"Winder's situation was an unenviable one.[A] With a comparatively strong foe on his front, ready to fall upon him or the capital he was expected to defend, he had only about twenty-five hundred armed and effective men in camp, and many of these had been from their homes only three or four days. They were undisciplined and untried, and surrounded and influenced by a crowd of excited civilians, to whose officious but well-intended information and advice the general was compelled to listen. In addition to this intrusion and interference of common men, he was embarrassed by the presence and suggestions of the President and his Cabinet ministers, the most of them utterly ignorant of military affairs. Better would it have been for Winder and the country if these civilians, from the President down, had kept away from the camp and the field, and prudently preserved silence." [A] Lossing's "War of 1812." As a matter of course, we of the rank and file knew very little concerning the trials of the officer who was charged with the defense of the city; but we did understand that our force was not sufficient in either discipline or numbers to cope with that which we must meet, yet I did not hear a word of grumbling or fear as we made ready for the march. It was as if a full knowledge of the danger served to inspire us with courage. We set out within ten minutes after the order had been received; but I did not see Commodore Barney until we had retraced our steps to Long Old Fields, and there we found the small army throwing up a slight breastwork, as if believing that an attack was imminent. "This looks as if you an' I might see more of war than may be pleasant," Jerry whispered to me as we stood in line waiting to be dismissed. "It is all very well to fight when you're on board a good vessel; but runnin' around on shore, marchin' here till you can do no more than move, an' then marchin' back again, is a little better than I hanker after." "It's too late to talk like that," I replied, smiling as I remembered how eager my partner had been to go as a soldier when I was hanging back. "We're like to see an hundred times worse than this before we're many hours older." "Ay, an' there's never one here, save you, Amos, who shall have an inklin' of the fact that I'm growin' mighty sick of my bargain." Then we were dismissed, to find such tents and rations as General Winder's force could spare us, for our baggage-train was yet on the road, and while we were thus engaged Jim Freeman shouted to us. "Darius has got a tent for our crowd; it's close by the commodore's, an', what's better, the old sailor has been rummagin' 'round till he's got all the grub we'll need for some time to come." "Where are Dody and Josiah?" I asked. "Holdin' down the tent till we can take possession; there's so much pullin' an' haulin' after rations an' quarters, that it ain't safe to leave anything alone."