by John McElroy
CHAPTER XII. A WET NIGHT
THE DEPRAVITY OF AN ARMY TENT REVEALS ITSELF.
NIGHT threw her dark mantle over the camp of the 200th Ind. The detailsof guard and picket had been made. Videts, with sleepless eye andlistening ear, kept watch and ward on the outposts, while faithfulsentries trod their beats around the great bivouac. All day the army hadmarched, and was to take the road again at an early hour in the morning.Supper had been eaten, and the tired soldiers were gathered around thecampfires that gleamed far and near through the darkness.
"Si," said Shorty to his chum as they sat on a log beside the dyingembers, "how d'ye like soldierin', as fur as ye've got?"
"It's purty hard business," said Si, reflectively, "an' I s'pose wehaint seen the worst on it yet, either, from what I've hearn tell. Pitythe men that got up this war can't be made to do all the trampin' 'n'fitin'. An' them fellers up in old Injjeanny that come 'round makin'such red-hot speeches to git us boys to 'list, wouldn't it be fun tosee 'em humpin' 'long with gun 'n' knapsack, 'n' chawin' hardtack, 'n'stan'in' guard nights, 'n' pourin' water on their blisters, 'n' pickin'graybacks off their shirts, 'n' p'leecin' camp, 'n' washin' their ownclothes?"
"I think we'd enj'y seein' 'em do all that," said Shorty, laughingat the picture Si had drawn. "I reckon most of 'em 'd peter out purtyquick, and I'd like to hear what sort o' speeches they'd, make then. Itell ye, Si, there's a big diff'rence 'tween goin' yerself an' tellin'some other feller to go."
"Mebbe they'll git to draftin' after a while," observed Si, "'n' if theydo I hope that'll ketch em!"
"Wall, we're in fur it, anyway," said Shorty. "Let's take down the bed'n' turn in!"
It didn't take long to complete the arrangements for the night. Theyspread their "gum" blankets, or ponchos, on the ground, within the tent,and on these their wool blankets, placed their knapsacks at the head forpillows, and that was all. It was warmer than usual that evening, andthey stripped down to their nether garments.
"Feels good once in a while," said Si, "to peel a feller's clothes oft,'n' sleep in a Christian-like way. But, Great Scott! Shorty, ain't thisground lumpy? It's like lying on a big washboard. I scooted all over thecountry huntin' fer straw to-night. There wasn't but one little stackwithin a mile of camp. Them derned Ohio chaps gobbled every smidgin ofit. They didn't leave enuff to make a hummin'-bird's nest. The 200thInd. 'll git even with 'em some day."
So Si and Shorty crept in between the blankets, drew the top one up totheir chins, and adjusted their bodily protuberances as best they couldto fit the ridges and hollows beneath them.
"Now, Si," said Shorty, "don't ye git to fitin' rebels in yer sleep andkick the kiver off, as ye did last night."
As they lay there their ears caught the music of the bugles sounding the"tattoo." Far and near floated through the clear night air the familiarmelody that warned every soldier not on duty to go to bed. Next to the200th Ind. lay a regiment of wild Michigan veterans, who struck up,following the strains of the bugles:
Say, oh Dutch'y, will ye fight mit Si-gel? Zwei glass o' la-ger, Yaw! Yaw! Yaw!!! Will yet fight to help de bul-ly ea-gle?
Schweitzer-ksse und pret-zels, Hur-raw! raw! raw!
During the night there came one of those sudden storms that seemed tobe sent by an inscrutable Providence especially to give variety to thesoldier's life.
STRUCK BY A CYCLONE 111 ]
A well-developed cyclone struck the camp, and Si and Shorty were soonawakened by the racket. The wind was blowing and whirling in fiercegusts, wrenching out the tent-pins or snapping the ropes as if they werethreads. Everywhere was heard the flapping of canvas, and the yellsand shouts of the men as they dashed about in the darkness andwild confusion. Many of the tents were already prostrate, and theirdemoralized inmates were crawling out from under the ruin. To crown allthe rain began to fall in torrents. The camp was a vast pandemonium.The blackest darkness prevailed, save when the scene was illuminated byflashes of lightning. These were followed by peals of thunder that madethe stoutest quake.
Si sprang up at the first alarm. "Git up, here, you fellers!" heshouted. "We'd better go outside and grab the ropes, or the hull shebang'll go over."
There was not a moment to spare. Si dashed out into the storm anddarkness, followed by his comrades. Seizing the ropes, some of whichwere already loosened, they braced themselves and hung on for dear life,in the drenching rain, their hair and garments streaming in the wind.
Si's prompt action saved the tent from the general wreck. The fury ofthe storm was soon past. Si and his comrades, after driving the pinsand securing the ropes, re-entered the tent, wet and shivering for themercury had gone down with a tumble, or rather it would have done so hadthey been supplied with thermometers. But the scanty costume in whichSi found himself afforded a weather indicator sufficiently accurate forall practical purposes.
