MILITARY: Sabre Strokes of the Pennsylvania Dragoons in the War of 1861-1865 - Chapter 2 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/dornblaser/sabre-strokes.htm ________________________________________________ SABRE STROKES of the PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS in the WAR OF 1861-1865. INTERSPERSED WITH PERSONAL REMINISCENCES By T. F. DORNBLASER PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS 17 CHAPTER II. CAMP CAMERON, HARRISBURG - HARD-TACK - FRENCH LEAVE. THE first night in camp was spent very comfortably. After breakfasting on stale army-crackers, the company was conducted to the surgeon's quarters for examination. Only one man, out of eighty, was rejected on account of disability. A rain set in for a few days, which made the boys wish for the second-story bed-room in the "old house at home." After the sun came out, the boys could be seen issuing forth from their damp hives in search of lumber to build floors in their tents. For a day, every soldier turned carpenter, and by sunset, without square or compass, the floors were all laid. On the twenty-ninth day of October, the company, numbering one hundred enlisted men, was mustered into service as Company E, of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry. The following company officers were unanimously elected: Israel B. Schaeffer, Captain; John Leidy, First Lieutenant; and Harvey H. Best, Second Lieutenant. The company was then graded according to size - the taller men at the head, and the 18 SABRE STROKES. shorter men at the tail end of the company, nearest the cook-shop. This new arrangement necessitated a change in bunk-mates, and the writer remembers seeing in his new quarters, at the first candle-lighting, the full-bearded faces of John Hull, H. L. Bricker, Wm. Hayes, Wash. Smith, and Samuel Foster. At the hour of retiring, it was customary in this tent not only to read a chapter from the Bible, but also to offer silent prayer by those who felt so disposed. Our first experience in using hard-tack was somewhat eventful and amusing. The kind issued to our regiment during the first ten days, were the old navy crackers, stale, worm-eaten, and hard as a brick. They were doubtless left over as a surplus from previous wars, and were now issued by the commissary department to break in new recruits. If you attempted to crush one with your fist, you were likely to injure your knuckles more than you would the cracker. Artificial teeth were pronounced unreliable, and some, we know, sent theirs home for safe-keeping. But this continual nibbling at a bone with the meat all on the inside, became exceedingly monotonous, and the boys of the Seventh Cavalry took it in their heads that better fare could be furnished if the officers felt so disposed. A conspiracy was readily concocted, and at a given signal five hun- PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 19 dred men, more or less, rushed from their tents, each loaded down with forty rounds of ammunition, and with a concert of action that was truly wonderful, they were seen in the starlight charging with furious impetuosity upon the headquarters of the commissary department, fairly burying the suspected officials beneath a stormy bombardment of hard-tack. The sequel proved that this night attack was not made in vain. In a few days the old navy iron-clads were exchanged for fresh army crackers, and a two-pound loaf of soft bread was issued to each man every five days during our stay in Camp Cameron. The daily routine of camp life soon became very prosy. One day it was field-drill on foot. The next day it was guard duty, and the next police duty, and so on in turn, as regular as the sound of the bugle. The slow hours of the Sabbath became specially irksome to those who were accustomed regularly to attend church. On the first Sabbath in camp the commanding officer was besieged at an early hour by those who sought permission to leave camp on that day. A comrade, who for several years had served as an elder in the Presbyterian church, heard of an afternoon service in the country, and requested a layman to accompany him. It was too late in the day to secure a written pass, but by the captain's permission we took advantage of a French leave. The spring from which all our 20 SABRE STROKES. water had to be carried was at least forty rods beyond the guard line, and with a camp-kettle swinging on a stick between us, we passed out without a challenge from the sentinel. At the spring we hid our kettle in an old dilapidated chimney, where we expected to find it on our return from the sanctuary. It seemed quite clear to the elder and myself, that in this particular case at least, "the end justified the means." Walking rapidly for two miles, we reached the church, but to our disappointment the service was held in the forenoon instead of the afternoon, as we had been informed. We decided, however, to enjoy our liberty for an hour, which was one of the inalienable rights guaranteed to us by the Federal Constitution. On our return we took occasion to step aside, and walk through a large pasture in which one thousand cavalry horses were grazing. It was a beautiful October day. The air was fragrant with the odor of flowers and the ripe fruits of autumn. The green fields, the lawns, the handsome residences, the gravel walks, the fish-ponds, and the evergreens, gave a variety to the scenery that charmed the eye of a home-loving soldier. It was a delightful change from the dullness and irksomeness of camp life! Having spent an hour in this enjoyable and, as we supposed, innocent recreation, we directed our footsteps toward the old chimney for our very reliable passport, but to our utter discomfiture the kettle was gone. Some mis- PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 21 erable recruit must have appropriated it to cover his own tracks. There was no alternative but to face the music. We determined upon a straight-forward course. The elder was to act as spokesman, and to tell, if occasion required, the honest truth, to which the layman was to give his heart-felt approval. Such frank acknowledgement, and such guileless looks, should have been sufficient to establish our innocence before any judge or jury. Before we reached the guard-line, we were in the custody of the man with the red sash and a drawn sword - it was the "Officer of the Day." He was a savage-looking man. His appearance indicated that he was neither