General Mitchell has issued an immense number of orders, and
of course holds the commandants of regiments responsible for their execution. I
have, as in duty bound, done my best to enforce them, and the men think me
unnecessarily severe.
To-day a soldier about half drunk was arrested for leaving
camp without permission and brought to my quarters; he had two canteens of
whisky on his person. I remonstrated with him mildly, but he grew saucy,
insubordinate, and finally insolent and insulting; he said he did not care a
damn for what I thought or did, and was ready to go to the guard-house; in fact
wanted to go there. Finally, becoming exasperated, I took the canteens from
him, poured out the whisky, and directed Captain Patterson to strap him to a
tree until he cooled off somewhat. The Captain failing in his efforts to fasten
him securely, I took my saddle girth, backed him up to the tree, buckled him to
it, and returned to my quarters. This proved to be the last straw which broke
the unfortunate camel's back. It was a high-handed outrage upon the person of a
volunteer soldier; the last and worst of the many arbitrary and severe acts of
which I had been guilty. The regiment seemed to arise en masse,
and led on by a few reckless men who had long disliked me, advanced with
threats and fearful oaths toward my tent. The bitter hatred which the men
entertained for me had now culminated. It being Sunday the whole regiment was
off duty, and while some, and perhaps many, of the boys had no desire to resort
to violent measures, yet all evidently sympathized with the prisoner, and
regarded my action as arbitrary and cruel. The position of the soldier was a
humiliating one, but it gave him no bodily pain. Possibly I had no authority
for punishing him in this way; and had I taken time for reflection it is more
than probable I should have found some other and less objectionable mode; confinement
in the guard-house, however, would have been no punishment for such a man; on
the contrary it would have afforded him that relief from disagreeable duty
which he desired. At any rate the act, whether right or wrong, had been
done, and I must either stand by it now or abandon all hope of controlling the
regiment hereafter. I watched the mob, unobserved by it, from an opening in my
tent door. Saw it gather, consult, advance, and could hear the boisterous and
threatening language very plainly. Buckling my pistol belt under my coat where
it could not be seen, I stepped out just as the leaders advanced to the tree
for the purpose of releasing the man. I asked them very quietly what they
proposed to do. Then I explained to them how the soldier had violated orders,
which I was bound by my oath to enforce; how, when I undertook to remonstrate
kindly against such unsoldierly conduct, he had insulted and defied me. Then I
continued as calmly as I ever spoke, "I understand you have come here to
untie him; let the man who desires to undertake the work begin if there be a
dozen men here who have it in their minds to do this thing—let them step
forward—I dare them to do it." They saw before them a quiet, plain man who
was ready to die if need be; they could not doubt his honesty of purpose. He
gave them time to act and answer, they stood irresolute and silent; with a wave
of the hand he bade them go to their quarters, and they went.
General Mitchell hearing of my trouble sent for me. I
explained to him the difficulties under which I was laboring; told him what I
had done and why I had done it. He said he understood my position fully, that I
must go ahead, do my duty and he would stand by me, and, if necessary, sustain
me with his whole division. I replied that I needed no assistance; that
the officers, with but few exceptions, were my friends, and that I believed
there were enough good, sensible soldiers in the regiment to see me through. He
talked very kindly to me; but I feel greatly discouraged. The Colonel has practically
abandoned the regiment in this period of bad weather, when rigorous discipline
is to be enforced, and the boys seem to feel that I am taking advantage of his
absence to display my authority, and require from them the performance of hard
and unnecessary tasks. Many non-commissioned officers have been reduced to the
ranks by court-martial for being absent without leave, and many privates have
been punished in various ways for the same reason. It was my duty to approve or
disapprove the finding of the court. Disapproval in the majority of cases would
have been subversive of all discipline. Approval has brought down upon me not
only the hatred and curses of the soldiers tried and punished, but in some
instances the ill-will also of their fathers, who for years were my neighbors
and friends.
Very many of these soldiers think they should be allowed to
work when they please, play when they please, and, in short, do as they please.
Until this idea is expelled from their minds the regiment will be but little if
any better than a mob.
SOURCE: John Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or,
Memoirs of a Volunteer, pp. 91-4
