Section Xxiii--disbanding The Armies--the Soldier Once More A Private Citizen

Kulistinc.eqiupping.drillingaDd cüscipliDing au arniy is a tong, tedious process.as aD.v ouvcuii rcadily see. Disbaacting aa army, Wblcb includes satisfactorily settling with and mustering out each individual compos-, ing it, and properly accounting for all property had from the GoYernment,is not so difficult a process, but yet one that takes time and niuch labor. Pretty soon after the surrender of the; commands of General Lee and Johnston, orders were issued for the mustering out of all whose terms of enlistment expired before a certain flate. In the case of the writer's regiment, a consolidated one embracing two original regimental organizations, about one-half had been mustered into service at aa earlier date than the other. To meet this difflculty an order came from General Sheridan - since the latter part of April in command of the department - for mustering out and discharging tao9e in the regiment whose term of service expired at the earlier date and the organization of the remnant into a Dattahon with its original designation. This order necpssitated In its carrying out much extra clerical labor among those whose business it was to do tnvs kiua of duty, but finally the roüs were all made out and upon one sei were ttie names of the lucky ones who were soon to go te their homes and f riends in the North, and upon the other thoseof their less fortúnate comrades who were to remain in service yet awhile longer. Tha wntor wa3 among the latter. Early one morning in July thoso to be immediately mustered out were drawn up in line for the maren to Mobile, three miles distant, where a steamer awaited them at the wharf. The wnter'never will forget the appearance of the little ban! as it stood in line at the top of a hilL, as fte viewed it from his tent on the hill opposite. How light their hearts and how buoyant their steps asthey moved offt With what satisfaction each man must have looked upon bis service ! Since his enlistment what momeutous events had transpired! Three years of weary, tedious, bloody war had dragged out their sickening length. Midsummer, 1S63 - midsummer, 1S65! What terrific strife fllled the gap ! Midsummer, 1S63, found McClellan beaten, defeated in the Peninsular campaign and his army at bay upon the James river. A little later Pope met overwhelming defeat in Northern Virginia ; then, as a little relief came South Mountain and Antietam. But in early winter followed the disastrous defeat oí Fredericksburg that inangurated the dark and dismal winter of 1863-3- the dreariest time of the war ior the Umon cause. But with the spring of 1863 came a better outlook, and there tdlovred Vicksburg and Gettysburg- when the tide turned and remained steadily against the Confederates till the end two years later- and Chatanooga closed a most successful year f or tha Nation. The determined adyance of the army of the Potomac in the early spring of 1S64, through the bloody way of the wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor and its persistent stay a bout Petersburg and Richmond, showed that the great North had at last realized its own tremendous power. In the latter half of the year, Atlanta and the "March to the Sea" andSheridan'smarvelous successes in the Shenandoah Valley. gave evidence that the Confederacy of the proud-spirited Southerners was already toppling : but if any f urther manifestation of its speedy downfall was needed this came with the crowning victory of the year at Nashville, unier the unequaled Thomas. Prompt and energetic action in February, 1865, gave us Charleston, where was fired the flrst shot, and in April, Mobile, Petersburg, Riehmond and Appomattox!' Bul April, 1S65, the month that witnessed complate Union success and the ending of the war, saw also the whole land overwhelmed with sorrow because the one to whora above all others wa3 due the most for the final fortúnate consummation, was slais by an assassin's bullet. All these things had transpired since enlistment, turee yeara before. Doubt, disaster, distrust in Juna, July and August, 1862- then the enrollment of "six hundred thousand more" brave men, among whom was the little band now moving off with cheery hearts and quick, elastic tread- their faces turned homeward. The change in organization again brought the writer into the hospital department, and he cheerfully resumed his duties. But the men had become so inured to camp and field that they suffered little inconvenience f rom any irregulari ties encountered ; henea there was little sickness. Near camp was a family with whom the writer became quite friendly. They were kind enough to loan him books to read, and on more than one occasion when they were away he, with a companion, by invitation slept in the house. Some of the