The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-10-07
THE BOY BATTALION.
Why They Did Not End the Civil
War.

and fired the imagination of boys
Marbles. bats, tops and balls were ex-
! changed for military implements and
trappings. Every urchin became a sol
! dicr; every squad of boys n company or
| battalion.
So eager were we in our North Caro-
lima neighborhood, to fill our ranks and
outdo the neighboring plantations, that
all manner of recruits were gladly re-
ceivcd and enlisted, including our ne.
gro playfcllows, and on pinch even
| our sisters and girl cousins.
After IL time we grew tired of drilling
! and longed for more stirring service
The men had gone to the front aud our
! hearts had gone with them. Our mot
| ley companies were disbanded one by
! one, and the more enterprising boys of
| the neighborhood began to discuss the
| advisability of forced march to the
seat of war.
, sure our mothers would object. But
! had they not, in some cases, opposed
the enlistment of our fathers? We
! heard the loud cry on all sides, that it
was every ones duty to do his utmost
! to end the war
| just then we found in the garrcts of
! our homes several long forgotten lots
of military accoutrements used by rel
, ativcs in the Mexican war, or in mill
! tia drills. That decided the matter.
Now we could equip ourselves.
| A marching column, comprised of
| Ned Tippet, Mark Lanny, Tom Mallet
myself and several smaller boys, was
, instantly formed.
We were to muster at the Creek
: Bridge at daybreak. OF course we
We're too much excited the night before
to sleep. We We're all on hand before
the day broke, and the boy battalion
was formed. We wore huge lighthouse
helmets. made of leather. declsed with
trailing horsehair and shaped like the
helmet of Alexander the Great, beside
| cutaway coats radiant with buff trim
mings and brass buttons. The coat
sleeves We're rolled up so that we might
| have the use of our hands, and under
the lining of the helmets leaves were
stuffed to keep them from dropping
down over our faces.
We had an armament that we felt
must be decisive. Indeed, we wondered
how our elders could have overlooked
such irresistible weapons; and we
counted ourselves the most fortunate of
beings in having discovered them.
bore a sword which no less an au-
thority than Uncle Primus, the car
riage-driver, declared to be nearly sharp
enough to shave with. Ned had a
pistol which discharged six shots with
out reloading. Mark had one which
required no cooking, but was fred by
the pulling of the trigger, and Tom
had rifle that would kill at distance
of mile
The fact that had a sword of course
made me captain. After inspecting the
guns to see if they were all loaded, and
ordering to their homes all recruits un-
der nine years old was twelve--for
the reason that they were too small and
had no uniforms or weapons, shouted
the commands:
'Shoulder-r arms. Forward mar-rch!"
We trudged bravely forward. AS
| soon as the friendly screen of the woods
| was reached the command was halted,
| or rather it halted itself. in order that
| line of march might be agreed upon,
For two reasons we decided to aban-
don the highway and strike across the
| country. One reason was that we
wished to surprise the enemy and end
| the war with il volley. The other rea-
son, and the chief one, was that the
most formidable enemies of the expedi-
| ton in the persons of our mothers held
the rear and would doubtless give pur-
suit along the road.
How far away the armed enemy was
we did not know. Our plan was to
march due northward, guided during
the day by the sun and at night by the
north star, or, if it was cloudy, by feel
ing the moss on the tree-trunls, just as
Daniel Boone and the Indians did.
So, filing off by the left flank, we
struck out through the woods and
fields. The thorns and briers seemed
thicker than we had ever before known
them and the gullies closer together
and deeper But filled with enthusi-
asn, we pressed manfullv forward.
The sun crept slowly up, becoming
hotter every moment. Our weapons
grew heavier, and our military coats
seemed to be larger and longer with
every step we made. Hunger reminded
us that we had not only left home with
out breakfast, but that in organizing
we had also entirely overlooked the COM
nissary department.
To our minds soldier was fighter,
pure and simple. We had never for an
instant associated soldering with eat
ing. That the soldier might get killed
was likely; that he might get hungry we
had not dreamed of.
My men began to murmur. and now
4nd then to halt and look back. !
urged them on, reminding them that it
was soldiers duty to suffer and even
lie for his country, and that the more lie
lid of BOTH the greater and truer
soldier he was. With many other cheer
ing words that had picked up, from
listening to the grown people, | ex-
horted my army to do its duty.
But in spite of all could do the com.
'nand began to straggle so badly that
was forced to detail Private Lanny as
A rear gua,d. with strict orders to keen
the men in line. But AS the rear guard
itself soon began to struggle, ] was
forced to quit my place at the head of
he column and fill that place myself,
urging my men on. sword in hand.
After awhile we began to skirt n pas.
turc in which. grew many persimmon
trees. Among them was "a dead one, Ia
whose branches some of last years