Of the arrival of the Marblehead companies in Boston there is little need for me to write.  The testimony of such eminent witnesses as Adjutant-general Schouler and General E.W.  Hinks cannot be disputed, and we quote it verbatim.

“There has been some controversy in military circles,” wrote General Schouler, “as to which company can claim the honor of first reaching Boston.  I can answer, that the first were the three companies of the Eighth Regiment belonging to Marblehead, commanded by Captains Martin, Phillips and Boardman.  I had been at the State House all night; and early in the morning, rode to the arsenal at Cambridge, to ascertain whether the orders from headquarters to send in arms, ammunition, overcoats and equipments had been properly attended to.  Messengers had also been stationed at the different depots, with orders for the companies, on their arrival, to proceed at once to Faneuil Hall, as a northeasterly storm of sleet and rain had set in during the night, and had not abated in the morning.  On my return from Cambridge, I stopped at the Eastern Railroad depot.  A large crowd of men and women, notwithstanding the storm, had gathered there, expecting the arrival of troops.  Shortly after eight o’clock, the train arrived with the Marblehead companies.  They were received with deafening shouts from the excited throng.  The companies immediately formed in line, and marched by the flank directly to Faneuil Hall, the fifes and drums playing “Yankee Doodle,” the people following and shouting like madmen, and the rain and sleet falling piteously, as if to abate the ardor of the popular welcome.  And thus it was that the Marblehead men entered Faneuil Hall on the morning of the 16th of April.”

The testimony of General Hinks, who at the breaking out of the war was Lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Regiment, is interesting as an important historical statement, and is as follows: 

“On Monday, April 15, 1861, at quarter-past two o’clock, in reply to an offer of my services made in the morning of that day, I received from Governor Andrew a verbal command to summon the companies of the Eighth Regiment, by his authority, to rendezvous at Faneuil Hall at the earliest possible hour.  Leaving Boston on the half-past two o’clock train, I proceeded to Lynn, and personally notified the commanding officers of the two companies in that city, and from thence telegraphed to Captain Bartlett at Newburyport, and Captain Centre of Gloucester, and then drove to Beverly and summoned the company there; and from thence hastened to Marblehead, where I personally notified the commanding officers of the three Marblehead companies.  I found Captain Martin in his slaughter-house, with the carcass of a hog, just killed, and in readiness for the “scald.”  On communicating to the captain my orders, I advised him to immediately cause the bells of the town to be rung, and to get all the recruits he could.  Taking his coat from a peg, he seemed for a moment to hesitate about leaving his business unfinished, and then turned to me, and with words of emphatic indifference in regard to it, put the garment on, with his arms yet stained with blood and his shirt-sleeves but half rolled down, and with me left the premises to rally his company.