Explore "The Story of the Raising and Organization of a Regiment of Volunteers in 1862" by Ellis Spear on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Heretofore papers which have been read before this Commandery have related to personal reminiscences of campaigns and battles, with all the interest which accompanies the personal element in such affairs. The preservation of these details is of great importance, not only for the special interest which attaches to them, but because they illustrate the larger actions and will be of value to future generations, as showing the very body and features of the time. How valuable these minor matters are, we perceive plainly by the use made of them as they are found in autobiographies and diaries of former generations. The knowledge of the manner in which people lived and thought and acted in private life throws light upon public affairs and public characters. It is interesting, and not unprofitable, to know that the Father of his Country in some wrathful mood swore roundly; or that the Philosopher of the Revolution, in his younger days, trudged in the streets of Philadelphia with a loaf of bread under each arm; or, when older, was very gay and festive in the gay and festive capital of France.
I propose to continue in the same grave historical vein, but to treat of less important affairs. I propose to avoid the beaten track of campaigns, battles, marches and skirmishes, and the luxurious life of Libbey or Andersonville prisons, and going back to the beginning of things, endeavor to explain how a volunteer regiment was raised and gotten into the field, and, incidentally, perhaps, to touch upon the character of its officers and men.