CHAPTER XXV.
Our Party of Recruits own the Earth--We Live High, Give a Ball, and go to the Guard-House--And are Arrested by Colored Troops.
Let's see, I forget whether I have ever told about getting strung up ona bayonet, near New Orleans, when I first went south as a recruit. Itwas before I had joined my regiment, and I was with a gang of recruits,all looking for the regiments we had enlisted in. We had come down fromSt. Louis on a steamboat, our regiments being scattered all over theDepartment of the Gulf. We were not in any particular hurry to find ourregiments, as the longer we kept away from them the less duty we wouldhave to do. I do not think, out of the whole forty recruits, there wasone who was in the least hurry to find his regiment, and none of themwould have known their regiments if they had seen them, unless somebodytold them. They had enlisted just as it happened, all of them hoping thewar would be over before they found where they belonged. They didn't knowanybody in their respective regiments, hence there were no ties bindingthem. But they had been together for several months, as recruits, untilall had got well acquainted, and if they could have been formed intoa company, for service together, they might have done pretty goodfighting. The crowd was becoming smaller, as every day or two somerecruit would come and bid us all good bye. He had actually stumbled onto his regiment, and when the officers of an old regiment, in examiningrecruits, found one assigned to his regiment, he never took his eyesoff the recruit until he was landed. I have seen some very affectingpartings, when one of our gang would find where he belonged and had toleave us, perhaps never to meet again. The gang was rapidly droppingapart, and when we got to New Orleans there were only twenty or soleft. We reported to the commanding officer, and he quartered us atCarrollton, near the city, in what had once been a beer-garden anddance-house. We slept on the floor of the dance-house, cooked our mealsout in the garden, spread our food on the old beer tables, and imaginedwe were proprietors of the place, or guests of the government. We alwaysordered beer or expensive wines with our meals. Not that we ever gotany beer or wine, because the beer garden was deserted, but we put on agreat deal of style.
We found a lot of champagne bottles out in the back yard, and I do notthink I ever took a meal there without having a champagne bottle sittingbeside me on the table, and when any citizens were passing along thestreet we would take up the bottles, look at the label in a scrutinizingway, as though not exactly certain in our minds whether we were gettingas good wine as we were paying for. The old empty bottles gave us astanding in Carrollton society that nothing else could have given us.Some of the boys got so they could imitate the popping of a champagnecork to perfection, by placing one finger in the mouth, prying the cheekaround on one side, and letting it fly open suddenly. We would haveseveral of the boys with aprons on, and when anybody was passing on thestreet, one of us would call, "Waiter open a bottle of that extra dry."The waiter would say, "Certainly, sah," take a bottle between his knees,run his finger in his mouth and make it pop, and then pretend to pourout the champagne in glasses, imitating the "fizzing" perfectly. It wasthe extra dryest champagne that I ever had. But all that foolishness hadthe desired effect. It convinced the citizens of Carrollton that we wereno ordinary soldiers. We were all nicely dressed, had no guards, andapparently no officers, had plenty of money, which we spent freely atthe stores, and the impression soon got out that we were on some specialservice, and there was, of course, much curiosity to know our business.I learned that we were looked upon as secret service men, and I told theboys about it, and advised them not to tell that we were recruits, butto put on an air of mystery, and we would have fun while we remained.One day an oldish gentleman who lived near, and who had a fine orangeplantation, or grove, toward which we had cast longing eyes, called atthe dance-house where we were quartered. We had just finished our frugalmeal, and the empty bottles were being taken away. He addressed me, andsaid, "Good day, Colonel." I responded as best I could, and invited himto be seated. I apologized for not offering him a glass of champagne,but told him we had cracked the last bottle, and would not have any moreuntil the next day, as I had only that morning requested my friend, thegeneral commanding at New Orleans, to send me a fresh supply, which hewould do at once, I had no doubt. Well, you ought to have seen the boystry to keep from laughing, stuffing handkerchiefs in their mouths, etc.But not a man laughed. The old citizen said it was no matter, as hewould drop in the next day, and drink with us. We talked about the war,and it is my impression he was anxious for us to believe he was