friends of the head of the family expostulated with him for ttius trusting 30 much to Yankee soldiers. One day in August an order came for the battalion to report at New Or'.eans, to be mustered out. A boat was laken at Mobile one afteruoon and the cnp made by way of Mississippi sound, Uraat's Pass and Laks Ponchartraia. Lake Port near New Orleans was reached the midiile of the forenooa cext day. At the landir.gr a one-legged soldier from Lee's army hobbled off the boat wuü crutcb and cane. He had giren four years of service for what ? And dow crippled, peninless and perhaps home'.ess, he returned to his native city to drag out the remnant of a Ufe worse than ruined by a war originaüy lírought oa by a few in hls native SoutQ, witn. whom ne naa neittier interest nor sympathy. Bome days were spent at New Orleans making out the muster rolls, turning over Grovernment property, etc. By aDd by, all being inreadiness, passage up the river was secured oa a most excellent m-er boat, and upon this the battalion embarked. The trip was delightful, and many places passcd wnh which the command had every reason to be familiar. Ainoug these were Batoa Rouge, Morganza Beud, Oraml Uulï, Vicksburg, Milliken's Bend, Memphis, etc, each of whieh brought to miad past experience in camp and Held. Near Hemphis, one morning, a man in one of the companies was missing, and no trace of him could be found on tho boat. The vessel had not been near shore since the evening previous, when the missing man's comrade saw him alive and well. Upon the cabin deck of the boat, were cotsupon which were several sick men; one of these was delirious with typhoid fever, and one night when the nurse's back was turned jumped over the railing and was lost in the dark, seething waters of the Mississipppi. One evening just after nightfall the lights of Cairo came in 9ght, and produced a strange thriU in the hearts of the little band of Illinoisans aboard, who three years bef ore had come by thatcity on their way to the enemy's country, but with what fortune they were to return, no one could say. Every man was thrilled with delight as he stepped from the boat at Cairo and once more trod upon the soil of bis own beloved State that had sent to the front so many of its brave sons and given to the Nation a Lincoln and a Grant. Seldom does it tall to the lot of one Commonwealth to contribute so much to the coftintry's weal. Next day toward evening a train of stock cars was boarded and the trip to Camp Butler started upon. Early next morning from every farmhouse and d welling welcome was extended by those within waving f roin door or window some article of textile character. A very few had flags, but the majority had handkerchiefs or towels, and oue old Dutch woman from an upper story wiudow flaunted vigorously what seemed to be a red tlannel skirt. Camp Butler was reached in the afternoon, and as its pates were etitered what memories crowded upon the miodl Three years before, out of this inclosure, marched an organization more than a thousand strong; to-day it returns a little band of two hundred. Where are the eight hundred missing? Some of them have but recently come from the enemy's prison pens and will yet reach their friends in safety. Many, very many, found graves beside the great river in Missouri, Tenne9see, Louisiana and Mississippi, and others lie not far distant from the sea m Texas and Alabama. JVIany more have in the past three years been discharged as no longer fit for service and returned to their homes maimed ia body and broken down with disease. Not long after reaching Camp Butler a letter was received from the commandant at Vicksburg, stating that the dead body of a man was rescued from the river there, upon whose person was found letters and papers that identifled him as the soldier who disappeared irom the vessel so suddenly oae night while coming up the Mississippi. The letter stated further that there was a bullet hole through the man'shead. Thus the mystery thickened rather than otherwise, as there was supposed to be no one on the boat who would commit murder, and, besides, a shot fired woulJ certainly have attracted attention. This was the last death in the coinmand previous to dismemberment. 8ome days were occupied at Camp Butler before the final scène in the last act in the drama of war was enacted. About the nuddle of September one afternoon the little battalion was drawn up ín line for the last time. Just in front as an open window at which sat a regular army officer. Up to thi9 window each man stepped as h:s name was called off, and there was handed him nis discharge papers and a roll of money representing the amountdue from the Government Butiittle time was taken in the whoïe aftair, ar.d soon what had been the Regiment oí Illinois Volunteera became a tiáag al tae past. THB ESTD.