'0_ 'o,.* A _ ^^ ''7-..' J)^ 'O^ -'A' -. "^. -^0^ V. V y?.-^ >. *. A " o -^v .•.■-^.. o>^'..^;^>o /,.ja^/v /..i^.^^o P,* J" ^^ ..<( ^"^^. -^•' ^:^^: .^ *^ ^' A t*^ «>v v^, :• ^-p^ji .-?.^ /» •• ^>-» V '9^^ t-J*- '/?\_^ -^^^•^ C. vP If ■J^" .' / / 3 ^^c/ o ^ ^5"/ Hardtack and Coffee Sl)c Unrurittcu Storn of 3.rmij £ifc IXCLUDING CHAPTERS ON ENLISTING, LIFE IN TENTS AND LOG HUTS, JONAHS AND BEATS, OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS, RAW RECRUITS, FORAGING, CORPS AND CORPS BADGES, THE WAGON TRAINS, THE ARMY MULE, THE ENGINEER CORPS, THE SIGNAL CORPS, ETC. By JOHN D. BILLING^ AUTHOR OF "the TENTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY " ; PAST DEPARTMENT COMMANDER MASSACHUSETTS G. A. R. ; FORMERLY OF SICKLES* THIRD AND HANCOCK's SECOND CORPS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC llUistvatca WITH SIX ELEGANT COLOR PLATES; AND OVER TWO HUNDRED ORIGINAL SKETCHES BY CHARLES W. REED MEMBER OF NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY; ALSO, TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER ON GENERAL WARREn's STAFF, FIFTH CORPS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ^r'*o; BOSTON GEORGE M. SMITH & CO. 1887 6^f Copyright, 1887, By John D. Billings. Electrotvped By C. J. Peters and Son, Boston. BERWICK i SMITH, PRINTERS, BOSTON. DEDICATION. To my comrades of the Army of the Potomac who, it is believed, will find rehearsed in these pages much that has not before appeared in print, and which it is hoped will secure to their children in permanent form valuable infor- mation about a soldier's life in detail that has thus far been only partially written, this work is most affectionately dedicated by their friend, The Author. PREFACE. During the summer of 1881 I was a sojourner for a few weeks at a popular hotel in the White Mountains. Among the two hundred or more guests who were enjoying its reth-ement and good cheer were from twelve to twenty lads, varying in age from ten to fifteen years. When tea had been disposed of, and darkness had put an end to their daily romp and hurrah without, they were wont to take in charge a gentleman from Chicago, formerly a gallant soldier in the Army of the Cumberland, and in a quiet corner of the spacious hotel parlor, or a remote part of the piazza, would listen with eager attention as he related chapters of his personal experience in the Civil War. Less than two days elapsed before they pried out of the writer the acknowledgment that he too had served Uncle Sam ; and immediately followed up this bit of information by requesting me to alternate evenings with the veteran from the West in entertaining them with stories of the war as I saw it. I assented to the plan readily enough, and a more interested or interesting audience of its size could not be desired than that knot of boys who clustered around us on alternate nights , while we related to them in an offhand way many facts regarded as too commonplace for the general histories of the war. This trifling piece of personal experience led to the prep- aration of these sketches, and will largely account for the didactic manner in which they are written. They are far from complete. Many topics of interest are left untreated — they will readily suggest themselves to veterans; but it ■vi P EFFACE. was thought best not to expand this volume beyond its present proportions. It is believed that what is herein written will appeal largely to a common experience among soldiers. In full faith that such is the case, they are now presented to veterans, their children, and the public as an important contribution of warp to the more majestic woof which comprises the history of the Great Civil War already written. That history, to date, is a history of battles, of campaigns and of generals. This is the first attempt to record comprehensively army life in detail ; in which both text and illustrations aim to permanently record information which the history of no other war has preserved with equal accuracy and completeness. I am under obligations to many veterans for kindly sug- gestions and criticisms during the progress of this work, to Houghton & Mifflin for the use of Holmes' "Sweet Little Man," and especially to Comrade Charles W. Reed, for his many truthful and spirited illustrations. The large number of sketches which he brought from the field in 1865 has enabled liim to reproduce with telling effect many sights and scenes once very familiar to the veterans of the Union armies, which cannot fail to recall stirring experiences in their soldier's life. Believing they will do this, and that these pages will appeal to a large number to whom the Civil War is yet something more than a myth, they are confidently put forth, the pleasant labor of spare hours, with no claim for their literary excellence, but with the full assurance that they will partially meet a want hitherto unsupplied. Cambridgeport, Mass., March 30, 1887. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. the tocsin of war. Page The Four Parties — Their Candidates — Freedom of Speech Abridged — Secession Decreed — Lincoln Elected — Oh, for Andrew Jackson! Exit Buchanan — "Long-heeled Abolitionists" and ''Black Republicans " — " Wide-awakes " and " Rail-splitters " — " Copper- heads " — The Misunderstanding — Northern Doughfaces — Loyal Men of All Parties Unite — The First Rally — Prepai-ation in the Bay State and in Other States — Her War Governor — Showing the White Feather — The Memorable Fifteenth of April — " The Sweet Little Man" — Parting Scenes — The Three-Months' Men . 15 CHAPTER II. ENLISTING. The President's Error — " Three Years Unless Sooner Discharged" — How Volunteer Companies were Raised — Filling the Quotas — What General Sherman Says — Recruiting Offices — Advertisements for Recruits — A War Meeting in Roxbury — A Typical War Meeting in the Country — A Small-Sized Patriot — Signing the Roll — The Medical Examination — Off for Camp — The Red, White, and Blue 34 CHAPTER III. HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. The Distinction Noted Between the Militia and the U. S. Volunteers — The Oath of Muster — Barracks Described — Sibley or Bell Tents — A or Wedge Tents — Spooning — Stockading — Hospital or Wall Tents — Dog or Shelter Tent Described — Chumming — Pitching Shelters — Stockaded Shelters — Fireplaces — Chimneys — Door Pl.ates— " Willard's Hotel"— " Hole in the Wall " —Mortars and 3foi'tar Shelling before Petersbui-g 43 1 2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. LIFE IN TENTS. Life in a Sibley — The Stove — The Pastimes — Postage Stamps as Money — Soldier's Letter — "Nary Eed" — Illustrated Envelopes — Army Reading — The Recluse — Evenings of Sociability — Pipe and Ring Making — Home Gossip — Music and the Contrabands — War Song Revived — The " Mud March" Prayer 61 CHAPTER V. LIFE IN LOG HUTS. The Plan of a Camp — Inside a Stockade — The Bunks — The Arrange- ment of the Furniture — ^Esthetic Dish-washing — Lighting by Candles and Slush Lamps — Candlesticks — Night-Gowns and Night-Caps — The Shelters in a Rain — "I. C." Insect Life — Pediculus Vestimenti, the Old-time Grayback — Not a Respecter of Rank — The First Grayback Found — ( K ) nitting "Work — " Skirmishing" — Boiling Water the Sovereign Balm — Cleanliness — The Versatile Mess-Kettles — No Magee Ranges Supplied the Soldiers — Washerwomen — No " Boiled Shirts " — Darning and Mending — Government Socks — Cooks — Green Pine as Fuel — Camp Barbers — Future Tacticians 73 CHAPTER VI. JONAHS AND BEATS. The Jonah as a Guardsman — A Midnight Uproar— "Put him in the Guard-house" — The Jonah Spills Pea-Soup, and Coffee, and Ink — Always Cooking — Steps on the Rails — Tableau — Jonah as a Wood-chopper — Beats — The Beat as a Fireman — Without Water, and Rations, and Money — His Letters Containing Money always Miscarry — Allotments — The Beat as a Guard Dodger — His Corporal Does the Duty — As a Fatigue Detail — Horse-Burying as a Civilizer for Jonahs and Beats — The Detail for the Burial — The Over-worked Man — The Rheumatic Dodge — The Sick Man — The Chief Mourner— The Explosive Man — The Paper-Collar Young Man — Forward, Grave-diggers! — Hurrah! Without the H 90 CHAPTER VII. AIIMY KATIONS. Were They Adequate ? — Their Quality — A List of Them — What was Included in a Single Ration — What was a Marching Ration? — CONTEXTS. 3 Officers' Allowance — The " Company Fund'" — "Hardtack" Described — Its Faults Three in Number — Served in Twentj' Different Ways — Song of the Hardtack — '* Soft Bread " — The Capitol as a Bake-house — The Ovens at Alexandria and Fort Monroe— Grant's Immense Bake-house at City Point — Coffee and Sugar — How Dealt Out — How Stored — Condensed Milk — Company Cooks — The Coffee-Dipper — The Typical Coffee-Boiler — Bivouac and Coffee — How the Government Beat the Speculators — How a Contractor Underbid Himself — Fresh Meat — How Served— Army Frying-Pans — Steak from a Steers Jaw-Bone — "Salt Horse" Not a Favorite Dish — Salt Pork and its Uses — The Army Bean — How it was Baked — Song of the Army Bean — Desiccated Vegetables — Tlie Whiskey Ration — A Suggestion as to the Inadequacy of the Marching Eation T08 CHAPTER YIII. OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. The Offences Enumerated — "Back Talk'" — Absence from Camp without Leave — The Punishments — The Guard Tent — The Black List — Its Occupations — Buck and Gag — The Barrel and its Uses — The Crucifixion — The Wooden Horse — The Knapsack Drill — Tied up by the Thumbs — The Sweat-Box — The Placard — The Spare Wheel — Log-Lugging — Double Guard — The Model Regiment — Commanders often Tyrants by Nature. or from Effects of Rum, or Ignorance — A Regiment with Hundreds of Colonels — Inactivity Productive of Offences and Punishments — Kid-Glove Warfare — Drumming out of Camp — Rogue's March — Ball and Chain — Sleeping on Post — Desertion — Death of a Deserter Described — Death of a Spy Described — Bounty-jumpers — Amnesty to Deserters — Desertion to Enemy — Hanging of Three Criminals at Once for this Offence Described — Number of Executions in the AVar 143 CHAPTER IX. A DAY IN CAMP. " ASSEMBLY OF BUGLERS." " TUKN OUT I " " ASSEMBLY." How the Men Came into Line — A Canteen Wash — The Shirks — "I Can't Get 'Em L'p" — '"AH Present or Accounted For '" — " Stable Call" — Kingly Cannoneers and Spare Horses — " Breakfast Call" — " Sick Call " — •• Fall In for Your Quinine " — Tlie Beats again — " Lack of Woman's Nursing" — "Water Call" — Where the Animals were Watered — Number of Animals in the Army — Scarcity of Water — "Fatigue Call" — What it Included — Army Stables — The Picket-Rope — Mortality of Horses — Scarcity of Wood — "Drill Call " — Artillery Drill — Standing Gun Drill — CONTENTS. Battery Manoeuvres — Sham Fights — DriUing by Bugle Calls — " Dinner Call " — " Retreat " — Scolding Time — " Assembly of Guard" — The Reliefs — Fun for the Corporal — Some of His Trials — " Next Tent Below " — " Tattoo " — Reminiscences — Taps — "Put out that Light!" — "Stop that Talking!" .... 164 CHAPTER X. KAW KECRUITS. A Scrap of Personal History — A Parent's Certificate — The Lot of a Recruit — Abused by the Old Hands — Flush with Money — A Practical Joke — Two Classes of Recruits — The Matter-of-fact Recruit a Final Success — The High-toned Recruits — Their ioMcZ Uniform — Scoffers at Government Rations — As Hostlers — The Awkward Squad — The Decline in the Quality of Recruits — Men of '61-2 — Unschooled Soldiers — Hope Deferred — "One Last Embrace" — French Leave Furloughs — Life in Home Camp — Family Knots — A Mother's Fond Solicitude — Galling Lessons of Obedience — Bounties Paid Recruits — " I'm a Raw Recruit" — "The Substitute" 198 CHAPTER XI. SPECIAL KATIONS. BOXES FROM HOME. Sending for a Box — A Specimen Address — A Typical List of Contents • — Impatience at its Non-arrival — Its Inspection at Headquarters — Its Reception at Camp — The Opening — Box-packing as an Art — The Whole Neighborhood Contributes — Soldiers Who Had No Boxes — The Box of the Selfish Man — His Onions — "We've Drank from the same Canteen" — The Army Sutler — His Stock- in-trade — His Prices — The Commissary — Army Fritters — Sutler's Pies — Sutler's Risks — Raiding the Sutler — What a Sutler Lost near Brandy Station — War Prices in Dixie 217 CHAPTER XIL FORAGING. Strictly Prohibited at First — Two Reasons Why — The Right and Wrong of It — Innocent Sufferers — Unauthorized Foragers — The Destitution of Some Families — The Family Turnout — Wantonness at Fredericksburg — Authorized Foragers — Their Plunder — Foraging at Wilcox's Farm — Tobacco Foragers — The Cavalry in Their Role — The Infantry — Incidents — Risks Assumed by Foragers — Union Versus Confederate Soldier as a Forager . . . 231 250 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. CORPS AND COKPS UADOES. Wliat was an Army Corps? -How the Army of the Potomac was Or-anized - Brigade and Division Formations -" All quiet along the Potomac " - " Why don't the Army move ?" -How Corps were Composed - Their Number -Corps Badges -Their Ongm -The Kearny Patch -Worn First by Officers, then by the Privates -Hooker's Scheme of Corps Badges -Its Extension to other Armies — The Badge of eacli Army Corps Described . . . CHAPTER XIV. SOME INVENTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAR. Improvements in Firearms -In War Vessels - Catch-penny Devices for the Soldiers — Combination Knife, Fork, and Spoon — Water Filterers- Armor Vests and Greaves - Havelocks - Revolvers and Dirk Knives — - High-toned " Haversacks — Compact Writing-desks Smoking-caps and the Turkish Fez -Hatter's Caps Versus Gov- ernment Caps -The Numbering and Lettering of Knapsacks - Haversacks and Canteens -How these Equipments Changed „ , 269 Hands CHAPTER XV. THE ARMY MUI.E. Where Raised -Where the Government Obtained Them- What They were Used for -Compared with Horses — Mule Fodder— How a Mule Team was Composed -How it was Driven -How Mules were Obtained from the Corral - The Black Snake and its Uses - An Incident - Mule Ears - His Pastimes -As a Kicker the Origmal Muc'wump-What Josh Billings Knows about Him — His Kicking Ran-e— How He was Shod — The Mule as a Singer — Under the Pack-saddle - The Mule as a Stubborn Fact -His Conduct imder Fire -Captured Mules at Sailor's Creek -What Became of All the Mules ? - The Mule Mortal - " Charge of the Mule Brigade " . . 279 CHAPTER XVI. HOSPITALS AND AMP.UI.ANCES. The First General Hospitals - The First Medical Director- Army Regulations Insufficient- Verdancy of Regimental Surgeons - Ho^spital Tents -The Origin of Field Hospitals in Tents -1 heir Capacity -No Ambulances before the War - Two-Wheeled and G CONTENTS. Foiir-Wheeled Ambulances — Organization of the Ambulance Corps — The Officers and Privates— The Outfit — Field Hospitals — Their Location — The Men in Charge — Captured Hospitals — A Paroled Prisoner — A Personal Reminiscence — Legs and Arms Unnecessarily Amputated — Anecdote of a Heavy Artilleryman — The Escort of the Wounded — The Insignia of the Ambidance Corps — A Personal Experience — Hospital Railway Trains and Steam- boats — The Cacolet 298 CHAPTER XVII. SCATTERING SHOTS. THE CLOTHING. The Allowance — The Losses of Infantry — Clothing of Garrisons — First Maine Heavy Artillery — Their First Active Campaigning. — ArxMY Cattle — The Kind Referred to — Where They Came from — Wade Hampton as a Cattle-stealer — Cattle on the March — Their Route by Day and Night— The Sagacious Leader — The Slaughter — The Corps Herd — Heroic Horses — Their Conduct in Action — When Wounded— A Personal Reminiscence — Anecdote of General Hancock — Sagacious Horses 316 CHAPTER XVIIL BREAKING CAMP. ON THE MARCH. Marching Orders — When They Came — What was Done at Once — The Survival of the Fittest — '"Waverly" Correspondents — The Night in Camp after Marching Orders Came — Camp Fires and Hilarity — "The General" — The Wait in Camp — Forward, March! — The Order of March — Corps Headquarters — Division Headquarters — The Division Flags Described — Brigade Head- quarters — Brigade Flags Described — Battle Flags — The Mule of Regimental Headquarters — His Company — Light Batteries — Lightening Loads — The Chafed and Footsore — Fording of Streams — The Same by Night — Personal Reminiscences — "Close up!" — Marching in a Rainstorm — Camping in a Rainstorm — Horses in the Rain and Sloughs — A Personal Reminiscence — Flankers — " Cohnnn, halt!" — Double quick!" — " They've found um" . 330 CHAPTER XIX. ARMY WAGON TRAINS. Grant's Military Railroad — The Impedimenta — An Army Wagon — An Army Minstrel Troupe — The Transportation of a Regiment — What They Originally Carried — Baggage Trains on the Peninsula — Chaos Illustrated — The Responsibility of Train Officers — What CONTENTS. 7 They had to Contend with — The Struggle for the Lead — Depot of Transportation — The Officers of tlie Quartermaster's Department — AVhat "Wagons Took Into the Wilderness — The Allowance on the Final Campaign — Incident — Early Order of McClellan — General Orders, No. 153 — The lieginning of the Supply Trains — What General Rufus Ingalls Did — Meade's General Orders, No. 83 — Strength of a Corps Supply Train — Of the Army — Its Extent — Its Place on the March — A Keminiscence of the Race for Centreville — General Wadsvvorth's Bull Train — Its Rise and Fall — Trials of a Train Quartermaster — He Runs Counter to Meade and Sheridan in the Discharge of his Duty 35(1 CHAPTER XX. ARMY ROAD AND BRIDGE BUILDERS. The Engineer Corps — Their Duties — Corduroying — Trestle Bridges — Slashing — Making of Gabions, etc. — As Pontoniers — Xerxes as an Early Pontonier — His Bridge over the Helles]3ont Described — Our Earliest Pontoon — Bridges of Canvas Boats ; of Wooden Boats — Pontoon Bridge Material Described — Balks, Bays, Chesses, Rack Lashings — Pontoon Train — Pontoon Bridge Building Described — Taking Up a Pontoon Bridge — The '62 Bridge over the Chickahominy — Over the James — Pontoon Bridge Laying before Fredericksburg — The Stability of such Bridges — Incident — Life of an Engineer 377 CHAPTER XXI. TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. Old Glory — Signal Flags — The Signal Corps — Its Use — Its Origin — The Kit — The Talking — The Code — A Signal Party —Sending a Message — Receiving a Message — The Torch — General Corse's Despatch — Signal Stations — Lookouts before Petersburg — "Which one?" — What Longstreet Said — What a Paper Corre- spondent Did — Reading the Rebel Signal Code — Signal Station at Poolesville, Md. — The Perils of Signal Men — Death of a Signal Officer — At Little Round Top — Anecdote of Grant 394 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. General Grant reprimanded by a Lieutenant 2. Rending- the Flag ....... 3. A Bell-and-Everett Campaigner 4. Southerners discussing the Situation 0. A Lincoln Wide-Awake , , . . . 6. '* Nayther av us" 7. The Minute Man of '61 8. Sweet Little Men of '61 / 9. Adjutant Hinks notifying Captain Knott V. Martin 10. Captain [Martin's Companj' on its way to Faneuil Hall 11. A Drum . 12. A Dismounted Cavalryman ..... 13. A War Meeting ....... U. A Bugle ......... 15. On the Lookout ....... 16 [Mustering in Recruits ..... 