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VOL. 1..
the CABINET
Is published every Saturday by P L.
ROBINSON, IVarrenton, Geo at
three dollars per annum , which may be
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cents if paid within sixty days of the
time of subscribing.
MILITIA MUSTER.
In a letter TO a friend.
Dear Fugey—l happened, not
Jong since, to be present at the mus
ter of a captain‘s company in a re
mote part of one of the counties, and
as no general description could con
vey an accurate idea of the achicv
ments of the day, I must be permitted
to go into a detail as well as my re
collection will serve me.
The men had been notified to meet
at nine o'clock, ‘armed and equipped
as the law directs’—that is to say,
with a gun and cartridge box at least,
but, as directed by law of the United
States, ‘with a good firelock, a suffi
cient bayonet, and a pouch with a
box to contain not less than twenty
four sufficient cartridges of powder
and ball.’ At twelve, about one third,
perhaps one half, of the men had col
lected; and an inspectors return of
the number present, and of their
arms, would have stood thus: 1 cap
tain; 1 lieutenant; ensign, none; li
fers, none; privates, present, 23; do.
absent, 50; guns, 15; gunlorks, 12;
ramrods, 10; rifle pouches, 3; bayo
nets, none; horse-whips, walking*
sanes, and umbrellas, 12. A little
before one, the Captain, whom I shall
distinguish by the name of Clodpole,
gave directions fur forming the line
of parade. In obedience to this order
one of the sergeants whose lungs had
long supplied the place of drum and
fife, placed himself in front of the
house, and began to bawl with great
vehemence, ‘All Captain Ciodpole*s
company parade here! come Gentle
men, parade here! and all you that
hans‘t guns, fall into the lower eend. 9
He might have bawled till this time
with as little success as the Syrens
sung to Ulysses had he notchaog‘d his
post to a neighboring shade. There
he was immediately joined by all who
were at leisure, the others were at
that time engaged, either as parties
or spectators, at a game of fives, and
could not just then attend. However,
in less than half an hour, the game
was finished, and the Captain enabled
to form his company and proceed in
the duties of the day.
•Look to the right and dress 19
They were soon, by the help of the
Don-commissioned officers, placed in
a straight line; but as every man
was anxious to see how the rest stood,
those on the wings pressed forward
for the purpose till the whole line
assumed nearly the form of acres
cent.
‘Why, look at ‘cm! says the Cap*
tain, ‘why, gentlemen, you are all a
crooking here at both eends, so that
you will get on me by and by—come,
gentlemen dress , dress. 9
This was accordingly done; hut imi
pelled by the same motives as before,
they soon resumed their former figure
and so they were permited to remain.
‘Now gentlemen,’ says the Captain,
‘I am going to carry you through the
revolutions of the manuel excercise,
and 1 want your particular attention
to the word of command, jist exactly
as I give it to you. I hope you will
have a little patience, gentlemen, i!
you please, and I*ll he as short as pos
sible; and if I he a going wrong, 1
will be much obliged to any of yon
getleinen to put me right a
gain, for 1 mean all fur the hist, ami
I hope you will excuse me, if you
please. And one thing, gentlmen, i
Warrenlon, April 11. 1829.
must < aiHluu you ag.itosl, m p w l -itt
aud that is, not to make any mis
takes if you can possible help if; and
the best way to do this, will be to do
all the motions right at first, and that
will also help us to get along so much
faster, and wedl try to have it over as
soon as possible. Come, boys come
to a shoulder.
‘ Poise fool k,
•Cockfont h Very handsomely done.
*Take aim.
•Ram down, cartridge; N<>! no; Fire.
I recollect now that firing comes next
to taking aim, according to Stu
ben; but with your permission, gentle
men I*ll read the words just exactly
as they are printed in the book, and
then 1 shall be right.
‘O, yes, read it.’ exclaimed twenty
voices at once, ‘that w ill save time/
’Tcrition the whole, then. Please
to observe, gentlemen, that at the
word fire , you must fire, that is, if any
of your guns are loaden-d you must
not shoot in yearnest, nut only make
pretence like; and you, gentlemen,
fellow soldiers, who‘s armed with
nothing hut sticks, riding switches,
and corn stalks, neednt go through
the firings, but keep yourselves to
yourselves.
