. Days and events, 1860-1866 . st foresight, was willing to spend all, think-ing that very likely I should be killed and that no one needed mysavings. I found that with five hundred men there were three field ofii-cers, a full staff, and about twenty-five company officers on duty,and it seemed to me that Colonel Hapgood had no need of myservices which warranted him in applying for my return, at leastwithout consulting me; but he may have been actuated by thepardonable desire to command as many officers as possible, and,as I have said, and told him when he greeted me as before related,I did not
. Days and events, 1860-1866 . st foresight, was willing to spend all, think-ing that very likely I should be killed and that no one needed mysavings. I found that with five hundred men there were three field ofii-cers, a full staff, and about twenty-five company officers on duty,and it seemed to me that Colonel Hapgood had no need of myservices which warranted him in applying for my return, at leastwithout consulting me; but he may have been actuated by thepardonable desire to command as many officers as possible, and,as I have said, and told him when he greeted me as before related,I did not care to remain in my position in the Second Corps. Probably not half of the men of the regiment were those whohad belonged when I left it, and the balance were chiefiy substi-tutes for drafted men, who for the most part had sold themselveswithout patriotism or a desire to do their duty as soldiers. Mycompany had a large number of these men in it, and I at once de-voted myself to training them in the ways they ought to go. The. 314 DAYS AND EVENTS regiment had had, first and last, enough of these men to make iteight hundred or a thousand strong, but they had deserted all theway from Concord to this camp, and were still doing so as oppor-tunity was afforded. My company had lost a dozen or so, but Iam rather proud of the fact that but one deserted after I joinedit, and he, after being captured and suffering the punishment Iimposed upon him, never attempted desertion again. My lieutenants were both on duty with the company, and myfirst sergeant was McCrillis, who had once before held that their aid I imparted a good degree of discipline to thecompany, and it was, if not the best, one of the best-drilled com-panies in the regiment before I left it. I not only drilled thecompany, but I insisted on personal cleanliness in the men andrigorously inspected the quarters. I also visited the cooks tentfrequently and prescribed a bill of fare to be served to tlie menwhich afford
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