Chapter III




It was during this rapid march that the regiment lost many of the marks of a new command.

The men had begun to count the miles upon their fingers, and they grew tired. “Sore feet an' damned short rations, that's all,” said the loud soldier. There was perspiration and grumblings. After a time they began to shed their knapsacks. Some tossed them unconcernedly down; others hid them carefully, asserting their plans to return for them at some convenient time. Men extricated themselves from thick shirts. Presently few carried anything but their necessary clothing, blankets, haversacks, canteens, and arms and ammunition. “You can now eat and shoot,” said the tall soldier to the youth. “That's all you want to do.”


But the regiment was not yet veteranlike in appearance. Veteran regiments in the army were likely to be very small aggregations of men. Once, when the command had first come to the field, some perambulating veterans, noting the length of their column, had accosted them thus: “Hey, fellers, what brigade is that?” And when the men had replied that they formed a regiment and not a brigade, the older soldiers had laughed, and said, “O Gawd!”




He could hear the men whisper jerky sentences: “Say—what's all this— about?” “What th' thunder—we—skedaddlin' this way fer?” “Billie—keep off m' feet. Yeh run—like a cow.” And the loud soldier's shrill voice could be heard: “What th'devil they in sich a hurry for?”








He expected a battle scene.




The skirmishers in advance fascinated him. Their shots into thickets and at distant and prominent trees spoke to him of tragedies—hidden, mysterious, solemn.










He was surprised presently by the young lieutenant of his company, who began heartily to beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and insolent voice: “Come, young man, get up into ranks there. No skulking 'll do here.” He mended his pace with suitable haste. And he hated the lieutenant, who had no appreciation of fine minds. He was a mere brute.




This astounded the youth. He forgot his stewing over the advance movement. “Well, then, what did they march us out here for?” he demanded of the tall soldier. The latter with calm faith began a heavy explanation, although he had been compelled to leave a little protection of stones and dirt to which he had devoted much care and skill.


The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in a battle. He saw his salvation in such a change. Hence this waiting was an ordeal to him. He was in a fever of impatience. He considered that there was denoted a lack of purpose on the part of the generals. He began to complain to the tall soldier. “I can't stand this much longer,” he cried. “I don't see what good it does to make us wear out our legs for nothin'.” He wished to return to camp, knowing that this affair was a blue demonstration; or else to go into a battle and discover that he had been a fool in his doubts, and was, in truth, a man of traditional courage. The strain of present circumstances he felt to be intolerable.

The philosophical tall soldier measured a sandwich of cracker and pork and swallowed it in a nonchalant manner. “Oh, I suppose we must go reconnoitering around the country jest to keep 'em from getting too close, or to develop 'em, or something.”

“Huh!” cried the loud soldier.

“Well,” cried the youth, still fidgeting, “I'd rather do anything 'most than go tramping 'round the country all day doing no good to nobody and jest tiring ourselves out.”

“So would I,” said the loud soldier. “It ain't right. I tell you if anybody with any sense was a-runnin' this army it—”

“Oh, shut up!” roared the tall private. “You little fool. You little damn' cuss. You ain't had that there coat and them pants on for six months, and yet you talk as if—”

“Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway,” interrupted the other. “I didn't come here to walk. I could 'ave walked to home–'round an' 'round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk.”


But gradually, as he chewed, his face became again quiet and contented. He could not rage in fierce argument in the presence of such sandwiches. During his meals he always wore an air of blissful contemplation of the food he had swallowed. His spirit seemed then to be communing with the viands.



When, however, they began to pass into a new region, his old fears of stupidity and incompetence reassailed him, but this time he doggedly let them babble. He was occupied with his problem, and in his desperation he concluded that the stupidity did not greatly matter.


The skirmish fire increased to a long clattering sound. With it was mingled far-away cheering. A battery spoke.



The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting killed, gazed spellbound. His eyes grew wide and busy with the action of the scene. His mouth was a little ways open.


“It's my first and last battle, old boy,” said the latter, with intense gloom. He was quite pale and his girlish lip was trembling.

“Eh?” murmured the youth in great astonishment.

“It's my first and last battle, old boy,” continued the loud soldier. “Something tells me—”


“I'm a gone coon this first time and—and I w-want you to take these here things—to—my—folks.” He ended in a quavering sob of pity for himself. He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow envelope.

“Why, what the devil—” began the youth again.



  1. This piece of dialogue is a good example of Crane's depiction of vernacular speech and use of local dialect. In choosing to spell "for" as "fer," Crane effectively describes a character's cultural background, while also bringing to life the sound of the character's speech.

    Note the use of differing depictions of dialect and vernacular terms as they are appear in the speech of various characters. 

    — eric martin
  2. One of the problems keeping formations during Civil War battles was that the terrain almost always made it impossible to maintain a straight battle line.  As troops went forward, their lines became fragmented, thereby reducing their massed fire power.

    — Stephen Holliday
  3. A wonderful metaphor for a Civil War army about to fight.  Crane may also be alluding to the "Iron Brigade," one of the war's most famous Federal units, initially composed of the 19th Indiana Volunteers, the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteers.  They also wore very distinctive high-crowned hats known as the Hardee hat and so became known as the Black Hat Brigade.

    — Stephen Holliday
  4. The skirmishers are in front of the main battle line to determine where the main body of the enemy is located.  When the battle begins, the skirmishers fall back into their units.

    — Stephen Holliday
  5. This refers to the regimental flags (the "color") that indicate the identity of the unit.  Regimental flags were very important communication tools during battle because they indicated where a unit's troops should be.

    — Stephen Holliday
  6. The veterans know that when this battle is over, this new regiment will look like a brigade because of casualties.

    — Stephen Holliday
  7. A very common sight just before major battles was discarded equipment of all kinds--blankets, heavy wool coats, books, everything that was not essential for fighting.

    — Stephen Holliday
  8. The issue shirt for Federal troops is a heavy wool shirt, very large on most troops because it only comes in two sizes.  Most soldiers received cotton shirts from home, much more practical for hot, heavy fighting, especially since most battles were fought in warmer months.

    — Stephen Holliday
  9. This is a subtle way of pointing out that the casualty rate is high:  veterans mistake the size of a regiment because, after several battles, a regiment, which ought to have more soldiers than a brigade, has lost so many men that veterans assume it is a brigade, a much smaller tactical unit.

    — Stephen Holliday
  10. *Short rations *is a technical term used during the Civil War and denotes a meal consisting of hardtack, a very hard biscuit about three inches square, sometimes baked four times, which often had boll weevils in it, and coffee to drink.  A common sight of soldiers eating short rations was to see them tap the hardtack on a hard surface to dislodge as many weevils as possible and then dip the hardtack into hot coffee to soften it.  Often, they just soaked the hardtack in coffee and made a kind of slush.  Hardtack had very little nutritional value but filled the stomach.

    — Stephen Holliday
  11. Crane means here that the march, because it was rapid and through rough terrain, covered the men and equipment in dust and mud, thereby making the army look like veteran troops.

    — Stephen Holliday
  12. Refers to the shining of equipment and insignia on the soldiers and officers

    — Stephen Holliday