[Illustration: DRILLING THE 96TH PENNSYLVANIA AT CAMP NORTHUMBERLAND, NEAR
WASHINGTON--1861]
Along this sloping hillside, well suited for a camp, we see a Federal
regiment at its full strength, before bullets and sickness had lowered its
numbers to a mere skeleton of its former self. The band is out in front,
the men are standing at "shoulder arms;" the Colonel and his Major and
Adjutant, mounted on their sleek, well-fed horses, are grouped at one
side, conscious that the eye of the camera is upon them. There is an old
adage among military men that "a straight shot takes the best." When a
freshly joined regiment, recruited to its full strength, reached the army
corps to which it had been assigned and which had been for a long time
actively engaged, it caused comment that well may be understood. "Hello,
here comes a new brigade!" cried a veteran of the Potomac who had seen
eight months' continuous service, calling the attention of a companion to
a new regiment just marching into camp. "Brigade!" exclaimed the other,
"I'll bet my hat it's a division!" There are instances in plenty where a
company commander found himself at the head of less than a score of men;
where regiments that had started a 1,000 strong could muster but some 200
odd, and where, in a single action, the loss in killed, wounded and
missing was over sixty per cent. of those engaged. We begin to understand
what war is when we stop to think of this.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.
_Painted by Paul Wilhelmi._
_Copyright, 1901, by Perrien-Keydel Co.,
Detroit, Mich., U. S. A._]