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THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT
Or
The Adventures of an Army Officer
A Story of the Great Rebellion
by
OLIVER OPTIC
Author of
"The Soldier Boy," "The Sailor Boy," "Brave Old Salt,"
"The Yankee Middy," "Fighting Joe," etc.
A. L. Burt Company
Publishers :: :: New York
TO
William A. Moulton, Esq.
THIS BOOK
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY HIS FRIEND
WILLIAM T. ADAMS
THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT
OR
THE ADVENTURES OF AN ARMY OFFICER
CHAPTER I
CAPTAIN DE BANYAN AND OTHERS
"I beg your pardon, sir; but I see, by the number on your cap, that we
belong to the same regiment," said an officer with two bars on his
shoulder-straps, as he halted in the aisle of the railroad-car, near
where Lieutenant Thomas Somers was seated. "May I be permitted to inquire
whom I have the honor of addressing?"
"Lieutenant Somers, of the ----th Massachusetts," replied the young
gentleman addressed, as he politely touched his cap in return for the
salutation of the other.
"Ah! is it possible? I am rejoiced to meet you. I have heard of you
before. Allow me to add in the most delicate manner, that you are a good
fellow, a first-rate soldier, and as brave an officer as ever sported a
pair of shoulder-straps. Permit me to offer you my hand; and allow me to
add, that it is a hand which was never sullied by a dishonorable act."
"I am happy to make your acquaintance," replied Lieutenant Somers, as he
accepted the offered hand. "Won't you take a seat, Captain----"
"Captain de Banyan, at your service," continued the officer, as he seated
himself by the side of the young lieutenant, who was completely
bewildered by the elegant and courtly speech of his new-found friend.
If Lieutenant Somers needs any further introduction to the reader, we may
briefly add, that he was a native of Pinchbrook, a town near Boston, in
the State of Massachusetts. He was now entering his eighteenth year, and
had enlisted in the great army of the Union as a private, with an earnest
and patriotic desire to serve his imperiled country in her death-grapple
with treason and traitors. He had won his warrant as a sergeant by
bravery and address, and had subsequently been commissioned as a second
lieutenant for good conduct on the bloody field of Williamsburg, where he
had been wounded. The injury he had received, and the exhaustion
consequent upon hard marching and the excitement of a terrible battle,
had procured for him a furlough of thirty days. He had spent this brief
period at home; and now, invigorated by rest and the care of loving
friends, he was returning to the army to participate in that stupendous
campaign which culminated in the seven-days' battles before Richmond.
Inspired by the hope of honorable distinction, still more by the
patriotic desire to serve the noblest cause for which the soldier ever
drew a sword, he was hastening to the post of danger and duty. As the
train hurried him by smiling fields, and through cities and villages
whose prosperity was mysteriously interlinked with the hallowed mission
which called him from the bosom of home and friends, his thoughts were
those which would naturally animate the soul of a young patriot, as he
journeyed to the battle-fields of a nation's ruin or salvation. He
thought of the bloody scenes before him, of the blessed home behind him.
Only the day before, he had made his parting visit to Lilian Ashford, who
knit his "fighting socks," as he had called them since the eventful day
when he had found her letter and her picture in them. Of course, he could
not help thinking of her; and, as he had a thin stratum of sentiment in
his composition, it is more than probable that the beautiful young lady
monopolized more than her fair share of his thoughts; but I am sure it
was not at all to the detriment of the affection he owed his mother and
the other dear ones, who were shrined in the sanctuary of his heart.
Lieutenant Somers was an exceedingly good-looking young man, which, as it
was no fault of his own, we do not object to mention. He was clothed in
his new uniform, which was very creditable to the taste and skill of his
tailor. On his upper lip, an incipient mustache had developed itself;
and, though it presented nothing remarkable, it gave brilliant promise of
soon becoming all that its ambitious owner could possibly desire,
especially as he was a reasonable person, and had no taste for
monstrosities. He had paid proper attention to this ornamental appendage,
which is so indispensable to the making-up of a soldier; and the result,
if not entirely satisfactory, was at least hopeful.
The subject of our remarks wore his sash and belt, and carried his sword
in his hand, for the reason that he had no other convenient way of
transporting them. Our natural pride, as his biographer, leads us to
repeat that he was a fine-looking young man; and we will venture to say,
that the young lady who occupied the seat on the opposite side of the car
was of the same opinion. Of course, she did not stare at him; but she had
two or three times cast a furtive glance at the young officer; though the
operation had been so well managed, that he was entirely unconscious of
the fact.
Inasmuch as this same young lady was herself quite pretty, it is not
supposable that she had entirely escaped the observation of our gallant
young son of Mars. We are compelled to say he had glanced in that
direction two or three times, to keep within the limits of a modest
calculation; but it is our duty to add that he was not captivated, and
that there is not the least danger of our story degenerating into a
love-tale. Lieutenant Somers thought she was nearly as pretty as Lilian
Ashford; and this, we solemnly declare, was the entire length and breadth
of the sentiment he expended upon the young lady, who was certainly
worthy of a deeper homage.
She was in charge of an elderly, dignified gentleman, who had occupied
the seat by her side until half an hour before the appearance of Captain
de Banyan; but, being unfortunately addicted to the small vice of
smoking, he had gone forward to the proper car to indulge his propensity.
Lieutenant Somers had studied the faces of all the passengers near him,
and had arrived at the conclusion that the lady's protector was a
gentleman of consequence. He might be her father or her uncle; but he was
a member of Congress, the governor of a State, or some high official,
perhaps a major-general in "mufti." At any rate, our hero was interested
in the pair, and had carried his speculations concerning them as far as
theory can go without a few facts to substantiate it, when his
reflections were disturbed by Captain de Banyan.
