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YALE UNIVERSITY
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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Purchased from the income
of the bequest of
WILLIAM ROBERTSON COE
Honorary M.A. 1949, for
material in the field
of American Studies.

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JIMMIE, THE DRUMMER-BOY.

Life and Adventures

OF A

DRUMMER-BOY

OR,

SEVEN YEARS A SOLDIER.

By JAMES D. LOCKWOOD,
A VETERAN OP THE WAR OE THE REBELLION.

A TRUE STORY.

"That this ma)' be a sign among you, that -when your children
ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these
stones?" — Joshua iv: 6.

Published by JOHN SKINNER, Albany, N. Y.
1893-

Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the Year 1893, by
JOHN SKINNER,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.

£foOl Ct-C!)

TAYLOR & HAWLEY,
PRINTERS,
36 BEAVER STREET, ALBANY, N. Y.

DEDICATED To my Friend,
DAMIE -FULLER,
A Comrade's Widow,
and
To my Noble Comrades of the
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC,
BY THE AUTHOR,
JAMES D. LOCKWOOD.

PREFACE.

" Peter Riley eats fish and catches eels " is the
way the average school-boy defines the very stupid
looking word which usually stands at the top of
the first page of nearly all of the works of the best
and brightest as well as the worst and dullest
authors in Christendom ; and the boy aforemen
tioned usually follows his definition with the re
mark, " Don't less read that, for it makes me
tired." Now, we will say to the public that it is not our
intention to " make you tired " with any part of
this book ; and if you feel the least bit as though
there was a probability of it, we advise you to pass

6 PREFACE.
it by, and provide yourself with a copy of the
" Saints' Rest," or some other equally soothing
literary production having a soporific effect upon
your physical organism, and pass your life oblivi
ous to the stirring affairs of the world in which
you live.
We have been about over this globe enough to
know that there are a great many good people
upon earth who do not wish to do any such thing,
and we have written this book thinking to enter
tain and please them.
With regard to the statements made of the fight
ing qualities of the 4th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, we
will farther say, that notwithstanding Mr. Fox
neglected to place them in his list among the
" Three hundred fighting regiments of the war,"
and that Col. Phisterer makes some peculiar work
of their history, we have now upon file all of the
issues of the New York Weekly Tribune through
out the War of the Rebellion, and we have
anchored our statements concerning the bravery

PREFACE. 7
and efficiency of the regiment to the extracts from
those papers.
More than this, we have noticed the unkind
flings of some of the would-be heroes, now that
there is no war (like the man who was such a
great wheat binder when the ground was covered
with snow), at this organization of fine soldiers,
because they were kept within the fortifications of
Washington for two years, doing precisely the
duty they were organized to do. While many of
those regiments which are so lauded by the authors
mentioned were tramping around, playing hide
and seek with Lee's forces and engaged in their
so-called battles (which were, many of them, little
more than skirmishes), this regiment was under
going severe discipline, and was made proficient in
the use of heavy and light artillery and in the
company and battalion movements of the infantry,
together with the skirmish drills and bayonet
exercises. So that it is plain to be seen that it
was not an " organized mob," and when the proper

8 PREFACE.
commander came, this regiment was used with
effect and with glory in the most decisive battles
of the war, receiving the commendation of the
generals of the army and the unstinted praises of
the rank and file.
Now, with regard to losses in battle, we will
honestly own we have no statistics. But we were
there, and we know that the regiment took the
field as infantry, with twelve companies, said to
aggregate twenty-two hundred and fifty men. We
know that it received recruits at Cold Harbor and
also several times at Petersburgh, and it was said
to have had on the grand review in Washington
after the war a total strength of seven hundred
and fifty men. Now, we would like to ask those
statisticians what became of all those men, as their
reports show next to nothing compared to the cir
cumstances as they are known to exist by men
who served in the regiment from its organization
in 1 86 1 until its muster out in 1865.
We have found many other veterans who served

PREFACE. 9
in other organizations, who would like to know
similar things with regard to their losses in battle,
as they claim they cannot reconcile the facts with
the reports.
We note in reading the Tribune's account of the
Grand Review, that there were regiments in line
numbering less than one hundred men respectively,
which numbered one thousand when their services
were first tendered to the government. Please tell
us what became of the nine hundred others, not
including recruits, which they must have had, if
you persist in declaring that the highest loss of
any individual regiment during the whole war did
not amount to more than two or three hundred
men, or even four hundred, for we will not argue
about as few as a hundred, considering the margin
which we know we still have left. We are of the
opinion that it is rather late in the day to withhold
such things from the people from a desire to with
hold satisfaction to the rebels. We have no doubt
that there are many people still living in Wash-

IO PREFACE.
ington who will recall to mind with pleasure the
fine parades and drills which they witnessed of
this regiment ; and we hope that the time will not
be far distant when it will be especially entertained
by the people of the city which they guarded so
long and faithfully.
In writing this work, the author did not intend
to make especial mention by name or number of
any military organization. But he could not
endure the apparent cold-blooded neglect which
this regiment receives ; and we decidedly challenge
any person to point out the place where it ever
turned back from the enemy without orders to
withdraw ; and the portion of it which was engaged
on the 19th of May, 1864, preserved their align
ment and held their ground so stubbornly, as to
necessitate the Brigade Commander, Kitchen, to
order them personally to retire. And we are sure
that this can be truly said of many others of the
two thousand regiments which were in the service,
and which are not rated with Mr. Fox's gallant

PREFACE. 1 1
" Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the
War" of the Rebellion.
And " with charity for all and malice toward
none," we submit this true story to the public.

The Life and Adventures of a
Drummer-Boy.

CHAPTER I.

^IIStOP ! take your hands off of me, I tell
^^sfj you ! " and then there were the sounds
l^aKf3 of scuffling, a rattling of tin-ware, and
°^ a flow of language which would not be
considered choice for Sunday-school purposes, and
then the loose flapping front end of a United
States army tent was thrown aside, and out of it
flew, rather than ran, the subject of this story,
Jimmie, the Drummer-Boy.
The boy was between thirteen and fourteen
years of age, slight and diminutive in person, even
for his tender years. He was dressed in the uni
form of the heavy artillery of the United States
volunteer forces, which consisted of a dark blue,
close-fitting " roundabout," or jacket, with buttons
of brass and elaborate trimmings of red, according

14 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
to regulations for a musician of artillery ; the pan
taloons were sky blue, with a stripe of red over
the outer seam of either leg from waist-band to
extremities ; a regulation " forage " cap was on his
head, and shoes of patent leather were on his feet.
He was followed the next instant by a large, red
headed, awkward-looking soldier, who looked as
though he had just emerged from the den of a
wild-cat, when, in fact, he had only been trying to
administer a little wholesome correction to his tent
mate, the drummer of the company. He was hold
ing aloft his left hand, the little finger of which
was pouring forth a stream of blood from an ugly
cut made by the drummer-boy with his table-knife
in order to cause the aforementioned red-headed
soldier to remove said hand from his throat, and
thereby either allow said drummer to escape or to
finish his dinner, which, by the way, being thrown
from the rude cracker-box table onto the dirt floor
of the tent and mixed with sand and gravel, was
finally disposed of for that day.
The soldier, with doleful looks, disabled in body
and discontented in mind, went off in search of the
captain, to report the result of his indiscretion

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 5
and the boy, seeing that he was safe for the pres
ent, concluded to pass the intermediate time pend
ing the investigation of the matter by the captain,
in prosecuting to a successful termination a little
affair which he had arranged for his private diver
sion previous to the loss of his dinner. Walking
down to the place where the cook of the company
was sleeping off the effects of an overdose of beans
and pork (for the cook's allowance was not limited) ,
and kettles strung on a pole resting on forks
driven in the ground at either 'end with a fire
underneath — designated with the name of the
" Cook House" — and seeing the cook lying there
on a rude bench, comfortable as a mau with a full
stomach could possibly be, he procured a strong
piece of tent rope and firmly tied the leg of the
sleeping man to the pole which sustained the ket
tles containing the supper of the company. After
he had arranged everything satisfactorily to insure
a successful issue of the plot, he drew a handful
of copper-shelled pistol cartridges from his pocket,
quietly dropped them into the fire and withdrew.
Passing along up the row of tents which was called
the " street " of the company, he saw a walking-

1 6 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
stick lying harmlessly on the ground. Now, there
are not many people who can see how the stick
was doing any harm in lying there, or could be
made to do any, but our drummer conceived that
it would add to his felicity to take up the cudgel
in both hands, and with all his strength, to deliver
upon the unoffending canvas a mighty blow,
thereby to astound the occupants and cause them
to cry out in language which sometimes, though
not generally, may be heard even in the Young
Men's Christian Association rooms. Now, if all
of the occupants of the domicile of cloth had been
up and about their usual employment, cleaning
arms and accoutrements, etc., and had carefully
avoided leaning their persons against the sides or
walls of the tent, the innocent pastime of the
young musician would not have resulted in the
serious discomposure of the parties concerned ;
but, unfortunately, one of their number had passed
the night previous in doing duty for his country
as one of the garrison guard, and was at that par
ticular instant, when the stick was in the act of
descending, comfortably rolled in his blanket, with
his devoted head lying very near the canvas, at

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 7
the identical point where the innocent boy pro
posed to plant his double-handed blow, dreaming
of his home and his mother. The blow descended,
not with the sound of a blow by the energetic car
pet beater on that suspended article, but with a
thwack, such as would follow a heavy stroke upon
an over-ripe pumpkin, which alone would have
sufficed to have informed the boy that something
was very wrong on the inside of the tent, without
the outcry of the noble patriot, who was at that
time literally shedding his blood for his suffering
country. The boy took in the situation and immediately
made use of those limbs which are presumably
furnished by an all-wise providence to carry the
divine image beyond the confines of danger. But,
alas, vain hope ! in this case those limbs were too
short. The dwellers in the cloth house imme
diately poured forth like the wasps of old which the
boy used to pelt with apples in the orchards of the
good old State of New York. But unlike them,
the subterfuge of falling to the ground did not
bring exemption from punishment, but resulted in
his capture and immediate arraignment before the

1 8 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the captain for judgment, there to be confronted
by the man with the cut hand, and the unfortunate
cook, who was covered with ashes and grease, for
when the cartridges began exploding, he, no doubt
thinking the whole rebel army had taken the gar
rison by surprise, sprang up in such haste as to
throw down the pole, overturning the kettles, the
liquor going into the fire, causing the steam and
ashes to make the poor hampered man very angry,
dirty and miserable, and the last victim, with cut
temple and bruised eye, who could have performed
the duty of a sharpshooter without the necessary
preliminary act before firing, i. e., closing one
eye ; but even that circumstance became void of
utility, for it happened to be the wrong eye which
was closed.
Oh, the howl that went up from those unfor
tunates, and requests that punishment might be
swift and severe ; even the death penalty would
hardly have been entirely satisfactory ; but the cap
tain, after mature deliberation upon the evidence
adduced, as the courts say, decided that five hours
standing upon an empty barrel, headless end up,
with one foot on either chimb, the barrel to be

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 19
placed in the parade ground before the regimental
guard tent, directly under the eye of the watchful
and patriotic sentinel on post No. 1, would be a
penalty commensurate with the crimes committed
and would also enable the garrison to enjoy an
unusual season of tranquility for that length of
time. Five hours' punishment for five minutes'
fun ; many people have paid much dearer even
than that, but that was doing quite well for a boy.
He submitted as gracefully as possible to the mis
fortunes of war, and while doing penance for the
past industriously meditated on the future.
While our young soldier is suffering the penalty
for his misdemeanors and in temporary disgrace,
we will leave him, and occupy the intermediate time
in describing his antecedents, and in relating the
manner in which he became connected with this
military organization.
The greatest general of the army has written
his book, and so likewise have r, number of the
lesser generals, and why should not this, one of
the youngest, if not the very youngest of soldiers,
have his story told also.

20 LIFE AND ADVENTURES

CHAPTER II.

jJe|te|p|jHE parents of our young friend were
^*3JK^ married very much after the usual
^pl'lf1'' order of marriages, so far as the pre
scribed form is concerned, but unfor
tunately, they seemed to displease alike their
fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, uncles,
aunts, cousins, etc., and I am not quite sure that
they did not feel at times rather displeased them
selves with the arrangement, and wished that
things had been providentially decreed in some
other manner.
The father was a genteel young fellow who had
been brought up with prospects of an inheritance,
which he forfeited with his marriage, and the
mother, an extremely beautiful young miss of sev
enteen summers, with an ancestral geneology
which dated back to the royal blood of sunny

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 21
Italy, and was like most royal Italians, poor and
proud. The young husband struggled along as
best he could with his burdens until he finally
sickened and died, leaving the widow with two
children, both boys ; Jimmie was one of these.
Fortunately the dead husband and father had, dur
ing his lifetime, united himself to that band of
brothers who acknowledged the insignia of the
" mystic links,'' and they immediately offered to
provide for the children, which offer was instantly
accepted, one of the brethren taking Jimmie and
another taking his brother, and on the 12th day
of December, 1861, Jimmie's adopted father
decided to join the. volunteer forces of the United
States of America, and take Jimmie with him as a
drummer. Although the boy was much too young for the
service, and would not have been accepted after
the prescribed manner of examining and enlisting
recruits, but that difficulty was overcome by having
a stout, able fellow answer to Jimmie's name, and
pass the examining surgeons in his stead, the
doctor remarking at the time that he, the proxy,
was " large enough for two," and he really

22 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
answered to that effect, for he afterwards passed for
himself, when his own name was called. After
passing the doctor, the}^ were all " sworn in "
together, without question, becoming the property
of the United States for the term of three years, or
during the war, or sooner shot, as the soldier used
to quote it.
The adopted father served about a year and a
half, became disabled and was discharged, leaving
the drummer boy without parental protection or
restraint, but if the events recorded in the first
chapter are true, he fairly protects himself and
does not enjoy the entire absence of restraint.
Our little drummer having been relieved from
his awkward and ridiculous position on the end
of the barrel, was again restored to duty with his
company and also to good fellowship with his
comrades. On the following day an order came to the regi
ment, requiring the detail of a drummer for ser
vice at the headquarters of the general, as drum
mer for his body guard, the guard being com
posed of selected soldiers throughout the command.
The quarters of the general were located in the

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 23
former residence of the rebel general, Lee, at
Arlington Heights, Virginia.
Our Jimmie, being the tidiest boy and also the
best and most enthusiastic drummer in the com
mand, was to his unqualified disgust chosen for
this duty, as he was very loath to leave his own
company and regiment, of which he was very proud,
and go into comparative retirement in the shady
groves of Arlington, with a small detachment of
soldiers with whom he was entirely unacquainted.
But in the army " orders are orders," and the first
and last duty of a soldier is to obey them, which
positive fact he was finally brought to a realization
of, not without quite a struggle, however, to persist
in his right to the " pursuit of happiness " in his
own way.
Our young friend, " making a virtue of neces
sity," packed his knapsack, strapped it on his
back, buckled on his short, slender sword (of which
more anon), "slung" on his drum, and set out to
report to Lieut. F  , the commander of the
guard, for duty.
Upon his arrival he was duly registered on the
rolls of the guard and assigned a tent in the

24 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
encampment as his quarters. He employed his
time during the intervals of duty, which consisted
of beating calls, guard mount, parades, etc., in
walking about the grounds and observing its
appointments and viewing with some degree of
awe, the former home of the then powerful rebel
chief, Robert E. Lee. It was a very large brick
mansion standing on a prominent eminence, front
ing and in full view of the nation's capitol, with the
Potomac river between. There was a very wide
portico extending nearly across the front of the
house, with very many large, tall, white pillars
supporting its roof, giving the house a stately
appearance. The slave quarters were also objects of interest
to a person reared in a free State, and were situated
in the rear of the dwelling, likewise were the
stables. Among other objects of interest which
attracted the attention of our little friend in his
walks, were the two sons of General W  . One
of them was about his own age and one older.
They had been attending college at Georgetown
D. C, and were then spending their vacation with
their father at his military headquarters. The

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 25
little soldier was not favorably impressed with them,
for he regretted in his heart that he was not a
general's son too, and he wondered if he should get
an opportunity, somewhere in a secluded part of
the ground, to give them an exhibition of his
pugilistic accomplishments, which, by the way,
were quite surprising for one of his years.
After spending several days in a discontented
manner, our little soldier revolted. It happened in
this wise : The sergeant of the guard, as was cus
tomary, came one morning at early dawn to his
tent and aroused him to beat reveille, which is the
call for all the camp to arise and begin the duties
of the day ; and without that call every good sol
dier considers it his duty to lie still, if it is until
the "crack of doom," or otherwise disturbed by
a special visit of a non-commissioned officer, or a
sudden attack of the enemy, a violent craving of
the appetite for food, or other natural or unnatural
causes. Now, upon making known to the hero of this
story the object of his visit, which the sergeant
did gruffly, he received the reply, that the afore
mentioned hero was feeling too much indisposed

26 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
that morning to do any drumming. This reply
did not suit the commanding spirit of the military
gentleman, as he did not relish a promenade
through the camp and a special visit to each tent
to awaken its inmates, so he immediately drew his
sword and reaching it and his hand through the
lappel of the tent at the door or entrance, began
gently thrusting into the blankets where the boy
was so snugly lying, and exclaiming with each
poke of his sword point, " Get up, get up, I tell
you ! " Finally the sword point came in contact
with one of the boy's limbs, slightly pricking him.
Ah ! that was enough. With the quickness of a
cat he sprung from his bed, seized his own slender
little weapon and made a lunge at the body of the
sergeant which was pressed against the tent, pass
ing the sword clear through the canvas up to the
very hilt, but the sergeant — well, he was not in
the way — and then tearing open the tent, he flew
out in shirt and nether garments and attacked
his tormentor so furiously that he was compelled
to flee for safety.
After all this, the young invalid (?) retired to his
tent to dress and consider what to do next. He

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 27
was not long in making his decision, for he heard
the voice of Lieut. F  in conversation with the
sergeant, as follows :
" Why did the drum fail to sound this morning,
sergeant ? "
The sergeant then proceeded to tell his superior
as much of the matter as he wished him to know,
after the manner of all petty tyrants.
" Ah, well, watch him at meals, sergeant; if he
eats, punish him; but if he is sick, why, of course,
excuse him, sergeant. Good morning."
" Good morning, sir "
Our little friend, was not long in making up his
mind to take his next meal with his beloved regi
ment. So he lost no time in gathering his belong
ings, and while the men were at breakfast, he
" quietly stole away."
Arriving at the encampment of his regiment, he
reported himself to his captain, who, thinking his
return was in the regular military form, assigned
him quarters and dismissed him to them.
But the runaway had scarcely got possession of
the place assigned him in the camp, when he heard
the captain's voice calling and requesting his pres-

28 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ence. Upon his appearance he saw a corporal and
a file of guards with " fixed " bayonets to take him
back to headquarters.
Ah, truly, " the way of the transgressor is
hard." He stood up and firmly declared that he
would not go.
The corporal immediately commanded : "Charge
bayonets ! Forward march ! " and they advanced
to where he stood and placed the steel against
his breast.
" Kill me if you want to, but I will not leave
my regiment," he said.
The captain interposed and said : "Jimmie, you
must go, I cannot keep you ; I would lose my com
mission if I did ; but I will ask for your return to
the company."
" Well, then," said the boy, " take off those bay
onets and I will return, but not as a prisoner."
And for his sake the good-natured fellows did as
he desired, for they did not like the idea of killing
a boy. As soon as the party reached the camp of the
guard, our young friend was seized by the sergeant
and two other strong men and, despite his kicking,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 29
biting and scratching, his hands were tied behind
him with one end of a long rope, and the other
end was thrown over the limb of a tree, then he
was drawn up until his body was in a half bent
position, and the tips of his toes just lightly
touched the ground.
He endured the punishment with all of the forti
tude of the Spartans of old, of whom he had read
and determined to emulate. Not a groan or cry
escaped his lips, although the cords were cutting
to the bone.
After he had remained in this painful position for
several hours, he was mortified to see approaching
through the grounds, the youngest sou of the gen
eral, who came along playfully tossing a ball iu the
air and catching it on its return towards the earth.
Upon espying the young soldier in such a
pitiable plight, a half frightened expression came
over his face, the tears came to his eyes, and he
immediately turned and ran rapidly to the house,
presently to emerge from among the trees, tugging
and pulling his father by the hand towards the spot
where the unfortunate young soldier was suffering
his punishment.

30 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
The general walked by without taking any
apparent notice of the boy, found Lieut. F 
and told him " never to employ that punishment
again without first consulting him," and bade him
to release the boy instantly, with orders to report
himself to him, the general, at the expiration of
ten minutes' time.
As soon as he was released, he repaired to his
tent, made the best toilet he could in the time
allotted, and was ushered into the presence of his
general. He took off his cap, and, standing up firmly in
the prescribed position of a soldier at "attention,"
gave the military salute with his small and badly
swollen hand, and respectfully said :
" General, I report to you according to orders."
The general turned suddenly and said sharply :
" How dare you, sir, absent yourself from my
guard without permission?"
The boy replied, " I did not enlist to serve on
your guard ; your men are all strangers to me,
and all the friends I have in the world^'are in my
regiment, and I would rather die than to leave
them."

