The Origin and Services of the 3rd (Montreal)

that men and horses were comfortably billeted for the night. Arriving at thesquare, Mr. Boyd, who now lives at New York, mounted one of the gun carriagesand made a speech to the people. He urged his fellow townsmen to do their dutyby the Battery. The artillerymen had come to do their duty in protecting them,and they should do their part and see that the men and their horses had thenecessary accomodation.The speech had its effect, and Major Stevenson got billets for the horses andmen, he himself that night goingto the hotel. There were several other corps atHuntingdon and the accommodation was pretty well taken up. The greatdifficulty, so far as the Battery was concerned, was that its horses were scatteredthrough the village and neighborhood, the two animals furthest away from oneanother being three miles apart. Major Stevenson wanted to encamp, and as hehad taken the precaution to take his camp equipage along, he could have done itcomfortably. But Colonel Smith would not hear of it.Finally a crisis wasreached owing to the contractor for forage refusing to supply the horses owing totheir being so scattered, which made the delivery of the rations a very difficult matter.At the Presbyterian Church were long sheds to shelter the horses of thoseof the congregation who had to drive to service, and Major Stevenson arrangedthat the Battery could have these sheds for its horses. Then he obtained permission to camp on the church grounds, and the Battery was made very comfortable.Mrs. Watson, the good wife of the minister, allowed the Battery to use herkitchen for the cooking, and even spared her servant to help in the work. Thegovernment rations were being brought from Montreal, and when they arrived weresimply unfit for human food. Somebody must have benefitted, but it was surelynot the men who had to subsist on the stuff.All the provisions required could have been purchased better and cheaper inthe country, and they were being brought from Montreal, not by train but byteams, by far the most dangerous and expensive means of transport. Of coursethe whole arrangement was made to favour some city contractors. The idea ofbringing provisions by team all the way from Montreal in such weather as thatprevailing then was simply outrageous. The meat was often tainted when itarrived at the front, and the bread reported to have been unfit for food.A General Middleton appears to have been badly needed at the front duringthe Fenian Raids.Major Stevenson appears to have taken took good care that the stuff shouldnot be foisted on his men. He had been made to provide his own rations in thefirst place and he determined to continue to do it,as he found that everythingneeded could be supplied cheaper, and in first class condition, by the local baker,butcher and grocers. He was ordered to receive the government rations, butdeclined, and was allowed to have his way. As a result his men and horses werewell fed, and when the Battery returned to Montreal, there was not a man orhorse that was not considerably heavier than when the corps marched out.48