Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-07-27
THE STORY OF A MUTINY.

Army of the PotOmac-if L mistake
not, shortly after Mcclellan had sat
down to the siege of YorktOwn-and
before that army had received that
baptism of fire and blood, and had
gained that terrible discipline in the
soldiers duty, which the campaign OF
the next three years brought it, that
one of its infantry regiments openly
mutinied. OF course, that regiment
was not without its grievance; even
the worst of soldiers (and these were
by no means such) never undertake
to revolt against discipline and to de-
fy orders without cause for complaint.
The regiment in question, although
less than six months under arms, and
never yet under fire, had performed
difficult andarduous service. Both be-
fore Yorktown and elsewhere, these
men had patiently and faithfully done
their part; they had marched thro'
long nights over muddy roads, when
sleep overlook them in the ranks
while they wearily plodded on they
had bivouacked on the cold ground,
shelterless and without fire they had
unmurmuringly laid aside the mus
ket and tOiled in the trenches under
soaking rains. Yet all this time they
had not received a cent of pay; and
clothing was scantily and tardily fur
nished them.
Why it was, never exactly learn
ed; bat those who were in the volun-
teer service can readily understand
how careless and incompetent officers
may cause such injustice as this to
brave and deserving men. Formonths
they had submitted to this cruel ne
glect. while the other regiments of the
brigade had been paid and clad with
comparative promptness; and the
respectful representations they had
from time to time forwarded to their
regimental commander had produced
no results. At first loud and bitter
complaints were heard from them !;
then, as time passed and their condi-
ton was not bettered, silence sue
ceeded which the officers should have
seen was ominous of a desperate pur-
pose. That purpose was reached
without the knowledge of an officer
or an orderly sergeant; excepting
these, ii had the assent of every man
present with the regiment. Mutiny
was their determination and the
ringleaders waited few days for an
occasion to make their action perfect
ly effectual.
The occasion came just the one
that had been anticipated and desired.
The regiment was not at that time on
duty in the trenches; its labors had
entitled it to a rest, and it had been
drawn back to an open spot some dis
tance from the line of the brigade. 1t
Law in the prescribed form of infantry
encampment-a canvas village with
ten streets, each bounded by a row of
tents on either side, and the parade
ground directly in front. Dress-pa-
rade had been held for several even
ings and on that preceding the morn
ing of the mutiny, the arms were left
stacked in regimental line, with a
guard over them. This was probably
in obedience to general orders to the
whole command, and intended as q
precaution to insure readiness in case
of sally by the enemy. After the
retreat had sounded that night, the
order was communicated to each COM
pany that the arms were to be taken
after reveille roll-call the following
morning; and in the silence of the
night other orders were secretly COM
municated to the men by the ring
leaders, and the mutiny was ripe.
The night passed, and with the gray
of dawn the shrek and rattle of re-
yeille resounded successively from the
camps of a hundred regiments, and
the drum-corps of this one speedily
aroused it from slumber. The otfi-
GERS, hardly awake, heard the confu-
sion, the buZZing and humming caus-
ed by the calling of the names of
Brown, Jones and Robinson, and the
rest, by the orderlies; and then the
mingled command from ten throats
"Take-arms ~
A pause, q silence followed; then
angry and vehement eXpostulation (;
but no rattle or clash such as the tax
ing of arms from the stack causes
The command was repeated and reit-
Grated, with more eXpOstulation and
next the commandant of each cOmpa-
ny was visited by the vexed, scared
face of his first sergeant, and the start
ling information that the company
would not take arms. Some of the
officers received the intelligence with
incredulity; some gave vent to their
veXation, and unjustly upbraided the
poor orderlies; but all finally put on
their swords and repaired to the scene
of mutiny, with substantially the
same remark: "We'll see if they
won't take arms for Dle.n
They did see; and they quickly as
sured themselves that the men would
r,rFh hand in nl.n1innan m
this particular order.
Attention ~ shouted the captain of
the first company; and every man
promptly came to position.
"Take-arms J" Not hand stirred.
"Right-face!" The command was
instantly obeyed.
Front :" The company came back
to line with beautiful precision.
'Take-arms =" But not a hand
answered the words though Captain
NJ voeiferated them to the full
compass of his powerful bass.
q So in every company, the men
promptly obeyed every order but this
one; and that, not a man obeyed.-
Not a word, not even q defiant look
accompanied their disobedience; they
simply stood like so many statues, and
moved not a muscle in answer to the
command. The captains threatened,
begged, and some swore; and neither
their anger nor their humility had the
least effect upon those seven hundred
determined men. After half an hour
of unavailing effort, despairing of ac-
complishing anything themselves, the
commandants repaired to the colonel's
tent, and astounded him with the
news that his regiment was in open
mutiny. He listened with angry i'm
patience to the particulars they gave
him, and then hastened to buckle on
his sword.
"Come with me-" he said. "By
heavens, 1 don't think they'll fail to
obey when I give them the order"
He was mistaken; asmuch so as the
captains had been before him. The
line stood motionless behind the stacks
when he reached the parade and
ordering the officers to take their pla-
ces, he took his own, in front of the
centre. Drawing his sword, he shout
ed in the voice that no man in the
regiment had ever yet disregarde6
HTake-d7'nls ~ And still not a
man Obeyed.
The colonel was profoundly excited;
more so than he had been since he