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 3 1
" Do you, then, love your regiment so well ? "
inquired the general.
Then relaxing the stern look of his face, he
stepped forward, placed his hand upon the boy's
head, and said mildly :
"My son, can you not be happy here? My
stay will not be long here in the defenses of Wash
ington, and when I am relieved, you shall be
returned to your regiment."
And then he rang a bell which summoned his
l\ orderly," which is the military term for an armed
soldier in waiting, and directed his sons to be sent
in. When they came he said :
" Boys, I wish you to make this little soldier as
happ}r as possible while we stay here."
And they did ; and for two months there was no
happier trio in existence, and then the kind old
man was given a command at the front, went into
battle and was killed before his major-general's
commission reached him, and may God bless and
prosper the orphan children of General W  .

32 LIFE AND ADVENTURES

CHAPTER III.
/fl^PON being returned to his regiment for
' ¦¦l-'^v^3 duty this time, in accordance with the
^vk'f7* military usage, our young friend en-
*>'* joved himself quite well for a number
of days in visiting and renewing relationship with
and of his former comrades, but as the novelty of
his return began to wear away and he had made
himself acquainted with all of the changes which
had occurred during his absence, he began to feel
dull and lonesome, missing very much the com
panionship of the general's sons, and keenly sym
pathizing with them in the loss of their noble father.
He determined to do something to enliven the camp.
How well he succeeded the patient and, I trust,
indulgent reader, will ascertain in due time. There
are a great many people in the world who may be
entertained by the employment of a reasonable

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 33
amount of mental effort, while there are others,
especially of the opposite sex, who may require
physical efforts to divert them, but in the incident
I am about to relate there was a combination of
those efforts which furnished the entertainment
and diversion.
The particular company to which our young
friend belonged had, on account of " general
orders " issued to that effect, been detached from
the regiment and stationed at the approach of the
" Chain " bridge, well known iu the vicinity of
Washington and on the Virginia side of the Poto
mac river, " there to act as guards until further
orders," as stated by them verbatim.
Now, on account of the precipitous banks of the
river and the general hilliness of the section, the
troops were compelled to pitch their tents among
the ruins of an old mill, the foundation walls of
which being all that remained and they in such an
irregular form as to preclude anything like a mili
tary form of an encampment. Accordingly, the
tents were placed among the ruins, where places
were found suitable.
The reason for this particular description will

34 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
be seen by the reader as we advance with the
narrative. Now, there was a man in the company who was
not naturally endowed with wit enough to make a
person of even ordinary attainments envious,
whose name was private A  , commonly and
facetiously called by his comrades " pancake "
A  , from the fact, so it was related, that on one
occasion previous to the "jarring" of the States,
which were not at that time inclined to be " obse
quious," he had, after a hearty meal, devoured as
a desert one hundred of those circular edibles.
Now, this man was the subject of much contumely
from his comrades, not so much on account of his
terrible and unprecedented pancake performance,
as his foolish and criminal habit of gambling away
his monthly stipend and thereby depriving his
family at home of the necessaries of life.
Now, our Jimmie, being acquainted with all the
circumstances of the case, constituted himself a
committee of one to attend to the matter, and, if
possible, to try and regulate, if not entirely
reclaim, his moral character.
There were stationed at the bridge two pieces of

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 35
cannon to assist in its defense. A cartridge for one
of these, which he succeeded in abstracting from
one of the limber-boxes, when they were opened
for an airing by the sergeant in charge of them,
furnished the means to bring about the hoped for
reclamation. He cut off a piece of the leg of an old pair of
army pants, placed the powder inside, and securely
tied it there. After he had given the taps, which
are the signal to put out lights in the armies of
the United States, he waited a few moments and
observed a dim light in the tent of private A  .
This tent was very near a high wall of the old
mill foundation, so that our young reformer had
no difficulty in walking right up to the stove pipe,
which arose perpendicularly from the stove through
the tent, and but little higher than the wall ; he
stood there a few moments and listened to the
shuffling of the cards and the low mutterings of
the gamblers who were fleecing A  of his
money, and without a thought of the consequences
of the explosion of so much powder, dropped it
down the pipe into the stove ; he then retired to
await developments.

36 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
The explosion was terrific ; the tent sprang into
the air like a fiery balloon. The guard was
instantly under arms ; the officers came running
down from their tents on the hill into the camp
with clanking sabers. The smoke hung over the
tents like a dense fog in the bright moonlight ;
all was confusion, questions and exclamations on
every hand. The innocent little drummer was the
only self-possessed soldier in the camp.
The gamblers, three of them, for they were
playing a two to one game, were blown twenty
feet away, over on the side of an embankment, but
beyond being badly shaken and getting some few
scratches, were unhurt. The stove went clear
over the encampment and landed on the bank of
the river. Rewards were offered, but it was many
long years before the secret of that explosion was
ever known. Although the gambling proclivities
of the party were not entirely shaken out of them,
yet it is no perversion of the truth to state that the
game of poker, which was at that time engaging
their undivided attention, got badly rattled and
came to an abrupt termination and ended in a
" rough and tumble " fashion for which there is no

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 37
established precedent in " Hoyle's Book of Games,"
which was at that time a standard authority.
After a refreshing episode, such as we last
detailed, our little friend could endure the routine
of camp life with some resignation for a few days,
and then another season of uneasiness would
come. Guarding forts and bridges was tame work in
our young patriot's estimation, as indeed, it was
with the entire command. If the rebels would not
come and try to take the fort, they could not in
any case take the forts to them, hence the resulting
dullness. But the grand old regiment eventually
got where it could and did contribute largely to
the unhappiness of such of the rebels as possessed
the hardihood to face, comparatively, a cohort of
iron. But I will not anticipate ; this is not to be a
history of the war, as there are more of them now,
as the fellow said of married people, than are
doing well. Neither is it a history of a regimental
organization, for there are many of those, and it is
a noticeable fact that the regiments which saw the
lightest battles have the heaviest books of chroni-

38 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
cles. But it is the story of a little American boy
soldier, who loves his country this day better than
life, and — notwithstanding his boyhood days have
long since passed away, and his health is poor,
and body racked from nearly seven years in wars,
civil, so-called, of rebellion, and uncivil on the
plains with Indians, although our friend thinks
there was about as much civility in the one enemy
as the other — he is ready and willing to deliver
up at any time what there is left of him for his
country's honor and welfare.
After this digression, which I trust the readers
of these lines will pardon, we will again return to
our narrative.
Upon a certain morning our young soldier
observed that among the men detailed for guard
was one who was notably hard of hearing. He
also noticed that the man was on the third relief,
which would necessitate his receiving the counter
sign at seven o'clock in the evening, or a little
later — it being the custom for an officer of the
guard to visit each sentinel's post at dark and
deliver the secret word to him, and then he must
transmit it to the man relieving him, and so on

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 39
progressively, until all the members of the guard
were in possession of the word. And no other
person was supposed to have the secret, without
special orders from headquarters, except persons
of consequence or officers of high rank in the
service. At dark, as our little genius anticipated — for he
had comfortably ensconced himself behind the
sentinel's box, a little house about four by four
feet, to stand in during bad weather — the corporal
came. The following is the colloquy which came to
the ears of the little eavesdropper :
" Private  , the countersign for the night is
' Braudywine.' "
Private  answers : " No, sir, not a drop."
Corporal repeats : "I say, the countersign for
the night is ' Braudywine.' "
Private — " I don't care what any one says, that
is something I don't do, on post. I don't want no
brandy, nor no wine."
Corporal — " Who in h — 11 wants you to drink
while on duty ? Do you know what brandy is ? "
Private—" Heh ? "

40 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Corporal — " Oh, Lord, have mercy ! Do-you-
know-what-brandy-is ? "
Private — " Why, certainly ; I have used enough
of it. Pretty hard to git round this 'ere camp,
though." Corporal — " Do-you-know-what-wine-is ? "
Private — " I 'm gittin' tired of answerin' silly
questions, corporal. Of course I know what it is."
Corporal — "Well, those two together make the
countersign." Private — " Oh ! ' Brandy and wine,' heh ? "
Corporal (in disgust) — "Yes, you d  fool; I
suppose that is as near as I can get into you, with
out a stomach pump." And then he shouted,
" Let no one pass without those words ! "
The little drummer then sneaked away, and the
reader will no doubt understand that he had pos
session of the word, upon the safe keeping of which
the very life of the Nation might depend that very
night. As this deaf soldier's post was not one of any
great importance, only as regarded the sanitary
condition of the encampment, it was not considered
by the immediate officers in command unsafe to

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 41
retain such a man in service and to compel him to
do his part of the guard duty on unimportant
posts. But errors were of common occurrence in
those days, even among those of high rank.
Having, as we have seen, procured the counter
sign, and intent upon nothing more reprehensible
than a sly trip to the Capitol, a visit to the theater
and a stomach full of steamed oysters, with which
to fortify the inner boy for the return trip to camp,
our young friend circulated around among his
comrades, to find some one or two of them who
were possessed of enough of the circulating medium
then in vogue — which was Uncle Sam's promises
to pay, or in other words greenbacks — to pay the
expenses of the trip ; as our young patriot's wallet
was invariably in a condition to have compared
favorably with the stomach of Dr. Tanner, of New
York, at the conclusion of his forty days' fast.
Having found two companions who possessed
the funds, and a disposition for a general distribu
tion of the same, the party quietly set out for the
city, passing all guards and patrols by the use of
the all-potent word — a name which always has a
charm for every patriotic American, as a reminder

42 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
of the stern and stirring times of the War for
Independence. Arriving in the city, the older companions of our
hero concluded to step into a barroom, where they
had previously made the acquaintance of the keeper,
and take a little of something warm, " for the stom
ach's sake," as 'a prelude to the performance at the
theater. While in conversation with the keeper of the
bar, one of the party incidentally mentioned the
fact of the drummer-boy's knowledge of the coun
tersign of the army for that night.
It was no sooner mentioned than a short, heavy-
set, villainous-looking man, who sat near the door,
beckoned to our little friend to come out on the
street. Thinking it to be nothing more, perhaps, than
an appeal for money enough to purchase a drink,
the boy walked out quietly.
Upon gaining the street, the man pointed down
a few doors from them, to an illuminated sign,
which read, " Come and see the man who eats
stone." Now the boy had observed this sign, and had

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 43
expressed his desire to his comrades to witness
the " stone eater's " performance, as they were
entering the saloon, and he also suggested to
them that they might receive some hints that
would enable them to utilize the army hard bread
to a better advantage, thereby saving the wear of
the teeth and the strain upon the muscles of the
face and jaw bones. Accordingly when the stranger
proposed a visit to the place, the boy readily con
sented. Upon entering the door of the stone eater's
abode, our little soldier found himself in a long,
narrow room, the floor of which was thickly cov
ered with sawdust ; there were no windows except
those on either side of the door through which they
made their entrance to the place, and those were
heavily blinded with shutters of iron and fastened
with large bars of the same. The walls were hung
with a number of cheap pictures, pertaining to
fisticuff entertainments, with some of the partici
pants standing up, while others, seemingly more
comfortably, were laying down. There was a live
monkey sitting up on a perch at one side of the
room and several drowsy paroquets in swinging

44 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
perches. At the rear end of the room, in the right
hand corner, fastened by the neck with a chain of
iron, and pacing restlessly about as far as the
length of the chain would permit, was a large,
black bear. Around the room, against the walls,
were a great number of wooden chairs ; and in the
center, under a large hanging lamp, sat another
burly ruffian beside a glass show case, filled with
"pinch-back" jewelry fastened upon little squares
of pasteboard.
A boy stood at the show case shaking dice in
a leather box and tumbling them out upon the
glass top.
The boy soldier walked around the room,
glanced at the pictures, and began curiously to
examine the bear, while the men and the boy held
a whispered conversation at the show case.
The boy very soon left the room in a hurried
manner, passing out through a small door at the
back. In a short time there came in, through the same
private entrance, a very handsome and gushing
young girl, about fifteen years of age, who imme
diately approached our little soldier and, with

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 45
great familiarity, began a conversation with him,
drawing him to a chair and planting herself by
his side.
She stated that she had a little sick brother, who
lived near Culpepper Court House ; that he was
very low and probably would not recover ; she de
sired to send him some delicacies and necessaries,
but could not get a messenger through the lines of
the United States army. Now she had been
informed by one of the men, which our little friend
knew quite well to be an untruth, that he had the
countersign ; and if he would kindly impart it
to her, she would be his loving sweetheart and
devoted slave during life.
At this juncture he noticed one of the men
slyly locking the door through which he had
entered the place, and he doubted not but that the
rear door was also fastened.
Our young friend saw and fully realized
the danger of his position. He could give them
any word he saw fit, true enough, but that would
not release him ; for he instantly understood, as a
matter of fact, that he was a prisoner. If he gave
the countersign to them, and they made a success-

46 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ful illegitimate use of it, they would undoubtedly
kill him to conceal the matter ; therefore, in order
to gain time, he answered the girl with great steadi
ness, that if she would go to the office of the
provost marshal, which was in the city, and furn
ish proof of the truth of her story, she would have
no trouble in obtaining permission to pass through
the lines of the army.
At this the girl arose, walked up to the show
case, and called on our little hero to " Come and
throw the dice and win a present of jewelry for
her." He answered that he merely came in to see
the gentleman who dined on the materials which
are used in the construction of buildings in New
York, and if he should be denied that pleasure his
business was at an end.
The men then insisted that he should try his
hand at the dice, and thinking to conciliate them,
our young friend took and threw them, until he
had lost the sum of twenty-five cents. He then
declined to throw any longer, and produced a one
dollar greenback bill in payment.
The man took the bill and coolly pronounced it
a counterfeit.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 47
Our hero offered to go out with them and get the
money changed, or find his comrades and borrow
enough from them to pay the bill.
The men then declared that he would not be
permitted to leave the place until he had given
them the countersign.
At this critical instant there came some very
heavy blows upon the door, and one of the ruffians
sprang up to extinguish the light.
But our courageous little soldier, realizing that
his comrades were near, drew a small pistol from
his pocket, pointed it at the ruffians and com
manded them to keep awry from the light and to
open the door, upon pain of death.
In the meantime, the growls of the bear and
screams of the girl made music for the occasion.
The ruffians, taken completely by surprise, and
with crestfallen looks, complied with his demands.
Upon the door being opened, the two soldiers
entered and took in the situation at once, but
made no disturbance, as they did not wish to be
locked up in Forest Hall military prisou for night
rioting, especially when they were all absent from
camp and in the city without permission. They

48 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
forced the men to return to the boy his counter
feit (?) dollar, and, as they were compelled to be at
the camp before daybreak, the party quietly left
town and returned to their quarters, meeting with
nothing worthy of mention on their return trip.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 49

CHAPTER IV.
|LL things earthly have an end," and so
had the quiet, hum-drum camp-life and
garrison duties of the  th regiment,
"^ New York heavy artillery. After a ser
vice of two years, they were given an opportunity
to re-enlist for three years more, with a thirty-day
furlough and a government bounty of four hun
dred and two dollars, with which to defray the
expenses of the same.
Our little drummer re-enlisted with the others,
becoming a veteran at the age of fifteen. He
received his furlough and visited his former home
in the State of New York, where stories of his
funny escapades and exploits, and his generosity
in the use of his money, are repeated until this
day. But we will pass over the sowing of the wild

50 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
oats, with the statement that he was like the boy
who was sent' out to plant pumpkin seeds and,
not having much time to devote to that particular
feature of agriculture, put them all under a large
stone, thereby abbreviating his task in the most
direct and unlaborious manner possible. In doing
thus, there was at least the advantage gained that
there would not have to be so much territory gone
over to harvest the crop. ,;
Be that as it may, he returned to his regiment
all right, at the expiratiou of his furlough, and
duly reported for duty.
And now, gentle reader, do not, because of the
many living members of the Ananias family, who
make use of the pen to chronicle events which only
occur in their own minds, and who rob real heroes :
(of the present or of former times) of their justly
earned laurels, placing them upon the cold, shame
less brows of creatures of their own imagination,
corrupting the legitimate record of our country's
heroes — pray do not despise this writing because
of its simplicity and truth.
The great commander of the army may write to
the world and say I did this and I did that, and

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 51
the world will bow down and say that he is a great
hero. But as it is much easier to ask than to answer
questions, so it. is also easier to plan than to
execute, or to give orders than to obey them.
Like the man who stated to his friend that he was
building a new, house. . The friend inquired how
much it lacked of completion. The man answered
that the wind work was all done, but the carpenters
had not as yet commenced their fooling around.
If I say storm those breastworks, and they' are
stormed and taken, I claim the men who rush
through that fire and smoke of bursting shell and
hurtling shot, with breasts bared to the storms of
hissing lead, are the heros, and not the ones who
do the fooling around. There are none who under
stand this better than the members of the Grand
Army of the Republic, a remnant of that greatest
and most devoted of American armies who fought
the slave-holders' rebellion, and who have banded
themselves together to live and die as they fought,
side by side and shoulder to shoulder, every man
a hero. The nation is filled with heros, and many
of them are almost at the door of the alms-houses

52 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
of the land, and why ? Not because of indiffer
ence on the part of the government, whose gran
aries they have protected and helped to fill, but
on account of the laziness and neglectful indif
ference of the public servants, who let the old war-
horses die of privations and almost starvation,
while they come at their elegant leisure with the
oats. " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that tread-
eth out the corn."
But to return to our story :
After having returned from furlough and
answered the many questions of comrades concern
ing home affairs, they being tired of the service
and consequently did not re-enlist, our young
friend, believing that the stay of the regiment in
the defense of Washington would not be of much
longer duration, determined to pay his respects to
the President of the United States in person.
Ascertaining the day upon which it was custom
ary for the chief executive of the Nation to hold
receptions of the public, he applied for and received
a pass to visit the city of Washington on that day,
and immediately, without loss of time, went about
the matter.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 53
Passing down through Georgetown and nearly
the entire length of Pennsylvania avenue, in
Washington, to the White House, which is the
executive mansion and residence of the President
of the United States during his term of office,
and arriving at the entrance to the grounds on
Pennsylvania avenue, upon which the mansion
fronts, he saw a long line of humanity, reaching
from the street up through the spacious grounds
to the edifice, inching their way along slowly, and
bent upon the same mission as himself, a visit to
the president
Seeing that it was essential to practice the
" follow my leader " system in order to obtain an
audience with the great man, he adapted himself
to the circumstances and took his place in the line,
being quite a conspicuous feature among the plain
civilians, in his blue uniform with its elaborate
trimmings of red. As the forward movement of the
line was neatly as slow as the advance upon Rich
mond had been previous to the leadership of the
mighty General Grant, our little friend had ample
time to look about him. Casting his eyes to the
right and left over the well kept grounds, he saw

54 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
here and there a few white tents of the special
guard dotting the beautiful green lawns beneath
grand shade trees of luxuriant foliage. He saw
the front of the beautiful mansion of pure white,
its many windows, decorated with the most refined
architectural skill, and upon a nearer approach,
glimpses of the splendor and magnificence within.
Arriving upon the portico, he cast his eyes upward
along the numerous tall colonnades, also of alabas
ter whiteness, which supported its roof, and he was
conscious of a feeling of joy and pride that it was
his privilege to stand among such grandeur with
out fear or favor of any man, and with no restric
tions but those of etiquette and decorum. This is
what it is to be an American, and especially an
American soldier in time of war. He heard the
low tones of a voice within and he realized that he
was soon to meet the greatest man of the greatest
Nation of the whole world face to face. Another
squeeze, a slight pressure from those impatiently
waiting in the rear, and our little soldier gains an
entrance to the building, and there, standing just
inside the entrance of the green room, so called on
account of the color of its furnishings, was a tall,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 55
raw-boned, long-armed, serious-looking man dressed
in plain black clothes of rather a ministerial pat
tern, gravely shaking hands with the people of the
line, in turn, as they approached him.
When our young friend had arrived quite near,
so that there were not more than a half dozen or so
of people between him and the president, the latter
raised his eyes and, scanning the line of advanc
ing people, espied the slight uniformed one of the
Nation's defenders.
Hastily shaking the hands of the intervening
ones, he took the hand of the little fellow and
asked : " Do you belong to the army ? "
The boy answered, " Yes, sir."
" Were your parents willing that you should
enter the service ? "
He answered, that his parents were dead, and
that his guardian had enlisted with him.
The president then asked, " Do you like the ser
vice ? J'
The lad replying iu the affirmative, he then
asked, " To what regiment do you belong ? "
Upon being informed, the president said, " I

56 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
know the regiment and it is a very fine one ; but
you are very young to be in the service."
And that was the opinion of the chief magistrate
of the Nation. The interview was ended, because
of the great crush of the people. And our little
friend returned to his camp to tell his comrades
the president's opinion of the regiment.
One evening, not long after the occurrence of
the events last recorded, while the regiment was
on dress parade, the orders were published reliev
ing it from duty in the defenses of Washington,
and ordering it into the field as infantry, notwith
standing it was raised and trained strictly for ser
vice in the forts and in the use of heavy artillery,
and could have raised valid objections to taking
the field as infantry. Yet to its honor be it said
the orders were received joyfully and obeyed with
alacrity ; and the regiment was kuapsacked and in
line, in heavy marching order, early on the follow
ing morning, impatiently awaiting the command of
" forward." Passing over the details of the marches and
transportation of the regiment to the front, and its
assignment to its place in a well-known fighting

