. . mall-pox. Aday or two after Christmas the commanding officer of each regi-ment called a mass meeting of its members, at which theorders from Washington were read and the alluring scheme offour hundred dollars bounty and a thirty days furlough was fullyexplained. No doubt it was thought that the holiday season wasa good time to talk about going home. In this way the boyswere vaccinated with the veteran virus. It took1 right went like sheep over a wall. A bell-wether in eachcompany started it, and the rest almost fell ove
. . mall-pox. Aday or two after Christmas the commanding officer of each regi-ment called a mass meeting of its members, at which theorders from Washington were read and the alluring scheme offour hundred dollars bounty and a thirty days furlough was fullyexplained. No doubt it was thought that the holiday season wasa good time to talk about going home. In this way the boyswere vaccinated with the veteran virus. It took1 right went like sheep over a wall. A bell-wether in eachcompany started it, and the rest almost fell over one another intheir haste to get hold of the pen and sign the new roll. No doubt the thirty days furlough was a potent influence ininducing the men to re-enlist. It is impossible for anyone exceptthe soldiers themselves to conceive how great was the no other way can it be half so well expressed as in the wordsof Captain Brewer Smith, of the Sixty-fifth, in a personal letterto the writer. Said he: M The boys made up their minds to take i864] 475. ISAAC GASS,LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, SIXTY-FOURTH. 476 mikk Ti kick. [January, three years more of hell for the sake of thirty days of heaven—home But the great impelling force that moved the veteranswas a fervent and exalted consecration to the work which the)had undertaken; a determination to stand by Old Glory untilthe rebellion was conquered. The history of the world affordsno more shining example of patriotic sacrifice and devotion. There was a chap in Company K, Sixty-fifth, by the nameof Mike Turney. He was a prime soldier, had been throughevery battle, and had hoofed if every mile that the regimenthad marched—and we all know that those miles were many. Oneevening, just before the re-enlistment craze, Mike was sitting ona log, stirring up a little meal ami water, which was all he hadfur supper. Boys,1 he suddenly broke out, dye spose Id ever listedin this cussed war if Id knowed that Id have to come downto livin on
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