. Stories of the civil war . TE WAR [Gen. Horace Porter in the ^^ Youths Compatiiony^ When a call for troops was made at the outbreak ofthe war, Young America exhibited himself in his mostcombative form. Youngsters were the first to enlist,they poured in upon the recruiting officers in swarmslike bees; when too short they strained and stretchedto reach the standard of height, and often added a fewimaginary years to their lives so as not to be rejectedon account of age. They were afterwards as eager to get at the enemyas they had been to reach the recruiting sergeant, andmany a mere lad was muc
. Stories of the civil war . TE WAR [Gen. Horace Porter in the ^^ Youths Compatiiony^ When a call for troops was made at the outbreak ofthe war, Young America exhibited himself in his mostcombative form. Youngsters were the first to enlist,they poured in upon the recruiting officers in swarmslike bees; when too short they strained and stretchedto reach the standard of height, and often added a fewimaginary years to their lives so as not to be rejectedon account of age. They were afterwards as eager to get at the enemyas they had been to reach the recruiting sergeant, andmany a mere lad was much more conspicuous for hisbravery than were his elders. During one of the battles in front of Petersburg, aninfantry regiment on a part of the line which had beenhard pressed for hours by the enemy began to fall men were becoming more and more demoralized,the color sergeant, who carries the flag in battle, hadbeen killed, the flag had fallen to the ground, and therewas serious danger of matters running into a BOYS IN THE LATE WAR 209 At this moment, a smooth-faced lad, a mere boy inappearance, snatched up the flag, waved it over hishead, cried out to his comrades not to desert theircolors, and then with a firm and cheery voice started upthe song, ** Rally round the flag, boys ! As his clear, ringing tones rose above the din of bat-tle, his comrades faced about one after another, caughtup the strains of the soldiers song, and soon the wholeline was charging into the enemy with such effect thatit swept everything before it, and victory was snatchedfrom defeat. It seemed the work of inspiration, and the oldestheads in the regiment might have been proud to do thework of the boy who that day had made himself theirleader. He was made a sergeant at once for his gal-lantry. In an assault on the works which had been con-structed around Vicksburg for its defence, a young manbelonging to a Western regiment, who seemed to beone of the youngest soldiers in the ranks, pushed
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Keywords: ., bookauthorblaisdel, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1890
