These were stirring times for the regiment. It was the period of rumors—of rumors that at any time might develop into realities. In order to obtain an adequate idea of the atmosphere in which the command then lived, it would be necessary to turn to the files of the newspapers for the early spring of 1898, and make a classified list of the Spanish naval bugaboos daily appearing in their columns. One odd coincidence is well worth recalling, as showing that all the misapprehensions were not confined to our own cities. On the evening of April 26th, the day on which the regiment reported at Fort Warren, mass meetings were held at Portsmouth and New Bedford, to protest against the utter disregard shown by the Government for the defenses at those points—and on that very night there was given in Havana a public banquet to celebrate the bombardment of Boston, of which rumors had spread in that city! Spook fleets were common in those days, and the men of the First, happily forgetful of the fact that they were manning obsolete works, armed for the most part with obsolete ordnance, and, worst of all, wofully short of ammunition, daily hoped that the spook cruisers might materialize into ships of steel. What little time was left from their duties they employed in pitying their less fortunate comrades in inland camps, whom they considered hopelessly out of the game of coastwise attack and defence which was expected to begin at any time.

And all this speculation, as a matter of fact, was not so wild as it now may seem. It was known that the Spanish torpedo flotilla had rendezvoused at the Cape Verde Islands on March 24th, where it was joined on April 14th by the Infanta Maria Teresa and Cristobal Colon, and later, on the 20th, by the Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo. On the 22d of April this formidable squadron was ordered to sea, and on the 29th it sailed—to a destination then unknown to any one on this side of the Atlantic. During the four anxious weeks that followed, this threatening fleet was lost to sight; and throughout this month of uncertainty, as Spears, the historian of the Navy in its latest war, rightly says, "Not only was it a mysterious squadron in its movements: to a large part of our along-shore population it was positively fearsome. And there was good reason, when the makeup of the squadron only is considered, for vigilance, if not for alarm, in our more weakly fortified harbors. Where it would make a landfall was a question, for the whole United States coast was, in a way, open to attack."

An added element of uncertainty was to be found in the announcement made by Sagasta, on April 24th: "The Spanish Government, reserving its right to grant letters of marque, will at present confine itself to organizing, with the vessels of the mercantile marine, a force of auxiliary cruisers, which will coÖperate with the navy, according to the needs of the campaign, and will be under naval control." It was believed that Spain, in accordance with this policy, had taken and armed a number of able, sea-going steamers, and the legitimate inference was that they were to be employed in attacks on our commerce, or in sudden descents upon our open ports, rather than in fights with our own cruisers.

As a matter of fact, during the months of May and June, the people dwelling along the coast were much in the condition of the small boy who is troubled by "seein' things at night," and apparently the masters of incoming vessels were laboring under a like affliction. A very careful record of the Spanish apparitions by which the coast was haunted at this time was kept by an officer of the First, and to read it at this late day is to become convinced that the newspaper buyers of 1898 most certainly got their money's worth. It is a weird catalogue of rumors, from the tale of the mysterious cannonading heard at Eastport to the reported sighting of the "three long, low, rakish craft, sailing in column formation, and signalling by masthead lights as they steadily held their course in the darkness"—which might have fitted a Spanish squadron, but yet was equally applicable to the case of a tow of coal-barges on its way around the Cape to Boston.

But in spite of the utter absurdity of many of the reports, the officers of the First gave much careful consideration to the diagrams in Brassey's "Naval Annual," and Jane's "Fighting Ships," with a view to putting 8-inch shot in the spots where they would do the most good should occasion arise; and nobody was unduly surprised when, shortly after midnight of May 13th, the Tourist, the steamer employed by the Engineers in their harbor-mining work, came puffing down from the city, announcing her arrival at the fort by long blasts of her whistle, and bringing word that at last the long-expected fleet had been sighted off Nantucket, steering a course for Boston. Coming by way of the Navy Department, this bit of intelligence seemed worthy of consideration, and so in the early morning the officers of the regular garrison sent their families away from the island and out of danger, while the volunteers uncased the last of the small store of 8-inch projectiles for the guns in their charge, gave a final look to their equipments, and then sat themselves down on the parapets to await the first glimpse of Cervera's armada. Fieldglasses were at a premium that day, and the wide expanse of water towards Boston lightship became an object of much interest; but Cervera failed to appear, and to the disgust of regulars and volunteers alike it became evident, as the hours slipped away, that even official warnings via the Navy Yard must be received with proper and due allowances.

