Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-06-06

| the regular army. Burnside accepted.
and at once went to Providence to take
charge of the organization and equip
ment of the regiment
! So prompt was the answer of the mi
iitia companies to the governors order
tat ont only was the regiment or
ganized but as many more turned away.
$500 volunteering where there was room.
but for 1000.
That day, April II, Governor Spragae
was able to write to Secretary Cam
eron: I'VE have organized our regi-
Inent on the basis of my offer to the
president of force for the protection
of the capital, and are about ready IL
move To avoid publicity we shall report
our force in Washington unless otner-
wise ordered. We are using every exer-
tion to be first in the field"
The excitement at the state capital
while the enlistlng and organizing was
going on was Of the greatest.
THE streets of Providence" wrote the
Iregimental historian, "resountled with the
tramp of armed men and the notes on
martial music. The vestries of the
churches, halls, private dwellings, were
filed with women at work upon the out
fit of the soldiers. The villages We'd with
the cities, and each community furnished
its representatives"
Six infantry companies came from Prov
lidence. one each from Newport, Pawtuck-
ct, Westerly and Woonsoclet. The ar
tillery battery first to get under way
was the Providence marine corps. Accom-
panied by the lieutenant governor-elect,
it left the city on the 18th for Easton,
Pa, for period of drill before entering
active service.
In it's composition the First Rhode Is
land regiment was a remarkable one. 1t
numbered in its ranks men of every sta
ton in lifes every trade and profession.
every creed and party.
One of tn privates in the ranks, 1t was
reported pes a millionaire who had been
on the pNpt Of starting for Europe, but
had torn UP his ticket to go with his
company Many of the officers and men
were wealthy, of the leading families
of the state, repeating on the muster
rolls of 1851 the names of those of 1776.
The regiment was well uniformed and
equipped A kossuth hat with white
havelock, loose blue blouse, a red
blanket strapped diagonally across the
back, a plain leather belt sustaining
SIX barreled revolver in addition to bay
onet and cartridge box-this was the uni
form that drew much notice in both New
York and Philadelphia.
Seven of the companies were armed
with long-range rifle muskets and bayo-
nets, three with u. S. rifles and sword
breech- loading rifles, the invention of
their colonel.
Unlike many of the volunteer regi-
ments the men of the First Rhode Is
land had with them a regimental bag
gage train. They carried provisions for
three weeks campaign and an abun-
dant supply of ammunition, and were
in every respect ready to take the field
at once.
Such equipment, however, took money,
and the legislature was not then in ses-
sion to appropriate it nor was there
time to call a special session. To meet
the emergency Governor Sprague at once
offered to guarantee in his own name
and that of the firm OF A. & w.
Sprague the payment of all accounts
amounting to some 100000. His credit
was unlimited the orders were accepted
and the supplies furnished.
The A.hode Island regiment was not
however, to be the first in the field as
the governor had hoped. 1t was April
20 before everything was ready, and the
transport with the first detachment Of
the troops, numbering 554 officers and
men, steamed down Narragahsett bay
Governor Sprague going with them.
-Four days later they were landed at
Annapolis hear how a Massachusetts
and a New York regiment had set out
that same morning, aIter reScu1ng the
Constitution, laying rails and repairing
disabled engine. 1t was reported that
these regiments had been Obliged to
fight their way, and that confederate
force had crossed the lower Potomac
and was marching through Maryland
to cut off communication with the
north
Thursday morning, April 25, the regi-
ment got under way. "Sundry broken
down horses and mules" writes Chap
lain Augustus woodbury., with few
rickety carts were procured at fabulous
prices to carry what baggage could not
be taken on our own teams, and we got
off upon the road at o'clock.
THE country through which we marcn-
ed was almost entirely deserted Occa-
sionally a horseman would pass US on
the road, whose dark and scowling looks
betokened that at least he was no frie
to the soldiers who occupied the high
way or the cause in which they were
engaged
AT times. indeed, our salutations
were returned with an air ia which a