people. The entire brigade was to meet at that place, and Gov. Lewis was
expected to review the different companies, and all were anxious to see
the Governor, for, in those days, it was a rare thing to see so high a
dignitary in Western New York; the eastern portion of the State having had
every thing of that kind their own way.

Nor was the means and mode of traveling brought to such perfection as now.
The roads were new and rough, and our best public conveyances only the
slow lumbering stage-coach; yet, notwithstanding these inconveniences,
there was an innumerable crowd gathered at that place. I spent the day in
walking about the encampment, and seeing what was to be seen, for it was
all new to me.

Officers were riding over the ground, dressed in uniform, and mounted on
their splendid steeds: their plumes waving over their cocked-hats in true
military array. A band of music, as is usual, accompanied the soldiers.
There was also a "sham-fight," before the breaking up of the encampment,
and it was really terrifying to me, who had never seen a battle fought, to
witness two columns of troops drawn up, and, at the roll of the drum,
behold them engage in deadly conflict, to all appearance, and the smoke
curling up in a blackened mass toward heaven; and, above all, the
neighing of horses, with the feigned groans of the wounded and dying. I
inwardly prayed to God that those men might ever draw their weapons in a
feigned encounter.

The first night I spent at the encampment was one long to be remembered;
it was like the confusion of Babel. Of all the hideous noises I ever heard
none could exceed those made there that night. They fired guns, quarreled,
drank, and swore, till day light. There was such a crowd at the tavern
that I did not suppose I could get a bed, so I threw myself down upon a