Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-06-21
Continued from last week }
CHAPTER XVII.

Nothing occurred TO break the
monotony of camp life until about
the middle of March; for three or
four weeks the different regiments
had been strengthened by recruits
from the North, who were much
needed to fill up the ranks which
had been depleted by death, from
wounds received in battle, sickness
and various other causes, until in
some regiments comparatively a
small proportion of those VINO had
enlisted at the beginning of the war
remained. Doubtless among the
troops of all nations, recruits are
treated much the same, as are fresh
men at college; they are compelled
to undergo a system of hazing or
nagging imposed upon them by the
veterans of the regiment, who have
great enjoyment from the sport
do not call to mind however, any
instance where the hazing in the
army, If so it may be called, was
carried to such extremes as it is in
some of our colleges. This I sup
pose was because the old soldiers
Were less barbarous in disposition,
more refined in manners and of a
kinder heart than is sometimes
found among college students, who
never enjoyed the advantages of the
camp and the field. A brief extract
from letter written to friend in
the North will hint at the worries
of our recruits in those days: Our
recruits have all been busy building
quarters today. They are mostly
young, stout, healthy looking fell
lows, and will soon learn tae ropes.
The old soldiers take every occasion
that offers to play jokes on them;
they tell them some of the biggest
lies and make them believe, almost
everything they say. The
thing that goes on; they are contin-
ually running up here with some
complaint. Sometimes the old mem
bers steal their rations, another time
a gun or a cartridge box is missing;
then it is that they have been insult
ed by one of the old members of
the company. The cooks do not give
them their share of the rations and
] know not what ] generally send
them to the Orderly Sergeant, but
they seldom get satisfaction. Today
/ had the Orderly Sergeant read the
articles of war to the company. l
think few months in the service
will teach them some very useful
things" AS | have already said
these tenderfoots were seldom sub
jected to any very serious assaults,
it was merely good natured badinage
or comparatively innocent tricks
played on them by the old fellows;
a canteen emptied and then filed
with some distasteful liquid, clean,
highly polished gun upon which
much time and labor had been ex-
pended by its owner, quietly stolen
from a tent and carried out on
guard on rainy night and dirty
rusty musket left In its place. Or
it might be handful of blank cart
ridges thrown down the short mud
chimney of the tent in the dead of
night causing a series Of explosions
that would instantly wake UP the
sleeping inmates, who in. the excite
melt Of the moment imagined that
the enemy was among them. and in
deed he YVES in q mild way. Nothing
ever came of these pranks except, a
fist fight once in awhile in which no
great harm was done, for the fight
was generally stopped by the officers
before 1t had proceeded far Never
theless in spite Of all orders and the
watchfulness of the officers on duty,
1t would sometimes happen that a
recruit, who was being tortured be-
yond all endurance, would throw OF