Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1903-06-03
PATRIOTS REMEMBERED.
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ties, and apt as each individual might
be, these multitudes arrived wholly
uninstructed, few had even so much
as seen a real soldier, none had any
notion at all of what military dis
cipline was, or how to handle arms or
to maneuver, or to take care of their
health Nor could they easily get IN
struction in these things, for officers
knew no more than privates indeed,
for that matter, one of the first diff
culties at first encountered lay in the
large proportion of utterly unfit men
who had succeeded in getting commits
sions, and who had to be toilfully
eliminated. That which was to be
done, Mcclellan was able t. do. He
had passion for organization, and a
fine capacity for work he showed act
and skill in dealing with subordinates
He had thorough knowledge and a
high ideal of what all army should
be. He seemed the genius of order as
he educated and arranged the chaotic
gathering of human beings. who came
before him to be transmitted from
farmers, merchants, clerks, shop
keepers and what not into soldiers of
all arms and into leaders of soldiers
To that host in chrysalis he was what
each drillmaster is to his awkward
squad Under his influence privates
learned to obey and officers to COM
mapd. Patient labor produced a re-
suit so excellent that General Meade
said long afterward: Had there been
no Mcclellan there could have been
no Grant, for the army made no
essential improvement under any of
McClellan's successors. I"
That bright and CHEEKY disposition,
typical of our modern American,
which alleviates hard toll and priva-
tion and impels good comradship,
shone in both Union and Confederate
armies TO the last and made bearable
the long intensity of conflict. Whether
in pulling red mud" on the tramp
over Virginia's shocking roads. or
when suffering rude weather, or while
bearing that harder mishap of short
rations, nay, even after due seasoning,
while under fire and confronting the
danger of sudden death, the joke over
ill-luck and the ludicrous side of
disaster was unfailing, volunteers
chaffed one another, called nicknames,
and had some perversion and mimicry
for the passing spectacle. In the re-
frain of song much sung in those
days
"Then let the world wag round as it
will,
Well be gay and happy still"
Both the "Yanks' and the "Johnny
ReDs" showed this cheerfulness spiced
with genial and sardonic humOr as
the case might be. On repeating occa-
sions towards the close of the war,
"butternuts" and the "boys in blue"
would carry on a neighborly talk or
barter across the lines, while pickets
respected as neutral ground a spring
OF mutual convenience. At more than
one famous surrender, the conquering
soldiers fraternized with the con-
quered, and instead of exulting, fed
the hungry from their haversacks.
Who will deny that long before APP
pomatoS there was felt subconscious-
ness of defeat among the Southern rank
and file and a disposition to he re-
eonciled to the old flag. go it cot
ton-tail," called Confederate soldier
from the rifle fire as rabbit darted
by In fright; II would run too if ]
hadn't reputation" But Ameri-
Cans stand stubbornly by cause they
have opposed, even when feeling that
the war is not their war. Grim,
muddy, shoeless, ragged, unwashed,
unkempt and unfed, they foot it
through obedient to orders.
For the new recruit Hardee's manual
was the standard, Scott's had become
old-fashioned. In the intervals of
euchIe through idle weeks Of which
there were many, the volunteer
would study Army Regulation"
and the art Of War" and kindred
books of high strategy. During this
period of the awkward squad and in
fact throughout the whole war, let
ters from the stuffed mail bags helped
over this otherwise irksome and home
sick period. The Government by dis
pensing with prepaid postage and in
various other ways showed consider