el afterwards to his great amusement. He was
all right, and on his way to rejoin his regiment, where he was wounded
next day, splendidly doing his duty. Because he had overstayed his leave
twenty-four hours, red tape would have required him to remain in
Washington, submit to a court-martial or court of inquiry, and probably
after three or four weeks be sent back, duly excused, the country being
deprived of his services in the mean time.

Well, to get back to Christmas. After the foot-race the men were given
free rein until ten o'clock P.M., and passes out of camp were not
required. As the evening wore on, it became evident that John Barleycorn
had been getting in some extra work, from the character of the noise
emanating from the company streets, and I became somewhat nervous about
it. Lieutenant-Colonel Albright's tent adjoined mine, and I could see
that he was becoming a little exercised over this extra noise. The fear
was that we might get a peremptory summons from division head-quarters
to "explain immediately the causes of the unusual noises emanating from
our regiment, and why it is not suppressed." Just about ten o'clock
there was an extra outburst, and I noticed Colonel Albright, with sword
dangling, pass rapidly out of his tent and down towards the company
streets from whence the noise came. I feared trouble, and slipped on my
boots and followed as quickly as possible. But before I reached the
scene, the colonel had drawn his sword and ordered all the men to their
quarters, at the same time striking right and left with the flat of his
sword, hitting two of the men. One proved to be a sergeant who was
trying to quell the noise and get his men into quarters. The latter
resented the blow and made a sharp retort to the colonel, who
immediately repeated it, whereupon the sergeant struck him a terrible
blow in the eye with his fist, knocking him down. I got there just in
time to see the colonel fall, and immediately seized the sergeant and
placed him in arrest. He was handed over to the division provost guard.
The colonel was found to be seriously hurt. His eye swelled up and
turned black and gave him great pain all night. And it was several days
before he recovered the use of it.

The most serious thing about this unfortunate culmination of our
Christmas festivities was not only the breach of discipline, but the
present status of this sergeant. He was an exceptionally good
non-commissioned officer, with a splendid