USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 47
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CHAPTER XVII. EXPERIENCES, ANECDOTES, AND INCIDENTS.
LOADING UP.
It must force a smile into the face of every old veteran, whatever his aches and pains, as he recalls in his memory the loading up, or rather loading down, process of the raw recruit, preparatory to his leaving his state for the front.
He of course knows his business, and intends to take only the absolute necessities of his new calling. He uses his common sense-too common with many-and seems to have no doubt that experience will prove the wisdom of his acts. And so he picks up and jams into his knapsack and pockets this, that, and the other, one third of which perhaps will never be of the slightest use to him, and one half of the remainder more of a bur- den than a benefit.
He thinks it certain he shall need a pair of slippers to rest his aching feet, as he takes his accustomed after-supper smoke by the camp-fire before retiring, but hesitates about taking a dressing-gown or a night shirt. Two or three changes of underwear are of course indispensable, and also as many pairs of socks, gloves, neckties, suspenders, etc., etc. And thus he keeps on adding to what " Uncle Sam " has supplied him with, in the way of clothing, until his knapsack is full, while quite a number of articles that he must take are left out.
lle stops, scratches his head, and seriously considers the situation. He cannot carry an extra bundle for this would interfere with the handling of his gun, and there is not room in his pockets. Ile has often been told that " where there's a will there's a way," but concludes that the originator of that apothegm could never have been a conscript or a volunteer ; and he begins, for the first time per- haps, to soberly reflect upon the inconveniences of army life, and wonders if what the future has in store for him will be much rougher than what he bargained for with himself when he enlisted.
But the die has been cast and the stamp, in size and form, must correspond. And so he overhauls his load, and commences to select out and repack.
First before him now, comes the tourniquet. Ile has his choice to carry that or bleed to death, if he should ever be so extremely unfortunate as to be wounded ; for if they were not life-saving inventions, why should every soldier be furnished with one?
Then the havelock, so called because extensively used, he is told, by the army of Sir John Havelock during his campaigns in India. That must not be left for it not only protects the back part of the head and neck from sun and dust, but guards against sudden colds from winds and rain, and perhaps may save him from an attack of cerebro spinal meningitis.
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Next comes the half-dozen or more of patent medicines and appliances that he has bought of camp peddlers, all of whom have been there themselves, and know all about it. First among these, because nearest the heart, is the " bullet-proof, steel vest lining." He cannot afford to risk himself in battle without that, if it is slightly cumberous and heavy to carry or wear, for " they saved thousands of lives in the Crimean War," in proof of which he has seen a bullet dent, directly over the heart, in the one the peddler himself wore at the siege of Sevastopol.
Then he picks up the " sponge-cap-pad," so wisely designed and constructed as to keep the head cool, however hot the sun or exciting the contest, and he decides to take it because so light and yielding, and may save him from a stroke of the sun, if not of a rebel sabre. So, on the multum in parvo theory that he is trying so hard now to reduce to practice, he presses into the pad a bottle each of Jamaica ginger, " anti-scorbutie mixture," and toothache drops, wraps them all up in a " medicated abdominal supporter," and a " buckskin lung protector," and with a box or two of pills for biliousness and malaria, and a pair of cork soles for wet weather ( which reminds him of one need that he cannot hope for, an um- brella ) he congratulates himself that he is securely casemated against everything except cannon shot and yellow fever.
But these only cover his sanatory stores and special life-preservers, while quite a pile of the useful and convenient still remains untouched, awaiting his disposal. He looks them over, and one thing, of great prophylactic virtue, which he had strangely overlooked, is at once selected as too vitally essential to his life and health to be forgotten. It is the "Soldier's Drinking Tube." (Right here comes in a good joke and a hearty laugh at the expense of Sutler Hodgdon, which he and all of Company E still living will not fail to appreciate.)
