Blog in Real Time - April 25, 1861 - Post #6

From the History of Westborough, Massachusetts, By H.P. DeForest & E. C. Bates:

April 25, 1861

Westborough Town Meeting
     At the town meeting held April 25, T.A. Smith, C.P. Winslow, J.F.B. Marshall, Benjamin Boynton, and John Bowes were chosen a committee to consider the matter of raising a company, and to report the necessary expense.  They reported the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: -

Old Westboro Town Hall, 1903.  (The soldiers' monument
on the right was built after the war.)

     "Resolved, - That the town appropriate five thousand dollars, to be expended in the purchase of uniforms, pay of men while drilling, and for pay in addition to the amount paid by the Government, when called into active service.

     "Resolved, - That a committee of five be chosen, whose duty it shall be to attend to the expenditure and disbursement of all moneys hereby appropriated ; and no bills shall be contracted for or paid without the approbation and approval of said committee."

     No petty bickering marred the unanimity with which the people of Westborough responded to the call of the President.  After the unanimous adoption of the above resolutions, it was immediately voted that "the treasurer be authorized to borrow $5,000, the selectmen issuing town script therefore, to fall due $1,000 per annum after the present issues ;" and further, that the selectmen, - G.C. Sanborn, B.B. Nourse, and S.B. Howe, - with J.F.B. Marshall and Patrick Casey, be the committee called for in the second resolution.

     The Military Committee, as it was called, having organized by choosing B.B. Nourse chairman and J.F.B. Marhall secretary, immediately set about its tasks.

From Three Years in the Army, by Charles E. Davis, Jr.; Estes & Lauriat, 1894.

COMPANY E

Company E, known as the Roxbury Rifles, was organized about the 25th of April, 1861, by the election of Dennis S. Bartlett as captain, Charles R. M. Pratt as first lieutenant, and Joseph Colburn as second lieutenant.  After its organization , the company was quartered in Bacon's Hall, Roxbury, the boys obtaining their meals at a restaurant near by.   From this time on until Sunday, the 12th of May, the company was daily drilled in citizen's clothes.  On that day the company appeared for the first time in new uniforms furnished by the State, and attended divine service at the Dudley-street Baptist church, at completion of which service each man was presented with a Testament.

Lt. Joseph Colburn (pictured) would prove a brave and capable officer.