Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/65

Rh songs. Then came orders to go to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and hither the regiment went, late in the month.

Hardly had the regiment reached Clarksburg when it was ordered to Weston. The Rich Mountain range was full of guerillas,—lawless men who cared only for plunder, regardless of the rights of the North or the South,—and these were chased over and around the mountains and through the deep ravines. It rained almost constantly, and the soldier boys were often wet to the skin, and had to sleep that way during the night.

"Tell you what, this is tough," growled one volunteer. "I didn't bargain for it, when I joined."

"We'll have to take the weather as it comes," said McKinley, philosophically. "We are no worse off than the men we are fighting."

The regiment had been divided into two parts, but on the 1st of September the wings came together at Bulltown, and then joined the forces under General Rosecrans and moved on Carnifex Ferry. Here the Confederates under General Floyd were