 The first commanding officer of the 21st was Col. Augustus Morse , who was involved in the comb making industry in Leominster , Massachusetts and had been a major general in the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia prior to the war . According to Charles Walcott , the regimental historian , despite Morse 's decades of experience with the State Militia , he was , " entirely destitute of soldierly enthusiasm or spirit , wonderfully ignorant of military drill and <unk> , and a wretched disciplinarian . " 