This very wonderful instrument was highly recommended as something quite as useful (?) as it was unique. Like all great inventions it was simple in its mechanical construction, consisting of a small rubber tube, about three feet long, having at one end a pewter mouth-piece, and attached at the other end to an "automatic, duplex water-filter." By using this not only would the infusorial myriads that infest the streams of the South ( to say nothing about snakes, lizards, and centipedes), but the deadly microbes of disease be excluded from the stomach, and thus typhoid and intermittent fevers, dysentery, and many other dangerous and prevalent diseases of the army be avoided. Moreover, it could easily be car- ried in the haversack or tied around the neck ready for constant use.
Having securely tucked away in the corners, or sandwiched in between his clothing, these most important and useful articles, without which his life would be at the mercy of the enemy and the elements, he commences the stuffing and cramming process with such other of the many remaining things as seem to him most necessary and desirable, as follows :
The knife, fork, and spoon combination, all in one or each separate, just as required for transportation or use, and weighing half a pound or more ; a small dressing-case of hair and tooth brushes, comb, looking-glass, etc. ; a pair of buckram leggins to keep off the mud and dust in case he should ever have to wear the bungling army shoes that he has just drawn but given away as useless to him (oh, the folly of ignorance ) ; a portable inkstand and writing portfolio, with paper, pens, and pencils therein ; presents from friends and relatives, includ- ing, as most useful of all, the little box, bag, or bunch of every-day wants,
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carefully selected and put up by the hands of a loving mother or sister; and last, but not least in the opinion of our young hero, a revolver and dirk-knife, with which to fight the " Black Horse Cavalry " and " Louisiana Tigers."
Now he is loaded up, ready and listening for the bugle-call " Fall In "- a call that he will better understand the meaning of before long - let us anticipate enough to cast a pitying glance ahead where we can see our resolute and ambi- tious expounder of common sense theories, so strong and hopeful at the start-out, but now puffing, sweating, and chafing, and a little later bending, staggering, and cursing beneath a load heavy enough to discourage an average sized mule.
It is now a case of experience versus theory, and our raw recruit, as defendant, soon finds the verdict against him without recommendation for mercy or benefit of clergy.
More than one stout-framed and strong-muscled volunteer of the Twelfth, who had been used to hard, heavy work upon the farm, and in the logging swamp, found himself woefully deceived in the estimate of his ability to carry on the march, in addition to his gun and equipments, three or four days' rations, and forty or sixty rounds of cartridges, a knapsack filled to strap-length capacity with things as above scheduled, and surmounted with a big rubber and woolen blanket roll. What were thirty or forty pounds squarely resting and securely strapped upon a pair of shoulders, either one of which had often carried three or four times that weight? Why he could " tote " that all day, rain or shine, with a little " nigger " boy perched on top the blanket roll to carry an umbrella. But time and distance, two important factors in the problem, he had not sufficiently considered in his calculations; nor had it been demonstrated to him by the con- vincing logic of test trial, that
Though the morning pack is easy and light, Woe, woe to the back before it comes night ; For the soft and the light, ere the long day has sped, Will grow hard as a rock, and as heavy as lead.
HOW HE WAS MUSTERED IN.
Howard Taylor, the " Little Corporal," of Company C, had, from the first news from Sumter, felt an irrepressible desire to enlist, and so, when the company was raised from among his neighbors and acquaintances, notwithstanding his youth and smallness of stature, he was bound not only to enlist but to go -- so far and fast, at least, as his short legs would carry him.
Having boldly written his name on the enlisting paper, and taken the oath of allegiance, the next thing was to pass examination and muster. Happily Doctor Fowler was examining surgeon, and upon him he soon found he could rely, not only for safe passport under his hand but for aid and assistance in running safely past the second and greater danger, the final inspection of the mustering officer. To do this successfully a pair of shoes was made for him, big enough to admit of extra inner soles, an inch or more in thickness, which with height of heels and
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thickness of taps outside to correspond, was sufficient to stilt him up two or three inches beyond his natural perpendicular. Thus toed and heeled, with pant legs long enough to cover, he walked resolutely up the company front from his place on the extreme left, faced and saluted like a West Point cadet, and passed, unchallenged, into the service of his country. His record there, as seen by the sketch of his life, was second to none, and reminds one of the lines attributed to Doctor Watts :
" If I could reach from pole to pole, And grasp creation in my span. Still I'd be measured by my soul, The mind 's the standard of the man."
THE AWKWARD SQUAD.
The whole regiment was little better than a large, green, awkward squad, while its camp was on the pitch-pine and huckleberry plains of Concord. But while every green soldier will be necessarily more or less awkward in his movements, it does by no means follow, as the sequel will show, that every one who is awkward must be green. Though " prac- tice makes perfect " the amount required varies largely according to sub- ject and circumstances. Some are quick to learn and some slow ; and while, as a rule, the latter are slower and more bungling in their motions and acts, the body being but an outgrowth of the mind, yet some are awkward in every physical movement whose minds are exactly the reverse, quick to grasp and keen to penetrate, and many awkward youth of the army are to-day among our most honored and successful business and professional men in the country.
Every captain will remember half a dozen or more of his men who gave him more trouble when first drilling his newly enlisted company than all the rest. In forming his company they were quite sure to make just so many saw teeth in the line, one out and another in, and it seemed almost impossible to get them into proper position, whether the order was right or left dress. " Eyes right " to the rest was sufficient, but their eyes were always " out of squint " from three to eight inches, according to their distance from the established guide. They would be equally as awkward and blundering in learning to properly execute other orders, and it often became necessary to select a few of the most intractable ones and give them rigid drill discipline by themselves, and these constituted what was called the "awkward squad." Sometimes an officer or sergeant as green and awkward as the men would purposely be requested to drill them, and then there was fun for all. Gradually, however, they would learn to conform with their brother comrades, in line and evolutions, until but one or two were left to bother. But these would usually hold out much longer than the patience of their instructor; and then, from the latter, there would too often come harsh words and abusive epithets, mixed up perhaps with more or less violation of the third commandment, all of which would be borne with submissive silence or a muttering grumble audible only to their nearest comrades.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
But though he who is slow to perceive, is generally slow to resent, yet when once aroused to anger he is equally slow to forget ; and the officer did not often fail to get paid back, sooner or later, with compound interest from date. But sometimes it was " cash on delivery" ; as when Lieutenant -- , of Company -, had roundly abused one of these moderate and careless fellows, whom he was drilling in the manual of arms, the soldier suddenly brought his gun to an order, and looking the officer squarely in the face, calmly said to him : " Do you think, sir, that your language will make me any the less awkward, or you any more dignified and respected?" It was a deadly shot, for it pierced the heart.
HIS LAST INSPECTION.
.. It touched the temper of his pride, And stung his soul to madness."
Another incident, of which the writer is reminded by the last, may as well be related here, although more properly belonging to a later page of this chapter.
At one of the weekly inspections, which generally came on Sunday, one of the men of Company B, who was then acting as cook, was unexpectedly ordered into line one morning, at Hillsborough, Va., in rather a smutty and greasy condition. He had not supposed the cooks would have to go out on inspection, and his gun, therefore, was about as dirty looking as its owner. He pleaded for an excuse or more time to prepare, but the order was imperative for "every man out." and he must immediately appear in his company line. He did so; but knowing the severe strictness and quick temper of the lieutenant- colonel, who was to inspect them, he trembled for the result. When the colonel came to him, without asking a question or stopping for an explanation, he took the soldier by the collar, stepped hin a pace or two to the front, where the whole regiment could see him, and told him to stand there until further orders. When the inspection was through, and the companies marched back to their quarters, he, in obedience to the special order, still remained standing where he had been placed. Long he stood and seriously he reflected. With some it would have been considered good luck to get off so easily, but not so with him. Naturally as proud as he was sensitive, to be thus exposed to the ridicule and reproach of his comrades stung him to his vital centre, and he could not bear, much less for- give, the wrong. Judging from his appearance, the colonel had supposed him nearly void of pride or shame, but so greatly had he mistaken the elements of the man, that in his well meant effort to rekindle, the flint-struck spark had touched powder instead of punk wood, and caused an explosion, the results of which were as lasting as they were sudden. At last, no one coming near, the soldier dismissed himself and returned to his quarters; but not until the bad but unalterable resolve had been made. As with sad but stern features he appeared among his comrades, one of them, who knew his keenly tempered spirit, remarked to another: "When morning comes there will be one less of us to
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answer to the roll-call." " What do you mean," replied the latter, "have you had a presentiment?" "Yes; not of death, however, but desertion." The morning came and verified the prediction !
