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

CAMP SCENES. 75
which was a row of fading fires, at which breakfast had just
been prepared. The long lines of white canvas and stacks
of burnished arms, interspersed with umbrageous rose-wood
and mesqueet trees; troops of splendid horses, standing
with the calm dignity of veterans at their pickets; batteries
of artillery, their bright muzzles gleaming from beneath tarpaulins like watch-dogs peering from their kennels; these
assisted in forming one of those impressive martial spectacles
that swell the veins and give fresh vigor to the step. Militia
camps and parades I had often witnessed, but though every
man wore the lace, and feathers, and gaudy trappings of a
Field MAarshal, they presented but a sorry mimicry of war.
Here, however, was liars himself; in repose, yet armed ccpag-pie and ready for action. The very calmness and order
that pervaded the camp would have told plainly enough that
it was no holiday affair, even if many of the quiet men
around us had not exhibited upon their persons and bronzed
faces the marks of recent battle. It was one of those scenes
that sent the mind wandering back through many a bright
old page of history, until it dwelt again with all the delight
of boyhood, upon those vivid and magnificent camp and
battle-pieces with which the Prince of Poets has adorned his
Iliad. And I am inclined to think, that the appearance of
Achilles himself, brandishing in triumph his bloody spear,
and dragging behind his chariot the body of some vanquished
enemy, would not, at the moment, have in the least astonished me.
At the quarters of the 3d infantry, I was courteously received by an officer to whom I had brought a letter from a