Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-05-11
The BOOMING CANNON
heCiIAlS OF CAMP AND BAT
TIE INCIDENTS.
Survivors of the Rebellion Relate
many Amusing and Startling Incl
dents of Marches, Camp Life, Forap-
ING experiences and Battle Scenes.

ing Experiences and Battle Scenes.
lhe boys in the army" said the
captain, were always talking about
what they would do when the war
was over and they were at home. They
"oulo never, so help them gracious,
march d single mile. They would let
the other fellows do the walking and
'hey would ride. They swore by the
great norm spoon that they would new
! CT wear a uniform of any sort, and
they would never take orders from anv
man. they would fight shy of all or
gahlZatlon and discipline and would do
as they darned please for all the rest
of their lives.
| Michael Higgins of our company
| went further than this He knew what
| ne would do when he got home. He
would buy farm in the rolling coun-
| try and build fine house with beds
OF lounges in every blessed room. He
| would sleep whenever he felt like it
and wake up when he wanted to- He
| would hire bugler and a drummer to
come under his window every morning
| TO play reveille Just as they would
| get fair start he would get out of
bed, open the window, and say to their
| faces: TO - wild We, We blatherin'
| sralpeens. Stop your noise and get
| out of this quick Then the drummer
and the bugler would sneak away and
| Mike wnnl6 hack To hnl and Toioiao
that army days were over.
This was Mixes idea of revenge on
! those who made a business of waking
| him up in the army. He would take
solid comfort i'll being walked up that
he night order the buglers and drum
mers to get out We had a lieutenant
| who was almost as bad as Mike. He
declared time and again that he would
| buy an island far out in the Pacific,
where he could never by any chance
/ see q soldier or Il gun or hear a shot
fired. He entered the regular army
in 1866, worked his way to the rank of
major, and was wounded on San Juan
| hill in 1898.
Even the major general command
| ing our division declared that when
peace was declared he would retire to
his old college town, seek the appoint
ment of president of some university
or college, and eschew politics and mill
tary affairs. But he was elected Gov
ernor of his State before he left the
army, was appointed member of
Grants first cabinet, was later APP
pointed president and receiver of a
great railroad, was elected to Congress,
and did not become president of Il law
college until many years had passed.
Most of the men who swore they
never would join any organization be-
came members of the G. A. X. and kept
alive their old comradeship. Many of
the men who declared they never would
march mile or carry Il knapsack went
afoot to Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska
with knapsacks on their backs. In 1865
| met scores of them tramping across
the country, sleeping out of doors, as
they did in the army, and too often
foraging off the country as they did
in war times. When | took the stage
in Iowa | found four we'll dressed,
quiet fellows in the choice seats They
apparently were unacquainted with
each other, and had little to say. They
impressed me as successful business
man, we'll up in the ways of the world.
The second night out we learned
that the hotel where we expected to
spend the night had been burned down,
and that the only other hotel in the
small town was more than full. When
we asked for accommodations the wor
ripd landlord said he had from four
TO eight people i'll every bedroom, that
he had given up the dining room to
four ladies, that his parlor was in pos
session of people sleeping on the floor,
and there wasn't a place for us. There
upon one of my travelling friends said:
What about the office floor here? Has
any one rented that? The landlord
said it was at our service, if we could
sleep on the bare floor.
First one and then another and an
other of the travellers said as he had
spent four years in the army he could
sleep anywhere. The fourth man said
THE same here and l fell in with
i am lust out of the service Then,
much to the surprise of the landlord,
the quintet of soldiers spread newspa-
pers on the floor, took blankets out of
their packs. and were soon settled com
fortabIy for the night. The next morn
ing each one declared that he had
sworn that he would never do such a
thing as he had done that night, and
that he had cut away from all army
associations and habits. Each felt that
he had had enough of roughing it, but
in the next two weeks we did as much
roughing it to the square inch as we
ever did in the army.
lone night an old farmer said we