would not stand. We began to wonder where
we were going to sleep, when I remembered seeing state-rooms on the deck
above, with berths, and it seemed to me they must be intended for us,
so we agreed to go up and go into the state-rooms from the doors that
opened out on deck, believing that those who got in first would be
allowed to occupy them. About fifty of us got into state-rooms, while
the officers and passengers were playing poker in the cabin. I was
asleep, when I heard a noise out on deck, and raising up in my berth
I looked over the transom and saw about twenty of the recruits being
driven along by officers of the boat, kicks and cuffs, and loud talking
being the order. "I'll teach you brutes to steal the beds of passengers
on this boat. You dirty whelps, to presume to sleep in beds. Get
down stairs and sleep on the wood-pile with the niggers," shouted the
captain.

If there was going to be any fuss about it, I didn't want to stay in the
state-room. I didn't want to be broke of my rest, of course, but if it
was not customary for common soldiers to indulge in such luxuries, I
would go out. Just then there was a knock at the door leading into the
cabin, and I heard a female voice say, "Powtaw, I am afraid one of those
dirty soljaws has got into my state-room," and then I heard the
mate's voice say, "Wait till I get at him." Of course, under those
circumstances I could not remain. No gentleman would occupy a lady's
birth, and cause her to sit up all night. To be sure there were two
berths, and I could remain in the upper one, and she could turn in
below, and I would turn my face to the wall and not look, but I doubted
if a lady, who was a perfect stranger, and whose opinion of soldiers
was so pronounced, could compromise on such a basis, so when the mate
knocked at the door I took my pants and shoes and went out the door
leading on deck, and went below, without being discovered. I found my
companions, who had been routed out of their beds, dressing themselves
as best they could by the light from the furnace, when the stokers would
put in wood, and they were about as mad as I was. The treatment we had
received was not what we had a right to expect when we enlisted. We
decided to set up all night, and growl and discuss the situation.
Several of the recruits made remarks that were very scathing, and
the officials of the boat were held up to scorn, and charged with
inhumanity. We sat there till daylight, and then organ