On the completion of the mustering-in there came an incident which was characteristic of the spirit of the First. Since all of the volunteer commissions due the regiment would bear the same date, it was evident that a decision must be made to settle questions of seniority. Army regulations prescribe that lots shall be drawn in cases similar to this, and, had this legalized lottery been held, there was a tempting chance that the officer of less than a year's commissioned service might find himself out-ranking another who had served faithfully in the militia for years in a like grade. To the everlasting credit of the regiment, its officers declined to avail themselves of this opportunity for unearned advancement, and by their wish the first general order issued from headquarters of the newly-made volunteer regiment published a roster of the command, determining the rank and precedence in the several grades, as established by previous service in the militia of Massachusetts.

As mustered into the volunteer service, the regiment was officered as follows:

The non-commissioned staff, as finally mustered in, was made up of Sergt.-Maj. William D. Huddleson, Q.M.-Sergt. Edward E. Chapman, Hospital Stewards George Y. Sawyer, Ira B. Phillips, Thomas White, Principal Musicians James F. Clark and Frederick A. H. Bennett. Of the old non-commissioned staff, Paymaster-Sergt. George R. Russell and Color-Sergt. Axel T. Tornrose, whose militia grades were not recognized in the volunteer service, refused to be left behind, and proved their devotion to the regiment by enlisting as privates. The regimental band, as well as the corps of field musicians attached to headquarters under the militia organization, could not be mustered, and until the close of its term of service the regiment was obliged to rest satisfied with the music of its battery buglers, save for the short period at Framingham prior to going on furlough, when the thoughtfulness of the State authorities allowed the band to rejoin.

Under the terms on which the mustering of the regiment had been ordered by the War Department, it entered the service with forty-eight commissioned officers and seven hundred and three enlisted men, an aggregate for duty of seven hundred and fifty-one. In its personnel the command was exceptionally fortunate. Of its officers, twenty-five per cent. were college bred, while in its ranks were to be found representatives of nearly every college and technical school in New England. In machinists, electricians, and skilled mechanics—the sort of material without which an artillery command never can attain its full efficiency—the regiment was encouragingly strong. A newspaper sketch of the Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, recently published, gives a roll of twenty-one Harvard men who served in that command, and accompanies it with this comment: "Harvard University contributed her quota to the army last summer, and the Sixth had as many of her sons in the ranks as any regiment in the service." It is perhaps worth noting, though it hardly need be a matter for controversy, that no less than thirty-four graduates and undergraduates of the Cambridge University went out with the First, of whom nine were commissioned officers, while the remainder served faithfully and with credit as enlisted men. It is a matter for regret that statistics relating to men from other colleges who served in the regiment are not available, but it may be of interest to record here the Harvard roll, which may be considered approximately complete:

Commissioned officers: James A. Frye (1886), major; John Bordman, Jr. (1894), captain; John B. Paine (1891), first lieutenant and range officer; E. Dwight Fullerton (1898), first lieutenant; William A. Rolfe (M.S., 1890), first lieutenant and assistant surgeon; William S. Bryant (1884), first lieutenant and assistant surgeon, later promoted major and brigade surgeon, and assigned to Seventh Corps; Albert A. Gleason (1886), second lieutenant; Sumner Paine (1890), second lieutenant; Joseph S. Francis (1897), second lieutenant.

Enlisted men: Louis H. Brittin (L.S.S., 1901), corporal, "A"; Arthur H. Howard (1898), corporal, "A"; Edward D. Powers (1898), corporal, "A"; Ralph W. Black (1886), private, "K"; Edward A. Bumpus (1898), private, "A," later appointed second lieutenant, Twenty-first United States Infantry; John Corbett (temporary student), private, "B"; Charles W. Cutler (1898), private, "A"; Eugene H. Douglass (1898), private, "A"; Howard B. Grose (1901), private, "K"; Frederick Heilig (1897), private, "A"; Edwin B. Holt (1896), private, "A"; Benjamin Kaufman (1900), private, "D"; Charles H. Keene (1898), private, "A"; James L. Knox (1898), private, "A"; John F. McGrath (1895), private, "A"; Moses I. Reuben (1889), private, "K"; George R. Russell (temporary student), private, "K"; Francis R. Stoddard, Jr. (1899), private, "A"; Harry C. Strong (1899), private, "K"; Edward A. Thurston (temporary student, L.S.), private, "M"; Calvin S. Tilden (1898), private, "A"; John A. White (1896), private, "B"; Charles H. Williams (L.S.S., 1900), private, "A"; Francis C. Wilson (1898), private, "A"; Roger Wolcott, Jr. (1898), private, "A."