perior force and exported from the camp. I think Maj. Lynch assumed
command. After a few days the camp was moved a number of miles to a
place called Silver Lake. This move was on Saturday.
The next morning some of the officers were informed that Cone was on the
road to this new camp with authority to take command and to place in
arrest all of the officers who had aided in his displacement. There was
a great scampering on the part of these officers, and soon they were
conspicuous by their absence. In a little while the valiant Cone
appeared on the color line, and ordered the men to turn out; his order
was obeyed. Then he showed authority for taking command of the regiment,
and he offered to pardon all who had been in the movement against him,
if they would return and promise to be good in the future. The
skedadling officers got the word, came back, were forgiven, and resumed
their places; that was the last the regiment knew of Manning and Lynch.
The Monday following the regiment moved back to its old quarters near
the fort, and remained there till ordered to Washington. In this
unfortunate fiasco the regiment lost about two hundred men by desertion,
from which depletion it never recovered. When ordered to the seat of
war, I think there were not much above 700 men, and the regiment never
saw the time when it had full ranks--that fact alone accounts for its
not being in the list of those that lost two hundred in battle. I
believe the number killed in action, or who died in a short time from
battle wounds, was 193, or seven short of the number. When brigaded, my
recollection is, that it was at least one hundred and fifty men short of
the number of any other regiment. It had the same number of officers
that the other regiments had, and, with them, the loss in killed
equalled, I believe, the losses in the 5th New Hampshire, which has the
distinction of having lost the most men killed in action of any infantry
regiment on the Union side in the War of the Rebellion.
Francis C. Barlow was appointed Lieut-Col. in place of Manning, and
Capt. Massett was promoted to Major. In each case a good exchange.
Barlow did not appear for duty at Staten Island and was not generally
known to the regiment until it went into Camp at Kendall Green in
Washington, D. C.
Saturday, Nov, 9th, 1861, orders were issued to break camp. The men's
knapsacks were loaded down with things necessary and things that _could_
be dispensed with, (which were
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