Now I had been sent out with a squad of men to St. Thomas, better known as Camelstown, to gather up stragglers; those were men roving around town without permission. I did not want to catch any men, as I wanted to stay in town myself, and I told the fellows to stay in the dark so the officers could not see them. But, just as we got to the hotel, a trio of men came out all tuned up and they told us where we could go and they took off running and it kept us busy to catch them with our horses. We took them back and put them in the guardhouse; these were the first ones we caught but not the last ones. After we had them in the guardhouse they wanted us to let them slide free and offered us a good sum of money, but as we did not accept, they remained for 6 weeks. We got some extra provisions for doing our duty, which we were not entitled to.

Several days after that, we had a racket in our tent. My brother had a fall-out with some fellow who put vinegar in his canteen. This was on an evening when Sergeant Gorie went out to a farm where his wife boarded, so I had charge of the tent. There were 22 slept there, but they were not all in at the time. This fellow said some common cuss words to my brother and said, "Wait till I get a saber;" there were 22 in a rack. About that time my brother had the canteen with the string rapped around his hand and I said "tap him for fair." He did and we thought his skull was cracked. If ever I had a sleepless night that was it. The blood ran freely and they took him to the doctors towards morning. When there was no further danger of death I felt considerable better. But, had he died, what would have become of me for giving the order as I had charge of the tent. No one ever told one me, but if things would have gone different I would have told myself.

WE had a 1^st lieutenant in charge of the company at this time as the captain was away. And the man that was hit with the canteen was a great friend of the lieutenant as they came from the same town. The next morning he ordered my brother tied up by his thumbs so his feet barely touched the ground, but they never did it, as I appealed to a higher authority and demanded court martial if they had to proceed, and that may have sent them both to detention at hard labor, without pay. I knew the lieutenant did not want to see his friend there and neither did I want to see my brother go. So they were left off by cleaning the picket line; that was dunging out the stable. Since I gave the order, I helped, and so did most of the other boys for they all loved him for he was a good boy. After the other got good he said it served him right and they were always the best of friends afterwards. But it left an animosity between me and the lieutenant as long as he was with the company.

Several days after that we had a racket in the tent and one of my friends cut my hand and finger fairly off with a dull hatchet. I tell you, I certainly suffered until that was healed. There were five of us in Company C that were wounded fighting among themselves. There were 12 companies, about nineteen hundred men, and our company always held the record for the most wounded even before we got to the front. But, if we had no Johnnies to fight, we would fight among ourselves. It took a long time for my hand to heal and, when it was healed, it was stiff for a long time. I could not handle a saber, thus, of course, I could not drill. So, they detailed me to help the cooks. I went to the cook tent and there were two Irishmen cooking. I told them I was sent to help them and they said the tent had to be cleaned up some. In other words, they were the boss and I was to do the work, but I said they should go to their tent, as I worked better without a boss. They were glad to steal a little nap and I was glad not to have them around. Soon after that, the regiment got orders to report to Washington D.C. It took us several days to ride down there overland, and we were in camp only a day when we got orders to turn in our horses. That's when we became foot cavalry. We left there about four days afterwards by steamer, went down the Potomac, Chesapeake Bay, and then up the Rappahannock River to near Fredrick [Fredericksburg?]. When we disembarked, we still had our camp kettles as we had to do our own cooking on the steamboat. I asked the lieutenant what we should do with them and he said they were supposed to be carried along. They had a canal boat for a wharf and the two cooks and I were the last off and we had the three kettles on a pole but somehow they slipped off and were drowned in the river. That ended my experience as a cook. Of course, since I had been cooking I had no gun, and the boys were bickering and complaining because I marched empty handed, but I just when I needed one I would pick it up off the battlefield; that I would not need it till then anyway. At Cold Harbor I did pick up a dandy musket on the battlefield and used it to the best of my ability. Later on, I bought a pistol and a Bowie knife and then I was the best armed man in the company. The Bowie knife I lost, and the pistol I sent home with a wounded comrade. After we were mounted again we were issued government revolvers.