CHAPTER IX. REGULARS AND VOLUNTEERS--FORAGING IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY.
|Jack and Harry were pretty busily employed about the camp for the firsttwo or three days following their arrival at Booneville. After that timethey had more leisure, and were greatly interested in many matters thatcame under their observation.
One of the first things to arouse their curiosity was the camp of theregular soldiers that formed a part of General Lyon’s expedition.When they heard of this part of the force they wanted to know what a“regular” soldier was.
“They are called regulars,” the quartermaster explained, “because theybelong to the regular army which the country maintains in times ofpeace. Compared with the volunteer army, the regulars are few in number,but as long as we have only Indians to contend with they are quiteenough for all practical purposes. In time of peace our regular armyincludes only twenty thousand men, but in case of war the presidentcalls on the different states to send volunteer troops to the field insuch number as may be wanted. The president called for troops to putdown the rebellion, and the states that remained loyal to the Union havesent the number required of them in proportion to their population.”
“That’s what is meant by the ‘quota’ of each state, I suppose,” saidJack.
“Yes,” was the reply. “The quota of a state is made out according to itspopulation, and there have been some funny complications arising outof this point. In order to have as many representatives in Congressas possible, and for other reasons, some of the new states have beenoverstating their population, or claiming more inhabitants than theyreally have. Now, when it comes to furnishing troops on the same basis,they are trying to understate their population, and declare that theymade mistakes in their previous figures.”
“It is like a man claiming to be rich in order to obtain credit or ‘showoff,’ and then pleading poverty as a reason for not paying his debts.”
“That’s exactly the case,” was the reply. “You could not have made abetter illustration.”
Neither Jack nor Harry could see that there was any great differencebetween the camp of the regulars and that of the volunteers, exceptingthat the former seemed to be under more rigid discipline. When it cameto drilling and performing the evolutions necessary to military life itwas evident that the regulars were greatly the superiors, but the youthsnaturally concluded that it was simply a question of experience. “Theseregulars,” said Jack, “have been a long while in the service, and hadnothing to do except to learn their business. Wait till the volunteershave been the same time under arms, and they ‘ll come out just as goodsoldiers.”
“Right you are,” said the quartermaster, who overheard the remark. “Ittakes time and practice to make a soldier; the raw recruit may be justas brave as the veteran, but one veteran is worth as much as a dozenraw recruits, for the simple reason that he has been drilled anddisciplined.”
The youths talked with some of the regulars, and found that they had nottroubled themselves much about the causes of the war nor the questionsinvolved in the contest. The most they knew was that they were enlistedto serve under the government. They were there to obey the orders oftheir officers, and that was the whole business.
It was the same with some of the regular officers when the war brokeout, but by no means with all. Some of them treated the question ofloyalty as altogether a matter over which they had no control; they wereto support the government, and had no occasion to trouble themselvesabout political questions. Others entered into the political bearingsof the subject, and were swayed according to their predilections. Thoseborn and reared in the Northern states adhered to the national causealmost to a man, and served according to the best of their abilities,while the majority of those who came from the Southern states consideredthemselves bound to go as did their states. These men resigned theircommissions in the army and entered the service of the Confederacy,though there were some who felt that while they could not fight againsttheir native states, it would not be compatible with honor for themto take arms against the national government. These officers remainedneutral throughout the war, some of them staying quietly at home, whileothers went abroad to be out of the reach of disturbing influences.
It was a noticeable circumstance that the spirit of loyalty to thegovernment was stronger among the enlisted soldiers of the regulararmy than among the officers, in proportion to their numbers. In theinstances where the forts and arsenals in the Southern states weretreacherously surrendered to the secessionists at the beginning of thewar, nearly all the soldiers refused to serve against the government,even when their officers urged them to do so.
Preparations for the march into the southwestern part of Missouri werepushed as rapidly as possible, but the difficulty of getting togetherthe necessary wagons and animals for transportation purposes consumeda fortnight of valuable time. This time was utilized by the stateauthorities, who gathered several thousand men at Lexington and marchedthence in the direction of the Arkansas frontier, where they were tomeet the famous Texan ranger, Ben McCulloch, who was to come north tojoin them. In spite of all his activity General Lyon was not able to getaway from Booneville in season to head off General Price and the rebelsthat were serving under him.