"Lieutenant Somers, I'm proud to know you, as I had occasion to remark
before. I have heard of you. You distinguished yourself in the battle of
Williamsburg," said Captain de Banyan.
"You speak very handsomely of me--much better than I deserve, sir."
"Not a particle, my boy. If there is a man in the army that can
appreciate valor, that man is Captain de Banyan. You are modest,
Lieutenant Somers--of course you are modest; all brave men are
modest--and I forgive your blushes. I've seen service, my boy. Though not
yet thirty-five, I served in the Crimea, in the Forty-seventh Royal
Infantry; and was at the battles of Solferino, Magenta, Palestro, and
others too numerous to mention."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Lieutenant Somers, filled with admiration by the
magnificent record of the captain. "Then you are not an American?"
"Oh, yes, I am! I happened to be in England when the Russian war
commenced. So, being fond of a stirring life, I entered as a private in
the Forty-seventh. If the war had continued six months longer, I should
have come out a brigadier-general, though. Promotion is not so rapid in
the British army as in our own. I was at the storming of the Redan; I was
one of the first to mount the breach. Just as I had raised my musket----"
"I thought you were an officer--a colonel at least," interposed
Lieutenant Somers.
"My sword, I should have said. Just as I had raised my sword to cut down
a Russian who threatened to bayonet me, a cannon-ball struck the butt of
my gun----"
"Your gun?"
"The handle of my sword, I should have said, and snapped it off like a
pipe-stem."
"But didn't it snap your hand off too?" asked the lieutenant, rather
bewildered by the captain's statements.
"Not at all; that is the most wonderful part of the story. It didn't even
graze my skin."
"That was very remarkable," added Lieutenant Somers, who could not see,
for the life of him, how a cannon-ball could hit the handle of the sword
without injuring the hand which grasped it.
"It was very remarkable, indeed; but I was reminded of the circumstance
by the remembrance that you were hit in the head by a bullet, which did
not kill you. I shouldn't have mentioned the affair if I hadn't called to
mind my own experience; for life yourself, Somers, I am a modest man; in
fact, every brave man is necessarily a modest man."
"Were you ever wounded, Captain de Banyan?"
"Bless you, half a dozen times. At Magenta, the same bullet passed twice
through my body."
"The same bullet?"
"Yes, sir--the same bullet. I'll tell you how it happened. I was in the
heavy artillery there. The bullet of the Russian--"
"The Russian! Why, I thought the battle of Magenta was fought between the
Austrians and the French."
"You are right, my boy. The bullet of the Austrian, I should have said,
passed through my left lung, struck the cannon behind me, bounded back,
and hitting me again, passed through my right lung. When it came out, it
hit my musket, and dropped upon the ground. I picked it up, and have it
at home now."
"Whew!" added Lieutenant Somers in a low whisper. "It's quite warm
to-day," he continued, trying to turn off the remark.
"Very warm, indeed."
"But didn't you fall after the ball had passed through both your lungs?"
"Not at all. I walked five miles to the hospital. On my way, I met the
Emperor Napoleon, who got off his horse, and thanked me for the valor I
had displayed, and conferred on me the medal of the Legion of Honor. I
keep the medal in the same bag with the bullet."
"Then you have actually shaken hands with the Emperor of France?" cried
the amazed lieutenant.
"Yes; and King Victor Emmanuel called to see me in the hospital, where I
was confined for five weeks. At Solferino, both their majesties shook
hands with me, and thanked me again for my services. Being a modest man,
I shouldn't want to say out loud that I saved the day for the French and
Sardinians at Solferino. At any rate, their majesties did the handsome
thing by me on that day."
"I thought you were in the hospital five weeks after Magenta."
"So I was; and well do I remember the little delicacies sent me by the
King of Italy while I lay there on my back. Ah! that Victor Emmanuel is a
noble fellow. At Solferino, he----"
"But how could you have been at Solferino, if you were in the hospital
five weeks?"
"I did not die of my wounds, it is scarcely necessary for me to remark. I
got well."
"But the battle of Solferino was fought on the 20th of June, and that of
Magenta on the 4th of June. There were only twenty days between the
battles."
"You are right, Somers. I have made some mistake in the dates. I never
was good at remembering them. When I was in college, the professors used
to laugh at me for forgetting the date of the Christian Era. By the way,
do you smoke, Somers? Let's go into the smoking-car, and have a cigar."
"I thank you; I never smoke."
"Ah! you are worse than a hot potato. But I am dying for a smoke; and, if
you will excuse me, I will go forward. I will see you again before we get
to New York."
Captain de Banyan, apparently entirely satisfied with himself, rose from
his seat, and sauntered gracefully forward to the door of the car,
through which he disappeared, leaving Lieutenant Somers busy in a vain
endeavor to crowd five weeks in between the 4th and the 20th of June. The
captain was certainly a pleasant and voluble person, and Somers had
enjoyed the interview; though he could not repress a rising curiosity to
see the bullet which had passed twice through the body of the valiant
soldier, and the medal of the Legion of Honor conferred upon him by his
imperial majesty the Emperor of France.
Some painful doubts in regard to the truth of Captain de Banyan's
remarkable experience were beginning to intrude themselves into his mind;
and it is quite probable that he would have been hurled into an unhappy
state of skepticism, if the train in which he was riding had not been
suddenly hurled down an embankment some twenty feet in height, where the
cars were piled up in shapeless wrecks, and human beings, full of life
and hope a moment before, were suddenly ushered into eternity, or maimed
and mangled for life.