In Camp with L Company, Second Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry

by George W. Petty

A favorable pastime of the boys was to go out to the beach at daylight for a swim in the surf and incidentally gather the pretty delicate ribbed shells, which seemed to reflect all the rays of the rising sun, which here shone out in all its glory. This King of Day made a most gorgeous picture, such as I had believed existed only in an artist's very elastic imagination. His golden shafts of beauty will never fade from my memory. We made quite a collection of shells and sent them home. There were two vacancies among the Corporals owing to the deaths of Roe and Cohen. Charles H. Wallis and Ed W. Killmer were appointed to fill those positions.

One evening, some time after taps had sounded and just as the boys had begun to have a drowsy feeling that sleeping on pine boards wasn't so very bad after all, a considerable commotion was raised in camp by the cry of fire. We hurriedly kicked off our blankets, gave a hitch or two to our trousers to keep them on, and then sallied out. One of the four frame houses at the north edge of our camp was on fire. These houses were built of only one thickness of board, having no plaster or lath. Standing in front and looking sharp, one could see pigs rooting behind the house. The building was like tinder and burned fiercely.

As we passed the quarters of the company of Texans who were on guard with us, their bugler was trying to blow his head off with a lot of weird, shrill blasts, which their Captain kindly explained in forcible language was the "fire-call," and he'd be so and so if he wouldn't court-martial every son of a Texan if they didn't fall in and obey orders. There was considerable confusion around the house for a while, but the soldiers soon got to work under the leadership of the officers. Members of our Company climbed up the front porch and to the roof of the adjoining house, not thirty feet away, and sat there for over an hour wetting the roof and sides, while the steam floated around them. During the conflagration the half wild hogs and their litters would run up close to the flames, stare stupidly into the cauldron until it became too hot for them, when they would scamper away, grunting and squealing, into the brush. The house burned completely up, for not a stick was visible after it died out.

At this time we received word that the Regiment was to be mustered out, and a Regular Army officer who had been detailed to our Regiment ordered us to prepare our books for transmission to the War Department. This writing up of the records was a complete revelation to the companies. Not one in the Regiment had made any successful attempt to keep the books properly. G Company probably came the nearest to it, and theirs were the first to be O K'd. But it was over two weeks after the order was issued before the mustering officers could state just when the Regiment could start for home.

The final week proved a busy one indeed and the patience of the clerical force of the Regiment was tried sorely. Sergeant Baxter, Private Stevens and myself were detailed for this work, and we kept at it every day and sometimes far into the night. No instructions other than verbal had been given to start the machinery in motion. Nobody seemed to know just what should be done. Tedious work performed with care had to be done over again. Missing orders, letters and other documents had to be accounted for and records which could not be procured had to have affidavits made out to that effect.

When the men of the National Guard were mustered into service they had the uniform given them by the State, which in some instances had been worn over four years. They also received at Sea Girt new suits of State uniforms to replace old ones and got them with the understanding that the State would not charge for them. In one or two instances clothes were torn to get a new suit. Now the United States charges these same National Guardsmen for two suits of clothes—the suit which had been worn four years and the new one which did not fit, and in many cases had never been worn. The total amount charged us by the Government was over twenty-one dollars and this amount was deducted from each soldier's clothing allowance in the last payment.

The final order for striking tents was received on the 20th of September, and daylight of the 22d found us all ready to throw the tents, strap on our knapsacks and start home. The tents and baggage of the Company had to be loaded on flat cars. To do this a car of lumber had to be unloaded. It belonged to Colonel Bryan's Regiment and his men were going at the unloading in such a matter of fact way as to exasperate Lieutenant Blake, and at his order a dozen of our boys jumped on the load and commenced to get rid of it in such a way as to open the eyes of the Nebraskans. They were roundly chafed by their Lieutenant "for allowing a lot of Jerseymen to put you to sleep in unloading lumber, you who have handled it all your lives."

After this was completed the Company's luggage was packed away solidly upon this car and we were called into company formation ready for the train; but the railroad could only take one battalion at a time and it was after 1 o'clock before we could get started. The train had passed through a heavy shower and the floors of each car and the wooden bottoms to the seats were deep in water which had come in at the open windows. A heavy shower drenched us as we marched through Jacksonville. The boys received hearty handshakes from the friends they had made.