e company, among
other things, some articles for the table when we were in camp which were
not to be found on the government "bill of fare." In consequence of this
"company fund" we had a greater share of "extras" than any other company
in the regiment while we were encamped in the vicinity of Washington.
Among those "extras" were milk for our coffee and tea (fresh when it could
be obtained, and condensed at other times); writing paper, envelopes and
stamps; a copy of the Washington "Daily Chronicle" for each mess, and a
weekly pictorial paper; blacking, oil, sand paper, emery paper, polishing
powder, soap, matches, green apples, tallow candles and other delicacies
of the season. The extra candles were used on special occasions, such as
the reception of friends from home, and so forth. Naturally enough the
members of the other companies looked upon us at times with envious eyes.
The historian of the regiment writes thus of Company B: "Their company
fund was large, their friends with money many, and their visitors, who
always remembered them handsomely, numerous." We did, indeed, have quite a
number of visitors from home while we were encamped near Washington, and
I can assure you that their visits were always occasions of great pleasure
to us. Later they became like angels' visits, "few and far between."

The first death in our company occurred at Miner's Hill, and the funeral
ceremonies were deeply impressive. The ambulance containing the remains of
our dead comrade was preceded by an escort composed of the
non-commissioned staff of the regiment, (the deceased having held the
position of regimental hospital steward,) and sixteen men of Company B, in
command of the first sergeant, accompanied by the drum corps. The officers
and men of Company B followed in the rear of the procession. Arriving on
the parade ground, the coffin was taken from the ambulance and placed on a
stretcher, when appropriate services were performed by the chaplain,
consisting of prayer, the reading of scripture, and brief remarks, after
which three volleys were fired and the remains of Jacob S. Pervear, Jr.,
were replaced in the ambulance to be conveyed to Washington and thence to
the home of the deceased in Pawtucket.

In the course of his remarks, the chaplain used the following very
appropriate poetical quotation:

"Ye number it in days since he
Strode up the foot-worn aisle,
With his dark eye flashing gloriously,
And his lip wrea