17. Readville Barracks (from a photograph) 18. Sibley Tents ........ 19. A, or Wedge Tents ...... 20. Spooning Together ..... 21. The Hospital or Wall Tent .... 22. Ofticer's Wall Tent with Fly ... 23. The Dog or Shelter Tent . " . 24. Shelters as sometimes Pitched in Summer . 25. Shaded Shelters ....... 26. A Ponclio on ....... . 27. A Chimney on Fire ...... 28. A common Bomb Proof 29. A 13-inch i^Iortar 30. A Bomb Proof in Fort Hell before Petersburg, V'a 31. A Sleeping Soldier ... . . 32. Two of a Kind ....... 33. Sibley Tent — inside view ..... 9 Page. Fro7i(.ispiece 15 16 17 20 21 23 27 29 31 33 34 39 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 GO 01 62 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ."U. Writing Home oo. Stockaded A Tents 36. Drafting ...... o7. The Camp Minstrels . 38. Our Silverware .... 39. Building a Log Hut ... 40. Inside View of a Log Hut . 41. Army Candlesticks .... 42. Pediculus Vestimenti 43. (K)nitting Work .... 44. "Turning Him Over" . 45. Boiling Them ..... 4(). A Wood-Tick ..... 47. Cleaning Up ..... 48. A Housewife . . . 49. The Camp Barber .... 50. The Musket on Hooks . 51. " Beating It " . 52. The Jonah Spilling Pea-Soup •i'S. The CamjJ Fire before the Jonah Appear 54. The Camp Fire after tlie Jonah Appears .id. The Unlucky Man . . , , 56. Going after Water .... 57. The Rheumatic Dodge 58. Water for the Cook-House 59. The High-tempered Man . 60. The Paper-collar Young Man 61. The Mourners .... 62. "Hurrah without the H"'' 63. Off for the War .... 64. The Cooper Shop, Philadelphia 65. The Union Volunteer Saloon, Philadelphi 66. A Brigade Connnissary at Brandy Statior 67. A Hardtack — full size 68. A Box of Hardtack 69. Frying IIar EVKHETT CAM- PAIGNER. THE TOCSIN OF WAli. 17 in these States, and iiortlieru people who were down Soutli for business or pleasui-e, if tliey expressed opinions in oppo- sition to the popuhir political sentiments of that section, were at once warned to leave. Hundreds came North im- mediately to seek personal safety, often leaving jiossessions of great value behind them. Even native southerners who A GKOUI' OF SOUTIIKHNEUS DISCUSSING THE snTATION. believed thoroughly in the Union — and there were hun- dreds of such — were not allowed to say so. This class of })eople suffered great indignities during the war, on account of their loyalty to tlie old flag. Many of them were driven l)y irjsult and abuse to take up arms for a cause with which they did not sympathize, deserting it at the Ig EAED TACK AND COFFEE. earliest opportunity, while others held out to the bitter end, or sought a refuge from such persecution in the Union lines. As early as the 25tli of October, several southerners who were or had been prominent in politics met in South Car- olina, and decided by a unanimous vote that the State should withdraw from the Union in the event of Lincoln's election, which then seemed almost certain. Some other States held similar meetings about the same date. Thus early did the traitor leaders prepare the South for dis- union. These men were better known at that time as " Fire-eaters." As soon as Lincoln's election was announced, without waiting to see what his policy towards the slave States was going to be, the impetuous leaders at the South addressed themselves at once to the carrying out of their threats ; and South Carolina, followed, at intervals more or less brief, by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, seceded from the Union, and organized what was known as the Southern Confederacy. Virginia, North Car- olina, Arkansas, and Tennessee seceded later. The people at the North stood amazed at the rapidity with which treason against the government was spreading, and the loyal Union- loving men began to inquire wdiere President Buchanan was at this time, whose duty it was to see that all such upris- ings were crushed out ; and " Oh for one hour of Andrew Jackson in the President's chair ! " was the common excla- mation, because that decided and unyielding soldier-Presi- dent had so promptly stamped out threatened rebellion in South Carolina, when she liad refused to allow the duties to be collected at Charleston. But that outbreak in its proportions was to this one as an infant to a giant, and it is quite doubtful if Old Hickory himself, Avith his prompt- ness to act in an emergency, could have stayed the angry billows of rebellion which seemed just ready to l^reak over the nation. But at any rate he would liave attemi3ted it, THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 19 even if lie had o-one down in the tio'ht, — at least so thous'lit the people. The very opposite of such a President was James Bu- chanan, who seemed anxious only for his term of office to expire, making little effort to save the country, nor even willing, at first, that others should do so. With a traitor for his Secretary of War, the South had been well supplied with arms under the very nose of the old man. With a traitor for his Secretary of the Navy, our vessels — not many in number, it is true — had been sent into foreign waters, where they could not be immediately recalled. With a traitor as Secretar}' of the Treasury, the public treasury had been emptied. Then, too, there began the seizure of arsenals, mints, custom-houses, post-offices, and fortifications within the limits of the seceding States, and still the President did nothing, or worse than nothing, claiming that the South was wrong in its acts, but that he had no right to prevent treason and secession, or, in the phraseology of that day, "no right to coerce a sovereign State."' And so at last he left the office a disgraced old man. for whom few had or have a kind word to offer. Such, briefly, was the condition of affairs when Abraham Lincoln, fearful of his life, which had been threatened, en- tered Washington under cover of darkness, and quietly assumed the duties of his office. Never before were the people of this country in such a state of excitement. At the North there were a large number who boldly denounced the "Long-heeled Abolitionists"' and "Black Republicans" for having stirred up this trouble. I was not a voter at the time of Lincoln's election, but I had taken an active part in the torchlight parades of the " Wide-awakes " and " Rail- splitters," as the political clubs of the Republicans were called, and so came in foi- a share of the abuse showered upon the followers of the new President, x^s fresh deeds of violence or new aggressions against the government were reported from the daily papers in the shop where I was 20 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. then employed, some one who was not a "Lincohiite" wouhl exchiim, in an angry tone ; " I hope you fellows are satisfied now. I don't blame the South an atom. They have been driven to desperation by such lunatics as Garri- son and Phillips, and these men ought to be hung for it." ..." If there is a war, I hope you and every other Black Republican will be made to go and fight for the niggers all you want to." . . . "You like the niggers so well you'll marry one of them yet." . . . And, "I want to see those hot-headed Abolitionists put into the front rank, and sliot first." These are mild quotations from the daily conversations, had not only where I was employed, but in every other shop and factory in tlie North. Such Avordy contests were by no means one-sided affairs ; for the assailed, while not anxious for war, were not afraid of it, and were amply supplied with arguments with which they answered and en- raged their antagonists ; and if they did not always silence them, they drove them into making "just such ridiculous remarks as the foregoing. If I were asked who these men were, I should not call them by name. They were my neighbors and my friends, but they are changed men to-day. There is not one of them who, in the light of later experiences, is not heartily ashamed of his attitude at that time. Many of them afterwards went to the field, and, sad to say, are there yet. But this was the period of the most intemperate and abusive language. Those who sympathized with the South were, some montlis later, called Copperheads. Lin- coln and his party were reviled by these men without any restraint except such as personal shame and self-respect A LINCOLN Win?: AWAKE. THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 21 might impose ; and these qualities were conspicuously absent. Nothing was too harsh to utter against Republicans. No fate was too evil for their political opponents to wish them. Of course all of these revilers were not sincere in their ill-wishes, but the effect of their utterances on the commu- nity was just as evil ; and the situation of the new President, at its best a perplexing and critical one, was thus made all the harder, by leading him to believe that a multi- tude of the citizens at the North would obstruct in- stead of supporting him. It also gave the slave-hold- ers the impression that a very considerable number of northern men were ready to aid them in prosecuting their treasonable schemes. But now the rapid march of events wrought a change in the o])inions of the people in both sections. The leading Abolitionists had argued that the South was too cowardl}^ to light for slavery ; and the South had been told by the •' Fire-eaters " and its northern friends that the North could not be kicked into fighting ; that in case war should arise she would have iier hands full to keep her enemies at home in check. Alas I how little did either party understand the temper of the other ! How much like that story of the two Irishmen. — Meeting one day in the army, one says, " How are you, Mike ? " " How are you, Pat?" says the other. "But my name is not Pat," said the first speaker. " Nather is mine Mike," said the NAYTHEK AV US. 22 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. second. '' Faix, thin," said the first, "it niusht be nayther of us." Nothing could better illustrate the attitude of the North and South towards each other than this anecdote. Notliing could have been more perfect than this mutual misunder- standing each displayed of the temper of the other, as tlie stride of events soon showed. The story of how Major Anderson removed liis little band of United States troops from Fort Moultrie to Foi-t Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, for reasons of greater safety, is a familiar one , likewise how the rebels fired upon a vessel sent by the President with supplies intended for it ; and, finally, after a severe bombardment of several days, how they compelled the fort to surrender. It was these events which opened the eyes of the '' Northern Doughfaces,'" as those who sympathized Avitli the South were often called, to the real intent of the Seceders. A change came over the spirit of their dreams. Patriotism, love of the Union, at last came uppermost. They had heard it proposed to divide the old flag, giving a part to each section. They had seen a picture of the emblem thus rent, and it was not a pleasing one. Soon the greater por- tion of them ceased their sneers and ill-wishes, and joined in the general demand that something be done at once to assert the majesty and power of tlie national government. Even President Lincoln, who, in his inaugural address, had counselled his '"• countrymen, one and all, to take time and think calmly and well upon this whole subject," had come to feel that further forbearance was no virtue, and that a decent respect for this great nation and for his office as Pres- ident demanded that something sliould be done speedily. So on the 15th of April he issued a proclamation calling out 75,000 militia, for three months, to suppress the Rebel- lion, and to cause the laws to be executed. Having been a Massachusetts soldier, it is but natural that I should refer occasionally to her part in the opening THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 23 of this momentous crisis in the country's liistory, us beino- more familiar to me than the record of any other State. Yet, proud as I am of her conspicuous services in the earl}^ war period, I have no desire to extol thein at the expense of Pennsylvania, New York, and Rhode Island, who so promptly pressed forward and touched elbows with her in this emer- gency ; nor of those other great Western States, whose sturdy patriots so promptly crossed Mason's and Dixon's line in such serried ranks at the summons of Father Abraham. It has often been asked how Mas- sachusetts, so much farther from the National Capital than any of the other States, should have been so prompt in coining to its assistance. Let me give some idea of how it happened. In December, 1860, Ad- jutant-General Schoulev of that State, in his annual report, sug- gested to Governor (afterwards General) N. P. Banks, that as events were then occurring which might require that the militia of Massachusetts should be increased in number, it would be well for commanders of companies to for- ward to head-quarters a complete roll of each company, with their names and residence, and that companies not full should be recruited to the limit fixed by law, which was then one hundred and one for infantry. Shortly after- wards John A. Andrew, now known in history as the Great War Governor of Massachusetts, assumed the duties of his office. He was not only a leading Re[)ublican before the war, but an Abolitionist as well. He seemed to clearly foresee that the time for threats and arsfuments had g-one TdE .MINITE JIAN OK '(il. 24 IIAED TACK AND COFFEE. by, and that the time for action was at hand. So on the 16th of January he issued an order (No. 4) which had for its object to ascertain exactly how many of the officers and men in the militia would hold themselves ready to respond immediately to any call wliich might be made upon their services by the President. All who were not ready to do so were discharged at once, and their places tilled by others. Thus it was that Massachusetts for the second time in her history prepared her " Minute Men " to take the field at a minute's notice. This general order of the Governor's, although a very wise one as it proved, carried dismay into the ranks of the militia, for there were in Massachusetts, as in other States, very many men who had made valiant and well disciplined peace, soldiers, who, now that one of the real needs of a well organized militia was upon us, were not at all thirsty for further military glory. But pride stood in the way of their frankness. They were ashamed in this hour of their country's peril to withdraw from the militia, for they feared to face public opinion. Yet there were men who had good and sufficient reasons for declining to pledge themselves for instant military service, at least until there was a more general demand for troops. They were loyal and worthy citizens, and could not in a moment cast aside or turn their back on their business or domestic responsibilities, and in a season of calmer reflection it would not have been ex- pected of them. But the public pulse was then at fever- heat, and reason was having a vacation. General Order No. 4 was, I believe, the first important step taken by the State in preparing for the crisis. The next was the passage of a bill by the Legislature, which was approved by the Governor April 3, appropriating $25,000 for " overcoats, blankets, knapsacks, 200,000 ball cartridges, etc., for two thousand troops." These supplies were soon ready. The militiamen then owned their uniforms, and, as jio particular kind was prescribed, no two companies of the THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 25 same regiment were of necessity uniformed alike. It is only a few years since uniformity of dress has been re- quired of the militia in Massachusetts. But to return to that memorable 15th of April. War, that much talked-of, much dreaded calamity was at last upon us. Could it really be so ? We would not believe it ; and yet daily happenings forced the unwelcome conclu- sion upon us. It seemed so strange. We had nothing in our experience to compare it with. True, some of us had dim remembrances of a Mexican war in our early childhood, but as Massachusetts sent onl}^ one regiment to that war, and that saw no fighting, and, besides, did not receive the sympathy and support of the people in the State generally, we only remembered that there was a Scott, and a Taylor, and a Santa Ana, from the colored prints we had seen dis- played of these worthies ; so that we could only run back in memory to the stories and traditions of the wars of the Revolution and 1812, in which our ancestry had served, for anything like a vivid picture of what was about to occur, and this, of course, was utterly inadequate to do the subject justice. I have already stated that General Order No. 4 carried dismay into many hearts, causing the more timid to with- draw from military service at once. A great many more would have withdrawn at the same time had they not been restrained by pride and the lingering hope that there would be no war after all ; but this very day (the 15th) came Special Order No. 14, from Governor Andrew, ordering the Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Regiments to assemble on Boston Common forthwith. This was the final test of the militiamen's actual courage and thirst for glory, and a severe one it proved to many of them, for at this eleventh hour there was another fallinsc-out along the line. But the moment a man's declination for further service was made known, unless his reasons were of the very best, straight- way he was hooted at for his cowardice, and for a time his 26 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. existence was made quite unpleasant in his own immediate neighborhood. If he had been a commissioned officer, his face was likely to appear in an illustrated paper, accom- panied by the statement that he had "shown the white feather," — another term for cowardice. A reference to any file of illustrated papers of those days will show a large number of such persons. Such gratuitous advertising- by a generally loyal, though not always discreet press did some men gross injustice; for, as already intimated, many of the men thus publicly sketched and denounced were among the most worthy and loyal of citizens. A little later than the period of winch I am treating, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the following poem, hitting off a certain limited class in the community : — THE JSWEET LITTLE MAX. Dedicated to the Stay-at-Hoiiie liuiiyers. Now while our soldiers are fighting our battles, Each at his post to do all that he can, Down among Rebels and contraband chattels, What are you doing, my sweet little man? All the brave boys under canvas are sleeping; All of them pressing to march with the van. Far from the home where their sweethearts are weeping; What are you waiting for, sweet little man? You with the terrible warlike moustaches. Fit for a colonel or chief of a clan, You with the waist made for sword-belts and sashes, Where are your shoulder-straps, sweet litt'e man? Bring him the buttonless garment of woman! Cover his face lest it freckle and tan; Muster the Apron-string Guards on the