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Company A had in its ranks men of every trade and profession, not excepting the clergy.
Our minister might have been a good soldier in the army of the
Lord, but was not a success in the Army of the Potomac.
At the first fire he scattered and could not be rallied.
I said to him, “You have been telling the boys to get ready to die, but you are not in good marching order for the other shore yourself.”
“That is not it,” replied Levi; “I should not have enlisted; it always made me nervous to hear a gun fired and I don't believe I can get used to it.”
As will be shown later he never did.
Returning to our works we were ordered to throw up traverses between companies.
At night cheering began on our right.
An aid rode down the line and gave orders to
Colonel Hincks to have the regiment cheer.
“What for?”
said the colonel.
“I do not know,” was the reply; “it is orders from
General McClellan to
General Dana.”
“Give my compliments to
General Dana and say that we did our cheering in front of the line yesterday.”
Soon we were ordered to pack up and leave everything not absolutely necessary to carry.
We were ordered into line and remained under arms all night.
The next morning we found the
