On my return from Cambridge, I
stopped at the Eastern Railroad depot. A large crowd of men and women,
notwithstanding the storm, had gathered there, expecting the arrival
of troops. Shortly after eight o'clock, the train arrived with the
Marblehead companies. They were received with deafening shouts from the
excited throng. The companies immediately formed in line, and marched by
the flank directly to Faneuil Hall, the fifes and drums playing "Yankee
Doodle," the people following and shouting like madmen, and the rain
and sleet falling piteously, as if to abate the ardor of the popular
welcome. And thus it was that the Marblehead men entered Faneuil Hall
on the morning of the 16th of April."
The testimony of General Hinks, who at the breaking out of the war was
Lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Regiment, is interesting as an
important historical statement, and is as follows:
"On Monday, April 15, 1861, at quarter-past two o'clock, in reply to an
offer of my services made in the morning of that day, I received from
Governor Andrew a verbal command to summon the companies of the Eighth
Regiment, by his authority, to rendezvous at Faneuil Hall at the
earliest possible hour.
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