This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
[147]
and that day he happened around just in time to see the performance, but returned to his quarters apparently without noticing it. Soon, however, he sent his Orderly to the Captain with a request to come to his tent.
The Captain was soon on his way, dressed in his best uniform, probably expecting, at least, a commendation for his efficiency, or perhaps a promotion.
On reaching the General's tent, he was admitted, when, after the usual salute, the following dialogue took place :--
General P.--“Good-morning, Captain.”
Captain.--“Good-morning, General.”
General P.-“I sent for you, Captain, to inquire of you what knapsacks were made for.”
Captain.--“Knapsacks!--why, I suppose they were made for soldiers to carry their spare clothing in.”
General P.-“Well, Captain, I passed your camp a short time ago and saw one of your men carrying bricks in his knapsack up and down the company street.
Now, go back to your company, send that man to his quarters, and don't let me know of your ordering any such punishment again while you are in my brigade.”
One regiment that I know of had a platform erected, between twenty-five and thirty feet high, on which the offender was isolated from the camp, and left to broil in the sun or soak in the rain while a guard paced his beat below, to keep away any who might like to communicate with him.
Scanned printed text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.