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Classed as musketeers, riflemen, and artillery-men, they were
trained to a part of the United States army-practice, each morning and
evening, on the _plaza_. The rangers were taught no drill of any kind;
and when I observed how some of the despicable officers pricked those
feeble creatures with their swords to make them look sharp and step
lively, I was glad enough to go without instruction in the military
science. The men, on the present occasion, were clothed in black felt
hats, blue cotton trousers, brogans, and blue flannel shirts, with the
letter of their company and the number of the regiment sewed upon the
breast in characters of white cloth. They had received this uniform, I
think, by the steamer on which I came down, and it was become somewhat
greasy and louse-seamed by this time; nevertheless, their appearance
was much more soldierlike and respectable than when I first saw them.
After the exercise was ended, the men gathered around a small brass
band, of half a dozen Germans, which began to play in front of General
Walker's quarters.


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