Common,— That is the corps for the sweet little man! Give him for escort a tile of young misses, Each of them armed with a deadly rattan; They shall defend him from laughter and hisses, Aimed by low boys at the sweet little man. THE TOCSIN OF- WAB. 27 All the fair maidens about him shall cluster. Pluck the white feather from bonnet and fan, Make him a plume like a turkey-wing duster, — That is the crest for the sweet little man. Oh, but the Apron-string Guards are the fellows! Drilling each day since our trouble began, — 'Handle your walking-sticks!" " IShoulder umbrellas!" That is the style for the sweet little man. SWEET LITTLK SIEN OF 'Gl. Have we a nation to save? In the first place Saving ourselves is the sensible plan. Surely, the spot where there's shooting's the worst place Where I can stand, says the sweet little man. Catch me confiding my person with strangers, Think how the cowardly Bull-Runners ran ! In the brigade of the Stay-at-home Rangers Marches my corps, says the sweet little man. 28 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. Such was the stuff of the Malakoff takers, Such were the soldiers that scaled the Redan; Truculent housemaids and bloodthirsty Quakers Brave not the wrath of the sweet little man! Yield him the sidewalk, ye nursery maidens I Sauve qnlpeut! Bridget, and Right about! Ann; — Fierce as a shark in a school of menhadens, See him advancing, the sweet little man! When the red flails of the battlefield's threshers Beat out the continent's wheat from its bran, While the wind scatters the chaffy secesliers. What will become of our sweet little man? When the brown soldiers come back from the borders. How will he look while his features they scan? How will he feel when he gets marching orders. Signed by his lady love ? sweet little man. Fear not for him though the Rebels expect him, — Life is too precious to shorten its span; Woman her broomstick. shall raise to protect him. Will she not fight for the sweet little man ! Now, then, nine cheers for the Stay-at-home Ranger! Blow the great fish-horn and beat the big pan! First in the field, that is farthest from danger. Take your white feather plume, sweet little man! The 16th of April was a memorable day in the histor}' of the Old Bay State, — a day made more uncomfortable by the rain and sleet which were falling with disagreeable constancy. Well do I remember the day. Possessing an average amount of the fire and enthusiasm of youth, I had asked my father's consent to go out with Company A of the old Fourth Keg- iment, which belonged to my native town. But he would not give ear to any such "'nonsense," and, having been brought up to obey his orders, although of military age (18), I did not enter the service in the first rally. This company did not go with full ranks. There were few that did. Several of my shopmates were in its membership. As THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 29 those of lis who remained gatliered at the windows that stormy forenoon to see tlie company go by, the siglit filled us with tlie most gloomy forebodings. So the troops went forth from the towns in the shore counties of Massachusetts. Most of the companies in the regiments that were called reported for duty at Boston this ADJUTANT HINKS NOTIFYING CAPTAIN KNOTT V. JIAKTIN. very 16th — two companies from Marblehead being the first to arrive. One of these companies was commanded by Cap- tain Knott V. Martin, who was engaged in slaughtering hogs when Adjutant (now Major-General) E. W. Hinks rode up and instructed him to report on Boston Common in the morning. Drawing the knife from the throat of a hog, the Captain uttered an exclamation which has passed into his- tory, threw the knife with a light toss to the floor, went im- 30 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. mediately and notified his Orderly Sergeant, and then re- turned to his butchering. In the morning he and his com- pany were ready for business. But their relatives who remained at home could not look calmly on the departure of these dear ones, who were going- no one knew just where, and would return — perhaps never; so there were many touching scenes witnessed at the various railway stations, as the men boarded the trains for Boston. When these Marblehead companies arrived at that city the enthusiasm was something unprecedented, and as a new de- tachment a})peared in the streets it was cheered to the echo all along its line of march. The early months of the war were stirring ones for Boston ; for not only did the most of the Massachusetts regiments march through her streets en route for the seat of war, but also the troops from Maine and New Hampshire as well, so that a regiment halted for rest on the Common, or marching to the strain of martial music to some railway station, was at times a daily occurrence. It has always seemed to me that the '• Three months men '" have never received half the credit which the worth of their services to the country deserved. The fact of their having been called out for so short a time as compared with the troops that came after them, and of their having seen- little or no fighting, places them at a disadvantage. But to have so suddenly left all, and gone to the defence of the Capital City, with no knowledge of what was in store for them, and impelled by no other than the most patriotic of motives, seems to me fully as praiseworthy as to have gone later under the pressure of urgent need, when the full stress of war was upon us, and when its realities were better known, and the inducements to enlist greater in some other respects. There is no doubt whatever but what the prompt appearance of these short-term men not only saved the Caj)- ital, but tlxat it served also to show the Rebels tliat the North at short call could send a large and comparatively THE TOCSIN OF WAB. 33 well equipped force into the field, and was ready to back its words by deeds. Furthermore, these soldiers gave the government time to catch its breath, as it were, and, looking the issue squarely in the face, to decide upon some settled plan of action. CHAPTER 11. ENLISTING. O, did you see liirn in the street' dressed up in army blue, When drums and trumpets into town their storm of music threw — A louder tune than all the winds could muster in the air, The Rebel winds that tried so hard our flag in strips to tear? Lucy Larcom. ARDLY liad the ''Three months men" reached the fiehl before it was discov^- ered that a mistake had been made in not calling out a larger number of troops, and for longer service ; — it took a long;' time to realize what a si- gantic rebellion we had on our hands. So on the 3d of May President Lin- coln issued a call for United States volunteers to serve three years, unless sooner discharged. At once thousands of loyal men sprang to arms — so large a number, in fact, that many regiments raised Avere refused until later. The methods by which these regiments were raised w'ere various. In 1861 a common way was for some one who had been in the regular army, or perhaps who had been prominent in the militia, to take the initiative and circulate an enlistment paper for signatures. His chances were pretty good for obtaining a commission as its captain, for his active interest, and men wdio had been prominent in assisting him, if they were popular, would secure tlie lieu- tenancies. On the return of the " Three months " troops many of the companies immediately re-enlisted in a body for three years, sometimes under their old officers. A large 34 EJVLISTIXG. 35 number of these short-term veterans, throngli influence at the various State capitals, secured commissions in new reg- iments that were organizing. In country towns too small to furnish a comi)any, the men would post off to a neighboring town or city, and there enlist. In 1862, men who had seen a year's active service were selected to receive a part of the commissions issued to new organizations, and should in justice have received all within, the bestowal of governors. But the recruiting of troops soon resolved itself into individual enlistments or this pro- gramme ; — twenty, thirty, fifty or more men would go in a body to some recruiting station, and signify their readiness to enlist in a certain regiment provided a certain specified member of their number should be commissioned captain. Sometimes they would compromise, if the outlook was not promising, and take a lieutenanc}^ but equally often it was necessary to accept their terms, or count them out. In the rivalry for men to fill up regiments, the result often was officers who were diamonds in the rough, but liber all}' inter- mingled with veritable clod-hoppers whom a brief experience in active service soon sent to tlie rear. This year the War Department was working on a more systematic basis, and when a call was made for additional troops each State was immediately assigned its quota, and with marked promptness each city and town was informed by the State authorities how many men it was to furnish under that call. The war fever was not at such a fervid heat in '62 as in the year before, and so recruiting offices were multiplied in cities and large towns. These offices were of two kinds, viz. : those which were opened to secure I'ccruits for regiments and batteries already in the field, and those which solicited enlistments in new organizations. Unques- tionably, at this time the latter were more popular. The former office was presided over by a line officer di- rectly from the front, attended by one or two subordinates, all of whom had smelled powder. The latter office miglit 36 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. be in charge of an experienced soldier recently commis- sioned, or of a man ambitious for such preferment. The flaming advertisements with which the newspapers of the day teemed, and the posters j^asted on the bill-boards or the country fence, were the decoys which brought patronage to these fishers of men. Here is a sample : — More 3Iassac7ius€tts Volunteers Accepted ! ! I Three Regiments to be Immediately Recruited ! GEN. WILSON'S EEGIMENT, To which CAPT. POLLETT'S BATTEEY is attached ; COL. JONES' GALLANT SIXTH EEGIMENT, WlUCn WEST " TIIUOfGH BALTIMORE"; THE N. E. GUAEDS EEGIMENT, commanded by that excellent officer, MAJOE J. T. STEVENSON. The undersigned has this day beon authorized and direoted tr> fill up the ranks of these reginu-nts furthwith. A grand (iiii>i>rtuiiity is atforded for patriotic persons to enlist in tlie service of their country under the coni- mand of as able officers as the country has yet furnished. Pay and rations will begin immediately on enlistment. UNIFORMS ALSO PROVIDED! Citizens of Massachusetts should feel pride in attaching themselves to regiments from their own State, in order to maintain the proud supremacy which the Old Bay State now enjoys in the contest for the Union and the Constitution. The people of many of the towns and cities of the Com- monwealth have made ample provision for those joining the ranks of the army. If any person enlists in a Company or Regiment out of the Com- monwealth, lie cannot share in the bounty which has beer thus liberally voted. Wherever any town or city has assumed the privilege of support- ing the families of Volunteers, the Commonwealth reimburses such place to the amount of §12 per month for families of three persons. Patriots desiring to serve the country will bear in mind that THE GENERAL RECRUITING STATION TS AT No. 14 FITXS STREET, BOSTON ! WILLIAM W. BULLOCK, General Recruiting Officer, Massachusetts Volunteers. [Boston Journal of Sept. 12, 1861.] ENLISTING. 37 Here is a call to a war meeting held out-of-doors : — TO ARMS ! TO ARMS I ! GREAT WAR MEETING IN ROXBURY. Anotlier meeting of the citizens of Roxbury, to re-enforce their brothers in the Held, will be held in ELIOT SQUARE, ROXBURY, THIS EVENINGS ^T EI&HT O'CLOCK. SPEECHES FROM Paul Willard, Rev. J. O. Means, Judge Russell, And other eloquent advocates. The Brigade Band will be on hand early. Coiue one, come all ! God and your Country Call ! ! Per Order. [Boston Journal of July 30, 1862.] Here are two which look quite business-like : — GENERAL POPE'S ARMY. ** Lynch Law for Guerillas and No Rebel Property Guarded!^' IS THE MOTTO OF THE SECOND MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT. »578.50 for 21 months' service. S252.00 State aid for families of four. S830.50 and short service. $1*^5.00 cash in hand. Tliis Regiment, although second in number, Is second to none in regard to discipline and efficiency, and is in the healthiest and most delightful country. Office at Coolidge House, Bowdoin Square. UAPT. C. R. MUDGE. LIEUT. A. D. SAWYER. 38 JIAIU) TACK AND COFFEE. $100 BOUNTY! C^DET REGIiVd:E:NrT, Company D, NINE MONTHS' SERVICE. O. "W. PEABODY .... Recruiting Officer. Headquarters, 113 Washington Street, Boston. [Boston Journal, Sept. 17, 1862.] War meetings similar to the one called in Roxbiiry were designed to stir lagging enthusiasm. Musicians and orators blew themselves red in the face with their windy efforts. Choirs improvised for the occasion, sang "Red, White, and Blue " and " Rallied 'Round the Flag " till too hoarse for further endeavor. The old veteran soldier of 1812 was trotted out, and worked for all he was worth, and an occa- sional Mexican War veteran would air liis nonchalance at grim-visaged war. At proper intervals the enlistment roll would be presented for signatures. There was generally one old fellow present who upon slight provocation would yell like a hyena, and declare his readiness to shoulder his musket and go, if he wasn't so old, while his staid and half- fearful consort would pull violently at his coat-tails to re- press his unseasonable effervescence ere it assumed more dangerous proportions. Then there was a patriotic maiden lady who kept a flag or a handkerchief waving with only the rarest and briefest of intervals, who " would go in a min- ute if she was a man." Besides these there was usually a man who would make one of fifty (or some other safe num- ber) to enlist, when he well understood that such a number could not be obtained. And there was one more often found present who when challenged to sign would agree to, p7-o- vided that A or B (men of wealth) would put down their names. I saw a man at a war meeting promise, with a bombastic flourislunent. to enlist if a certain number (which ENLISTING. 41 I do not now remember) of the citizens Avould do the same. The number was obtained ; but the small-sized patriot, who was willing to sacritice his ivife's relations on the altar of his country, crawled away amid the sneers of his townsmen. Sometimes the patriotism of such a gathering would be wrought up so intensely by waving banners, martial and vocal music, and burning eloquence, that a town's quota Avould be filled in less than an hour. It needed only the first man to step forward, put down his name, be patted on the back, placed upon the platform, and cheered to the echo as the hero of the hour, when a second, a third, a fourth would follow, and at last a perfect stampede set in to sign the enlistment roll, and a frenzy of enthusiasm would take possession of the meeting. The complete intoxication of such excitement, like intoxication from liquor, left .some of its victims on the following day, especiall}' if the fathers of families, witli the sober second thought to Avrestle with ; but Pride, that tyraniucal master, rarely let them turn back. The next steji was a medical examination to determine physical fitness for service. Each town had its physician for this work. The candidate for admission into the army must first divest himself of all clothing, and his soundness or unsoundness was then decided by causing him to jump, bend over, kick, receive sundry thumps in the chest and back, and such other laying-on of hands as was thought necessary. The teeth had also to be examined, and the eye- sight tested, after which, if the candidate passed, he received a certificate to that effect. His next move was toward a recruiting station. There he would enter, signify his errand, sign the roll of the company or regiment into which he was going, leave liis descri[)tion, including height, complexion, and occupation, and then ac- company a guard to the examining surgeon, where he was again subjected to a critical examination as to soundness. 42 IIAED TACK AND COFFEE. Those men who, on deciding to "go to war," went directly to a recruiting office and enlisted, had but this simple examina- tion to pass, the other being then unnecessary. It is interest- ing to note that in 1861 and '62 men were mainly examined to establish their fitness for service ; in 1863 and '64 the tide had changed, and they were then only anxious to prove their wdltuess. After the citizen in question had become a soldier, he was usually sent at once to camp or the seat of war, but if he wanted a short furlough it was generally granted. If he had enlisted in a new regiment, he might remain weeks before being ordered to the front ; if in an old regiment, he might find himself in a fight at short notice. Hundreds of the men who enlisted under the call issued by President Lincoln July 2, 1862, were killed or wounded before they had been in the field a week. Any man or woman who lived in those thrilling early war days will never forget them. The spirit of patriotism was at fever-heat, and animated both sexes of all ages. Such a display of the national colors had never been seen before. Flag-raisings were the order of the day in public and private grounds. The trinity of red, white, and blue colors was to be seen in all directions. Shopkeepers decked their windows and counters with them. Men wore them in neck- ties, or in a rosette pinned on the breast, or tied in the button-hole. The women wore them conspicuously also. The bands played only patriotic airs, and " Yankee Doodle," " Red, White, and Blue," and the " Star-Spangled Banner " would have been worn threadbare if possible. Then other patriotic songs and marches were composed, many of which had only a short-lived existence ; and the poetry of this })eriod, some of it excellent, would fill a large volume. CHAPTER III. HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. The heath this night must he my bed, The hraclcen curtain for my head, My lullaby the warder's tread, Far, far from love and thee, Mary. To-morrow eve, more stilly laid. My couch may be my bloody plaid, My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid. It will not waken me, Mary. Lady of the Lake. FTER eijlistment, what? This deed done, the responsibility of the citi- zen for himself ceased in a measure, and Uncle Sam took him in charge. A word here to make clear to the uninformed the distinction between the militia and the volunteers. The militia are the soldiers of the State, and their duties lie wholly within its limits, unless called out by the President of the United States in an emergency. Such an emergency occurred when Presi- dent Lincoln made his call for 75,000 militia, already alluded to. The volunteers, on the other hand, enlist directly into the service of the United States, and it becomes the duty of the national government to provide for them from the very date of their enlistment. Before leaving the State these volunteers were mustered into service. This often occurred soon after their enlistment, before they had been provided with the garb of Union soldiers. 