On May 11, 1861, Capt. Edward Abbott's Company A was the first to arrive at Camp Andrew (formerly Brook Farm) in West Roxbury. With a piece of artillery borrowed from the City of Roxbury, he took temporary command of the post. The flag taff was raised, the flag saluted & a national salute fired at sunset," he wrote to his father, Judge Josiah Abbott.

The energetic and able Abbott posted guards and put his men to cleaning up and clearing the grounds. Although it seemed strange to him, having "such entire control pver such a large body of men and be responsible for them also," Abbott was fortunate in having a collection of well-behaved troops who were committed to obeying his orders.

Then Capt. William Cogswell's men showed up.

While accepting the fact that Abbott was bound to unfavorably compare any other set of men to his own, the Salem boys were at the very least, a rambunctious lot. Two thirds of them were beastly drunk," he informed his father. Many of them, he claimed, were convicts, "and the rest composed of a class which comprises the lowest set of sailors to be found on the seacoast." His first impression of messers. Cogswell, Hill and Brown was scarely better. "Their officers are inefficient and have no government at all over their men, who damn them and address every kind of language to them they please. There is no attempt at discipline."

Ned Abbott was about to lay down the law.

Cogswell's men had not been in camp half a day before trouble broke out. During a fight, a drunken corporal nearly bit off a sergeant's finger. This disturbance was quelled but problems continued throughout the afternoon. Abbott handled each crisis swiftly and thoroughly, and this hardly endeared him to the newcomers. Things came to a head at dinnertime.

Informed that a man was causing a fuss in the mess room, Abbott came down and ordered his arrest. Not surprisingly, the man protested. "I took him by the collar to detain him, and he struggled and struck me...I immediately drew my sword to keep him at arm's length." Then the offender made a break for it. Abbott caught him, pinioning his arms, as the guard arrived to take charge of him. At this, Cogswell's men grew threatening, surrounding the small guard. Just as one of them made an attempt to seize a musket from one of the guard, Abbott's lieutenants, Francis and Weymouth, came to the rescue, along with a significant number of Company A, hurrying in with bayonets flashing. This took the wind out of the sails of the Salem boys, who subsiding with considerable grumbling.

Abbott's decisive handling of the potentially explosive situation sent Cogswell's men a strong message. It was the first step toward the discipline that would be expected of them as soldiers.

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