For the most part, Lt. Robert Gould Shaw enjoyed the duty of Officer of the Day. It gave him an opportunity to catch up and his letter-writing and book-reading. And because the 2nd Massachussets Infantry was in winter quarters near Frederick, Maryland, he could spend the night in the comfort of a private house sitting by a nice warm fire. What could be cozier?But while on duty one night near the Monocacy Bridge, he had a harrowing experience never to be forgotten:
"I stayed in a house near the bridge, and thought at first that the landlady was a very pretty & pleasant woman, but the bad behaviour of [her] children soon brought out some little characteristics which were, to say the least, not lady-like. She got very much enraged and said to the nurse, 'Hang you you black imp! I'll knock your black head off'--and to the children, 'Get out of this, or I'll smack your jaws!' and made use of many other similar expressions. At night, instead of putting the children to bed, the plan was to get them asleep downstairs, & then carry them up. Of course this was a tedious process & involved much screaming, swearing, bawling & blubbering. Three times it was tried & three times they waked up on the way up-stairs. After the third failure, the noise was something terrible--all three children screamed at the top of their lungs. Mrs. Waters cussed & swore at the black girl. The black girl cried and actually said it wasn't her fault. Mr. Waters consoled himself & vainly tried to amuse the children by vigorously playing on the most infernal old fiddle that was ever manufactured and beating time very hard with his cow-hide boots....May I be preserved in future from such scenes as these! I didn't bargain for anything of the kind when I joined the regiment."
Lt. Henry Lee Higginson was acting in the capacity of Officer of the Day when a private who had been disorderly in the ranks was sent to him by his captain for punishment:
"He came very drunk, talking and swearing. I ordered him to keep still and march on--as a precaution, though I did n't think much about it, taking the cap from his charge. He walked to the end of the beat, turned, put another cap on his gun, and leveled the piece at my belt, saying he'd blow a hole through me. There was nothing to do, we couldn n't reach the man in time, and my Sergeant standing by with no gun. I looked steadily at him and said premptorily, 'Bring your piece to your shoulder and march on.' Then the instinctive habit of obedience told, even crazy-drunk as the man was. Clap went his piece to his shoulder, and on he marched towards us. My Sergeant then took the musket away....It would have been an eternal disgrace to our regiment if an officer had been shot by a private."
Lt. Charles Morse had an unpleasant encounter with two Hoosiers who were creating a noisy row at a Frederick gin mill:
"One of them as I entered threw a tumbler at the proprietor. It just missed his head and smashed on the wall. I caught one of them and pitched him out the door, the other I sent on the same road, but seeing him out his hand into his breast pocket, I followed him up and caught his arm as he was drawing out a revolver on me. I disarmed him and called the guard who took charge of him. If I'd had the time to draw my pistol I would have shot him without the slightest compunction."
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