The Drummer Boy

by J. T. Trowbridge

  VIII.

  ANNAPOLIS.

  And the train sped on; and the daylight faded fast; and darkness shutdown upon the world. And still the train sped on.

  When it was too dark to see any thing out of the car windows, and Frankwas tired of the loud talking around him, he thought he would amusehimself by nibbling a little "hard tack." So he opened his haversack, anddiscovered the cake, and bread and butter, and cold lamb, with which someone who loved him had stored it. He was so moved by this evidence ofthoughtful kindness that it was some time before be could make up hismind to break in upon the little stock of provisions, which there wasreally more satisfaction in contemplating than in eating any ordinarysupper. But the sight of some of his comrades resorting for solace totheir rations decided him, and he shared with them the contents of hishaversack.

  The train reached Fall River at nine o'clock, and the passengers weretransferred to the steamer "Metropolis." The boat was soon swarming withsoldiers, stacking their arms, and hurrying this way and that in thelamp-light. Then the clanking of the engine, the trembling of thesteamer, and the sound of rushing water, announced that they were oncemore in motion.

  Frank had never been on salt water before, and he was sorry this was inthe night; but he was destined before long to have experience enough ofthe sea, both by night and by day.

  When he went upon deck the next morning, the steamer was cutting her waygayly through the waters of New York harbor,--a wonderful scene to theuntravelled drummer boy, who had never before witnessed such an animatedpicture of dancing waters, ships under full sail, and steamboats trailinglong dragon-tails of smoke in the morning air.

  Then there was the city, with its forests of masts, its spires risingdimly in the soft, smoky atmosphere that shrouded it, and the far, faintsound of its bells musically ringing.

  Then came the excitement of landing; the troops forming, and, after apatriotic reception by the "Sons of Massachusetts," marching through thecity to the barracks; then dinner; and a whole afternoon of sight-seeingafterwards.

  The next day the regiment was off again, crossing the ferry, and takingthe cars for Philadelphia. From Philadelphia it kept on into the nightagain, until it reached a steamer, in waiting to receive it, onChesapeake Bay.

  The next morning was rainy; and the rain continued all day, pouringdismally; and it was raining still when, at midnight, the boat arrived atAnnapolis. In the darkness and storm the troops landed, and took up theirtemporary quarters in the Naval Academy. In one of the recitation halls,Frank and his comrades spread their blankets on the floor, put theirknapsacks under their heads, and slept as soundly after their wearisomejourney as they ever did in their beds at home. Indeed, they seemed tofall asleep as promptly as if by word of command, and to snore byplatoons.

  The next morning the rain was over. At seven o'clock, breakfast; afterwhich the regiment was reviewed on the Academy parade. Then Frank and asquad of jovial companions set out to see the town,--taking care to havewith them an intelligent young corporal, named Gray, who had been therebefore, and knew the sights.

  "Boys," said young Gray, as they sallied forth, "we are now in QueenAnne's city,--for that, I suppose you know, is what the word Annapolismeans. It was the busiest city in Maryland once; but, by degrees, all itstrade and fashion went over to Baltimore, and left the old town to go tosleep,--though it has woke up and rubbed its eyes a little since therebellion broke out."

  "When was you here, Gray?" asked Jack Winch.

  Gray smiled at his ignorance, while Frank said,--

  "What! didn't you know, Jack, he was here with the Eighth Massachusetts,last April, when they saved Washington and the Union?"

  "The Union ain't saved yet!" said Jack.

  "But we saved Washington; that's every where admitted," said Gray,proudly. "On the 19th of April the mob attacked the Sixth Massachusettsin Baltimore, took possession of the city, and destroyed thecommunication with Washington. You remember that, for it was the firstblood shed in this war; and April 19, 1861, takes its place with April19, 1775, when the first blood was shed at Lexington, in the Revolution."

  "Of course I know all that!" said Jack, who never liked to be thoughtignorant of any thing.

  "Well, there was the government at Washington in danger, the EighthMassachusetts on its way to save it, and Baltimore in the hands of therebels. I tell you, every man of us was furious to cut our way through,and avenge the murders of the 19th. But General Butler hit upon a wiserplan, and instead of keeping on to Baltimore, we switched off, seized aferry-boat on the Chesapeake, just as she was about to be taken by thesecessionists, ran down here to Annapolis, saved the city, saved the oldfrigate 'Constitution,' and, with the New York Seventh, went to work toopen a new route to Washington.

  "Our boys repaired the railroad track, which the traitors had torn up,and put in shape again the engine they had disabled. We had men thatcould do anything; and that very engine was one they had made,--for theSouth never did its own engine-building, but sent to Massachusetts tohave it done. Charley Homans knew every joint and pin in that oldmachine, and soon had her running over the road again."

  "How far is it to Washington?" asked Frank.

  "About forty miles; but then we thought it a hundred, we were soimpatient to get there! What a march we had! all day and all night, theengine helping us a little, and we helping the engine by hunting up andreplacing now and then a stray rail which the traitors had torn from thetrack. A good many got used up, and Charley Homans took 'em aboard thetrain. It was on that march I fell in with one of the pleasantest fellowsI ever saw; always full of wit and good-humor, with a cheery word forevery body. He belonged to the New York Seventh. He told me his name wasWinthrop. But I did not know till afterwards that he was TheodoreWinthrop, the author; afterwards Major Winthrop, who fell last June--onlytwo months after--at Big Bethel."

  "It was a North Carolina drummer boy that shot him," said Frank."Winthrop was heading the attack on the battery; he jumped upon a log,and was calling to the men, 'Come on!' when the drummer boy took a gun,aimed deliberately, and shot him dead."

  "I wouldn't want to be killed by a miserable drummer boy!" said JackWinch, envious because Frank remembered the incident.

