Читать книгу A Boy Trooper With Sheridan - Allen Stanton P. - Страница 4

Arrival at Warrenton – Locating a Camp – Dog Tents – Building Winter Quarters – On Picket – A Stand-off with the Rebels – A Fatal Post – Alarm at Midnight – Bugle Calls – The Soldier’s Sabbath – The Articles of War and the Death Penalty.

IT rained the day the third battalion of the First Massachusetts cavalry arrived at Warrenton, Va., and it rained for three days, almost without a let-up, after we, reached our destination.

Recruits always received a hearty welcome at the front – the less the old soldiers had to do in the way of picket duty, the better they liked it. The recruits were – at first – ready to do all the duty, and the veterans were willing to let the new arrivals have their own way along this line. But after a few weeks of wear and tear at the front, the raw recruits could generally give the old soldiers points on dodging duty and feigning sickness, so as to have “excused from picket,” or “light duty” marked opposite their names on the sick book. These peculiarities of soldier-life were characteristic of camp and winter quarters. As a rule, when the troops were brought face to face with the “business of the campaign,” there was a sort of freemasonry among them. Then the veteran was ready to share his last cracker with the recruit, and they drank from the same canteen. An engagement with the enemy was sure to place all who stood shoulder to shoulder on a level. In the jaws of death, with comrades dropping on every hand, all were “boys,” and all were soldiers – comrades.

Our first night’s experience at Warrenton was not calculated to inspire us with love for the place. When we arrived we were drawn up in line in front of headquarters.