounds, and the governor came in person to get him. Receiving no assistance from Captain Walker, the officer of the day, the governor complained to Colonel Morse, who at once summoned the captains to his headquarters the colonel, after commenting severely on our base ingratitude to the governor, if we ran off one of his negroes after his kindness in saving us from the "red hot shells" of Fort Sumter, ordered the officer of the day to have the buildings searched until the fugitive was found. Captain Walker, however, met the emergency like a man; saying that he did not come South to hunt slaves, he tore off his sash, threw it on the floor, and told the colonel to detail another officer for that sort of duty. Every captain was in turn detailed for the duty, and each followed Captain Walker's example in refusing to undertake it. The angry governor said that he would go to General Dix, and if necessary to Washington, for redress, and left us, with the warm assurance that we should be sorry for that day's work. Meanwhile, the innocent cause of this pleasing little episode was hidden in a chimney of one of the buildings, and escaped as soon as it was dark, in a boat which some of the men kindly stole for him in the town. Although, first and last, we ran a good many negroes out of Maryland, we had more fun out of this case than any other.

October 24th. We heard the exaggerated first reports of the battle of Ball's Bluff, and of the fearful slaughter in our brother Worcester County regiment, the 15th Massachusetts. The rebels were reported to have killed hundreds of them with long-range rifles, while they themselves were beyond the reach of the smooth-bores carried by the 15th, and to have massacred most of the rest of them with bowie knives on the precipitous river bank, or while trying to swim the river. As we were armed with smooth-bores of the poorest description, the men began to complain bitterly because our

wealthy government did not arm us as well as the rebels. It was also rumored in the city that ten thousand rebels had crossed the Potomac and were marching on Annapolis. Fearing a rising of the rebel element, twenty rounds of ball cartridges a man were issued, and the regiment held ready throughout the night to act at a moment's notice. In the morning the alarm was found to be entirely groundless.

October 29th. The four companies on picket duty along the railroad and at Annapolis Junction were relieved by four of the companies at Annapolis. The day was lovely, and the relieving force moved gayly down the railroad with drums and fifes playing, all glad to escape from the restraints of dull old Annapolis, except perhaps the company doomed to serve at the Junction under Colonel Maggi's rigid inspections and exact instruction, enforced by bricks in the knapsack, his favorite mode of making the men see the error of their ways in turning out with dirty guns, unpolished brasses, unbuttoned coats, or unblacked shoes.

October 31st. The 51st New York, a regiment destined to stand beside the 21st on many à bloody field, arrived by

steamer.

November 3d. The 25th Massachusetts arrived by steamer from Baltimore.

November 13th. We were paid by the United States to October 31st, and received news of the capture of Beaufort and Port Royal, by the Sherman Expedition; it seemed as if the rebellion was beginning to feel the heavy weight of the Union arm.

Sunday, November 17th. Governor Andrew, and Secretaries Cameron, Seward, and Wells, visited Annapolis, and passed along the line of the 21st, with uncovered heads. The thing that pleased us most in connection with the governor's visit was his promise that we should soon be supplied with the best English Enfield rifles, which the State of Massachusetts had sent an agent abroad to purchase.

We had two Thanksgiving Days, the Massachusetts day, Thursday, November 21st, and the Maryland day, Thursday,

November 28th; and celebrated both, the Massachusetts one mainly by feasting on the contents of the numerous boxes from home, and the Maryland one mainly by welcoming Rev. George S. Ball, our new chaplain, who made an address to the men at Annapolis.

November 30th. The regiment received orders to report at Washington, but the order was countermanded before night. December 5th. We were informed at dress-parade that Enfield rifles were on the way from Massachusetts for us, and the regiment received the news with hearty cheers.

About this time matters came to a crisis between Colonel Morse and Lieutenant-Colonel Maggi. A citizen induced Colonel Morse to give him a permit to take a large quantity of powder and shot from the Junction into lower Maryland for "sporting purposes; " but, on its arrival within his reach, the lieutenant-colonel seized it and refused to recognize the colonel's pass. Colonel Morse then obtained an order from General Dix, Department Commander, to allow the ammunition to pass beyond our lines, but the lieutenant-colonel utterly refused to honor it, and returned it with an indorsement to the effect that the order must have been issued on false representations, and that he would never be a party to furnishing the enemy with powder and shot to kill his men; whereupon Lieutenant-Colonel Maggi was promptly relieved from duty and placed in close arrest to await trial by courtmartial.