43 44 IIAIiD TACK AND COFFEE. The oath of muster, wliich they took with uplifted hand ran as follows : — " I, A J^ , do solemnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies and opposers whatsoever, and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me according to the rules and articles for the 2'overnment of the armies of the United States." MUSTKHING IN RECRUITS. The provision made for the shelter of these troops before they took the field was varied. Some of them were quar- tered at Forts Warren and Independence while making ready to depart. But the most of the Massachusetts volun- teers were quartered at camps established in different parts of the State. Among the earliest of these were Camp An- drew, in West Roxbury, and Camp Cameron, in North Cam- bridge. Afterwards camps were laid out at Lynnfield, Pitts- field, Boxford, Readville, Worcester, Lowell, Long Island, and a few other places. The " Three-months militia " required HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 45 no provision for their shelter, as they were ordered away soon after reporting for duty. Faneuil Hall furnished quar- ters for a part of them one niijht. The First Massachusetts Eegiment of Infantry quartered for a week in i* aneuil Hall ; but, this not being a suitable place for so large a body of men to remain, "on the first day of June the regiment marched out to Cambridge, and took possession of an old ice-house on the borders of Fresh Pond, wliich had been procured by the State authorities and partially fitted up for barracks, and '':T^'. ^i3 KEADVILLE (MASS.) IJAKKACKS. From n PliotograpJi. established their first camp." But this was not the first camp established in the State, for three years' troops had already been ordered into camp on Long Island and at Fort Warren. Owing to the unhealthiness of the location selected for the First Regiment, their stay in it was brief, and a removal was soon had to North Cambridge, where, on a well-chosen site, some new barracks had been built, and, in honor of Presi- dent Lincoln's Secretary of War, had been named "Camp Cameron."' Barracks then, it will be observed, served to shelter some of the troops. To such as are not familiar with these struc- tures, I will simply say that they were generally a long one- 46 HAET) TACK AND COFFEE. storied building not unlike a bowling-alley in proportions, having the entrance at one end, a broad aisle running through the centre, and a double row of bunks, one above the other, on either side. They were calculated to hold one company of a hundred men. Some of these buildings are still to be seen at Readville, Mass., near the old camp- grounds. But while barracks were desirable quarters in SIBLEY TENTS. the cooler weather of this latitude, and sheltered many regi- ments during their stay in the State, a still larger number found shelter in tents prior to their departure for the held. These tents were of various patterns, but the principal varieties used were the Sibley, the A or Wedge Tent, and the Hospital or Wall Tent. The Sibley tent was invented by Henry Sibley, in 1857. He was a graduate of the United States military academy at West Point, and acconii^anied Capt. John C. Fremont on now THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 47 one of his exploring expeditions. He evidently got his idea from the Tepee or Tepar., — the Indian wigwam, of poles covered with skins, and having a fire in the centre, — which he saw on the plains. When the Rebellion broke out, Sibley cast in his fortune with the South. He afterwards attained the rank of brigadier-general, but performed no services so likely to hand down his name as the invention of this tent. It has recently been stated that Sibley was not the actual inventor, the credit being assigned to some private soldier in his command. On account of its resemblance to a huge bell, it has sometimes been called a Bell Tent. It is eighteen feet in diameter and twelve feet high, and is supported by a single pole, which rests on an iron tripod. This pole is the exact radius of the circle covered by the tent. By means of the tripod the tent can be tightened or slackened at pleasure. At the toji is a circular opening, perhaps a foot in diameter, which serves the double purpose of ventilation and of passing a stove-pipe through in cool weather. This stove-pipe connected with a cone-shaped stove suited to this shape of tent, which stood beneath the tripod. A small piece of canvas, called a m/?, to which were attached two long guys, covered the opening at the top in stormy weather. It was not an unusual sight in the service to see the top of one of these tents in a blaze caused by some one having drawn the cap too near an over-heated stove-pipe. A chain depended from the fork of the tripod, with a hook, on which a kettle could be hung ; when the stove was wanting the fire was built on the ground. These tents are comfortably capacious for a dozen men. In cold or rainy weather, when every opening is closed, they are most unwholesome tenements, and to enter one of them of a rainy morning from the outer air, and encounter the night's accumulation of nauseating exhalations from the bodies of twelve men (differing widely in their habits of personal cleanliness) was an experience which no old soldier has ever been known to recall with anv great enthusiasm. 48 JIARL' TACK AND COFFEE. Of course the air was of the vilest sort, and it is surprising- to see ]io\v men endured it as they did. In the daytime these tents were ventihited by lifting tliem up at the bottom. Sibley tents went out of field ^ service in 1862, partly because they were too expensive, but principally on account of being so cumbrous. They increased the amount of im- pedimenta too largely, for they required many wagons for their transportation, and so were afterwards used only in camps of instruc- tion. I believe they are still used to some extent by tlie militia of the various States. I remember having seen these tents raised on a stock- ade four feet high by some regiments during the war, and thus arrang- ed they made very spacious and com- fortable winter quarters. When thus raised they accom- modated twenty men. The camp for convalescents near Alexandria, Va., comprised this variety of tent stockaded. The A or Wedge tents are yet quite connnon. The origin of this tent is not known, so far as I can learn. It seems to be about as old as histor}^ itself. A German historian, who wrote in 1751, represents the Amalekites as using them. Nothing simpler for a shelter could suggest itself to campers than some sort of awning stretched over a horizontal pole or bar. The setting-up of branches on an incline against a low liorizontal l:)ranch of a tree to form a rude shelter may have been its earliest suggestion. But, whatever its origin, it is 710W a canvas tent stretched over a hoi'izontal bar, perhaps A, OK WEDGE TENTS. HOW THE SOLDIERS WEllE SHELTERED. 49 six feet long, which is siipi)orted on two upright posts of about the same length. It covers, when pitched, an area nearly seven feet square. The name of these tents is undoubtedly derived from the fact of the ends having the pro- portions of the Ro- man letter A, and be- cause of their resem- blance to a wedge. Four men was the number usually as- signed to one of them ; but they were often occupied by five, and sometimes six. When so oc- cupied at night, it was rather necessary to comfort that all should turn over at the same time, for six or even live men were a tight fit in the space enclosed, unless ''spooned" together. These tents when stockaded were quite spacious and comfortable. A word or two just here with regard to stockading. A stockade proper is an enclosure made with posts set close together. In stockading a tent the posts were split in halves, and the cleft sides all turned inward so as to make a clean and comely inside to the hut. But by far the most common way of log- ging up a tent was to build the walls " cob-fashion," notch- ing them together at the corners. This method took much less time and material tlian the other. But whenever I use the word stockade or stockading in any descri})tions T include either method. I shall speak further of stockading by and by. SPOONING TOGETHER. 50 HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. The A tents were in quite general use by the State and also by the general government the first two years of the war, but, like the Sibley, they required too much wagon transportation to take along for use in the field, and so they also were turned over to camps of instruction and to troops permanently located in or near important military centres or stations. The Hospital or Wall tent is distinguished from those already described by having four upright sides or walls. To THK HOSPITAL OR WALL TKNT. this fact it probably owes the latter name, and it doubtless gets the former from being used for hospital purposes in the field. These tents, also, are not of modern origin. They were certainly used by Napoleon, and probably long before his day. On account of their walls they are much more comfortable and convenient to occupy than the two preced- ing, as one can stand erect or move about in them with tol- erable freedom. They are made of different sizes. Those used as field hospitals were quite large, accommodating from six to twenty patients, according to circumstances. It was a common occurrence to see two or more of these joined, being connected by ripping the central seam in the two ends that came in contact. By looping back the flaps thus liberated, nO]V THE SOLDIERS WEliE SHELTER EU. 51 the tents were thrown together, and quite a commodious hospital was in that way opened with a central corridor running its entire length between a double row of cots. The smaller size of wall tent was in general use as the tent of commissioned officers, and so far as I now recall, was used by no one else. While the Army of the Potomac was at Harrison's Land- ing, under McClellan, he issued a General Order (Aug. 10, 1862) prescribing among other things wall tents for general field and staff officers, and a single shelter tent for each line offi- cer ; and the same order was reissued by his successors. But in some way many okkkek'.s wall tent with fly. of these line officers managed to smuggle a wall tent into the wagon train, so that when a settled camp was entered upon they were pro- vided with those luxurious shelters instead of the shelter tent. Over the top an extra piece of canvas, called a fli/, was stretclied as additional protection against sun and rain. These tents are generally familiai". Massachusetts now pro- vides her militia with them, I believe, without distinction of rank. The tents thus far described I have referred to as used largely by the troops before they left the State. But there was another tent, the most interesting of all, which was used exclusively in the field, and that was Tente d'Ahri — the Dog or Shelter Tent. Just why it is called the shelter tent I cannot say, unless on the principle stated by tlie Rev. George Ellis for calling the pond on Boston Common a Frog Pond, viz : because there are no frogs there. So there is little shelter in this variety 52 HA 111) TACK AND COFFEE. of tent. But about that later. I cau imagiue uo other reason for calling it a dog tent than this, that when one is pitched it would only comfortably accommodate a dog, and a small one at that. This tent was invented late in 18<)1 or early in 1862. I am told it was made of light duck at first, then of rubber, and afterwards of duck again, but /never saw one made of anything heavier than cotton drilling. This was fJie tent of the rank and file. It did not come into general use till after the Peninsular Cam- paign. Each man was provided with a half-shelte)\ as a single piece w;is- called, which he was expected to carry on the march if he wanted a tent to slee}) under. I will describe these more fully. One I recently measured is five feet two inches, long by four feet eight inches wide, and is provided with a single row of buttons and button-holes on three sides, and a pair of holes for stake loops at each corner. A single half- shelter, it can be seen, would make a yery contracted and uncomfortable abode for a man ; but every soldier was ex- pected to join his resources for shelter with some other fel- low. It was only rarely that a soldier was met witii who was- so crooked a stick that no one would chum with him, or that he cared for no chum, although I have seen a few such cases in my experience. But the rule in the army was similar to that in civil life. Every man had his chum or friend, with whom he associated when off duty, and these tented tcjgether. By mutual agreement one was the "old woman," the other the ''old man" of the concern. A Marblehead man called his chum his "chicken," more especially if the latter was a you7ig soldier.. THE ixk; ok shei.tek tent. nO]V THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 53 B}' means of the buttons and l)iitt(.)n-lioles two or more of these lialf-shelters could be buttoned together, making a very complete roofing. There are hundreds of men that came from different sections of tlie same State, or from different States, who joined their resources in this manner, and to-day through this accidental association they are the warmest of personal friends, and will continue so while tliey live. It was not usual to pitch these tents every night wlien the army was on the march. The soldiers did not waste their time and strength much in that way. If the night was clear and pleasant, they lay down with- out roof-shelter of any kind : but if it was stormy or a .storm was threaten- ing when the order came to go into camp for the night, the slielters were then quite gener- ally pitched. This operation was performed by the infantry in the following simple Avay • two muskets with bayonets fixed were stuck erect into the ground the width of a half shelter apart. A guy rope which went with every half-shelter was stretclied between the trio-o-er-o-uards of the muskets, and over this as a ridge-pole the tent was pitched in a twinkling. Artillery men pitched theirs over a horizontal bar supported by two uprights. This framework was split out of fence- rails, if fence-rails were to be had conveniently ; otherwise, saplings were cut for the [)urpose. It often happened that men would throw away their shelters during the day, and take their cliances with the weather, or of finding cover in some barn, or under the brow of some overhanging rock, rather than be burdened with them. In summer, when the army was not in proximity to the enemy, or was lying SHELTERS AS .SOIMETIJIES PITCHEU IN SUJIMEK. 54 HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. SHADED SHELTERS. off recuperating, as the Army of the Potomac did a few weeks after the Gettysburg campaign, they would pitch their shelters high enough to get a free circulation of air beneath, and to enable them to build bunks or cots a foot or two above the ground. If the camp was not in the woods, it was com- S^i£s^*^^"vi.ji^r mon to build a bow- er of branches over the tents, to ward off the sun. When cold weath- er came on, the sol- diers built the stock- ades to which I have already referred. The walls of these structures were raised from two to live feet, according to the taste or work- ing inclination of the intended occupants. Oftentimes an excavation was made one or two feet deep. When such was the case, the walls were not built so high. Such a hut was warmer than one built entirely above ground. The size depended upon the number of the proposed mess. If the hut was to be occupied by two, it was built nearly square, and covered by two half-shelters. Such a stockade would and often did accommodate three men, the third using his half-shelter to stop up one gable. When four men occupied a stockade, it was built accordingly, and covered by four half-shelters. In each case these were stretched over a framework of light rafters raised on the walls of the stockade. Sometimes tlie gables were built up to the ridge-poles with smaller logs, bu t just as often they were filled by an extra half- shelter, a rubber blanket, or an old poncho. An army ponclio, I may here say, is specified as made of unbleached muslin coated with vulcanized India-rubber, sixty inches HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 55 wide and seventy-one inches long, having an opening in the centre lengthwise of the poncho, through which the head passes, with a lap three inches wide and sixteen inches long. This garment is derived from the woollen poncho worn by the Spanish- Americans, but is of different proportions, these being four feet by seven. The army poncho was used in , , ' / lieu of the gum blanket. The chinks between the logs were filled with mud, worked to a viscous consistency, which adhered more or less tenaciously according to the amount of clay in the mixture. It usually needed renewing after a severe storm. The chimney was built outside, after the southern fashion. It stood sometimes at the end and sometimes in the middle of one side of the stockade. It started from a fire-place which was fashioned with more or less skill, according to the taste or mechanical genius of the work- man, or the tools and materials used, or both. In my own company there were two masons- who had opportuni- ties, whenever a winter camp was pitched, to practise their trade far more than they were inclined to do. The fire-places were built of brick, of stone, or of wood. If there was a deserted house in the neighborhood of the camp which boasted brick chimneys, they were sure to be brought low to serve the Union cause in the manner indi- cated, unless the house was used by some general officer as headquarters. When built of wood, the chimneys were lined with a very thick coating of mud. They were o-en- erally continued above the fireplace with split wood built cob-fashion, which was filled between and lined with the red clayey soil of Virginia , but stones were used when abundant. A PONCHO ON. 56 IIABD TACK AND COFFEE. Very frequently pork and beef barrels were secured to serve this purpose, being put one above another ; and now and then a lively hurrah would run through the camp wiien one of these was dis- covered -on fire. It is hardly necessary to remark that not all these chimneys were mon uments of success. Too often the draught was down instead of up, and the inside of some stockades resembled smoke- houses. Still, it was " all in the three years,'" as the boys used to say. It was all the same to the average soldier, who rarely saw tit to tear down and build anew more HOW THE SOLDIERS WEliE SHELTERED. 