of the woods, and the rest of
us would lay down and sleep till morning. I don't think I was ever so
anxious to see a road in all my life, because I _did_ want to lay down
and sleep, and die. O, if I could have telegraphed home, how I would
have warned the youth of the land to beware of the allurements held out
by recruiting officers, and to let war alone. In an hour or so we came
to a clearing, and presently to a road, and we stopped. The corporal
detailed me to go up the road a short distance and stand picket on my
horse. That was not what I had expected of the corporal. I used to know
him before the war when he worked in a paint shop in a wagon factory,
and I had always treated him well, and it seemed as though he ought
to favor me by letting somebody else go on picket. I told him that the
other boys were more accustomed to such work than I was, and that I
would resign in their favor, because what I wanted was rest, but he
said I would have to go, and he called me "Camp and Garrison Equipage,"
because I carried so much luggage on my horse, a name that held to
me for months. I found that there was no use kicking against going on
picket duty that night, though I tried to argue with the corporal that
it would be just as well to all lay down and sleep till morning, and
put out a picket when it got light enough to see. I was willing to work
during the day time for the government, but it seemed as though it was
rushing things a little to make a man work day and night for thirteen
dollars a month. So the corporal went out on the road with me about
a quarter of a mile, and placed me in position and gave me my
instructions. The instructions were to keep a sharp lookout up and down
the road for Confederate cavalry, and if I saw anybody approaching to
sing out "halt!" and if the party did not halt to shoot him, and then
call for the corporal of the guard, who would come out to see what was
the matter. I asked him what I should do if anybody came along and shot
me, and he said that would be all right, that the boys would come out
and bury me. He said I must keep awake, for if I got to sleep on my post
I would be court-martialed and shot, and then he rode away and left
me alone, on a horse that kept whinnying, and calling the attention of
possible Confederates to my position.

I do not think any reader of these papers will envy me the position I
was in at that time. If I remained awake, I was liable to be killed by
the enemy, and