The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 349: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’S “YOUNG CAPTAIN. “This news would spread up and down the bank, and the mounted men especially feel’ anxious to converse with their comrades, and attended little to their posts meanwhile, . “The ruse answered admirably, and, while T saw one particular spot deserted, our party issued ‘from the woods and swam their horses acros&iv0 | » | ‘CNo resistance was offered by’our prisoners, “We had explained to them: the! importance of silence and obedience, while revolvers were always » pointed to enforce submission. ““We had scarcely crossed, however; when) inthe distance we saw two squadrons:of the enemy: dash- ing along the river bank in: great commotion» “Twas lucky we had used all expedition,as some one at Paulo’s must have informed on usy) “As I stood in a thicket, listening to their angry conversation, I could not help. Jaughing heartily at their annoyance, and \they must! have heard it, for one said, 7 é) “*That’s him ; I know his-voice, major,’ “<That you, Yankee Sam?’ oy | “*Yes, that's.me. . How ;arelyou, major?) Fine night, isn’t it? ..1 shall.give yous another ,call shortly,’ ‘‘T could scarcely get out of; the. way before a. perfect shower of shot was dropping all saround me,” Sid Livy | ‘‘Yankee Sam’s, nazrrative, was-listened to with great, interest. by the Boy Soldiers, for. it was well known that the brave fellow had lost nearly all his propertyin Mexico, on account of the war, although had he not taken up arms he might.haye retained every acre of all he was poseessed,”’ ad " ’ ; CHAPTER. CXY,, THE BATTUR OF MATAMORASTHE | VICTORY OF* THE REPUBLICANS, DZS iit HS] ; lit: sid In another part of this present letter which Captain Frank wrote to his brother, the braye young, fellow. describes. what.,happened a few, days. after the narrative giyen,by the tall Yankee round. the camp fire in the boys’ camp. : me He says, speaking of that part of the. Republican army to which he was attached in a more particular manner :— “| thought at first to write but a short account of our doings here ; but as important events have taken place within the past forty-eight hours, I cannot allow the mail messenger to go without say- ing afew words regarding them. — “And although we are in high spirits at having soundly thrashed one of Maximilian’s best generals here near Matamoras, our sufferings have been ex- treme throughout the entire campaign ; but, though troubling and inconveniencing us, to some degree, haye tended to doubly harden and make our limbs astough as steel, => 4 9 gict ic “Continually marching through non-inhabited districts, we had to depend upon Fortune. for sup- plies, ag our stores were few, and the departments particularly ‘slow’ in such ‘fast’ times as we haye experienced. ‘Over mountains, through ‘gaps,’ across rivers, streams, creeks, &c,, Our progress was toilsome and weary. | “But few doctors meddled with any one, 4 good tough march’ was the prescription for all, and not more than a hundred could be found upon the sick lists at any time during our frequent Se — 043 and rapid journeyings toand fro, continually harass- ing the enemy, cutting off supply trains, ‘$ bush- whacking * for'whole days with them, scouting’ and scouring the whole country was‘our constant occu: pation, ‘Cavalry led a ‘hard life, and must) have. been made of brass to, support.the trials incident to their daily duty; | “ Among the mountains a party of these partisan horse would watch all the roads, conceal their fires, and hang around the enemy with pertinacious watchfulness, and at the least. opportunity. dash into them, capturing and destroying as they. went, living as best they might, and doin g whatever they pleased, generally. ) | ‘As scouts these men were, invaluable, They were here, and there, and everywhere. : ‘No track could be kept of them. “Their dress was of skins or anything that came to hand, and so long as grass was found for their hardy, wiry, Indian horses, the riders cared little for food, dress, leisure’ or relief from duty. “The enemy were watched: like mice, and. no movement could take place from the Upper Rio Grande to’ the mountain regions, but some of these ‘irregulars’ were fully aware of it, and informed Juarez thereof, | ‘The enemy vowed ,yengeance against these hardy fellows, and sought to train ¢héi7 horsemen to the wild, half-Indian kind: of life practised by ours. . | But, just imagine obese. Dutchmen, such as Maximilian had brought over with him, rivalling the swiftness, daring, and. endurance of our wiry frontiersmen! ioe “They wete posted on mountains and in the passes,’ guarded fords, bridges, and roads, as ours did ; but their loss was continual, and the myste- rious disappearance of stores, horses, waggons, aud men, unaccountable ; so that they were withdrawn, and the experiment abandoned 4s an expensive and fruitless‘one. ~e Pact es : ‘Entirely masters of the roads;'and' every route by Jand or water, our horse and foot Had lively times on outpost duty, and stood all fatigues with- out grumbling, but rather enjoying it,’ seldom troubling Juarez for supplies of any kind, save ammunition, but frequently driving into éamp large numbers of beeves, hogs, fodder, ‘cornand’ what: ever could be purloined from the enemy. ‘“Flanks, front or rear, the Imperialists ‘hardly dared to move, except in large bodies, Our gueril- las lay in every bush, and many an enemy was found lying dead at his post without a trace. of those who did the deed. “These partisan horsemen were remorséless. ‘They expected little mercy if captured, and spared but few found in arms against them. “Some of our men, falling into the hands of the enemy, were hung on the spot; but this only heightened the animosity on either side, and when French soldiers were found dangling from trees by the roadside, the enemy thought it wise to recognise these’ Partisan’ Liberty Rangers as legitimate soldiers, ' * Afterour Rangers had hung a score or more of the red-legged Frenchmen, or Mexican ‘renegades, the enemy began’ to think it wise to deal with all prisoners who fell in their hands with the common usages of war. The reason why Juarez called us from the Upper Rio Grande down to Matamoras in such haste was soon apparent to us all, “The truth was, that General Mejia, with a strong force of French, and Mexican traitors, was Gomleiaooks C@©