"This is to certify, that I am well acquainted with Willard Glazier, he having taught school during the winters of 1859 and '60 in my Commission District. I consider him one of the most promising young teachers of my acquaintance. The school that has the good fortune to secure his services will find him one of the most capable and efficient teachers of the day.
"Allen Barringer,
"School Commissioner, Rensselaer County.
"Schodack, New York, 1860."
Early in the year 1860 he resumed his studies at the State Normal School, and remained at that institution until the guns of Sumter sounded their war-cry through the land.
This period was the great turning-point in Willard Glazier's life, and hereafter we encounter him in a far different rôle.
CHAPTER XI.
INTRODUCTION TO MILITARY LIFE.
The mutterings of war. — Enlistment. — At Camp Howe. — First experience as a soldier. — "One step to the front!" — Beyond Washington. — On guard. — Promotion. — Recruiting service. — The deserted home on Arlington Heights. — "How shall I behave in the coming battle?" — The brave Bayard. — On the march. — The stratagem at Falmouth Heights. — A brilliant charge. — After the battle.
The inevitable results of the discord so long pending between North and South accumulated day by day; and when, at length, Abraham Lincoln was elected by a large popular majority, that election was, as everybody knows, immediately followed by the calling of a Southern States Convention, the secession, one after another, of each of those States, the capture of Fort Sumter, the killing of Ellsworth, and the defeat of the Federal troops at Bull Run. All of these occurrences contributed to inflame the passions, intensify the opinions, and arouse the enthusiasm of the people of both sections to fever-heat.