Home Guard

“ We have tried to form a Home Guard here for the protection of the village, and we have a little band of about twenty men; but most of our young and middle-aged men have left the place to enlist in the loyal army, so that we have not much stock of which to form a company. ”

“ THE HOME GUARD AND THE BUM The seasonal worker, the hobo, and the tramp are migratory types; the home guard and the bum are relatively stationary. The home guard, like the hobo, is a casual laborer, but he works, often only by the day, now at one and again at another of the multitude of unskilled jobs in the city. ”

“ But upon our arrival at Orange Court House we were turned over to a squint-eyed, knock-kneed Provost-Marshal and his home guard, and with the change of guard came a most decided change in our treatment.
Cowards are always tyrants, and this redheaded commander of the home guard was no exception to the rule. The enlisted men were separated from the officers and driven into a dirty [Pg 18] back yard, where they bivouacked quite comfortably, for they had their rubber and woolen blankets and could on ordinary occasions sleep as well without shelter. ”

“ This company is run on military principles, and besides doing daily drill takes a share of garrison duty. The proficiency in drill which these men have attained in the short time since their enrollment reflects the highest credit on the industry and ability of the men and the energy of the officers.
The "Home Guards" consists of the citizens and settlers whom circumstances have forced into the barracks. They are exempt from drill, but do a full share of guard and other duty, and are always on hand when any real work is to be done. ”

“ With one accord the crowd surged up the steps that led to the hotel porch and through the wide hall into the dining room, which was quickly filled with men who had about made up their minds that the Home Guards had made them trouble enough, and that it would be a good plan to get rid of them without loss of time. ”

“ There is a good deal of alarm felt by the citizens of an early attack upon this place, and if anything of the kind should take place we are ill prepared. All the troops are very raw, and about one half of them Missouri Home Guards without discipline. ”

“ This latter corps had very early assumed a threatening attitude 213as far north as the heights for which the Guards Brigade were responsible, and this fact somewhat delayed their advance to the front; [272] but it was soon perceived that the enemy in this quarter was making a mere empty demonstration, that the real crisis was round Home Ridge, and that the piquets were sufficient in the present emergency to guard the hills overlooking the Tchernaya. ”

“ At present our social intercourse with Bruno is limited. He is serving thirty days in the guard-house. But every day or two he slips into the hut to do his shopping, the kind-hearted guard standing at the door, as he does so, a sheepish look on his face. If there is one military duty which the doughboy hates above all others, it is this job of “chasing prisoners,” and when you meet a file of guard-house habitués escorted by a rifle in the rear, it is invariably the guard, and not the prisoners, who looks the culprit! ”

“ On the march they take the form of advance guards, rear guards, and flank guards. At a halt they consist of outposts.
3. Interior guards are used in camp or garrison to preserve order, protect property, and to enforce police regulations. In time of war such sentinels of an interior guard as may be necessary are placed close in or about a camp, and normally there is an exterior guard further out consisting of outposts. In time of peace the interior guard is the only guard in a camp or garrison. ”

“ The 'guard-house habit' has spoiled hundreds of men, who, but for that first confinement, would have made admirable soldiers. The enlisted man with the 'guard-house habit' is as useless and hopeless as the tramp or the petty thief in civil life. ”

“ There should be at least one noncommissioned officer constantly on the alert at the guardhouse, usually the corporal whose relief is on post. This noncommissioned officer takes post near the entrance of the guardhouse, and does not fall in with the guard when it is formed. He will have his rifle constantly with him. ”

“ The "lifer's" plan of escape was simply this: At midnight, while Captain Dunlap and his crew were on duty, the yard guard made his round, counted the patients in the hospital and left the yard through the guards' gate to eat his lunch in the guards' dinning-room outside the walls. When the yard guard returned to the inside lookout he carried with him a hot lunch for Captain Dunlap.
In counting the men in the hospital, the yard guard did not as a rule enter the building. ”

“ Near the guard-house which serves as a visitors' room, but where no visitors are allowed to enter on account of the fleas which infest it at this time of year, wives, mothers, sisters, and friends have come to see their soldiers. All make a brave attempt to hide their feelings. ”

“ At any hour of the day or night a squad of soldiers knock at your door suddenly, with no warning. They search your house from top to bottom, often spending three hours over the undertaking. They look into every drawer, take down all the clothes from the hooks in the closets, look under the carpets, behind the bookcases, shake out all the soiled clothes in the laundry bag, pull out everything from under the kitchen sink, read every scrap of paper in your drawer and in your waste-paper basket—it's incredible. ”

“ The main general ideas of an advance guard are illustrated by the husband who takes his wife and family to his house after an evening's absence. The house is dark and without occupants. The wife and children are apprehensive of danger. The husband goes first, turns on the light, and searches for any indications of an enemy. ”

“ Leaving her husband to comfort her as he saw fit, the Unionists left the couple in the sitting room. Several weapons they had possessed had been taken from them, and now a guard was stationed in the hallway outside of the door, and another guard in the garden under the sitting-room windows. ”

“ The relief company returned to the guard-house. The centinels were replaced every twenty-four hours, and, at the appointed time the guard again marched to relieve the post.—To their inexpressible astonishment the man was gone! They searched round the spot, but no traces could be found of his disappearance. It was necessary that the station, for a stronger motive than ever, should not remain unoccupied; they were compelled to leave another man and return to the guard-house. The superstition of the soldiers was awakened, and the terror ran through the regiment. ”