a loyalman. But after a while he asked me what particular duty I was on, thereat Carrollton. I hesitated a moment, and finally told him that I hopedhe would excuse me for not telling him, but the fact was it would be asmuch as my "commission" would be worth to unfold any of my plans. Itold him that time alone would reveal the object of our being there, anduntil such time as my government thought it best to make it public, itwas my duty as an officer, to keep silent. He said certainly, that wasall right, and he admired me for keeping my own counsel. (I was probablythe highest private and rawest recruit in the army.) He said there was anatural curiosity on the part of the people of Carrollton to know whowe were, as we lived so high, and seemed such thorough gentlemen. Iadmitted that we were thorough gentlemen, and thanked him for the highopinion that the cultured people of Carrollton had of us. He wound upby pointing to his orange grove, and said he-would consider it a specialfavor if we would consider ourselves perfectly free to go there and helpourselves at any time, and particularly that evening, as a number ofyoung people would be at his house for a quiet dance. I told him thata few of us would certainly be present, and thanked him kindly. When hewas gone I told the boys, and they wanted to give three cheers, but Igot them to keep still, and we talked all the afternoon of the soft snapwe had struck, and cleaned up for the party. My intention was to pickout half a dozen of the best dressed, recruits, those that could make apretty fair showing in society to go with me, but they all wanted togo, and there was no way to prevent it, so all but one Irishman, that wehired to stay and watch our camp, went. Well, we ate oranges fresh fromthe trees, joined in the dance, ate refreshments, and drank the oldgentleman's wine, and had a good time, made a good impression on theladies, and went back to camp at midnight. On the way over to the partyI told the boys the gentleman was coming to see us the next day, and weshould have to get a bottle of champagne some-where, to treat him, as Ihad told him we expected, some more up from the city. When we came backfrom the party a German recruit pulled a bottle of champagne out of hispocket, which he had stolen from the man's house in order to treat himwith the next day. The gentleman came over to our quarters the next day,and we opened our bottle, and he drank to our very good health, though Ithought he looked at the label on the bottle pretty close. For a weekwe frequented the gentleman's orange grove every day, and ate oranges toour heart's content.
Several times during the week we were invited to different houses, wherewe boys became quite interested in the fair girls of Louisiana. It wasten days from the time we settled in the beer garden, and we had keptour secret well. Nobody in Carrollton knew that we were raw recruitsthat had never seen a day of service, but the impression was stillstronger than ever that we were pets of the government. We had an oldmap of the United States that we had borrowed at a saloon, and duringthe day we would hang the map up and surround it, while I pointed outimaginary places to attack. This we would do while people were passing.Everything was working splendidly, and we decided to give a party.We hired a band to play in the dance house, ordered refreshments, andinvited about forty ladies and gentlemen to attend. The day we were togive the party we sent a recruit down town to draw rations, and he toldeverybody what a high old time we recruits were having at Carrollton.The commanding officer heard of it, and, probably having forgottenthat we were up there waiting to be sent to our regiments he sent aperemptory order for us to report at New Orleans before noon of thatday. How could we report at noon, when we were going to give a party atnight? It was simply impossible, and I, as
a sort of breast corporal incharge, sent a man down town to tell the commanding officer that we hadan engagement that night, and couldn't come before the next day. I didnot know that it was improper to send regrets to a commanding officerwhen ordered to do anything. The man I sent down to New Orleans cameback and I asked him what the general said. The man said he read thenote and said, "The hell they can't come till tomorrow. The impudence ofthe recruits. They will come tonight!" I did not believe we would. Inmy freshness I did not believe that any commander of troops woulddeliberately break up a ball, and humiliate brave soldiers. I thoughtmy explanation to the commander that we had an engagement, would besufficient, that he would see that it was impossible to hurry matters.We had been to a good deal of expense, and it was our duty, afteraccepting the hospitalities of those people, to pay our indebtedness inthe only way we knew how, and so, as the boys had gathered around meto see what was to be done, I said, "On with the dance. Let joy beunconfined."
