The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-04-19

Through the good management of the Capt
ain and the First Sergeant, who were of course,
my friends and looked after my interests in
the company while l was busy on the papers,
was supplied with a
REAL BEAUTY OF A HORSE.
He was one Of the black Morgan type, a little
small, but oh, my ] suspect that the Captain
became personally salicitOus about my being
handsomely mounted, as / found myself de-
tailed to act as an Orderly TO himself and the
other officers almost every time they rode into
tho city.
Ny little nag was what may be termed frisky
and spirited. am talking all this horse now,
because IN the days and weeks and months that
Immediately followed, "Frislly" took an impOr-
taut part in all the adventures that had. From
this time forth most of my experiences were
somewhat of q dashing character, dressed as l
was IN 3 neat uniform aud well mounted on
horse. One little trick of Frisky's viii serve
10 Illustrate better than l could describe IN
many words the nature Of the anamal.
The stable IN the field. vop know. was simply
g parallelOgram composed OF ropes tied to posts
driven in the ground. Inside of this the
horses were tied to the ropes. Atevcry stabicr
call 1 usually went eut TO attend to my own
horse, SO as to get chance to ride bareback to
water. At a certain signal all hands mounted
their horses, and at the command all filed out OF
the ropes under the leader toward the water.
Frisbv being well to the rear Of the column the
first time l got on him, astOnished me and sur
prised the officer IN command by suddenly
jumping at a clear leap over the top OF the rope
and running Of toward the head OF the line.
So that at every waterfall 1t got TO be a rcgu-
lar show loT the officers to come around to
Er-sbE's side OF the corral TO see him jump
over the rope instead Of marching around II
the rear of the others.
/ was at least rs good a borsemsn as any Of
I the rest Of our batch of recruits, and prob
ably my experience in Texas, supplemented by
the lessons at Carlisle had made me quite pro-
. ficient il the regulation style Of marching my
horse.
We frequently rode over to Washington to
spend an evening. / had lots Of fun, but no
adventures that / care TO put IN print Nearly
every Sunday couple of US would get pernls-
sion and passes aud ride up to what was then
called he Arlington House, and thence through
4 the lines Of heavy artillery sentres about the
I Notifications, over the Aqueduct Bridge, to
4 Georgetown and Washington.
Al 4asJ we were ordered 10 the front / do
not now remember the exact date but it was
/ some time in December.
J This Is eBgratted on my memory by the fact
! that the front as the history of the war
! sh0Ws-Was then at or near Fredericksburg,
J the same grand old historic town SO dear tony
memory, from which l had been escorted a
/ prisoner 10 the Old Capitol only a couple Of
mouths before.
But was going bacz-so the fates had de-
I creed, IN spite of SJautOu--tO this very same
! place; not exactly the same place-as the rebel
/ army occupied the town most of the time,-but
we were going to get as close as we could to it,
and be neighb0Fly without getting into fight.
Another circumstance which impTesses this
date upon my mind Is that | spent my Christ
/ mas Of 1862 on the Rappahannock with the
boys Of the old Army of the Potomac.
] was as happy as a boy with new pair Of
/ boots when the orders came for US TO draw five
1 days TatiOns and get ready to move. As COM
pauy clerk being IN the ring, as it were, with
the First Sergeant, 1 was privately advised that
We were to 60 70 the front, so that got all the
papers in my possession in shape and had every
thing so packed away before the Sergeant was
ready that / had to open up the box for him
again.
I supposed as q matter of course we would
ride our horses right through Fairfax to Fred
eTicksbuFg, going the route leading somewhere
near the old trail l had footed so faithfully
while / was in the rebel lines.
l had not tod anybody in our company-not
even my good friend Capt. Rodenbaugh-Of my
previous experiences in Virginia.
Il will be readily understood that l was not
1 anxious 10 disclose these things which had
given me so much trouble; in fact, desired
above all things to conceal them.
4 When ! heard OF the proposed movement
went to the Captain personally, and took Oeca
sion to tell him that ! knew something Of the
road 10 Fredericksburg, and felt competent Il
act as guide for the regiment, and offered my
services in that direction.
The Captain looked at me for q moment, then
with significant smile, he took my breatt
away by observing pleasantly:
Well, yes, Corporal understand you have
had some experience down here that would
seem 10 make you familiar with the roads bu
It has been ordered that we march doBT
through Maryland, On the other side Of tht
Potomac"
Though the Captains manner was SO agree
able and assuring, ] was so astonished by tn
revelation that he, Of al others, had learned 0
my previous history, that I was for TIA
moment 60 taken down ] could hardly loOl
: him IN the face. felt as though had been
DEcEIvDyG ny BEsr FRIEND,
and he had caught me in the act. as it were
when ] ventured to offer some explanation til
Captain. in bis courteous way, said;
Why, nay dear boy that's all right: we al
I that is, the ohcers-haTe heard Of your sery
ices, and as a consequence you have in ad dvanc
plenty Of friends in the regiment"
I was gratifed to hear this from him, an
asked no further questions as TO his source
i information, but ever after that l was furthe
= convinced not only Of the Captains kindly feel
=
I by the fact that On almost every important OF
casion / was honored by being selected for spt
= / cial Orderly duty with the officers.
We marched OF rode our squadron out {
! Fort Albany camp one cold, damp Decembg
I, morning, crossed the Long Bridge, passe
7 through the lower part Of the city up owe
!. Capitol Hill, where ! got a farewell glimpse
!. Old Capitol Prison from under my fatigue ca
/, seated on a horse going 10 the front
We crossed the old bridge beyond the Nay
I Yard over the Eastern Branch, went up ogC
: the hill and were soon out Of sight of Washing
: ton, travelling all day over the same route th3
= Wilkes Booth took IN his fight TO Virginia I'll
, night Of the assassination.
= This march was without incident until "
i halted in a wood 1t noon for q feed and Dime
{ when some Of the country recruits discovered
4 squirrel in a tree and set up wild fusiIade
il with their Sharpes carbnes
The way those Regular West Point Office
- tore around through the woods and cursed q
poor innocent boys for the uumlitary procec
ing for shooting at 2 squirrel was about
= funny as anything ever witnessed in the arm
- Dear me, one couldn't hit a barn door with 0,
= Of those brgech-oading caTbiHes, let alone
- squirrel
JtWss the noise Of the firing that seemed
annoy orr officers SO terribly, though there W
plainly no enemy on that side Of the river.
m In the afternoon it rained-a cold, wet d
= cember rain. We all found sudden use for o
- 1srrchgs u~ frurn IIanlefz with q hola Il, 3