Robert and I were both quiet as we rode away from home. In some ways, it is easier to leave than it was the first time. I guess we can adjust to anything. But it still is not easy.

After a few miles of silence, I asked Robert, "Who's Rebecca?

He flushed a bit and answered, "Well, she lives just a couple of houses from my mother and father. She helped my mother for a while after my youngest brother was born. She's a couple of years younger than I am. Somehow, I always saw her as being all knees and elbows, and I've never paid much attention to her. But apparently she was paying more attention to me than I was to her. Yesterday she came to the house and asked me if I would come look at something with her. We walked out to the edge of town and she showed me a piece of land. I asked her what about it and she told me that's where she wanted me to build our house!"

Then he grinned and said, "She sure got my attention with that comment."

I laughed and told him how surprised I had been when Dorothea told me how she felt. He chuckled and said "I wonder why the ladies are called shy? Neither Rebecca or Dorothea is exactly shy!"

I answered that it was easy to see why they were called the fair sex, they are both easy to look at and he agreed.

Rebecca is a nice looking young lady. Not as beautiful as Dorothea, but I might be a little prejudiced.

The regiment is definitely getting better at moving as a unit. There is very little straggling, and the formations look more professional than they did just a couple of weeks ago. We also cover ground much faster. We marched until about an hour before sun down, and were almost 15 miles from home when we stopped.

Colonel Callahan talked to a farmer again, and we were permitted to camp in one of his pastures. A creek runs through the pasture, but there is no hay stack this time. We pulled our wagons to the far end of the pasture, where the creek cuts across the corner and parked them so they formed our triangular shaped corral. The hostlers from the infantry companies brought the officer's horses, un-saddled them, and wiped them down before turning them into the corral. The teamsters in the meantime had un-hitched all the teams, run the picket line from wagon to wagon to close off the corral and started the cook fire for Cookie.

It only took us about half an hour to set camp after we stopped. And the infantry companies didn't take much longer to get their tents set up. Soon the smell of cooking food drifted across the camp, and I realized that our noon meal had been some time ago!

Cookie had started setting up almost as soon as the wagons stopped rolling. The first thing he did was put water on the fire for coffee and tea, and set up his table. Then he started working on supper. He has warned us to not expect much variety till we get settled someplace, so supper tonight was just beef and beans, with bread that he had brought from home.

After supper, we had our little "meeting" to make sure everything was running smoothly. I asked the colonel's driver if his wagon needed anything, he mentioned the possibility of another storage box under the wagon like I had done for the company wagons. Robert and I both said that would not be a problem. We would start on it after we got to West Point.

Corporal Baker said, "Sgt. Will, I saw some deer tracks down by the creek, do you suppose it would be all right for me to shoot a deer early in the morning? Some fresh venison would sure taste good."

I said I'd check with the lieutenant colonel to be sure, but I thought it would probably be all right.

After the meeting, I walked over to the headquarters fire and caught Colonel Alsop's eye. He came to me to see what I wanted, and I passed Baker's request along. He said he thought it would be all right. I asked if he wanted to check with Colonel Callahan and he replied, "No, it's easier to get forgiveness than permission, sometimes." He grinned as he said it, so I think he was joking. He did mention that Colonel Callahan and he both liked venison steaks. I'll have to remember to tell Baker that!

Going back to our fire, I told Baker what the colonel had said and suggested that he get as far away from the camp site as possible, and be very sure of his shot, and he promised to do so. Shortly after that, I told the guards to start making their rounds. Then I went to bed. I would have to be up early, since I'm on guard the last two hours of the night.

Robert and I had thrown our bed rolls under the wagon when we were setting up, and he had already lit our candles. I pulled my boots and tunic off, and hung them under the wagon. Then I gratefully crawled into my bed roll. I was tired enough that I went to sleep fairly quickly even though I was thinking of Dorothea.

When the guard woke me this morning, I fixed a quick cup of tea, and asked him if Corporal Baker had gone out. He said yes, that the other guard had awakened him about a half hour ago, and that he had immediately headed for the woods.

I quickly finished my tea, slipped my tunic on, picked up my musket, and started my first walk around the corral. I met the other guard shortly after I started, and he asked if he could stop for a cup of coffee when he got to the fire. I said of course he could, and I'd slow down my pace, so he'd have a little more time to drink it in peace. And I reminded him to wake up Cookie when he got back to the wagons.

It wasn't really daylight yet, but the horizon had that first hint of iron gray light that signals the coming dawn when I heard a shot a good ways off in the woods. I happened to be at the far corner of the corral, or I don't think I'd have heard it, it was so faint. When I got back to the fire, the other guard started to make his round and I told him what I had heard. He said he'd keep an eye out for Baker and help drag the deer in if he had gotten one. Cookie overheard us talking, and immediately started fixing a pole between two trees so he'd have a place to hang the deer to clean it.

