68 NOTES TAKEN. 
To add to our discomfort, a party of dranken Indians came 
howling and yelling around camp, so that the night passed in 
restlessness and apprehensions for the morrow. 
It is almost invariably the case, when commencing a march, 
that the common soldier must havea frolic; whether to drown 
regret at leaving his barracks, or in drinking farewell with his 
friends, or that he takes advantage of whiskey depots on his 
route, cannot be told; most probably each of the three rea- 
sons has its weight, and the latter, perhaps, the weightiest 
of all. ; 
It is not a common drunk, either, that he indulges in, but 
one that, unless he gets into the hands of the guard, leaves 
him stripped of accoutrements, and almost of clothes, absorb- 
ing months of his scanty pay in an afternoon’s debauch, 
The most watchfal care, on the part of his officer, fails to 
prevent this evil, and the only thing that can be done is to 
make the offender suffer the penalty of his offence. 
Some did not get into camp at all, and canteens, belts, and 
even muskets, were strewed along, just where recklessness or 
oblivion overtook the Bacchanal, to be picked up if it might 
5) happen, if not, to be charged against his score on pay day. 
Captain Whiskey's account of profit and ‘loss, had a long 
list on the debit side for this day’s work; we were fortunate 
however, in not having a mutiny to cap the climax. 
During the evening a young Chickasaw—a : very fine 
specimen of the Indian—came into our camp and asked for 
whiskey. He was quite drunk at the time, and we declined 
