The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-12-01
THE TRICKS OF SOLDIERS.
W. e. Doyle Recalls Amusing Happen
ings of Camp Life.

OF the young American soldier in Cuba
Porto Rico and The, philippines, and Will
we look upon their fights as mere affair
compared with the terrible battles fou>fl
in "the war fer the Union F." in which ",
participated, yet we are confident that ou
boys would do as weliIas their ancestor!
II they had the opportunity. But this i
not what l INTENDED 10 talk about, for
desired to say that | found at Camp Alger
Va, that the boys OF TO day, when they
get the military clothing ON and are unde
martial restraint, are just as full of devil
ment as were the recruits of 1861.
When ] joined the 18th Ind. at Camp
Wood, Lafayette, Ind, in the beginning o
June, 1861, the 10 companies were
organized and nearly up to the maximum
strength, and the company | went uT
with from Lawrence and Martin Counties
was in despair. We wept TO think that we
would have no chance To- suppress the re-
bellion, and, fearful OF being lett behind, We
| disbanded, and filled up all vacancies ir
| the 18th, our Captain enlisting pri-
vate; a splendid fellow and most diiigeni
! and obedient soldier He was missing
| at the battle OF Stone River.
| There the 18th lost onefifth of the men
taken into action, killed or died of wounds
and was the only regiment Of Rosecrans' S
army that held the same ground at night
on which it stood in the morning-the
| extreme left of the army. II had whipped
| Dan Adams's Louisiana Brigade single
| handed, captured the flag of the 18th La,
and also took nearly all the 21St La. as
prisoners.
Rosecrans, in his report of the battle OF
Stone River, says that the 18th Ind. made
gallant counter-charge upon the ad-
vancing enemy and captured more pris-
OnerS than they had men engaged. The
General mentions the 10Th twice in his
report, ii | mistake not. He was man of
most wonderful memory.
The last tine saw Resecrans he men
toned that he had been thinking the day
before OF the 18th and Gus" Wood Wood
was Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the
regiment at Stone River. "And," he con-
tinued, you remember old Cox's battery
doth Ind. battery :"
| answered Il should say / did, Gen
eral."
We were walking along with his arm in
, mine, and he gave sort of a chuckle and
said: "Naylor commanded, didn't he?"
/ replied: General, | don't remember
about the battery going into action near
Wagner's Brigade at all. 1t seems to me
| that it was ordered Off to the right some
where, until, after noon, the two howIt-
| zers came back and took position to our
| rear and left, and | believe they were
| there when we were doing our hard work.
| Then he laughed and squeezed my arm,
saying Doyle. my boy, the 10th Ind.
| always claimed and considered that they
| formed the extreme left Of my army; but
must tell you that those two howitzers
not only formed my extreme left, but
saved you, and, might almost say, the
army from disaster. They had taken po-
| sition in front OF a house used as hes
| pital, as you say, to the LETT and rear oil
| your regiment, and in front OF them was q
| good, practicable ford over Stone River.
While the 18th was engaged rcpulSlng
Adams's attack, Wheeler with "a large
| force of cavalry attempted to cross that
| ford and those twyo howptZers OF Cox's, all
| unsupported, gallOped forward and drove
them from the ford u
This was Just before ] came to the left
and had Wheeler gained the rear Of our
lines at that time thefe is no telling to
what disaster it might have led"
If | remember arIght Jhe 18th Ind. went
into action Dec. 81. 1862, with 440 officers
and men, and lost 202 killed and wounded.
proportionately in different engagements,
but do not think any, regiment behaved
more gallantiy during the entire war. In
that little neck, just long enough for the
regiment to file in betigeen the railroad
and Stone River, it repulsed during the
day successive charges of the brigades of
Preston, Jackson ard Adams.
But did not start 10 talk of this at all.
When joined the regiment found them
in Camp Wood clad in their gray uniforms
with red stripes and white felt hats with
a red cord. They were living in A tents
which were emblazoned with the peculiar
titles of their occupants. Co. A was the
Attica Guards; Il, the South Bend Rifles
G, the Fort Wayne Invincibles; ID, the Ben
ton Tigers: Il, the Charlottesville Fusil
iers; + the Lawrence Eencibies; G, the
Volunteers; II, the Rensselaer,
Iiifies; |, the Liberty Guards, and X, the |
Iippecanoe Terrors.
/ remember being particularly struck |
with Co. l. which had about 20 men over
six feet high, and when formed in line |
almost a pigmy beside them. But he en-
ieavored to make up in feathers what he |
lacked in size, although he needed no |
feathers TO make big man of him; for he |
fought to the end of the war, after leaving |
as, as Major, 36th Ind, Colonel, Goth, and /
finally Brigadier General.
When | donncd the uniform | found my |
credit was established with Ben Swearin-
gen, the Sutler, who kept on hand a large |
supply Of all necessities, and it was
astonishing to see the amount of cakes,
cheese and lemonade that command con
,umed daily. We had no arms, and the
camp was surrounded by 12rail fence;
1t the point on the road leading to La
ayettc was the gate, through which all
ngresS and egress had to be made. The
amp inside the fence had long poles with
which they performed sentinel duty.
Liquors were prohibited in camp, and it
vas amusing to notice the various shifts
made to introduce it. A man out on pass
would buy colfeepot and have it filled
gith whisky, having previously stuffed
piece of potato or something of the kind
nto the bottom Of the spout. Then he
would have the spout filled with molasses,
md thus equipped walked boldly up to
he gate. The officer OF the guard would
axe theecOffee pot, turn il up, and as the
nGlasseS ran out of the spout hand il
Jack to its owner
This worked a few times when there
vas a rush at the gate, but gave out very
Don. All soldiers were searched coming
n, and ID became very difficult to smuggle
liquor, until, finally, after we had our
aliber 50 muskets altered from fiintlOck,
,all and three buckshot we had become
temperance camp.
Then the genius of Bill Gardner, of
south Bend, the Drum Major, shone
orth. William had served in the Penn
'ylvania Blues in the Mexican war, as
lad his brother John, who was First
Co. b. We had several Mexi-
AN veterans: Lieut.-CqI. Robert d. Owen,
Maj. Gus A. Wood: Capt. Jack Templeton,
}; Capt. Frank White, #; Lieut.. Joe
sosler, II; Capt. Ales. Fowler, B, and
Well, drills were the order of the day
hen at Camp Wood IN June, 1861, and
While the soldiers were double quicking,
light and left obliahing, and forming hoi- !
ow square to resist cavalry, the band
md drum and fife Corps were put to !
exercising at football, and there is where i
iardner came in. .Af4r the drill, in the I
pleasant evenings the band and field
music kicked the hollow sphere all over
hn l.. l