We came up the Tennessee River the night of the day before the battle,
and landed at Pittsburgh Landing at daybreak of the first day's fight.
We had not had our guns issued to us yet. Some have thought it a little
hard on us to be shoved into a great battle without ever having loaded
or fired our muskets. When we were landed the guns were issued to my
company, and we were given about half an hour's instruction in the way
they were worked. Of course most of us had done shooting, and were a
little better than green hands; but Will Lockwood during the fight
loaded his gun until it was full of unfired loads, and forgot to put a
cap on. Then he discovered his mistake, and put on a cap, and would have
blown off his own head by firing all the stuff out at once, when Captain
Gowdy saw what he was doing and snatched the gun away from him calling
him a damned fool, and broke the stock off the musket on the ground.
There were plenty of guns for Will to select from by that time which
were not in use, so he picked up another and made a new start; but
not for long.
After the guns were issued to us, we stood there on the bank, and
lounged about on the landing, waiting for the issue of cartridges. An
orderly came to me with Magnus following him, and gave me the captain's
order to report to him in the cabin of the transport which lay tied up
at the river bank. We looked at each other in wonder, but followed the
orderly into the cabin, where we stood at attention.
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