Robert emptied one of his buckets and headed for the woods to get some oak bark. He swears that oak does a better job of tanning a hide than chestnut does, though Cookie says he's crazy! It's not serious, just two soldiers joking about different ways of doing things. When Robert returned his bucket was about half full. He asked Cookie for one of his kettles to boil the bark in, and Cookie showed him which one to use. Robert shaved up the bark into fine slivers, covered it with water and put it on to boil. He'd just barely gotten the kettle on the fire when Baker and the guard came in, dragging a fine fat buck between them. Big fellow too, almost a shame to take him this early in the year, but we need the meat.

I told the guard to get a cup of coffee, I'd make one more round and by then it should be light enough that we can go off duty.

When I returned, Baker and Cookie had skinned the deer and were dumping the innards into the large kettle. Baker would take them to the woods to dispose of them. But I noticed that Cookie had grabbed the heart, liver and kidneys before Baker left. I asked Cookie how he was going to cook the heart and he said that he'd planned on baking it. I told him that was what I was going to ask him to do and that I would watch for an apple tree on the road today, since apples make the dressing taste so much better. One of the other men said he'd seen a walnut tree and he'd be right back. Cookie laughed and said at least his teamsters were willing to help and they knew what they liked to eat! It'll have to be corn bread stuffing with walnuts and apples, but that's always good. Then I asked him how he planned on using the kidneys, because the idea of eating them bothered me a little bit. He said first he would boil the piss out of them, then he'd use them in a stew. That made me feel a lot better!

Another teamster asked if Cookie wanted him to finish cutting the deer up, so he could go on with breakfast, and Cookie quickly accepted. The teamster took the knife and went right to work. Baker came back with the kettle that he'd taken to the woods. He'd stopped at the creek to wash it and fill it with water, so he started washing the cuts of meat as the teamster handed them to him. I reminded them that Colonel Alsop had mentioned steaks, and we counted up how many officers there were. They cut that many and stacked them up on a piece of linen that Cookie had laid on the table for them. When they were finished, someone took them to the headquarters cook. When he returned, the teamster was laughing. He said the first thing the headquarters cook had done was cut a piece from each of the two largest steaks for himself.

Next time we'll make sure to cut a steak for him. Little things like that help to weld a group of strangers into a unit that is, in many ways, like a family. While they were cutting the deer up, I asked if anyone wanted his antlers. They were a nice size and still in the velvet. No one did, so I took them and tied them on top of the wagon. When they are dried, the bone makes nice handles for knives and other tools. Robert took the deer brain and put it in a pan with some lard that he got from Cookie. Stirring the mixture occasionally as it melted, he made sure that it was well mixed. He'll use the mixture to soften and preserve the hide after it soaks in the bark solution.

Cookie had sliced the liver, and was frying it with some onions, so we had liver and onions with toasted bread for breakfast. Nice change from the normal beans and beef. We all told Baker he could go hunting any time he wanted!

After breakfast we hitched the teams, cleaned the area, helped Cookie load his kitchen back onto his wagon, and put out the fire. Just as we finished hitching the teams, the hostlers came over and got the officers horses. As they were saddling them I noticed that one horse was limping a little on his near hind hoof, so stopped the hostler to check it. The horse had a stone caught between the heels of his shoe, but my pick soon took care of that. The hostler thanked me, and I told him to remind his officer to take it as easy as possible on the horse for today.

While we were waiting for the companies to fall in, I asked Cookie how he managed to get so much done. He told me that the other teamster from Company D had volunteered to do all of the driving, so he could climb into the back of his wagon and do a good bit of his preparation while we were moving. That made it easier to get the meals when we stopped. I made a mental note to be sure to thank the teamster for his help.

In a short time we were on the road again. We stopped for a short lunch break. Cookie had made us sandwiches with leftover beef from the night before while we were traveling so all we had to do was make a coffee fire. I've still got a little tea, but am drinking coffee and hoarding my tea for times when I really need it.

When we camped for the night, we had covered a little over 27 miles according to Colonel Callahan. That's about average for marching troops, and the colonel complimented the troops on their improvement.

Cookie had put a venison roast together in his big Dutch oven, and had it on the fire within minutes after we stopped. He tells us that he's planning on the baked heart tomorrow evening. Since we have no way of keeping the meat cool, we have to eat it fairly quickly, or it will spoil.

Knowing supper would take a little longer than normal, we took time to rub down all of the teams and check their hooves. We also went over all of the harness, wiping it down and giving it a quick rub with oil to keep it soft. When we finished all of that, supper was ready, and we were ready for supper!

Everybody went to bed fairly early, we were all tired. The guards started making their rounds and I was glad that I wasn't on duty tonight. One thing I have noticed though is that we are getting into a habit of always walking the guard rounds in the same direction. We'll have to talk about that, Master John used to say that was a bad idea.

Even though I was tired, there was still time for a few thoughts of Dorothea and home before I went to sleep. I'm never too tired for that!