Transcriber's note:
Minor spelling and punctuation inconsistencies have been harmonized.Obvious printer errors have been repaired. The original spelling of words has been retained.
Ready for the Front.
THE RECOLLECTIONS
OF
A DRUMMER-BOY
BY
HARRY M. KIEFFER
LATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH REGIMENT
PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS
ILLUSTRATED
Forsan et hæc olim meminisse juvabit"
Virgil, Æneid I. 203
BOSTON
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY
1883
Copyright, 1881, by Harry M. Kieffer, and 1883, by
The Century Co.
All rights reserved.
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,
UNIVERSITY PRESS.
TO
THE OFFICERS AND MEN
OF
THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH REGIMENT
PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS,
And to their Children,
THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.
PREFACE.
As some apology would seem to be necessaryfor the effort, herewith made, to add yetone more volume to the already overcrowdedshelf containing the Nation's literature of thegreat Civil War, it may be well to say a fewwords in explanation of the following pages.
Several years ago the writer prepared abrief series of papers for the columns of St.Nicholas, under the title of "Recollections ofa Drummer-Boy." It was thought that thesesketches of army life, as seen by a boy, wouldprove enjoyable and profitable to children ingeneral, and especially to the children of themen who participated in the great Civil War,on one side or the other; while the belief wasentertained that they might at the same timeserve to revive in the minds of the veterans4themselves long-forgotten or but imperfectlyremembered scenes and experiences in campand field. In the outstart it was not theauthor's design to write a connected story,but rather simply to prepare a few brief andhasty sketches of army life, drawn from hisown personal experience, and suitable formagazine purposes. But these, though preparedin such intervals as could with difficultybe spared from the exacting duties of abusy professional life, having been so kindlyreceived by the editors of St. Nicholas, aswell as by the very large circle of the readersof that excellent magazine, and the writerhaving been urgently pressed on all sides formore of the sa