noon before
`` I have been the first to volunteer for such service , and claim the right to go . '' At this point the commandant suggested in the most friendly manner that perhaps we who had lately arrived might be in need of food , and I fancied he made this suggestion in order to be rid of us while he and his officers discussed the proposition . At all events , we left headquarters and were conducted by Lieutenant Stockwell to a portion of the barracks which was set aside especially for the Minute Boys , to the end that we might all be together . `` Rations shall be served you at once , '' the lieutenant said , as he turned to leave us , and , although he kept his word , it was past noon before we had an opportunity to break our fast , because it seemed as if nearly every man in the garrison was eager to hold personal converse with us in order to learn what he might concerning the besieging army . No matter however much we as a company might succeed in doing in the future , certain it is we could not be petted or praised more than we were during that first day in the fort . We had not accomplished anything remarkable , so far as I could see ; aided by all the circumstances , and particularly by the fact that St. Leger 's force had concluded to hold a powwow with the Indians on that certain night , we had come across the plain when , at another time and under other conditions , we might have made an hundred attempts without succeeding . It was , as Sergeant Corney would put it , the fortune of war , or the accident of war , which enabled us to do as we had done , and only the old soldier himself could take personal credit for our being there .