Raising the Regiment 35 



every one was impressed with the necessity for vig- 

 ilance and watchfulness. The policing of the camp 

 was likewise attended to with the utmost rigor. As 

 always with new troops, they were at first indiffer- 

 ent to the necessity for cleanliness in camp arrange- 

 ments; but on this point Colonel Wood brooked no 

 laxity, and in a very little while the hygienic condi- 

 tions of the camp were as good as those of any regu- 

 lar regiment. Meanwhile the men were being 

 drilled, on foot at first, with the utmost assiduity. 

 Every night we had officers' school, the non-com- 

 missioned officers of each troop being given similar 

 schooling by the Captain or one of the Lieutenants 

 of the troop ; and every day we practiced hard, by 

 squad, by troop, by squadron, and battalion. The 

 earnestness and intelligence with which the men 

 went to work rendered the task of instruction much 

 less difficult than would be supposed. It soon grew 

 easy to handle the regiment in all the simpler forms 

 of close and open order. When they had grown so 

 that they could be handled with ease in marching, 

 and in the ordinary manoeuvres of the drill-ground, 

 we began to train them in open-order work, skir- 

 mishing and firing. Here their woodcraft and 

 plainscraft, their knowledge of the rifle, helped us 

 very much. Skirmishing they took to naturally, 

 which was fortunate, as practically all our fighting 

 was done in open order. 



