quarter of an hour after reveille every man
had to turn out to roll call. The men thus had fifteen minutes to dress
and put their tents in order. At six o'clock the breakfast signal was
sounded and all fell in line to go to the cook-house and get their
breakfasts. The cup and plate furnished by the government were of tin,
much like those I remember having seen children use in early boyhood. They
were expected to stand the rough usage of army life. Knives, forks and
spoons were of the same rude character. Pedlers, however, early appeared
in camp with a combination, the three hooking together and making a very
light, portable and convenient thing to carry, and many of the boys bought
and carried them in preference to those furnished by the government. Some
of the rations were served out to the men, as soon as received from the
Commissary Department, such as sugar, salt, bread and salt pork. Other
things like corned beef, beans and coffee were cooked by the company cook
and served at meal times hot. Soft bread, a very good kind of wheat bread,
was furnished at convenient times when we were in camp, at other times we
received the regular army crackers. These were sometimes, during the first
year, very poor; they had doubtless been in the government storehouses a
long time, but later on when we received fresh crackers they were very
palatable.

At eight o'clock every morning the surgeons' call was sounded and any man
who did not feel well could go and see the doctor, perhaps get excused
from duty, get some pills or some quinine to take, or, if sick, be given
a bed in the hospital. Although I spent nearly the entire year in the
hospital (the last year of my service, after being wounded in July, 1864),
previous to that time I only once answered the surgeons' call and that was
when every man in the regiment was ordered up to the surgeon's tent and
given a dose of quinine and whiskey. This was while we were at Newbern,
North Carolina, when chills and fever were prevalent in the regiment. At
nine o'clock in the evening tattoo was sounded, the signal for all
soldiers to repair to their quarters, and fifteen minutes later taps gave
the signal for all lights to be extinguished. This living in accordance
with military regulation, seemed a little strange and reminded the writer
of the time when he lived in a factory village where a bell sounded the
time to get up, where one is rung into the factory and rung out again,
suggesting a kin