Knapsack and rifle; or, Life in the Grand Army war as seen from the ranks. Pen pictures and sketches of camp, bivouac, marches, battle-fields and ... and narratives of army life Also, a c - Softcover
Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 Excerpt: ... one man I notice who has brushed himself up and looks pretty tidy in front, but is all splashed with mud and dirt in the rear!" Instantly Sanderson responded, "A good soldier, captain, never looks behind!" The inspector could no more conceal his sense of the humor in the reply than could the men in the ranks, and he ventured upon no more criticisms concerning the dress of the company. After various movements, various attitudes and performances, all of which seemed to give satisfaction to the inspector, he wished to get the men in line. It is the perfection of military drill that a hundred men can be made to step, wheel, charge, go through the motions with arms, all as one man, and can so form a line that, looking from the end, there shall appeal to be only one man, or the thickness of one. And the men should so stand that a straight line drawn from end to end would touch each man's breast. We wished it understood that there was nothing required of a soldier which we could not perform, and we fancied we were up in good shape on this particular occasion. "That's no line," savagely remarked the inspector, as he was standing near me. "What's the matter?" I ventured to ask. "Why, it sticks out, and bulges, and wabbles about; I tell you the front side of some of those men wants hewing off with a broad-axe, and then smoothing down with a jack-plane." "The men can't help their shape," I remonstrated, "and I'm of the opinion that they are constructed about as other men are." The inspector was ved and in a very unpleasant mood. He would attempt to get the line straight, and some luckless fellow would step a few inches too far forward, and when told to stand back, would get a foot too far in the rear. T...
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