December 13th. Part of the 24th Massachusetts arrived at Annapolis, for the Burnside Expedition.

December 16th. We received the very welcome news today that we certainly were going on the Burnside Expedition, which caused the wildest enthusiasm in the regiment.

December 18th. The four companies of the 21st on picket duty were relieved by a detachment from a Pennsylvania regiment, and returned to Annapolis: the ten companies of the regiment were now together again for the first time since August 29th. Although we were proud of our long and impressive front of stalwart men and of our opportunity for ac

tive service, many of us had very pleasant memories of our healthful country experience in Maryland, in which chickens and other luxuries had not been uncommon; and we had found many kind and attentive friends among the country people, had now and then made merry at a-husking, enjoyed a negro prayer-meeting, or taken part in some other convivial or novel occasion. Take it all together, however, we heartily welcomed the new departure.

December 19th. General Burnside had a grand review of all the troops at Annapolis, ten or twelve thousand men. The 21st, proud of being a regiment again, marched, wheeled, and drilled with remarkable steadiness and accuracy. There never was a regiment where a larger proportion of the men were more anxious to appear at their best, for it was our first review, and we were no longer to be used for "conciliatory purposes, but were going on the Burnside Expedition.

December 20th. We were subjected to a long and tiresome inspection in the selection of the brigades of Burnside's Division, but were well repaid for our pains by the high honor done us, being the first regiment which the gallant veteran, General Jesse L. Reno, selected for his brigade (the 2d). In that selection were involved the most glorious memories of our military service, and very many pleasant associations hallowed by his death: never forgetful of the wants of his command; always setting a high example in his honest soldierly nobility of speech and action and devoted courage, we soon learned to love and respect him for the truth of his manly character no less than we confided in his military discretion; cool, cautious, and slow till the moment came to strike quick and hard, and then with his men, inspiring them with his own magnetic irresistible daring. A man without fear and without reproach! Well may we be ever proud of the fact that we were the right flank regiment of Reno's old brigade, and that he was not only content with but proud of us.

December 21st. Our Enfield rifles arrived from Massachusetts, and were at once issued to the regiment, in exchange for our venerable smooth-bores; Enfield rifles for the eight

battalion companies, and Harper's Ferry rifles with sabre bayonets for the flank companies; the latter a splendid weapon, the former of a good kind but of poor quality, hastily and carelessly made, with many badly tempered cones and weak mainsprings; and for a time, until we discovered how well they would shoot, we almost wished for our old crooked barreled smooth-bores again. We now turned our attention assiduously to drill, and January 1st had our first practice with ball cartridges, firing twenty-five rounds a man. Since it had become certain that we were destined for more active service, energetic and persistent efforts had been made in the regiment for Lieutenant-Colonel Maggi's release from arrest and restoration to his command; petitions to that end, signed by the line officers with hardly an exception, were sent to Governor Andrew, the Massachusetts Senators in Washington, and the Secretary of War. These efforts were successful; the flimsy charges against him were quashed, and the day before we were embarked for the Burnside Expedition he was returned to duty.

Company A was called on to mourn a serious loss, in the last days of our stay at Annapolis, in the death of Corporal Sereno Sawyer, who died in the regimental hospital December 31st, of typhus fever. Surgeon Cutter, in announcing his death to his father, in a letter written on that day, said of him: "He was a model of patience, quietness, and cheerfulness during his entire illness. He was a good specimen of a Christian man. The loss in Mr. Sawyer's decease is not confined to his parents, relations, and friends in the town of his birth and residence. The company of which he was a member, and the regiment to which he belonged, have experienced a serious bereavement, for in faithfulness in duty, in kindness, in truth and in honor, he was a soldier worthy of imitation."

The only other deaths by disease since leaving Massachusetts, which I find in Dr. Cutter's journal are: of typhoid fever, private Edward L. Howe, of Company K, November 17; private James Bryson, of Company H, November 26; and private Sylvester H. Adams, of Company H, December 31: