The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1861-06-01

ra,ions with them, aad to begin q fraserni-
sa.ion which grows closer every day, and
viii be Aisforiecl.
Bat must make short story. We
drilled and we're reviewed that norninS
on the academy parade. ln the after
noon the Naval School paradsd their last
before they gave up their barracks to the
coming soldiery. So ended the % Of April.
/ Midnight, ai.h. We we're ratified up BY
an alarm. a sham one, to keep US
awake and lively. In moment the whole
regiment was in order of battle in the moon
light on the parade. Itwas most brilliant
1 spectacle, a. company after company rushed
forward. with rides glissering, TO take their
places in the army.
WHAT TIE MASSACHUSETTS TIoHlH HAD BEEN
DOING.
Meantime General Buffers command, the
Massachusetts Eighth, had been busy knock
| ing disorder ia the head.
/ Presently after their landing, and before
they were refreshed, they pushed companies
out to. occupy the railroad-srack beyond
/ the town.
/ They found it torn up. No doubt the
scamps who did the shabby job fancied that
there would be no more travel that way un-
til ssrawberry-time. They faneied the
Yankee would sit down on the fences and
begin to whittle white-oak toothpicks,
daruing the rebels, through their noses,
meanwhile.
know these men of the Eighth can
whittle, and presume they can say ''Darn
it," if occasion requires; but just now track
laying was the business on hand.
"Wanted. experienced ck-layers!" was
the word along the files.
All at once tha line of the road became
densely populated with experienced track
layers, fresh from Massachusetts,.
Presto change! the rails were relaid,
spiked, and the roadway levelled and better
ballasted than any road ever saw south of
Mason and Dixons line. "We must leave
good job for these folks to model after"
say the Massachusetts, Eighth.
| A track without train is as useless as
a gun without a man. Train and engine
must be had. "Uncle Sans mails and
troops cannot be stopped another minute"
our energetic friends conclude. So-the
railroad company's people being either
| frightened or false-in marches Massachu-
set,s to the station. "We, the People Of
the United States, want rolling stock for the
use Of the Union,' shey said, or words to
that effect.
The engine-a frovsy machine at the best
had been purposely disabled.
Here appeared the deus er mdchind,
Charles Homans, Beverly Light Guard,
Company E, Eighth Massachusetts Regi.
ment.
| That is the man, name and titles in full,
and he deserves well Of his country.
lie took quiet squint at the engne,-it
was as helpless as boned turkey,--and he
found "Charles Homans, his mark" writ.
ten all over it. 49,.
The old rattle trap was an old friend.
Charles lIomnns had had share in building
it. The machine and the man said, '.Iiow
d'y'do ?" at once. Homans called for a
gang of engine builders. OF course they
swarmed out OF the ranks. They passed
their hands over the locomotive a few times.
and presently it was ready to whistle and
wheeze and rumble and gallop, Ms if no
traitor bad ever tried to steal the SO and the
music out Of it.
noon Of the 23d. During the night the
renovated engine vas kept cruising up and
down the track to see oil clear Guards :of
the Eighth were also posted to protect
the passage.
Our commander had, / presume, been co.
operating with General Butler in this busi-
ness. The Naval Academy authorities had
given as every despatch and assistance, and
the middies, frank, personal hospitality
| The day was haleyon, the grass was green
and soft, the apple-,recs were just in blos-
som it was dav to be remembered.
Many Of Us will remember it, and
show the marks of it for months, as the
day we had our heads cropped. By
evening there was hrdy one poll in
the Seventh tenable by anybody's grip.
Most eat in the shade and were shorn by n
barber. A few were honored by q clip
from the artist hand of the petit cdpordl Of
our Engineer Company.
! Whilst rattle Off these triding details, let
me not fail to call your attention to the
grave service done by our regiment, by its
arrival At the nick Of time, Mt Annapolis.
No clearer special Providence could have
. happened. The country people Of the trail
tor sort were aroused. Baltimore and its
mob we're but two hours away. The Con-
s,i,uiion had been hauled out Of reach Of a
rush, by the Massachusetts, men-frst on
the ground-bnt was half-manned and not
fully secure. And there lay the Maryland,
helpless on the shoal, with six or seven
, hundred souls on board, so near the shore
that Capt. Rynder's gun could have sunk
her from some ambush.
Yes, the Seventh Regiment at Annapolis
,, was the Right Man in the right place.
Our MORNING xARcH.
REvrnLE. As nobody pronounces this
. word Ia frdneaiss, as everybody calls il
) Revelee," why not drop it as an affecta.
ton, and translate it ''The stir you,
> ,,umps." the "Peel your eyes,, the
"Tumbie up," or literally the s' Wake.''
. Our snorsrs bad KEEP. up this call so lus
: .ily, since midnight, that when the drumi
D sounded il, We were all ready.
. The Sixth end Seventh Companies, unde,
) Capt. Nevers, are detached te lead the van
E see nv brother Billy march of with tn
Six,b, into the dusk, half moonhghs, half
/ dawn, and hope that DO beegar OF a Seces
sionis. will se, a pat shot at him, By th
. roadside, without his getting chance L
|. / let ~ in return. Such little possibilitie
: intensity the earnest dctes,ation We Feel 10
!. the treasons We come to resist and 10 pun
D ish. There will be some bitter work done
If ws ever se. TO blows in this war-thi
q needless. reckless, brutal Assault upon th
b mildsss Of oil governments.
. Before the fnain body Of the regimen
+ marches, We learn that the Baltic " an
i other transports came 10 last night Wit
{, TROOPS from New York and Neu England
Z enough to hold Annapolis against sauaf
n league Of Plug Uglies. We do not 90 o
d wishoss having cur rear protected aud ou
! communicas.on, open. Ii is strange 10 b
II compelled TO think Of these things in p.ac.
" ful America. But We really knew iis
,e more Of the country before Us thas Corts
l. knew Of Mexico. lhase since tearsed froi
ia ! high oEeiai, that thirteen different mel
.engers we're dispatched from Wsshingso'
r. 10 the interval ef anxiety, while the Seses'
Vas rot fossheoninx, and oaly ons 8
b through.
Al half-rass seven Ne take up cor line
n march, pass o1: Of the charming grouDds
a iAs AcsdeDy, and novs thfeugh tss asis