y first idea was to order the
whole two hundred fellows under arrest, and have them court-martialed
for conduct unbecoming soldiers; but on second thought I concluded that
would seem an arbitrary use of power, so I concluded to laugh it off.
One fellow said they begged pardon for any seeming disrespect to an
official; but it had always been customary in the regiment to initiate a
corporal who was new and too fresh with salt brine. I said that was all
right, and I invited them all up to the chaplain's tent to join me in a
glass of wine. The chaplain was away, and I knew he had received a keg
of wine from the sanitary commission that day, so we went up to his tent
and drank it, and everything passed off pleasantly until the chaplain
happened in. The boys dispersed as soon as he came, and left me to fight
it out with the good man. He was the maddest truly good man I have ever
seen. I tried to explain about my promotion, and that it was customary
to set em up for the boys, and that there was no saloon near, and
that he had always told me to help myself to anything I wanted; but
he wouldn't be calm at all. I tried to quote from Paul's epistle about
taking a little wine for the stomach-ache; but he just raved around and
called me names, until I had to tell him that if he kept on I would, in
my official capacity as corporal, place him under arrest. That seemed
to calm him a little, for he laughed, and finally he said I smelled of
stale corned-beef, and he kicked me out of his tent, and I retired to
my quarters to study over the mutability of human affairs, and the
unpleasant features of holding official position.

That night I dreamed that General Grant and myself were running the
army in splendid shape, and that we were in-receipt of constant
congratulations from a grateful country, for victories. He and I seemed
to be great chums. I dreamed of engagements with the enemy, in which I
led men against fearful odds, and always came out victorious. I woke
up before daylight and was wondering what dangerous duty I would be
detailed to lead men upon, when the orderly poked his head in my tent
and told me I was detailed to take ten picked men, at daylight, for hard
service, and to report at once. I felt that my time had come to achieve
renown, and I dressed myself with unusual care, putting on the blouse
with two rows of buttons, which I had brought from home. I borrowed a
pair of Corporal's chevrons and sewed them to the sleeves of m