Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

After I had been at Annapolis three or four days, the man was brought in. He was a man of intelligence. The shock had been too much for him. I told him I could not allow him to serve in arms with the company, but if he chose to stay there and cook for them, and take care of them, and did well, I would not punish him further for the desertion. This he did, and afterwards showed himself to be a man whose only fault was that he had had his first fright.

When the train arrived within three quarters of a mile of the Maryland at Perryville, it was halted, and I detailed the Salem Zouaves, my best drilled company, to act as skirmishers, and threw them out on each side of the road into the forest. The regiment was then formed in platoons and we marched down without sound of drum until we got in sight of the boat, myself marching at their head.

A little incident which shows the civilian's idea of war occurred here. My brother came alongside me as we were marching down to the boat, and I observed that he had in his hand a heavy pick-axe handle.

“What in the world are you going to do with that?” I asked.

“Why,” said he, “you expect to fight, don't you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I shall go along; I know how to handle this weapon in a hand to hand fight, and can do more execution with it than with any other.”

As he was a man six feet two in his stockings, and weighed one hundred and eighty pounds without being fleshy, I said to him: “I think you are quite right, come on;” and he stepped on board the ferry-boat with me.

But all this preparation was needless. There was nobody there but some of the officers and crew of the boat, the others having deserted. I found no preparations made, no coal on board, more than enough to cross the river, and the regiment went to work immediately to coal her. There were tracks on the upper deck for the transportation of cars. We put four cars loaded with coal upon those tracks; we could not stop to stow it. There was no water, aboard for drinking, but we found at the landing quite a number of empty whiskey barrels, which we filled with good water and took with us. Three days rations of chicken, turkey, and tongue, had been given us at the Continental Hotel, but