57 scieiitificuUy. The smoke of his camp-fires in warm weather was an excellent pi'eparative for the smoking fireplace of winter-quarters. Many of these huts were deemed incomplete until a sign appeared over the door. Here and there some one would make an attempt at having a door-plate of wood suitably inscribed ; but the more common sight was a sign over the entrance bearing such inscriptions, rudely cut or marked with charcoal, as: "Parker House," "Hole in the Wall," " Mose Pearson's," " Astor House," "Willard's Hotel," " Five Points," and other titles equally absurd, expressing in this ridicu- lous way the va- garies of the inmates. The last kind of shelter I shall mention as used in the field, but not the least in importance, was the Bomb-proofs used by both Union and Rebel armies in the war. Probably there were more of these erected in the vicinity of Petersburg and Richmond than in all the rest of the South combined, if I except Vicksburg, as here the opposing armies established themselves — the one in defence, the other in siege of the two cities. Thes>e bomb-proofs were built just inside the fortifications. Their walls were made of logs heavily banked with earth and liaving a door or wider opening on the side away from the enemy. The roof was also made of heavy logs covered with several feet of earth. The interior of these structures varied in size with the number that occupied them. Some were built on the sur- face of the ground, to keep them drier and more comfortable ; A COJtIMON KOIMH-PHOOF 58 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. others were dug down after the manner of a celhir kitchen ; but all of them were at best damp and unwholesome habi- tations — even where fireplaces were introduced, which they were in cool weather. For tliese reasons they were occupied only when the enemy was engaged in sending over his iron compliments in the shape of mortar-shells. For all other hostile missiles the breastworks were ample protection, and under their walls the men stretched their half-shelters and passed mokt of their time in the summer and fall of 1864^ when their lot was cast in that part of the lines nearest the enemy in front of Petersburg. A mortar is a short, stout cannon design- ed to throw shells Into fortifications. This is accomplished by ele- vating the muzzle a great deal. But the higher the elevation the greater the strain upon the gun. For this reason it is that they are made so short and thick. They can be elevated so as to drop a shell just inside a fort, whereas a cannon-ball would either strike it on the outside, or pass over it far to the rear. Mortars were used very little as compared with cannon. In the siege of Petersburg, I think, they were used more at night than in the daytime. Tins was due to the exceeding watchfulness of the pickets of both armies. At some periods in the siege each side was in nightly expectation of an attack from the other, and so the least provocation — an accidental shot, or a strange and unusual sound after dark — would draw the fire of the pickets, which would extend from the point of disturbance all along the line in both directions. A 13-INy such delay or neglect good ventilation and the o})[)ortunity of drawing on the socks from either end were secured. The task of once more restricting the toes to quarters was not an eas}'" one, and the processes of arriving at this end were not many in nundjer. Perhaps the speediest and most unique, if not the most artistic, was that of tying a string around the hole. This was a scheme for cutting the Gordian knot of darning, which a few modern Alexanders put into execution. But I never heaixl any of them commend its comforts after the jcdj was done. Then, there were other men who, hav- ing arranged a checker-board of stitches over tlie holes, as they had seen their mothers do, had not the time or patience to fill in the squares, and the inevitable consequence was that both heels and toes would look through the bars only a few hours before breaking jail again. But there were a few^ of the boys who were kept furnished with home-made socks, knit, per- haps, by their good old grand- mas, who seemed to inherit the patience of the grandams themselves; for, whenever there was mending or darning to be done, they would sit by the hour, and do the work as neatly and conscientiously as any one could desire. I am not wide of the facts when I say that the heels of the socks darned by these men re- mained firm when the rest of the fabric was well spent. Tliere was little attempt made to repair the socks drawn from the government supplies, for they were generally of A HOUSEWIFE. LIFE IN LOG HUTS. ST the shoddiest description, and not worth it. In synnnetr}'-, they were like an elbow of stove-pipe ; nor did the likeness end here, for, while the stove-pipe is open at both ends, so were the socks within forty-eight hours after puttings them on. Cooking was also an industry which occupied 'more or less of the time of individuals ; but when the army was in settled camp company cooks usually took charge of the rations. Sometimes, where companies preferred it, the ra- tions were served out to them in the raw state ; but there was no invariable rule in this matter. I think the soldiers, as a whole, preferred to receive their coffee and suwar raw, for rough experience in campaigning soon made each man an expert in the preparation of this ])everage. Moreover, he could make a more palatable cup for himself than the cooks nuide for him ; for too often their handiwork betrayed some of the other uses of the mess kettles to which I have made reference. Then, again, some men liked tlseir coffee strong, others weak; some liked it sweet, others wished little or no sweetening ; and this latter class could and did save their sugar for other purposes. I shall give other particulars about this when I take up the subject of Army Rations. It occurs to me to mention in this connection a circum- stance which may seem somewhat strange to many, and that is that some parts of the army burned hundreds of cords of gxeen pine-wood while lyiug in winter-quarters. It was very often their only resource for heat and warmth. People at the North would as soon think of attempting to burn water as green pine. But the explanation of the paradox is this — the pine of southern latitudes has more pitch in it than that of northern latitudes. Then, the heart-wood of all pines is comparatively dry. It seemed especially so South. Tlie heart-wood was used to kindle with, and the pitchy sap-wood placed on top, and by the time the heart- wood had burned the sappy portion had also seasoned enough to blaze and make a good fire. These })ines had 88 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. the advantage over tlie hard woods of beinc^ more easily worked up • — an advantage which the average soldier appreciated. Nearly every organization had its barber in established camp. True, many men never used the razor in the ser- THE CAJir BARBER. vice, but allowed a shrubby, straggling growth of hair and beard to grow, as if to conceal them from the enemy in time of battle. Many more carried their own kit of tools and shaved them- selves, frequentl}^ shedding innocent blood in the service of their country while undergoing the operation. But there was yet a large number left who, whether from lack of skill in the use or care of the razor, or from want LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 89 of inclination, preferred to patronize the camp barber. This personage plied his vocation inside the tent in cold or stormy weather, but at other times took his post in rear of the tent, where he had improvised a chair for the com- fort (?) of liis victims. This chair was a product of home manufacture. Its framework was four stakes driven into the ground, two long ones for the back legs, and two shorter ones for the front. On this foundation a super- structure was raised which made a passable barber's chair. But not all the professors who presided at these chairs were finished tonsors, and the back of a soldier's head whose hair had been " shingled " by one of them was likely to show each course of the shingles with painful distinctness. The razors, too, were of the most barbarous sort, like the " trust razor" of the old song with which the Irishman got his " Love o' God Shave." One other occupation of a few men in every camp, which I must not overlook, was that of studying the tactics. Some were doing it, perhaps, under the instructions of superior officers ; some because of an ambition to deserve promotion. Some were looking to passing a competitive examination with a view of obtaining a furlough ; and so these men, from various nu)tives, were " booking " themselves. But the great mass of the rank and file had too much to do with the practice of war to take much interest in working out its theory, and freely gave themselves up, when off duty, to €very available variety of physical or mental recreation, doing their uttermost to pass away the time rapidly ; and even those troops having nearly three years to serve would exclaim, with a cheerfulness more feigned than real, as each day dragged to its close, " It^s only two years and a but.'" CHAPTER VI. JONAHS AND BEATS. " Good people, I'll sing you a ditty, So bear with me all ye who can; I make an appeal to your pity, For I'm a most unlucky man. 'Twas under an unlucky planet That I a poor mortal was born; My existence since first I began it Has been very sad and forlorn. Then do not make sport of my troubles. But pity me all ye who can, For I'm an uncomfortable, horrible, terrible, inconsolable, unlucky man." Old Song. N a former chapter I made the statement tliat Sibley tents furnished quarters capa- cious enough for twelve men. That state- ment is to be taken with some qualifica- tions. If those men were all lying down asleep, there did not seem much of a crowd. But if one man of the twelve happened to be on guard at night, and, further- more, was on what we used to know as the Third Relief guard, which in my company was posted at 12, midnight, and came off post at 2 a.m., when all were soundly sleeping, and, moreover, if this man chanced to quarter in that part of the tent opposite the entrance, and if, in seeking his blanket and board in the darkness, it was his luck to step on the stockinged foot of a recumbent form having a large voice, a large temper, but a small though forcible selection of Eng- lish defiled, straightway that selection was hurled at the head of the offending even though well-meaning guard. And if, 90 JONAUS AND BEATS. 91 under the excitement of his mishap, the luckless guard makes a spring thinking to clear all other intervening slumberers and score a home run, but alights instead amidships of the comrade who sleeps next him, expelling from him a groan that by all kno\vn comparisons should have been his last, the poor guard has only involved himself the more inextri- cably in trouble ; for as soon as his latest victim recovers consciousness sufficiently to know that it was 7iot a twelve- pound cannon ball that has doubled him up, and that stretcher bearers are not needed to take him to the rear, he strikes up in the same strain and pitch and force as that of the first victim, and together they make the mid- night air vocal with choice invective against their repre- sentative of the Third Relief. By this time the rest of the tent's crew have been waked up, cross enough, too, at being thus rudely disturbed, and they all come in heavily on the chorus. As the wordy assault continues the inmates of adjoining tents who have also been aroused take a hand in it, and '' Shut up ! " — " Sergeant of the Guard : " — " Go lie down ! " — " Shoot him on the spot ! " — " Put him in the guard-house ! " are a few of the many impromptu orders issued within and without the tent in question. At last the tempest in a teapot expends itself and by the time that the sergeant of the guard lias arrived to seek out the cause of the tumult and enforce the instructions of the officer of the day by putting the offenders against the rules and discipline of camp under arrest, for talking and dis- turbance after Taps, all are quiet, for no one would make a complaint against the culprits. Their temporary excitement has cooled, and the discreet sergeant is even in doubt as to which tent contains the offenders. Now, accidents will happen to the most careful and the best of men, but the soldier whom I have been describing could be found in every squad in camp — that is, a man of his kind. Such men were called "Jonahs" on account of their ill luck. Perhaps this particular Jonah after getting 92 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. his tin plate level full of hot pea-soup was sure, on entering the tent, to spill a part of it down somebody's back. The- higher he could hold it the better it seemed to please him as he made his wa}^ to his accustomed place in the tent, and in bringing it down into a latitude where he proposed to eat it THE JONAH Sl'ILLING PEA-SOUP. he usually managed to dispose of much of the remainder, either on his own or somebody else's blankets. When pea- soup failed him for a diversion, he was a dead shot on kick- ing over his neighbor's pot of coffee, which the owner had put down for a moment while he adjusted his lap-table to receive his supper. The profuseness of the Jonah's apolo- gies — and they always were profuse, and undoubtedly sincere — was utterly inadequate as a balm for the wounds he made. Anybody else in the tent might have kicked the coffee to the remotest bounds of camp with malice afore- thought, and it would not have produced a tithe of the aggravation which it did to have this constitutional blun- derer do it by accident. It may be that he wished to borrow JONAHS AND BEATS. 93 your ink. Of course you could not refuse him. It may have been made by you with some ink powders sent from liome — perhaps the last you had and which you should want yourself that very day. It mattered not. He took it with complacency and fair promises, put it on a box by his side and tipped the box over five minutes afterward by the watch. Cooking w^as the forte of this Jonah. He could be found most any time of day — or night, if he was a guardsman — around the camp-fire with his little mess of something in his tomato can or tin dipper, which he would throw an air of THE CAMP-FIRE BEFORE THE JONAH APPEARS. mystery around every now and then by drawing a small package from the depths of his pocket or haversack and scattering some of its contents into the brew. But there was a time in the history of his culinary pursuits when he rose to a supreme height as a blunderer. It was wiien he appeared at the camp-fire which, by the way, he never kindled himself, ready to occupy the choice places with his dishes ; and after the two rails, between which fires w^ere usually built, had been well burdened by the coffee-pots of his comrades it presented an opportunity which his evil genius was likely to take advantage of; for then he was suddenl}^ seized with a thouglit of something else that he had forgotten to borrow. Turning in his haste to go to the 94 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. tent for this purpose he was sure to stumble over the end of one or both of the rails, when the downfall of the coffee- pots and the quenching of the fire followed as a matter of course. At just this point in his career it would be to the credit of his associates to drop the curtain on the picture ; but the sequel must be told. The average soldier was not an especially devout man, and while in times of imminent danger he had serious thoughts, yet at other times his many trials, his privations, and the rigors of a necessary discipline THE CAMP-FIRE AFTER THE JONAH APPEARS. all conduced to make him a highly explosive creature on demand. Moreover, coffee and sugar were staple articles with the soldier, and the least waste of them was not to be tolerated under ordinary circumstances ; but to have a whole line of coffee-pots with their precious contents upset by the Jonah of the tent in his recklessness was the last ounce of pressure removed from the safety valve of his tent-mates' wrath ; and such a discharge of hard names and oaths, " long, loud, and deep," as many of these sufferers would deliver themselves of, if it could have been utilized against the enemy, might have demolished a regiment. And the others who did not give vent to their passions by blows JONAHS AND BEATS. 95 THE UNLUCKY MAN. or the use of strong language seemed to sympathize very keenly with those who did. Two chaplains apiece to some of the men would have been none too many to hold them in check. I remember one man who seemed always to have hard luck in spite of himself. He was a good soldier and meant well, but would blun- der badly now and then. His last act in the service was to plunge an axe tln-ough his boot while he was cutting wood. Unfortu- nately for him as it hap- pened his foot was in it at the time. On pulling it out of the boot and looking it over he found that several of his toes had "got left"; so he took up his boot, turned it upside down, and shook out a shower of toes as complacently as if that was what he enlisted for. This casualty closed his career in active service. There were divers other directions in which the Jonah distinguished himself; but I must leave him for the present to direct attention to the other class of men of whom I wish to say something. These were the heats of the service — a name given them by their comrades-in-arms. There were all grades of beats. The original idea of beat was that of a lazy man or a shirk, who would b}^ hook or by crook get rid of all military or fatigue duty that he could ; but the term grew to have a broader significance. One of the milder forms of beat was the man who sat over the fire in the tent piling on wood all the time, and roasting out the rest of the tent's crew, who seemed to have no rights that this fireman felt bound to respect. He 96 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. was always cold. He wore overcoat, dress-coat, blouse, and flannels the full government allowance all at once, but never complained of being too warm. He never took off any of these garments night or day unless compelled to on inspec- tion. He was most at home on fatigue duty, for he seemed fatigued from the start and moved like real estate. A sprinkling of this class seemed necessary to the success of the Union arms, for they were certainly to be found in every organization. Another and more positive type of beat were the men who never had any water in their canteens. Even when the army was in settled camp, water was not always to be had without going some distance for it ; but these men were never known to go after any. They always managed to hanof their canteen on some one else who was bound for the spring. If, when the army was on the move, a rush was made during a temporary halt, for a spring or stream some distance away, these men never rushed. They were satis- fied to lie down and drink a supply which thev took their chances of beo^ging, from GOING AFTER WATER. ^^"^J ""^ »0 »' some recruit, perhaps, who did not know their propensities. If it happened to any man to be so straitened in his cooking operations as to be under the necessity of borrowing from one of these, he was sure of being called upon to requite the favor fully as many times as his temper would endure it. Then, as to rations, their hardtack never held out, and they were ever on the alert to borrow. It mattered not how great the scarcity, real or anticipated, they could not provide for a contingency, and their neighbors in the same squad were mean and avaricious — so the beats said — if they would not give of their husbanded resources to these profligate, improvident comrades. But this class did not JONAHS AND BEATS. 