The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-10-22
He meant lust what he said, but the odds

He meant Just what he said, but the odds
were against him, and so was the Col0nel.
A part of the company relieved the gentle
man from his perilous position. SO our
Erin-go-hragh friend was landed inside the
guardhouse, and his cutting peoples heads
off suddenly ceased Whether he cut any
ones head off afterward l never found out.
Co NJ on one occasion refused to go out on
drill, but they had good reason and could
not be punished. Every Sunday while IN
camp we had show called inspection. pre-
sided over by General or Colonel OF the
Regular service We had man by the
name of Walker, badly crippled up in the
right hand, who was holding his saber IN
his left hand at present Said the officer:
"My man, you have your saber wrong"
Walker holds out his right hand, and
says:
WHO the - could hold a saber in such
a hand as that?"
Said the officer:
Who enlisted youp"
capt. Shorts, of Co. K"
"You will report to my Office tomorrow
morning, and viii settle your case"
He did, by giving him his discharge and
sending him home.
While in Camp Campbell manned after
the ColoneI) / became interested IN sick
call. / saw many who went there on pur-
pose to escape camp drill, but dose OF cas-
tor oil and blue mass was too much medi-
cine, and they did not very often repeat the
experiment
All the comrades know what the army "a
ton was, but we had men who would eat
the whole days ration at one meal ana 60
hungry the balance of the time or beg. we
had two cases of doing without ratlons 1or
three days each time. Once 1T was during
Burnside's "stick in the mud" where we
were offered 81 apiece for bareback by the
boys. At another time we were III the VIII
derness near Parker's Store, where zen.
Buckner charged our commissary and capt
ured all the eatables.
We had few grumblers in our company,
as we presume all companies had, more or
less, who caused the officers good deal OF
trouble. We hired ours TO do the cooking
for the whole company, and our fare whiie
in camp was much improved; but one OF
them at Falmouth, Va, about 10 or IL p.
M, few days prior to the Fredericksburg
slaughter, in some manner not explained
put bullet through one of his feet and was
discharged.
Some time in January, 1862, / prevailed
vi ouA Sdlbdlsl ~ SiNS al pass " 'A"NN 49,
Capital. A comrade and / started out to see
the city sights. We saw quite an old gen
tleman, mason by trade, working on one
of the long stone steps in front of the Capt.
tol. Said /:
'No doubt you have worked here long
time?"
Yes" said he Forty years / have
worked on this building, and expect to finish
mn my life work here y
The day suddenly became too short, and
we were obliged to return to camp.
In February, 1862, we received our arms,
and il kept us busy keeping them in order
and drilling. heard complaints among The
boys, but you could not have pleased some
of them by giving them roast chicken and
feather beds. We were a long way from
home, and many became homesick.
Our first Chaplain was Mr.. Turner, no.
bic man. He studied our wants and wishes
and tried TO get us interested In our spirit
ual welfare. He always had meetings on
Sundays and prayer meetings on Thursday
nights. These for n short time were well
attended, but / fear many of us were not
| very much interested. One of my bunk
mates. VIM. Davis, was a good boy, and al
ways went to meeting; but the poor fellow
was disabled at the battle of Antietam, Sept
| II, 1862. 1t was astonishing to see how I'M
| concerned men seemed TO be when deatf
was SO near and almost certain.