Our guests arrived on time, and shortly after it became dark, the Dutchband we had hired from, a beer hall down town, struck up some sort offoreign music, and "there was a sound of revelry by night." We dancedhalf a dozen times, smiled sweetly on our guests, walked around thepaths of the old garden, flirted a little perhaps, and talked bigwith the male guests, and convinced them anew that we were regular oldbattle-scarred vets, on detached duty of great importance. Near midnightwe all set down to lunch, around the beer tables, and everything wasgoing along smooth. The old gentleman who had been first to make ouracquaintance, and who had been the means of getting us into society,proposed as a toast, "Our brave and generous hosts," and the boys calledupon me to respond. I got up on a bench and was making a speech that, ifI had been allowed to continue, would have been handed down inhistory as one of the ablest of our time. It was conciliatory in tone,calculated to cement a friendship between the army and the citizens ofthe south, and show that while we were engaged in war, there was nothingmean about us, and that we loved our neighbors as ourselves. I was justgetting warmed up, and our guests had spatted their hands at some of myremarks, when I heard a tramp, tramp, tramp on the sidewalk outside, andbefore I could breathe a squad of infantry soldiers had filed into thegarden, surrounded the dance-house, a dozen had formed in line beforethe door, and a sergeant had walked in and ordered the citizens todisperse, and said the recruits were under arrest. Well, I have beenin some tight places in my life, but that was the closest place I everstruck. The old gentleman, the leader of our guests, turned to me andasked what this all meant, and I told him to be calm, and I would fixeverything. I got down off the bench and approached the sergeant,to argue the thing. I found that he was, a colored man, and that hissoldiers were also colored troops. This was the unkindest cut of all.I could stand it to be arrested by white soldiers, but the sending of alot of "niggers" after us white fellows was more than human nature couldbear. We had most of us been Democrats before enlisting, and had neverlooked upon the colored man with that respect that we learned todo, later. I went up to the sergeant, as brave as I could, and said,"Look-a-here, boss, you have made a dreadful mistake. We are gentlemen,enjoying ourselves, and this interruption on your part will cost youdear. Now go away with your men, quietly, and I promise you, onthe honor of a gentleman, that I will not report you, and have youpunished," and I looked at him in a tone of voice that I thoughtwould convince him that I was a friend if he should go away, but if heremained it would be at his peril.
He said he didn't want any foolishness, or some of us would get hurt,and just then one of the Irish recruits, who had tried to skin out theback way, got jabbed in the pants by a bayonet, and he began to howland cuss the "niggers." The sergeant called up half a dozen of his sableguard, and they surrounded me and some of the boys. Our guests werebecoming frightened, ladies had put on-their wraps, and there was a gooddeal of confusion, when I shouted, "Boys, are we going to submit tothis insult on the part of a lot of nigger field hands? Never! To therescue!" Well, they didn't "to the rescue" worth a cent. A colored manwith a bayonet had every recruit's breast at the point of his weapon,three soldiers surrounded me, and one run his bayonet through the breastof my coat and out under my arm, and held me on my tip-toes, and Iwas powerless, except with my mouth. The old gentleman, our mostdistinguished guest, came up to me, and I said to him, in confidence,so our guests could hear, however, with a smile, "This may seem to you asingular proceeding. I cannot explain it to you now, as I am pledged tosecrecy by my government, but I will say that the duty we are on here ispart of a well-laid plan of our commander, and this seeming arrest isa part of the plan. This colored sergeant is innocent. He is simplyobeying orders, and is a humble instrument in carrying out our plan. Iexpected to be arrested before morning, but hoped it would be after ourparty. However, we soldiers have to go where ordered. We shall be throwninto prison for a time, but when this detective or secret service workon which we are engaged is done, we will take pleasure in calling uponyou again, wearing such laurels as we may win. We bid you good-night,and wish you much happiness." They all shook hands with us, evidentlybelieving what I had said, and even the sergeant seemed to take it in,for, after the crowd had gone, the sergeant said, "You will excuse me,kernel, for what I have done. I didn't know about any 'plan.' All I knewwas dat the provost-marshal told me to go up to Carrollton and pulldem recruits dat was camping at de beer garden, and fotch 'em to deguard-house." I told him he did perfectly right, and then we recruitspacked up our things and marched with the colored soldiers to NewOrleans, about six miles, and we slept in the guard-house. The nextmorning the provost-marshal called upon us, damned us a little for notinsisting on being sent to our regiments, found out that my regiment wasup the river two hundred miles, and seemed mad because I passed itwhen I come from St. Louis. I told him I was not expected to go huntingaround for my regiment, like a lost calf. What I wanted was for myregiment to hunt me up. That afternoon he put me on an up-river boatwith a tag on my baggage telling where I belonged, and I bid good-byeto the recruits, after having had three months of fun at the expense ofUncle Sam.
How Private George W. Peck Put Down the Rebellion Page 25