Eleven Days in the Militia
During The
WAR OF THE REBELLION;
BEING
A JOURNAL OF THE "EMERGENCY" CAMPAIGN OF 1862.
BY A MILITIAMAN.
COLLINS, PRINTER, PHILADELPHIA.
1883.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by
THE COLLINS PRINTING HOUSE,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
INTRODUCTION.
Twenty years have passed away since a band of hastily-gatheredminute-men left their homes to defend the soil of Pennsylvania fromthe first threatened invasion of the State by the rebel army underGeneral R.E. Lee. Viewed through the lapse of this long period,crowded as it has been with so many momentous events in the life ofthe nation, the incidents of that brief and comparatively unimportantcampaign begin, nevertheless, from their increasing remoteness, totake upon themselves a degree of historic interest. In respect to boththeir significance and their adventure, they greatly exceed theoccurrences which attended the march of the celebrated Advance LightBrigade to the defence of Philadelphia in the war of 1812-14, in whichlatter body of citizen soldiery the county of Berks had the honor tobe liberally represented.
With many of the participants in the movements of September, 1862,that minor undertaking comprises the sum total of their personalexperience of military service during the entire ordeal of ourcountry's conflict. To them, therefore, the memories of that period of[4]excitement and alarm are invested with a peculiar interest—asentiment which must to a degree continue to be shared by theirdescendants. In the belief that a narration of its details may serveto rekindle in the breasts of his surviving companions something ofthe enthusiasm which they originally inspired, the writer has beenencouraged, after the lapse of nearly a generation, to undertake thepleasing and congenial task.
Fidelity to fact is at the least claimed for the present performance,which, devoid as it is of literary pretensions, may nevertheless bedeemed not unworthy of an humble place among the contributions to thehistory of a stirring epoch in the annals of our good old Commonwealthat the trying period of the nation's struggle. The basis of thenarrative is a personal journal of the service to which it refers,kept at the time it transpired, the entries in which were dictated bythe feelings and impressions of the moment. These impressions, it isto be remembered, were those of a simple civilian—one who felt littleinterest in the details of military service apart from the cause inwhich it is undertaken. Yet the relation may, from this very fact,commend itself the more to the friendly regard of his comrades, mostof whom were at that period equally inexperienced in the proper[5]discipline of the soldier. On the other hand, should it attract thenotice of the veteran, it will doubtless serve to amuse him bycomparison with his own experience amidst the greater perils of"grim-visaged war," which he is even yet so pardonably fond ofrecounting.
From what has been already advanced, it will be unnecessary to placeany special emphasis upon the disclaimer which it nevertheless remainsto make, that any possible object of applause is sought to