The stream of recruits pouring into the capital never ceased.

He now saw men, and many boys, too, like himself, from every state north of the Ohio River and from some south of it.

Dan Whitley met old logging friends from Wisconsin whom he had not seen in years, and George Warner saw two pupils of his as old as himself.
Dick had inherited a sensitive temperament, one that responded quickly and truthfully to the events occurring about him, and he foresaw the beginning of a mighty struggle.

Here in the capital, resolution was hardening into a fight to the finish, and he knew from his relatives when he left Kentucky that the South was equally determined.

There was an apparent pause in hostilities, but he felt that the two sections were merely gathering their forces for a mightier conflict.
His comrades and he had little to do, and they had frequent leaves of absence.