After the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces in April 1861, Dr. Norman Smith predicted "that means war and I will go tomorrow morning if called upon." And so he did, two days later, as surgeon of the Massachusetts "Old Sixth" Regiment when it answered Lincoln's first call for troops. Best known for its fight through Baltimore, when it was attacked by a secessionist mob and met with the first deaths of the Civil War, this historic regiment provided the primary defense of Washington, D.C. while it was under siege. Regarded as the "life of the regiment," Smith headed to war leaving his new bride, having previously lost four wives and all four of his children. This is a story of the resiliency of a deeply patriotic and spiritual man whose career spanned profound changes in medicine and who grappled with the wartime illness that would eventually kill him. It is also the story of a regiment whose march to save the capital captivated a country in the early days of the war, inspiring poems, songs and artists. Its story has since been largely overlooked but it earned its place in history as the "first to volunteer," "first to give their lives," and "first to reach Washington equipped and ready to defend the capital.