A Question of Discipline

The talk drifted to war matters, and Mr. Charles A. Edwards of the Houston (Tex.) Post, a native of Missouri, said:

“When the civil war began, as was natural, the soldiers possessed far more courage than discipline. When Gen. Jeff Thompson’s command was encamped in Southeast Missouri, much complaint was made to him that his men were continually shooting off their guns in a most reckless manner at all hours of the day and night, to the endangering of life and limb. He had his army drawn up, delivered a severe lecture on discipline and wound up by declaring without qualification that no man must fire his gun under any circumstances whatever except by order of a superior and that if any one dared to violate this rule he would inflict upon him the severest punishment known to military law. Hardly were the words out of his mouth when a six-footer from Dunklin County placed his long squirrel rifle to his shoulder, discharged it almost under Gen. Thompson’s nose, then coolly put his mouth to the muzzle and blew the smoke out of the barrel. Gen. Jeff was furious, shook his sword at the offender, and roared, “What the devil did you do that for, you wooden-headed rascal?” “Oh,” replied the soldier with aggravating sang froid, “I thought maybe the powder was damp, and I just wanted to clean her out.” “But these same undisciplined greenhorns,” continued Edwards, truthfully, “became in a few months the finest soldiers the world ever saw.”

Washington Weekly Post, Washington, D.C., August 21, 1900.