"Thirty-three years after the uprising in the camp of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry at Readville, former officer and regimental historian, Benjamin Crowninshield believed, "the effects [of the mutiny] were never wholly eradicated from the regiment." Indeed, a simmering tension rippled through the command as the men and officers seemed perpetually combative and eager for a fight, either amongst themselves or with the enemy.
The men were sadly mistaken if they thought the events of November 8 might bring some measure of relief from the severe discipline instilled by Col. Robert Williams and Lieut. Col. Horace Sargent. Rather than relaxing his demands, Williams "tightened the discipline, and the men soon found that their life was not to be an easy one." Williams drove himself as he drove his men, "and punishment for breach of discipline became common." Facing pressure from families and the press to relent, Williams instead sought to remove the regiment from the state. He had, in October asked for authority to march the men to the regular army barracks at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, thinking the "march will be of great advantage in disciplining the regiment." His request denied, Williams waited until December and then marched the men to Boston. The journey from Readville took about two and a half hours. On the outskirts of the city, members of several militia units greeted the troopers and escorted them to where ‘throngs of people" had waited several hours for the soldiers to arrive. Gone, however, were the colorful, glittery uniforms of past gatherings. Instead, the observers saw lean, dusty men in regulation blue. After an assembly on the Common, Williams led his command back to Readville.
Six days later, Christmas Day, the regiment began boarding trains for the journey south, first to New York City and then by ship to South Carolina. After a miserable journey, the men finally settled at Hilton Head and Beaufort. Once in camp, "the most rigid discipline" resumed. "To the men it seemed almost intolerable, and scarcely less so to the officers," but under the fierce Southern sun the men became soldiers. Shortly before leaving Readville, a trooper had said of Colonel Williams, "We have every confidence in our Colonel, that he is just the man we need to get us ready. He is gaining in the goodwill and respect of the men every day, and there are few of us but feel, as we see him, that we are proud to be under such a noble specimen of a soldier." But not all agreed…"
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