But the rebels came near meeting another obstacle that they did not knowof. General Sweeney, with the brigades of Generals Sigel and Saloman,marched from Rolla in the direction of Springfield, and so quicklydid he move that Price had no knowledge of his advance. As soon as hereached Springfield General Sweeney sent General Sigel westward in thedirection of Carthage to head off the rebels who were supposed to beunder command of Price. The fact was the latter general had alreadygone south with his escort to meet Ben McCulloch; the state troops whichGeneral Sigel was trying to cut off were consequently headed by GovernorJackson in person.
The two forces met each other on the fifth of July not far from Carthageand fought a battle which was very much like the one of Boonevillein the extent of its casualties, though less successful for the Unioncause. Sigel’s command was only about one-fourth the number of thoseopposed to him; nearly two thousand of the rebels were mounted men,although very few of them had any weapons whatever, a fact which wasunknown to the union commander. When he saw this great force pressingon his flanks, he naturally supposed his column to be in danger, andprudently gave the order to retire from the field. The retirement waseffected in good order, and though the rebels pursued a few miles theyinflicted no damage. The collision delayed the movements of the rebelstoward the southwest, though it did not prevent it, and the elationwhich they felt over the repulse of the enemy was more than an offsetfor the delay.
On the march from Booneville to Springfield strict orders were giventhat there should be no depredating on private property, the rights ofevery citizen being fully respected. The order was very well obeyed, butit was impossible to carry it out to its fullest extent. Chickensthat did not roost high had a habit of disappearing at night and neverturning up again except in the stewpans of some of the soldiers orpossibly in those of the officers; pigs that strayed from their penswhen the army was about did not readily get back again, but on the wholethere was not much cause of remonstrance on the part of the inhabitants.
The most serious complaint was on the part of the union men, andcertainly they had a right to say something on the subject. Thesituation was expressed in this way by one of them who was talking withan officer in the presence of Jack and Harry:
“Look a-here,” said the citizen “why don’t you-’uns go and take Jones’scorn and potatoes and anything else you want? He’s a secesher of theworst sort, and you ought to make him sweat for it. When the statetroops went through here they took my horses and corn and wagons andpaid me with receipts that I can’t sell anywhere for five cents on thedollar. I tried to get them to let me alone, but they said I’d beensaying I was a union man, and if I was I’d got to help support the war,and they’d take everything I had. They did n’t touch Jones, because he’son their side.
“The
rebels come along and plunder the union men, but when you-’uns comeyou don’t touch the seceshers nor anybody else, except to pay in cleancash for what you want. It’s a one-sided business anyhow, and if itkeeps on I ‘ll have to turn secesh to save myself.”
This was actually the case for some time in Missouri and otherborder-states, and there is no doubt that many men who were in favor ofthe Union at the start became rebels in course of time in order to savetheir property. After a while affairs were changed and the men who wereon the side of the rebellion had to suffer when our armies came in theirvicinity. The property of all was seized wherever wanted. A unionman was compensated for his loss, while a pronounced rebel had greatdifficulty in securing compensation, and very often did not get anythingwhatever.
Later in the war Jack and Harry became known for their expertness inforaging, and many were the chickens and pigs that fell into theirhands. They had splendid noses for scenting game, and when they couldnot find anything edible in a section of country it was pretty certainthat the region had already been swept bare.
The skill acquired by our soldiers in catching “game” is wellillustrated in the way they used to take pigs while marching at willalong the road. A pig would make its appearance by the roadside alongwhich a regiment was making its way. Some of the foremost men wouldthrow out a few grains of corn, and, at the same time word would bepassed along the line and several of the men in the rear would fix theirbayonets on their guns. Piggy, all unsuspicious, would be tolled by thecorn close to the roadside, and as the rear soldiers came along two ofthem transfixed the creature through the neck with a bayonet and swunghim in the air. He was caught in the arms of two other soldiers, whospeedily disemboweled him, and then cut up and distributed the meat.It was all done without breaking out of the line of march, and wascharacterized by the officers as a “wonderful triumph of mind overmatter.”
Chickens were the favorite plunder of food-seeking soldiers, partlyon account of their toothsome character and partly in view of theirportability. Pigs and sheep came next in the line of desirable things,as they could be subdivided with ease and if necessary with greatcelerity.
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The Lost Army Page 9