Only twenty-one
hundred of them all told, mind you, against so many thousands of the
rioters, and yet, they were disciplined men and led by officers who
simply enforced orders as they received them. No matter where or what
the sympathies of the men of a company might be, when the captain said
"Fire," look out, because the bullets would generally fly breast high.
The situation resembled the Paris Commune, and but for the timely
arrival of the small body of bluecoats, another cow might have kicked
over another lamp, and the frightful conflagration of 1871 have been
more than duplicated. But the "cow" was slaughtered and the "lamp"
extinguished.
The morning after Brainerd arrived he was detailed on special service
and ordered to report to me, and together we worked until the trouble
was over. Just what this service was need not be recorded, but one thing
sure, railroads and the telegraph figured in it quite largely. In fact
the general superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company placed
the entire resources of the company at my disposal. A wire was run
direct to Washington, lines run to all the camps, and Jack and I each
carried a little pocket instrument on our person.
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