97 stop at borrowing hardtack. They were not all of them particular, and wdien hardtack could not be spared they would get along -with coffee or sugar or salt pork ; or, if they could borrow a dollar., " just for a day or two," they would then repay it surely, because several letters from their friends at home, each one containing money, were already overdue. People in civil life think they know all about the imperfections of the United States postal service, and tell of their letters and papers lost, miscarried, or in some way delayed, with much pedantry ; but they have yet to learn the A B C of its imperfections, and no one that I know^ of is so competent to teach them as certain of the Union soldiers. I could have produced men in 1862-5, yes — I can now — who lost more letters in one 3'ear, three out of every four of which contained considerable sums of money, than any postmaster-general yet appointed is Avilling to admit have been lost since the establishment of a mail service. This, remember, the loss of one man ; and when it is multiplied by the number of men just like liim that were to be found, not in one army alone but in all the armies of the Union, a special reason is obvious why the government sliould be liberal in its dealings with the old soldier. In this connection I am reminded of another interesting feature of army experience, which is of some historical value. It was this : whenever the troops were paid off a very large majority of them wished to send the most of their pay home to their families or their friends for safe keeping. Of course there was some risk attending the sending of it in the mails. To obviate this risk an " allotment " plan was adopted by means of which when the troops were visited by the pay- master, on signing a roll prepared for that purpose, so much of their pay as they wished was allotted or assigned by the soldiers to whomsoever they designated at the North. To illustrate : John Smith had four months' pay due him at the rate of il3 a month. He decided to allot -flO per month of 98 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. this to his wife at Plymouth, Mass.; so the paymaster pays him $12, and the remaining $40 is paid to his wife by check in Plymouth, without any further action on the part of John. This plan was a great convenience to both the soldiers and their families. In this division of his income the calcu- lation of the soldier was to save out enough for himself to pay all incidental expenses of camp life, sucli as washing, tobacco, newspapers, pies and biscuits, boiiglit of "Aunty," and cheese and cakes of the sutler. But in spite of his nice calculations the rule was that the larger part of the money allotted home was returned, by request of the sender, in small amounts of a dollar or the fraction of a dollar. I have previously stated that at that time silver had gone out of use, it being only to be had by paying tlie premium on it, just as on gold, and so to take its place the government issued what was generally known as scrip, being paper currency of the denominations of fifty, twenty-five, ten, five, and, later, fifteen and three-cent pieces, some of which are still in cir- culation. They were a great convenience to the soldiers and their friends. But to resume : — If the statements made by these beats as to the amount of money they had sent for and were expecting were to be believed they must not only have sent for their full allot- ment, but have drawn liberally on their home credit or the charity of their friends besides. In truth, however, the genuine beat never intended to return borrowed money. It is currently believed by outsiders that the soldiers who stood shoulder to shoulder battling for the Union, sharing the same exposures, the same shelter, the same mess would ever after- wards be likely to stand steadfastly by one another. The organization of the Grand Army of the Republic seems to strengthen such an opinion, yet human nature remains pretty much the same in all situations. If a man was a shirk or a thief or a beat or a coward or a worthless scoun- drel generally in the army, it was because he had been educated to it before he enlisted. The leopard cannot JONAHS AND BEATS. 99 change his spots nor the Etliiopian his skin. It will there- fore create no great surprise when I remark that a large amount of money borrowed by one soldier of another has never been repaid ; and such is the lack of honesty and manliness on the part of these men that they can meet the old comrades of whom in those trying war days they bor- rowed one, two, five, or ten dollars, and in some cases more, without so much as a blush or betraying in any manner the slightest recognition of their long standing obligation. Some are so worthless and brazen-faced even as to ask the same victims for more at this late day. One favorite dodge of the beat was to have the corporal arouse him twice or three times before he would finally get out of his bunk ; and then he would prepare to go out at a snail's pace. Once on his beat, his next dodge was to manoeuvre so as to have the corporal of his relief do the most of his duty for him ; for hardly would he have been jjosted before the corporal must be summoned, the beat having been seized with a desire to go to the company sink. That is good for half an hour out of the corporal at least. At last the dodger reappears moving at a slow pace, and wearing the appearance of a man suffering for his discharge from service. He retails his woes to the corporal, as he resumes his equipments, in a most doleful strain. But the corporal is in no mood to listen after his long wait, and hastily directs his steps towards the guard-tent. He is not allowed to remain there long, however, ere a summons reaches him from the same post, to which he res})onds with excusable ill-humor and mutterings at the duplicity of the guardsman in question. This time the patient has happened to think of some medicine at his tent which will be of benefit to him. Of course the corporal is anxious enough to have him healed, and so he again assumes the duties of the post for the shirk, who does not reappear until his last hour of duty is well on its second quarter, feigning in excuse that he could not find his own panacea 100 FIARD TACK AND COFFEE. and so was obliged to go elsewhere. Thus in one way and another, by using the kind offices of his messmates together with those of the corporal, he would manage to get out of at least two-thirds of his guard duty. After the battle of Fredericksburg a soldier belonging to a gallant regiment in Burnside's corps, whose courage had evidently been put to a sore test in the above engagement, resorted to the 7'heumatic dodge to secure his discharge. He responded daily to sick call, pitifully warped out of shape, was prescribed for, but all to no avail. One leg was drawn up so that, apparently, he could not use it, and groans in- dicative of excruciating agony escaped him at studied intervals and on suitable occasions. So his case went on for six weeks, till at last the surgeon recommended his discharge. It was approved at regimental, brigade, and division headquarters, and had reached corps headquarters when the corps was ordered to Kentucky. At Covington the party having the supposed invalid in charare o-ained access in some manner to a barrel of whiskey. Not being a temperance man, the dodger was thrown off his guard by this sjAritwal bonanza, and, taking his turn at the straw, for which entry had been made into the barrel, he was soon as sprightly on both legs as ever. In this condition his colonel found him. Of course his discharge was recalled from corps headquarters, and the way of this transgressor was made hard for months afterwards. There was another field in which the beat played an inter- esting part. I use played with a double significance, for he never worked if he could avoid it. It was when a detail of men was made to do some line of fatigue duty., by which is THE KHEIMATK JONAHS AND BEATS. 101 meant all the labors of the service distinct from strict mili- taiy duty, such as the " policing " or clearing np of camp, procuring wood and water for the company, digging and fitting up of sinks (the water-closets of the army), and, in addition to these duties, in cavalry and artillery, procuring grain and forage for the horses. It was a sad fate to befall WATKK FOR THE f UOlv-HOUSE. a good duty soldier to get on to a detail to procure wood where every second or third man was a shirk or beat ; for while they must needs bear the appearance of doing some- thing, they were really in the way of those who could work and were willing to. Many of these shirkers would waste a great deal of time and breath maligning the government or their officers for requiring them to do such work, indig- nantly declaring that " they enlisted to fight and not to chop wood or dig sinks." But it was noticeable that when the fight came on, if any of these heroes got into it, they then appeared just as willing to bind themselves by contract to cut all the wood in Virginia, if they could only be let go just that once. These were the men who were "invincible in peace and invisible in war," as the late Senator Hill, of Georgia, once said. I may add here that, coming as the 102 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. soldiers did from all avocations and stations in life, these details for fatigue often brought together men few of whom had any practical knowledge of the work in hand ; so that aside from the shirks, who could work but would not, there were others who would but could not, at least intelligentl5^ Still, the army was a great educator in many ways to men who cared to learn, and some of the most ignorant became by force of circumstances quite expert, in time, in channels hitherto untraversed by them. But there was one detail upon which our shirks, beats, and men unskilled in manual labor, such as the handling of the spade and pickaxe, appeared in all the glory of their artful dodging and ignorance. If a man did not take hold of the work lively, whether because he preferred to shirk it or because he did not understand it, the worse for him. The detail in question was one made to administer the last rites to a batch of deceased horses. It happened to the artillery and cavalry to lose a large number of these animals in winter, which, owing to the freezing of the ground, could not be buried until the disappearance of the frost in spring ; but by that time, through the action of rain and sun and the frequent depredations of dogs, buzzards, and crows, the remains were not always in the most inviting condition for the administrations of the sexton. Then, again, during the summer season, when the army made a halt for rest and recruiting, another sacrifice of glanders-infected and gen- erally used-up horses was made to the god of war. But as they were not always promptly committed to mother earth, either from a desire to show a decent respect for the memory of the deceased or for some other reason best known to the red-tape of military rule, the odors that were wafted from them on the breezes were wont to become far more "spicy" than agreeable, so that a speedy interment was generally ordered by the military Board of Health. As soon as the nature of the business for which such a detail was ordered became generally known, the fun began, JONAHS AND BEATS. 103 for a lively protest was wont to go up from the men against being selected to participate in the impending equine obse- quies. Perhaps the first objection heard from a victim who has drawn a prize in the business is that •' he was on guard the day before, and is not yet physically competent for such a detail." The sergeant is charged with unfairness, and with having pets that he gives all the " soft jobs " to, etc. But the warrior of the triple chevron is inexorable, and his muttering, much injured subordinate finally reports to the corporal in charge of the detail in front of the camp, be- traying in his every word and movement a heart-felt desire for his term of service or this cruel war to be over. Another one whom his sergeant has booked for the enter- prise has got wind of what is to be done, so that when found he is tucked up in his bunk. He stoutly insists that he is an invalid, and is only waiting for the next sounding of "Sick call" to respond to it. But his attack is so sudden, and his language and lungs so strong for a sick man, that he finds it difficult to establish his claim. He calls on his tent- mates to swear that he is telling the truth, but finds them strangely devout and totally ignorant of his ailments, for they are clnickling internally at their own good fortune in not being selected, which, if he proves his case, one of them mai/ be ; so, unless his plea is a pitiful and deserving one, they keep mum. A third victim does not claim to have been selected out of turn, but nevertheless alleges that " the deal is unfair, because he was on the last detail but one inade for this horse-burying business, and he does not think that he ought to be the chief mourner for his detachment, for a paltry thirteen dollars a month. Besides, there may be others who would like to go on this detail." But as he is unable to name or find the man or men having this highly refined ambition he finally goes off grumbling and joins the squad. A fourth victim is the constitutionally high-tempered and profane man. He finds no fault with the justice of the ser- 104 BABD TACK AND COFFEE. THE HIGlI-TEMrERED MAN. geant in assigning to liim a participation in the ceremonies of the hour ; but he had got comfortably seated to write a let- ter when the summons came, and, pausing only long enough to inquire the nature of the detail, he pitches his half-writ- ten letter and materials in one dii'ection, his lai>board in an- other, gets up, kicks over the box or stool on which he was sitting, pulls on his cap with a vehement jerk, and then opens his battery. He directs none of his unmilitary English at the sergeant — that would hardly do ; but he lays liis furious lash upon the poor innocent back of the government, though just what branch of it is responsible lie does not pause between his oaths long enough to state. He pursues it with the most terrible of curses uphill, and then with like violent language follows it down. He blank blanks the whole blaidc blank war, and hopes that the South ma}'- win. He wishes that all the blank horses were in blank, and adds b}^ way of self-reproach that it serves any one, who is such a blank blank fool as to enlist, right to have this blaidc, filthy, disgusting work to do. And he leaves the stockade shutting the door behind him "with a wooden damn," as Holmes says, and goes off to report, making the air blue with his cursing. Let me say for this man, before leaving him, that he is not so hardened and bad at heart as he makes himself appear ; and in the shock of battle he will be found standing manfully at his post minus his temper and profanity. There is one more man whom I will describe here, repre- senting another class than either mentioned, whose unlucky star has fated liim to take a part in these obsequies ; but he JONAHS AND BEATS. 105 THE PAPEK-COLl.AK YOUNG MAN. is not a shirk nor a beat. He is the paper-collar young man^ just from the recruiting station, with enamelled long-legged boots and custom-made clothes, who yet looks with some measure of dis- dain on government clothing, and yet eats in a most gingerly way of the stern, unpoetical government ' rations. He is an only son, and was a dry -goods clerk in the city at home, where no reasonable want went ungratified ; and now, when he is summoned forth to join the burial party, he responds at once. True, his heart and stomach both revolt at the work ahead, but lie wants to be — not an angel — but a veteran among veterans, and his pride prevents his entering any re- monstrance in the presence of the older soldiers. As he clutches the spade pointed out to him with one hand he shoves the other vacantly to the bottom of liis breeches pocket, his mouth drawn down codfish-like at the corners. He attempts to appear indifferent as he approaches the detail, and as they congratulate him on his good-fortune a sickly smile plays over his countenance ; but it is Mark Tapley feign- ing a jollity which he does not feel and which soon subsides into a pale melancholy. His fellow-victims feel their ill-luck made more endurable by seeing him also drafted for the loathsome task ; but their glow of satisfaction is only super- ficial and speedily wanes as the officer of the day, who is to superintend the job, appears and orders them forward. And now the fitness of the selection becomes apparent as the squad moves off, for a more genuine body of mourners, to the eye, could not have been chosen. Their faces, with, it may be, a hardened or indifferent exception, wear the most solemn of expressions, and their step is as slow as if 106 UAED TACK AND COFFEE. they were following a muffled drum beating the requiem of a deceased comrade. Having arrived at the place of sepulture, the first business is to dig a grave close to each body, so that it may be easily rolled in. But if there has been no fun before, it commences when the rolling in begins. The Hardened Exception, wlio THE MOURNERS. has occupied much of liis time while digging in sketching distasteful pictures for the Profane Man to swear at, now makes a change of base, and calls upon the Paper-Collar Young Man to " take hold and help roll in," which the young man reluctantly and gingerly does ; but when the noxious gases begin to make their presence manifest, and the Hard- ened Wretch hands him an axe to break the legs that would otherwise protrude from the grave, it is the last straw to an already overburdened sentimental soul ; his emotions over- power him, and, turning his back on the deceased, he utters something which sounds like "hurrah! without the h," as Mark Twain puts it, repeating it with increasing emphasis. But he is not to express his enthusiasm on this question alone a great while. Tliere are more sympathizers in the JONAHS AND BEATS. 