Raising the Regiment 31 



from the Yukon to Leadville, and cow-punchers in 

 whose memories were stored the brands carried by 

 the herds from Chihuahua to Assiniboia. There 

 were men who had roped wild steers in the mes- 

 quite brush of the Nueces, and who, year in and 

 year out, had driven the trail herds northward over 

 desolate wastes and across the fords of shrunken 

 rivers to the fattening grounds of the Powder and 

 the Yellowstone. They were hardened to the scorch- 

 ing heat and bitter cold of the dry plains and pine- 

 clad mountains. They were accustomed to sleep in 

 the open, while the picketed horses grazed beside 

 them near some shallow, reedy pool. They had 

 wandered hither and thither across the vast deso- 

 lation of the wilderness, alone or with comrades. 

 They had cowered in the shelter of cut banks from 

 the icy blasts of the norther, and far out on the mid- 

 summer prairies they had known the luxury of lying 

 in the shade of the wagon during the noonday rest. 

 They had lived in brush lean-tos for weeks at a time, 

 or with only the wagon-sheet as an occasional house. 

 They had fared hard when exploring the unknown ; 

 they had fared well on the round-up; and they had 

 known the plenty of the log ranch-houses, where the 

 tables were spread with smoked venison and calf- 

 ribs and milk and bread, and vegetables from the 

 garden-patch. 



Such were the men we had as recruits: soldiers 