HALT !
There were times when the private's power and authority were supreme and his orders had to be obeyed, not only by the colonel of his regiment, but even by the commanding general of the army. When the soldier was on guard, he was master of the situation, and it was dangerous to disobey his commands, as more than one officer of the Twelfth learned to his great mortification, if not sorrow, and sometimes both. It did not take the average volunteer of the army, who carried the musket, so long, as a general rule, to understand his business as it did the officers; not wholly because he had less to learn, but frequently because he was the better scholar. Nor were the men of the ranks slow in " sizing up " the officers, gauging their mental calibre, testing their temper and disposition, and learning their peculiar traits of character; and those naturally inclined to be too pompous, arrogant, or superofficious were, sooner or later, pretty sure to receive at their hands a wholesome, and sometimes severe, discipline. It was then that the officer had a chance to learn the spirit, and test the mettle of his men, and if not too big a fool to learn by experience, which was sometimes the case, one lesson was sufficient.
The foregoing is well illustrated by the following :
More for instruction than from necessity guard had been established at "Camp Belknap" for a few days, when one of the above described officers, who had been over to the city on his prancing steed to show himself, came riding up, like another Alexander mounted on his fiery Bucephalus, and was about to enter the camp, when the soldier on guard at the gate ordered him to halt! Stung with madness at the audacious impudence of a private soldier, who should thus dare to so far insult his official dignity as to question or dispute his right to go when and where he pleased, he put spurs to his horse, intending to ride over the guard and so punish him for his insolence, and assert his own power and authority by one bold, brave, and heroic act ! But the hero was on the ground instead of on the horse, and quickly bringing his musket to a cavalry guard, the point of the bayonet was buried in the horse's breast, and with a rearing plunge the wounded animal dashed away, leaving his rider sprawling on the ground at the soldier's feet. With a volley of commingled oaths and groans, and in a manner much more ludicrous than dignified - the latter quality being now at a sad discount - the officer soon found his perpendicular again, but was at once told to shut and stand, without another word or step, unless he wanted what he ought to have had instead of the horse, and which a glance at the face of the guard told him he would get if he made another motion of tongue or foot. As he stood there, waiting for the sergeant of the guard to release him, he would have made a picture in striking contrast with one of himself a few moments before.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
The after history of this officer and man was what might have been expected from the incident related. One soon went home in disgrace, for cowardice in the presence of the enemy, while the other proved one of the truest and bravest men of the regiment, and received six or seven wounds in the defense of his country.
Brave to resent a slight offence, Shows little courage or common sense ; But he, who has a lion's heart. Will always stick to duty's part.
SLIGHTLY PREVIOUS.
He proved to be a good and trusty soldier of Company G, but as yet he was a mere tyro in the military camp, when seeing Colonel Potter about to cross his beat one day at Arlington Heights cried : " Halt ! halt ! halt ! You can't pass here without saying 'Concord.'"
This, for the time being, took the regular army discipline all out of the colonel, and it was some time before he could command his own counte- nance sufficiently well to inform the guard that he was put there to receive and not give the countersign.
SET HIM UP IN THE BOOT AND SHOE BUSINESS.
While encamped at or near Waterloo, Va., a southern citizen came into camp, and commenced buying up all the shoes and boots he could per- suade the boys to sell by offering prices for those half worn out consider- ably above the quartermaster's charges for new ones. But the attempt to thus furnish a supply for the rebel troops did not prove pleasant nor prof- itable ; for no sooner was the knowledge thereof made known to Colonel Marsh, than the boot and shoe contractor was booted out of camp by that irate officer, leaving all his booty and money already paid therefor behind him. "Served him right." "Wa'n't he a cheeky cuss !" "Guess he won't want any more Yankee gaiters (what the colonel had on that day) very soon." "You're right he won't, unless someone beside the colonel makes delivery." " Well, why should he, for didn't he get right smart of ' um ' this time?" And thus the joke and fun went around, all the bet- ter appreciated by those who not only regained their shoes and boots, but retained their money.