•Half cock, foolk; very well done.
• S , h , u s t, (spelling) sliet paw
That, too, would have been very
handsomely done, if you had*nt hand
led cartridge instead of shotting pan;
but I suppose you wa‘n‘t noticing.
Now, ‘tention one and all, gentlemen,
and do that motion again.
•Shut pan ! Very good, very well
indeed; you did that motion equal to
any old soldier—you improve ‘ston
ishingly.
•Handle cartridgel Pretty well, con
sidering you did it wrong tend fore
most, as if you took the cartridge out
of your mouth and bit oft’ the twist
with the cartridge box.
•Draw rammerl Those that havn‘t
no rammer to their guns need not
to draw, but only make the motion; il
will do just as well, and save a great
deal of time.
•Return rammer ! Very well again!
But that would have been done, J
think, with greater expertness, if you
bad performed the motion with a lit
tie more dexterity.
•S, h, o . u, L — Shoulder,foolk] Very
handsomely done indeed; put your
guns on the other shoulder, gentle
men.
•Order , foolkl Not quite so well,
gentlemen—not quite altogether: but
perhaps 1 did not speak loud enough
tor you to hear me all at once. Try
once more if you please; I hope you
will be patient gentlemen, we will
soon be through.
•Order, foolk ! Handsomely done,
gentlemen! very handsomely done!
and all together, too, except that a
few of you were a leetle too soon aud
some other a leetle oo late.
‘ln laying down your guns, gentle
men *ak’ care to lay the locks up, oth
er sides down.
‘Tention the whole! Ground foolkl
very well.
•Charge bayonets I .*
fSome of the men.J That can,t be
right, Captain; pray look again, for
liow can we charge bayonets without
our guns?
C Captain.J ‘I don‘t know as to
that but 1 know l‘m right for here ‘tis
printed in the book—c.h,a,r; yes,
charge bagonets , that s right, tl,at‘s
the work, if I know how to read* come
gentlemen, do pray charge bagonets!
Charge, 1 say ! Why dont von charge?
Do you think it an‘t so? Do you
think I have lived to this time o‘day
and don‘t know 7 what charge bagonet
i r iieiv, omie **ml see
it*s as plain as the nose on your la
stop! stay—no! ban! no! no! —Caiud
l‘m wrong, 1 turned over two leaves
at mice; hut I beg your pardon, gentle- j
men. we will not stay out long, a,,ti
wedl have something to drink, *aa sou “
rs we have done. Come, boys,
off the stomps and logs and take up
y our g ins, wedl soou be done; excuse
me it you please.
•Fix bagonets !
‘ ddvance arms ! Very well done.
Turn the stocks of your guns in front,
gentlemen, and that will bring the
barrel behind; and hold them straight
up and down if you pit ase. Let go
with your left hand, and take hold
with your right just above the guard.
Steuben says the gun must he held
p.e,r, pertieder —yes, you must always
mind and hold your guns very per
tir*lar. Now, boys, attention the
whole.
Present arms ! Very handsomely
done; hold the guns over the t‘other
knee—t‘othcr eend up—turn your
hands round a little and raise them
higher—draw the other foot bork!
Now you are nearly right—very
well done gentlemen; you have im
proved vastly sinee 1 first saw you;
you are getting too slick for tallow\
What a charming thing it is to see
men under good discipline! Now, gen
tlemen, we come to the revolutions
hut, lord, men, you have got all in a
sort of a snarl , as 1 may say; how did
you get ail into such a higglety piggle
ty?
The fact was the shade had moved
considerably to the eastward, and
had exposed the right wing of these
hardy veterans to a galling fire of the
sun— Being hut poorly provided with
umbrellas at this end of the line, they
found it convenient to follow the
shade, and in huddling to tiie left for
this purpose had changed the figure
of their line from that of a rresent to
one which more nearly resembled a
pair of pot hooks.
•Come gentlemen,* says the Cap
tain, spread yourselves out again in
>•> a straight line, and let us get into
the wheelings and other matters as
soon as possible.’
