Drum Taps in Dixie: Memories of a Drummer Boy, 1861-1865
John Stuart Mill · en
One day a soldier who had been drinking just enough of the sutler’s beer
to make him think he was smart came along, and as he passed Tabor’s tent
he gave the box a kick, upsetting it. Garrity saw the act, and he took the
smart chap by his coat collar and shook him as a terrier would a rat.
A crowd gathered and then Garrity proceeded to read the riot act to those
assembled.
“Look a’here, my hearties,” said he, “I’m going to give you young devils
some advice, an’ you’ll be doin’ well to mind what I be sayin’. I want you
young blackguards to be very careful how you thrate this lad hereafter. No
more pokin’ fun at his religion, ’twould be better if all of you had some
of the same.
“I’m none too good meself an’ ought to be counting me beads oftener than I
do, but I likes fair play, and be that same token I’ll see that James
Tabor has it or me name is not Dennis.
“So now, me laddy bucks, if you don’t like what I’m sayin’ you can put it
in your pipes an’ smoke it.”
This little episode was the beginning of a strange and tender attachment
between Tabor and Garrity that lasted to the close of the war. They tented
together, slept under the same blanket and drank from the same
canteen--except when Garrity’s had some of Uncle Sam’s commissary in it,
for Dennis, like many an old campaigner, liked a little whisky.
The boys called Tabor “Jim” or “Jimmie,” but it was always James when
Garrity spoke of him. When Tabor wanted his comrade it was: “Have you seen
Mr. Garrity?”
BIG INJUNS FROM ONONDAGA.
Among the recruits that came to our regiment in the winter of 1862 was a
squad of 25 or 30 Indians from the Onondaga reservation. Among them was a
fairly good brass band. The officers had no business to enlist them, and
they were all discharged in a few months.
They were with us one pay day, however, and managed to get some firewater.
Then they went on the war path and there was “blood on the moon” and they
indulged in war dances that were the real thing. One “big Injun” was
discovered crawling under the back of the colonel’s tent. He was armed
with a sabre bayonet which had been sharpened for the express purpose of
lifting the hair of that officer.
They dared all the white men to fight them, and, finally, a young buck
rubbed up against Garrity, who gave him a slap on the side of his head
that sent him spinning. This led to a challenge to fight and the affair
was arranged to take place in the fort late in the afternoon.
GARRITY WAS STRENUOUS.
A ring was formed, and the men stripped to the waist and turned their
pants pockets inside out to show that they carried no concealed weapons.
Garrity whipped the Indian in less than two minutes. Then another red man
pulled his shirt over his head and strode up in front of Garrity, who gave
him his medicine in short order. Then another wanted to try his hand and
was given a chance and was quickly vanquished.