Connecticut western news., 1911-06-08
WAR "REMINISCENCES Continued from First Page.)

fields to reVel in. And such rats They were anywhere from six to twelve inch es in length, and had taken possession under the loose floors of your tents and not always under the floors for nights, in your quiet slumbers, those dirty rats would travel over your bodies, draw their long tails over your faces and would sometimes try to get a sllce of your ears or noses. And when those tents dropped, the rats thought best to strike for the river. But they met with some opposition, as YOU will remember, when piles of dead rats, like hay-cocks in hay field, showed the first ''slaugh- ter of the innocents" for these heaps were not less in number than 25. And 1t caused no end to excitement and strug gles to plant your foot on this rat or that rat. It was pandemonium let loose. But the battle was soon over and not bloodless one either, for some of the boys, while there was strife to kill the most rats, received many cuts and bruises. While the War of the Rats" was at its height the drums beat the "fall in" and we were soon bidding adieu to our first winter quarters and were on the Lees burgh Pike, moving up the hill past the Fairfield Seminary and out through the brush and ravines to the north of Fort Worth where among the stumps you filed into company streets and soon had the Sibley tents aligned in company streets of about 15 fit. in width, and soon were grubbing off stumps, first to clear up camp and second to get wood to cook your coffee and to warm your shins. For you know it was about the middle of January and a Virginia winter has it's ups and downs, as you did too.
 While you somewhat rebelled at the digging, chopping, grading, etc, still it cal condition of the whole regiment: You were somewhat relieved from the daily drill. You soon had your camp in good order and the "Sibleys" made a very comfortable shield from the in- clemencies of the winter. The boys grubbed stumps till there was not stump showing above ground. Some of the boys had boxes of goodies from home pies. cakes, nuts and sweetmeats- and some received loaves of bread baked with a bottle inside and after being baked plug of bread was cut out to the cork and this bottle was filled with ''commissary" and then corked up and made very promising loaf of bread that would pass the inspection that all boxes were subjected to, to prevent in- toxicants from being shipped in.
 This was also done by packing bottle in box filled with butter. don mean to say that boxes as a rule from home contained such surreptltious holdings but the writer saw evidences at times.
 Here is where we began our artillery practice. Fort Worth had been built upon bluff overlooking Alexandria to the east, and about one and one-half mile distant, but immediately overlooking the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, which we were supposed to guard. Fort Worth's armament was about 20. gC12. of various sizes and caliber, some Howit2e 5, some rifed Rodman and Parott, one hundred -pounder in the southwest corner which you fired in your target practice, which were situat ed some three miles, some two miles and some nearer. This practice was to give you the point blank range to all the surrounding country which you used often to survey with shot and shell, both from cannon and mortars-you can hear the ring and the witchey witchey that the mortar shell made ill it's elevated course as it left the huge mortar and rose and made it's circular trip over the hills and trees and buried itself in the ground and exploded, digging little less than we'll. -..
 This is where you received your first lesson in artillery that soon won for you the "red.' You remember how you handled those big guns. Form Batterp' Load p'-'In Battery p And the gun nsr soon aligned to hit target miles away. Fire !'' Then watch its des- tination and results. And in after days you learned what it was to be human targets and to make target of others. This we Will speak of later.-
 Fort Worth had four bastions, a ditch around it fifteen feet wide and ten feet deep, and 8 system of abbattis which made a very good protection. Your camp was just outside the Fort, and you used to march in daily and drill in artil- lery and return to camp for battalion drill, etc. The Guard house just above camp, wooden house consisting of two crotched sticks and sharp edged rail rail across them, about four feet above the ground, where many recalcitrants were elevated and rode the wooden horse for two hours at time. And various modes of punishments to bring the boys to time. Sometimes this was not severe