Acadia: or, A Month with the Blue NosesCozzens, Frederic S. (Frederic Swartwout)
History
Acadia: or, A Month with the Blue Noses
Cozzens, Frederic S. (Frederic Swartwout)
Nova Scotia -- Description and travel
"The Lieutenant-Governor, Sir J. Gaspard le Marchant, is said to be a
severe disciplinarian. He served in the wars of the Peninsula, and is now
being rewarded for his distinguished services as Governor of this
Province. He reviews the troops twice a week upon the Common, and is very
strict. The evolutions of the rank and file are the most perfect
exhibitions of the kind I have ever witnessed. During one of these reviews
I took occasion to remark to a citizen that they were _almost_ equal to
the Seventh Regiment of New York. The bystanders laughed incredulously.
The bands are as perfect in movement as the troops. The whole affair
passes off literally like clock-work, a pendulum being kept in sight of
the reviewing officers, by which to measure the music of the bands, and
step of the soldiers. Each review concludes with a presentation of the
royal standard--the identical colors which were first unfurled upon the
Redan by this regiment at the fall of Sebastopol. The ceremony is
impressive, an almost superstitious reverence being paid to the triumphant
bunting. The review ended, the band remains for a half hour to play for
the entertainment of the citizens, who generally attend in large numbers.
"There are among the officers and soldiers of the 62d and 63d many bearing
upon their left breasts the Victoria medal, and other decorations bestowed
for distinguished bravery at Sebastopol. The most eminent of these is
Colonel Ingall, who has both breasts covered with these testimonials of
bravery. They are not, however, confined to the officers, but many of the
rank and file are favored in like manner.
"The military as a whole are popular among the citizens, and many of the
officers, and not a few of the privates since their return from the
Crimea, have stormed other Malakoffs, when the victory has been as signal,
if the risks have not been as great, carrying off, as trophies, some of
the finest girls in the place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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