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 57
corps of the army, we will carry the reader, in
imagination, to the crossing of the Rappidan river,
in the state of Virginia, by the army of General
Grant. The corps to which the regiment of our
little soldier was attached at that time, crossed the
river on Wednesday, 4th of May, 1864. But they
were not obliged to wade, although the place of
crossing was called " Germauia Ford," for there
was a pontoon bridge, as they are called in military
phraseology, constructed by placing boats side by
side until they reach from shore to shore, and then
laying a flooring of heavy plank on the top of them,
making a bridge strong enough to bear up batter
ies of artillery and baggage wagons as close as they
could drive, with soldiers marching on either side
of them.
Oh ! It was a grand sight, on that beautiful,
bright day ; long lines of soldiers in uniforms of
blue, undulating, waving, as far as the eye could
strain its vision ; their arms and accoutrements
glittering and flashing in the sunshine, and the
bearers of them stepping briskly, even gaily, to
what was to many of them the destruction of their
mortal bodies and their last day upon this beauti-

58 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ful earth. For the terrible battles of the " Wilder
ness " began the following day.
Who can imagine anything more noble and
sublime than Avas presented in this spectacle of
devoted freemen — the idols of thousands of loyal
northern homes — going generously, yea joyously,
to death, that the Nation might live and that those
whom they loved better than their own lives might
enjoy peace, prosperity and happiness in the future,
and that the land might continue to be a refuge for
the poor and oppressed of all the nations of the
world ? What hope of reward had they, save that
which actuated the divine Savior, whose example
they followed ?
The following morning was bright and pleasant ;
the army was well over the river, the wilderness
before them being a dense forest of pines and other
species of timber, but principally pines — a dark,
gloomy and forbidding place.
After a light breakfast of crackers and coffee,
each man making the latter in his own little black
cup, there was a light line of soldiers sent out in
advance, called " skirmishers," who began moving
slowly and carefully forward among the timber

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 59
and thick brush in search of the enemy, the bat
tle lines also slowly following, the regiment of
our young soldier being assigned to the reserves,
which only moved up enough to maintain its regu
lar distance and in sufficient nearness to the battle
lines to afford them support.
Suddenly, a single rifle shot rang out in the
front. That shot sounded louder to the young patriot
than any one he had ever heard before, or has
since, being so full of eager excitement, believing
the enemy had been encountered, yet almost fear
ing it had been an accidental happening. How
ever, there were but a few seconds to wait, for there
went another ; then two or three ; then three or
four ; then a light rattling volley, like the sudden
dash of rain upon the roof or against the window ;
then a steady, lively and collective popping ; then
the dull, heavy boom of two cannon shot in rapid
succession ; then the setting in order and prepara
tions for battle by the reserves.
Oh ! the thrills of fierce delight, the burnings of
impatience and eagerness for action at this stage
of a regular battle, no one can know but the born

60 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
soldier or the lovers of conquest, and the sublime
soul for whom death has no terror.
The popping still going on furiously in front,
the rear lines of battle move forward. Now the
firing becomes fiercer ; squads of men in blue uni
forms can be seen pressing hurriedly forward
among the trees. Now the firing has got into a
terrible, steady, determined, angry roar, like the
falling of some mighty concourse of waters. Men
standing shoulder to shoulder hear each other's
words with difficulty.
Now the generals have determined to force the
enemy's position. The order is repeated from lip
to lip by the reserves : " Prepare to support the
charge ! "
Now the loud cheers ring out from the throats
of ten thousand men in blue. The firing, if possi
ble, is double what it was before. Pandemonium
is turned loose ; the earth seems to rock ; the sun
becomes obscured by the stifling, sulphurous
smoke, which fills the atmosphere. Stray bullets
strike trees and whistle and scream about, making
doleful music for the reserves, and increasing their
desire to get near enough to return compliments,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 6 1
and yet they are not called, but stand grimly and
firmly to arms.
Now, ye people who regret the depletion of the
national treasury in paying pensions to the heroes
of this murderous war, stand and see this wounded
and dying army of men as they pass that reserve
along the roads, and paths, and through the open
glades of the forest, wounded in every conceivable
form, walking, those who could, others being car
ried on stretchers ; also long lines of ambulances
filled to their uttermost capacity with wounded and
dying men ; take your cup and go down to that
little stream which an hour ago ran clear as a
crystal and dip up what ? Not water, but blood,
the red life blood of the loyal North, and now, a
quarter of a century later, we have an eminent
Christian divine who wishes to " entwine the
wreaths of the blue and the grey," who made the
infamous proposition on memorial day of 1891,
and did, from his pulpit, mingle the names of
Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and other honorable
men, with those of Davis, Lee, Jackson and others,
whom, I say, were traitors dark and dire to the
American Nation.

62 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
" Honor to whom honor is due." It is not due
to a traitor to his country and a deserter of its
flag. Still the continuous roar of musketry — the
slaughter goes systematically on.
Quoting from the columns of the New York
Tribune, bearing date of May 14th, 1864, as
follows :
" More than a week of incessant marching and
fighting, a catalogue of killed and wounded esti
mated at 40,000 men of the National forces
alone." This Avill give the reader an approximation of
the magnitude of these battles for a period of ten
days. Night brought no cessation of hostilities, as far
as the lines could be seen — they could be plainly
located by the lurid flashes and the angry, deadly
roar of musketry.
Human lives in those days were like silver in
the days of Solomon, i. <?., of little value. Widows,
orphans and bereaved mothers were inaugurated
every instant of the twenty-four hours of the con
secutive days of those mighty battles.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 63
When I contemplate a traitor or a treacherous
act to-day, a faint odor of decayed pines and fresh
blood seems to float in the atmosphere around
about me, a gloomy reminder of those days of
anxious toil and danger 011 the battle fields of dis
loyal Virginia.
In the state of Kentucky, on Decoration Day,
in 1891, while a post of the G. A. R. Avere holding
their memorial services, they were attacked by an
armed mob, and the commander of the veterans
was shot. This circumstance inspired the follow
ing poem, by the author of this work :
INTRODUCTION.
America's sons, have ye so soon forgotten
The days of distress, and of rebellion so rotten —
When thy starry banner hung limp in despair,
When thy brave northern heroes died for thee there,
In that land of malaria, negroes and cotton —
That ye will permit in the state of Kentucky
The chivalrous southerner, more craven than plucky,
To attack unarmed heroes who fought for thy laws,
For the simple reason they received mercy for treason,
And G. A. R. mourning those true to thy cause ?
To you southern ruffians, aweary of peace and rest,
I relate my story. A scrap of thy cannon decorates my breast,
Made clean by the blood of the bravest and best
Of our dear north-land, who fell in thy wilderness.

64 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
THE WILDERNESS.
A wild wood, tangled and dark,
Of moaning pines, with rough, shaggy bark —
Whose brown, mouldy leaves render stifling the air —
And grey-coated traitors lying awaiting in lair,
Their costume suggestive of a convicted crew
Who should atone for the murder of the brave and the true ;
Their long, tangled locks, unkempt and unshorn —
No more ignorant ruffians to a baser cause born.
They lie there in wait like the serpent in coil,
No more hideous reptiles ever born to the soil ;
Their deeds being evil, in hiding they keep,
In the dark wilderness, behind earth, mound and heap.
Long lines of the blue now appear on the scene,
Slowly advancing, through the forest of green ;
They guard every point, for they very well know
That somewhere, in waiting, is a treacherous foe.
They are the pride of the nation, the anchor of hope ;
Calm, proud and iron-hearted, and eager to cope
With the monster infernal who has all vantage ground,
Who is quietly resting 'mid silence profound.
The glittering arms of those silver-blue lines
Shall soon break the silence, amid those dark pines ;
Those soft, flapping banners, so richly be-starred,
Shall be dabbled in blood and by flying shot scarred.
A clear rifle shot rings forth on the air ;
The monster's located, uncovered his lair ;
He spits fire and venom, he clings to the ground —
A match for this monster has surely been found.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 65
The thin line of blue which leads the advance
Gives place to the columns who eager the chance
To close with the monster, and settle that day
The rights and wrongs of that murderous fray.
The musketry rattles, the shot and shell crash ;
'Mid the trees of the forest, the blue heroes dash
At the monster in grey, of pale, sallow hue,
Who trembles in fear of the brave boys in blue.
Now the musketry deepens to a dull, heavy roar,
And the clear ringing cheers of the brave Second Corps,
As they spring to the charge, through the fire and the smoke,
Give proof to the world they have hearts like the oak.
Oh, the sickening scenes of the wounded and dead.
As the thick smoke lifts through the trees overhead !
How the earth seems to tremble from the thundering charge !
Pen or pencil, though ready, they cannot enlarge.
Now the forest is burning, and in the midst of the fire
Dead and wounded are lying in one funeral pyre ;
The battle still raging, and without food or rest
Those blue-coated heroes still fighting with zest.
Now'a council is called of those great in command.
' ' Turn back, ' ' some have said ; but the great one who planned
Cried, ' ' I have not a soldier or even a drummer
But will fight it out on this line if takes all the summer."
Must we from the praise of our heroes refrain,
To further ambitions for lust or for gain ?
I say those who fought that beast to its death
Should be glorified ever, till the nation's last breath.

66 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Benedict Arnold, who for his country has bled —
Afterward traitor to the cause which he led —
Rests peaceful^, but when the dead shall arise
AVill miss the stone pointing his deeds to the sky.
* But the friends of this beast, in martial array,
Mourn its fate, sing its praises, e'en unto this day,
With thousands of monuments loftily raised
Its foul degradation to be remembered and praised.
But to return to our story :
After many changes into different corps and
brigades, and being divided into battalions, the
regiment of our little drummer found itself facing
the enemy, being relieved from the reserve.
And on May 19th, 1864, the battalion to which
he belonged, commanded by a major Avhose brother
was afterwards president of the United States,
found itself stationed on the extreme right of the
line, at Spottsylvania, with a large ammunition
and supply train encamped in its rear.
Those three companies of the glorious regiment,
which Ave have frequently mentioned, sustained
and successfully resisted the attack of at least ten
thousand men of the rebel General Ewel's corps,
whose object was to turn the right of the line and
* This line refers to the Confederate " Grand Army."

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 6"/
thereby capture the trains. And although the
credit of this glorious battle was given to and re
ceived by other artillery regiments, who came up
as re-en forcement, yet a visit to the war department
and an examination of the list of the killed and
wounded on the occasion will plainly tell the
story as to what troops were " in it," as the com
pany to which our little hero belonged was almost
annihilated. Immediately upon the attack being made, he
seized the gun and equipments of a man who
had just been sent to the hospital, and throwing
aside his drum, adjusted his cap and cartridge
boxes and with his company dashed into the melee.
He secured a position on a knoll, behind a decayed
stump of an old pine tree, and in good vieAv of the
advancing hosts. Think of it, reader — ten thous
and against three hundred ! Seeing their pomp
ous banner flying directly in his front, he levelled
his rifle at it and blazed away and down it came.
Now as he could, before he left home, kill a
squirrel off-hand with a rifle out of the tops of the
tallest chestnut trees, it is safe to presume that he
might have had something to do with its prostra-

68 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
tion. He levelled again and fired ; again it trailed
in the dust ; and so he kept on until the smoke
enwrapped the struggling little band of Titons,
and nothing could be seen but the flashes of their
Springfield rifles as they were litterally commingled
with the blaze of the guns of the enemy, face to
face and foot to foot, gradually yielding to the
pressure of terrible odds, but desperately contest
ing every inch of ground given, until the coming
of re-enforcements.
General Kitching, the brigade commander, rode
down into the melee and gave the order to " retire,
but keep on fighting," and he ought to have known
what troops to have accredited with this second
" Ballaklava." I know, and I will tell you, dear
reader: It was the second battalion, composed of
companies D, H and K of the Fourth New York
heavy artillery. Their bull-dog fighting, together
with advantage of ground — as there was a swampy
spot, which made it difficult for the enemy to cross
in their front — was all that saved the plucky little
battalion from entire destruction.
As our little patriot started to withdraw, one of
the members of his company, Private L  -, who

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 69
was shot through the foot from the instep to the
heel, piteously begged his assistance from the field.
Our little friend assented, and then, under a fire
that would almost burn the air, and a storm of lead
which knocked up the dust from the ground like
hail, slowly retired with his wounded comrade
leaning heavily on his shoulder and hopping pain
fully from the field. Re-enforcements then came
in great numbers and forced General Ewel to hunt
a cooler locality to pass the night, leaving his dead
upon the field, and they were numerous enough to
satisfy the most ambitious that he paid for more
than he got.
Our little soldier was not hurt, but had a ball
through his hat, which cut off a quantity of his
hair ; his canteen was shot off and he had a num
ber of bullet holes through his clothing.
The important result of this battle may be seen
by what is said of it by the commanding general,
which we copy from the columns of the Nev/ York
Weekly Tribune, of May 28, 1864, as follows :

70 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Headquarters Army of the Potomac, )
Friday, May 20th, 1864, 8 A. M. \
The Major-General commanding desires to express his satisfaction
with the good conduct of Tyler's division, Kitching's brigade of heavy
artillery, in the affair of yesterday evening. The gallant manner in
which these commands, the greater portion being for the first time
under fire, met and checked a persistent corps of the enemy, led by
one of its best generals, justifies the commendation in this special
manner of troops who henceforward will be relied upon, as were the
tried veterans of the Second and Sixth corps, at the same time
engaged. By command of Major-General MEADE.
SETH AViiaiams, A. A. G.
The Tribune further says : " Prisoners state that
Lee came with them across the Ny, a small stream,
rode along their lines, and addressed each brigade,
telling them they were to undertake a most import
ant movement, Avhich, if successful, would be a fatal
blow to the Yankee invaders, and adjuring them
to make it successful. He told them they were
even then close to our rich stores and immense
Daggage> and that a determined assault would give
them every thing we possessed. So many prison
ers state the above, in substance, that it must have
some foundation of truth."
This closes the Tribune 's account of the affair.
And the reason why the gallant three hundred

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 7 1
of the second battalion of the glorious old Fourth
New York heavy artillery, who sustained the first
onset and bore the brunt of the attack, did not
get credit for even being in it, was because gen
erals, reporters, and nearly all of the reserve
troops in the army, Avere on the left, almost out
of hearing, and did not come up until the enemy
were given their check.
In other words, Lee had misled our generals
into thinking that the heavier part of his force
Avas massed on our left, and they had imprudently
jeopardized every thing, and nothing but the wild
and reckless fighting of that gallant little band
— which led the enemy to think that they Avere
opposed by a much stronger force and so caused
them to hesitate — ever saved the army from over
whelming disaster and destruction.
And further, had that defeat occurred, foreign
nations would have recognized the Confederacy
and the Union would have been no more.
So, dear reader, you can see that the president's
expressed confidence in our hero's regiment was
not misplaced.

72 LIFE AND ADVENTURES

CHAPTER V.
g,((FTER having exhibited their matchless
|£ fighting qualities, and as a compliment
¦xf^ for the same, the company of our hero
^ was given a battery of Cohorn mor
tars, which they scientifically handled at every
opportunity, making things very unpleasant for
the enemy with their shells, which they threw
with great rapidity and precision.
On one occasion, at Cold Harbor, they had their
battery upon the front line of breastworks, within
three hundred feet of the front line of the enemy,
and to say that it was a hot place, on account of
the bullets, shot and shell, is draAving it mild ; it
was also roasting hot in the intrenchments, on
account of the sunniest of suns of the " Sunny
South." There was a spring near by, which was in a posi
tion very much exposed to the shots of the enemy,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 73
who knew the whereabouts of the water quite as
well as the would-be possessors of it.
It had been the custom of our hero's comrades
to visit this spring at night and get Avater for
the next day's consumption, and each man was
expected to go in turn. Our hero had not as yet
been asked to go, but had always had his canteen
filled at night, with those of his comrades.
Now the day being much hotter than usual, the
supply of water became exhausted long before
night, and the men began to clamor for some one
to go to the spring and replenish the supply.
Finally, one man collected fifteen or twenty can
teens and, bringing them to our little hero, threw
them down at his feet with the remark, that as he
had not been at all it was incumbent that he should
make the venture.
Knowing that it was almost equal to a sentence
of death — as there were many dead bodies lying
unburied, all around the water hole, of men who
were killed on a like mission, and who could not
be buried on account of the galling fire of the
enemy — and also realizing the injustice of the
request for him to go in the day time and be a fair

74 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
mark for any rebel who chose to try his hand at a
distance of one hundred yards, he coolly and
proudly accepted his fate ; and gathering up the
canteens and a cup walked out and sat down at the
spring, surrounded by the festering dead, and with
nerves of steel filled each canteen (holding about
three pints) with water, having to pour it steadily
through the nozzels, which were about three-fourths
of an inch in diameter, Avhile bullets were constantly
hailing around him and splashing him with mud
and Avater. He successfully accomplished this task
and returned with the water, unharmed, which was
quite well done for a boy.
After some days of this kind of life — or death,
for there was about as much of one as the other —
the stench of hundreds of human bodies lying be
tween the lines of the contending armies, which
were in some places barely one hundred yards
apart, was, as can be imagined, almost unbearable.
Charge after charge had been made for the purpose
of dislodging the enemy by storm ; and in every
instance had resulted in a failure and also fearful
loss in killed and wounded, the latter of whom
were compelled to lie where they fell, upon the

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 75
ground, under the fierce and burning rays of the
sun, without water or food, and their slightest
movements calling down upon them a malicious
and pitiless storm of leaden hail from the rebels,
until they were mercifully released by death. The
rebels steadily refused an armistice to care for the
Avounded and bury the dead, knowing that they
were all northern soldiers, and delighting their
souls Avith their dying agonies.
But a kind Providence interposed in time to save
a few of those noble martyrs who were suffering
for the starry flag of our Union, and reversed the
wind, which had constantly blown from rebel to
" Yank," and made it to blow from " Yank " to
rebel. At this period of affairs, the dead Yankees
accomplished what the live ones had failed to do, in
the matter of an armistice to bury the dead; for when
the winds of heaven carried the effluvia of those
decomposed and maggoted bodies to the refined and
fastidious olfactories of the chivalry, they Avere not
slow in accepting the proposition of the Union gen
eral for a truce long enough for them to be in
terred ; and it was done accordingly.
Upon the general declaration of a cessation of

76 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
hostilities, each of the opposing forces arose from
its lines of breastworks and fortifications ; and sit
ting up where they could see, hear and obtain
the fresh air, chatted and chaffed the other quite
entertainingly. Our young artilleryman could not but note the
contrast presented by the appearance of the two
lines of heads above their respective fortifications.
The large, slouchy hats, long-haired, yellow-
skinned, bushy-bearded, cadaverous features of the
one, and the jaunty caps, neatly trimmed hair,
smooth, round, healthy-faced, soldierly and intelli
gent appearance of the other. I leave the reader
to apply the descriptions as in his judgment will
properly suit each of the forces mentioned, lest I
be accused of partiality. But I can truthfully say,
that the employment of Avater and soap would
have removed some of the powder stains and other
dirt, and would have materially improved the ap
pearance of all parties concerned. But the reader
has been made acquainted Avith the difficulty of
procuring water for the " inner man," and he will
pardon them for the dusty and stained appearance
of the outer,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 77
The dead being buried and the Avouuded cared
for in the best manner possible, considering the
means at hand, the " original question " Avas again
brought before the contestants, and each settled
down to the business of killing his opponent, if he
could, regardless of parliamentary rules. But
General Grant concluded that another one of his
flank movements Avould be "in order." Accord
ingly, one dark night, amid rain and mud, he Avith-
drew his troops from their entrenchments and
started upon a long series of marches and counter
marches for the rear of Richmond, by way of
Petersburgh. Upon these severe marches our little friend suf
fered very much. His company placed their mor
tars into the ordinary baggage or ammunition
Avagons of the army, for transportation in trains,
with the reserve artillery, each wagon being cov
ered with canvass as securely as a house and filled
to its uttermost capacity. On many of these
long, all-night marches he would hold on to the
back part of a wagon with his hands, and with his
head thrown backward upon his shoulders, and
with his little feet stumbling along, would be found

78 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
walking, and sound asleep, by his comrades, who
were acting in the capacity of train guards during
the march, when there was no opportunity to use
their artillery. If, perchance, the train should
halt, on account of some trifling accident or to pry
a wagon loose from the mud, the young veteran
would throw himself to the earth, and with his
head upon his drum, instantly fall asleep, and
but for the kindness and solicitude of his com
rades, would many times have been left behind
and no doubt captured, and have ended his young
life among the horrors of a southern prison. His
company, to a man, during a night's march, con
stituted themselves watchful guardians of him,
and upon being aroused, although fatigued almost
unto death, with blistered and bleeding little feet,
he would quietly and uncomplainingly arise and
manfully struggle on, and when hungry, any of
them would share their last " hard tack " with him,
when cold, they would shield him with their
blankets. What wonder that he loved them, and
that he was inseparable from them, and that he
sorrowed when they sorrowed, or rejoiced when