For some time now the port had been closed at night. Electric signal lanterns had been rigged upon the flagstaff of the fort, and every evening the officer of the guard was given the code signal for that especial date, by which ships of our navy were to be recognized. The orders of the post directed that any steamer failing to acknowledge signals from the fort, or replying by wrong combinations, should be fired on. But no steamers, either of the navy or of the merchant marine, attempted to make port after dark, and the only firing required was that done by patrol-boat crews, who were obliged at times to use their rifles on the fishermen and coasters which, under cover of darkness, ignorantly or wilfully persisted in blundering in among the mine-fields.

On the 3rd of May all troops of the Atlantic States had been placed under command of General Merritt, to be employed in coast-defence, and to him Colonel Pfaff reported his regiment. Soon after, Lieutenant Strother, (later major, U.S.V.), A.D.C. to General Merritt, was ordered to Boston for the purpose of inspecting the regiment, so far as concerned its equipment for service, and recommending stations for its assignment in the general scheme of defence. Having visited Fort Warren, where he made a careful inquiry into the condition of the command, Lieutenant Strother held a consultation with the State authorities, and returned to New York to report to his chief. On the 10th came telegraphic orders from Headquarters, Department of the East, detaching the Third Battalion ("E," "F," "I," and "M" Batteries, under Major Frye), to report to Colonel Woodruff for duty as part of the garrison at Fort Warren, and directing the remainder of the regiment to hold itself in readiness for assignment under orders later to be issued.

Changes which ultimately concerned the First had meanwhile been in progress among the regular batteries stationed on the New England coast. "K" Battery (Curtis'), of the Second Artillery, had been ordered on April 28th from Fort Schuyler, N.Y., to the ungarrisoned defenses at Portsmouth, N.H. On May 6th Colonel Woodruff, in addition to his duties as commanding officer at Fort Warren, was assigned to the general command of the defenses of Boston Harbor; Major Charles Morris, Seventh Artillery, was placed in command of the Mortar Battery at Winthrop (up to this time in charge of Lieutenant Ketcham, Second Artillery, with a small detachment of about thirty men taken from the batteries at Warren) with a garrison made up of "M" Battery (Richmond's), Second Artillery, and "F" Battery (Anderson's), Seventh Artillery, from Schuyler; the gap left in the garrison at Warren by the withdrawal of Richmond was filled by the transfer of "G" Battery (Brown's), Seventh Artillery, from Schuyler; and finally, Lieutenant Lyon, with a detachment of thirty men from the batteries of the Second Artillery at Fort Adams, Newport, R.I., was ordered to the fort at Clark's Point, New Bedford, later to be named Fort Rodman. The shifting of regular batteries at Warren occurred on May 16th, and the officers of the First parted with regret from Captain Richmond, who had made many friends among them.

Most unexpectedly, on May 18th, a message was received at the fort announcing the coming of Governor Wolcott, to present to the officers their volunteer commissions. On his arrival the regiment formed for review, and after the march-past stood closed in mass by battalions, with the officers grouped at the centre, while the Governor spoke a few words of farewell, saying, among other things:

"It is your high privilege to have been summoned into the service of the United States at a time when the clouds of war with a foreign Power threatened the Republic. I know of no higher service that a citizen can be called upon to render than to offer his life, if need be, in the cause of his country. You enter this service not as raw recruits, but with obedience and discipline acquired in the militia service of the Commonwealth. Whether you are assigned the honorable duty of guarding the sea-coast of the Commonwealth of your birth, or are summoned to some distant point in other lands or within the confines of your own country, see to it that no act of yours shall bring aught but added glory to the colors you bear. Be of high courage and good cheer; the great heart of the Commonwealth will follow you with pride and affection, whatever the duty you may be called upon to perform."

Receiving the commissions from the hands of Colonel Bradley of his staff, who had served through the Civil War in the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery of 1861, the Governor then presented them to the officers of the regiment in the order of their rank, finally turning to Colonel Pfaff to say, "I congratulate you, Colonel, upon the regiment you have the honor to command, and upon the service you now enter."

On the conclusion of this very simple yet impressive ceremony, the regiment was dismissed. The Governor then made an informal inspection of battery quarters, and afterwards was conducted over the works in order that he might see for himself whatever of progress was being made towards installing modern armament in the main fortification of his capital city. Later, with the members of his staff, he was the guest of the officers' mess at luncheon; and early in the afternoon he took final leave of the regiment, which always had considered it an honor to serve under him as commander-in-chief, but now—though not without a touch of regret—had passed for a time beyond his authority.