On the following day, the town voted to appropriate the sum of $400 to furnish the company with comfortable and necessary clothing.

On the 7th of June another meeting was held, and the town voted to borrow a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars, to be applied by the selectmen in aid of the families of volunteers.

On the morning of Monday, June 24, the new company took its departure for the “seat of war.”  The soldiers were escorted to the entrance of the town by the Mugford Fire Association and a large concourse of citizens.  Almost the entire community assembled in the streets to say “farewell,” and to bid them “God speed.”  On arriving at the locality known as the “Work-house Rocks,” the procession halted, and the soldiers were addressed by William B. Brown, Esq., in behalf of the citizens.

The soldiers embarked for Boston in wagons which were in waiting, and departed amid the deafening cheers of the citizens.

On Thursday, August 1, the three Marblehead companies arrived home.  Arrangements had been made to give them an enthusiastic welcome.  At three o’clock in the afternoon a procession was formed, consisting of the Marblehead Band, the “Home Guards,” the boards of town officers, the entire fire department, and the scholars of the public schools.  An interesting feature of the procession was thirteen young ladies, representing the original States, wearing white dresses, and red, white, and blue veils.  The arrival of the train bringing the soldiers was announced by the ringing of bells, the firing of guns, and the joyful acclamations of the people.  They were received at the depot at about six o’clock P.M., and escorted to the “Town House” where an address of welcome was delivered by Jonathan H. Orne, Esq., a member of the board of selectmen.

On the afternoon of the following day, the veterans were given a grand reception.  The procession was again formed, and they were escorted about town to Fort Sewall, where a dinner was served.

Shortly after the return of the companies, Capt.  Knott V. Martin resigned as commander of the Sutton Light Infantry, and recruited a company for the Twenty-third Regiment.  More than half the members of this company were enlisted in Marblehead.  They left for the seat of war during the month of November.

It does not fall within the province of this article to trace the fortunes of the sons of Marblehead through the long and cruel war.  Their experience, however, was not unlike that of thousands who suffered and died for the nation.  With patient endurance and the fortitude of martyrs, they drank to the dregs the bitter cup of war.  Through the long and fatiguing marches, in the many hard fought battles, and in the hopeless agony of life in the prison-pens, they were manly and true.  It is unnecessary to say more.  By the self-sacrificing devotion of heroes like these, the nation was saved.

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