The Project Gutenberg eBook, At Plattsburg, by Allen French

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Title: At Plattsburg

Author: Allen French

Release Date: June 17, 2008 [eBook #25825]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT PLATTSBURG***

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AT PLATTSBURG

by

ALLEN FRENCH

* * * * * *

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE HIDING-PLACES . . net $1.35

* * * * * *

AT PLATTSBURG

by

ALLEN FRENCH

New York
Charles Scribner's Sons
1917

Copyright, 1917, by
Charles Scribner's Sons

Published April, 1917

TO
SQUAD EIGHT

MY BOOK THE SQUAD ISN'T AS IT REALLY WAS.
SOME OF YOU ARE NOT THERE, AND THE REST
ARE ALTERED. BUT WHILE, ON ACCOUNT OF THE
STORY THAT I NEEDED AND THE FACTS I WANTED
TO DISPLAY, I COULD NOT DRAW YOUR PORTRAITS,
I HOPE I HAVE SUCCEEDED IN SHOWING THAT
THING IN PLATTSBURG WHICH MEANT MOST TO
ME PERSONALLY, THE SPIRIT OF OUR SQUAD

PREFACE

To describe military scenes is always to rouse the keenest scrutiny from
military men. I write this foreword not to deprecate criticism, but to
remind the professional reader that, while the scenes I have described
are all from experience, the aim in writing them was not for technical
exactness, often confusing to the lay reader, but rather for the purpose
of giving a general picture of the fun and work at a training camp.

Nowadays we are making history so fast that readers may have to be
reminded that last summer occurred the mobilization on the Mexican border
of most of the regular army and many regiments of the National Guard, a
fact which considerably affected conditions at Plattsburg.

The "Buzzard Song," which my company used with such satisfaction on the
hike, was written by a camp-mate, John A. Straley, who has kindly allowed
me to use it, with a few minor changes.

Allen French.

Concord, Massachusetts,
April 3, 1917.

AT PLATTSBURG

RICHARD GODWIN TO HIS M