107 party than he had anticipated, and not recruits either ; and in less time than I have taken to relate it more than half the detail, gallantly led off by the officer of the day, are standing about, leaning over at various angles like the tomb- stones in an old cemetery, disposing of their hardtack and coffee, and looking as if ready to throw up even the con- IIUUKAH WITHOUT THE H." tract. The profane man is among them, and just as often as he can catch his breath long enough he blank blanks the government and then dives again. The rest of the detail stand not far away holding on to their sides and roaring with laughter. But I must drop the curtain on this picture. It has been said that one touch of nature makes the wliole world kin. Be that as it may, certain it is that the officer, the good duty soldier, the recruit, and the beat, after an occasion of this kind, had a common bond of sympathy, wliich went far towards levelling military distinctions be- tween them. CHAPTER VII. ARMY RATIONS : WHAT THEY WERE. HOW THEY WERE DISTRIBUTED. — HOW THEY WERE COOKED. " Here's a pretty mess I " The Mikado. "God bless tlie pudding, God bless the meat, God bless us all; Sit down and eat." A Harvard Student's Blessing, 1796. ALL in for your rations, Company A ! " My theme is Army Rations. And while what I have to say on this subject may be applicable to all of the armies of the Union in large measure, yet, as they did not fare just alike, I will say, once for all, that my descriptions of army life pertain, when not otherwise speci- fied, especially to that life as it was lived in the Army of the Potomac. In beginning, I wish to say that a false impression has obtained more or less currency both with regard to the quantity and quality of the food furnished the soldiers. I have been asked a great many times whether I always got enough to eat in the army, and have surprised inquirers by answer- ing in the affirmative. Now, some old soldier may say who sees my reply, " Well, you were lucky. I didn't." But I should at once ask him to tell me for how long a time his regiment was ever without food of some kind. Of course, 108 ARMY RATIONS. 109 I am not now referring to our prisoners of war, who starved by the thousands. And I should be very much surprised if he should say more than twenty-four or thirty hours, at the outside. I would grant that he himself might, perhaps, have been so situated as to be deprived of food a longer time, possibly when he was on an exposed picket post, or serving as rear-guard to the army, or doing something which separated him temporarily from his company ; but his case THE COOPER SHOl', PHILADELPHIA. would be the exception and not the rule. Sometimes, when active operations were in progress, the army was compelled to wait a few hours for its trains to come up, but no general hardship to the men ever ensued on this account. Such a contingency was usually known some time in advance, and the men would husband their last issue of rations, or, per- haps, if the country admitted, would make additions to their bill of fare in the shape of poultry or pork; — usually it was the latter, for the Southerners do not pen up their swine as do the Northerners, but let them go wandering about, get- ting their living much of the time as best they can. Tliis 110 11 ABB TACK AND COFFEE. led some one to say jocosely, with no disrespect intended to the people however, " that every other person one meets on a Southern street is a hog." They certainly were quite abundant, and are to-day, in some form, the chief meat food of that section. But on the point of scarcity of rations I believe my statement will be generally agreed to by old soldiers. Now, as to the quality the case is not quite so clear, but still the picture has been often overdrawn. There were, it is true, large quantities of stale beef or salt horse — as the men were wont to call it — served out, and also rusty, un- wholesome pork ; and I presume the word " hardtack " sug- gests to the uninitiated a piece of 23etrified bread honey- combed with bugs and maggots, so much has this article of army diet been reviled by soldier and civilian. Indeed, it is a rare occurrence for a soldier to allude to it, even at this late day, without some reference to its hardness, the date of its manufacture, or its propensity for travel. But in spite of these unwholesome rations, whose existence no one calls in question, of which I have seen — I must not say eaten — large quantities, I think the government did well, under the circumstances, to furnish the soldiers with so good a quality of food as they averaged to receive. Unwholesome rations were not the rule, they were the exception, and it was not the fault of the government that these were fur- nished, but very often the intent of the rascally, thieving contractors who supplied them, for which they received the price of good rations ; or, perhaps, of the iDspectors, who were in league with the contractors, and who therefore did not alwaj^s do their duty. No language can be too strong to express the contempt every patriotic man, woman, and child must feel for such small-souled creatures, many of whom are to-day rolling in the riches acquired in this way and other ways equally disreputable and dishonorable. I will now give a complete list of the rations served out to the rank and file, as I remember them. They were salt pork, AEMY RATIONS. Ill fresh beef, salt beef, rarely ham or bacon, hard bread, soft bread, potatoes, an occasional onion, flour, beans, split pease, rice, dried apples, dried peaches, desiccated vegetables, coffee, tea, sugar, molasses, vinegar, candles, soap, pepper, and salt. It is scarcely necessary to state that these were not all served out at one time. There was but one kind of meat served at once, and this, to use a Hibernianism, was usually THE UNION VOLUNTEER SALOON, PHILADELPHIA. pork. When it was hard bread, it wasn't soft bread or flour, and when it was pease or beans it wasn't rice. Here is just what a single ration comprised, that is, what a soldier was entitled to have in one day. He should have had twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound four ounces of salt or fresh beef; one pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one pound of hard bread, or one pound four ounces of corn meal. With every hundred such rations there should have been distributed one peck of beans or pease ; ten pounds of rice or hominy ; ten pounds of green coffee, or eight pounds of roasted and ground, or one pound eight ounces of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; one pound four ounces of candles ; four pounds of soap ; two quarts of salt ; four 112 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. quarts of vinegar ; four ounces of pepper ; a half bushel of potatoes when practicable, and one quart of molasses. De- siccated potatoes or desiccated compressed vegetables might be substituted for the beans, pease, rice, hominy, or fresh potatoes. Vegetables, the dried fruits, pickles, and pickled cabbage were occasionally issued to prevent scurvy, but in small quantities. But the ration thus indicated was a camp ration. Here is the marching ration: one pound of hard bread; three - fourths of a pound of salt pork, or one and one-fourth pounds of fresh meat ; sugar, coffee, and salt. The beans, rice, soap, candles, etc., were not issued to the soldier when on the march, as he could not carry them ; but, singularly enough, as it seems to me, unless the troops went into camp before the end of the month, where a regular depot of sup- plies might be established from which the other parts of the rations could be issued, they were forfeited^ and reverted to the goveryiment — an injustice to the rank and file, who, through no fault of their own, were thus cut off from a part of their allowance at the time when they were giving most liberally of their strength and perhaps of their very heart's blood. It was possible for company commanders and for no one else to receive the equivalent of these missing parts of the ration iii cash from the brigade commissary, with the expectation that when thus received it would be distributed among the rank and file to whom it belonged. Many officers did not care to trouble themselves with it, but many others did, and — forgot to pay it out afterwards. I have yet to learn of the first company whose members ever received any revenue from such a source, although the name of Com- pany Fund is a familiar one to every veteran. The commissioned officers fared better in camp than the enlisted men. Instead of drawing rations after the manner of the latter, they had a certain cash allowance, according to rank, with which to purchase supplies from the Brigade Commissary, an official whose province was to keep stores ABMY BATIONS. Hg on sale for their convenience. The monthly allowance of officers in infantry, including servants, was as follows: Colonel, six rations worth $56, and two servants ; Lieuten- A BRIGADE COMMISSARY AT BRANDY STATION, VA. ant-Colonel, five ra- tions Avorth $45, and two servants ; Major, four rations worth $36, and two servants ; Captain, four ra- tions worth $36, and one servant ; First and Second Lieuten- ants, jointly, the same as Captains. In addition to the above, the field officers had an allowance of horses and forage proportioned to their rank. I will speak of the rations more in detail, beginning with the hard bread, or, to use the name by which it was known in the Arni}^ of the Potomac, Hardtach. What was hard- tack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which I have in iny possession as mementos measure three and one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although these biscuits were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, and ten in others ; but tliere were usually enough for those who wanted more, as some men would not draw them. While hardtack was nutritious, yet a hungry man could eat his ten in a short time and still be hungry. When they were poor and fit objects for the soldiers' wrath, it was due to one 114 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. of three conditions : First, they may have been so hard that they could not be bitten ; it then required a very strong- blow of the fist to break them. The cause of this hardness it would be difficult for one not an expert to determine. f7^ ^^( - ,; 77 ,(,., T^7^r^77>r; :iuiii'-'ii,iiitii( n ^"■f(('in,({ii"i<' A HAUD-TACR — FULL SIZE. This variety certainly well deserved their name. They could not be soaked soft, but after a time took on the elasticity of gutta-percha. The second condition was when they were mouldy or wet, as sometimes happened, and should not have been given to the soldiers. I think this condition was often due to their having been boxed up too soon after baking. It certainly AEMY RATIONS. 115 was freqiientj}^ due to exposure to the weather. It was no uncommon sight to see thousands of boxes of hard bread piled up at some railway station or other place used as a base of supplies, where they were only imperfectly sheltered from the weather, and too often not sheltered at all. The failure of inspectors to do their full duty was one reason that so many of this sort reached the rank and' file of the service. The third condition was when from storage they had be- come infested with maggots and weevils. These weevils were, in my experience, more abundant than the maggots. They were a little, slim, brown bug an eighth of an inch in length, and were great bores on a small scale, having the ability to completely riddle the hardtack. I believe they never interfered with the hardest variety. When the bread was mouldy or moist, it was thrown away and made good at the next drawing, so that the men were not the losers ; but in the case of its being infested with the weevils, they had to stand it as a rule ; for the biscuits had to be pretty thoroughly alive, and well covered with the webs which these creatures left, to insure condemnation. An ex- ception occurs to me. Two cargoes of hard bread came to City Point, and on being examined by an inspector were found to be infested with weevils. This fact was brought to Grant's attention, who would not allow it landed, greatly to the discomfiture of the contractor, who had been attempting to bulldoze the inspector to pass it. The quartermasters did not alwaj^s take as active an inter- est in righting such matters as they should have done ; and when the men growled at them, of course they were virtu- ously indignant and prompt to shift the responsibility to the next higher power, and so it passed on until the real culprit could not be found. But hardtack was not so bad an article of food, even when traversed by insects, as may be supposed. Eaten in the dark, no one could tell tlie difference between it and hardtack that 116 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. was untenanted. It was no uncommon occurrence for a man to find the surface of his pot of coffee swimming with weevils, after breaking up hardtack in it, which had come out of the fragments only to drown ; but they were easily skimmed off, and left no distinctive flavor behind. If a soldier cared to do A BOX OF HARDTACK. so, he could expel the weevils by heating the bread at the fire. The maggots did not budge in that way. The most of the hard bread was made in Baltimore, and put up in boxes of sixty pounds gross, fift}^ pounds net ; and it is said that some of the storehouses in which it was kept would swarm with weevils in an incredibly short time after the first box was infested with them, so rapidly did these pests multiply. Having gone so far, I know the reader will be interested to learn of the styles in which this particular article was- served up by the soldiers. I say styles because I think there must have been at least a score of ways adopted to make this s,\\n\Ae fiour tile more edible. Of course, many of them were eaten just as they were received — hardtack plaiii ; then I have already spoken of their being crumbed in coffee, giving the " hardtack and coffee." Probably more were eaten in this way than in any other, for they thus frequently fur- nished the soldier his breakfast and supper. But there were ABMY RATIONS. 117 other and more appetizing ways of preparing them. Many of the soldiers, partly through a slight taste for the business but more from force of circumstances, became in their way and opinion experts in the art of cooking the greatest variety of dishes with the smallest amount of capital. Some of these crumbed them in soups for want of other thickening. For this purpose they served very well. Some FKYIN /TV /?s '^- ^I^EP^^: r-rrn :-=rpz:zNT=|r— p: :»^--:t-^ :t=r P=fi«: :d=f "•i' — hi •— ^^ :pi^i^p: :t--=tt: :b: -(2_.- — I — ^ — ^- t ;^ — ^-1 — I — H-h^-^-d-'W-H-l— 1 — ^— F*-»-i — ^ — ^-1 — I- — I— F*-^^-S— i-tl ■^i^=T^rz :b=E=y-EbgrJb:g:E:Ei:=i^Ebr*:E:tzg£± F---*- ^ /r\ /TV *-f- -f^ =t=: -^--^-H- :=i: -i^-» A DAY IN CAMP. 135 Ere the last tone had died away, we could hear, when camped near enough to the infantry for the purpose, a very comical medley of names and responses coming from the several company streets of the various regiments within ear-shot. It was " Jones ! "— - Brown ! "— " Smith ! "— " Joe Smith ! "-"Green ! "-" Gray ! "-" O'Neil ! "--O'Reilly ! " — "O'Brien!" and so on through the nationalities, only that the names were intermingled. Then, the responses were replete with character. I believe it to be among the abilities of a man of close observation to write out quite at length prominent characteristics of an entire company, by noting carefully the manner in which the men answer " Here ! "''at roll-call. Every degree of pitch in the gamut was represented. Every degree of force had its exponent. Some answered in a low voice, only to tease the sergeant, and roar out a second answer when called again. There were upward slides and downward slides, guttural tones and nasal tones. Occasionally, some one would answer for a messmate, who was absent ^vithout leave, and take his chances of being detected in the act. Darkness gave cover to much good-natured knavery. Tattoo was blown in artillery with the company at » Pa- rade Rest," as at Reveille. The roll-call and reports followed just as before, and the company was then dismissed. Well do I recall, after the lapse of more than twenty years, the melodious tones of this little bit of army music coming to our ears so consecutively from various parts of the army as to make continuous vibrations for nearly fifteen minutes, softened and sweetened by varying distances, as more than a thousand bugles gave tongue to the still and clear evening air, telling us that in the time specified a hundred thousand men had come out of their rude temporary homes — possibly the last ones they would ever occupy — to respond to then- names, and give token that, though Nature's pall had now overshadowed the earth, they were yet loyally at their posts awaiting further orders for their country's service. 19G HARD TACK AND COFFEE. After this roll-call was over, the men had half an hour in which to make their beds, put on their nightcaps, and adjust themselves for sleep, as at nine o'clock Taps was sounded, which in the artillery ran as follows : — Taps. -■1- 11 In the infantry, the bugle-call for Taps was identical with the Tattoo call in artillery. At its conclusion a drummer beat a few single, isolated taps, which closed the army day. At this signal all lights must be put out, all talking and other noises cease, and every man, except the guard, be inside his quarters. In a previous chapter I think I stated that the Black List caught the men who violated this regu- lation. Some officers enforced it with greater rigidity than others, but all must have a quiet camp. Yet here, as elsewhere, rank interposed to shield culprits from violations of military regulations, and, while the private soldier was punished for burning his candle or talking to his messmate after the bugle-signal, general, field, staff, or line officers could and did get together and carouse, and make the night turbulent with their revelry into the small hours, with no one to molest or call thein to an account for it, although making tenfold the disturbance ever caused by the liigh private after hours. Taps ended the army day for all branches of the service, and, unless an alarm broke in upon the stillness of the night, the soldiers were left to their slumbers ; or, what was oftener the case, to meditations on home ; the length of time in months and days they must serve before returning thither ; their prospects of surviving the vicissitudes of war ; of the A DAY IN CAMP. 197 boys who once answered roll-call with them, now camped over across the Dark River ; or of plans for business, or social relations to be entered upon, if they should survive the war. All these, and a hundred other topics which fur- nished abundant field for air-castle-building, would chase one another through the mind of the soldier-dreamer, till his brain would grow weary, his eyes heavy, and balmy sleep would softly steal him away from a world of trouble into the realm of sweet repose and pleasant dreams. CHAPTER X. RAW RECRUITS. She asked for men, and viphe spoke, my handsome and hearty Sam, " I'll die for the dear old Union, if she'll take me as I am " : And if a better man than he there's mother that can show, From Maine to Minnesota, then let the people know. Lucy Larcom. ANY facts bearing upon the subject of this sketch have been already presented in the opening chapter, but much more remains to be tokl, and the reader will pardon me, I trust, for now injecting a little bit of personal history to illustrate what thousands of j^oung men were doing at that time, and had been doing for months, as it leads up directly to the theme about to be considered. After I had obtained the reluctant consent of my father to enlist, — my mother never gave hers, — the next step nec- essar}' was to make selection of the organization with which to identify my fortunes. I well remember the to me eventful AuQ^ust evenincj when that decision to enlist was arrived at. The Union army, then under McClellan,had been driven from before Richmond in the disastrous Peninsular campaign, and now the Rebel army, under General Lee, was marching on Washington. President Lincoln had issued a call for three 198 HAW liECEUITS. 