than the little town of Covington,
eight miles distant. This, however, did not deter the men from
making frequent trips to this place after it. Various expedients
were resorted to, in order to bring it inside of the guard-lines.
Some stopped the tubes on their guns, and filled the barrel with
liquor. The colonel, while passing a tent one day, saw one of the
men elevate his gun and take a long pull at the muzzle. He called
out, "Pat, what have you got in your gun? Whiskey?"

He answered--"Colonel, I was looking into the barrel of my gun to
see whether she was clean."

The colonel walked on, muttering something about the curiosity of a
man's eyes being located in his mouth. He was no sooner out of sight
than Pat inspected his weapon again, and from the sigh of regret
which escaped him as he lowered it, I judged that it was "_clean
dry_."

During our stay at Fort Wright, we were all thrown into commotion
one day by a mutiny, which for a time threatened very serious
consequences. Some of the members of Captain Cosset's company, of
our regiment, having found a treasure in the shape of a barrel of
whiskey, which an unlucky trader had not concealed securely from
their vigilance, got drunk, "ov coorse," and determined to show
their independence of military rule by absenting themselves from
evening dress-parade. The colonel, noticing the small number present
from this company, instructed Lieutenant Beard, then acting captain,
to have all the absentees arrested and sent to the guard-house. When
parade was dismissed, and the company returned to their quarters,
the lieutenant gave the order to one of the sergeants, who was
himself intoxicated. On attempting to carry out the order, the
sergeant was badly beaten by one of the offenders. A private in the
company by the name of Whalen, here interfered and rescued the
sergeant from the hands of his assailant. At this moment the
regimental quartermaster, Isaac Saffarrens, a brother of the
redoubtable hero of Belmont, whose deeds of valor will be duly
chronicled, appeared on the scene of action, and attempted to arrest
the man Whalen, whose only crime had been committed in saving the
sergeant from further beating. Whalen told him that he would not be
arrested, as he had not created any disturbance. The quartermaster
then tried to seize him, and was knocked down for his trouble. By
this time a crowd of officers had hurried to the ground, and the
surgeon of the regiment, Dr. Cavenaugh,