SUPPER UNDER DIFFICULTIES 115 ]
The ground was flooded, and their blankets and garments were fastabsorbing the water that flowed around in such an exasperating way.Sleep under such conditions was out of the question. Si and Shorty puton their clothes and tried to make the best of their sorry plight.
By this time the rain had nearly ceased. Fortunately they had laid in agood stock of fuel the night before, and after a little patient effortthey succeeded in getting a fire started. Around this the boys hovered,alternately warming their calves and shins.
"This is a leetle more'n I bargained fer," said Si. Then, taking aphilosophical view of the case, he added, "but there's one good thingabout it, Shorty, we'll be all fixed for mornin', an' we won't haveto get up when they sound the revel-lee. The buglers kin jest busttheirselves a-blowin' fer all I keer!"
In this way the soldiers spent the remainder of the night. Beforedaybreak the blast of a hundred bugles rang out, but there was littleneed for the reveille.
Breakfast was soon over, and in the gray dawn of that murky morningthe long column went trailing on its way. The weather gave promise ofa sloppy day, and the indications were fully verified. A drizzlingrain set in, and continued without cessation. The boys put their headsthrough the holes in their ponchos, from the corners of which the waterstreamed. With their muskets at a "secure" they sloshed along throughthe mud, hour after hour. In spite of their "gums" the water found itsway in at the back of the neck and trickled down their bodies. Theirclothes became saturated, and they were altogether about as miserable asit is possible for mortals to be.
A FIELD SHANTY 117 ]
It seemed to Si that the maximum of discomfort had been reached. He hadexperienced one thing after another during the few weeks since he lefthome, and he thought each in turn was worse than the last, and about asbad as it could be. But Si learned a good deal more before he graduated.All through the long, dreary day the soldiers plodded on. There waslittle comfort to be derived from the "rest," for the ground was soakedwith water.
"Why didn't we think of it, Shorty," said Si, "'n' make it part o'the bargain' when we 'listed that we were to have umbrellers. These gumthings don't amount to shucks, nohow, to keep the rain off. I sh'd thinkUncle Sam might do that much for us!"
"I reckon our clothes 'll be purty well washed by the time we git out o'this mess," said Shorty.
"Feels that way," said Si; "but how about the bilin'? A cold bath jestrefreshes them pesky little varmints, 'n' makes 'em livelier 'n ever.Say, Shorty, ye didn't write home anything 'bout our havin' graybacks,did ye?"
"No, not yet; but I was thinkin' I'd tell 'em 'bout it one o' thesedays."
"Well, Shorty, I ain't going to tell my folks; it 'd jest make my motherfeel awful to know I was that way. And sister Maria, and--"
Si was thinking aloud, and was going to say "Annabel," but he checkedhimself. That name was not to be mentioned in other ears. But he wasafraid she would go back on him if she knew, all about it.
It was nearly night when the 200th Ind., dripping and discouraged, filedoff into a field of standing corn to pass the night. The men sank totheir sh
oetops in the soft earth. Si remarked to Shorty that he didn'tsee why the officers should turn 'em loose in such a place as that. Butthe longer he lived the more he found out about those things. That wasthe way they always did.
IT'S THE MORNING 119 ]
In five minutes after arms were stacked not a cornstalk remainedstanding in the field. During the afterfnoon the troops had gone over along stretch of swamp road that was almost impassable for teams. Fearswere entertained that the wagons of the regiment would not be up thatnight, and they would not have their tents to shelter them from thestorm. In anticipation of such a calamity the boys, gathered in thecornstalks, having a vague idea that they would help out in case ofemergency.
TAKING THE TOP RAIL 113]
Then there was a scramble for the fences. Recognizing the need ofgood fuel, an order from the General was filtered through the variousheadquarters that the men might take the top rails, only, from the fenceinclosing tha field. This order was literally interpreted and carriedout, each man, successively, taking the "top rail" as he found it. Thevery speedy result was that the bottom rails became the "top," and thenthere weren't any. Almost in the twinkling of an eye the entire fencedisappeared.
The drizzle continued through the evening, and by the sputtering firesthe soldiers prepared and ate their frugal suppers. Word came that, aswas feared, the wagons were hopelessly bemired three or four miles back,and the men would have to make such shift as they could.
The prospect was dreary and cheerless enough. It was little wonder thatmany of the young Hoosiers felt as if they wanted to quit and gohome. But with that wonderful facility for adapting themselves tocircumstances that marked the volunteer soldiers, they set about thework of preparing for the night. No one who has not "been there"can imagine how good a degree of comfort--comparatively speaking,of course--it was possible to reach, with such surroundings, by theexercise of a little patience, ingenuity and industry.
Si and Shorty and the others of the "mess" bestirred themselves, andit did not take them more than 20 minutes to build, out of rails andcornstalks, a shelter that was really inviting. They kindled a big firein front of it, laid some rails within, covered with stalks, and onthese spread their blankets. Si, who had "bossed" the job, viewed thework with great satisfaction.
"I tell ye, that's no slouch of a shanty!" said he.