The Return Home 225 



I had studied much in the literature of war, and espe- 

 cially the literature of the great modern wars, like 

 our own Civil War, the Franco-German War, the 

 Turco-Russian War; and I was especially familiar 

 with the deeds, the successes and failures alike, of 

 the frontier horse riflemen who had fought at King's 

 Mountain and the Thames, and on the Mexican bor- 

 der. Finally, and most important of all, officers and 

 men alike were eager for fighting, and resolute to 

 do well and behave properly, to encounter hardship 

 and privation, and the irksome monotony of camp 

 routine, without grumbling or complaining; they 

 had counted the cost before they went in, and were 

 delighted to pay the penalties inevitably attendant 

 upon the career of a fighting regiment; and from 

 the moment when the regiment began to gather, the 

 higher officers kept instilling into those under them 

 the spirit of eagerness for action and of stern deter- 

 mination to grasp at death rather than forfeit honor. 

 The self-reliant spirit of the men was well shown 

 after they left the regiment. Of course, there were 

 a few weaklings among them; and there were oth- 

 ers, entirely brave and normally self-sufficient, who, 

 from wounds or fevers, were so reduced that they 

 had to apply for aid or at least, who deserved aid, 

 even though they often could only be persuaded 

 with the greatest difficulty to accept it. The widows 

 and orphans had to be taken care of. There were 



