Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

280 A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE ARMY.
mental or company commanders of citizen troops. This
however would depend upon the amount of good sense, tact,
and temper they might happen to possess. With the benefit
of their experience and example, there can be no doubt but
that our volunteers would soon be found superior to the best
drilled automaton armies of Europe. That benefit may be
obtained to some extent, by a union of our regular and citizen troops in the same armies, and causing them to march,
encamp, and fight together. The American volunteer is a
thinking, feeling, and often a capricious being. He is not
and never intends to become a mere moving and musketholding machine; and something more than the Tactics and
Army Regulations is required for his instruction and government. His patriotism, pride, ambition, and enthusiasm, may
be so controlled and directed, as to be rendered auxiliary to
his arms. These, united with his native courage and intelligence and a proper degree of discipline, make him the most
formidable soldier in the world.
The position of an officer of volunteers, elected from the
ranks, as the majority of us were, is one of peculiar delicacy.
While he should not allow himself to forget that he owes his
rank and power to the kindness of those he commands, he
must yet know now to maintain discipline and exact obedience. He should not be eager to assert his authority on light
occasions; but be as ready to encourage as to find fault, and
as mindful of the comforts as of the delinquencies of his
men. Iie should know how to temper severity with indulgence, and mingle affability with authority, so as to retain a
personal as well as an official influence over subalterns; and