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 79
they were glad. Such friendship can only end
with death.
You, readers, of the rising generation, consider
these things, and you will then understand some
thing of the feelings which actuate those veterans,
true and many times tried, when they meet, in this
day of peace and prosperity, and recall those days
of suffering, darkness, danger and death.
While this march was in progress, our little sol
dier had a very narrow escape from being " shot to
death with musketry," as the military tribunals
have it. It occurred in this manner :
The soldiers who marched with the trains had
very much annoyed the columns in advance by a
continual firing at pigs, chickens, etc., that came
in the list of animal food ; for, having no base of
supplies, they were upon short rations, barely
enough to sustain life and keep them in " fighting
trim." The constant firing by these foragers
would cause a halt and a preparation for battle,
and so alarm the army for the safety of the trains.
Consequently there was an order published one
morning to the effect that " any soldier who should
fire his piece at any object other than the enemy,

So LIFE AND ADVENTURES
should receive a drum-head court-martial, and if
found guilty would be shot to death with mus
ketry upon the spot." This order had the desired
effect in all cases, except one.
Our hero being at a house to procure a canteen
of water, had occasion to question the woman with
regard to the sale of something edible. She
declared that she had nothing but a guinea hen
which sat upon the fence making a terrible clatter,
and that if he could catch it, he could have it.
Thanking her, he ran with all his speed down to
the wagon train, which was passing on a road not
far away, and obtaining a rifle from one of his
comrades, he ran back to the house, and aiming
his gun at the squalking bird, he fired away. The
unfortunate member of the feathered tribe fell to
the ground, and our hero, full of exultant joy, was
about to run and pick up the game, when, incident
ally casting his eyes toward the wagon train, he
was horrified to see a line of skirmishers rapidly
deploying, intending to engage the enemy, if any
should be found, and if not, to capture the unfor
tunate person who fired the gun and gave the
alarm. Realizing that if he was caught he would

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 8 1
certainly have to pay a terrible penalty — in fact,
more than any number of birds would be worth to
him — he threw doAvu the gun and ran for his life to
a part of the moving wagon train from which there
did not seem to be any soldiers issuing forth, and,
amid cries of " Halt! halt! catch him ! " he ran in
among the Avagons, under mules, anywhere, every
where, to avoid his pursuers, who were not mem
bers of his own regiment, but were the provost
guards of the army, who would have captured, and
been only too happy to have shot him, according
to sentence of a court-martial.
Luckily, after running in a scrambling manner
under one wagon lengthwise, through the center
between the six mules of the team, which were too
much fatigued to mind him, he saw at the back end
of the next wagon that the ropes of the canvas
covering were untied, and jumping upon the feed-
box, he was under the cover in a trice, and soon
had it properly fastened down in place, as all of the
others were.
Scarcely had he secured refuge in the wagon,
when an officer upon a horse rode along the train,
questioning teamsters and rapping upon the wagon

82 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
covers with his sword, ordering the refugee to come
out, which he wisely refrained from doing. The
teamster in whose wagon he was knew nothing
about him, for a government teamster invariably
rides the "near wheel mule" of his team, and can
not see the back end of his Avagon. The driver of
the team in the rear not being disposed to furnish
information to the hunters, they were compelled,
through a lack of time, to abandon the chase, and
our little friend avoided the necessity of becoming
a living target for the guns of the provost guard,
at a military execution.
He remained in the Avagon during the rest of the
day and until late in the night, when the troops
halted, and the trains came into " park " to feed
mules and take a short rest until daylight ; then
he crawled out and returned to the bivouac fires
of his company, minus the rifle of his comrade.
They were overjoyed at his safe return, and were
profuse in their offers of crackers and coffee, Avhich
he ravenously ate. And when the army had rolled
in its numerous and several blankets to obtain a
much needed rest, our young forager repaired to
the encampment of the provost guard to obtain, by

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 83
stealth, not the rifle of his comrade, but one in lieu
thereof, as they had picked up and retained the
one which he had cast away in his race for life, not
knowing the command of Avhich he was a member.
Approaching the sleeping band of soldiers very
softly, he observed one man isolated from the
others, rolled up head and ears in his blanket, and
with his rifle reared in the air by the means of its
fixed bayonet being thrust deeply into the earth.
With steps as noiseless as a cat, he glided over the
ground to the coveted prize, drew the bayonet
quickly and noiselessly from its imbedded position
and retreated in good order, to laugh over and
relate the adventure to some of his trusted com
rades. The army did not pitch tents and make a regu
lar camp for months at a time during this cam
paign ; but simply halted when exhausted, built
fires and made coffee or cooked — those did Avho were
fortunate enough to have anything — as the times
for eating and sleeping came at doubtful periods in
those days, and each man Avas expected to lie
down in place and sleep upon his arms, ready for
battle at a moment's notice.

84 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Coming into a bivouac of this description very
late one dark, rainy night, our drummer boy
secured a rail from the fast disappearing fence — not
without quite a long race, however, for among so
many men the fence was taken up as rapidly as a
lot of peanuts thrown into a crowd of small boys ;
making a fire, he put all the coffee which he had
into his cup, poured all the water from his canteen
in also, and sat it upon the fire to boil. I have
ever regretted the general inability to engraft the
experience and discretion of age upon the physical
nature of youth ; that it is lamentable will be seen
by the folloAving: Being intent upon watching his
forlorn hope of supper, he did not notice the
approach of an intruder until a human foot came
in contact Avith a long piece of rail from the fire,
upon which the cup was resting, and it was
instantly overturned into the fire. Springing to
his feet, I am sorry to say, he poured forth a volley
of anathemas and invectives, which were not in
the slightest particular complimentary or polite
toAvards the unfortunate individual, who upon a
nearer approach to the light of the fire, to our

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 85
hero's consternation he discovered to be in the uni
form of a general officer high in command.
The general stood leaning upon his sheathed
sword an instant, in the firelight, looking down
upon the fierce little bantam, with an expression
half of amusement and half of anger upon his face;
and then he said, sternly, " Is that the way you
have been taught to address your superiors ? "
The boy answered, undauntedly, " No, sir ; I
thought it was some awkward, careless fellow, who
had no supper himself and did not intend that I
should have ; and that Avas the last I had on earth
remaining of my ration, and it is the first oppor
tunity I have had since early morning to prepare
that, for Ave have marched thirty miles to-day."
The general turned upon his heel and said
sternly and briefly, " You must come Avith me."
Mechanically our hero obeyed, and visions of ter
rible punishment passed like a horrible night-mare
before his mind ; and, footsore and Aveary, he
thought hoAV pleasant and restful was the condi
tion of his dead comrades upon the field of battle,
compared to his own.
Leading the Avay to his tent, the general threw

86 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
aside the loose front and bade him enter and be
seated. Then calling his servant, he said : " Sam,
if any one calls, say I am engaged for the present.
Bring in my supper."
The negro pulled at his Avoolly foretop, until his
head nearly came in contact Avith his knees, and
Avith a respectful " Yes, sah," retired, soon to reap
pear Avith a tray loaded Avith hot coffee, light rolls
with butter, fried chicken, fried potatoes and eggs,
and placing them upon the light camp table,
withdreAV, The general, taking a camp stool and placing it
to the table, said, " You have been very disrespect
ful toAvards me, and I shall punish you by com
manding you to eat my supper."
Our hero, filled with astonishment, but being
very hungry withal, received his punishment with
out a murmur. And the general sat and seemed
to enjoy it as much as the boy.
Upon the conclusion of the repast, the general
made some inquiries regarding the boy's home and
friends, and then concluded as follows : " You
must be patient with and have charity for your
comrades. ' Charity suffereth long and is kind.'

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 87
I do not wish you to ever mention this matter to
any one, or a greater punishment may follow.
Good night, sir ! "
Returning the great commander's good night,
our little friend hied himself aAvay to his camp-fire,
wondering if there was anything in creation as
small as himself, but feeling greatly refreshed in
body. At the first gray of morning, our young soldier
Avas aroused by the shrill blast of the brigade
headquarter's bugle. He immediately arose and
sturdier and vigorously rolled his drum and beat
his " drags " to the clear stirring notes of the fife,
as it trilled and warbled the "Three Camps,"
" DaAvii of Day," " Slow " and " Quick Scotch,"
" Austrian," " Hessian," etc. — being the regulation
music for " reveille." He could not but feel a thrill
of admiration for those noble felloAvs, Avho, hastily
arising from their hard and wet couch upon the
ground, having had neither supper or breakfast,
were cheerfully " falling into line " and " filing
off," with the long, rapid "route step," joining the
already moving columns, and as the sun came
struggling through the mists, bathing them, their

88 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
arms and tattered battle flags with a golden,
glorious light or soft halo, he felt that it was a
sweet, sympathetic caress of nature, manifesting
the approval of the God of battles, and that hence
forward they would certainly be invincible; and
truly they were, never retreating, ever advancing
toAvard the crown and laurels of victory.
" Fonvard ! " rang out the silver bugle of the
artillery brigade, and as field-piece after field-piece
of the reserve artillery, and Avagon after Avagon of
the immence " parks " took the road in single line,
with their Avhite covers gleaming in the sunshine,
it was an exhibition of power and majestic military
precision Avhich could not but fill the beholder with
aAve and respect.
Arriving upon the banks of the James river,
opposite City Point, Avithin a few miles of Peters
burgh, there Avere numerous steam transports
ready and waiting to take the army across the
river, and there was also a bridge of "pontoons."
While the army Avas crossing the river, the van
guard advanced upon the toAvn, and it might have
been taken at a run, for it was garrisoned by a
light force of old men and boys of the rebel militia

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 89
or home guards as the great rebel Lee had not yet
put in his appearance. It was currently reported
throughout the army at the time, that the advance
was made by colored troops, and, after they had
succeeded in frightening the aforementioned old
men and boys out of a few small redoubts in the
outskirts of the tOAvn, they stopped to boil coffee
and have a nap, making about the same success of
capturing the town that the unfortunate dog of
ancient lore did of catching the rabbit, and for the
same identical reason, viz.: " If they had not
stopped — etc., etc
O11 the next day the United States army found,
to its cost, that the legions of Lee were there in the
full sense of the term, and there in positions so
impregnable as to successfully defy assault, which
was made until the army began to consider it little
short of lunacy, and they were compelled to beseige
the place nearly eleven months.
Our hero's company unloaded their mortars
from the wagons, and placing them in position,
contributed their share toAvard the incessant bom
bardment, raining many tons of iron upon the
dovoted town daily.

90 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Many months of this kind of work passed away
with our little soldier and his comrades, they being
constantly under fire of the enemy's artillery and
the sharp-shooting rifles, night and day — eating,
drinking and sleeping in the entrenchments, amid
the shock and roar of cannon, bursting shells,
hurtling shot and whistling bullets ; the latter were
the most to be dreaded, however.
General Grant decided that if it was impossible
to drive them out, it was certainly possible to shut
them up in there, and to further this intention,
began extending his line to his left, to surround
the place and cut the railroads which furnished it
supplies. In one of these raids to destroy the communica
tions of the Weldon road, I will give a portion of
the New York Weekly Tribune^s account, dated
September 3d, 1864, of the battle which ensued.
The account is as follows, from a regular corres
pondent or reporter for the paper upon the field :
Headquarters Army of tiil; Potomac, )
August 26, 1864, afternoon. J
On Thursday afternoon, about eight o'clock, a serious engagement
took place at Reams' Station, between the 1'irst and Second divisions,
Second corps, and Hill's and Longstreet's rebel corps. The Second

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 9 1
division was marching down the track to take position about three
miles below the station, from which the First division was withdrawn
on AVednesday night, when they were attacked by a strong force under
rebel Gen. Anderson. They returned until their right connected with
the First division, which, under Gen. Miles, occupied the entrench
ments in front of and around the station. The line was a cresent, the
right flank being nearly at right angles with the railroad, the center
a little beyond and parallel with it, and the left recrossing and reced
ing from it. Two regiments belonging to the First brigade, Second
division, were posted outside the works upon the extreme right, to
take any storming part}' from that direction in the flank and rear.
Four assaults were made upon our position, the first directly upon
our front. This charge, as also the next two, in which the enemy
threw themselves upon our more extreme right, was repulsed with a
fearful slaughter of the enemy. The fourth assault was one of the
most desperate struggles of the war. The massed troops of the enemy
were thrown with wild impetuosity upon our extreme right, while a
vigorous attack was made simultaneously on our left. Hardly a shot
was fired by the enemy, who were instructed to reserve their fire till
the}' reached our works. The two regiments on the outside of the
works at the right were driven wildly back, but otherwise our line did
not wave. We poured a death-dealing fire of musketry and artillery
into their ranks, and their repulse again seemed certain. Forward,
however, they came, driven by a reckless frenzy, [the Tribune says,
but the author, who was there, says, "gunpowder mixed with bad
whiskey,"] to the very front of our entrenchments. But some new
recruits upon the right center became panic stricken and fled, and
before Gen. Miles could fill the gap with reserve troops, the enemy
were within our works. A brisk hand-to-hand encounter ensued.
The enemy in overwhelming mass (two corps against two divisions),
crowded in, and our men were forced to retire. In attempting to get

92 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
away Clark's battery, on our left, the horses were all shot. Not men
enough were left to work the guns. The Fourth New York heavy
artillery, acting as infantry, rallied around the guns and turned them
upon the enemy, almost in their very teeth. Seventeen of its officers,
with a great portion of the command, were wounded or lost, after in
flicting a fearful punishment upon the foe. The rebel loss was fearful;
reckoned by many good judges at 4,000, and their gain nothing, as the
abandonment of the position had already been initiated. A few more
such assaults would annihilate the rebel army.
Now we have finished our quotations from the
Tribune in regard to it, and we Avill say that it is
every word truth.
Gallant, glorious, superb, magnificent old Fourth
New York heavy artillery ! At last, by sheer force
and by the most enthusiastic and reckless fighting
the world ever saw, you have secured mention in
one of the leading newspapers of the day. Our
hero can say that he belonged to a regiment that
never faltered in battle, or turned its back to the
enemy. Further than this, human power does not
extend. When the Dutch Seventh New York shamefully
ran and positively refused to rally, and the rebels
rushed into the gap and surrounded our hero's
regiment, supposing they had them captured — then

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 93
was the time the fighting began. For, in addition
to turning the guns of the deserted battery —
double shotted, and in some cases treble shotted,
with canister (striving to burst them to prevent
their capture), into the enemy's crowded ranks,
they used their bayonets and clubbed rifles, as
they had been trained to do in fortifications, before
taking the field — fighting their way through, as
Greenfield, of Saratoga county, N. Y., expressed it,
" Like threshing in a barn ; " and as their battle
flag made its way slowly out of the melee, it looked
as though it was coming from among a swarm of
bees. It came through triumphantly, nevertheless.
The aforementioned Greenfield — a strapping
farmer from the town of Edinburgh — actually
stood with his gun and bayonet pitchfork fashion,
running the rebels through and tossing them aside
from the vicinity of the flag, like bunches of hay,
beating and pounding them down with the stock of
his rifle like a raging madman. The enemy Avere
so badly whipped that they retired, leaving their
dead upon the field.
Our little hero cheered with enthusiasm for the
sublime conduct of his comrades, and wept bitterly

94 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
over the fearful loss of seventeen officers and five
hundred men from his incomparable regiment.
Oh, it beats all creation,
How this young Yankee nation
Does retain its proud station
'Mong the grandest of the earth.
How, when a little scion,
It did dare to brave the lion,
And with calmness did rely on
That it was of sacred birth.
How its grave and quiet people
Bowed in churches without steeple,
And with wives and children weepful
Did resolve to shed their blood.
And we live to give them glory,
And their names shall live in story,
And the youth as well 's the hoary
Are immersed within the flood.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 95

CHAPTER VI.
jOT long after the occurrences recorded
in the preceding chapter, upon a fine
morning, there was some sharp firing
near the right center of the line, in
the vicinity of Petersburgh, and it Avas announced
that Lee had evacuated the city, and Richmond
also, leaving a feAv troops, to hold his lines as long
as possible and keep up appearances — which was
not very long — and the majority of them who were
left by him for that purpose, were taken prisoners.
The towns Avere immediately taken possession of
by the United States troops, and Lee's straggling,
flying and demoralized followers were being hotly
pursued by the main army. Thousands of the
chivalry were captured daily, and with no apparent
unwillingness on their part, and thousands more
returned to their homes, without leave or license, a
discouraged and disheartened lot. So that when

96 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the day of surrender came, there was little more
than the name left to surrender of the mighty
hordes of " Greybacks," Avho could lie so comfort
ably behind impregnable fortifications and defy
the brave men whose duty it was to punch them
out with the points of their bayonets, but, to use
one of the unique expressions of the day, they
were " punched out, all the same." Poor fellows !
Our hero says he was very sorry for them, but
does not say that he cried any. He don't think
they should have life pensions out of the treasury
which they tried so hard to destroy, either.
But to resume our narrative :
The pursuit of Lee's flying adherents was little
more than a series of hard, forced inarches, lasting
over a week. They were constantly passing upon
the roads to Appomatox, abandoned artillery cais
sons and broken wagons, filled with ammunition,
which were burning ; they receiving no con
sideration from the hastening, pursuing columns
of National troops other than a slight detour
around them — leaving them alone to celebrate the
downfall of their former owners, by noisily and
harmlessly exploding the loaded shells and litter-

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 97
ing the roadsides with abandoned conveyances and
unburned contents. In one instance, they cap
tured a large train of wagons and a bright, new
battery of steel Whitworth breech-loading rifle
cannon, of English manufacture, which apparently
had never fired a shot ; the bright, new leather of
the harness and saddles upon the bony and starv
ing animals, which had drawn them, looked as
though it had never been in a shower of rain ; the
mules and horses of it and the train Avere so
exhausted with hunger and fatigue that they could
not proceed further, and the enemy abandoned
them in " park," harnessed and hitched to their
respective wagons and guns, not having time to
dismantle or destroy them.
Our young soldier enjoyed these successes and
entered into the pursuit of the flying enemy with
all the ardor and enthusiasm of his young soul
and with all the strength of his little body, which
he felt was fcst giving out.
On and on pressed his comrades, living upon
excitement alone, having out-marched and left the
supply trains far in the rear, and not having
received an issue of rations for ten days, were com-

98 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
pelled to make their last issue of three days do for
the chase ; for to stop and allow the trains to come
up would be to give the old fox a chance to dodge
and make more trouble, or, for all they knew, get
away altogether. Accordingly the constant cry
was, " Forward, boys, forward, and close up in the
rear." Many rebels Avere taken with single ears
of Indian corn in their hands, which they nibbled
as they ran ; it was not the fresh and tender article,
either, but the old, dry, yellow flint.
Coining along one day, very footsore and weary,
our drummer boy noticed, a short distance from
the road and near a fine mansion, a team of poor
and hungry-looking mules, attached to a fine old-
fashioned traveling carriage, with a negro standing
near, in the attitude of wrapt attention, listening
to the sound of the rattling skirmish firing, which
was going on between the advance guard of the
army and the rear of Lee's retreating forces, who
had made a temporary stand.
Approaching the negro, the boy asked, " Whose
carriage is this ? "
The negro answered, " Hit 'longs to mawstah,
sah."

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 99
" Where is your master ? Don't you know you
are free ? "
"Wen he seed you all comin', mawstah jes' lef
de team and kerrige an' run like de debbil over
froo de tiinbah, to jine de perfesheners." [Secesh,
he probably meant.]
The negro continued : " Dat 's dem now, foutin'
wid de foniust ones ob you alls ahmy."
Then in almost a Avhisper : " Say, boss, tell me
de troof ; is I free ? ''
" Certainly you are free, as long as there is a
man in this army to carry a gun."
The negro threAv his hat upon the ground, stood
upon his head, sprang up, danced and gesticulated,
then, turning to our hero, said suddenly and
wildly : " Say, boss, I'se a gwine."
" Where are you going, and who will take care
of this team ? "
" Doan know, doan care nuffin' 'bout de team ;
I'se a gwine."
And the way he ran off, taking the opposite
direction from the one his master had taken,
caused our hero to laugh until he shed tears in
abundance.