But Ibis was strenuously opposed
oy the soldiers. They objected to
going into these revolutions at all; in
asmuch as the weather was extreme
ly hot and they already had been kept
in the field upwards of three quarters
•fan hour. They reminded the cap
tain of his repeated promise to be as
short as he possibly could, and it was
clear he could dispense with all this
same w heeling and flourishing if he
chose. They were already very
ihirsty, and if he would not dismiss
them, they declared they would go off
without a dismission and get some
thing to drink, and he might fine them
if that would do him any good, they
were abl r to pay their fine, but could
not go without a drink to please any
body; and they swore they would ne
ver vote for another Captain who
wished to be so unreasonably strict.—
One of them was so insolent e.g to ex
claim, ‘l*ll not be dragged about here
any longer. You know Urn as good
as you any day. I can buy two of
you.’
The Captain behaved with great
spirit on this occasion, and a smart
colloquy ensued; when at length, be
< oming exasperated to the last degree,
he roundly asserted that a soldier
ought never to think hard of the or
ders of his officer; and finally he went
so far as to say, that he did ot think
any gentleman on that ground had
any just cause to be offended with
him. The dispute was finally settled
by the Captain's sending fir some
grog for thoirpresent accommodation,
and agreeing to omit reading the
military law, as directed by a late
act; and also ail the military manm
vres, except two or three such easy
and simple ones as could be perform
ed within the compass of the shade.
After they had drank their grog, and
had spread themselves, they were di
vided into platoons.
‘Tension the whole! To the right
wheel l Each man faced to the right
about.
‘Why gentlemen! I did‘nt mean for
every man to stand still and turn
himself uatjtuvuUy right round; but,
when 1 told you to the right , I intend
ed for you to wheel round to the right
as it were. Please to try that again
gentlemen; every right hand man
must stand fast, and only the other
turn round.’
In a previous part of the exercise
it had, for the purpose of sizing, been
necessary to denominate every se
cond person a right hand man. A
very natural consequence was, that
on the present occasion these right
hand men nainiained their position,
all the intermediate ones facing about
as before,
‘Why, look at ’em now!’ exclaimed
the captain in extreme vexation* *l-11
*be darned if you can understand a
word 1 say. Excuse me; gentlemen,
for it raly seems as if you could not
come at it exactly. In wheeling to
the right, the right-hand eend of the
pi a toons stand fast, and the other
eend comes round like a swingletrce;
them on the outside must march
faster than them on the inside. You
sartainly understand me now, please
to try once more.’
In this they were somewhat more
successful.
Tention the whole, To the left —left
—left—no, right—that is, the left—l
mean the right—left wheelJ wareh.
In this he was strictly obeyed; some
wheeled to the right, left, or both
ways.
‘Stop! halt! le.t us try again. I
could not jist then tell my right hand
from iny left! Yon must excuse me,
gentlemen, if you please experience
makes perfect, as the saying is; long
as I have served, 1 find something
new to learn every da); but all‘s one
for tha. Now gentlemen, do that
motion once more.*
By toe help of anon-commissioned
officer in front of each platoon, they
wheeled this time with tolerable reg*
ulai i'y.
‘Now, boys, you must try to wheel
by divisions, and there is one thing
which 1 have to request of you, gen
tlemen, and it is this, not to make
any blunder in your wheeling. You
must mind and keep at wheeling
distance, and not talk in the ranks,
nor get out of size again; for I want
you to do this motion well, and not to
make any blunder now. Tension the
whole! by divisions to the right wheel,
march 1 . 9
In doing this it seemed as if Bed
lam had broke loose—every man took
the command. ‘Not so fast on the
right! Slow now. Haul down them
umbrellas! Faster on the left! Keep
back a little there! Don‘t crowd so!
Hold up your gun. Slow! go faster
there! faster!’ ‘Who trod on my——*
‘damn your huffs j Keep hack.” *Stop
us Captain, do stop us! Go faster
there! ‘l‘ve lost my shoe!’ Get up a*
gain, Ned.’ ‘Halt! halt! halt! halt! stop
gentlemen! stop! stop! damn it, 1 say,
can‘t you stop?’
By this time they had got into uN
ter and inextricable confusion, and so
I left them.
TIMOTHY CRABSHAW,
No. 45.