We are having a nice long time in camp, but will probably
make up for it when Grant and Sheridan get this little army fixed to suit them.
I have been in fights thus far with Companies B, D, and K, having commanded the
two latter in a number of hot places, and now I am First Lieutenant Commanding
Company E. I don't stay with a Company long enough to learn all the men's
names, but they impress me with the idea that they are not dissatisfied with me
even if I only know them by sight. Company B is from Barre, Montpelier and
Waterbury. D from Burlington, E from Bennington, and K from Derby Line, and the
men are splendid fighters, at any rate with me. I don't try to drive
them into a fight but am lucky to keep up with the intrepid leaders and most of
the rest follow. Except the bravest of them, the others are not apt to go where
their Commander won't, and I get better work out of them by keeping ahead of
them if I only can. Some of them are so dauntlessly courageous they inspire me.
SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections
and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 146-7
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