The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-07-21
THE TROOPERS FAREWELL.
After the War Was Over Came the Parting
of Comrades.

Even as we rode through the streets of
the capital a thousand clerks were busy
making out the parchment discharges.
Regiments were marched to the depot
companies dissolved as if in air. The gov
eminent had no further need of soldiers
the soldiers We're anxious to get home.
All the way up from A~ppomattox we of
Clusters Third division had been nerving
ourselves up for the double parting. There
were men who had shared each others
blankets and pipe and bareback till the
bond between them was more than broth
erly. A few squads might return home
In company, but peace would separate
most of us forever. The old veterans
those who had messed together, charged
together and bound up each others wounds
rode closer together han usual, and one
missed the rollicking songs and the rough
jokes of the march. The camp, the march
and the battlefield welded men together
as relationship could not. A handshake
and a careless ''goodby'' would not do at
parting.
After the review we had a day for the
parting. We sat down together to talk,
but there was little talking. The very
first words called up a night of hardship
"a long day Of hunger and thirst-a wild
charge in which perhaps one fell and was
hunted for when night came and careful
ly removed from the battlefield to be
nurscd back to life. Some men tried to
appear careless or Indifferent, but it was a
vain effort. When we could not talk, we
placed our hands on each others shoulders
and sat and thought. Lips quivcred, and
tears came as we separated. Saber cuts
and bullets had been treated with con-
tempt, but this was different.
Our comrades tirst-Our horses next.
For two days we had been turning them
over to the quartermaster. We went out
to the grounds alOnc-by twOs, by tours
to single out our horses and say gOOdby.
Not one man in all that Third division
would have left Washington and a horse
behind without a last word You can get
to love a cOmrade, and you can get to have
a feeling kin to love for the dumb brute
who has been your sole companion at mid
night on picket-whO entered into the
tierccness of the charge with yOu-whO
carried you over hundreds of miles of
highway and never served you meanly.
Did they know that the war was over
that the smoke Of battle wot Id never di-
late their nostrils again? If we had a
friendship for them, think you it was not
returned? Many and many a time we
had shared our crackers with them
w NJ II "b1S vi tAb AA 80 AAAS'
taken hours from our sleep to cure their
ailments.
There were n few rough riders, but only
a few. The great majority were kind and
merciful and patient. They got to know
their horses as they Anew their camp
mates, and to bear with them and humOr
them, and to feel a real pond of friendship.
We found some of the steeds munching
their forage, but it seemed to us that all
We're uneasy and had that nervous look
which comes to a horse as he waits for
the battle to begin. We called to Tom
and Billy and Charley and Joe, and they
came and rubbed their noses against our
checks. We had a cracker or a lump of
sugar or an apple as a parting gift. We
stroked their soft nOScs-we put our arms
around their nccks-we even talked TO
them as we had to each other. The war was
over. Most of those horses were veterans,
bearing the scar of sabcr or bullet. All had
at least carried their riders into the pow
der smoke of Appomattox. We were TO
go away-to return home-to leave them
behind. How would they be cared for?
To whom would they be sold? See the
scar Of the wound received by the chest
nut at Kclly's Ford? On the forehead of
the bay is the scar of q saber cut received
at Brandy Station-a slash which would
have left the rider on the field to die. That
sorrel is blind Of an cye-a hurt received
at Winchester There's q scar on the hip
of the black--the rake of a grapeshot fired
the day Sheridan made his famous ride.
Yes, we talk TO them of the raids and
marches and campaigns and battles, and
they droop their heads as if listening to
catch every word. We lift their feet and
clean them for the last time. We rub
them from ears to tail with our hands.
are still with them when the bugles
sound and tell us that the hour has come.
Discharge papers and pay ~tOday-home to-
Then a thousand pairs of arms