St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-09-13
The Private Soldier.

The Burlington Hawkeye thus talks
about the private soldier: 1.-THE private
soldier in the war" He is dead. Or
lost. Strayed or stolen, possibly. We
do not know where he is, but he is not
here. He has gone away to some place.
Perhaps he has ceased to be necessary
Perhaps, if he was here, he would be
in the way. AT any rate, he is not
around. He does not go to the legisla-
ture. We do not find him in Congress.
de Is not eagerly sought as a candidate
for anything. Nobody appears to know
anything about him. Occasionally he
appears at the pension list, with one
leg, wife and seven children, and
eight dollars a month. If flour takes
much of rise, he will not last much
longer at this rate, and we will soon be
deprived even of the occasional glimpse
we have of him..
1t is asserted, and quite generally be-
lieved, that at one time he was quite
numerous, and was even considered
rather convenient, if not, indeed, quite
Indispensable. 1t was found that up
wards of one hundred of him were
necessary in order to secure mere line
commissions for three eminent and de-
serving men. When field commissions
for three even more eminent and great
men, upwards of thousand private
soldiers were necessary. One thousand
1t seems an enormous number now
when by consulting the congressional
directory we find there are none i'm all
this proud republic. But twelve or if
teen years ago even that, incredible as
it may appear to us to-day, was con-
sidered small number. There were
private soldiers and private soldiers
There were even hundreds of thousands
of them.
And they were useful They dug
trenches, they constructed long lines OF
breast-wOrks, and then, when an enemy
came within sight, they climbed over
them and went outside of them to fipht
They worked and watched and fought
Cooperating with great and eminent
men who have since passed to their re-
wards In one office and another, these
private soldiers sometimes rendered
very useful service in winning great
battles. Oh, they were useful. Some
historians have even gone so far AS to
maintain that without them the wa,
Souiu hoIuiJ nave uccu carried TO q
successful termination. They were
really quite useful.
And now they are all gone. 1t seems
sad, looking back at the war, that none
but the generals and colonies and majors
and line officers should have survived
its dreadful ravages. Providence, evel
mindful of the wants of great anG
growing nation, undoubtedly took spe.
clal care of these great men, and in its
great anxiety that the country should
not suffer from a lack of eminent men
kind OF forgot the private soldiers and
let them wander away And so they
are all gone. Some of them got shot
Some of them died. Some of them got
married and moved out of the world
to settle upon tracts of government
land, where the Indians could get al
them more easily. Some of them went
into business. Some of them are teach.
ing school. Some of them are driyipo
dray. Some of them went away and
didn't leave their present address. But
all the same, they are all gone, and il
seems dreadfully lonesome without
them. There used to be so many OF
| them.