Colonel Doyle and Captains Dana and Starbuck went
to Hoboken on Tuesday, April 23d. Major Johnson
returned from Fort Sill that day, and, in the colonel's
absence, took command of the regiment. Under his
friendly and easy guidance the task of getting off scemed
simple.
We were to leave at 2 o'clock on the morning of April 25th. On Wednesday morning immediately after reveille the straw from the bed sacks was dumped in huge piles in the area and burned. The flames rose high above the buildings. Men, waving their empty white bed sacks, danced around the fires. The picture had a ceremonial air. Before long only ashes remained.
We policed barracks and quarters. They were ready for the next to come, as empty when we had first invaded them. We wandered about bare places, all at once unfamiliar to us. We were homeless. We had only to count the minutes while we reviewed details. At midnight we had a supper of sandwiches, cakes, and coffee. Paper Work alone enjoyed himself, altering not at all his ways. In Regimental Headquarters the clerks still toiled. The organizations were formed on the parade ground, and each man placed his pack in his place, so that when the command to fall in for departure should come we could be off in a minute. The imaginative busied themselves with the manufacture of placards which they nailed to the barrack doors.
“This house to rent. Owners spending the warn season in France."
“Good-by, Upton! Hello, Berlin!”
"Wipe your feet. We're off to kiss the Kaiser, and can't do it for you."
Out on the parade ground Pullen's bugle blared. The lights in Regimental Headquarters expired. Paper Work went to sleep for the night.
