Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/63

Rh his trip of years before. General Fremont looked him over, thumped him on the chest, gazed into his clear grayish eyes, and then said pleasantly, "You'll do."

It was a great relief from a mental strain, and McKinley hurried back to his tent with his face full of smiles.

"I guess you're going, Will," sang out one of the volunteers. "He didn't turn you down, did he?"

"No; he said I'd do," answered McKinley. "And I'm going to do—the very best I can."

The Poland volunteers became Company E of the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and were mustered into service for three years on June 11, 1861. The regiment was in many respects a remarkable one. Its first colonel was William S. Rosecrans, afterward Major-general and Commander of the Department of the Cumberland; its lieutenant-colonel was Stanley Matthews, afterward United States senator, and associate justice of the Supreme Court; and its first major was Rutherford B. Hayes, who after the war became governor of Ohio and then President of the United