“These smaller straps are to hold your saber scabbard to the waist-belt, and this strap goes over the shoulder to keep your belt from slipping down around your heels.
“This is your saber inside the scabbard. I’ve no doubt it’s inscribed ‘Never draw me without cause or sheathe me with dishonor,’ but we can’t stop to look at it now. If it isn’t inscribed, ask your first sergeant about it. The saber knot completes this part of the outfit. The saber is pretty big for you, but we’re out of children’s sizes. The horse furniture comes next.”
“Will you please let Taylor and Waterman come in here and help me?” I petitioned to the sergeant.
“Everybody for himself is the rule in the army,” said the sergeant. “Tie up your clothing and arms in your bed blanket. You can put your horse furniture in your saddle blanket.”
Section 1,620 of the “Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861, with an Appendix Containing the Changes and Laws Affecting Army Regulations and Articles of War to June 25, 1863,” reads as follows:
“A complete set of horse equipments for mounted troops consists of 1 bridle, 1 watering bridle, 1 halter, 1 saddle, 1 pair saddle-bags, 1 saddle blanket, 1 surcingle, 1 pair spurs, 1 curry-comb, 1 horse brush, 1 picket pin, and 1 lariat; 1 link and 1 nose bag when specially required.”
The section reads smoothly enough. There is nothing formidable about it to the civilian. But, ah me! Surviving troopers of the great conflict will bear me out when I say that section 1,620 aforesaid, stands for a great deal more than it would be possible for the uninitiated to comprehend at one sitting. The bridle, for instance, is composed of one headstall, one bit, one pair of reins. And the headstall is composed of “1 crown piece, the ends split, forming 1 cheek strap and 1 throat lash billet on one side, and on the other 1 cheek strap and l throat lash, with 1 buckle,.625-inch, 2 chapes and 2 buckles,.75-inch, sewed to the ends of cheek piece to attach the bit; 1 brow band, the ends doubled and sewed from two loops on each end through which the cheek straps and throat lash and throat lash billet pass.” So much for the headstall. It would take three times the space given to the headstall to describe the bit, and then come the reins. The watering bridle “is composed of 1 bit and 1 pair of reins.” The halter’s description uses up one third of a page. “The saddle is composed of 1 tree, 2 saddle skirts, 2 stirrups, 1 girth and girth strap, 1 surcingle, 1 crupper.” Two pages of the regulations are required to describe the different pieces that go to make up the saddle complete, and which include six coat straps, one carbine socket, saddle skirts, saddle-bags, saddle blanket, etc. The horse brush, curry-comb, picket pin, lariat, link and nose bag all come in for detailed descriptions, each with its separate pieces.
Let it be borne in mind that all these articles were thrown into a heap on the floor, and that every strap, buckle, ring and other separate piece not riveted or sewed together was handed out by itself, the sergeant rattling on like a parrot all the time, and perhaps a faint idea of the situation may be obtained. But the real significance of the event can only be understood by the troopers who “were there.”
As I emerged from the quartermaster’s office I was a sight to behold. Before I had fairly left the building my bundles broke loose and my military effects were scattered all around. By using the loose straps and surcingle I managed to pack my outfit in one bundle. But it was a large one, just about all I could lift.
When I got into the barracks I was very much discouraged. What to do with the things was a puzzle to me. I distributed them in the bunk, and began to speculate on how I could ever put all those little straps and buckles together. The more I studied over it the more complicated it seemed. I would begin with the headstall of the bridle. Having been raised on a farm I had knowledge of double and single harness to some extent, but the bridles and halters that I had seen were not of the cavalry pattern. After I had buckled the straps together I would have several pieces left with no buckles to correspond. It was like the fifteen-puzzle.
As I was manipulating the straps Taylor arrived with his outfit. He threw the bundle down in the lower bunk, and exclaimed:
“I wish I’d staid to home.”
“So do I, Giles.”
“Where’s Theodore?”
“I haven’t seen him since I left him at the quartermaster’s.”
“He got his things before I did and started for the barracks.”
Taylor left his bundle and went in search of Hom who was found near the cook-house. His pack had broken loose, and he was too much disgusted to go any further. Taylor assisted him, and they reached the bunk about the time Waterman arrived. We held a council of war, and decided to defer action on the horse furniture till the next day.
“We’ll tog ourselves out in these soldier-clothes and let the harness alone till we’re ordered to tackle it,” said Taylor, and we all assented.
“Attention!”
The orderly sergeant again appeared.
“The recruits who have just drawn their uniforms will fall in outside for inspection with their uniforms on in ten minutes!”
There was no time for ceremony. Off went our home clothes and we donned the regulation uniforms. Four sorrier-looking boys in blue could not have been found in Camp Meigs. And we were blue in more senses than one. My forage cap set down over my head and rested on my ears. The collar to my jacket came up to the cap, and I only had a “peek hole” in front. The sleeves of the jacket were too long by nearly a foot, and the legs of the pantaloons were ditto. The Government did not furnish suspenders, and as I had none I used some of the saddle straps to hold my clothes on. Taylor could not get his boots on, and Hom discovered that both of his boots were lefts. He got them on, however. When Waterman put on his overcoat it covered him from head to foot, the skirts dragging the floor. Before we had got on half our things the order came to “fall in outside,” and out we went. Taylor had his Government boots in his hands, as a corporal had informed him that if he turned out with citizen’s boots on after having received his uniform he would be tied up by the thumbs. So he turned out in his stocking feet.
We were “right dressed” and “fronted” by the first sergeant, who reported to the captain that the squad was formed. The captain advanced and began with Taylor, who was the tallest of the squad, and therefore stood on the right.
“Where are your boots?”
“Here,” replied the frightened recruit, holding them out from under the cape of his great coat.
“Fall out and put them on.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I wear nines and these are sevens.”
“Corporal, take this man to the quartermaster’s and have the boots changed.”
Taylor trotted off, pleased to get away from the officer, who next turned his attention to Hom.
“What’s the matter with your right foot; are you left-handed in it?”
“No, sir; they gave me both lefts.”
“Sergeant, send this man to the quartermaster’s and have the mistake rectified.”
Waterman was next in line.
“Who’s inside this overcoat?” demanded the captain. “It’s me, sir – private Waterman.”
“Couldn’t you get a smaller overcoat?”
“They said it would fit me, and I had no time to try it on.”
“Sergeant, have that man’s coat changed at once. Fall out, private Waterman.”
Then came my turn. The captain looked me over. My make-up was too much for his risibility.
“Where did you come from?” he asked, after the first explosion.
“Berlin.”
“Where’s that?”
“York