"Although the place of major may be one of ease, if an officer desires
he may keep himself busy and be quite useful in regulating the camp,
seeing that the officers and men do their duty, looking after the
wants of the men, assisting in battalion drill, etc. And I am the more
busy, because in addition I devote from two to five hours in study and
recitation of the tactics. I accepted the position in our regiment, not
as a sinecure, but because I thought my country needed my services, and
I have resolved to leave nothing undone that will fit me to discharge
my duties properly, and so prepare myself that if it should ever happen
that the lives of a thousand men should be placed in my keeping, I
might, as Dr. Daily would say, be competent for an emergency. So that
now the time does not hang heavily on my hands. Personally I am getting
along very well in camp."
A few days later I report that the regiment has received its first
payment, and I make a remittance to my wife of $130 in gold.
My father, then in his sixty-second year, was an ardent defender of the
Union, and took great interest in the organization of our regiment, to
which he contributed two of his sons, my brother, next to me in age,
being the quartermaster of our regiment. He had ordered to be made the
flags of the regiment, and as they were not finished before it left
Evansville, they were presented at Benton Barracks, of which I give the
following account to my wife:--
"We had the ceremony of the Flags' Presentation yesterday at dress
parade. Colonel Veatch read father's letter and made some very
appropriate remarks, and the thanks of the regiment were unanimously
tendered to him for his appropriate and valuable gift. The National
flag is very fine, but I think the regimental flag is the best and most
elegant I ever saw. There is no regiment from Indiana and I think none
in the West that has as fine a stand of colors as ours. The men are
very proud of them."
The following extract describes a treat at Benton Barracks, the like
of which we had more than once during the year, as we were on or near
the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers within easy reach of
Evansville:--
"Your box of good things came on Sunday and was opened immediately.
That evening we had what your Cincinnati cousin would call 'a sumptous
tea.' William, our cook, got out all his dishes and I furnished him
with a new tablecloth and he got up a table in fine style with your
dainties, with the aid of the bouquets and fruits our kind neighbors
here had sent. Not only Aleck and I, but all our _mess_ have enjoyed
your treat very highly."
One of the matters that troubled me about giving up my affairs at
Evansville was the continued maintenance of a large Mission Sunday
School which I had organized and kept up in a flourishing way for some
years. I did not get encouraging news as to its condition, and I wrote
my wife about an efficient superintendent:--
"I hardly know whom you can get in my place. There are very few men who
will take the trouble and have the patience and perseverance to keep
the school up through the hot summer and cold winter successfully as
I have done for four years. But it ought not to go down."
The school was maintained for some time, but it was discontinued long
before the war closed.
Some of the embarrassments attending my new and untried duties are
described in the following letter:--
"I was detailed to-day as field officer of the brigade, and have been
kept busy all day, in the saddle almost continuously from 8 A.M. to
5 P.M., and am tired enough. I went over this morning and reported
myself to the general for duty, and the first thing he said was that
the adjutant-general was away and I would have to mount the brigade
guard. As I had never even mounted a regimental guard, you may be sure
it rather stumped me, but like a soldier I did my best, and in the
presence of the general, the officer of the day, and other officers I
performed the duty and passed the guard in review satisfactorily."
After three weeks of instruction and comfort at Benton Barracks we
received orders to go to the front, and fearing my wife might be
disturbed by the movement, I wrote her a consolatory letter:--
"We have orders to leave to-morrow for Jefferson City. Of course we
are in great hurry and have very little time to write letters, even to
dear and loving ones at home. We left our homes to fight our country's
battles, and naturally we are glad to see a prospect of that kind of
work before us. You must not be unduly solicitous or alarmed. You may
hear reports of the Twenty-fifth being entirely cut to pieces or all
prisoners, even before we are in sight of our enemy. Don't place any
confidence in vague rumors. If anything serious takes place, Aleck or I
will send early word home, or some of our friends will for us, and if
you do not hear, you may be certain we are busy or out of telegraphic
or mail communication, and you need not think we are dead or prisoners.
Be a true, brave woman. Act worthy of a soldier's wife, and put your
trust in God, remembering that He does all things well."
The trip to Jefferson City was one of many railroad rides the regiment
had, all more or less uncomfortable. I wrote, September 16:--
"I have only time to write you a pencil note at the dépôt. We arrived
here safely yesterday at noon, but tired and in bad condition. As
we began our march from Benton Barracks a hard rain set in and so
continued half the day. Reached the dépôt at 3 P.M., but did not get
off till 10 P.M., in crowded cars, little sleep, rain all night, with
leaky cars. It took us fifteen hours to run to this place, one hundred
and twenty-five miles. Just as we reached our camp it commenced to rain
in torrents again and so continued nearly all night. We got the tents
out in the rain. If we get through safely with our first experience in
hardships of soldiering we will do pretty well."
Our regiment had been ordered to Jefferson City to form part of the
grand army with which Frémont was expected to sweep Price and his
forces out of Missouri, and for the next three months and more we were
engaged in marching and counter-marching with hardly any fighting
worth recording. One of the not unusual experiences of camp life, when
the enemy were supposed to be near, I gave my wife while at Jefferson
City:--
"The news here to-day is that Lexington is taken by the secessionists.
If that is so we are going to have some warm work in this part of the
country. Night before last several shots were heard in the direction
of our pickets two or three miles out, which caused the alarm to be
sounded and brought out all the regiments of the brigade into line of
battle. Some of them came out with a great deal of noise and confusion.
Ours came in perfect order and to our full satisfaction; a person fifty
yards from our line would not have known that there was any disturbance
at all going on in our camp....
"I get along tolerably well in daytime, as I keep so busy with other
matters I don't have time to get homesick. But last night I had such a
sweet dream about little Alice; and then when I woke and found it only
a dream, how I wanted to be at home just a little while to see you and
her. But let us be of good cheer and hope. I will be with you again."