the party sent into the building to carry out the arms, I took care to reserve for myself a gun which was in first rate order. I was so green, however, concerning matters of that kind that I had to call upon Reddy to explain the method of fastening the bayonet; which had rather a complicated arrangement. I also secured accoutrements which were furnished with a strap to go over the shoulder, a great advantage when there are forty rounds of cartridges in the box. Most of the others had only a belt around the waist. Before breaking ranks, the captain said that after dinner, we would have to take the old muskets into Harrisburg, and as the day was quite warm, and the roads very dusty, I determined to count myself out. When the time arrived, the one-eyed sergeant finding me out of my place, I explained to him that there was no necessity for my marching into town, as I had no gun to take, but he quickly overcame that difficulty by suggesting that I could carry the gun of some one who was then on guard, and so in I went with the rest. After storing the arms in a factory, the Captain gave us liberty for a half an hour, upon all promising to meet him at the expiration of that time. Rhodes and I went down the main street, and I purchased a shirt from a rascally Harrisburg skin flint, who seeing my private's uniform, gave me a great deal more impudence than I would have borne, had I not been under the necessity of getting the article.
Upon returning to camp, we stacked arms in front of the tents, and had scarcely time to carry our accoutrements inside, when I heard the voice of the Captain shouting, “Fall in, fall in quickly, men,” so hastily fastening them on again, I took my place in rank, near the right of the company. The Captain cut off a squad of about twenty, ordered them to “right face, double-quick, march,” and off we hurried toward a crowd collected about the centre of
