Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-09-21
The old Frederick Barracks.
By JAMES A. ScoTT.

| In August 1861, Coles Cavalry en-
Icamped in the grounds of the oil
stone Barracks, at Frederick, Md, Il
drill and prepare for future service
Most if not all were unacquainted witt
military matters, but were permitted
to and did elect their own officers
There were other organizations Their,
also-in fact, several thousand men
to drill and discipline preparatory te
active service in the field.
1t is only my intention to recall
some of the incidents of life in thu
Barrack grounds for period covering
four months or over, the length Of
our incubation there. We had oui
daily drills and dress parades anG
guard mountings, etc. Our meals
were furnished by a contract by a
citizen of Frederick, and it was indeed
novel and rather rough experience
for us to come down to the rude sim
plicity of army fare. 1t was not
always of the best either. The rations
furnished by the Government aitel
we had entered active service were
much better and more varied than
the subsistence afforded at Frederick
Like other military organizations,
ours had its unruly and lawless ele-
ment, which it was hard to bring
into subordination to military strict
ness. Some men were forever exer-
cising their ingenuity to evade the
regulations promulgated to govern
us, and very often succeeded. They
i0oHld get whisky outside of and
also snuggle it into camp, and fire.
quently show the effects of tin
plain words, get drunk. In my own
company were several men of that
stripe. They tented together, and
the ingenuity of those men in evading
restraints and rules and getting
whisky would have been sufficient to
lead them into fortune and position
had it been properly directed. II
they could not get out of camp by
pass, they would break guard at mig hit
and get into town, and return in the
same way-if sober enough. If not,
the patrol would bring them in the
next day. The guards had strict or
ders to allow no whisky to be brought
into camp, and to search every man
they suspected Of having it. One
day one of the worst of these trouble
some men begged a pass from the
captain to go outside the gate and
down the street little way, with a
water bucket, to pump for water.
After some hesitation the pass was
given. On his return, as he was
passing into camp with the water,
the guard stopped him, having OBJ
served suspicious fullness about his
bosom. His concealed bottle was
demanded by the guard. "Oh," said
he, "you surely wouldn't begrudge a
poor fellow little molasses to eat
upon MS dry bread!' Hand out
that bottle" said the guard. ooh,
for PHYS sake don't take my molasses
from mel" Hand it out, or I'll take
it out myself" threatened the guard.
"Wel, if | must, must" said the
fellow, "but l think it a mighty mean
thing to rob me of my molasses,
and out the bottle came, and, sure
enough it was molassesl The guard
handed it back, apologized, and the
man passed in. Arrived in his tent
he drew flask of whisky out of his
bootleg. The bottle of molasses was
to blind and bedevil the guard.
These fellows were continually
levying contributions at night upon
the poultry of that region, causing
frequent complaints and protests from
the owners to the camp authorities.
Now and then search was made, but
nothing of evidence in the way of
feathers or ofal could be found. One
day, after an unusually large capture
of poultry the night before and much
indignant complaint from the owners,
commission was organized to go from
tent to tent and search for evidence
against the guilty parties. The tent
of these worthless was searched with
the rest. Everything was neat and
shipshape. Not vestige of proof
appeared that anything contraband
had entered there. They told the
commission they could not help
feeling indignant that they were
so outraged as to be suspected of such
thing The commission failed to
find any evidence that Coles Cavalry
had been engaged in so mean thing.
The guilty parties must belong to
some other organization in the
grounds. All the time the dismem-
bered poultry and the feathers too
were in the tent of these scamps.
Under the board flooring was a deep
excavation, the earth from which had
been carried at night and thrown into
sink, and in it was tub in which
the neatly cleaned poultry was nicely
sailed down and the feathers carefully
wrapped in paper beside it.
One day, towards night, another Of
these worthless was prospecting in a
field near camp and noticed flock o.
turkeys about going to roost on a
fence, among them a white one. Lo-
eating the place so he might find it in
the dark, he returned to camp. Late
in the night he and one of his tent.
mates, both pretty full, eluded the
guard to go for turkey. They crept
cautiously down along the fence. the
prospector in the lead. There wer'
no turkeys on the fence, but at length