The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-09-01
THE LAST CALL.

1t was in the old days They seem very
far away indeed now, after all that has
happened since then. 1t was but year or
two before Custer and his men of the
Seventh United States cavalry were mas
sacred by the Sioux Indians, and that was
In 1876. We were not very much on pa
rade out on the plains then, and it mat
tered little to US If man dressed in for
age cap or campaign hat when he was in
the field. There was not, in fact, any ono
to see us save those we were protecting
the settlers-and those we were fighting.
1t is different now, when buck" gets
fined for a stain on the right palm of his
glove or a misftting blouse Then, re-
member Sergeant NJ of the til greas-
ing his body over when we left the post in
February and never-so it was said-wash-
ing until November, when we got back
again after the campaign. And If you
study the question and know the way we
had to live, you will understand that the
sergeant was neither a beast nor fool.
They were rough days, and more than one
man have seen ride into garrison in the
late autumn with breeches made out of
buffalo hides by his own hands. We
thought ourselves i'll treated II we had to
spend more than three months of cold
weather in the lonely picket buildings they
called barracks and were allowed no moro
than eight or nine to roam with packed
saddles over the prairie and chase the red
man, who certainly kept us going then.
Now he has got to growing corn and living
on his ration and begging, and he does not
afford as much fun as he used to-
Custer was down on the Washita in the
q "Nation," and the Kiowas and Comanches
were causing trouble. With them were, Of
course, some Cheyennes and Arapahoes-
they never could keep out of trou ble-and
a lot of doughboys Infantry, with some
other cavalry besides Clusters own, heap
of scouts, and so forth, were all there chas-
ing those fellows, who were harder to catch
and corral than so many prairie dogs. They
fought, too, and fought magnificently-
learning from us how to handle themselves.
All, these Comanchesl have seen them
charge a corralled baggage train in pla-
toons, and again in battalion line in man
ner which could only command praise from
an onlooker for the correctness of its
alignment and the steadiness of its wheels.
although that onlooker might at the mo-
ment be plugging SO caliber bullets into
them as fast as his carbine could be han
died. Pity indeed that such splendid cav
alrymen could not be organized
However, this has nothing to do with the
Pet, or only indirectly.
I When the regiment was organized, after
the rebellion, Schuylkill Jones was the first
sergeant of the old troop, and he married Cbe-
fore the end of the war; whom, l don't know,
and neither did he, for she had been wife to
30 many men previously-that stalwart old
campaigner-that her original name and
her pedigree were lost in the passing of the
ages. But she bore him son, and while
dressing young private's wounds, in the
course of an attack ON a train which her
husbands troop escorted, was shot dead.
For her sake and for the sake Of the old
Dutch Pennsylvanians, the troop buried
her mournfully and without any method of
procedure decided to adopt her son-the Pet
And adopt him we did Poor little chapl
The old sergeant had acquired habits which
were not conducive to longevity and was
reduced gradually-in spite of the many
chances given him-to the ranks, and re-
member few things more pathetic than
when little Bill Jones, years old, came
crawling on hands and knees up the steep
hill to the guardhouse and demanded flu
riously that /, who was only humble SEN
try on mo. l." should give him his dada, I"
who had been recently confined for being
under the influence of Intoxicating LIQUORS"
while member of the post guard.
Whether the sergeant of the guard con-
suited the officer on duty or not don't
know. He said he did. Anyway it was
against regulations to let that 4-year-old
desperate into the guardroom. The officer
and the sergeant have the blame between
them, for he came in and raised havoc with
the guard. A sweet little domineering
chap he was and took us by storm. The
end Of it was that he led his father out by
the hand, and the sergeant of the guard
sent sentry along after them. Poor old
Schuylkill never came back alive.
The boy drew his father away to look at
his mothers grave in the lonely cemetery
on the bluffs and there the old soldier be-
came overcome with a sense of his own deg
radiation and his child's loneliness, and had
fit, and was found by the doctor and am
bulance men lying dead on his wife's grave
And the sergeant of the guard was tried by
court martial and reduced to the ranks, for
regulations are regulations.
Billy's father and Billy's mother having
died without thinking it necessary to noti-
fly anybody Of any relatives they may have
had, Billy was oft with what pay was due
to his father and the debt to the sutler
which his father owed, which was rather
rough on the 4-year-old, for the debt con-
siderably exceeded the pay Under these
circumstances the troops determined to
lick Billy into shape and put the "kid'
into the hands of Mother Brickenscheuffer
IN old German woman who had done wash
ing for American soldiers and made pies
tor them and lent them money since the
days when Fremont first crossed the Sier-
ras But enough of Billy's childhood and
childhood's troubles, which he certainly
took quite cheerfully.
When he was old enough to hold the bu-
gle to his lips, he made noise which his
partial stepfathers said was mighty near
like taps" and he took to the bugle after
that as he might to sucking bottle. When
he was 10 years old, he could blow all the
calls and ride Tip to water, while lead
ing two others, which was more than auv
recruit could do. When he was Is and had
o decent education at the post schools, our
dear old captain (rest be TO his soulD held a
consultation with the colonel and the adju-
tant, and Billy was called in at the end Of
1t and asked If he would like to enlist.
1t required a special order from the head
quarters at Washington, but Billy got his
hearts desire, and not sock or a shirt did
be have to draw for himself when he en-
tered. We all drew for him out of our own
clothing allowances l remember big Bill
Healy on quarterly draw day-he was feet
n