IOO LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Getting into the carriage, he brought the team
into the road, and drove it two or three days
close in rear of the troops, until commanded by a
staff officer to abandon it — enabling, however,
himself and other foot-sore and weakly ones " to
keep up," and be in at the surrender of Lee at
Appomatox, which otherwise they could not have
done. Hearing the thunder of cannon and the roar of
battle in the front, those familiar sounds conveyed
to our hero and the army a confirmation of the
rumor that " Lee had been intercepted in his flight
by the active and efficient ' Little Phil Sheridan '
and his gallant cavalry command."
As there was a halt of the army, and a forma
tion for battle many lines deep, with a proper dis
position of " bull dogs " of war, whose dark mouths
and brazen throats were turned rebel-ward " in
battery," the troops realized that something more
than ordinary was about to take place, and that
something was no more or less than the uncondi
tional surrender of Lee and the forlorn remnant of
his disciples. As the negotiations between him
and his conqueror, General Grant, have been pub-

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. IOI
lished to all the world many times, we will omit it
here. When it Avas officially announced to the army
that the chivalry had succumbed — they Avere not
whipped, you know, but as they expressed it, "jest
ovah-powahed " — the scene in the army of the
National troops was indescribable. Each regiment
and separate command rallied arouud their colors
with cheers loud, long and triumphant ; the bands
played the National and patriotic airs ; the atmos
phere was black with the clouds of hats and caps
of the brave felloAvs, who had throAvn them up and
away in their enthusiastic joy and pride of victory;
hands Avere shaken and comrade embraced com
rade, amid shouts, laughter and tears ; add to all
of this the detonations and reverberations of salvos
of artillery saluting the flag and in honor of vic
tory, and you have a faint reproduction of the
scene. Suddenly, in the midst of all this rejoicing, there
came intelligence over the wires from Washington,
which transferred them in the twinkling of an eye,
from the house of joy to the abode of mourning —
the president Avas no more ; killed by the hand of

102 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
an assasin, while enjoying a public entertainment
in honor of victory. When this cruel, cowardly
and treacherous blow struck the army, it had an
effect which ten thousand Lees, with their legions,
could not have had. It seemed Avhen the announce
ment was verified like the first few moments previ
ous to an eclipse becoming total — when all nature
becomes suddenly hushed and there is a peculiar
nervous dread of impending evil. Our hero could
realize the growing darkness of such occasions,
in the unnatural quietness that prevailed. Men
who had never been known to falter in battle, even
when their own nearest and dearest of kin fell
at their sides, now Avept like babes. All of that
mighty host stood in terrified awe at the appalling
calamity. Rations, which a few moments before
had been issued in abundance — and no human
beings could have needed them more — were left
untouched and unheeded. And each and every
breast was filled to its uttermost containing capac
ity with that aching pain which struggles for relief
in tears.
Reader, you must believe that it is very hard
for a stern, brave soldier to shed tears, when he

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 103
can lie quietly under the surgeon's knife and suf
fer the loss of any member of his body, bidding it
adieu forever, without a sigh or a groan — when he
can, as in the case of one brave officer, who lay
dying on the field, ask a comrade to turn him,
and when that comrade asked, " Which way ? "
answered, " With my face to the enemy." It is
not difficult in the face of such facts to understand
that the National troops were not addicted to
weeping. Finally, the flag at the Second Army Corps'
headquarters was hauled down to half mast, and
the band began the low, plaintive, wailing music of
the " Soldier's Funeral Dirge ; " then, quietly as
the light, falling drops of a gentle, summer shower
falling through sweet rays of sunshine, fell the
tears of that devoted army of Columbia's sons.
Tears flowed on that day from eyes which never
before were so bedimmed since reaching the years
of manhood. And as each looked upon the act of
his fellow, he felt that those virgin tears from the
bravest of the brave Avere the highest tribute that
could be paid the Nation's martyr ; and they were
allowed to fall without restraint.

104 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Even a humble private soldier of the former
Confederacy, who had paused on his journey home
at the tent of our hero, upon his invitation, to rest
awhile and share with him the heretofore untouched
rations, avowed that the south had lost its truest
friend, and he deprecated the act and felt strong
solicitude for the results to them ; and although
hungry, seemed to feel the general grief, and ate
so sparingly that our hero forced him to take some
thing Avith him for his journey, which he did,
although somewhat loath, saying that " You tins
ken only git jess so much, and I don't like ter take
hit, caze ye'll git right smart hungry befo' ye git
any mo'." Thereby showing that, although igno
rant and uncultured, he possessed the unselfish
attributes of a true man, and under other circum
stances might be classed among nature's noblemen.
After the army had been allowed a few days'
rest, the order of march Avas reversed, and they
were headed towards Washington, at which place
they arrived in due time. And as it was desired
by the government to hold a grand revieAV of the
troops before their final muster out of the service,
accordingly upon the day appointed, in the latter

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 105
part of the mouth of May, 1865, it began. We
subjoin some extracts from the NeAv York Weekly
Tribune^s account of it, as follows :
Washington, )
Wednesday evening, May 24th, 1865. )
The grand review is over. The two days of deserved apotheosis of
the two great armies of the republic have come and gone, and 150,000
veterans have been reviewed, not merely by Grant and Sherman and
Meade, but by the people; the grateful millions. * * * To civilians
looking 011, perhaps the most amazing thing was the number that
marched by. Unused to armies, they sat seven hours yesterday and
seven hours to-day, while the men with sabers alid the men with bay
onets, iu close order and at brisk pace, marched past. And still the
wonder grew, where all the soldiers came from; and yet only one-
quarter of the loyal force now under arms in the country were seen by
them. * * * The next wonder was, that the soldiers seemed so
little excited. They tramped along with a certain easy, satisfied, every
day nonchalance, that was the perfection of the nil admira<i. They
scarcely looked right or left, and any pride or exultation they did show,
was grim and bronzed like their faces and their uniforms. '- * *
When a colonel, on passing the main pavilion, would ask for
cheers for the President and Gen. Grant, the imperturbable faces
would become transfigured into wild animation and pride, and old
rusty caps, grasped by brawny hands and swung high by brawny arms,
would circle in the air, while lungs made strong by years in the field,
and throats familiar with the whoop of the charge and the cheer of
yictory, would send up a noise like that of the many waters of many
Niagaras ; and yet, not one in fifty would turn his eyes to see the faces
of those they were cheering. * * * There never was so perfectly
happy a set of men as those in the main pavilion — the President and
Cabinet, Gen. Grant, and the score or two of other distinguished

106 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
officers. Not that they grinned and bowed in self approbativeness, for
there was not a bit of that. It wasn't self complacency, but sort of a
calm quiet ; a settled peace and gratitude seemed to pervade them
all. * * * Gen. Howard, having taken charge of the " Freed-
man's Bureau," and yielded the Army of the Tennessee, did not ride
•with the troops, but every body asked for him, and an ovation was
waiting for this one-armed hero. * * * And so the last review
is over. The war is over. The boys are going home. When shall
their glory fade ? The Army of the Potomac marched back to their
camps on the other side of the river, but Slocum's armies have gone
into camp on this side, north and east of the city.
C. A. P. — these were the initials of the Avriter.
This ends the extracts of the Tribune's version
of the affair. Evidently the Tribune's correspond
ent had never been a soldier, or it Avould not have
been a matter of surprise that the troops did not
stare and gape about like a verdant countryman
during his first pilgrimage from his native hearth;
they had received other training than that.
But the drummer-boy saw some things, and we
Avill try to relate them to you, gentle reader, in the
light in Avhich he saw them.
Never in all his life did he feel such a thrill of
pride as when, in passing that pavillion, his regi
ment dipped its tattered battle flag, and he sturdily
roll out upon his drun the salute to the president
and the generals of the army. The ground seemed

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 107
to move beneath his feet, and he seemed to be
walking upon air, as in a beautiful dream, thrilled
unto benumbness and delightfully intoxicated with
pride and joy of the occasion. The streets were
lined on either side with the generous and patriotic
citizens of the beautiful, elegant Capitol City of
America. Both sexes were in the throng, all eager
to do honor and extend hospitalities to those war
worn, weather-beaten defenders of the Nation.
Bands were playing, drums were beating, banners
waving, troops saluting and huzzas constantly
came from the excited populace. The children of
the public schools, sweet, innocent, little cherubs,
were there with banners bearing ' inscriptions of
" Welcome, brave soldiers," singing, in their
pure, sweet voices, songs of praise and victory ;
indeed, the atmosphere was filled with glory and
honors to the conquering heroes.
What wonder that they did not " look to the
right or left," when their souls were filled and
senses ravished with hearing ? Ladies, beautiful
and elegant, continually Avaved handkerchiefs or
their delicate hands, or threw bouquets of flowers,
while printed in large letters across one end of the

108 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
treasury building was this inscription : " The only
debt we can never pay is the debt we owe our brave
soldiers." Our hero has thought since, that in his case, at
least, it was the debt that was giving them the
least uneasiness, as his application for a pension
has been pending far into the second year without
being adjusted; but he got glory, and some others
who did not serve so long, or fight so well, or
endure the hardships, get a good pension, and, I
suppose, they think it right to equalize matters in
some manner.
Our hero's regiment returned to its camp, and
was retained in service long after the others were
mustered out, on the account of being heavy artil
lery and the proper branch of service to have
charge of the fortifications and care of the ord
nance. It went very hard with them, however, as
they wished very much to visit their old homes,
which they were permitted to do in about three
months. Upon the receipt of the order for their final mus
ter out, they immediately repaired to Washington
and boarded the train for the North.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 109
Home, home, sweet, sweet home,
Be it ever so humble, there 's no place like home.
This sentiment was appreciated in its fullest,
deepest sense, by every man, and the very fastest
of trains could not keep pace with their impatient
desires. As it is set forth in holy writ : " Hope
deferred maketh the heart sick ; but when the
desire cometh, it is a tree of life." This proverb
certainly describes their mental condition.
Upon the train's appearance in the suburbs of
the fair city of Philadelphia, cannons were fired,
and, although the citizens had received no previous
warning, the ladies — God bless them — flocked to
the place known as the " Cooper Shop," and in a
very short space of time a collation was served
which refreshed the bodies and gladdened the
hearts of the grateful veterans from New York.
This was the second time the regiment had been
entertained by the city of Philadelphia — the first
occasion being upon its passing through to the
seat of war, nearly four years previous.
They again boarded the train and that evening
were landed in the greatest metropolis of America,
being the native home and birthplace of many of

IIO LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the members of the command. They were hur
riedly marched through the streets and loaded into
a steamboat for Hart's Island, where they were
kept a number of days in the barracks which had
formerly been the home of rebel prisoners of war,
and were supplied with the very poorest of soldiers'
fare, until paid, discharged and disbanded.
Comparisons in this instance are invidious. The
writer does not make any, but he will say, on
behalf of the regiment, that they did not feel, in
the slightest degree, as though during the previous
four years they had been engaged in any thing
reprehensible, or deserving of contempt.
Good-bye ! old Fourth New York heavy artillery.
May you all one day be mustered into the army of
the " Lord God of hosts," who will accredit you
your victories, and, when the last trump shall
sound, may your grim faces be considered worthy
to surround the throne of the " King of kings "
forever, is the prayer of the writer of these pages.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. in

CHAPTER VII.

..fe<'"^"^'V

ip^fe^-^ receiving his pay, and honorable
T|ll||^ discharge from the service, our friend

bx£K©l<!

plf3 took the first boat from the island to
^ the city, where he soon found the
means for a bath and a toilet ; he then proceeded
to don a complete suit of civilian's raiment, for the
first time in nearly four years. It cost him, as he
laughingly expressed it, " one hundred dollars to
become a citizen again." And he made quite a
nice looking young citizen, also. Think of it — an
ex- veteran, and not yet seventeen years of age !
He took the boat up the beautiful Hudson, and
in a short time Avas at the home of his adopted
father and among his old schoolmates and friends.
Ascertaining that one of his former old masters
still continued to teach regular terms of school at
his residence, as in " ante bellum " days, he placed
himself once more under his instruction — who, by

112 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the way, Avas an excellent professor — and made his
home, as formerly, with his foster father, who had
received a goodly share of his pay and allowance
while in the army. Now this arrangement was
proper and as it should be, but unfortunately for
our hero, there was one individual — who was the
wife of his foster parent— who did not think so.
Not the original wife who participated in his adop
tion and who, refined lady and sweet angel that
she was, passed to a spiritual existence some two
or three years before the war, but a woman who
self-approbatively filled her place, receiving as a
reward no commendation but her own, and who
really was the cause of our hero going to the wars
at an age so tender.
The reader may have remarked that the writer
used the term lady in the first instance, and woman
in the second, when he took occasion to mention
the female sex. Now he understands that there
are ladies, that there are women, and that there
are nonentities — each resembling the other in
many respects physically, yet vastly different in
others — all having the human form, nevertheless.
Not to appear partial with regard to sex in our dis-

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 113
tinctions, we will state that there are gentlemen,
there are men, and there are animated bipeds in
the same pattern physically, of whom we think,
not without reason, came into the Avorld very much
after the fashion that you would dump a basket of
garbage over the fence of your back yard ; or like
the mule — through the agency of man alone,
unsanctioned by the creator. Now it is just as
impossible to manufacture a lady or gentleman
from those latter described specimens of the genus
homo, even with all the advantages that are to be
obtained upon the earth, as it would be to convert
a mule into a horse, to make silk purses from the
ears of swine, or to put the polish of fine marble
upon a grind-stoue.
In our humble opinion, it is the volume and
qualities of mind that best represent and reflect
God's own image in the human family, elevating
and grading them. All men can never be equal,
mentally, socially or physically. Fancy the con
dition of the world if all people were equal in pos
sessions, in intelligence, with all things in com
mon. The only possible way it could be accom
plished would be to follow the course prescribed by

114 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the anarchists, and destroy the elite — the refined
jewels of mankind — by assasination, and then part
ing their raiment and goods in general distribution.
And what would be the result ? Why there would
be no incentive to action ; no greatness to aspire
to ; the wheels of progress would stop ; abject and
utter degeneration would follow. Go to the Ameri
can Indian, or the savage tribes of the African
wilds, for an example of people without an object
in. life, and an example of that kind of equality.
All this has been said to make the reader com
prehend the writer's conception of the distinctions
and discriminations, to be made throughout all
humanity. This Avoman realized this difference, this element
which establishes the grades, and properly compre
hended her own status, and systematically hated,
and envied, as well, our hero.
To show how well he kept his end up, and how
poorly she succeeded in keeping up with him, we
will relate a little incident which occurred previous
to his departure for the war with his adopted father.
Now this woman had, among her other priceless
possessions, a round wooden box filled with nice

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 115
cubes of white loaf sugar, of which our hero, in
common Avith most children, was quite fond, and
he coveted this store more especially, because the
woman invariably refused all his applications and
importunities for a small share of it, with which
to sweeten the gastric juices of his stomach. This
box was kept upon the very topmost shelf of the
pantry, placed underneath a stack of numerous
other wooden boxes, containing cinnamon, cloves,
allspice, pepper, etc., each one properly labelled
and sized up in pyramidal form, the larger sugar
box being the base.
Watching his opportunity, when she was tempo
rarily absent, he placed a chair in a convenient
position and proceeded to supply himself with the
forbidden sweets. Being duly aware of her crafti
ness, he did not wish to blunder in replacing the
boxes, or in disarranging them in any manner.
So he decided to take hold of the bottom box and
lift them all down together, intending, after help
ing himself, to return them in the same order.
But, alas ! the most far-seeing people fall short
at times. While in the act of taking them down,
the chair in some manner careened, and down came

Il6 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
our hero, upon the pantry floor, the boxes bursting
and the contents flying in all directions, covering
the floor with the products of the tropics, as though
deposited by a cyclone.
Standing aghast for an instant, he detected the
sound of the returning footsteps of the mistress of
the establishment, and seeing the lazy old cat, the
prime favorite of the Avoman, quietly sleeping by
the kitchen stove, in the " twinkling of an eye " he
removed the chair, seized the cat, threw it into the
pantry and shut the door, taking his stand quietly
by the Avindow, to aAvait developments.
It Avas not long before the woman, having an
errand to the pantry, opened the door, when, upon
beholding the scene of destruction, and the unfor
tunate cat, which the surroundings made to appear
guilty, and which was frantically trying to escape
through the lattice of an open Avindow, she seized
the proverbial woman's weapon — i. e., the broom —
and began to rain blows at the very quick cat,
which finally escaped by her and through the door,
without getting hit. But there were several pieces
of crockery added to the debris upon the floor,
which had not escaped so fortunately.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 117
During all of this time our hero had stood by
the window, whistling " Yankee Doodle " in his
most solemn and impressive manner, at the same
time softly rapping out the " Devil's Tattoo," in
accompaniment, upon the window pane, Avith the
tips of his fingers — which, in his boyish innocence,
he considered appropriate music for the occasion.
But at this particular epoch of his life, having
been through a war and received a training which
had made him a man in understanding, far in
advance of his years, he could no longer condescend
to resort to his old-time methods of retalliation,
which were his delight and constant study in his
days of defenseless childhood. Consequently, he
was necessitated to choose between a course of
silent, dignified resignation to her vulgar, ill-bred,
disrespectful and unkind treatment, or a departure
from the paternal roof of his adoption forever.
After a long consultation with his kind old foster
father, and at the close of the winter term of school,
he chose the latter course and turned his back on
his only home and his face towards a cold, piti
less world, being at that time but a month or two
beyond the age of seventeen years. Arriving at

Il8 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the city of Troy, where he had scarcely any
acquaintance, he spent several days in seeking
some kind of employment adapted to his physical
ability, which was not very great, as his four years
of severe hardships and exposure had not materi
ally increased his growth or physical development.
As every one avIio has ever tried the experiment
knoAvs the tired, worn, disappointed, footsore condi
tion of a stranger in a large town seeking employ
ment, Ave will not burden these pages with an
account of it.
As he was disconsolately walking up Congress
street one morning, with, as usual, but A^ery little of
the " root of all evil " in his purse, and a very posi
tive realization of the fact that he certainly must
do something, and that something very soon, he
came underneath the broad folds of the glorious
old stars and stripes, which depended and waved
over the walk, from a staff protruding from an
up-stairs window ; and seeing a number of the
familiar blue-coated and brass-buttoned sons of
" Uncle Sam " standing about the door, he under
stood that it was a recruiting depot for the regular
army of the United States, and he resolved once

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 19
more to offer himself for the service of his country,
knowing quite well that he could fight if he had the
chance ; and as the Indians were on the Avarpath
throughout the great west, he did not doubt hav
ing the chance, if his services were accepted ; which
they were, and he was once more in uniform under
the eagle and flag of America — but under his oavu
family name, however, having dropped the name
of his foster father, which he had served under in
the Avar of the rebellion, and modestly allowing
himself to be enrolled as a recruit, saying nothing
of his former services, and submitting Avith a good
grace to the airs of superiority and to the actual
preferment and promotion of men over him, who
up to that time had never faced the cannon's mouth
or even an angry bullet. And, indeed, during
three years of his enlistment and service upon the
plains, there was but one man who knew of his
former services, and he, being an old member of
the Fourth New York heavy artillery, recognized
the former drummer boy, but was prevailed upon
by him to keep it a secret, as he did not wish to
give cause for jealousy among his new comrades.
Lest some fair reader of these pages should think

120 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
them dull and uninteresting, on account of their
constant chronicling of the doings and sayings of
men, to the utter exclusion of the sweet daughters
of Eve, we Avill relate a little adventure which the
soldier treasured in his memory through many
long, tedious marches, and which solaced the lonely
hours of many a nightly vigil.
The recruits having been transported by rail to
the grand distribution depot, which was located in
a western city, preparatory to final assignment to
their respective regiments, our hero, on the after
noon upon which he received his order to join his
regiment — the journey to commence the following
day — obtained permission to spend the afternoon
and evening about the town, his leave extending
until 9 o'clock p. m.
Within a half hour or so of night-fall, while in
one of the parks of the city, seated upon one of the
rustic resting places, there approached along one
of the graveled walks, a young maiden of the most
exquisite beauty and grace, coupled with the mod
esty and freshness of the most delicate new blown
rose, laden with the deAV-drops of the early morn
ing. This fairy creation of the goddess of beauty,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 121
Avho, seemingly, had robbed the world to obtain
the precious sweets and graces with which to adorn
her protege, was attended by an ordinary looking
female, evidently quite intelligent, but one whom
the most common observer Avould rank as an
inferior. In passing the young soldier, the eyes of this
dainty and exquisite creature met those of his own
in one long, bewildering, soul-conquering glance.
After having gone on a few paces, they halted, and
the attendant, turning back, addressed him as fol-
Ioavs : " This young lady, my mistress, wishes me
to ask you, sir, if you have seen anything of her
little black and tan terrier dog, which has a silver
collar upon its neck, with a bow of blue ribbon
tied upon it."
Now, as he had seen the identical dog, Avith its
head, collar and bow of blue ribbon, protruding
from the lid of a hamper basket, at an old Irish
apple woman's stand on the opposite side of the
park, he arose and, with his forage cap in his hand,
gracefully and politely so informed them, at the
same time offering his assistance to recover the
pet, which Avas most graciously accepted.

122 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Proceeding with them to the stand referred to,
the attendant of the young miss again taking the
initiative, propounded an array of queries to the
old woman, regarding the lost dog, who stoutly
maintained the absence of all knowledge of the
matter in the slightest degree.
The soldier then approached and emphatically
declared that he had seen the dog in one of those
baskets, and that if it was not instantly forthcom
ing, he would call a policeman and give her in
charge for stealing.
" Is it meself, a puir lonesome ould woman, ye
wud be afther callin' a thafe, a woman as has bin a
dacent widdy since before me fusht husband doide,
God rest his soavI ? Ye haven't a dom par-kittle of
koindness fur the puir at all, at all, so ye haven't,
me foine sojer gintleman."
The soldier, with a gesture of impatience, started
toward a tall guardian of the law avIio stood on the
corner of a street not far away, when the old
woman called out :
" Kim back, mishther sojer; me son has a little
dog that he found thray or foAver wakes ago, an he
woz kapein idt expictin' some wan wud kim along

OF A DRUMMER-BOY.

