The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-09-29


and the beautiful Blue Junietta were
wahtonly destroyed when Sherman's
army crossed the Edisto river at that
place, but thank God they could
neither steal nor burn the dear old
river. And now / must go on or my
furlough will be out before | reach the
dear old home, for although as soon
as step off Of the bridge | will be on
my fathers domain, still / will be
mile and half from the oak border
ed avenue that led up to the dwelling
house. Now shut your eyes
And now presto. Open your eyes! l
am there, and dear me! the joy and
delight of being embraced and kissed
by the loved ones whose presence
there made sacred every tile and
every hearthstone in the dear old
home. Well, it goes without saying,
that l did not go, see or do half that
| had mapped out during the time
had on furlough, but you can put it
down as fact that l thoroughly en-
joyed every minute of it. Now / am
going to tell you of one place went
and what | saw although / frankly
acknowledge that / lack the art of
portraying the scene and what oc-
Cured in such manner as to bring
out the various points in all of their
amusing particulars, but "such as
have give | unto thee" Nothwith-
standing the large number of men
that had gone into service, the state
still required those at home between
the ages of II and so to do military
service and keep up the militia COM
panies and to drill twice in each
month. 1t so happened that one of
the regular drill days in the beat TAX
ing in the country around our home
came on while | was on my furlough
and determined to go to the muster
ground" and see how these "reserv-
lists" were progressing towards "pre-
paredness. When the day came l sci
out and in due time arrived at the
gathering place and found quite q
number already there. By 10 o'clock
the hour for the drilling to begin
some fifty or sixty militiamen were
there for duty. The drill ground was
an open old field still under fence but
had not been cultivated for severa
years, but the last time it was cult
waited it had been. planted in corn and
the old corn rows were plainly in evi.
dence. A large gate opened into the
field and just outside was large um
brageous oak and under it was a well
of cool, sparkling water. The mer
were not uniformed Except the COM
missioned officers) and were dressed
in clothes of all kinds of cuts and
colors and armed with all kinds OF
firearms double-barreled and single
barreled shotguns, long-barreled squir-
rel rifles, some few old fiintlocks and
cap shot guns. The officers wore uni,
| forms but | do not remember the
color now, but they were profusely
ornamented with brass buttons and
the hats literally supplied with white
and blue feathers. Capt. j COM
manded the company He was a good
man, highly respected citizen. TIE
tactics used was not the same as that
used by the Confederate army, but
was "Gillam's" The hour having ar,
rived the men went into the field and
the captain sung out, "Fal in men!
Fall in" "In two two ranks" I'm
mediately the men began to get into
line but without regard to height OF
size, but mixed and tangled up into a
crooked, ragged line that had more
the appearance of scraggly hedge
fence than line of soldiers. The
alignment did not suit the captain and
he ordered them to form along in one
of the alleys of the old corn rows
which they proceeded to do. He then
ordered the rear rank to advance
backwards" one step as he was going
to practice them i'll the manual of
arms and it would give them more
room for their guns" Having thus
arranged them he proceeded to put
them through the manual of arms as
per Gillian Of course even well
drilled soldiers could not do them
selves justice with such arms as the
militia had, and criticism of them
would be unkind, but at the same time
it was highly amusing to see them try
Then the captain undertook to march
them by company front and to wheel
by company, to break into platoons.
and some other movements. Of course
they could not keep in line or keep
step and the rear rank trod on the
front ranks heels, but they tried, and
mussed around in the hot sun for
nearly an hour before the captain
halted them to rest. Then it was that
some of the men said they were
thirsty and suggested that the captain
march them out through the gate to
the well so they could get water. To
this he assented and called the COM
pany to Attention." shoulder arms!"
Fright facet" Forward march," This
they proceeded to do, but they were
not headed for the gate, and so the
captain gave first one. command and
then another, and another, but each
move they made they failed to hit the