The mutterings of war.--Enlistment.--At Camp Howe.--First experience as a soldier.--"One step to the front!"--Beyond Washington.--On guard.--Promotion.--Recruiting service.--The deserted home on Arlington Heights.--"How shall I behave in the coming battle?"--The brave Bayard.--On the march.--The stratagem at Falmouth Heights.--A brilliant charge.--After the battle. The inevitable results of the discord so long pending between North and South accumulated day by day; and when, at length, Abraham Lincoln was elected by a large popular majority, that election was, as everybody knows, immediately followed by the calling of a Southern States Convention, the secession, one after another, of each of those States, the capture of Fort Sumter, the killing of Ellsworth, and the defeat of the Federal troops at Bull Run. All of these occurrences contributed to inflame the passions, intensify the opinions, and arouse the enthusiasm of the people of both sections to fever-heat. It was in the whirl and torrent of this popular storm that Willard Glazier was caught up and swept into the ranks of the Union army. His regiment, the Harris Light Cavalry, was originally intended for the regular service--to rank as the Seventh Regular Cavalry. The general government, however, concluded to limit the number of their regiments of horse to six--the reasons for which are given by Captain Glazier in his "Soldiers of the Saddle," as follows: "Under the military _regime_ of General Scott, the cavalry arm of the service had been almost entirely overlooked. His previous campaigns in Mexico, which consisted chiefly of the investment of walled towns and of assaults on fortresses, had not been favorable to extensive cavalry operations, and he was not disposed, at so advanced an age in life, materially to change his tactics of war." [Illustration: A Cavalry Column On The March.] Hence, this regiment was mustered into service as the "Second Regiment of New York Cavalry," and, as Senator Ira Harris had extended to the organization the influence of his name and purse, it soon came to be called the "Harris Light Cavalry," and retained that title throughout the whole of its eventful career. The natural tastes of young Glazier led him into this branch of the service in preference to the infantry, and we find him writing to his sister Marjorie as follows: Camp Howe, near Scarsdale, New York, _August 16th, 1861_. My Dear Sister: From the post-mark of this letter you will at once conjecture the truth ere I tell it to you, and I can fancy you saying to yourself when you glance at it: "Willard is no longer talking about enlisting but has really entered the army." You are right, I now wear the Union Blue.