Part 1 (2/2)

Delays innumerable and inexplainable occurred on that journey, and a trip which ordinarily requires less than three hours consumed, in the Troopers' case, an entire day; so that the shades of evening were added to the gloom which had prevailed all day when Camp Hastings was reached. From the cars the Troopers tramped a half mile, up and down hill, to a little valley which had been designated as their camp site.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TROOPERS CAMP AT MT. GRETNA.]

After the flood of the day the valley was ankle deep in mud, and a more discouraging prospect than confronted the Troopers would be hard to imagine. No shelter had been prepared for them, nor could any be secured. By some mistake, on the part of others, their tents had not yet arrived from the State a.r.s.enal. All buildings about the camp grounds were crowded with the constantly increasing throngs of infantrymen, each troop train upon its arrival adding to the thousands of shelterless soldiers.

A half dozen of the largest Troopers were sent out to forage, and while they were gone arrangements were made, through the courtesy of Captain Warburton, with the men of Battery A to share their tents for the night.

The battery had arrived the day before and was comfortably located. Of course the doubling up of quarters caused crowding, but the grateful Troopers, wet and tired as they were, were soon dreaming their first soldier dreams, while the rain beat a mournful tattoo on the canvas overhead.

CHAPTER II.

THE TROOP AT MT. GRETNA.

Had the Troopers not known from experience that Mt. Gretna was an ideal spot for a camp, their impressions of the place, gained from observations taken the morning after their arrival, would have been disagreeable beyond expression. In the words of ”Longfeller,” as one Trooper expressed it, in a letter to the _Press_,

”We saw the tents of the others, Gleam through the rain and the mist, And a feeling of sadness came o'er us, That our hearts could not resist.”

For, to the disgust of the Troopers, daylight brought no news of the missing canvas, and visions of another night in the mess tents of the Battery and Sheridan Troop began to disturb the men. Captain Groome and his lieutenants had planned plenty of work for the men, however, and as soon as their minds were once occupied they began to feel better.

Details were sent to relieve the guard that had been placed over the baggage car, to secure wagons to haul the luggage to the camp grounds and to do regular sentry duty.

While the spot selected for a camp by Captain Groome had its disadvantages in rainy weather, it proved to be on the whole, the most desirable spot on the entire grounds; one of its greatest advantages being the nearness of Lake Conawago, where later in the season the men enjoyed a daily bath. The Philadelphia infantry commands had been a.s.signed the worst quarters at Mt. Gretna. They occupied a deep basin, fully a mile and a half from the station and telegraph office, and during the entire time the First, Second, Third Regiments and Battalion of State Fencibles remained there, the valley was a sea of red mud.

Every other regiment was encamped on rising ground, where the sandy soil was well drained and kept comparatively dry despite the long continued rains which set in.

In the afternoon the Troopers tents arrived, and went up with astonis.h.i.+ng rapidity. The men worked hard arranging wooden supports for their straw-filled canvas bags, so they would not be obliged to sleep on the wet turf. The horses had been well sheltered in the woods near the camp, but men and beasts alike were glad when they saw the bright sun on Sat.u.r.day morning. These weather conditions quickly wrought a great change throughout the miles of tented streets. Soldiers faces brightened and the Troopers, who had kept up their pluck splendidly under a stress of unfortunate circ.u.mstances such as no other organization had been obliged to face, could not help showing their pleasure at the improved prospects.

Sunday was spent for the most part in straightening up the camp. In the afternoon there were a number of visitors on hand from Philadelphia, although rainy weather had set in again. All kind of rumors were current as to what would be done with the State organizations, and many feared that the Troop would not be allowed to enlist as a whole, but that the men would be called upon to enter the volunteer service as individuals.

These rumors soon died away, however, and on Monday when the men were lined up and asked if they were willing to enter the service of the United States there was but a single dissenting voice. One private refused to volunteer, and he at once resigned from the Troop. As there was no provision in the call for volunteers for an a.s.sistant surgeon, with a troop of cavalry, Dr. Charles H. Frazier could not be mustered in.

After the privates and non-commissioned officers had expressed their willingness to volunteer, Colonel Morrell addressed the officers as follows: ”Is it your desire that I should request the Governor of Pennsylvania to issue to you a commission for the same places you now hold in the volunteer army of the United States?”

Captain Groome and Lieutenants Browning and McFadden signified their desire to serve, and Governor Hastings at once responded that it would give him great pleasure to have the commissions made out as requested.

After this inspection the men settled down to camp life with zest. On the day they had signified their willingness to enlist, the great news had come of Commodore Dewey's victory in the harbor of Manila. The destruction of the entire Spanish fleet in the East, gave a new turn to the war, and it was soon whispered that it would not be long before some of the men encamped at Mt. Gretna would be on their way to these distant islands in the Pacific. Daily drills were taken up with added interest.

Wednesday and Thursday were rainy. The brigade surgeons were being examined, and all was put in readiness for the physical examination of the soldiers, preliminary to their being mustered into the volunteer service. Friday the City Troopers were examined and four men were rejected by the surgeons, chiefly for defects in eyesight. Two of these were afterward reinstated by direct orders from Was.h.i.+ngton.

Sat.u.r.day, April 28th, the Troopers were marched down to division headquarters to be mustered in. A heavy Scotch mist hung over the camp, and objects at a short distance were invisible. The men were lined up before a long wooden platform upon which stood Major William A.

Thompson, of the First U. S. Cavalry, the officer detailed by the War Department to muster the Pennsylvania National Guard troops into the Volunteer service of the United States; Governor Hastings and his staff, and hundreds of spectators. As the roll was called, each Trooper stepped forward and answered to his name. Then the mustering officer told the men and officers to raise their right hand. Up went the hands and the spectators removed their hats while Major Thompson repeated this oath:

”Do you solemnly swear that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and will serve them faithfully against all their enemies whomsoever, and that you will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of officers appointed over you, according to the rules and articles of war?”

”I do!” shouted each man in the same breath, and as the hearty response went up, the spectators applauded and the Third Regiment Band, sheltered in a building near at hand, struck up ”The Star Spangled Banner.” The officers' commissions were then filled in by the Governor and handed to their owners. Back to their camp marched the Troopers, no longer their own masters but servants of Uncle Sam, and as they filed past the mustering stand, a company of infantrymen stepped up to go through the same ceremony.

Noah is credited with being the only man who ever saw it rain for forty days and forty nights, but the City Troopers ran him a close race in the month that followed. The intervals between showers were almost too brief to be noticed, and it became a popular jest that the weather man was trying to break the men in for a campaign in Cuba during the rainy season. The worst storm of the lot was reserved for the Sunday following the muster-in of the Troopers. In regular cloud-bursts the floods descended upon Camp Hastings. The camp of the Troopers was surrounded by hills on three sides, and down these hills came innumerable streams, all headed for the Troop street. Visitors in large numbers had come out from the city on the long excursion trains, and many were half ferried, half driven to camp in an old wagon which seemed especially designed to do service as a boat. Bad as was the Troopers' lot, it was almost nothing compared to what the Philadelphia infantrymen were compelled to endure.

The foot soldiers in the first place had not taken the same precautions as the Troopers in raising their mattresses from the ground, and in some cases they actually found their beds under water by nightfall. Mud in the streets of every camp in the First Brigade was six inches deep, and so sticky that to attempt to walk through it, invariably meant the loss of a boot.

On Monday morning, drills were resumed by the Troopers, and upon Tuesday they were called to bid farewell to the men of Battery A, who had been ordered to Newport News for guard duty.

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