Three Years in the Sixth Corps | Page 7

wheeling and charging in their
brilliant evolutions, their long lances with bright red pennons adding
greatly to the beauty of the display, and, as we at that time vainly
believed, to the efficacy of the troop.
The first Sunday came, and we had religious services. The regiment
was formed in front of the mansion, every man being called out, unless
on duty or excused on account of illness. This became an established
rule with us for all time; every man was required to attend divine
service unless especially excused. Chaplain Tully and the members of
the staff occupied the piazza. The chaplain offered a prayer for the

loved ones at home, and then we all sung "Coronation," and after the
sermon, we sung "Cambridge" and "Old Hundred." The men seemed
deeply affected by the simple service, and many a quivering lip
betrayed the emotions of the heart.
Drills became the order of the day. Every morning the hill rang from
one end to the other with the sharp commands of the company officers
to "Order arms!" "Shoulder arms!" as the men exercised by squads.
Besides the regular drill in the manual of arms, some of the companies
delighted in that system of military gymnastics called the bayonet
exercise. In the afternoon Colonel McKean usually trained the regiment
in the more difficult exercises of the battalion drill.
But we began to feel the scourge of new regiments. Disease became
almost universal. We had but a single medical officer and he was
tasked beyond his strength. One hundred and fifty or two hundred men
were prescribed for every morning, aside from those so ill as to be in
the hospital.
The large parlors of the old mansion were neatly fitted up for our
hospital, for which they were admirably adapted. The two principal
wards were the large front parlors, which communicated by folding
doors; the ceilings were high, and the large open fire places in either
apartment served the double purpose of supplying heat and ventilation,
so that while about fifty beds were always occupied, the air was kept
fresh and pure. Typhoid fevers, typhoid pneumonias, diphtheria, and
remittent fevers were prevalent, while now and then the malaria
manifested itself in the form of the terrible spotted fever. Besides, as
usually occurs when the last named disease prevails in camps, some
died suddenly from unknown causes.
By the tenth of the month the majority of the men were unfit for duty.
In one company the three commissioned officers were in the hospital,
and but twelve men could be mustered for evening parade. The labors
of the medical officer who undertakes single-handed to minister to the
wants of a regiment of recruits can only be known to those who have
tried it. Our doctor was as much worn out by the perplexities of
organizing his department as by the actual attendance on the sick. New

demands came almost every hour of the day and night, and it was only
when the violence of disease had subsided, and another officer was
added to the medical staff, that our weary son of Galen found a degree
of respite.
We were in the command of General Silas Casey, a noble specimen of
a man and a soldier. His manly dignity and kindly bearing impressed
all with profound respect for him, and although we were but a few
weeks in his command we never ceased to remember him with pleasure.
The provisional brigade and division to which we were attached was
frequently reviewed and drilled by the general, and made a fine
appearance.
Thus the time passed until the opening of the New Year. Our men, like
most fresh soldiers, were anxious for a fight, and were heartily tired of
what they considered inglorious inactivity. Many of them expressed
great fears that they would be obliged to return home without ever
hearing the sound of battle. How greatly they were mistaken we shall
see as we trace the bloody campaigns of more than three years of hard
fighting.
Our friends at home were not unmindful of us. Boxes of clothing and
other comforts for the sick were sent in goodly numbers; so our sick
were well supplied with bedding and changes of clothing, as well as
jellies and other luxuries. Our friend, McMicheal, of Congress Hall,
Saratoga, thinking we could better celebrate the New Year with a good
dinner, sent us one worthy of his fame as a landlord. Could Mack have
heard the cheers of the boys that made the ground tremble as the four
hundred pounds of cooked chickens and turkeys were distributed
among them, his glory as a caterer would have been complete. With the
New Year came stormy weather; rain was the rule, sunshine the
exception. The mud became almost unfathomable and it was not