Humphreys was blaming the Sergeant for the dogs' failure to understand and obey Humphreys order. The men in the division saw this. They sized Humphreys up:
After swearing most dogmatically [Armstrong's punning emphasis]...he turned to resume his ride to the head of the column, but had not gone ten yards before there was a whistle for the dogs.
Someone in Humphreys command was calling the dogs to keep following them.
Squab [For descendants of the 133rd PA., this is Armstrong's nickname for Colonel Peter Allabach, regimental commander and a favorite of Humphreys.] was sent back to ferret out the offender. The whistling increased...
"The whistling increased," it spread, it was spreading!
...and shortly the whole Staff and the Regimental officers were engaged in an attempt at its suppression.
Picture the scene: First, Humphreys can't get the miscreant dogs to obey him, then sicks his Staff on them. Then the whistling starts and Allabach gives chase, it spreads and now Humphreys' entire Staff again are furiously riding back and forth trying to put out the fire of the whistling. Not a wise use of manpower, Armstrong says. Taking a sledgehammer to an ant--and then breaking the sledgehammer! This is a devastating rebuke to Humphreys. The men had sized Humphreys and were now mutinying. Mutiny by whistle!
But in vain. Whistling in Company A, found echoes in Company B; and after some minutes of fruitless riding hither and thither the General was forced to retire under a storm of all kinds of dog-calls, swelled in volume by the adjacent Regiments.
From man to man, then Company to Company, then to adjacent Regiments, it spread like a prairie fire. The men of the Vth Corps were "mocking at obedience" of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys. Devastating to Humphreys, devastating commentary on his shortcomings as commander.
Shocking. Shocking that the men acted as they did. Humphreys did not deserve that. If he took a sledgehammer to an ant, they did too. You don't humiliate your boss like that, over "a brace of dogs." The men had the intelligence to size Humphreys up--and accurately! Having done that they saw his deficiencies and eccentricities but did not have the intelligence to to let it go. If Humphreys ever had his men he lost them. And the reverse: if the men ever thought Humphreys would have their backs, they lost him there. They were both callow, equally green, it was the blind leading the blind.
The blind commander was shortly to lead his blind troops into their first battle at Fredericksburg.
After swearing most dogmatically [Armstrong's punning emphasis]...he turned to resume his ride to the head of the column, but had not gone ten yards before there was a whistle for the dogs.
Someone in Humphreys command was calling the dogs to keep following them.
Squab [For descendants of the 133rd PA., this is Armstrong's nickname for Colonel Peter Allabach, regimental commander and a favorite of Humphreys.] was sent back to ferret out the offender. The whistling increased...
"The whistling increased," it spread, it was spreading!
...and shortly the whole Staff and the Regimental officers were engaged in an attempt at its suppression.
Picture the scene: First, Humphreys can't get the miscreant dogs to obey him, then sicks his Staff on them. Then the whistling starts and Allabach gives chase, it spreads and now Humphreys' entire Staff again are furiously riding back and forth trying to put out the fire of the whistling. Not a wise use of manpower, Armstrong says. Taking a sledgehammer to an ant--and then breaking the sledgehammer! This is a devastating rebuke to Humphreys. The men had sized Humphreys and were now mutinying. Mutiny by whistle!
But in vain. Whistling in Company A, found echoes in Company B; and after some minutes of fruitless riding hither and thither the General was forced to retire under a storm of all kinds of dog-calls, swelled in volume by the adjacent Regiments.
From man to man, then Company to Company, then to adjacent Regiments, it spread like a prairie fire. The men of the Vth Corps were "mocking at obedience" of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys. Devastating to Humphreys, devastating commentary on his shortcomings as commander.
Shocking. Shocking that the men acted as they did. Humphreys did not deserve that. If he took a sledgehammer to an ant, they did too. You don't humiliate your boss like that, over "a brace of dogs." The men had the intelligence to size Humphreys up--and accurately! Having done that they saw his deficiencies and eccentricities but did not have the intelligence to to let it go. If Humphreys ever had his men he lost them. And the reverse: if the men ever thought Humphreys would have their backs, they lost him there. They were both callow, equally green, it was the blind leading the blind.
The blind commander was shortly to lead his blind troops into their first battle at Fredericksburg.
