by the State of Connecticut under the first call of the president for volunteers for three years . . . It encamped at Oyster Point, New Haven, and was mustered into the State service September 3,1861, and into the United States service September 19th, where it encamped on Meridian Hill and was brigaded with the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers and the Third and Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers...
    "The twenty days of camp life here was a period of unceasing drill and discipline, only broken by a visit to the camp of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon a tour of inspection.
    "October 8, 1861, the regiment left Washington for Annapolis, Md., where it joined the forces then being organized under Gen. W. T. Sherman of the army, and Admiral DuPont of the navy, for an expedition to the Southern coast. On October 19th, this expedition, being then the largest land and naval expeditionary force of modern ages, in number of naval vessels and troops, sailed from Annapolis, encountering a terrific storm off Cape Hatterus, which disabled and wrecked a number of vessels, and arrived off Port Royal, S.C., Nov. 5, 1861. On the 7th of November the bombardment of Forts Walker and Beuregard in the harbor and the battle of the Union and Confederate naval forces, being in first naval engagement of the war, took place in full view of the regiment, which was in the advance to land as soon as the forts were reduced. The engagement lasted five hours, and at its close, the regiment. . . landed in small boats, and taking possession of the forts, immediately pushed forward after the flying enemy, and drove them from the island, capturing a number of prisoners.
    "For some months the time was occupied in building fortifications, and in making raids upon the surrounding country, in which a large quantity of supplies was captured.
    "In January, 1862, the regiment took part in an expedition to capture Savannah, Ga., by the way of Warsaw Sound, Ga. The attempt was a failure, and in consequence of the regiment being kept in a small overcrowded vessel sixteen days without cooked food, with no vegetables, with hard-tack full of vermin, and water that was stored in kerosene-oil barrels, and without sufficient room on the vessel for all of the men to lie down at once, spotted fever broke out in the regiment, and many lives were unnecessarily lost.