Marched four companies to Bluestone; bathed. A good evening
drill.
Last evening I fell into a train of reflection on the
separation of the regiment, so long continued, so unmilitary, and so causeless,
with the small prospect of getting relief by promotion or otherwise in the
Twenty-third, and as a result pretty much determined to write this morning
telling brother William [Platt] that I would like a promotion to a colonelcy in
one of the new regiments. Well, this morning, on the arrival of the mail, I get
a dispatch from W. H. Clements that I am appointed colonel of the
Seventy-ninth, a regiment to be made up in Hamilton, Warren, and Clinton
Counties. Now, shall I accept? It is hard to leave the Twenty-third. I shall
never like another regiment so well. Another regiment is not likely to think as
much of me. I am puzzled. If I knew I could get a chance for promotion in the
Twenty-third in any reasonable time, I would decline the Seventy-ninth. But,
then, Colonel Scammon is so queer and crotchety that he is always doing
something to push aside his chance for a brigadiership. Well, I will postpone
the evil day of decision as long as possible.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 307-8
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