The 2nd Massachusetts Infantry was unique in that ALL of its officers were hand-picked by Col. George H. Gordon, NOT elected by a vote of the enlisted men. Gordon then assigned them to an order of ranking for the purposes of promotion. While this eliminated the practice of "politicking" and pandering for higher rank, Gordon's inflexible system also denied men of greater talent to rise faster, which promopted a number of the officers to seek advancement elsewhere. Nor was Gordon's judgment infallible. He assigned Francis Tucker the first place among the Captains, yet Tucker proved so inept that Gordon ran him out of the regiment, while a highly capable officer like James Francis--4th of the list of 2nd Lieutenants--had to wait his "turn."

ORDER OF CAPTAINS:

1. Tucker
2. Curtis
3. Savage
4. E. Abbott
5. Quincy
6. Cary
7. Cogswell
8. Whintey
9. Underwood
10. Goodwin

ORDER OF 1ST LIEUTENANTS:

1. Mudge
2. Williams
3. Russell
4. Hawes
5. Bangs
6. Sedgwick
7. Morse
8. Motley
9. Hill
10. Weymouth

ORDER OF 2ND LIEUTENANTS:

1. Shaw
2. Higginson
3. Howard
4. Francis
5. Robeson
6. Horton
7. Choate
8. Ellis
9. Brown
10. A. Sawyer

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