Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-01-10
BLUE AND THE GRAY
eRAvE MEN WHO MET ON THE
FIELD Of BATTLE
Thrilling 6t0ries OF the Rebellion
Old Soldiers and Sailors Relate Remi.
niscences OF Life In Camp and ON
the Field Incidents Of the War.

To be at the head Of an hundred men
In the army, to wear nice blue uni
form with a two-barred strap on the
shoulder, and to be in line Of promo
ton when the major should be killed,
die or resign, was looked upon by the
soldiers, and by the people at home,
as rather a fine thing There were ten
captains in a regiment, and each Of
them was regarded In this light. But
his military life was by no means bed
of roses and the men of this rank who
did their whole duty in the service are
entitled to high credit. In making this
assumption plain / shall revive the rec
objection Of many veterans as to their
own labors and responsibilities, and
perhaps add to the stock Of knowledge
Of those who were never In the army.
Men sought and obtained commits
sions without any idea of what was be-
fore them, more than that they were to
fight when the time came. To be sure,
the fighting was the serious part of the
war, and all else was merely prepare
tory and led up to it, Yet, in point Of
fact, the actual collisions under arms
occupied very small space of time in
the history of any regiment; and the
officer who was willing to go into bat
tie, but was not competent for the dis
charge of the multitude of perplexing
duties constantly falling upon him, had
hard time Of it, and sometimes had
to resign in despair Of ever being able
to "straighten things out"
There We're captains of companies
not a few of them-to whom the school
of the company" and the manual of
arms were always mysteries, who de-
pended on competent first sergeant
for everything relating to drill, and
whose painful blunders in battalion
movements made the soldiers under
their command ashamed of them
Still, 1t must be said that most of the
officers of this grade did not fail in this
respect. Where the captain was any
thing more than mere effigy to wear
uniform, the responsibility of his po-
sition stimulated him to study his tao
tics, learn the movements and become
capable of commanding the company
In fact as we'll as in name.
1t was not in this particular that there
were the most failures. Men who
found that they must learn in order to
keep their places, usually did learn.
The difficulty was that the captain
did not have time enough to learn his
whole duty under the army regula-
tons. The whole course of duty at
the Military Academy at West Point
occupies as much time as did the
actual period of our civil war. The
cadet gives his whole time to study of
the military art and practice; the vol
unteer officer had to learn what it was
positively necessary for him to know,
In the intervals of marching, fighting.
and camping.
And the man who commanded a COM
pany, was always treated by the regu-
lars in authority precisely as though
he knew his business from beginning
to end. He was so treated by the de-
partments at Washington. Their rea-
soning seemed to be that If he didn't
know all about his duty he had no bust
ness In the service, though he may have
stepped from the farm, the counter. or
the office directly into the army.
Many, indeed, were the volunteer
captains who anxiously studied and
practiced the drill, the manual, dress
parade, and guard-mounting, who
learned what they had to do on picket,
and became as able to actually COM
mand as any regular need be. With
all this learned they found that only
one class of their duties was mastered.
They discovered that great vexatious
system Though probably necessary
one) of company morning reports, mus
ter and pay rolls, quartermaster's re-
ports, ordnance reports, and the keep
ing of set of company books was to
be learned. And it is to be borne In |
mind that not all Of these reports went |
to the adjutant of the regiment, by
whom they would be kindly regarded,
and who was willing to explain lleces-
sary corrections. Some of them went |
to Washington, monthly and quarterly, |
where, in the different bureaus, regular
officers were brayely fighting out the |
war by scanning returns and reports,
and sending them back for correction.
The mere clerical labor deyolving on |
the captain of a company was enor-
nous. He was fortunate when he was
able, as he was not always to find COM
petent clerks In his company to assist
him with this duty.
But the labor was not all. He was |
personally responsible for the correct
accounting for every article of cloth
ing that his men wore, for everything
relating to arms that they carried
The clothing was issued to the soldiers
and was theirs, a certain quantity be-
ing allowed each man by regulations;
but each issue had to be receipte,l for
by the captain, and he had to account
for it on return to the quartermaster.
Very often the receiving and account