he could have gotten them
together. He inspired them with his quiet enthusiasm, held them by
personal magnetism, and by unselfish patriotism kindled in the breast of
each of his fifty followers a desire to do something for his country.
Gradually the railroad, so dear to him, slipped back to second place in
the affairs of the earth. His country was first. To be sure, there was
no shirking of responsibility at the office, but the business of the
company was never allowed to overshadow the cause in which he had
silently but heartily enlisted. "Abe" Lincoln was, to his way of
reasoning, a bigger man than the President of the Chicago and Alton
Railroad--which was something to concede. The country must be cared for
first, he argued; for what good would a road be with no country to run
through?

All day he would work at the despatcher's office, flagging fast freights
and "laying out" local passenger trains, to the end that the soldiers
might be hurried south. He would pocket the "cannon ball" and order the
"thunderbolt" held at Alton for the soldiers' special. "Take siding at
Sundance for troop train, south-bound," he would flash out, and glory in
his power to help the government.

All day he would work and scheme for the company (and the Union), and at
night, when the silver moonlight lay on the lot back of the machine
shops, he would drill and drill as long as he could hold the men
together. They were all stout and fearless young fellows, trained and
accustomed to danger by the hazard of their daily toil. They knew
something of discipline, were used to obeying orders, and to reading
and remembering regulations made for their guidance; and Jewett reasoned
that they would become, in time, a crack company, and a credit to the
state.

By the time he had his company properly drilled, young Jewett was so
perfectly saturated with the subject of war that he was almost unfit for
duty as a despatcher. Only his anxiety about south-bound troop trains
held his mind to the matter and his hand to the wheel. At night, after a
long evening in the drill field, he would dream of great battles, and
hear in his dreams the ceaseless tramp, tramp of soldiers marching down
from the north to re-enforce the fellows in the fight.

Finally, when he felt that they were fit, he called his company together
for the election of officers. Jewett was the unanimous choice for
captain, other officers were chosen, and the captain at once applied for
a comm