The Return Home 217 



time after reaching Montauk. There was a great 

 deal of paper-work to be done; but as I still had 

 charge of the brigade only a little of it fell on my 

 shoulders. Of this I was sincerely glad, for I 

 knew as little of the paper-work as my men had 

 originally known of drill. We had all of us learned 

 how to fight and march ; but the exact limits of our 

 rights and duties in other respects were not very 

 clearly defined in our minds; and as for myself, as 

 I had not had the time to learn exactly what they 

 were, I had assumed a large authority in giving re- 

 wards and punishments. In particular I had looked 

 on the court-martials much as Peter Bell looked on 

 primroses they were courts-martial and nothing 

 more, whether resting op the authority of a lieu- 

 tenant-colonel or of a major-general. The muster- 

 ing-out officer, a thorough soldier, found to his 

 horror that I had used the widest discretion both 

 in imposing heavy sentences which I had no power 

 to impose on men who shirked their duties, and, 

 where men atoned for misconduct by marked gal- 

 lantry, in blandly remitting sentences approved by 

 my chief of division. However, I had done sub- 

 stantial, even though somewhat rude and irregular, 

 justice and no harm could result, as we were just 

 about to be mustered out. 



My chief duties were to see that the camps of the 

 three regiments were thoroughly policed and kept 



VOL. XL J 