123

and giv him a quarther fur the findin' uv idt, an if
idt is the leddy's auny-mile, she kin git idt."
They both exclaimed in chorus, "Oh, yes ! we
will pay the quarter;" but the soldier stopped
them with a gesture and demanded to see the dog.
Whereupon the old woman threAv back the cover
of a large basket, and removing numerous wraps
and untying many strings, finally " brought forth "
 the overjoyed and nearly smothered little
animal, and restored it to its owner, amid exclama
tions of, " That 's he, the poor little darling ! " etc.,
etc. The old woman inquired, "Now, where is me
quarter? " which they were about to pay, but our
young soldier interfered, saying briefly : " If you
say another word, you Avill not only get a quarter,
but a full half of a year in the workhouse, for
stealing this dog," which effectually settled the
matter. It being noAV quite late, our hero offered his com
pany as escort to the little beauty to her home,
which was pleasantly accepted. During the walk
he learned that she was the daughter of one of the
magnates of the town, and he was also informed

124 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
that she had never been permitted to have and
entertain gentleman company. He, however, noth
ing daunted, walked gaily along until her magnifi
cent home was reached ; then, as the attendant went
up the steps of the terrace, our young soldier sat
down with the young mistress upon a coping stone
in the dark shadow of some ornamental trees of
heavy foliage ; at the same time the young miss
called out, in a smothered tone: "Jennie, tell
mamma I am coming presently, and it will not be
necessary to mention this young man's presence."
Jennie called back : " Certainly not, miss," and
then the young people were alone to themselves.
Now, the writer does not wish to tell very much
about the sayings and doings of those two young
people, there under the stars ; but they know,
and the stars, mayhap, so we will place them
here. * * * * *
This page, the sweetest of all of our hero's his
tory, has been revised, and for fear of offending the
fastidious tastes of some who have vivid recollec
tions of such affairs, has been abbreviated. All
things earthly come to a termination in some man
ner, sweetly or otherwise, and these circumstances

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 125
were no exception to the rule. Reluctantly our
hero said " good-bye," and returned to the bar
racks, to pack up for the next day's journey, with
feelings in his breast mixed with pleasure and
regret. Next morning the troops were paraded, duly
inspected, and then marched to the river, where a
large steamer was in waiting, which had been char
tered by the United States government to take
them up the Avaters of the Missouri, toAvards their
destiuatiou, Avhich was the territories of the great
northwest. Marching on board, the long line
filed up the stairs to the cabiu and upper decks of
the steamer, where they Avere allowed to break
ranks and adjust themselves and their effects in
the most comfortable manner possible for the
voyage. While passing through the crowd on the levee,
the soldier thought that he recognized a familiar
face, but in the hurry and bustle of the preparations
for the boat's departure had forgotten the circum
stance, when a female form brushed past him and
dropped her handkerchief at his feet, at the same
time tripping lightly down the cabin stairs, as the

126 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
last bell was ringing and the plank was about to
be withdrawn, over which they had passed from
the shore. Catching up the handkerchief, and an
idea of significance at the same instant, he rushed
after her and out on the plank, which the men of
the crew Avere already moving to the cry of " Haul
in ! haul ! " Raising his cap politely, he returned
the handkerchief, at the same time recognizing
Jennie, the attendant of his beautiful acquaintance
of the previous day.
Receiving the handkerchief with a low '' Thank
you, sir," she thrust a sealed envelope into his
hand and stepped to the shore ; leaving the soldier
standing upon the plank, which was rapidly being
drawn on board, the boat in the meantime swing
ing out into the stream.
Waving his cap in recognition and farewell to
the faithful messenger, he returned to the cabin
and taking from his knapsack a small opera or
field glass, he repaired to the hurricane deck of the
boat and gazed long and earnestly at the residence
of the delight of his soul, which was in full view
of the river and the steamer ascending it. At
length his eager and faithful eyes were rewarded

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 27
by the white flutter of a handkerchief from an
up-stairs' window, which the soldier enthusiastic
ally returned, until removed from vision by a turn
in the river. He then retired to a quiet spot to
investigate the contents of the sealed but unad-
dressed envelope. Upon opening it he removed a
bright, new ten-dollar treasury note and a tiny
gold ring, which was too small for any of his fin
gers, and a slip of paper, with the following words,
written in a neat hand :
Dear Friend — Not being very well this morning, mamma would
not permit me to go out to-day, or I should have tried to have seen
you, to have said farewell, which I now do, hoping that Jennie,
who is very faithful, may succeed in meeting you and in delivering
this. I did not know what to send you as a souvenir that you would
like, and, in fact, I did not have time to do anything in that direction,
so I send you this money, with the request that everything which you
may purchase with it shall be in remembrance of me. I send you my
ring, hoping that whenever it meets your gaze, you will remember
your friend until death. Mabel.
There was a postscript, as follows :
P. S. — Do not answer this, for mamma may it get and then send
me back to the convent. M.
The soldier, after reading the tender little note,
felt completely crushed and very miserable, believ
ing that cruel fate could never strike another blow

128 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
to cause him so much anguish as he felt in gaining
and losing his sweetheart in such an incredible
short space of time — being less than tAventy-four
hours — but nearly all soldiers realize the disadvan
tages they labor under in matters of this kind, in
comparison to persons of more prosaical persuits.
Consequently, they consider it incumbent upon
them to " make hay while the sun shines," and,
" taking time by the forelock," accomplish a great
deal in a short space of time.
Our young soldier's long face and sad looks,
with his reticent manner, Avere soon noted by his
comrades, who rallied him into a more social and
pleasant frame of mind, and right here, the writer
thinks that the small boy's first experience in the
use of tobacco, by some unknown author, is very
applicable to our hero's condition and tempera
ment ; it runs as follows :
' ' The small boy tackles tobacco first
In solitude back of the barn,
Until his head feels ready to burst,
His brain like a ball of yarn ;
His stomach rolls, and his eyes are red,
But, spite of his woe and pain,
He 's pretty certain, if not quite dead,
To try it over again."

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 29
He was soon enjoying the jokes and fun which
are ever in season with the born soldier, even in
time of battle.
The old steamer wheezed, puffed and snorted
tediously along upon her course — up the turbid
and tortuous stream, which, to use the expression
of one of the wits of the company, " Was crooked
enough to make a cork-screw ashamed of itself."
The monotony of being limited to the confines of
the steamer's decks for exercise and recreation,
would occasionally be broken by the bell tapping
the signal to make soundings. Whether it was to
determine which was the deeper — the water or the
mud — our hero Avas at times at a loss to under
stand ; however, he derived some amusement from
listening to the stentorian calls of the heaver of
the lead and line, made in a vernacular common to
these Avaters, or mud, for there seemed to be as
much of one as the other. But the steamboat, not
being over fastidious, sailed in both alike, pro
vided the latter Avas not too much solidified, thereby
withstanding her strongest efforts. The sounding
operations were conducted something like this :
" Dong-dong-dong-dong," bell signals to take

130 . LIFE AND ADVENTURES
soundings ; and then the sharp, sing-song tone of
the man heaving the lead, " F-o-u-r f-e-e-t, three
and a-h-a-1-f, three feet." At this the small engine
rooiii bell would jingaling, jingaling, jingaling, in
order to turn the boat in some other direction ; and
then the voice calling " f-o-u-r f-e-e-t " and " M-a-r-k
T-w-a-i-11 " (whose " Innocents Abroad " has been
the subject of much comment); and then came the
startling intelligence of "N-o b-o-t-t-o-m," followed
by, " Dong-dong " of the large bell to cease sound
ing ; and the boat flounders on its muddy way up
the mixture, towards its source.
After some five or six days of this most tedious
of voyages, the steamer came to a standstill at
Fort LeaveiiAvorth, in the state of Kansas, where
the troops were ordered to disembark and proceed
overland to join their regiment, which was then
under marching orders at Fort Kearney, on the
Platte' river, in the state of Nebraska, and only
waiting the arrival of the detachment of recruits
to move on an expedition into the territories of
Dakota and Montana to protect settlers, establish
forts, and fight any body who felt inclined to object
to their proceedings.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 131
The native aborigines of that locality were kill
ing settlers, attacking stages and emigrant trains
on the route overland to Salt Lake and California,
and a reign of terror prevailed.
Upon arriving at Fort Kearney, the troops were
assigned to the Eighteenth United States regular
infantry, Colonel Henry B. Carrington commander,
and the battalion of the Eighteenth, to which our
young soldier was attached, Avas subsequently, after
arriving at its destination, organized into a new
regiment and numbered the Twenty-seventh United
States infantry. As soon as Colonel Carrington
had inspected and revieAved his troops, and had per
fected all of the minor details, the expedition, some
thing over a thousand strong, Avith a long train of
wagons, carrying baggage and supplies and a feAv
light pieces of field artillery, set forward upon its
mission, i. <?., to civilize, with powder and ball, the
uncompromising enemy of the white race, the dev-
elish " redskins " of the far west.
The route taken was up the Platte and along the
line of the " overland " stages to California, and
the most remote points, to which a part of the
expedition was destined, were something over nine

132 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
hundred miles distant, " as the crow flies," and by
the circuitous routes which they were compelled to
take, farther by at least two hundred miles.
They made quite an imposing appearance as
they marched over the broad, level prairies in
" column of fours," with the artillery and supply
trains bringing up in the " rear."
They passed stage stations at regular intervals
of ten miles, which were heavily palisaded with
strong walls of heavy logs, high enough to screen
each of the buildings within the enclosure, expos
ing nothing but their respective roofs to the bullet
and arroAvs of treacherous " redskins ; " each sta
tion and isolated " ranch " being a fortress in min
iature, and strongly indicative of the necessity for
an armed force to assist the scattered settlers in
maintaining their right to Avear their own hair,
which humble and unostentatious privilege the
" redskins '' refused to allow, at every favorable
opportunity. The writer has been disgusted many times dur
ing his life, in reading sentimental and romantic
" twaddle " regarding the noble and honorable
attributes of the red men of the forest and plains,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 33
and he now proposes to deal with the naked facts
in the premises.
Spare your blushes, fair reader — we did not say
naked Indians — but we intend to tell the plain
truth in this matter, and what every one having
actual knoAvledge of the real American Indians
will surely recognize as a faithful account. Let it
be popular or unpopular with the public, we care
not. In the intercourse Ave have had with the " noble
red man " during an existence of three years
among them, we have decided that the American
romance writers of Indian tales were certainly, to
put it mildly, not brought up from infancy with
anything like the moral rectitude which the hero
of the little hatchet and cherry tree story displayed
in that noted incident.
There are liars and liars, but the worst liar upon
this terrestial sphere is one who mixes in just
truth enough to make his lie swallow easily, like
the sugar-coated pills of that specimen of the medi
cal fraternity, alluded to in the language of the
barn-yard fowl of the webfooted tribe.
As nearly all of the settlers had been driven in

134 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
from the plains, and forced to abandon their farms,
or killed, previous to this time, upon the advance
of this expedition they began returning, accom
panied by many more seekers for homes in the
Avestern wilds, and the Platte valley became liter
ally a moving mass of wagons, filled with the fami
lies and effects of, the emigrants ; hordes of the
more timid ones making their daily drives to cor
respond with the marches of the troops, and
encamping in sufficient nearness to them for pro
tection at night.
Each soldier, upon coming into camp after a
day's march, was expected to take a sack and go
around over the prairie and collect it full of " Buf
falo chips," being the dried excrement of those
animals, dropped while feeding, and take it and
empty it doAvn by the fires of the cooks, to enable
them to cook the food of the troops, there being an
entire absence of timber for a distance of three hun
dred miles. They obtained Avater from the river,
which Avas warm and filled with floating particles
of sand.
The valley was seemingly very fertile — grass
was luxuriant and in many places as high as the

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 35
backs of the horses. Buffalo were plentiful, and
the deer and antelope could be seen at any and
all times iu some direction.
The Indians, as yet, had not put in an appear
ance, although the experienced scouts and guides,
which Avere with the expedition, claimed many
times that they could discover the outlines of their
heads craned up over the mounds upon the undu
lating section of the prairies, covertly watching
from a long distance the movements and location
of the troops, but deterred from hostile demonstra
tions by the vast number of the invaders of their
hunting ground.
The first occurrence of any special interest to
our hero was as follows :
A soldier of the command had stopped at one
of the ranches to purchase some milk or some
other little rarity so much prized by men living
upon the coarse fare of a soldier, when a mounted
officer came upon him and began cursing and
berating him, and finally capping the climax of
his brutal misuse of authority by beating him
soundly with the back of his sword, ordering him
to make haste and catch up with the command ;

136 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
while he, the officer, stopped to obtain his milk —
manufactured by the distillation of corn or some
other grain. The soldier obeyed his orders to the
letter, as far as " making haste to catch up with
the command," and obtaining his loaded gun, which
was being carried in his absence by a comrade, he
again fell back towards the rear of the column ;
as the officer came riding up, the soldier, when
within two paces of him, cocked his rifle and delib
erately aiming at his heart, pulled the trigger,
but the cap alone exploded, leaving the officer
unharmed. The soldier was instantly overpow
ered and disarmed by the rear guard ; and upon
recapping the gun and trying it the second time,
by the officers of the regiment, it fired at touch of
the trigger.
As soon as the camp was pitched for the day,
the man was placed in a small tent and a guard
stationed before and behind it, preparatory to the
trial and execution ; for a soldier of the United
States army cannot attack a commissioned officer
under penalty of death, as specified in the articles
of war. But, nevertheless, upon calling for the
prisoner the following morning, " lo and behold! "

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 37
the tent Avas empty, and its former occupant, i. <?.,
the prisoner, was never more seen by the members
of that command, and there were rumors afloat
in the regiment, that the prisoner carried away
with him a roll of " greenbacks," estimated at two
thousand dollars.
Ah ! those mystic links, what is impossible for
them in the cause of " Faith, Hope, and Charity."
As the troops marched over this broad and beau
tiful public domain, there seemed to be nothing,
apparently, to prevent the immediate selection of a
spot of land and the establishment of homes, by
those thousands of emigrants who Avere living upon
wheels and following up that expedition. But,
ah ! nothing, did I say ? The fresh, newly-made
graves, singly and in groups, which they were
hourly passing, by the side of that well worn
" trail," tell a sad story of that experiment. They
tell how the brave soldier, or how the lonely emi
grant, with his little family group, died, desperately
fighting overwhelming numbers of a merciless and
treacherous foe. They tell of the fiendish tortures
and mutilations of men and the outrage and cap
tivity of women and children.

138 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Foreigners who have sought homes in this coun
try, should ever bear in mind that every foot of
this great country, from Maine to California, has
been fought over many times, and a fearful price
in blood and suffering has been freely paid for it,
by the American nation, and they should show their
appreciation of the privileges granted the poor and
oppressed of the world, to be allowed to come and
obtain free homes and enjoy undisturbed civil and
religious liberty, by gladly contributing toward the
support of the government and the pensions of the
nation's defenders, who have given the best portion
of their lives to secure peace, prosperity and hap
piness to all the dwellers in the land, and they
should also gladly obey the laws of the land, and
work honestly and faithfully in the interests of
their employers. This is all of the liberty which
can be permitted with safety to good government.
The laborer is not greater than his master, even
in this land of freedom, and it is supremely ridicu
lous on his part to imagine such a thing. The
employer can never be forced to employ ; he can
shut up his factory or mill at any time, and button
up his pocket and retire from business, allowing

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 139
the laborer to starve in idleness. This is as free a
country for him as for the laborer.
America is the home of Americans, and Avhile
they are generously willing to share it with deserv
ing people from other climes, they do not especially
enjoy being crowded out or supplanted in it by an
inferior element from abroad.
At this present writing, nearly every office in
the large cities of this broad land, from policeman
to mayor, and also a large per cent, of the political
offices, are held by foreigners. It is quite natural
for the American to wonder where his place is.
And as a settler to this subject, the writer's
opinion is that it is unnecessary to import people
to hold offices and manage the affairs of the Amer
ican Nation. The writer asks pardon for this long
digression, but he has endured this friction, this
tendency to supersede and combine against Ameri
cans upon the public works, and even in the army,
by all classes of foreigners, until he considers it
high time that steps should be taken to eradicate
the evil and protect the American in his birth
right. Marching steadily forward, making from eight-

140 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
een to twenty miles per day, the expedition soon
began to enter the hill country which borders the
eastern slope of the Rocky mountains, and extra
precautions were taken to guard and care for the
stock, which drew the wagons and which were rid
den by the officers and some twenty-five or thirty
mounted infantry and scouts of the expedition,
from sudden attack and stampede by the wily sav
age foe, of whom the signs, as interpreted by the
scouts and guides, indicated to be ever on the alert
for an opportunity to strike a blow.
Their opportunity came one evening, after a hard
day's march, and very unexpectedly to the troops,
and the savages dreAV the first blood, in the follow
ing manner :
The commander had ordered that the animals
should not be generally and regularly herded each
day under the charge of a few men, as had been
the custom in the more open and level country,
but should only be herded and allowed to graze at
stated periods during the week, when camping
where grass was exceptionally good, and then they
were to be surrounded by a strong picket guard of
armed troops, to prevent being surprised by sudden

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 141
dashes of redskins ; and, as a matter of course,
upon such a long and tedious march, it would not
have been reasonable to have expected the troops
to have doiie daily herding, iu connection with
their other duties. And it was the custom for all
the men who were off duty, after the camp was
pitched, to throw themselves down and secure what
rest they could to enable them to endure the hard
ships of the following day, regardless of Indians,
rattlesnakes, ants, or any other of their many
lesser tormentors.
Now upon this afternoon in question, the camp
was quietly taking its regular siesta, when tAvo of
the soldiers, named respectively Fitzpatrick and
Staples, took a horse and cart and with scythes and
their guns, sallied forth to cut some grass for the
saddle stock of the command, the task being
entirely voluntary on their part; they being in
expectation of getting a shot at game of some kind
before their return, which was a sufficient induce
ment and in fact was esteemed a favor by them ;
they were especially charged to keep in sight of
the camp and near enough to obtain assistance if
needed.

142 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
They had been absent probably an hour, Avhen
one of the sentinels of the camp fired his gun and
gave the alarm of " Indians ! Indians ! turn out,
guards, turn out ! "
The entire command Avas under arms in a
moment of time, and then, gazing out on the
prairie fully a mile distant, they saw their venture
some comrades in the cart, with the horse headed
toAvard the encampment, coming at the top of his
speed and surrounded by a " SAvarm " of mounted
Indians. Their rifles Avere continually flashing,
and the reports of them coming in far-away echoes
to their comrades in arms at the encampment.
There Avas " mounting in hot haste " and sorties
were made on foot. Will they be reached in time ?
Every nerve is strained to its most extreme ten
sion in that unequal battle and race to the rescue.
The rifles flashed and cracked sharply, amid the
screeches of the " redskins " and the cheers and
shouts of the racing rescuers. It all depends
upon the noble, gallant, foam-flecked and bleed
ing horse, which is straining every fiber of his
frame in his unequal race in heavy harness and
unwieldy cart, which, in his leaps, he causes

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 143
to bound and plunge like a ship in an ocean storm.
If the faithful beast can hold that pace three min
utes more, they are saved.
But oh ! he reels ! another plunge, he rears high
in air and falls, with an arrow through his heart.
The cart is turned upon its side and it is instantly
surrounded by the hellish demons, and there,
almost in the presence of a hundred friends, and
in less time than it has taken you to read it, kind
reader, they Avere stripped of their clothing, mutil
ated iu a manner Avhich would emasculate them, if
alive, and their scalps were torn from their devoted
heads. A rattling volley from the guns of the breathless
rescuing party, drove the saA'ages from their bloody
task, but finished, alas ! too Avell ; not having
mounted men enough to folknv, and punish the
imps of satan, the party sadly and tenderly covered
those poor, naked, mutilated, gasping bodies with
their coats and, after having done their very best to
save them, only failing on account of the long dis
tance to traverse and the shortness of time allowed,
they bore them back to the camp, having received
their first bitter lesson in Indian warfare. Their

144 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
once gay and lighthearted friends, who had left the
camp but one short hour previous, cheerily prom
ising, " buffalo steaks for supper, boys," returned
 dead. Alas ! brave soldiers, the " headboards "
of your graves will be but another index finger
added to the many thousands, indicating the tide
of advancing civilization westward in the United
States. After having performed the last sad rites of
Christian burial in military form over their mur
dered comrades, the command once more resumed
its arduous march towards the setting sun.
Arriving at Julesburg, a small station on the
Platte, they crossed over the river and continued
on their journey, passing old Fort Laramie and
through the iioav famous Black Hills, in due time
arriving upon the ground where they proposed to
erect the new Fort Philip Kearney, which was situ
ated upon the waters of Clear creek, in the territory
of Dakota, being surrounded on all sides by high
hills and rough, broken country, with water and
timber in abundance of good quality and in near
proximity, and almost in the heart of the hunting

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 45
grounds of the bloody Sioux, Arapahoe and Chey
enne tribes.
Our hero's company and one other were selected
to go still farther into the savage Avilds, something
over a hundred miles distant, to erect another fort
to be called Fort C. F. Smith. The location
selected for it was at the base of the Big Horn
mountains and near the bank of the river of that
name, and within the southern boundary of the
territory of Montana.
While resting for the continuation of their jour
ney, and before the ones who were to remain and
build Fort Kearney had commenced operations,
the following incident occurred, proving the bad
judgment of the commander in selecting a Ioav,
narrow valley, surrounded by high hills on all
sides, as a location for a fort for offense and defense ;
and this selection had much to do with the disas
trous massacre which occurred at that place dur
ing the following winter, which was commented
upon and deplored throughout civilization at the
time. The incident we allude to occurred as follows :
The command being encamped in the valley

