Colonel Régis de Trobriand wrote in his memoir of the regiment in the first months of the war:
The Fifty-fifth New York militia, more generally
known then as the Guard Lafayette, was a French
regiment. It wore as a distinguishing costume the red
pantaloon and cap. It was small in numbers, scarcely
exceeding three hundred and twenty men, the mini-
mum required for a militia regiment. It was not on
war footing — far from it ; but the number sufficed for
parade, marchings, and funerals, nearly the only re-
quirements of service in time of peace.
When, in the month of April, the President made his
first call for seventy-five thousand men, nobody in New
York doubted but that the Fifty-fifth would be one of
the first to respond. There was to be fighting, how
could a French regiment fail to be on hand .' Volun-
teers hurried in multitudes to enroll themselves in the
ranks ; the companies were filled up rapidly, bringing
their effective force up to a hundred men each. A
subscription, opened among the French residents, to
arm and equip the new regiments without delay, had
' been immediately covered with signatures, and had pro-
vided abundantly for the military chest. — And yet, in
spite of all that, the Fifty-fifth did not start.
One day, the regiment had received an order to en-
camp on the Battery, a public park along the bay, at
the point of junction of the East and North Rivers.
Two companies reported there, but the next day a
counter-order relieved them, to give place to another
regiment. Public opinion was astonished at these
marchings to and fro without result, and at these
delays without satisfactory explanations. The colonel
threw the responsibility upon higher authorities ; but
the officers attributed the fault directly to the colonel,
who, they said, endeavored, with all his power, to dis-
courage enlistments and impede the departure of the
regiment. Weary of these goings-on, and of the re-
criminations, the volunteers went away as fast as they
had come. Some formed a company in the Sixty-sec-
ond New York (Anderson Zouaves) ; others in one of
the regiments of General Sickles' brigade (Excelsior
Brigade). One day, a whole company had marched
over, with drums beating, and joined the Fourteenth of
Brooklyn. Lastly, a large part of the Lafayette
Guards had connected themselves singly in different
military organizations, where they found compatriots
and friends. The officers of the Fifty-fifth, who wished
to fight, and saw their recruits leaving them, were an-
noyed at the false position in which they were placed,
and at the remarks, far from flattering, which were
made about them in public. To get out of the dilemma,
they had recourse to a united demand that the colonel
should substitute, in place of a short leave of absence,
'for which he had asked, a final resignation, which was
accepted.
Several weeks passed away in the search for a new
commander, without success, when my name was pre-
sented, for the first time, by a lieutenant, who had
served in France, and the only one of the officers who
was personally known to me. Some days after, a com-
mittee, composed of the major and three captains,
came to see me on the matter. It was not difficult for
us to agree. The condition made to me, as a candi-
date, was that I should lead the regiment to the front.
The condition I made, on accepting the command, was
that the regiment should follow me to the front. The
officers were called together to choose a colonel on the
2 1 St of July, the evening before the battle of Bull Run.
I was elected unanimously.
On the 23d, the morning of the battle, a telegraphic
despatch from the War Department announced to me
that the services of my regiment were accepted, and,
one week after, we were encamped on Staten Island,
across the bay from New York, — the men in barracks,
the staff only in tents.
The first business was to recruit, and fill up the
ranks, depleted during the two months that had
elapsed. A recruiting office was opened immediately,
at the regimental armory. Those of the old members
who had not made engagements elsewhere returned to
us. New recruits came in squads to our camp ; in
four weeks our effective force was increased by more
than four hundred men.
It was no longer the time when the crowd flowed
towards Lafayette HalL Three months of continual
recruiting had absorbed already a great deal of the food
for powder. But the hour of the mercenary had not
yet arrived. All the enlistments were without bounty,
and, on leaving for the army, I was proud at leading
only unbought volunteers. Not one of my men had
received a bounty.
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Bringing the