Headquarters Remainder Banks' Expedition,
No. 194 Broadway, New York, December 31, 1862.
. . . . As regards myself, I ride with ease, hardly with
comfort. My horse is wild, fractious, and stubborn. He is a valuable beast, of
great strength, endurance, and mettle. But I am not exactly in condition now
to break a wild brute. He rears with me, jumps, etc. My friends beg
me not to ride him, and I have not mounted him for a week. My man, a splendid
horseman, rides him hard every day, and is breaking him. I am looking for
another one, more gentle, and may keep both. It is a delightful sensation to
me, to move about on a horse after hobbling around on crutches so long.
You will wonder at the heading of this letter. General
Andrews sent for me and desired me to take command during his absence of a week
or so, notwithstanding my telling him that my commission must be one of the
youngest of the eight still here. So that my command is just now about eight
thousand, — rather ridiculous, isn't it? . . . . My regiment I am getting into
excellent order. I drill the non-coms, in the manual, an hour every morning,
standing on one leg. In the afternoon, I drill the whole line in the manual an
hour and a half. I visit the guard every night after twelve, to see that the
officer of the guard and day are doing their duty, etc., etc. The officers and
men are all interested in their work and everything goes well
SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William
Francis Bartlett, p. 54-5
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