A Sportsman 109 



lakes, although I laid out my sporting excursions for 

 months ahead, which I never, despite many perplexi- 

 ties, failed to respond to. 



This was the period when I denied myself the read- 

 ing of books and papers pertaining to sports, as too 

 inflammatory for my peace of mind, and if in looking 

 over a paper I saw the heading of game killing or ad- 

 ventures, I passed it by, waiting as patiently as I could 

 for my times of excursions. 



While engaged in business, at the commencement 

 of the Civil War, having belonged to a military com- 

 pany for several years, the Independent Corps of 

 Cadets, I enlisted with several hundred men I had se- 

 cured, on the first call, for three months' service, and 

 received a captain's commission, serving for the period 

 mentioned. It was thought at the time that the war 

 would be of short duration, but unfortunately this ex- 

 pectation was not realized, and the war carried on for 

 several years occasioned the loss of over a million men, 

 and over three billions of treasure to the government, 

 and probably several times the amount of three billions 

 in the aggregated loss of expenditures by the Southern 

 Confederacy, in the loss of slave ownership and the 

 destruction of property. That the war was a neces- 

 sity, except from the heat of the irrepressible conflict 

 brought on by the Abolitionists of the North and the 

 fire-eaters of the South, is not quite clear. The fanat- 

 ical classes, North and South, fanning the flames of dis- 

 union, were at first viewed with amusement by the 

 conservative sentiment of the country, but at last all 

 became involved by the hasty acts of these fanatics 

 and demagogues, creating a necessity for every one 

 taking a warlike stand on one side or the other. The 



