"STARTS US ON OUR JOURNEY AND THE BEGINNING OF OURLITTLE WORLD OF WARFARE."
IN CAMP WITH
L COMPANY
Second Regiment
New Jersey Volunteer Infantry
BY
CORPORAL GEORGE W. PETTY
WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD CO.
PRINTERS
NEW YORK AND ALBANY
To the officers, and the men in the ranks, of my company, and to thememory of departed comrades, this book is respectfully dedicated.
The Author
"God of all nations! Sovereign Lord!
In Thy dread name we draw the sword
We lift the starry flag on high
That fills with light our stormy sky."
PREFACE
In writing this book it has not been my purpose to compile a historyof our Company, which would necessitate the gathering together of itsrecords, which of themselves would be dry and uninteresting to theaverage reader, but such a narrative as would give to our friends awider knowledge of our everyday life while in the service, and to mycomrades that feeling of kinship so dear to the soldier's heart.
PART FIRST
THE MUSTERING
Company L was organized and mustered into the State service June22, 1893, and assigned as the 11th company of the Second Regimentwith headquarters at Paterson, with the following officers: AddisonEly, Captain; Wilkin Bookstaver, First Lieutenant; Joseph J. Blake,Second Lieutenant. Lieutenant Bookstaver resigned in February, 1896,Lieutenant Blake was promoted to First Lieutenant and First SergeantRobert A. Brunner was promoted to Second Lieutenant. From its firstseason at rifle practice the Company was a decided factor in themaking up of the State records; the first year, out of fifty-sixcompanies it stood sixth, in 1895 it was fourth and in 1897 secondon the list with ten sharpshooters and fifty-eight marksmen, pushingCompany C of Paterson hard for first honors, that company having twelvesharpshooters and sixty marksmen. A match was arranged[Pg 10] in the fall of'97 between the companies composing the Second Battalion, E, F, G andL, ten men constituting a team; this match we won handily.
Matches between the squads proved exciting and interesting, the prizebeing a silver loving cup donated by Lieutenant Brunner. Our rangebeing on the meadows not only ins