The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-02-20
A Bold Bluff.

The scene is laid at Ship Island in
1862, on the occasion of the landing of
the big ship, Great Republic, with n
thousand men and about five hundred
horses. after a twenty-eight days sail
from Portland. During the voyage the
boys lad dieted on that familiar cpl
curean army dish, "bean swagen,"
and a large amour of ratiOns had &C
cumulated, which the officers Of the
regiment were anxious to see safely
housed.
The regimental quartermaster OF the
Fifteenth Maine was Worthington S.
Locke; his assistant was the redoubt-
able down-east embryo warrior. invet-
crate vas N incarnation of Yankee
assurance and s~hrewdness, Lieut.. Sam
uel d. Leavltt, later General Leavitt.
Locke and Leavitt were prancing
about Oh tie wharf, the latter shout
ing to the %adjutant on the deck of the
vessel to send him a fatigue party to
unload his rations.
Sam was no red-tape man.; indeed,
he was so independent Of any clrcum-
locution Office that he went to the other
extreme and gave off his orders as IL
he were the commandant Of the post.
As might have been expected, the
Omnipresent Butler was suddenly on
hand. and the assumption OF authority
by this Passport disciple Of Mars we'll
nigh dazed him. He watched the per-
Torrance a while, then. stepping up TO
tie offender. and, focusing his peculiar
eye upon him. gruffy demanded:
Who are you, sir?'
Mr.. Leavitt coolly looked Butler
squarely in the face, and. as uncon-
cerned as though the terrible Car vas
merely n company orderly, drawled
out. in his peculiar tones:
who am /? I'm Lieut.. Leavitt."
And who the deuce Is Lieut.. Leav-
itt?' quoth the irate commander.
TIE pseudo commandant of Ship
Island Strengthened up to his full pro-
| portions, and, in deliberate, well-meas-
ured. grandiloquent language, drawled /:
Lieut.. Samuel d. Leavitt, OF East
port. Washington County. State Of
Maine, and present assistant commits
sary Of subsistence, Fifteenth Maine
Volunteers"
And who, sir. made you assistant
commissary Of subsistence" earnestly
and ~excitedly, his voice fairly trem-
bling with rage.
This was n poser.
Leavitt, green as he was in military
knowledge. we'll knew that no such
rank was recognized in volunteer regi-
ments; the title was a reminiscent
fash from his SOCIOLOGY reading of
the earlier American war which had
come to him with Buffers first inter
r%ogatory.
Gen. Taylor"
And who the deuce is this General
Taylor you so profoundly quote?"
haughtily demanded the general.
But Sam Leavitt paled not.
The crisis had come, but be was
equal to the occasion.
With a mock heroic bow, Chester
feldian suavity and quiet impudence,
he coolly responded:
"Ahi excuse me. general, I forgot
you were a volunteer officer, and not
familiar with tie names of our regular
army officers: but I beg leave to in
form you, sir, that Gen. Taylor has
been commissary general of the United
States army for the last twenty
years."
The climax was reached n on the
c~ountenances of Leavitt's comrades in
arms blank dismay was depicted.
Major Shorey remarked: "They ex-
pected that he would be marched off
by a squad of men and summarlly
SHOT"
But Leavitt's %impudence saved his
head. Butler threatened him with dire
vengeance, but the more he thought
over II the more it tickled his sense of
the ridiculous, and the humor of sun
shine soon pierced the clouds Of execu-
tive wrath. Sam was let off with a
fatherly admonition to go and sin no
more: and ever after Sam d. Leavitt,
late assistant commissary of subsist-
ence,' was the recipient of favors at
Buffers headquarters when other Off
GERS were CURLY refused.-Boston
Globe.