146 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
near the site of the proposed fort, were resting
securely from their long, hard march, and the
herds of horses and mules were scattered about
and around the encampment, cropping contentedly
the long, rich grass which everywhere abounded,
when suddenly and without a word of warning,
there Avas a rushing and trampling of horses' feet,
and a chorus of screeches and demoniac yells, as a
band of mounted savages burst upon the camp,
charging desperately through like a whirlwind and
taking every loose animal with them upon the run,
precisely as a strong blast of wind would gather
up and whisk away so many autumn leaves. The
nearness of the high bluffs and hills, previously
alluded to, permitted their stealthy approach, and
they came and were gone within the space of time
which it has taken to narrate it.
This unfortunate loss of stock occasioned some
little delay, until other draft animals could be pur
chased and forwarded from what Avere previously
the frontier posts ; which, however, had been left
far in the rear by the establishment of the head
quarters of this expedition. When the animals
came on, the two companies of infantry before-

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 147
mentioned as being assigned for the work, set for
ward with dispatch for the Avilds of the " Big
Horn," and Ave can truthfully say with consider
able apprehension for the result of the enterprise,
for the command Avas, to begin Avith, very much
too small for such a large undertaking — something
less than two hundred soldiers all told, exclusive
of teamsters and laborers, many of whom expected
to return to headquarters at the neAv Fort Kearney,
after this detached command should arrive at the
" Big Horn."
The season was by this time far spent, and the
supplies which were furnished this little band of
brave men were of poor quality and scanty enough,
the most and best of everything being kept at
headquarters, for the use of the superior officers
and their families.
After they had been on their new line of march
three or four days, they came into camp upon a
clear, beautiful little stream, in a very broken and
hilly section, and after camp Avas pitched and all
things in order for the night, some of the men
went bathing in the stream, others lounged around
upon the grass in the shade of trees, Avagons, etc.,

148 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
but our hero took his rod and gun, which was a
repeating rifle and private property, i. e., not a gov
ernment arm, and sauntered along down the stream,
fishing. The fish took the bait readily, and he
gracefully handed out Mr. and Mrs. speckled trout
with more rapidity and dexterity than Avas benefi
cial to the multiplication of the fish family in
question. The mules and horses at the camp, in the mean
time, were filling their capacious stomachs upon
the sweet fresh grass, " and all went merry as a
marriage bell."
Our hero Avandered along, without thinking of
any lurking danger until, in following the wind
ings of the stream, he found himself upon the
opposite side of a hill from the encampment, and
as the stream was thickly lined with a stunted
growth of bushes, it was not easy to discover him
at his quiet occupation.
Suddenly, there were shots and shouts at the
camp and vicinity, and before our hero could hardly
realize the situation, there was a large Sioux
Indian, mounted upon his pony, dashing over the
hills from the region of the camp, and when he

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 49
had the crest of the hill between himself and the
soldiers, he wheeled his horse about, and with his
back fair and open to our young soldier, sat peer
ing over at the horses and mules Avhich he coveted,
but had failed, as our hero aftenvards learned, to
obtain. Our hero loosened the strap of his rifle from his
shoulder where it was slung, and drawing back the
lever threw a cartridge into position, dropped the
gun doAvn into the fork of a bush, took aim full at
the small of the Indian's back, and then  hesi
tated on account of the risk of being cut off from
camp ; however, depending upon the excellence
and superiority of his repeater, he fired. The
Indian fell forward upon his horse's neck, which
clashed away at the top of his speed over the hills
and out of view. The Indians invariably tie them
selves to their horses to keep their enemies from
getting their bodies when slain or badly Avounded.
And once more our young soldier complimented
himself upon at least giving an enemy of his coun
try a bad spell of sickness, if nothing more. He
made his way safely to camp, saying nothing of
the occurrence to any one.

150 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Our hero learned that, owing to the courage and
determination of the Avagon master, Avho stub
bornly remained Avith the animals, keeping them
under control and whipping them into corral —
which Avas a circle of covered Avagons Avith chains
from one to the other, with an opening for the ani
mals to go in and out — the Indians failed in their
enterprise. There were no soldiers hurt or any
stock lost. Ever aftenvards while grazing, the
animals' feet Avere chained so that they could not
run. Breaking camp upon the following morning, the
small command, none the Avorse for their little
experience of the previous evening, but with light
hearts and reneAved caution, took up their line of
march for the Big Horn. They passed through
herds of buffalo, which were so numerous that they
did not seem to have any more fear thaii domes
tic animals ; and, indeed, at one time it became
necessary to deploy the troops upon either side of
the wagon train as flankers to prevent them from
running through the train and perhaps overthrow
ing the teams of mules. The only dog in the
command — Fannie, by name — Avas the cause of

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 151
this, hoAvever, as she ran out among the feeding
bison and, selecting a young calf, kept persistently
after it until, in sheer desperation and fright, it
ran through between the wagons ; and but for the
prompt military movement mentioned, the whole
herd of several thousand Avould no doubt have fol
lowed it, for they ranged up in line like soldiers,
facing the wagon train, giving a stupid, angry
stare, with much snorting and paAving of the earth,
with shaking of heads in disapproval of the con
duct of the dog, which, however, was restrained as
soon as possible, and peace with the wild denizens
of that primeval locality was duly restored.
At length, after several days of severe marching,
the high bluffs overlooking the valley of the Big
Horn were reached, and a view was afforded of the
locality to reach Avhich Avas to end the marching
of the command, and inaugurate toils and priva
tions of a still more trying character. The valley
seemed to be about two miles in width, with the
toAvering peaks of the Big Horn mountains stand
ing in awe-inspiring majesty at the head of it ;
with the river issuing from its protecting shadow,
through a mighty rugged walled cleft or canyon,

152 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
and then flowing peacefully upon its course,
taking nearly the center of the valley and shim
mering like a stream of silver in the sunlit dis
tance. The river was skirted with thrifty cotton
woods, furnishing ample shade for the myriads of
buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, which could be seen
in the distance, moving in lines and patches, like*
cloud shadows over the beautiful green landscape,
between the lines of bluffs or foothills, which
skirted the valley on either side.
After some delay and difficulty in getting the
heavily loaded wagons down from the rugged bluffs
into the valley beloAV, a march of eight miles
further brought the little expedition upon the
ground chosen for the erection of Fort C. F. Smith
in Montana territory. The wagons were unloaded
and all those, except the ones especially belonging
to and assigned for the use of the troops in build
ing the neAv fortification, were returned back to
headquarters. A spot Avas selected upon the point of a large
plateau of land near the river and which might be
designated as the second bank of the same, for the
fort — a place which the savages could not approach,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 153
within a mile, from any point of the compass, with
out being discovered. A good strong spring of
pure cold water, sufficient for the use of the garri
son, was conveniently near, and the river, two or
three hundred yards away, furnished Avater for the
animals. Volunteers were called for to perform the labors
of digging trenches, cutting logs, etc., for the new
fort, at extra wages of forty cents per day, for the
winter was not far distant and in that section is
very inclement ; the snow in some places being
from six to twelve feet deep on the level and the
thermometer registering forty-one degrees below
zero — the guard having to be relieved every half
hour during the night through the coldest winter
weather. Our hero wisely concluded that as he never had
up to that time done any Avork in his life, he should
prefer bullets to blisters and so elected to do his
soldier duty of guarding and fighting ; the ones
who worked being excused from military duty of
all kinds, except, of course, iu case of a regular
general assault requiring the full available force
to resist it ; and there were enough volunteer labor-

154 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ers so that it was not necessary to compel any one
against his will.
A trench was dug about three hundred feet
square, tAvo feet wide and three feet deep ; and
while this was being done, a party was sent to the
mountain each day to cut pine logs ten or twelve
feet long, to stand upon end in it, tomake a palisade
or wooden wall all the way around the square —
these logs having been placed in the trench with
the earth packed securely around them. At the
southeast and northwest corners of this enclosure
were little places built out like the bay windows of
a house, to receive the two small cannon which they
brought with them ; port-holes were made through
the Avail or stockade, so that each cannon could
rake tAvo walls on the outside, in case of assault.
Log quarters or houses were built on the inside of
this stockade for the two companies of soldiers and
their officers. A flagstaff was planted in the center
of the enclosure, the flag was hoisted at sunrise and
hauled down at sunset daily, accompanied by the
sound of drums beating, and morning and evening
salutes of a single cannon shot, which certainly
startled the natives.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 55
And now, dear reader, you have a faithful
description of Fort C. F. Smith, Montana territory.
This fort was within the hunting grounds of the
Crow tribe of Indians, who were reputed to be
friendly to the white man ; but up to this time,
only a few small parties of them had visited the
fort, and their appearance was anything but
friendly, although their " How ! how ! " which was
the limit of their English, and that, accompanied
Avith a shake of their very dirty paAvs, Avent Avith
them for a hearty welcome to their country, as well
as a friendly greeting.
They Avere watched very closely, and no tempta
tions to take advantage, Avere ever held out to
them, but they were such scientific beggars that
they invariably made their visits profitable among
the generous hearted soldiers, particularly if their
party was well supplied Avith squaAvs, for the gal
lant fellows could hardly refuse a woman anything,
because, as one of them remarked, " My mother
was a woman." But our hero failed to discover the
missing link between his mother and an Indian
squaw. The conspicuous absence of their chiefs and lead-

156 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ing men of the tribe, up to this time, caused the
post commander, Brevet Lieut.-Col. Kinney, some
uneasiness, and he determined to send an invita
tion by an interpreter, to the tribe to come in for a
" big talk." The scout and interpreter, avIio was
to be sent, was James Beckwourth, a mulatto, who
claimed a residence in St. Louis, Mo., but who had
been on the frontier from boyhood, and had at one
time been a chief in the Ctoav tribe of Indians,
spending many years of his life with them, but
had left them " under a cloud," on account of a
superstition of the Indians to the effect that he
was responsible for the outbreaking of a loathsome
disease among them, which decimated the tribe
fearfully, and he was compelled to flee for his life,
never haAdng renewed his relations with them up
to the time of which we write. He realized the
risk he Avas taking and was offered a detachment
of soldiers as an escort by Colonel Kinney, but as
he possessed an intimate knowledge of Indian
character, he explained that if the Indians were
determined to slay him, they would do it if he
should be accompanied by a thousand men, and as
he Avas then old and infirm, he asked to be

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 157
allowed to select one soldier to bear him company,
which request Avas granted. He chose James W.
Thompson, a private of company D, Twenty-
seventh U. S. infantry, whose native home was
Parkersburg, West Virginia.
They Avere accordingly mounted upon two of the
best horses which the command afforded, and they
set out for the principal village of the tribe, which
BeckAvourth had beeu informed, by the visiting par
ties at the fort, was located on a small stream
called " Prior," an old familiar hunting ground to
him. After some days of traveling, Beckwourth was
taken severely ill, and he caused Thompson to
provide wood and Avater in sufficient nearness to be
convenient for his use, and then sent him forward
upon their mission alone.
After another day of severe riding, Thompson
arrived at the Indian encampment. Having no
knowledge of their language, he succeeded by
signs and by the use of Beckwourth's Indian name,
which Avas Eetsedacarsha, meaning, in English,
the antelope, to induce them to accompany him
back to where he had left the decrepit scout.

158 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
This title of the antelope Beckwourth gained in
his young manhood, while living Avith the " Ctoavs,"
by performing the almost incredible feat of run
ning on foot, Avhile being hotly pursued by a band
of mounted hostile Sioux, a distance of ninety
miles in one day, winding up the race by plunging
into the " Big Horn " river and swimming under
a pile of drift wood and remaining there until
given up for drowned by his pursuers. As miracu
lous and inconsistent as this may seem, the Avriter
saw the bursted and ruptured veins in the limbs of
the old plainsman, which he claimed to have
acquired upon that occasion, and among all of the
old scouts and frontiersmen of his day and time
who kneAv him, and also of the Indians among
whom he lived, there Avere none avIio discredited the
truth of this incident.
Upon the arrival of Thompson with the relief
party of Indians at the place where he had left the
once famous scout, they found him lying in the
same position in which Thompson had left him,
but his immortal spirit had winged its flight to the
far beyond, to receive judgment iu the last day.
The Indians were deeply grieved, and if they

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 59
had cherished any animosity, it seemed that they
considered an atonement had been made, and
they painted themselves with black and mourned
bitterly, iu their oavii savage fashion ; much to
Thompson's discomfort. They gave Beckwourth's
remains a funeral in accordance Avith the dignity
and honors of a chief of their tribe, which consisted
of much hacking of the flesh of their own bodies
with knives, accompanied by frantic leaping, and
tearing of their hair, at the same time uttering the
long, wailing howl of the wolf and the shrill
screams of the panther.
They tried to induce Thompson to join in the
ceremonies, at least to the extent of having a finger
or two hacked off, as a testimonial of grief; but he
very strenuously objected, preferring that his part
should be done by proxy. They Avouud up the
entertainment by Avrappiug the body in a large
buffalo robe, lashing it firmly Avith raAvhide
thougs. Then, after having constructed a platform
up in the branches of a large tree, they hoisted
all that remained of the poor old scout upon it,
and securing it firmly there, took Thompson and
returned to their village.

160 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
After the tribe had obtained its winter supply of
dried venison and buffalo meat, which was their
employment at the time of Thompson's arrival
among them, they resolved to accept the invitation
of Colonel Kinney in a body.
After Thompson and Beckwourth had been
absent from the garrison, upon their mission, two
weeks or more, and had been given up for lost,
there was an alarm of " Indians ! Indians ! "
which called the post to arms, and there upon the
opposite side of the river could be seen a band of
horsemen, coming over and down the bluffs into
the A^alley, nearly opposite the fort. One band of
horsemen was not great cause for alarm ; but
before it had got well out from the shadow of the
hills and commenced to cross the intervening space
between them and the fort, there seemed to be a
never-ending stream pouring over the hills at the
same point and down into the valley behind them.
This continued until the first party had reached
the bank of the river and for hours afterward.
The commandant and the interpreter, James
Bridger — for whom old Fort Bridger was named —
with a small party of officers and soldiers, repaired

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. l6l
to the river, there to discover, upon the opposite
side, Thompson with the head chiefs of the Crow
tribe. They were invited to cross, which they did,
and Thompson and the chieftains, the latter of
whom were decorated from "top to toe" with
feathers, beads, and ornaments of shells and brass,
proceeded to the fort with the officers. Then began
the encamping of the tribe, as fast as it came in,
upon the opposite bank of the stream.
A village is divided into families, and each fam
ily has a lodge or tent of skins ; they also have
their private horses and dogs in abundance. The
war horses of the male members of the family are
driven loosely, without loads, by the boys and
squaws, and the others are compelled to carry them
and their belongings of food, furs and camp equip
age. The first thing on coming upon the ground
where the village is to be erected, the poles for the
lodge are unlashed from either side of the horses,
where they have been dragging, by means of a
stout leathern thong through the top end of each ;
and the tent-like covering of skins is unstrapped
and unrolled ready for use ; then two squaws lash
two poles together near the top and spread them

1 62 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
at the bottom until they somewhat resemble the
letter x, with the cross near the top ; they then
hold them upright until other squaws brace them,
by tying other poles in the top of the cross, around
on every side, until the structure resembles the ribs
of a round basket ; then the covering of skins is
taken by the squaws and, by poles fastened at two
corners upon the same side, is pushed up to the
proper height upon the frame-work of poles, lap
ping tight at the top, with an aperture for the
passage of smoke ; these tAvo latter mentioned poles
are then stuck into the ground and allowed to rest
against the lodge. The bottom is then drawn in
snugly around and fastened with wooden pins, leav
ing a hole for an entrance, which is covered by a
movable wolf or bear skin.
Twelve hundred of these structures were erected
upon the bank of that stream, within sight of the
little garrison of less than two hundred men, upon
that afternoon. And it goes without saying that
the whites were not a little anxious that the Indir
aus should be pleasantly entertained and a satisr
factory treaty be made with them for the occupancy
of their hunting grounds. ,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 163
After the chieftains had been in conference some
little time with the officers of the garrison, they
Avithdrew, and before night had their lodges and
families brought over the river and encamped under
neath the walls of the fortress — showing thereby
their confidence in the honesty and good faith of
the white men. The village remained upon the
other side and its herds of horses filled the valley
as far as the eye could discern an object of that
nature. The chieftains and their families were
entertained by the officers and soldiers of the gar
rison, and the courtesies were reciprocated by the
Indians in the most primeval fashion, and were
truly consistent with their limited physical and
moral training.
The Indians were not monogamists, and among
the fifteen or twenty lodges of the chiefs' encamp
ment at the fort, there were about a hundred and
fifty of the fair sex — young and old — which gave
the gallant soldiers ample opportunity to acquire
the society usages of the elite of the Crow nation ;
and we are safe in saying they were highly edified.
Indians have three methods of obtaining Avives.
One of them is by conquest, one by adoption, in

164 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
case of a woman having no male relatives to hunt
for her — game being the main dependence for food
—and lastly, by purchase, paying the woman's par
ents or guardians a certain number of horses for
the privilege of having her to wife ; there being no
limit in regard to the number of wives allowed to
each brave. The young women are generally
favored, and are the rulers of the lodge, the older
ones doing the drudgery of carrying the wood and
water, dressing skins, etc. The male avocations
being to hunt and make war, and to assist in the
councils of the nation.
After the legislative duties of the tribe, in rela
tion to the treaty, had been performed, the major
part of it broke up into small bands and disposed
themselves about over their domain, among the val
leys and favorite haunts of the game, for the win
ter, the chiefs and some of the more prominent
braves remaining encamped near the fort almost
the entire winter, and with all their professions of
amity, and their full and free permission to abide
upon their lands, the mail parties en route to Fort
Philip Kearney, were constantly attacked and har-
rassed, claimed by them (the Crows) , however, to
be the work of the Sioux.

