public characters. It is interesting, and not unprofitable, to know
that the Father of his Country in some wrathful mood swore roundly; or
that the Philosopher of the Revolution, in his younger days, trudged
in the streets of Philadelphia with a loaf of bread under each arm;
or, when older, was very gay and festive in the gay and festive
capital of France.

I propose to continue in the same grave historical vein, but to treat
of less important affairs. I propose to avoid the beaten track of
campaigns, battles, marches and skirmishes, and the luxurious life of
Libbey or Andersonville prisons, and going back to the beginning of
things, endeavor to explain how a volunteer regiment was raised and
gotten into the field, and, incidentally, perhaps, to touch upon the
character of its officers and men.

The regiment of which I speak was the last to be organized in its
State under the call for three hundred thousand men, made by the
general Government in 1862. It was the last of that "three hundred
thousand more" responding to the call of "Father Abraham," according
to the popular ditty of the time. The recruiting was done by private
individuals, and at their own expense, under the authority of the
Governor of the State. These private individuals, as a matter of
course, expected, as a reward for their labor and expenditures, to be
commissioned in the companies which they might raise. That was the
understanding. Doubtless, in their efforts, they were inspired by
patriotism, but, as was said about the Pilgrim Fathers, that they
"sailed by Deuteronomy, modified by an eye to the main chance;" so
there was also, with the officers, some modification or further
stimulus of personal consideration, just as with the enlisted
men--their patriotic impulses were somewhat assisted by the bounty of
a hundred dollars.

This method of raising troops was an effective one and inexpensive to
the Government; but as it involved more or less of log-rolling amongst
his neighbors, and more or less persuasion and perhaps promises in the
obtaining of recruits on the part of the ambitious recruiting officer,
it was not so promising for future discipline. Nor was the process of
selecting line officers by their ability or success in persuading
their neighbors to enlist, a severe test of military fitness. However,
these considerations did not trouble the Governor nor the impromptu
recruiting officer, who did not foresee them. He had no experience
whatever