id the indignant sergeant, pointing to the
chevrons on his own sleeve. "Dat mean _Guv'ment_." Volumes could not
have said more, and the victim collapsed. The thing soon settled itself,
and nobody remembered to notice whether the face beside the musket of a
sentinel were white or black. It meant Government, all the same.

The men were also indulged with several raids on the mainland, under
the direction of Captain J. E. Bryant, of the Eighth Maine, the most
experienced scout in that region, who was endeavoring to raise by
enlistment a regiment of colored troops. On one occasion Captains
Whitney and Heasley, with their companies, penetrated nearly to
Pocataligo, capturing some pickets and bringing away all the slaves of
a plantation,--the latter operation being entirely under the charge of
Sergeant Harry Williams (Co. K), without the presence of any white man.
The whole command was attacked on the return by a rebel force, which
turned out to be what was called in those regions a "dog-company,"
consisting of mounted riflemen with half a dozen trained bloodhounds.
The men met these dogs with their bayonets, killed four or five of their
old tormentors with great relish, and brought away the carcass of one.
I had the creature skinned, and sent the skin to New York to be stuffed
and mounted, meaning to exhibit it at the Sanitary Commission Fair hi
Boston; but it spoiled on the passage. These quadruped allies were not
originally intended as "dogs of war," but simply to detect fugitive
slaves, and the men were delighted at this confirmation of their tales
of dog-companies, which some of the officers had always disbelieved.

Captain Bryant, during his scouting adventures, had learned to outwit
these bloodhounds, and used his skill in eluding escape, during another
expedition of the same kind. He was sent with Captain Metcalf's company
far up the Combahee River to cut the telegraphic wires and intercept
despatches. Our adventurous chaplain and a telegraphic operator went
with the party. They ascended the river, cut the wires, and read the
despatches for an hour or two. Unfortunately, the attached wire was too
conspicuously hung, and was seen by a passenger on the railway train in
passing. The train was stopped and a swift stampede followed; a squad of
cavalry was sent in pursuit, and our chaplain, with Lieutenant Osborn,
of Bryant's projected regiment, were captured; also one private,--the
first of our men who had ever been taken