Captain Few seemed pleased with Ethan’s response and said, “With as few men as we have left, there is more than enough for us to do. Maybe you can spend some days with me, just to see what is going on, and to learn how the different units work together. The colonel can provide some help if you need it, both in finding a good mount and helping to pay for it.”

“I’m grateful but plan to take care of my own needs.”

The original government grant had long ago been spent, and new recruits were expected to furnish their own blankets, clothes, horses, saddles, weapons, and ammunition. Ethan soon learned that each man scouted for perishable food to supplement small allotments of tobacco, sugar, salt, and dried corn and meat. They would have to travel fast and light, and didn’t carry tents or any but the most rudimentary cooking utensils. Commanders usually parceled out powder, which was often scarce, while the men tried to furnish their own bullets, usually molded from a mixture of lead and pewter melted from candlesticks, dishes, utensils, and any other scraps of soft metal they could find. Militia on both sides of the war were dressed alike (and often confused with each other), and most of them left their homes and families for relatively brief periods and received little if any pay for their military service. In the past, many volunteers who wanted service for longer enlistments had been incorporated into regular Continental troops in Georgia, and now served under Generals Lincoln and McIntosh. Elijah Clarke and other militia commanders knew that their companies were subject to orders from these senior officers, but the individual militiamen did not consider themselves bound to carry out orders with which they disagreed. Their military service was a fragile relationship that might be broken by family responsibilities even if their unit was facing combat.

Ethan went out of his way to learn what he could about the customs and tactics of the Georgia militia, and was surprised at the loosely structured organization of the group. Captain Few seemed to enjoy giving Ethan special instruction, and was pleased at the enthusiasm and rapid progress of the frontiersman, who was larger and stronger than any other man in the company. Ethan learned to work closely with the other men in the swamps and forests, and to participate in the communication network that ensured rapid marshaling of the militia when they were needed.