Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1905-07-07
THE BEST SOLDIERS.
Experience Shows That They Are
Obtained by Enlisting from
All Glasses.

was Sd1u IuS uOCUDI,
that the newspapers didn't give Field
Marshal Oyama's characterization of
the modern Japanese army. After ex-
planning that under the old rule mill
tary service was limited to the he
reditary fighting or soldier class, the
general pointed to the result of break
ing away from the old rule, and calling
men of all classes into the army. He
insisted that an army including all
classes had finer national spirit and
fought better than the old army made
up exclusively of professional fighters.
This interested me greatly, because
it called to mind experiences in the
union army of the civil war which il
lustrated the processes by which the
average man of patriotic impulse was
transformed into soldier. 1t is i'm
possible for the present generation to
understand how utterly ignorant the
men Of 1861 were of the simplest de-
tails of military service. There were
then very few military companies out
side of the large cities and the mem
bers of the few carried themselves as
superior beings.
members of the military companies in
the country towns constituted sort
of fighting caste, and they became the
drill masters of the thousands of pa
triotic young men, no one of whom
could come to an about face. l re-
member well when 100 of our best
young men organized a military COM
pany. They sent to Capt. Branch in
the nearest city, asking him to send
one of his crack company out to drill
us. A private in the company donned
lieutenant's uniform and came out
to act as instructor at five dollars an
hour, and he lorded it over 100 as
earnest and intelligent men as ever
lived.
so anxious were we to learn, and
so much respect had we for man who
knew military things, that we bore
with the autocratic impertinences of
the drill master and conceded all he
I; demanded in the way of Difference to
himself He seemed to us a great
man, although we discovered later that
he taught us very little. We went
forward rapidly, however, after he left
10, GiLu MOlG oOOh dL llS llOll, NAClS
we learned in a few months more
than any crack holiday soldier could
teach us. After several campaigns We
were with Buelrs advance to Shiloh
and as we climbed the bank of the
river, where thousands of stragglers
were gathered, l heard a voice that
l knew.
The men of the company had been
in the service nearly a year. They
constituted the crack company of a
fighting regiment. They were going
up the river bank into battle, and
they were ready and eager to meet the
enemy. Imagine their surprise when
they saw their pompous little drill
master of the previous April standing
among the stragglers declaiming to
the newcomers about the glory and
death that awaited them in front.
THE captain, who had been among
the humblest of the learners, in April,
1861, and was in April, 1862 one OF
the most resourceful officers in the
regiment, looked at the declaimer in
wonder The orderly, who had been
roundly abused because he could not
hold his hands still, said quietly to
; the shouting straggler: If you want
to go to the front and glory, fall in
at the rear of the company Then
came the marching men, whose swing
into line and soldierly bearing silenced
the man who had lorded it over them
for FIVE dollars an hour less than a
year before. They had become fight
ing soldiers, while he stood still at 81;
, month.
There had been surprises and dis
appointments in the company, ol
: course In the first forced march fivt
of the strongest and finest looking mel
fell by the way, and three of them die
not recover their health for severa
years Slender young fellows, giveI
three months to break down, stoot
: that march and all Others WELL Mel
of refinement and education had CONF
:. into close fellowship with men whC
could not write their names, and th'
: hodcarrier had become the comrade o
: his employer, but the thinning ou
= and leveling processes had made de
:. pendable soldiers of all" = Chicago
:. Inter Ocean.