The Yale expositor., 1894-10-19
ABOUT THE CAMPFIRE
AN ARMY QUARTET AND THEIR
VOCAL VICTORIES.
serenading General Misunderstanding
on to shiioh-A Balky Mule and the
Yankees Coming--The doth Iowa--For
valor.
serenndlnr sibleys.

about vocal music connected with the
war, so thought 1 would give you n
brief account of our exploits in that
line. Our quartet had the honor of
serenading successfully two of the
commanders of the army of the Poto-
mac at different times, viz, Generals
Meade and Hooker.
Our company, from Pittsburg, Pa,
was mustered in June 90, 1861, on
Staten island, N. Y, taking the right
of the first regiment OF the brigade
in consequence of our superior
marching. While the battle of first
Bull Run was in progress we were
hustled on board cars for Washington
city, arriving there safely, and
camped a couple of days on w. w.
Corcoran's farm. Our services on the
field were not required at that time,
so we were marched across the east
ern branch of the Potomac, into
Maryland, two miles from the city,
where we established our first camp,
Good Hope" and were drilled all
that summer and fall by our Little
Napoleon" Dwight.
One evening Joe Deniston, our first
lieutenant, said to me:
John, why don't you pick out three
Or four comrades with good voices,
drill them and have some music?"
l did so. A. r. Gluckesen of my
own mess, for air; Peg" Mcfarland
(now hospital steward in the regular
army for alto; Tom Taber, 10th Mass,
in our brigade for tenor; myself for
basso profundo. Neither one of them
could read music, SO l had to teach
each one his part We enjoyed
ourselves very much and soon at
tracted the attention of our officers,
who would get us to sing for
them. Our reputation spread rapidly
through the division and corps, until
finally we got so stuck up that we
would hardly respond to any invitation
to serenade from anything lower than
4 brigadier.
One evening when we lay at Fal-
mouth, Va, our company had been
detailed as headquarters guard al the
Fitz Hugh Lee house, two miles from
Fredericksburg. General French was
in command of our corps (the Third in
the absence of General Sickles. l said:
"Boys, suppose we go over this
evening and serenade General Meade,
who was in command of the army of
;he Potomac them
''Oh, no; we'll be sent back under
guard" etc.
Come on, boys; I'll f2it."
So we started for army headquar-
ters, getting there about dusk. 1t
was amoI gst lot of pines and cedars
two rows OF Sibley tents and big
flagstaff opposite General Meade's
tent. My quartet all hid themselves
while l approached one Of the senti-
nels, who halted me, demanding the
countersign, which / gave him. He
called his corporal, and while we were
talking an officer approached, whom I
knew by his shouller-strap to be a
lieutenant colonel. lie took US to
the generals tent. lie was busy
writing, but throwing down his pc
gave orders for us to begin.
We took our position around the
flagstaff and opened with Come
where nay love lies dreaming" the
pitch of which l fortunately struck
right. The general was evidently
pleased; so for the second song we
gave him Rally round the flag
boys" which was new then, and in
the rendering of which we excelled
ourselves.
Everything was safe now. The
staff officers could not keep away. l
whispered:
Wen close now with silence,
silence make no noise or STIR"
At its close we moved as if retiring,
when the general ordered us back,
asked where we were from, etc, and
pointing to the cook tent in rear of
his Sibley, ordered us to investigate
1t, which you may be sure we did
with alacrity, surprising the darky
cooks with our appetites
After that was over the Lieutenant
colonel / spoke of took charge of us
and would not let us off until we bad
serenaded every Siblev in the rows.
In fact, we ran out of tunes, and had
to sing number over again. We did
not get back to our own camp until
reveille. Before guard mount we re-
ported to Captain Van Il. Bates (our
first captain, Isaac Bruun, having
been killed at williamsburg, who
was SO much pleased with our success
in the music line with General Meade
that he excused us from duty that
day, and much we needed it, as you
may well imagine. John G. Lea, in
the National Tribune.
"For Talor."
BY direction OF the president a
medal of honor has been presented to
Brevet Brig Gen. Llewellyn &. Estes,
United States Volunteers, for distin-
guishe gallantry in action at Flint
river, Ca, Aug. 80, 1854. This officer,
while serving as assistant adjutant.
general voluntarily took command,
and making a gallant charge across n
burning bridge upon the rear-guarI
of the enemy, drove them from their