It did not take Capt. Francis Tucker long to get on Colonel Gordon's bad side. The unfortunate company commander, according to Capt. Edward Abbott had demonstrated himself to be embrrassingly lacking in military skill, having taken "no pains to make himself acquainted with the duties of his place as senior capt[ain]." He knew less about battalion drill "than any 2nd Lt in the regiment" and, as a consequence, "has always made great blunders at drill & thrown the whole line into confusion." Apparently, on one such occasion, Gordon had had enough and in front of the entire regiment, excused Tucker from any further drill.This humiliatin did not sit well with Tucker, who went up to Gordon to demand an explanation of both the charge and Gordon's conduct, which was, said Tucker (as quoted by Abbott), "unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." This, said Abbott, was a great tactical mistake, and Gordon took advantage of it. "He told Tucker that he had no explanation to make; that he wanted to know what he, Tucker, meant, by addressing his superior officer in that style & wound up by telling him that he was now engaged in the service of his country, but at the end of the war, he was ready to give any satisfaction which may be desired." This pretty much took the wind out of Tucker's sails, and his subsequent resignation was duly accepted.
Abbott found the entire episode distasteful and found Gordon "unquestionably wrong" with his initial public reprimand. Still, Abbott was not sorry to see Tucker go for "he was never a great ornament to the regiment," and his departure brought Abbott one step closer to the position of senior captain in the 2nd Massachusetts. Tucker's company H benefitted as well as gritty, able, no-nonsense Henry Sturgis Russell took command.
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