A Raw Recruit's War Experiences By: Ansel D. Nickerson
First Page: [Illustration: THE "RAW RECRUIT."] A RAW RECRUIT'S WAR EXPERIENCES. BY ANSEL D. NICKERSON, Late Private Co. B, Eleventh Rhode Island Volunteers. PROVIDENCE: PRINTED BY THE PRESS COMPANY. 1888. FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED To My Wife, WHOSE PATRIOTIC SPIRIT PROMPTED ME TO OFFER MY SERVICES TO MY COUNTRY. "The neighing troop, the flashing blade, The bugle's stirring blast, The charge, the dreadful cannonade, The din and shout are past." APOLOGY. This "war paper" was first read before the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Society, in Providence, October 19, 1886. Subsequently it was read at the annual winter reunion of the Eleventh Rhode Island Regiment (January 27, 1887), two companies of which regiment (B and F) were recruited in Pawtucket, the former commanded by Captain Charles W. Thrasher and Lieutenant Thomas Moies, and the latter by Captain Edward Taft. It has since been read several times before other associations and societies. The paper was not intended for publication, nor was it originally broken into chapters, and in allowing it to be published, the author permits the urgent requests of numerous friends to outweigh his own judgment. It does not assume to be a connected or detailed history of the regiment; nor is it the history of any one company of the regiment; nor is it the diary of an officer of the regiment, but simply what its title indicates, "A RAW RECRUIT'S WAR EXPERIENCES." More is said about Company B than of any other company in the Eleventh Regiment for the reason that the aforesaid "raw recruit's war experiences" were especially identified with that company. Being personal recollections, and to a large extent the recital of personal incidents connected with the nine months' campaign of the regiment in Virginia, must be my apology for the frequent use of the personal pronoun I. As the events of which I speak occurred at a period in our country's history when a spade was called a spade, and among a class of men who could not be justly accused of ambiguity of expression, my paper will be found to contain more than one "strong, old fashioned English word, familiar to all who read their Bibles." To those comrades whose war experiences were of a very different character from my own, and into whose hands this unpretentious little volume may fall, I trust that the recital of some of the ludicrous scenes in camp and on the march, rather than the harrowing descriptions of sanguinary battles, may not prove wholly unwelcome. A. D. N. PAWTUCKET, R. I., April, 1888. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE "RAW RECRUIT" ENLISTS AND GOES INTO CAMP 1 CHAPTER II. OFF FOR THE SEAT OF WAR THE KNAPSACKS 11 CHAPTER III. AT MINER'S HILL FIRST DEATH THE "LONG ROLL" 18 CHAPTER IV. THE CONVALESCENT CAMP SCENES GRAVE AND GAY 27 CHAPTER V. AT "THE FRONT" NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK 34 CHAPTER VI. PASTIMES IN CAMP RELIGIOUS SERVICES 40 CHAPTER VII. BAKED BEANS THE DEACON'S ADVICE STEAMED OYSTERS 46 CHAPTER VIII. THE ELEVENTH LOSES TWO COLONELS 51 CHAPTER IX. YORKTOWN HOME AGAIN MUSTERED OUT 57 CHAPTER X. "HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE" 61 A Raw Recruit's War Experiences. CHAPTER I. During the winter preceding the firing upon Sumter, I was one of a group of young fellows of about my own age who regularly assembled evenings at the corner grocery of the village where we lived, to listen to older persons discuss the affairs of the nation and all other matters, moral, intellectual and social, as is the nightly custom in country groceries, and particularly the probabilities of war between the North and the South, which, I will say in passing, every day grew more probable. Each several barrel head in that grocery seemed to know its own occupant, and for any one else to have appropriated it to his own use, especially had he been a young man, would, I am sure, have been deemed an unpardonable breach of courtesy... Continue reading book >>

A Raw Recruit's War Experiences By: Ansel D. Nickerson

First Page:

[Illustration: THE "RAW RECRUIT."]

