sorrow, for the loved son and brother whose return had been so
long joyously anticipated came not.

The regiment was paid off and "mustered out" of service in Providence on
the thirteenth day of July, 1863. It left Rhode Island a little more than
one thousand strong. It came back numbering eight hundred and
thirty-eight enlisted men and thirty-eight commissioned officers. During
its absence it lost sixty men by discharge, and seven others by death.
Fifty-five of its members were left behind in various hospitals, and
twenty-five sick men were brought home on the steamer. It is a remarkable
fact in the history of the regiment that not one man was killed in an
engagement with the enemy during its entire nine months' campaign. It is
doubtful whether this has its parallel in any other regiment which entered
the service during the civil war.

But there were many other things which the soldier had to do besides
fighting. One thing all had to do, namely, _obey orders_, and when that
was done, the soldier had done all that was required of him, all that he
promised to do when he enlisted. The entire regiment never appeared in
line once after we left Providence, so many of the men being detailed for
various kinds of service, such as hospital nurses, ambulance drivers,
wagoners, and so forth. But, comrades, whatever the service performed by
our regiment, it should be esteemed honor and distinction enough for any
one of us to have it said of him, "_This is the country which he helped to
save_."

CHAPTER X.

I have thus imperfectly, and to myself at least very unsatisfactorily,
sketched the nine months' war experiences of a "raw recruit" of the
Eleventh Rhode Island regiment. Whatever has been said, if anything, which
shall provoke criticism, be assured that "naught has been set down in
malice."

As was said by one whose words I have already quoted, "the men composing
the Eleventh regiment compared favorably with those of other regiments
which went from Rhode Island." Some theories, however, in regard to what
constitutes the best material for soldiers were upset by the results of
our nine months' campaign. In my own company, for instance, the majority
of the men were recruited from the professions and the counting-room. But
before leaving home it was deemed best by the officers to enlist a few men
upon whom they could rely to do the fighting in the event that the classes
to whom I have referred should show the "white fea