Raising the Regiment 37 



foot, and having gone at their work with hearty 

 zest, they knew well the simple movements to form 

 any kind of line or column. Wood was busy from 

 morning till night in hurrying the final details of 

 the equipment, and he turned the drill of the men 

 over to me. To drill perfectly needs long practice, 

 but to drill roughly is a thing very easy to learn in- 

 deed. We were not always right about our inter- 

 vals, our lines were somewhat irregular, and our 

 more difficult movements were executed at times in 

 rather a haphazard way; but the essential com- 

 mands and the essential movements we learned with- 

 out any difficulty, and the men performed them with 

 great dash. When we put them on horseback, there 

 was, of course, trouble with the horses; but the 

 horsemanship of the riders was consummate. In 

 fact, the men were immensely interested in making 

 their horses perform each evolution with the utmost 

 speed and accuracy, and in forcing each unquiet, 

 vicious brute to get into line and stay in line, 

 whether he would or not. The guidon-bearers held 

 their plunging steeds true to the line, no matter 

 what they tried to do; and each wild rider brought 

 his wild horse into his proper place with a dash and 

 ease which showed the natural cavalryman. 



In short, from the very beginning the horseback 

 drills were good fun, and every one enjoyed them. 

 We marched out through the adjoining country to 