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 165

CHAPTER VIII.
,.„ 1? „ INTER set in upon the scene with all
l|lMllI§ °f tne customary rigors to Avhich the
s^M^ locality mentioned is subject. The
4> regular monthly trips of the mail
parties to Fort Philip Kearney were discontinued
until such times as the weather should moderate
enough to admit of camping out with the light
baggage, which is customary with troops and
escorts required to move rapidly, and the officers
and men of the command settled down resignedly
to the business of keeping vigilant guard over the
post and its environments, watching the insinuat
ing friendly (?) Crows, quite as much as though
there had been no treaty ratified with them, and
doing their best under the unfavorable circun-
stances, to render themselves comfortable. It was
a very trying situation to be placed in. They did
not like to drive away the visiting Crows and con-

1 66 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
vert them into positive enemies by so doing, and
they did not, by any means, feel sure of their
friendship. This sentiment was highly intensified
a short time after the holidays, by the advent of
some Indian runners. The white men knew not
whether they were the professedly friendly Crows
or the hostile Sioux, as it was understood that the
hostile Sioux had actually been inside of the gar
rison, and were not betrayed by the Crows. At
any rate, they brought neAvs of a " big fight " at
Fort Philip Kearney, with great slaughter to both
the Indians and soldiers. They signified that
there Avas much weeping in the Sioux lodges, which,
of course, was the most gratifying part of the story
to the garrison of Fort Smith.
After this the guards were doubled, and there
were no Indians allowed to enter the stockade,
unless a few individual visitors, who were vouched
for by the chiefs. The rations were getting low,
and matters were looking very gloomy. There
Avas no way of obtaining news from the outside
world, and the officers caused a bulletin board to
be erected in a public place in the barrack square,
and upon this they would daily post clippings from

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 167
bid newspapers, which they happened to have in
their baggage; this served to break the dull,
gloomy monotony which seemed to pervade every
thing, and iu some measure to distract their atten
tion from their desperate situation. The siioav was
very deep and the weather remained bitter cold ;
the rations gave entirely out, and they were com
pelled to take the grain Avhich was brought for the
animals and boil it to make food with which to
sustain the lives of the garrison.
At this time the Indians seemed to be faring
much better than their white entertainers, for they
received their full share of the horse feed, as used
by the garrison, and in addition they secured rab
bits and other small game, which the white men
could only succeed in capturing semi-occasionally,
and if compelled to depend wholly upon food
obtained in the chase, they would have fared plain
enough, for the soldiers unanimously agreed that
rabbit tracks did not make good soup ; and there
was where the Indian exhibited his superiority —
the white mau could find the tracks, but the
Indian could find the rabbit ; and it would be a
person of very limited comprehension, indeed, who

1 68 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
could not determine which had the better soup for
his dinner.
During this period of distress and suffering, for
lack of the necessities of life, at the garrison, our
hero received an invitation from the great chief of
the Crow tribe to dine Avith himself and family,
which, after having received the sanction of the
commanding officer, he accepted with alacrity,
declaring, boastfully, to his comrades, that " He
should have the extreme felicity of filling himself
once more with meat — venison, perhaps — but in
the absence from the larder of the larger and fatter
varieties of game, rabbits would answer, and would
be very nice, if there were only enough of them."
The chief, whose name was Tsedapoomatah, or
in English " Iron Bull," led the way, smilingly,
out of the fort with our hero at his heels, and after
a five minutes' walk arrived at the wigwam of the
big chief, as he styled himself Their arrival was
not unannounced, by any means ; we do not mean
to convey the impression that the band played, or
that there Avas an apotheosis of our hero by the
people, for it was a bitter cold day, and there was
not a person belonging to the tribe in sight ; but

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 69
the chief aud his friend, our hero, were announced
by about forty dogs of the most vicious species
(they being over half wolf ) it had ever been his
lot to encounter ; he certainly would have been
torn in pieces but for the vigorous activity of the
chief, avIio slashed them with his heavy bow and
finally Avith the flat side of his tomahawk, sending
them rolling right and left until, tiring of the enter
tainment, they, howlingly, ran out of reach.
Having settled the preliminaries of their
approach, the chief drew the bear skin from over
the entrance to his lodge, and pushed our hero
through the hole, and, at the same instant h'is heels
came in contact with some reserve fuel for the fire,
which was burning in the center of the place, and
he was precipitated spraAvling upon the broad of
his back upon the ground on the interior. This
act was hailed with unstinted applause by the
females and children of the family, and he scram
bled to his feet amid shouts of " Itsick ! Itsick !
meaning good, good, and laughter immoderate.
Having some knowledge of their language, and
feeling somewhat hurt by their laughter as well as
by the fall, he set them off screaming once more

170 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
by saying soberly, " Barrett, barrett itsick ! "
meaning, no, it is not good.
After the people had recovered from their merri
ment at our hero's mischance, and his eyes had
become accustomed to the dim light of the fire, he
improved his opportunity to take items of his
surroundings. From the appearance of the numerous females,
it was evident that the big chief considered that it
was necessary to divide his greatness, and not over
burden a single individual with too much " big
chief," and our hero, looking upon the reverse side,
thought that it was a case of " too much of a good
thing being Avorse than none." The laughing
squaws seemed to be aged from eleven years up to
a century and, possibly, with another half added in
the case of some of them. They sat upon robes
and furs all around the lodge, close up against it,
leaving room for a passage between them and the
fire, there being nothing in their code of etiquette
against such an act. There was an earthen vessel
upon the fire, which emitted a savory odor, which
our hero understood to contain the dinner. The
old warrior filled the head of his tomahawk, which

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 171
was hollowed out like the bowl of a pipe, with
tobacco, lighted it, and proceeded to smoke, draw
ing the smoke through the handle, which was per
forated like a pipe stem, sharing every alternate
whiff Avith his visitor, which proceeding was called
at the garrison " smoking Indian." Now, this was
a treat, indeed, to our friend, for the garrison had
been out of tobacco for some weeks, the Indians
having begged so pertinaciously that they had
become the sole proprietors of the stock of tobacco
in the vicinity.
After the smoking performance Avas concluded,
with all due ceremony and gravity, the chief com
manded the dinner to be served. Our hero being
the honored guest, was given his share in an old
castaway oyster can, Avhich had been obtained from
the fort. This was done, no doubt, in deference to
the custom which they saw prevailing among the
soldiers of the garrison, of each man receiving
his share in his own can. This was not Crow
etiquette, as our hero soon ascertained ; for upon
delivering to him his share, the squaw iu charge
went out and brought in a large lump of snow,
and began dropping it into the vessel, until the

172 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
mixture was sufficiently cool ; she then inserted
her hand into it, and scooping a handful into her
mouth, passed it to the next, who did likewise,
and so it went around until all had partaken and
the dish was emptied. He tried hard not to notice
the great ridges of dirt which were between the
fingers of each of the Crow ladies (!) and partially
succeeded in so doing ; to the extent, at any rate,
of swallowing his own portion. After having
accomplished the mighty task, and wishing to
divert his thoughts by a conversation with his
host, he pointed to the dish and asked : " Besha ?"
meaning to inquire if it was buffalo.
The. chief shook his head and answered, "Bar
rett," meaning no.
The young soldier ventured again, " Eetseda
carsha ? " meaning to inquire if they had been
eating antelope.
The chief again shook a negative, then throwing
back his head and puffing out his cheeks, at the
same time pointing out through the entrance of
the lodge, he made these sounds, " Bow-wow ! bow
wow ! bow-wow."
This was explicit enough for the young soldier,

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 173
and we blush for his etiquette, but the truth in this
instance must be told; he caught up the oyster can,
which had served for a dinner plate, held it to his
mouth and it was soon full and running over with
the recently swallowed dinner, and a portion, also,
of the scanty breakfast which he had partaken of
at the fort, thrown in along with it by way of good
measure. He then realized for the first time the true
significance of the first line of the poem so often
quoted in Indian affairs :
" Lo ! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind,"
and he immediately supplied a line for its fellow :
" In case of need, enjoys dog soup as well as any kind."
As soon as his rebellious stomach had ceased its
pranks, he was suddenly seized by a half dozen or
so of the chief's wives, who, in utter disregard of
his frantic struggels of resistance, began to disrobe
him, while others prepared him a bed of furs,
believing him to be dangerously ill, as no Indian
was ever known by them to make such a demon
stration on account of disgust for quality or man
ner of preparing food.
Having resisted until compelled to desist, from
exhaustion, with mortification and anger he lay

174 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
quiet, and watched them place his clothes, after
critically examining their texture and construction,
in a safe and remote part of their lodge ; then he
wondered what was next on the program. He had
not long ' to wait for developments ; an old woman
soon came forward with a large, hot stone, wrapped
in a tanned buckskin and placed it at his feet, and
another one brought some kind of a decoction of
herbs, which she forced him to drink. By this
time he was sick enough, and was soon in a pro
fuse perspiration, which was followed by a deep
sleep, Avhich lasted till the following morning.
Upon awakening, he signed to the chief for his
clothes, which were good naturedly given him ;
and he immediately, after donning them, struck a
bee line for the fort ; the chief going to the confines
of the village with him, to keep off the dogs. Our
friend felt weak and debilitated enough to compare
with any one who had really attended an elaborate
wine supper, such as is usually given in bon ton
society ; and it is hardly worth while to state that
an account of his entertainment was not given to
his comrades.
The Indians, becoming tired of the white man's

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 75
diet of horse feed, took their departure as soon as
the departing winter would permit them ; and the
little garrison was once more enduring its priva
tions unaided. But word came that there Avas a
relief train en route, and that it would come on as
soon as the snow barriers would permit.
In due time it came. As soon as the wagons
were sighted coming over and down the high bluffs
into the valley, eight miles from the fort, many of the
troops hastened to go out and meet them ; and we
Avill venture to state that there never were as many
chews of tobacco given away in the same length of
time in the history of the world. Although they
were all suffering from a dearth of bread, tobacco
was invariably the first request. Every driver of
the train, and every soldier of the guard, Avas solic
ited until, positively, they had no more about their
persons to bestow. But there was an ample supply
in the wagons.
The garrison was overjoyed to be placed upon
full rations of good food once more, but were sad
dened to hear the particulars of the great massacre
of their comrades at Fort Philip Kearney, which
confirmed the report previously alluded to.

176 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
There has been a book written in relation to it,
therefore we will content ourselves with the state
ment that there were ninety-one officers and sol
diers, who went out from the fort to give the Indi
ans battle ; they were led into an ambush of many
thousands of them, and not one was left to tell the
tale ; they were shockingly mutilated — one soldier
fought so desperately that when his body was
found there were one hundred and sixty-five arrows
sticking in it. This occurred in the month of
December, 1866.
After the train had unloaded and departed, the
Indians again returned to share the hospitality of
the white men, and Iron Bull, Avith some thirty or
forty of his braves and their families, had a good
time eating and drinking for a number of days.
One day during their sojourn, there was a band
of fifty or seventy-five Indians appeared out upon
the plateau, near the fort, and seemingly were not
disposed to come in, but kept hovering around sus
piciously. Colonel Kinney examined them atten
tively through a field glass, and then permitted
Iron Bull to do likeAvise ; the chief instantly pro
nounced them to be the hostile Sioux, and requested

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 77
permission from Colonel Kinney to allow him to
go out and fight them, which the colonel cordially
granted. The little band of Crows hastily mounted
and rode out within arrow shot, aud then began a
parley ; a war of words and abuse followed. The
soldiers lined the Avails of the fort under arms, and
prepared themselves against a surprise, at the same
time eager to see the fight. The Indians shouted
and gesticulated in an amusing manner for some
little time ; at length each baud, in a twinkling,
arrange themselves into a circle, riding furiously,
one following another iu an endless chain, look
ing like two large moving wheels with their edges
together, the warriors of each band lying along
their horses, on the opposite side from his enemy,
which they Avere enabled to do by braiding the
mane of their ponies so that it formed a loop,
through which the rider thrust one arm in such
a manner that the bow could be used to discharge
arrows underneath the neck of the horse at the
respective enemy, the leg being kept in place upon
the back of the pony by a strong hair rope, which
encircled its body. As soon as the order of battle
was arranged, the arrows began to fill the air, each

178 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
warrior being careful not to hit the horse of his
enemy — for they understood that it would be use
ful to either side after the battle.
This spectacle had endured some ten or fifteen
minutes when Iron Bull, arising to a bold, upright
position upon his pony, rode bravely at the Sioux
chieftain, and with lasso in hand skilfully threw
the noose of it over the head and tightened it
around the neck of his foe ; then suddenly wheel
ing, rode for the fort, dragging the unlucky Sioux
over the ground at the heels of his horse in a rapid
rate. This practically ended the battle, and the
Sioux retired, in a demoralized condition.
The Crows screamed and howled in exultant joy
their delight of victory ; they surrounded their
prisoner, who soon recovered consciousness amid
his wrangling enemies, who had condemned him
to death, and were then striving to determine the
manner productive of the most pleasure to them in
its execution. There was so much disputing and
disagreement among them — each one Avith a favor
ite scheme for exquisite torture — that Iron Bull,
ageeeable to the report of the interpreter of the
proceedings, settled the matter in the following

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 179
speech : " The prisoner is a squaw, and unworthy
to die by the hands of such brave warriors as we
are ; consequently he shall be turned over to the
tender hands of the women, who shall mete out to
him such punishment as they, in their weakness,
can devise, aud the brave warriors shall be the
spectators ; and an invitation shall also be extended
to the white chief and his soldiers to witness the

ceremonies."

This invitation was of course refused on the
part of the commandant, Avho tried unavailingly
to induce them to release their prisoner, with whom
they soon retired to their camp.
Our hero, having a great curiosity to learn the
fate of the unlucky Sioux, and having no feeling
of affection for them in his bosom — the late mas
sacre of his comrades at Fort Phil. Kearney was
too fresh in his mind for that — determined, orders
to the contrary notwithstanding, to witness the
spectacle, which he could conveniently do ; as we
have seen heretofore, that he Avas on such terms of
social intimacy with the chief as to be even wel
comed at his table; accordingly he slipped out
unobserved from the garrison and repaired to the

180 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Crow encampment, arriving just at the opening of
the first act.
The tribe was assembled in a level flat of land,
from which arose abruptly a high, rocky cliff. The
squaws, with their prisoner, were in this flat, the
poor wretch in the center, and the tormentors in a
circle around.
The chief's warriors and children lined the cliff,
from which they could obtain a full view of the
entertainment. There was a small fire burning
near. The prisoner was entirely nude. A large
strong rawhide rope was about his neck, with four
or five squaws swinging to the opposite end. Occa
sionally they would jerk the poor wretch to his
knees or flat on the ground, and then he would
be encouraged to rise by a Avoman running up with
a piece of bark laden with hot ashes and coals of
fire, which she would place upon his reclining
body ; no sooner would he regain his feet, than he
would be jerked this way, that way, slapped, beaten
and kicked ; burning fire brands were thrust into
his ears, and, in fact, outrages too shocking and
horrible to narrate, were perpetrated. This treat
ment was prolonged until, thinking that death

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. l8l
would soon relieve the poor victim from their
hellish cruelty, they begau dismembering him ;
cutting off his toes, fingers, ears and nose ; no part
of the miserable being's human anatomy escaped
their horrible attentions, and they were constantly
encouraged and directed to greater cruelties by the
warriors and children.
Our hero, having been trained from boyhood
among scenes of war and bloodshed, found that
this was too much even for him, and Avith a feeling
of sickening faintness, he rushed from the spot and
returned to the garrison. Not long aftenvards, a
party of Avarriors came riding up, dragging the
armless, limbless trunk of the poor prisoner, by
means of the rope which was still fastened around
his neck. The commandant, shocked and dis
gusted, drove them from the place.

1 82 LIFE AND ADVENTURES

CHAPTER IX.
ij'E have one more incident to relate in

W.VA»,>

^^'ji^KM t^ie ^e °^ ^ie drummer-boy, and then
^-::''.;!,';,v we will draw the narrative to a close.
;£ The friendly (?) Crows had again
departed for their favorite hunting grounds, and a
large train of supplies and machinery had arrived,
unloaded and gone. Among other kinds of machin
ery and tools, there were a number of mowers, for
cutting hay for the winter use of the fort. Con
tracts had been let for the work of " putting up
the hay," and a camp of citizen hay-makers had
been established down on the bank of the river,
about a mile and a half from the fort, and just
screened from view of it by a grove of trees which
grew in a bend of the river at that point. This
camp had been furnished with a guard of twenty-
one soldiers, with proper officers, being a detach
ment from the garrison. The train just men-

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 83
tioned, had brought a supply of breech-loading
arms for the soldiers, which had been duly issued
to them in lieu of their old-fashioued muzzle
loaders. The mowers rattled on for some time without
interruption, and there had been a quantity of hay
cut, aud the boxes had been taken off from the
wagons and placed upon the ground in a circle
around the camp, they being replaced upon the
Avagons by racks, for the drawing of the hay.
While these arrangements had been progressing,
the soldiers had been lounging around the encamp
ment, playing cards, wrestling, pitching horse
shoes in lieu of quoits, and striving to pass time
pleasantly, as soldiers usually do at remote stations
where their is no society aside from their owu.
Upon the day of which we write, the following
conversation was held at the camp among them in
reference to their estimation of the value of their
new breech-loading arms :
First private — "Sergeant, how many Indians
do you think our squad here, could lick with these
ere new guns of ours ? "
Sergeant — " We can wallop the devil out of all

184 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the Indians that could stand between here and that
hill " (which was about three hundred yards
distant). Second private — " By jinks, I should like to try
them a crack," sighting over his rifle and then
resuming, " I have an idea that I could make some
of them scratch where they didn't itch."
Third private — "So cud I, aisy enough, be
jabers; fur it wud be on the ground that they'd
be afther scratchin."
Fourth private — "Be the houly Saint Patrick,
an it is right ye are, me jewel, and it's mesilf that
cud give thim divils something that they'd not
pick aAvay with their fingers."
Sergeant — " Well, bo}^, we shall have no such
good luck, I fear, for, damn them, they won't fight
fair, and they never come when you are ready for
them. But now I think of it, some of you loosen
the screws in the lids of those ammunition boxes,
so that if we do need them, we can get at them
quick. I am of the opinion that if they come and
stay long enough to have those five thousand
rounds pumped into them, there will be a number
of them in need of the doctor."

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 185
Fourth private — " An be the same token, there
will be a pile of them that divil a docther wud be
ony good to."
The sergeant wound up, musingly, with the
remark, " I wish that 'boss ' haymaker had taken
this grass up from around the camp here, as I
requested him to do — a fire here would play the
devil with us."
The boys, as soldiers are always called, had not
finished this conversation above a half hour, wheu
shots Avere heard down the valley, where the mow
ers were at work, and the machines began coming
into the camp helter skelter, their mule teams on a
gallop ; they were followed by a band of Indians,
who occasionally fired a shot at them, Avith the
only effect to make them more expeditious in get
ting to the soldiers at the encampment.
The soldiers, as we have seen, were eager for a
fight and were not long in getting in shape for it.
A few shots were fired by them at the Indians at
long range, but seemingly without effect. Some of
the hot-headed ones wished to follow them, and
give them battle. This, it subsequently appeared,
was precisely what the Indians wished them to do.

1 86 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
But the sergeant, who was the right man in the
right place, had profitted by the lesson which the
Indians taught in the recent massacre at Fort
Philip Kearney, and refused point blank to stir
from the encampment, but, wisely, set the citizens
to work with picks and shovels to fortify it, by dig
ging a trench around on the inside of the circle of
Avagon boxes, and throwing the dirt from the
trench into them, rendering them a substantial pro
tection from bullets, and that was the salvation of
the little band.
When the savages saw that it was useless to try
to draw the soldiers out after them, they began
congregating in great numbers in sight of the
devoted little party, and it was clear that they
intended to make an attack. The chief har
angued them at considerable length ; and their
squaws and children were brought in sight upon
the bluffs, beyond rifle range, to see their warriors
kill the white men.
Suddenly a band of five or six hundred of them
assembled and rode, yelling and whooping, doAvn
upon the little fortified camp. They received a
close, regular, sweeping volley, and circled away ;

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 187
their ranks were then joined by nearly twice as
many more and, thinking to reach the little band
before they could reload their guns, they rode furi
ously upon them. Then, indeed, the battle was
properly on. The little camp was one steady,
continuous circle of fire from the breech loaders ;
the rattle and roar of them in the hands of those
few regulars was as steady and continuous as the
rumbling of a mill, or the hum of machinery.
The soldiers were delighted. The Indians, sur
prised and dumbfounded, scattered in all directions.
Seeing that nothing could be done by direct assault,
they got around to the windward and set fire to the
hay. The flames started, leaping and racing at a
frightful speed, for the apparently doomed encamp
ment of soldiers. They never once slackened their
fire, as they knew it was death to surrender, and
they determined to fight as long as there Avas a
man to pull a trigger.
Our hero, who Avas on the right of the circle near
the river, frequently dipped his gun into the Avater
to cool its heated breech block.
The fire came on in rolling billows, like the
waves of the ocean, the Indians whooping behind

1 88 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
it. When it arrived within twenty feet of the bar
ricade it stopped, as though arrested by supernat
ural power. The flames arose to a perpendicular
height of at least forty feet, made one or two undu
lating movements, and were extinguished with a
spanking slap, like the flapping sound of a heavy
canvas in a hard gale ; the wind, the succeeding
instant, carried the smoke of the smoldering grass
away from the providentially saved encampment,
into the faces of the attacking Indians, who
improved the opportunity, under cover of it, to
carry away their dead and wounded.
There was one body which they could not get,
as it Avas too close to the camp for them to venture ;
this was the body of an Indian, who had actually
craAvled up to the wagon-box containing the pro
visions of the party,, and had abstracted therefrom
a mess-pan full of molasses, during the battle.
He Avas seen by a teamster, who, still having one
of the old Springfield muzzle-loaders, and being
short of amunition for it, had loaded into it a
handful of thirty-two calibre pistol cartridges, cop
per shells and all. It is hardly necessary to state
that this dose did the business for the brave who

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 1 89
possessed such an inordinate fondness for sweets.
After the battle, he Avas still lying " taking his
rest," with his pan and molasses around him.
As soon as the firing ceased, a brave soldier
named Bradley volunteered to ride to the garrison
for aid, which he did, narrowly escaping with his
life, for the Indians had secreted themselves in a
ravine, the mouth of which opened upon the river
valley within a few hundred yards of the fort, and
as he was passing they strove to intercept him, but
being an excellent horseman, and better mounted
than the Indians, he escaped them.
The commandant of the fort instantly ran out
one of his little howitzers and cracked a shell down
into the ravine, making the " poor Los skedaddle "
all sorts. He then sent two companies in solid
column, Avith a piece of artillery, to the relief of
the hay party, which they rescued without any
more fighting.
Before leaving the ground they scalped the dead
Indian iu the latest and most artistic western style,
then beheaded him, placing his head upon a high
pole, leaving the carcas to his friends or the wolves.
The general verdict was, " that he came to his

190 LIFE AND ADVENTURES
death on account of his extreme fondness for gov
ernment molasses," the soldiers, of course, making
due allowance for the ignorant savage's perverted
tastes. Private Naveus, of company H, Twenty-seventh
infantry, was killed in this battle, and some others
were Avounded — we regret that we have not their
names. This sketch has been written from mem
ory, but we have done our best to give it as it
actually transpired.
The government finally made a treaty Avith the
Indians, agreeing to evacuate Forts Philip Kearney
and C. F. Smith, and the troops were withdraAvn,
arriving at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, in the
fall of 1868, there to find a railroad, the Union
Pacific, in operation with connections from Maine
to California, where two years and a half before,
they had toiled over the ground on foot and had
fought Indians and killed buffaloes.
They were loaded upon the cars and went flying
along over the great prairies, passing at regular
intervals, towns and villages Avhich had sprung up
in a day.
Truly, we live in a great age, in a great country

OF A DRUMMER-BOY. 19 1
and, " Truth is stranger than fiction." The regi
ment was quartered at Omaha barracks, at Omaha,
Neb., during the winter of 1868-9. Our hero's
term of enlistment expired and he Avas honorably
discharged the following spring, which ended his
military life.
Comrades in Friendship, Charity and Loyalty,
farewell. THE END.

This preservation copy
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The paper used meets the requirements
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