Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Story of a Trooper: With Much of Interest Concerning the Campaign on the Peninsula, Not Before Written
It was early in April, 1861. The President had issued his proclamation calling for seventy-five thou sand troops to put down the rebellion. New York was quick to get herself into uniform, regardless of the regulations; and the Union Defense Committee had gone into the business of taking care of the nation and endorsing the loyalty of travelers bound on a jour ney to Washington. The military aspirations of men ran higi indeed, and colonel's commissions were sought for by at least a regiment of worthies, few of whom knew anything of the profession of arms, or in' truth any other honest profession. But they had a ready stock Of honor, which thev were willing to pledge at any time; could raise a regiment in a few weeks and bring their hosts into the field, to the terror of the enemy. Indeed. I am not so sure but that if the job of putting down the rebellion in a few weeks had been offered, there would have been any quantity of these gentlemen found ready to take it, confident of their own ability to perform what they undertook. In fine, the soldier fever was on us all, but we were for going to the war in our own way. An eccentric gentleman, who had sold jewelry in Maiden Lane, thinking the Government might need an extra regiment or so of cavalry before the war was ended, had inserted in the Herald an advertisement, proposing a meeting at a hall on Broadway, for the purpose of considering measures to raise a regiment of volunteer cavalry. A Colonel was wanted, to whom would be presented a remarkable horse, of great value, and a near relation to Patchen. There was something attractive about the advertisement, as there also was about the wild, dashing life of a trooper. None but skillful horsemen were to apply, horsemanship being considered necessary to a useful trooper. It must be remembered that I am writing of what occurred before the Government made that greatest of military dis coveries, that it is not necessary a man first learn to ride before you entrust him with a horse and equip ments, and send him, disabled with carbine, sabre and pistols, into the field to fight the enemy. There were those inclined to set this ambitious dealer in jewelry down as a very Indiscreet gentleman, to hazard his for tune On so dangerous an enterprise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
