174 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



had better "stick it out" in Cambridge, and finish my work for 

 the degree, or rather for the training I was seeking. There evi- 

 dently would be time enough for the small part I was likely to 

 play in the great contest. My ambition extended no farther 

 than to a place in the ranks of the troops of my own common- 

 wealth and a small share in the task of keeping States' Rights 

 safe in the only place for their safety the Federal Union. 

 It was urged on me that I should go into the regular forces of 

 the government, but this meant professional soldiery, for which 

 I had no inclination whatever. The first plan harmonized 

 best with my philosophy of life, which, though it may have 

 been rather callow, was mightily helpful to me in that soul- 

 trying time, so I returned to Cambridge and set about my task 

 of finishing up the work on which I was engaged. 



It is here well to say that in my spare time from 1859 to 1862 

 I had done what I could to fit myself for the duties of a soldier. 

 As before noted, I had been brought up at a military post and 

 from before memory begins was familiar with the life. I knew, 

 as a lad knows men, about all the officers of the regular army 

 who came to prominence on either side, Lee, Grant, Sheri- 

 dan, Albert Sydney Johnston, and many others of the great 

 list. All the usages and customs of military life were tolerably 

 familiar to me, as was also the shape of arms. In my child- 

 hood I had been in an infantile way war-mad and had re- 

 covered from it. When I went to Harvard, I felt it proper to 

 make a nearer, man's acquaintance with military duty; so I 

 joined a "drill club," and became familiar with the elements 

 of infantry tactics; I worked over Hardee, so that I could man- 

 age a battalion at short notice, and I read Jomini, and found 

 him vastly interesting. Most important of all was a training 

 which lasted for three years at Fort Independence in Boston 

 Harbor. At this post was an intimate friend, then a lieutenant 

 of artillery, who had married a cousin of mine. He was in com- 

 mand of a company and under a Major Arnold, an able officer 

 who had been in the Mexican War. At this time, as during a 



