Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-08-07
CHAPTER VI.

u
i&TWS NM came to our tent and
VTtSS'>-~s.SW said:
ESM lisa "All men turn out to
MSSSSstID draw revolvers and am
NAASsttsfg1 muniton. The whole
regiment starts on scout
right after breakfast in the morning.
The horses Will reach camp tonight"
And that glorious. soul thrilling or.
der was delivered in as careless tones
as II the sergeant had merely come in
for man to carry wood for the cook.
made up my mind that the sergeant
was not the man for his place and that
the captain showed himself unfit for
his business by appointing such a man.
Nevertheless l hurried to the SER
geants tent, and my soul thrilled with
patriotic Joy as | saw the great wood
en- box full Of rcvolvers OF the heaviest
caliber. / knew something about re-
volvers, my father having invented
one and allowed me to help him In
some of his experiments. / mentally
made the calculation right there that
II each man in the regiment fired only
one shot at close quarters, which is all
the revolver is fit for in war, there
would be about 1000 fewer effective
men in the Confederate army by the
time we returned.
Besides the revolver each man receiv.
ed holster to be worn at the belt, a
cartridge box and box for percussion
caps, for this was before the days of
metallic cartridges. When the SER
geant began to Issue ammunition, how
ever his language suddenly beanie un.
TT for publication, for the department
quartermaSter, who was 80 or 40 miles
away, had by mistake sent carbine car
large for revolvers.
The sergeant reported the fact to the
captain. while big Pat Callahan, OF
whom l had seen as little as possible,
recalled old times by saying it was "all
the gov'ments fault, an il the gov.
ments brains was turned into gunpow.
der there wouldn't be enough to blow
it to"-perdition. The captain used
language which proved that he was not
Il member of the church, but suddenly
he dived into the big box in which the
pistols had come and drew forth a bull.
let mold.
Does any one here know how to
load revolvers with loose ammuni-
tionr he asked.
AYE, aye, sir" said Cloyne. touching
his hat
81, too" said I.
"And l." said Hamilton.
Good" said the captain. "You three
break up carbine cartridges, make q
fire, remold the bullets and load all the
pistols. Six shots apiece will be better
than none. Sergeant, collect the re-
Solvers"
Then the men returned to their tents,
more than half Of them Joining big Pat
Callahan in cursing the government.
Hamilton and l began breaking car
tridges, while Cloyne started fire near
the cookhouse and looked for some.
thing in which to melt the lead. After
much searching lie settled on one of the
cooks frying pans. Then he had to
boil the bullets in water to get the
grease from them, so an hour passed
before we had any new bullets.
That job of loading pistols hung on
amazingly. Some of the cylinders did
not work well, so we had to nurse"
them, for it would never do for any
man to be without n pistol in the face
of the enemy. i became so sleepy that
had to pinch myself to keep awake.
Once in awhile Cloyne did not close
the mold tightly before pouring the
cad, SO the balls would be u little too