“Two ambulances were sent to the hotel for our party and
Adjutant-General Ruggles, who is here on a tour of inspection. ‘Mark’
rose early and said he would walk to the fort slowly; he thought it
would do him good. General Ruggles and the ladies went in one ambulance
(the old four-mule army officers’ ambulance) and the other waited some
little time before starting, that I might complete arrangements for all
the party to go direct from the fort to the depot. I was the only
passenger riding with the driver, and enjoying the memory of like
experiences on the plains when in the army. We were about half way to
the fort when I discovered a man walking hurriedly toward us quite a
distance to the left. I was sure it was ‘Mark,’ and asked the driver to
slow up. In a minute I saw him signal us, and I asked the driver to turn
and drive toward him. We were on a level plain, and through that clear
mountain atmosphere one can see a great distance. We were not long in
reaching our man, much to his relief. He had walked out alone and taken
the wrong road, and after walking five or six miles on it, discovered
his mistake, and was countermarching when he saw our ambulance and ran
across lots to meet us. He _was_ tired--too tired to express
disgust--and sat quietly inside the ambulance until we drove up to
headquarters, where were a number of officers and ladies, besides our
party. As ‘Mark’ stepped out, a colored sergeant laid hands on him,
saying:
“‘Are you ‘Mark Twain’?
“‘I am,’ he replied.
“‘I have orders to arrest and take you to the guardhouse.’
“‘All right.’
“And the sergeant walked him across the parade ground to the guardhouse,
he not uttering a word of protest.
“Immediately Lieutenant-Colonel Burt and the ambulance hurried over to
relieve the prisoner. Colonel Burt very pleasantly asked ‘Mark’s’ pardon
for the practical joke and invited him to ride back to headquarters.
‘Mark’ said:
“Thanks, I prefer freedom, if you don’t mind. I’ll walk. I see you have
thorough discipline here,’ casting an approving eye toward the sergeant
who had him under arrest.
“The garrison consisted of seven companies of the Twenty-seventh United
States Colored Regiment. There was a military band of thirty pieces.
Guard mount was delayed for General Ruggles’ and our inspection. The
band played quite a programme, and all declared it one of the finest
military bands in America. We witnessed some fine drilling of the
soldiers, and learned that for this kind of service the colored soldiers
were more subordinate and submissive to rigid drill and discipline than
white men, and that there were very few desertions from among them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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