theoretically nor practically in favor of temperance. His intuitive faculty was remarkably acute on that afternoon. He did not need to inquire where we had been, or why we were without a pass, for he knew it all. He knew, to a certainty, that we had broke guard in the dead of night, that we had been marauding through the country, robbing hen-roosts, devastating onion-patches, and doing all manner of deviltry. He did not want any explanations, and any attempt to carry out our programme was met by the insolent reply, "You dry up." He could read nothing but mischief in the eyes of his newly made prisoners. To prevent our escape from arrest, he called to his aid several guards with fixed bayonets to march 22 SABRE STROKES. us to camp head-quarters. Here the officer of the day reported two scalawags without passes, and from all appearance they had been committing serious depredations in the surrounding country. The commander-in-chief was filled with righteous indignation. He had no time to waste in listening to an explanation. He had no desire to see such miserable culprits. Without rising from his seat at a card-table in the inner sanctum, he pronounced the irreversible sentence, "Away with them - to the 'bull-ring.'" A few more bayonets were ordered up, and in front of these bristling points we proceeded to the wood-yard, where each, according to specific directions, shouldered a stick of cord-wood. My friend, the elder, being very stout and muscular, was required to shoulder the but-end of a red-oak sapling. From here we marched by twos at right-shoulder-shift, to the brow of the hill, where we met a goodly number of our comrades treading the wine-press of repentance, and as we joined the procession they fairly shouted for joy. The ring, so conspicuous in our memory, was situated on the brow of a hill by the public highway, in size about like the arena in a circus, well guarded by muskets, and surrounded on that Sabbath afternoon by as many spectators as witnessed at one time the bull-fights in the Coliseum at Rome. Some of our neighbor boys were arrested in the streets of Har- PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 23 risburg; whether they were on their way to or from church we are not prepared to say, and we deemed it impertinent to ask any questions. For three mortal hours we marked time in the endless march. No halt was ordered; no opportunity was given to ground arms. My friend once lowered his sapling, and stood a moment at parade-rest, but the point of a bayonet at his back sharply reminded him that in this sort of circum-ambulation, there was no rest for the wicked. After sunset the prisoners were conducted by a heavy escort to the guard-house, to spend the night in durance vile. In the mean time, the company officers were doing all in their power to have the boys released, but without avail. The only answer they received from head-quarters was, "I must treat all alike." Doomed to imprisonment for the night, we concluded to make the best of it. There was no room in the board shanty to lie down, nor to sit, so we leaned against the wall. The floor was covered with three and four thicknesses of legs and arms tangled and twisted into all sorts of shapes. Mutterings and blasphemies rose at intervals, like a blue blaze, from the ulterior strata. New recruits hourly arriving from the slums of Harrisburg, were forced into the guard-house by the end of the musket, and tumbling over the slumbering heaps of humanity, gave occasion for additional wailing and gnashing of teeth. One unconquerable Hibernian 24 SABRE STROKES. determined not to endure any longer such bitter humiliation. Taking a rope in hand, he mounted one of the rafters, fastened the rope around his neck, and swore that he would hang himself. The guards, wishing to avoid the trouble of burying, him, took him down, and cooled his ardor by tying him to a tree till morning. Another noisy fellow, with one horn too many, was silenced by being "bucked and gagged." This effectual piece of military discipline was performed by tying together the wrists, then introducing the knees into the opening made by spreading apart the arms, then locking the arms and legs by passing a stick or a gun-barrel through under the knees. Every effort of the prisoner to get up throws him on his back; his performance resembling that of a land turtle trying to turn over. If the prisoner persisted in the use of vile and abusive language, the gag was put on him by fastening a drum-stick in his mouth. This mode of punishment was most effectual in quelling insubordination. With such sights and sounds we passed the night - once only falling into a fitful slumber - dreaming of purgatory "where their worm dieth not," and where the "smoke of their torment ascendeth forever and ever." Next morning we hoped to be liberated, but to our worse mortification, we were led out under guard, armed with brooms, and set to work sweep- PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 25 ing the streets. This was the bitterest pill of all. It stirred every sense of pride. It was enough to kindle the fires of indignation in the breast of every free-born American citizen. So seven-fold hot was the blood of my Calvinistic friend, that his hair seemed to cling to the scalp in a perfect crisp. With impassioned earnestness we said to each other, "Did we not enlist with good intentions? Did we not sacrifice home and friends to serve our country? - and has it come to this? Freemen turned into menials! 'Independent Dragoons' turned into street-sweepers! Can it be possible? Is there no redress from such unmitigated tyranny?" A gruff voice, emphasized by the flourish of a sword, said - "Boys, keep those brooms going." The day, with its menial service, was followed by a return to the guard-house, and not until eleven o'clock that night was the order issued effecting our release. This severe lesson in military discipline was not forgotten during the four years of army-life. My friend never afterwards ventured, to my knowledge, beyond the guard-line, without written permission from head-quarters. During our stay in Camp Cameron, one comrade was sent home a corpse. He was sick a few weeks, and died in the hospital, November 27, 1861. His name was James Strunk, a young man and a promising soldier. The company followed his re- 26 SABRE STROKES. mains to the depot, and with much regret we parted with one whom we had hoped to have with us to the end.