man that
can whip my deck-hands."

THE BLACK (LEG) CAVALRY.

"For those that fly may fight again,
Which he can never do that's slain;
Hence, timely running's no mean part
Of conduct in the martial art;
By which some glorious feats achieve,
As citizens by breaking thrive."

When the war broke out, some of the gamblers in New Orleans got up
a cavalry company, and named it the Wilson Rangers. I was a member
of the company. We armed and equipped ourselves, and the ladies
said we were the finest looking set of men in the army. If fine
uniforms and good horses had anything to do with it, we were a fine
body. When we were ordered out to drill (which was every day), we
would mount our fine horses, gallop out back of the city, and the
first orders we would receive from our commanding officer would
be: "Dismount! Hitch horses! March! Hunt shade! Begin playing!"
There was not a company of cavalry in the Southern army that obeyed
orders more promptly than we did; for in less than ten minutes from
the time the order was given, there would not be a man in the sun.
They were all in the shade, seated on the ground in little groups
of four, five, and six; and in each group could be seen a little
book of tactics (or at least it looked something like a book at a
distance). We would remain in the shade until the cool of the
evening, when the orders would be given: "Cease playing! Put up
books! Prepare to mount! Mount! March!" When we would get back
to the city, the people would come out, cheer, wave handkerchiefs,
and present us with bouquets; for we had been out drilling in the
hot sun, preparing ourselves to protect their homes from the Northern
invaders.

After we had become proficient in drill, we were ordered to do
patrol duty in the city. The citizens called us their defenders;
and we did defend them, so long as there was no hostile foe within
five hundred miles of them. We were as brave a body of men as
there was in the South, until the news reached us that Commodore
Farragut was bombarding Forts Jackson and St. Philip; then we began
to realize that the war was getting pretty close to home, and we
were a little fearful that our knowledge of the tactics would be
but little protection to us if the forts should capitulate. We
threw aside the old books we had been studying for so long a time,
and took up a new edition that our commander told us was much better
in times of immediate danger.