The National tribune., 1906-06-14
HIS FIRST RIDE.
Gen. Dan Mscau1sy's First Experience ~
Adtutans of His Regiment.

May IT and May "a of THE Private Sol |
der as a Forager,'' by the brilliant
Gen. Dan Macauley. of Indiana, has in
terested me very greatly and, l dare
say, thousands of other old soldiers
| among your readers. His description
of Sam, the "Pirooter." is exceedingly
vivid and true to life of many "piroot-
ers'' of the civil war period. Almost
every regiment had ''pirooter' more
| or less like Sam.
| The brilliant Gen. Macauley won fame
/ as an officer of infantry, and it may
| not be known to all that he served for
time in the cavalry. True. it was a
| brief time. but he has left a record of
his experiences as n cavalryman, and 1
am tempted to send this record to you
| herewith.
Gen. Macauley told this story himself
| at a meeting of the Army of the Tenn
| essee at indianapolis. Ind, in October.
1878. Gen. James Harrison Wilson had
made a speech at this meeting. in which
| ne had been throwing some very heauti-
full bouquets at the cavalry. after which
Gen. Macauley was loudly called for.
and, going to the stage said:
Speech of Gen. Dan Macauley Telling of
His Experiences Cavalryman.
'It has been alleged by those who
| know me that / have claimed upon
/ many public occasions to have belonged
/ TO whichever nation or sect happened
to be uppermost at that moment. F.
instance. these envious people have init
mated that when my Irish fellow-citi-
Zens were in jubilee / proved myself an
Irishman, when the Germans assembled
was German in all that the name i'm
I plies and that when our cOlored breth-
| ren-well. never mind,
| Now. in general terms. such is the
fact, and | am proud of it. When Gen
| Wilson alluded to the exploits OF our
GAL aYt n val lrNFl1n irit cIn or
within me, for was not l once a bold
| cavalryman myself? 1t appears like
conceit to thus blow a personal bugle.
but possibly the conceit will be less ap-
4 parent as ! proceed. / was a green
horn youngster at the beginning of the
war and almost stranger in this neck
/ of the woods. but I dropped all other
matters and Joined a mob of patriots
| whose sole mission was for many days
i to continuously meet and be Sworn
in Squires. Judges, Constables and
ministers and other authorities took q
hand at 1t in various halls. offices and
I public squares, using indiscriminately
the military OATH the oath of allegiance
and that more solemn one of the mar
riage service as l now believe, until at
last the most sanguinary of us felt
I qualified to settle the entire rebellion
on private terms. To my surprise the
company into which we finally resolved
called regiment a new tangled and
nonsensical idea to my untutored mind
at that time. The boys regardless
of army regulations. had elected me
First Sergeant and then First Lieuten-
ant, and we had sworn and resworn
eternal fidelity over our tin cups and
tin plates for several days, when mes
senger came requesting my presence at
headquarters without delay. Being nat
urally of an obliging disposition. l
sauntered up that way and asked Mr..
Wallace Uew Wallace) what might be
wanted. Looking at me sharply from
head to foot for a moment he informed
me that was appointed Adjutant of the
regiment. 'Adjutant,' I said: what's
that? What does he do?' He studied
me a moment and then said abruptly,
Get your things and report here imme-
diately.' He evidently had moved the
previous question: so without debate
returned to my sworn companions in
great distress of mind and held with
them an indignation meeting of consid-
cradle vigor. Don't CO. they said, and
I had about made up my mind to march
the company off into a separate COM
, mand, when / heard one of them re-
, mark that he thought 1t was a horse
office Horse office l shouted JOY
fully. 'Sainted Mariar, that let's me out:
I never was on a horse in my life, and
!, away I put again for headquarters.
! Mr.. Wallace said I, that place you
told me of--it's a horse Office. isn't it -
Yes, sir he answered in italics Then,
said. L can't come: I couldn't even
!, ride a load of hay; I never was on a
! horse in my life The Colonel divided
short and savage look about equally
between me and his watch. and this
, time he spoke in capitals. L WANT
4 YOU AND YOUR THINGS UP HERE
, IN 10 MINUTES and 1 once more felt
IL, .l-I.., Irvr-
!, ried back to the bereaved comrades and
, made close connections as to the 10 min
utes. headquarters, my traps and my
self.
Sent OF I'm a Hurry.
"Our regiment was the first to re-
ceive marching orders in the State of
Indiana, and If you can recall the COM
motion, the excitement. and the en-
II thusiasm with which these first orders
were received in every State and local
ity, you can appreciate the intensity of
affairs here. We moved out of bar
! racks and remained all one bright and
beautiful day, surrounded by thousands
of admiring citizens fiocking to see the
heroes under the awful calcium of war
! like orders. The ladies came out in
great multitudes and gave us Bibles.
seven of which I drew from different
sources in the confusion, while our gen.
: tlemen friends brought us knives and
u daggerS of savage pattern and bloody
suggestiveness I was young and fair
4 to look upon in those days and was in
the fullest possible uniform. with all
: the golden ornaments contemplated by
law, and several gorgeous decora-
tions I was afterwards grieved
to learn had not been formally
adopted. You can never realize the
i abyss OF horror into which Col. Lew
I Wallace plunged me that happy after
noon as he dashed up on fiery war
horse to the crowd of ladies and gentle
men in which 1 was on exhibition, and
i jumping off, threw the lines to me and
i told me to jump on and ride in haste
to the State House and get certain pa
pers there awaiting me. 1 know the
J horse fairly grinned as I patted him
u somewhere on the side of the head and
4 answered cheerfully, All right. sir
i while I inwardly cursed him back
4 through five generations. The dreadful
! beast stood there paving and snortfng,
and I knew that to hesitate was to be
lost. so called our Major &C. o. WoodD
II over to me and whispered, How in the
devils name shall mount this atrocious
thing (which side? 1 never was on
one in my life?' Why. nonsense said
Il he; you're all right, you're on the right
il side now; just put your foot in the stir
rup. catch hold of the name and step
i on Yes 1 groaned but what will he
i do when I'm on?' oh, he'll go all
i right he answered Go all right,
Heavens, that isn't what's troubling me.
VIII be StOn right - The Major