May 19—The battery was reorganized to-day, officers elected, and non-commissioned officers appointed.
Chew was re-elected captain. We might search over the whole State, and it is very doubtful whether we could find his equal in every respect as a commander of artillery. For competency and skill in handling a battery on the field his equals, according to my judgment, formed by observation, are few and difficult to find. He is gallant and brave, a strict disciplinarian without the least sign or flavor of arrogance or overbearing haughtiness, as calm and cool on the battle-field as on dress parade, and generous and impartial to his men, always manifesting a care for their welfare on the battle-field as well as in the camp and bivouac. All these characteristics are of much importance to men on the field and in camp, and are hardly ever found in one bunch, consequently he has now the esteem and utter confidence of every man in the battery.
I was appointed first corporal, which means first gunner in the battery. I know very little about gunnery — in fact, nothing except that a gun in good health never shoots backward. This gunnery business is something new to me, and will be a new field for my brain to browse in. I am afraid it will take a dogwood mallet to beat even the elementary principles of efficient practical gunnery into my skull. I heard it thunder, and do not know where, but the echo of the reverberation seemed to whisper strange words to me, like these: “The trajectory of projectiles, the windage of shot or shell during their flight, application of scientific principles to practical gunnery on the field.” All these strange things will come crowding on my brain in one flock when the next Yankee battery opens on us, if I am called on to direct the response. Yet I can plainly see that if I ever acquire any efficient knowledge of practical gunnery it will have to be gathered on the battlefield, a rather dangerous place for experimenting with fireworks in the hands of a rawish green tyro. If any Yanks should happen to get hurt by my first attempts at gunning, it will be their fault, not mine.