  "A drummer boy may be as brave as any body," said Frank, keeping histemper. "But I wouldn't want to be even the bravest drummer boy, in a badcause."

  "And as for being shot," said Gray, "I think Jack wouldn't willinglyplace himself where there was much danger of being killed by any body."

  "You'll see! you'll see!" said Jack, testily. "Just wait till the timecomes."

  "What water is this the town fronts on?" asked Frank.

  "The Chesapeake, of course! Who don't know that?" said Jack,contemptuously.

  "Only it ain't!" said Gray, with a quiet laugh. "This is the RiverSevern. The Chesapeake is some two miles below."

  "There, Jack," said Ned Ellis, "I'd give up now. You don't know quite somuch as you thought you did."

  "What a queer old town it is," said Frank, generously wishing to drawattention from Jack's mortification. "It isn't a bit like Boston. Itdon't begin to be as smart a place."

  "Of course not!" said Jack, more eager than ever now to appear knowing."And why should it be? Boston is the capital of Massachusetts; and ifAnnapolis was only the capital of this state, it would be smart enough."

  "What is the capital of this state?" asked Gray, winking slyly at Frank.

  "Baltimore! I thought every body knew that," said Jack, with an air ofimportance.

  This ludicrous blunder raised a great laugh.

  "O Jack! O Jack Winch! where did you go to school?" said Joe Harris, "notto know that Frederick is the capital of Maryland."

  "So it is! I had forgotten," said Jack. "Of course I knew Frederick wasthe capital, if I had only thought."

  At this the boys laughed louder than ever, and Jack flew into a passion.

  "Harris was fooling you," whispered Frank. "Annapoli
s is the capital.Gray is taking us now to see the State House."

  "Ha, ha, ha!" Winch suddenly burst forth. "Did you think I didn't know?Annapolis is the capital; and there's the State House."

  "Is it possible?" said Gray. "The rebels must have changed it then, forthat was St. John's College when I was here before."

  The boys shouted with merriment; all except Jack, who was angry. He hadbeen as fickle at his studies, when at school, as he had always been atevery thing else; never sticking long to any of them, but foreverbeginning something new; until, at last, ignorant of all, he gave up,declaring that he had knowledge enough to get through the world with, andthat he wasn't going to bother his brain with books any longer. It addednow to his chagrin to think that he had not education enough to preventhim from appearing ridiculous among his mates, and that the goldenopportunity of acquiring useful information in his youth was lostforever.

  Meanwhile Frank's reflections were very different. Gray's reminiscencesof April had strongly impressed upon his mind the fact that he was now onthe verge of his country's battle-fields; that this was the first soilthat had been wrested from the grasp of treason, and saved for theUnion,--that the ground he stood upon was already historic. And now thesight of some negroes reminded him that he was for the first time in hislife in a _slave state_.

  "These are the fellows that are the cause of this war," said Gray,indicating the blacks.

  "Yes," said Winch, anxious to agree with him, "it's the abolitioniststhat have brought the trouble on the country. They insisted oninterfering with the rights of the south, and so the south rebelled."

  "We never interfered with slavery in the states where it belonged," saidFrank, warmly. "The north opposed the extension of slavery over newterritory, and took the power of the government out of the hands of theslaveholders, who had used it for their own purposes so long; and that iswhat made them rebel."

  "Well, the north is partly to blame," insisted Jack, thinking he had Grayon his side.

  "Yes; to blame for letting the slaveholders have their own way so long,"said Frank. "And just as much to blame for this rebellion, as my fatherwould be for my conduct, if he should attempt to enforce discipline athome, and I should get mad at it and set the house on fire."

  "A good comparison," said Gray. "Because we were going to restore thespirit of the constitution, which is for freedom, and always was, thoughit has been obliged to tolerate slavery, the slaveholders, as Frank says,got mad and set Uncle Sam's house afire."

  "He had heard somebody else say so, or he wouldn't have thought of it,"said Jack, sullenly.

  "No matter; it's true!" said Gray. "The south is fighting forslavery,--the corner-stone of the confederacy, as the rebelvice-president calls it,--while the north----"

  "We are fighting for the Constitution and the Union!" said Jack.

  "That's true, too; for the constitution, as I said, means freedom; andnow the Union means, union _without_ slavery, since we have seen thatunion with slavery is impossible. We are fighting for the same thing ourforefathers fought for--Liberty!"

  "They won liberty for the whites only," said Frank. "Now we are going tohave liberty for all men."

  "If I had a brother that was a slaveholder and secessionist, I wouldn'tsay any thing," sneered Jack.

  Frank felt cut by the taunt; but he said, gayly,--

  "I won't spoil a story for relation's sake! Come, boys, politics don'tsuit Jack, so let's have a song; the one you copied out of the newspaper,Gray. It's just the thing for the occasion."

  Franks voice was a fine treble; Gray's a mellow bass. Others joined them,and the party returned to the Academy, singing high and clear thesewords:--

  "The traitor's foot is on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland! His touch is on thy senate door, Maryland, my Maryland! Avenge the patriotic gore That stained the streets of Baltimore, When vandal mobs our banners tore, Maryland, my Maryland!

  "Drum out thy phalanx brave and strong, Maryland, my Maryland! Drum forth to balance right and wrong, Maryland, my Maryland! Drum to thy old heroic song, When forth to fight went Freedom's throng. And bore the spangled flag along, Maryland, my Maryland!"

  "That's first rate!" said Frank, who delighted in music. "Gray alteredthe words a little, and Mr. Sinjin found us the tune."

  "Frank likes any thing that has a drum in it," said John Winch,enviously. "He'll get sick of drums, though, soon enough, I guess."

  "Jack judges me by himself," said Frank, gayly, setting out to run a racewith Gray to the parade-ground.