How ye Preacher is Bamboozled
out of $15 and a Gold Watch -- Cavalry on the Brain -- Old
Stonnicker Drummed Out of Camp -- Now and Then.

CHAPTER XXXII 289

An Incident of the 5th O. V. I. -- How to Avoid the Draft --
Keep the Soldiers' Letters -- New Use of Blood-hounds --
Proposition to Hang the Dutch Soldiers -- The Stolen Stars.

Debate Between Slabsides and Garrotte. 303

Sermon From "Harp of a Thousand Strings." 308

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PORTRAIT OF ALF BURNETT.

SKEERED! THAT AINT NO NAME FOR IT.

RUNAWAY SCRAPE IN VIRGINIA.

SPORTS IN CAMP.

FAT VOLUNTEER.

OLD STONNICKER DRUMMED OUT OF CAMP.

DEBATE BETWEEN SLABSIDES AND GARROTTE.

SERMON--"HARP OF A THOUSAND STRINGS."

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR.

CHAPTER I.

Preparatory Remarks -- Camp-Life -- Incidents of the Battle
of Perryville -- Brigadier-General Lytle -- Captain
McDougal, of the 3d Ohio -- Colonel Loomis -- After the
Battle -- Rebels Playing 'Possum -- Skeered! That Aint no
Name for it.

In a two-years' connection with the army, a man with the most ordinary
capacity for garnering up the humorous stories of camp may find his
_repertoire_ overflowing with the most versatile of incidents. A
connection with the daily press is, however, of great service,
especially as a letter-writer is expected to know all that occurs in
camp--and _more too_!

The stories that I shall relate are no fictions, but veritable facts,
to most of which I was myself an eye-witness.

The hardships of camp-life have been so often depicted by other pens
that it will be unnecessary for me to bring them anew before the
public. A few jolly spirits in a regiment frequently sway the crowd,
and render the hours pleasant to the boys which otherwise would prove
exceedingly wearisome; and many a surgeon has remarked, that it would
amply remunerate Government to hire good, wholesome amusement for the
benefit of the soldiers when not on active duty. Frequently, when
visiting various hospitals, have I noticed the brightening eye of the
patients as I have told them some laughable incident, or given an
hour's amusement to the crowd of convalescents--a far preferable dose,
they told me, to quinine. A word of praise to the suffering hero is of
great value.

I r