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Page 34
The next afternoon, the 24th, our laziness is disturbed by orders to
take three days' rations; our knapsacks are to be sent to Harrisburg; we
are to pack up everything, to be ready to move, Nobody knows, of course,
what it means; but a decided conviction prevails that 'something heavy
is up.' Presently a hollow square is 'up,' formed of the 8th and
ourselves, field officers in the centre. Colonel Varian advances.
Unquestionably a speech. Perhaps a few Napoleonic words on the eve of
battle. No; Colonel Varian wishes to explain that it was nobody's fault
that our left wing was deserted at Chambersburg, in order to prevent ill
feeling between the regiments. He does so, and appeals to our
lieutenant-colonel. Our lieutenant-colonel verifies and indorses.
Perfectly satisfactory; in evidence of which the two commands exchange
cheers.
Henceforth we and the 8th are fast friends. We have other friends
also--Captain Miller's battery, of Pennsylvania, has been in front with
us, and though out for 'the emergency,' declares it will stay as long as
the 71st. So we all fraternize, hailing any member as '8th,' '71st,' or
'Battery,' and cheer when we pass each other. The 8th are good cheerers,
and though we outnumbered them, I think they outdid us in three times
three and a 'tiger,' the inevitable refrain. The 'tiger' (sounding
tig-a-h-h) is the test of a cheer. If the cheer be a spontaneous burst
of hearty good feeling, the tiger concentrates its energy, and is full
and prolonged--if it be only the cheer courteous or the cheer civil, the
tiger will fall off and die prematurely.
Just at dark we left camp, passed rapidly through the town, along the
turnpike about two miles, and halted in a cornfield beside the road,
where we formed line of battle. We received orders to 'load at will,'
and fire low. The 8th were on the opposite side of the road, and their
battery somewhere near us. After some time, nobody appearing, permission
was given to thrust our muskets by the bayonets in the ground; and soon
after, one by one, the men dropped off asleep. The evening had been
extremely sensational. The sudden departure, the rapid march, whither
and for what we knew not, yet full of momentary expectation; the orders
and preparations indicating the imminence of grim, perhaps ghastly work,
in the night hours; the line of men, stretching beyond sight in the
darkness, far from home, and, it might be, near to death, sleeping yet
waiting:--the total was singularly impressive.
Nevertheless, I too was soon asleep, and slept undisturbed till morning.
Then, rebels or no rebels, we must have breakfast. There was none to be
had in the regiment; but the farmhouses supplied us, and an ancient dame
intermitted packing her goods for flight, to cook the pork which made
part of my three days' rations. Then I stretched myself beneath the
shade of a roadside house within sound of orders, and having nothing
else on hand, went to sleep again.
I was now broken in. Camp rations I could eat; camp coffee, though
always _sans_ milk and often _sans_ sugar, I deemed good; a wash was a
luxury, not a necessity; and I could sleep anywhere.
When I was aroused, I found a barricade thrown up across the road, and a
force of contrabands digging a trench across the field. A cavalry picket
reported the enemy within half a mile, advancing. The citizens came out
from Carlisle to aid us, and we went in line into the trenches. Two men
were detailed from each company to carry off the wounded; the red
hospital flag fluttered upon a house behind us, and the colonel,
passing in front, told us they were very near, and exhorted us not to
let them pass. But the day wore on to evening, and no rebels appeared,
and at dark we moved again. Starting in a heavy rain, we marched nine
miles to the borders of a town known as New Kingston. Here we halted
while quarters were hunted up. Every man, tired with the rapid walking
through rain and mud, squatted at once in the road, no matter where, and
then along the whole column singing began. A soldier will sing under all
circumstances, comfortable or uncomfortable.
At length we moved into the town and took possession of a church,
distributing ourselves in aisles, pews, and pulpit. What little remained
of the night, we were glad to have in quiet. It had been questionable
whether we could reach Kingston, for on the march it was rumored that we
were flanked; and a man, emerging from the shade as we passed, had asked
a question of the chaplain, and, receiving no answer, had retreated a
few yards, and fired his piece in the air, which looked very like a
signal. The next morning, the 26th, we went into camp in woods just in
front of the town, while the general and the surgeon established
headquarters in the town.
Here we repeated substantially the programme of the day before, except
that continuous rain was substituted for the baking sun, and proved far
more endurable.
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