It May Be Well To Mention Here That The Number Of Germans Through All These Western States Is Very Great. Their Number And Well-Being Were To Me Astonishing.

That they form a great portion of the population of New York, making the German quarter of that city the third largest German town in the world, I have long known; but I had no previous idea of their expansion westward.

In Detroit nearly every third shop bore a German name, and the same remark was to be made at Milwaukee; and on all hands I heard praises of their morals, of their thrift, and of their new patriotism. I was continually told how far they exceeded the Irish settlers. To me in all parts of the world an Irishman is dear. When handled tenderly he becomes a creature most lovable. But with all my judgment in the Irishman's favor, and with my prejudices leaning the same way, I feel myself bound to state what I heard and what I saw as to the Germans.

But this regiment of Germans, and another not completed regiment, called from the State generally, were as yet without arms, accouterments, or clothing. There was the raw material of the regiment, but there was nothing else. Winter was coming on - winter in which the mercury is commonly twenty degrees below zero - and the men were in tents with no provision against the cold. These tents held each two men, and were just large enough for two to lie.

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