e management. As a battalion commander
Colonel Alger had few equals and no superiors. He was always cool and
self-poised, and his clear, resonant voice had a peculiar, agreeable
quality. Twelve hundred horsemen formed in single rank make a long line
but, long as it was, every man could hear distinctly the commands that
were given by him.

Weber's voice had the same penetrating and musical quality that made it
easy to hear him when he was making no apparent effort to be heard. At
that time it was the custom to give the commands with the voice and not
by bugle calls.

Under such competent handling the regiment soon became a very well
drilled organization. The evolutions were at first on foot, then on
horseback, and long before the time when it was ready to depart for the
front, the officers and men had attained the utmost familiarity with the
movements necessary to maneuver a regiment on the field.

On Sundays it was customary to hold religious services in the camp, and
many hundreds of the "beauty and the chivalry" of the town came to see
the soldiers and hear the chaplain preach. The regiment would be formed
in a hollow square, arms and brasses shining, clothes brushed, and
boots polished. The chaplain was a good speaker and his sermons were
always well worth listening to.

Chaplain Stephen S.N. Greeley was a unique character. Before enlisting
he had been pastor of the leading Congregational church of the city. He
was a powerful pulpit orator, a kind-hearted, simple-minded gentleman of
the old school, not at all fitted for the hardships and exposure that he
had to undergo while following the fortunes of General Custer's troopers
in Virginia. Army life was too much for him to endure, and it was as
much as he could do to look after his own physical well-being, and the
spiritual condition of his flock was apt to be sadly neglected. He
stayed with the regiment till the end but, in the field he was more like
a child than a seasoned soldier and needed the watchful care of all his
friends to keep him from perishing with hunger, fatigue, and exposure. I
always forgot my own discomforts in commiseration of those of the honest
chaplain. When in camp, and the weather suitable, I always endeavored to
assemble the command for Sunday services, so pleased was he to talk to
his "boys." I believe every surviving Sixth Michigan cavalryman has in
his heart a warm corner for Chaplain Greeley who returned to Gilmartin,
New Hampshire, th