“ Behind it there is a guard-room, with racks of rifles and bayonets for the Resident's body-guard of twelve men, and quarters for the married soldiers, for soldiers they are, though they are called policemen. A gong hangs in front of the porch on which to sound the alarm, and a hundred men fully armed can turn out at five minutes' notice. ”

“ The house-keeper’s instinct, before mentioned, of primitive man always comes out best at the worst crisis, and, given but the prospect of a week’s stay in one place, a Guards Battalion will build up a complete civilisation on bog [157] or bare rock. ”

“ I will not believe that last night several men, without any precise orders, without any legal character whatever, merely National Guards, introduced themselves into peaceful families; waking the wife and children, and carrying off the husband as one carries off a housebreaker or an escaped convict. ”

“ They were to be seen at all the public buildings, at the various and numerous hôtels where the Allied Sovereigns and their Counsellors and principal Officers lodged, and even at the places of entertainment where the people flocked during the balmy weather of a French summer. Nor were these duties of a ceremonial 33character; for guard-houses were placed in nearly all the principal thoroughfares, the bridges were held by troops, there were chains of sentries everywhere, patrols were constantly on the move and on the alert, and guns were kept loaded and ready for any serious emergency. ”

“ Many landlords, and indeed others, were in danger of their lives from the outrage-mongers that infested the land. In order to afford adequate protection to these persons, soldiers were told off to reside in their houses, to accompany them in all their movements, and to be responsible for their safety. The Coldstream and Scots Guards furnished a number of men to perform this duty, and an Officer from each Regiment was appointed to inspect them frequently, and to satisfy himself that this novel service was efficiently discharged. ”

“ Officers of the highest rank followed the example set them by their commander, and seized upon whatever dwelling pleased their fancy, sometimes permitting the rightful owners to 324 reserve a few rooms for their own use; more often turning them out completely to find shelter wherever they could. ”

“ One unused shop is transformed into the regimental infirmary, and hangs out the Red Cross flag; another sees the quartermaster and his secretaries installed at desks improvised from pine boards; a sentry stands before the Town Hall where the colonel has his headquarters, and another guards the fine old house which has the honor of sheltering the regimental flag.
The street, our quiet, sleepy street, is like an artery pulsing with rapid vibrations; despatch-riders dash up and down; camions rumble by; a staff-car full of officers looking seriously at maps halts for a moment and passes on ”

“ One day we looked, and there in our street were half a dozen French soldiers, with bloody heads and arms, limping along between Boche guards on their way to the hospital. All our people rose like a great wave and swept towards them. The guards reversed their rifles and began clubbing with their butt ends—clubbing the old women who tried to toss food to the prisoners, clubbing the little children who stretched out handfuls of chocolate, clubbing the white-haired men who thrust cigarettes into the pockets of the torn, stained French uniforms. ”

“ Most guards have a particular tune upon their horns for every different species of service, known only to each his own particular dependant, which gives a wonderful facility to their manœuvres. I have sat down with the landlord of a tap-room, who, without looking out, would remark, "here comes such-a-one;" ”

“ O God, our help in ages past,
⁠Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
⁠And our eternal home. ”

“ Should a lady under your own protection fall or faint, in the streets, (your wife for instance) take good care what persons (women or men) lend their assistance: it is a great chance but they will be upon the do, probably for the first time in their lives.
We just now hear of a gentleman who has found occasion to come home alone, three times a week from Homerton, at very late hours, (sometimes an hour after the patrol went off duty) without any interruption whatever ”

“ There will be a special working party, consisting of 400 men under a Field Officer, independent of the guard of the trenches, except in case of an attack, when they will be available to be called upon by the Officer commanding in the trenches.... General Officers of divisions furnishing the guards in the trenches are to consider the remainder of their division as a support ready to reinforce the guard, with which they will proceed in case of alarm, and resume the command of the whole force in the trenches. ”

“ If the owner of a house takes away his furniture, or by other means endeavours to deter officers from entering the billet, the Commanding officer is to place soldiers in the house. No inhabitant is to be required to accommodate persons that are not entitled to billets; and it is particularly desired that officers will not give grounds for complaint by taking their wives or families into billets without having the consent of the owner of the house to do so. ”

“ Immediate steps were taken to defend the Metropolis from a repetition of another such dastardly attempt upon the lives of innocent persons, and for nearly a month the troops were busily engaged, while the ordinary military exercises, marches, gun drill, and gymnastic courses were suspended. A guard was immediately sent to Clerkenwell, of 100 rank and file, under three Officers; sentries carried their rifles loaded; strong piquets, of 100 men under a Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel, were mounted daily in the principal barracks ”

“ It behooved wise people to play the part of their own police, and to guard themselves well, and care must be taken to duly close, bar and barricade their houses, and to fasten the doors well. ”

“ Until further orders the guard in the trenches by night, will be 2400 men, under a General of the day with three Field Officers; of this number 600 men will work if required by the Royal Engineers, from 4 to 8 a.m., and return to their camp at 8 a.m. if it should seem prudent to the senior Officer in the trenches to dispense with them.... The remainder of the guard will furnish working parties as usual during the day, when required by the Royal Engineers.... ”

“ Of the rest, a proportion were men exhausted or unrallied after their previous exertions, and it is calculated that some 1400 men only remained to defend Home Ridge and the Kitspur, 700 on each. As we have seen, those holding the latter were slowly retiring. Of reinforcements arriving, the Guards, 1300, had just reached the ridge, as well as 12 guns of the First and 6 of the Light Divisions. ”