Captain Thomas W. Clarke’s Company, “Wightman Rifles.” [“M” in the Fourth Regiment, “Rifles” of the Massachusetts Battalion, and “A” of the Twenty-ninth Regiment.]

On the nineteenth day of April, 1861, a day memorable in the history of the war, Thomas William Clarke, a member of the Suffolk County bar, threw from an office-window on Washington Street, Boston, near the corner of State Street, a recruiting flag, and opened a roll for a company of militia.

So strong was the war spirit of the people then, that in the course of that and the succeeding day, Captain Clarke secured a full complement of men.

On the 21st of April, there was an election of officers, presided over by Brig. Gen. W. W. Bullock of the First Brigade of Militia.

Thomas William Clarke was chosen Captain; John Critcherson, Jr., of San Francisco, Cal., First Lieutenant; and Joshua Norton, 3d, of Bridgewater, Second Lieutenant.

Subsequently, and before the muster of the company into the service of the United States, Lieutenant Critcherson was discharged, Norton promoted to First Lieutenant, and John E. White was chosen Second Lieutenant.

May the 9th, the company was ordered into the service of the State, and was paid and rationed by the State from this time till May 21.

During all this time, and as long as it remained in Massachusetts, the company had its quarters in a hall in Bowdoin Square, Boston. Here the men were lodged and fed, and here they held daily drill. It is an interesting fact, as illustrating how meagre were the preparations for war even in Massachusetts, that this company of soldiers, though raised for the public service, was chiefly uniformed by the city of Boston. This uniform consisted of a gray chasseur tunic trimmed with red, gray trousers, and three-cornered gray felt hats trimmed with red. The arms were furnished by the State. A part of these were Harper’s Ferry rifles, and a part Winsor rifles (all calibre 54), better known as Mississippi rifles, and were provided with the sabre bayonet.

These arms were formerly used by and were taken from Major Ben. Perley Poore’s Battalion, an independent body of militia.

Beside these arms, the company received from the State, red blankets, cartridge-boxes, and the somewhat historic gray overcoats.

While the company was quartered in Boston, the Chauncey Hall School of that city presented it with the quarterly prize-money of the school, amounting to about one hundred and twenty-five dollars, which sum was set apart as a company fund for the benefit of all its members.

The determination of the Government not to accept any more militia troops, announced in War Department orders on the 9th of May, produced a change in the term of enlistment of this company from five years in the State’s service to three years in the United States service; and on the 21st of May it was mustered into the service of the United States, at West Roxbury, by Lieut. T. J. C. Amory of the regular army (afterwards Colonel of the 17th Mass. Vols.).

It is a fact worthy of special notice, that after this company had been enrolled for active service under the United States Government, it was ordered into the service of the Commonwealth, and from the time it was so enrolled till the date of its muster (21st), its members were paid out of the State treasury.

The day following the muster of the company into the United States service, it received its long-expected order to leave for the seat of war. Embarking on the steamer “Pembroke,” together with an independent company of volunteers from Lowell, under Captain Davis, it sailed for Fortress Monroe, Va. (May 22).

Before leaving the State, Captain Clarke filed with the Adjutant-General a muster and descriptive roll of the company, and accounted for all the ordnance and clothing received from the Commonwealth.

The voyage to Fortress Monroe was by no means devoid of interest. The steamer, which was armed with two nine-inch guns, cleared for action several times during the trip, upon view of suspicious-looking crafts, supposed at the time to be Confederate war-vessels, and on all these occasions the men were beaten to quarters.

The “Pembroke” arrived at Fortress Monroe May 26, and on the following day the company was assigned to duty with the Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, and ordered to accompany that regiment to Newport News.

Upon joining the Fourth Regiment, the company took the letter “M,” and was assigned to the left of the regimental line.

After the return of the Fourth Regiment to Massachusetts, this company was reported and known as the “Rifles” of the Massachusetts Battalion at Fortress Monroe. The letter “A” was given it upon the formation of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, by order of Governor Andrew.

The commission of Captain Clarke bears date of April 20, 1861; that of Lieutenant Norton, May 7, 1861; Second Lieutenant White resigned, and was succeeded by Second Lieutenant George H. Taylor, whose commission bears date of July 31, 1861.