A RAW RECRUIT'S WAR EXPERIENCES.

BY ANSEL D. NICKERSON, Late Private Co. B, Eleventh Rhode Island Volunteers.

PROVIDENCE: PRINTED BY THE PRESS COMPANY. 1888.

FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION ONLY.

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED To My Wife, WHOSE PATRIOTIC SPIRIT PROMPTED ME TO OFFER MY SERVICES TO MY COUNTRY.

"The neighing troop, the flashing blade, The bugle's stirring blast, The charge, the dreadful cannonade, The din and shout are past."

APOLOGY.

This "war paper" was first read before the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Society, in Providence, October 19, 1886. Subsequently it was read at the annual winter reunion of the Eleventh Rhode Island Regiment (January 27, 1887), two companies of which regiment (B and F) were recruited in Pawtucket, the former commanded by Captain Charles W. Thrasher and Lieutenant Thomas Moies, and the latter by Captain Edward Taft. It has since been read several times before other associations and societies. The paper was not intended for publication, nor was it originally broken into chapters, and in allowing it to be published, the author permits the urgent requests of numerous friends to outweigh his own judgment. It does not assume to be a connected or detailed history of the regiment; nor is it the history of any one company of the regiment; nor is it the diary of an officer of the regiment, but simply what its title indicates, "A RAW RECRUIT'S WAR EXPERIENCES." More is said about Company B than of any other company in the Eleventh Regiment for the reason that the aforesaid "raw recruit's war experiences" were especially identified with that company. Being personal recollections, and to a large extent the recital of personal incidents connected with the nine months' campaign of the regiment in Virginia, must be my apology for the frequent use of the personal pronoun I.

As the events of which I speak occurred at a period in our country's history when a spade was called a spade, and among a class of men who could not be justly accused of ambiguity of expression, my paper will be found to contain more than one "strong, old fashioned English word, familiar to all who read their Bibles."

To those comrades whose war experiences were of a very different character from my own, and into whose hands this unpretentious little volume may fall, I trust that the recital of some of the ludicrous scenes in camp and on the march, rather than the harrowing descriptions of sanguinary battles, may not prove wholly unwelcome.

A. D. N.

PAWTUCKET, R. I.,

April, 1888.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE "RAW RECRUIT" ENLISTS AND GOES INTO CAMP 1

CHAPTER II.

OFF FOR THE SEAT OF WAR THE KNAPSACKS 11

CHAPTER III.

AT MINER'S HILL FIRST DEATH THE "LONG ROLL" 18

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONVALESCENT CAMP SCENES GRAVE AND GAY 27

CHAPTER V.

AT "THE FRONT" NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK 34

CHAPTER VI.

PASTIMES IN CAMP RELIGIOUS SERVICES 40

CHAPTER VII.

BAKED BEANS THE DEACON'S ADVICE STEAMED OYSTERS 46

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ELEVENTH LOSES TWO COLONELS 51

CHAPTER IX.

YORKTOWN HOME AGAIN MUSTERED OUT 57

CHAPTER X.

"HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE" 61

A Raw Recruit's War Experiences.

CHAPTER I.

During the winter preceding the firing upon Sumter, I was one of a group of young fellows of about my own age who regularly assembled evenings at the corner grocery of the village where we lived, to listen to older persons discuss the affairs of the nation and all other matters, moral, intellectual and social, as is the nightly custom in country groceries, and particularly the probabilities of war between the North and the South, which, I will say in passing, every day grew more probable. Each several barrel head in that grocery seemed to know its own occupant, and for any one else to have appropriated it to his own use, especially had he been a young man, would, I am sure, have been deemed an unpardonable breach of courtesy... Continue reading book >>

eBook links
Wikipedia – Ansel D. Nickerson
Wikipedia – A Raw Recruit's War Experiences

eBook Downloads
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader	Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser	Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac