The National tribune., 1902-08-21

ington to reorganiZe the Army of the PO-
tomac. and the following November, when
Gen. Scott retired from service on ac-
count of age, Mcclellan was made Gen
eral-in- Chief of the Army of the United
States As an organizer Gen. Mcclellan
showed marked ability and efficiency. and
whatever else history may record of him.
it must record this one fact in his favor,
that-he organized one of the best armies
the world ever saw-an army that no dis
aster could dishearten and no defeat dis
courage; but as a General III the held
where battles We're to be lost and won he
was a great disappointment to the coun-
try and to the army.
GIBBONS IRON BRIGADE.
In the new organization my regiment
was brigaded with the 9th and Ith Wis.
and the 18th Ind, and during the cam
paignS of 1862 was known as Glbbon
Brigade of Kings Division of McDowelrs
Corps, Gen. Mcdowell retaining COM
mand of the First Corps. In the Fall
of 1862 the 24th Mich. was added to the
brigade. and from that time on it con-
sisted of these five regiments.
During the Fall and Winter of 1851
'62 our camp was located near Fort Til
linghast, about a half-mie west of the
Arlington House, where Gen. Mcdowell
had his headquarters, and many a night
] did guard duty beneath the roof of the
old Lee Mansion. Down in the valley
toward the Potomac, mile or more from
our camp, was situated a level field or
plain, which we used for a drill ground
and for the purpose of regimental and
brigade drill we there assembled every
day, except Sundays, unless we were Or
dered to Balls Crossroads for a division
drill, corps manuver, sham battle OF
grand review.
Thus We drilled, paraded and reviewed
continuously, but we did not disturb the
peace and comfort of the enemy to any
great or alarming extent. Throughout
the fine weather of the Fail and Winter
of 1861, when the roads We're in splendid
condition and everything apparently ia
vorable for field operations, Beauregard
was drilling his army and performing
field evOlutions on the plains of Ma
nassas holding the old Bull Run line,
within two days march of us, with his
pickets extended 10 miles nearer our out
posts, actually menacing, if not in fact
besieging, our National Capital, as it ap-
peared in the eyes of the Nations, watch
ing from afar.
more than in battles. With the Prince
de Joinville and his nephews. the sons of
the Due d'Aumale-the soldiers called
them 'McClellan's French ducks"-in his
wake, it was the crowning glory of his
ambition to ride for miles along the grand
array of his army prepared for review
in holiday attire. Not all the ducks and
other web-footed species on McClellan's
staff, for he had a host of them, were
French.
During the early Fall of 1861 an event
occurred that interested me, personally,
greatly more than parade and review
This event was nothing more nor less
than an order-and its results-for the
vaccination of the army. l had been vac
cinated several years before the war
broke out, and it broke out, that is. the
vaccination did, on my arm very nicely,
and, as the saying is, worked well;' but
this order included ali, so was vaccinated
again with the others. Now, this partic
ular vaccine virus must have been OBJ
tanned from some NANCY scrub that ran
wild in the fever-stricken swamps of the
Campagna di Roma, and it was true to
the parent stock. In my case it did not
produce kine-pOx. though it worked
work Of woe and wretchedness that sur
passed any case of genuine smallpox,
taken naturally, on record.
In the very worst cases of smallpox the
patient only dies after few days of suf-
fering. or RECEIVERS with his beauty some
what marred; but in this case there was
no such fortunate chance as death COM
ing to his relief. and of what value is
beauty to him who suffereth eternal tor
ment! / do not know how extensive this
may have been, but / know that all my
tent-mates got it, not only in the neck,
but in every other part of their physical
being, and in about 10 days from date of
vaccination We were suffering all the tor
ments of the damned. unless the damned
are afflicted more terribly than mortals
ever dreamed.
For the nayf fhraa mantle lifa hao,y,,o
burden to US. Our regimental Surgeons
prescribed the regulation cure-all-quinine
and whisky, or brown mixture-while we
continued to enjoy the humor of disease.
Later. when the Winter storms set in and
the stress of drill. review and sham bat
tie was less urgent, we secured passes
to the city by turns, and there purchased
sulphur by the pound and Sands sarsa-
parilla and other blood purifiers by the
bottle, and by q persistent course of he
roic treatment, wherein We used freely a
mixture of gun-powder and sulphur, we
finally, toward Spring, succeeded in Grad
icating the flower and fruit of our vac
clnation. but l wore on my arms and
person the honorable scars received in
that campaign for many years after. No,
thank you; no more vaccination for me.
When I'm vaccinated for cow-pox again
I'll take the bull by the horns-take the
smallpox naturally - take strychnine--
IUTee at a QOSc. nevertheless.
from that date / have been impervious
to smallpox. having been often exposed
to the dread scourge, which passed me by
as the idle wind
WINTER OF IDLENEss.
or course, the Administration became
dissatisfied and the people OF the North
extremely impatient with McClellan's
slow tactics. They believed that the
Army of the Potomac was organized to
do greater work than simply defending
Washington; but Mcclellan, having frit-
tered away the fine weather of the Fall
and early Winter until the Winter storms
Set in, had the best of an excuse for not
moving then. The first snow storm of the
Winter of any importance struck us early
in February while we were in camp,
which was, to us, a reminder of Wiscon-
Sin Winters, and we improved the op-
portunity of indulsing in an old-fashioned
Wisconsin snow-balling froic.
We had several snow storms later in
the season, some of them occurring while
we were on picket, for we were sent out
beyond Falls Church every once in n
while TO do our share Of picke: duty; but
during the whole Winter / never once
caught sight of Confederate soldier
no, there was not much firing on the
picket line that Winter. except to fire.
brush when the weather was cold.
At last the impatience of the people
became so uncomfortable that President
Lincoln issued an order that :he army
should move in March. which was GER
tainly a month earlier than was safe for
any army to commence offensive opera