The promotion was welcome, but for a time supply issues and a lack of pay had caused serious morale problems for Peabody and his men. "The regiment was thoroughly disorganized and demoralized by the delays of the department in regard to payment," he wrote home in November.
He added that, "You in Massachusetts, who see your men going off thoroughly equipped and prepared for the service, can hardly conceive the destitution and ragged condition of the Missouri volunteers in past time. If I had a whole pair of breeches in my regiment at Lexington, I don't know it."
It had been a consistent theme. "My men - four months or more in the service - have not received any clothing or pay, nothing but arms and ammunition," he had written in October, "and my case is the rule rather than the exception." Thankfully the situation had been alleviated by November, to the point that Peabody claimed his men "are rallying back with a cordiality and kindness that makes me feel proud of myself." But while supplying the men had caused him concern, of his men themselves he had no doubts: "I learned [at Lexington] that bravery did not depend on good clothes."
Temper Troubles
It was also around this time that Peabody had his second altercation with a fellow officer.
The first had occurred during the siege at Lexington, when Peabody had exchanged harsh words with an officer from another regiment. Perhaps the strain of being under fire for an extended time had started to take its toll. Whatever the case, as reported by Peabody himself, the exchange escalated to the point where the two men had actually drawn their swords. At the request of the garrison's commander they agreed to put their weapons away until some future date. Which apparently (and fortunately) never arrived.
But the incident revealed that Peabody had a temper, and that he was not afraid to speak his mind if he felt the situation called for it. This fiery streak would reveal itself again in December, when Peabody became embroiled in another incident.
