The men were as pleased with them
as children with new toys. The care and attention needed to keep them
in prime order broke the monotony of camp life. They soon had
abundant opportunities to test their power. They worked admirably,
carried far, and were extraordinarily accurate in their aim.
The men from admiration of their guns grew to have first a pride in,
and then an affection for, them, and gave them nicknames as they did
their comrades; the four Napoleons being dubbed "The Evangelists",
and the two rifles being "The Eagle", because of its scream and force,
and "The Cat", because when it became hot from rapid firing "It jumped,"
they said, "like a cat." From many a hill-top in Virginia, Maryland,
and Pennsylvania "The Evangelists" spoke their hoarse message
of battle and death, "The Eagle" screamed her terrible note,
and "The Cat" jumped as she spat her deadly shot from her hot throat.
In the Valley of Virginia; on the levels of Henrico and Hanover;
on the slopes of Manassas; in the woods of Chancellorsville;
on the heights of Fredericksburg; at Antietam and Gettysburg;
in the Spottsylvania wilderness, and again on the Hanover levels
and on the lines before Petersburg, the old guns through nearly four years
roared from fiery throats their deadly messages.
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