lve at night. Independently of the fact that in
most cases in ordinary camp-life there was no reason why these orders
should not have issued in business hours, their multiplicity was a
nuisance. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but in all conscience
when the pen has been through necessity ignored, and the sword is
uplifted for rapid and earnest blows, and the heart of a nation hangs in
heavy suspense upon its movements, these travelling Bureaux had better
be abolished. Superadded to all this, was the labor resulting from the
mania for Court-Martialing that raged at Division Head-quarters.
Mechanical in its movements, not unfrequently malignant in its designs,
officer after officer, earnest in purpose, but in some instances perhaps
deficient in detail, had been sacrificed to an absolutism that could
order the charges, detail the Court, play the part of principal witness
for the prosecution, and confirm the proceedings.

"Our volunteer force will never amount to much, until we attain the
exact discipline of the French service," was the frequent remark of a
General of Division. Probably not. But how much would its efficiency be
increased, had the policy of the great Napoleon, from whose genius the
French arms derive their lustre, prevailed, in detailing for desk duty
in quiet departments the mechanical minds of paper Generals. His master
tact in assigning to commanders legitimate spheres of work, and with it
the untiring zeal of a Cromwell that would run like a purifying fire
through the army, imparting to it its own impetuosity, and ridding it of
jealousy and disaffection, were greatly needed in this Grand Army of the
Potomac. Nobler men never stood in ranks! Holier banners never flaunted
in the sunlight of Heaven! God grant its directing minds corresponding
energy and wisdom.

CHAPTER XV.

_Red Tape and the Soldier's Widow--Pigeon-holing at Head-Quarters and
Weeping at the Family Fireside--A Pigeon-hole General Outwitted--Fishing
for a Discharge--The Little Irish Corporal on Topographical
Engineers--Guard Duty over a Whiskey Barrel._

----, Penna., Nov.--, 1862.

MY DEAR GEORGE:--This is the first spare time that I have been able
to get during the last week for a letter to my dear husband. And
now that there is quiet in the house, and our dear little boys are
sound asleep, and the covers nicely tucked about them in their
little trundle, I fe