Any company volunteering as a body, for such service, will be mustered in with its own officers.
By order of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

(Signed) W.NALLE, Adjutant-General.
* * * * * Under date of June 1, 1898, S.O.59, A.G.O., Richmond, Va., was issued directly to the commanding officers of the First and Second Battalion (colored), who had been specially designated by the President in his call, ordering them to take the necessary steps to recruit the companies of the respective battalions to eighty-three men per company, directing that care be taken, to accept only men of good repute and able-bodied, and that as soon as recruited the fact should be reported by telegraph to the Adjutant-General of the State.
July 15th, 1898, Company "A," Attucks Guard, was the first company to arrive at Camp Corbin, Va., ten miles below Richmond.

The company had three officers; Capt.

W.A.Hawkins, First Lieutenant J.C.

Smith, Lieutenant John Parham.
The other companies followed in rapid succession.