y at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina,
as brevet second lieutenant in the 2d Artillery. The steamer landed
me at Charleston, September 29, 1853, the day I became twenty-two
years of age. The next morning I found myself without money enough
to pay my hotel bill and take me over to Sullivan's Island, but
pay was due me for September. Upon inquiry, I found that the
paymaster was not in the city, but that he kept his public funds
in the Bank of South Carolina. Being unacquainted with any of the
good people of Charleston, the well-known rules of banks about
identification seemed a serious obstacle. I presented my pay
account at the bank, informing the cashier with a confident air
that I was well aware of the fact that the major's money was there,
but that the major himself was out of town. The accomplished
cashier, after scrutinizing me for a time, handed me the money.
My older brother officers at the fort had a good laugh at what they
were pleased to call my "brass"; but I consoled myself with the
reflection that I had found out that my face was good for something.
It is an instructive fact that before the Civil War an officer of
the army needed no indorser anywhere in this country. His check
or his pay account was as good as gold. All that was required was
identification. It is lamentably true that such has not been the
case since the war.

I found only one officer on duty with my battery at Fort Moultrie,
and he was awaiting my arrival so that he might go on leave. He
turned over the command with a manifestation of confidence which
surprised me at the time, but which was fully explained the next
day. In the morning the first sergeant reported to me, with the
quarterly and monthly returns prepared for my signature, and made
out more beautifully than anything in writing I had ever before
seen, and explained to me in detail all the business affairs of
the battery, as if he were reporting to an old captain who had just
returned from a long leave of absence. Next to General Scott and
Colonel Lee, with whom I had the honor of some acquaintance, I was
quite sure there stood before me the finest-looking and most
accomplished soldier in the United States Army. What a hard time
young officers of the army would sometimes have but for the old
sergeants! I have pitied from the bottom of my heart volunteer
officers whom I have seen starting out, even in the midst of war,
with perfectly raw regiments, and not even one old s