ADDING INSULT TO INJURY.
As a sequel to the sheep story related on pages 33 and 34, and at the same time the best and meanest part of it, according to the light in which it is viewed, appears here the following illustration of Yankee " cheek " and impudence :
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A day or to after the old Virginia farmer had hunted in vain for his lost sheep that he was sure had been " gobbled up" by the Twelfth boys, one of them (the boys, not the sheep) by the name of Ben Thompson, (whose eyes, when not asleep- and he was not often caught napping - were always wide open on the inside behind, where the optic nerve spreads, though much of the time dur- ing the day more than half shut on the outside in front, where the fringed eye- lid curtains assisted him to " play 'possum" when occasion required, ) gathered up the pelts, that he knew better where to find than the farmer did, carried them over to the farmer's house and tried to sell them to him, offering to take Confed- erate money for them at the low price of one hundred dollars per pelt. This was about an equal thing in surface measure, but Ben thought, as he told the farmer, that the bare skins were worth much more than the paper, and that he really ought to have more, for by an equal exchange of square inches the latter would be getting the wool, which was more than half grown, for nothing.
This, considering the circumstances, was rather a cruel joke to play upon an enemy even. But the dividing line between meum et tuum often takes a devious and tortuous course, especially in times of war. As may be guessed, Ben's bargain busted.
CHICKENS FOR BREAKFAST.
The following adventure of three of the "boys,"* of Company F. occurred on the march to Falmouth, Va. :
"Now just wait until it gets dark enough and we'll see what can be done toward a chicken breakfast."
" Found out where they roost? "
" You bet 1 have."
" Well, I'm with ye tent-mate, provost guard, bloodhounds, and shot guns to the contrary notwithstanding."
" Bully for you, John, and we're not reckoning our chickens before they're hatched neither, for these are full grown, plump, and fat, or I'm no judge of rebel poultry."
The first speaker had just come in from gathering dry sticks to kindle a fire to make their coffee and roast their salt pork, after halting for the night ; and while doing so had made - not altogether accidentally - the glad discovery above referred to, - for the boys had learned ere this to have an eye to the windward, even while they were marching Leeward.
So, soon after dark, our two chicken-hungry amateurs of the line, with one more, who was taken in as a silent partner, set out on a Christian commission of their own, determined on securing a little appetizing broth for suffering human- ity. Arriving near the farmhouse, they approach cautiously ; but finding all quiet they enter one of the outer hovels within which the innocent and unsus- pecting biddies roosted. According to the plan of attack, two of them enter, while the third stands guard to give the alarm, if there seems to be any danger of being either " cooped" or " gobbled up" themselves. Mounting into the loft, one of them commences grabbing, wringing, and handing down to his com-
* B. M. Tilton, John Hillsgrove, and James Farley.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
panion, not, however, without eliciting a loud protesting squawk from one of his victims before the fatal neck twist could be given.
Half a dozen or more are thus disposed of when, fearing it unsafe to remain longer after the warning note had been sounded, he whispered to John, if he had not got about enough.
" Yes, I reckon so," comes up the half audible reply, and so after handing clown one or two more, he gets quickly and noiselessly down himself and starts for the door, out of which he went unexpectedly sudden by the aid of a sweep- ing blow from a hand-spike, stake, or something of the kind aimed evidently to kill but fortunately only grazing the back of his head and falling upon his shoul- ders with sufficient force to land him on his hands and knees several feet from the door. Bounding like a bat-ball, he finds his legs under him again, just in time to evade another blow from the irate owner of the premises, who unknown to our hero had taken John's place to receive the chickens, while John and Jim had got wind of danger just soon enough to save themselves but without time to warn their comrade, who was thus left to his fate. Our trio had chickens, indeed, for breakfast, but one of them ( the boys, not the chickens ) sucked the broth for his share, it hurt him so to chew.
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