 As the regiment prepared for departure , Colonel Augustus Morse decided to remain at the Naval Academy , feeling that garrison duty was , according to historian James Bowen , " more to his taste . " Lt. Col. Albert Maggi , an Italian by birth who had served under Giuseppe Garibaldi , took command of the regiment on January 2 , 1862 . Maggi had been openly insubordinate to Morse due to the latter 's lack of military discipline . His assumption of command , as well as the issue of new Enfield rifled muskets , improved the morale of the regiment . 
