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                                       12.
we were ordered to cover in a sprint. Few were in condition to get up much speed. I was nearly exhausted at the end of such a run, and still think it was a hell of a way to get ready for breakfast, but I managed to stay in the leading half of the company. Formation was entirely lost after that first quarter of a mile or so.
     The camp was intended for men from Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and most of us were from those states. There were a few from Virginia, however, and a considerable number from New York. Most of the last were New York Irish, and it was my first contact with the type.
     One of our New Yorkers was Robert L. Bacon, son of a former ambassador to France, a millionaire and a Harvard oarsman [[best guess]]. He is now a congressman from a Long Island district. Bacon was made first sergeant of the battery. He probably deserved that appointment. He was an able man, older than most of us, and the captain was plainly impressed by his social position. My own feeling toward him was one of mixed respect and dislike. Most of the battery, I believe, felt the same way about him.
     The New York Irish were more sociable. We like them well enough, though they were different from us in their ways. One of them, a National Guardsman named Murphy, started a collection, shortly after the battery was organized, to buy a fancy saddle and bridle for Sands. This was done, no one daring to hold out, and Murphy made the presentation. Before leaving the 13th company, I had contributed to a fund raised by another New York Irishman to buy a present for Nicklin. It was, I supposed, the [[illegible]]