, etc., to camp. A good strong tin cup was found better than a
canteen, as it was easier to fill at a well or spring, and was
serviceable as a boiler for making coffee when the column halted for the
night.

Revolvers were found to be about as useless and heavy lumber as a
private soldier could carry, and early in the war were sent home to be
used by the women and children in protecting themselves from insult and
violence at the hands of the ruffians who prowled about the country
shirking duty.

Strong cotton was adopted in place of flannel and merino, for two
reasons: first, because easier to wash; and second, because the vermin
did not propagate so rapidly in cotton as in wool. Common white cotton
shirts and drawers proved the best that could be used by the private
soldier.

Gloves to any but a mounted man were found useless, worse than useless.
With the gloves on, it was impossible to handle an axe, buckle harness,
load a musket, or handle a rammer at the piece. Wearing them was found
to be simply a habit, and so, on the principle that the less luggage the
less labor, _they_ were discarded.

The camp-chest soon vanished. The brigadiers and major-generals, even,
found them too troublesome, and soon they were left entirely to the
quartermasters and commissaries. One skillet and a couple of frying
pans, a bag for flour or meal, another bag for salt, sugar, and coffee,
divided by a knot tied between, served the purpose as well. The skillet
passed from mess to mess. Each mess generally owned a frying pan, but
often one served a company. The oil-cloth was found to be as good as the
wooden tray for making up the dough. The water bucket held its own to
the last!

Tents were _rarely seen_. All the poetry about the "_tented field_"
died. Two men slept together, each having a blanket and an oil-cloth;
one oil-cloth went next to the ground. The two laid on this, covered
themselves with two blankets, protected from the rain with the second
oil-cloth on top, and slept very comfortably through rain, snow or hail,
as it might be.

[Illustration]

Very little money was seen in camp. The men did not expect, did not care
for, or often get any pay, and they were not willing to deprive the old
folks at home of their little supply, so they learned to do without any
money.

When rations got short and were getting shorter, it became necessary to
dismiss the darkey servants. Some, however, became company servants,
instead of priva