IN WASHINGTON.


On the 17th of June, the regiment left Port Warren, and after being
conveyed by steamer to Boston, marched to Camp Cameron. Here the "little
colonel" displayed his energy and military skill to much greater advantage
than when within the narrow confines of the fort. The men were not only
carefully and persistently drilled, but they were educated, as far as the
circumstances would permit, for the arduous duties of a campaign.

Tom Somers had already begun to feel a soldier's pride in his new
situation; and though he found that being a soldier boy was not always the
easiest and the pleasantest thing in the world, he bore his trials with
philosophical patience and fortitude, and made the most of whatever joys
the circumstances placed within his reach.

Others grumbled, but he did not. He declared that he had enlisted for the
war, and meant to take things as they came. It was not exactly agreeable
to stand on guard for two hours, on a cold, rainy night; but grumbling
would not make it any the more agreeable, and only made the grumbler
discontented and unhappy. It did not look like "the pomp and circumstance
of war," and no doubt most of the boys in the Pinchbrook company would
have been better satisfied in their own houses in "the village by the
sea." But most of these men had left their happy homes under the
inspiration of the highest and truest motives. They were going forth to
fight the battles of their imperilled country, and this reflection filled
them with a heroism which the petty trials and discomforts of the camp
could not impair.

While the regiment was at Camp Cameron, the state colors and a standard,