The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-11
THE IRON BRIGADE
A STORY OF THE ARMY OF TIE POTOMAC
CHAPTER Nv.

Dark and dreary the winter of the first
year of the war closed in on the camps
about the capital. Between the Long
bridge and the heights of Arlington lay a
sea of mud. Dull red. the Virginia roads
were quilted deep by the wheels OF can
non, ambulance and army wagon thaa sank
now 10 the very hubs in sticky miTe. and
time and again stalled the needed Supplies
almost within sight of their destination.
In vain the darby drivers doubled their
teams and piled lash and blasphemy Hour
after hour the order would ring through
the swarming streets Of the nearest. camp:
Turn out, boys. More wagons stuck in
the mud!" and by whole companies regu-
lars or volunteers, the men would. wade
knee deep to the scene, and with fence
rails as levers and drag ropes over the
brawny shoulders, plying, pushing. hauling
and shouting, they would yank' the heavy
| rolling stock, one by one. from the slough
of their despond and tide them over} to the
next camp beyond. and so, from slough to
slough, pass them on their final destina-
ton.
But, while the roads and flats were; quag-
mires. up along the wooded heights the
ground fairly dry and we'll drained,
and there the four regiments, three of
which had drilled through August on the
broad, level plateau of Kaloram2, and
much Of the early fall about Chain bridge,
were now kept from morn till night busily
| at their soldier task. The general held
| that the less time soldiers had to Bill the
| happier and heartier they were, and de-
termined was he that the splendid material
confided to his charge should be nodded
| into equally splendid, soldierly shapt-that
| the one exclusively Western brigade Of the
now well-organized army should be second
| to none in point of instruction, discipline
and efficiency. To this end drills by squad.
| company and battalion, all three, were of
| daily occurrence, followed by dress parade
at shutdown, and all this supplemented by
long. searching inspections every sunday
| morning. Presently, too, he able by
| a mile march toward the woods, to reach
| an open plain out toward Balls cross
roads, and there have brigade evGlutions
twice week. Then the full uniform of
| the regulars had been drawn for the entire
command, the Indiana boys shedding the
semi-Zouave garb of gray in favor, of the
| army blue, as had certain of their Tiscon-
sin comrades at Chain bridge as early as
| September. One Badger regiment. the Sec
4
their fellows because they had been all
through Bull Run, and despite fairls heavy
| losses, retired in good order-haa even
| obtained the quaint, stiff, Kossuth hat,
| looped up on side and garnishsd with
cord and brasses and feathers-thS head
| gear of the regulars at the time-affd were
| dubbed the BLACK Hats" by envious COM
| rades of other commands. Their original
1 eel
| about the time of that initial battle, and
| in their place had come stocky little
black-bearded West Pointer as colonel, with
a most solderly ex-captain of state militia
| as his second, and then the whole origade
had to be fitted out with white gloves. and
some nearby regulars were detailed to
show them how best to polish their belts
and boxes, and great was the CONS petition
| among the four regiments to win thss honor
of headquarters guard and orderlies.
Then, as freezing weather set in with
December. and it became possible for car
riages to come humping and swaying over
the icy powders and ridges into which the
almost liquid mud had been transformed,
| many generals of rank, and statesmen by
the score and even the President himself
began paying visits to Arlington an.i bring
ing curious and distinguished foreigners
with them. and salutes and reviews innu-
merable became the vogue in front of the
| colonnaded porch of that stately Old man
sion. Not very far away Phil. Ksarney's
fine brigade of Jersey Blues was iS camp,
and the rivalry between these and the men
| of the West was keen and continuous. But
| Arlington lay nearer the city, and so 1t
happened that the "hoith" of the visitors,
as their one Exclusively Irish" Company
put ii, were ever to be found at the: Badger
| camps, and Fred Benton was learning how
| much time it took-and money-to provide
| entertainment for the men of mark swarm
ing in Washington and the lines across the
Potomac that first winter of the war.
But there was one visitor who cost them
| nothing, who brought them cheer and de-
light, and who could not come too often.
| He came, however, only twice OF thrice
He never left his carriage, but st there
lounging comfortably on the back seat,
usually with Secretary Seward by his side,
just as he used to come to neardr Kalo-
rama, and, after he had chatted syith the
general a while, he would drive through
the regimental camps TO receive the tu-
multous greeting of 1.-The boys" 10 wave
his hat and smile at them, and sometimes,
when they crowded about him, to Stop and
shake hands with the nearmost, and once
or twice TO tell some whimsical story that
would set his hearers shouting with glee
The President seemed to find himself thor
oughly at home among those lads from the
far West.
But if the rugged features bean ed with
kindliness and sympathy early in the De-
cember days and had ever a smile b1 return
for the greeting of the shouting boys in
blue. senior officers who best knew him be-
came aware of a growing anxiety and i'm
patience on his part the joyouS Christ
mastide came in. and the crowded camps
were jubilant with feasting and good
cheer. The beloved little commanding gen.
eral had been taken i'll of a fever and con-
| fined to his bed The President TO whom
he owed his appointment, had as vet no
information to that generals plans,
and, strange as it may seem, the two or
three men in his (McClellan's) confidence
were strangers at the White House and the
departments. When, In his anxiety and
sympathy, the President called in person at
the invalid's house he was neither asked
TO the bedside nor given information as 10
when the general would be able to resume
duty. AS consequence the President had
| to turn to other sources and Fred's divi-
sion commander, Mcdowell, was the first
he sought. He was forever asking ques-