It did not look like "the pomp and circumstance of war," and no doubt most of the boys in the Pinchbrook company would have been better satisfied in their own houses in "the village by the sea." But most of these men had left their happy homes under the inspiration of the highest and truest motives.

They were going forth to fight the battles of their imperilled country, and this reflection filled them with a heroism which the petty trials and discomforts of the camp could not impair.
While the regiment was at Camp Cameron, the state colors and a standard, procured by the liberality of its friends, were presented; and the patriotic speeches delivered on this occasion made a deep impression upon the mind and heart of the soldier boy.

To him they were real--perhaps more real than to those who uttered the burning words.

He was in a situation to feel the full force of the great sacrifice which the soldier makes for his country.

He devoted himself, heart and soul, to the cause; and what was but an idle sentiment in the mind of the flowery speech-makers, was truth and soberness to him who was to meet the foe at the cannon's mouth and at the bayonet's point.
"We are off on the 29th," said old Hapgood, one evening, as he entered the barrack where Tom was writing a letter to his mother.
"Good! I am glad to hear it.