199 hundred thousand three-years' volunteers. One evening, shortl}^ after this call was made, I met three of my former school-mates and neighbors in the chief village of the town I then called home, and, after a brief discussion of the out- look, one of the quartette challenged, or "stumped,'^' the others to enlist. The challenge was promptly accepted all around, and hands were shaken to bind the agreement. I will add in passing, that three of the four stood by that agreement ; the fourth was induced by increased wages to remain with his employer, although he entered the service later in the war, and bears a shell scar on his face to attest his honorable service. After the decision had been reached, not to be revoked on my part as 1 fully determined, I returned to my home, and either that night or the next morning informed my father of the resolution I had taken. Instead of interposing an emphatic objection, as he had done the previous year, he said, in substance, "Well, you know I do not want you to go, but it is very evident that a great many more must go, and if you have fully determined upon it I shall not object." Having already determined upon the arm of the service which I should enter, accompanied by three other acquaint- ances of the same opinion, two of them the school-fellows mentioned, I started for Cambridge, with a view of seeing Captain Porter, who was then at home recruiting for the First Massachusetts Battery, which he commanded, and enlisting with him, as there were at least two men in his company who were fellow-townsmen. But we were much disappointed when the Captain informed us that his com- pany was now recruited to the number required. However. we directed our steps back to Boston without delay, and there, in the second story of the Old State House, enlisted in a new organization then rapidly filling. Here is a copy of a certificate, still in my possession, which I was to present on enlisting. It tells its own stoiy. 200 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. VOLUNTEER ENLISTMENT. STATE OF ^^^^^^ TOWX OF I, born in in tlie State of aged years, and by occupation a Do hereby acknowledge to have voUmteered this day of 18 5 to serve as a Soldier in the ^rmjr of the 'Sniteir S)tatcs of gimtrita, for the ]jeriod of THREE YEARS, unless sooner discharged by proper autliority : Do also agree to accept such bounty, pay, rations, and clotliing, as are, or may be, established by law for volunteers. And I, do solemnly swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whomsoever; and that I will observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the liules and Articles of War. Sworn and subscribed to, at "^ this day of 18 , '■- Befork ) I GER TIFY, OX HONOR, That I have carefully examined the above named Voluuteer, agreeably to the General Regulations of the Army, and that in my opinion he is free from all bodily defects and mental infirmity, which would, in any way, disqualify him from performing the duties of a soldier. Examining Surgeon. I CERTIFY, ON HONOR, That I have minutely inspected the Vol- unteer, previously to his enlistment, and that he was entirely sober Avhen enlisted; that, to the best of my judgment and belief, he is of lawful age ; and that, in accepting him as duly qualified to perform the duties of an able-bodied soldier, I have strictly observed the Regulations which govern the recruiting service. This soldier has eyes, hair, complexion, is feet inches high. Regiment of Volunteers. Recruiting Officer. RAW RECRUITS. 201 DECLARATION OF RECRUIT. g^ desiring to VOLUNTEER as a Soldier in the Army of the United States, for the term of THREE YEARS, Do Declare, That I am years and months of age; That I have never been discharged from the United States service on account of disability or by sentence of a court-martial, or by order before the expiration of a term of enlistment; and 1 know of no impediment to my serving honestly and faithfully as a soldier for three years. Given at The day of Witness : O V fi^ o; 5:^ e 5?H O ft:; '^ CONSENT IN CASE OF MINOR. I Do CERTIFY, That I am the father of that the said is years of age; and I do hereby freely give my consent to his volunteering as a Soldier in the Army of the United States for the period of three years. Given at the day of 186 . Witness : 202 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. How often in later years did the disappointment I experi- enced at not obtaining niembersliip in the company I at first decided upon recur to me, and how grateful I always felt for the fate which thus controlled my enlistment. For the lot of a recruit in an old company was, at the best, not an envi- able one, and sometimes was made very disagreeable for him. He stood in much the same relation to the vetei'ans of his company tliat the Freshman in college does to the Sophomores, or did when hazing was the rule and not the exception. It is to be remembered that he was utterly devoid of experience in everything which goes to make up the soldier, the details of camping, cooking, drilling, nuxrch- ing, fighting, etc., which put him at a disadvantage on all occasions. For this reason he easily became the butt of a large number of his company — not all, for there were some men who were ever ready to extend sympathy and furnish information to him, when they saw it was needed, and did what they could to raise him to the same general plane occupied by the old members. But many of the veterans seemed to forget how they themselves obtained their army education little by little, and so ofttimes bore down on recruits with great severity. In the later years of the war, when large bounties were being paid by town, city, and State governments, to encour- age enlistments, these recruits were often addressed as " bounty-jumpers " by the evil disposed among the old members. But that term was a misnomer, unless these men proved later that they were deserving of it, for a bounty-jumper was a man — I hate to call him one — who enlisted only to get the bounty, and deserted at the ear- liest opportunity. Recruits, it should be said, as a class, stood the abuse which was heaped upon them with much greater serenity of temper than they should have done, and, indeed, so anxious were they to win favor with the veterans, and to earn the right to be called and pass for old soldiers, BAW RECRUITS. 203 tliat they generally bore indignities without turning upon their assailants. The term "recruit" in the mouth of a veteran was a very reproachful one, Init after one good brush with the enemy it was dropped, if the new men behaved well under fire. In fact, those who abused the recruits most were themselves, as a rule, the most unreliable in action and the greatest shirks when on camp duty. A WOOD DETAIL. Wlien a detail made up of recruits and veterans was sent with the wagons for wood, the recruits would be patted on the back by their wily associates, and cajoled into doing most of the chopping, and then challenged to lift the heaviest end of the logs into the wagons, which they seldom refused to do. In the artillery, it usually fell to their lot to care for the spare and used-up horses, not from any intention of imposing upon them, but because cannoneers and drivers had their regular tasks to perform, and all recruits entering the artillery l)egan as spare men, and worked uj) from the position of private to that of the highest private — a cannoneer. 204 BAUD TACK AND COFFEE. The}^ always came to camp " flush "' witli money, and received every encouragement from the bummers of the company to spend it freely ; if they did not do this, they were in a degree ostracised, and their lot made much harder. When their boxes of goodies arrived from home, the lion's share went to the old hands. If tlie recruit did not give it to them, the meanest of them would steal it when he was away on detail. Then, all sorts of games were played on recruits by men who liked nothing so well as a practical joke. I recall the case of a j^oung man in my own company who had just arrived, and, having been to the quartermaster for his outfit of clothing and equipments, was asked by one of the prac- tical jokers why he did not get his umbrella. "Do they furnish an umbrella?" he asked. " Why, certainly," said his persecutor, unblushingly. " It's just like that fraud of a quartermaster to jew a recruit out of a part of his outfit, to sell for his own benefit. Go back and demmid your umbrella of him, and a good one too ! " And the poor beguiled recruit returned to the quarter- master in high dudgeon at the imagined attempt to swindle him, only to find, after a little breeze, that he had been victimized by one of the practical jokers of the camp. There were at least two kinds of recruits to be found in every squad that arrived in camp. One of these classes was made up of modest, straightforward men, who accepted their new situation with its deprivations gracefully, and brought no sugar-plums to camp with which to ease their entrance into stern life on government fare and the hard- ships of government service. They wore the government clothing as it was furnished them, from the unshapely, un- comely forage cap to the shoddy, inelastic sock. It mat- tered naught to them that the limited stock of the quarter- master furnished nothing that fitted tliem. They accepted what he tendered cheerfully, believing it to be all riglit, and seemed as happy and as much at ease in a wilderness of RAW RECRUITS. 205 overcoat aiul breeches as otliers did who had been artisti- cally renovated by the company tailor. But they were none the less ludicrous and unsoldierly sights to look upon KIXKUITS IN UNIFORM. in such rigs, and after a while would see themselves as others saw them, and "spruce up" somewhat. These men drew their army rations to the full, not slight- ing the " salt horse," which I have intimated was rarely taken by old soldiers. They found no fault when detailed for fatigue duty, were always ready to learn, and in every way seemed anxious only to do the proper thing to be done, hoping by such a course to win a speedy and easy ascent to the plane of importance occupied by the veterans ; and this course undoubtedly did much to give them caste in the eyes of the latter. Unlike these men in many particulars was the other class of recruits. This latter class was not modest or retiring in demeanor. Its members came to camp in a uniform calcu- lated to provoke impertinent remarks from the old vets. Their caps were from the store of a professional hatter, and the numbers and emblem on the crown were of silver and gilt iustead of homely brass. Their clothing was generally 206 HAEl) TACK AND COFFEK. custom-niade. The pantaloons in particular were not only made to fit well, but were of the finest material obtainable, much unlike the government shoddy which covered the old veteran, and through whose meshes peas of ordinary calibre Avould almost rattle. Then, their boots ! such masterpieces of elegance and extravagance I Of the cavalry pattern, reaching above the knee, almost doing away with the necessity for pantaloons, sometimes of plain grained leather, sometimes of enamelled, elaborately stitched and stamped, but always seeming to mark their occupant as a man of note and distinction among his comrades. They seemed a sort of fortification about their owner, protecting him from too close contact with his vulgar surroundings. Alas ! it never required more than one day's hard march in these dashing appen- dages to humble their possessor so much that he would evacuate in as good order as possible when camp was reached, if not compelled to. before. Their underwear was such as the common herd did not use in service. Their shirts were " boiled," that is, white ones, or, if woollen, were of some " loud " checkered pat- tern, only less consjDicuous than the flag which they had sworn to defend. In brief, their general make-up would have stamped them as military "-dudes," had such a class of creatures been tlien extant. Of course, it was their privilege to wear whatever did not conflict with Army Regulations, but I am giving the impressions they made on the minds of the old soldiers. As for government rations, they scoffed at them so long- as there was a dollar of bounty left, and a sutler within reach of camp to spend it with. But when the treasury was exhausted they were disconsolate indeed, and wished that the wicked war was over, with all their hearts. On fatigue duty they were useless at- first, and the old soldiers niade their lot an unhappy one ; but by dint of bulldozing and an abundance of hard service, most of them got their RAW RECRUITS. 207 fine sentimental notions pretty well knocked out before they had been many weeks in camp. The sergeants into whose hands they were put for instruction did not spare them, keeping them hard at work until the recall from drill. It was fun in the artillery to see one of these dainty nien, on his first arrival, put in charge of a pair of spare horses, — spare enough, too, usually. It was expected of him that he would groom, feed, and water them. As it often happened that such a man had had no experience in the care of horses, he would naturally approach the sub- ject with a good deal of awe. When the Watering Call blew, therefore, and the bridles and horses were pointed out to him by the sergeant, the fun began. Taking the bridle, he would look first at it, then at the horse, as if in doubt which end of him to put it on. In going to water, the drivers always bridled the horse which they rode, and led the other by the halter. But our unfledged soldier seemed innocent of all proper information. For the first day or two he would lead his charges ; then, as his courage grew with acquaintance, he would finally mount the near one, and, with his legs crooked up like a V, cling for dear life until he got his lesson learned in this direction. But all the time that he was getting initiated he was a ridiculous object to observers. The drilling of raw recruits of both the classes mentioned was no small part of the trials that fell to the lot of billeted officers, for they got hold of some of the crookedest sticks to make straight military men of that the country — or, rather, comitries — produced. Not the least among the obstacles in the way of making good soldiers of them was A SPARE MAN AND SPAKE HORSES- 208 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. the fact that the recruits of 1864-5, in particular, included many who could neither speak nor understand a word of English. In referring to the disastrous battle of Reams Station, not long since, the late General Hancock told me that the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment had received an accession of about two hundred German i-ecruits only two or three days before the battle, not one of whom could understand the orders of their commandinsf officers. It can DRILLING THE AWIvWAKD SQUAD. be easily imagined how much time and patience would be required to mould such subjects as those into intelligent, reliable soldiery. But outside of this class there were scores of men that spoke English who would " hay-foot " every time when they should "• straw-foot." They were incorrigibles in almost every military respect. Whenever they were out with a squad — usually the "awkward squad" — for drill, they made business lively enough for the sergeant in charge. When they stood in the rear rank their loftiest ambition seemed to be to walk up the backs of tlieir file-leaders, and then they would insist that it was the file-leaders who were out of step. Members of the much abused front rank often RAW RECRUirS. 209 liad occasion to wish that the reguhation thirteen inches from breast to back might be extended to as many feet; but when the march was backward in line, these front rank men woukl get square with their persecutors in the rear. To see such men attempt to change step while marching was no mean show. I can tliiidc of nothing more apt to compare it with than the game of Hop Scotch, in which the player hops first on one foot, then on both ; or to the blue jay, which, in uttering one of its notes, jamps up and down on the limb ; and if such a squad under full headway were surprised with a sudden command to halt, they went all to pieces. It was no eas}' task to align them, for each man had a line of his own, -and they would crane their heads out to see the buttons on the breast of the second man, to such an extent that the sergeant miglit have ex- claimed, witli the Irish sergeant under like circumstances, '-' O be-gorra, what a bint row ! Come out liere, lads, and take a look at yoursels ! " The awkward squad excelled equally in the infantry manual-of-arms. Indeed, they displayed more real indi- viduality here, I think, than in the marchings, probably because it was the more noticeable. At a "shoulder" their nuiskets pointed at all angles, from forty-five degrees to a vertical. In the attempt to change to a " carry," a part of them would drop their muskets. At an "order," no two of the butts reached the ground together, and if a man could not always drop his musket on his own toe he was a pretty correct shot with it on the toe of his neighbor. But, with all their awkwardness and slowness at becoming acquainted with a soldier's duties, the recruits of the earlier years in time of need behaved manfully. They made a poor exhibi- tion on dress parade, but could generally be counted on when more serious wcn-k was in hand. Sometimes, when they made an unusually poor display on drill or parade, they were punished — unjustly it may have been, for what 210 HAlil) TACK AND COFFEE. they could not help — by being subjected to the knapsack drill, of which I have already spoken. It was a prudential circumstance that the war came to an end \vheu it did, for the qualit}^ of the material that was sent to the army in 1864 and 1865 was for the most part of no credit or value to any arm of the service. The jDeriod of enlistments from promptings of patriotism had gone b}-, and the man who entered the army solely from mercenary motives was of little or no assistance to that army when it was in need of valiant men, so that the cliief burden and responsi- bility of the closing wrestle for the mastery necessarily fell largely on the shoulders of the men who bared their breasts for the first time in 1861, "62, and '63. I have thus far spoken of a recruit in the usual sense of a man enlisted to fill a vacancy in an organization already in the field. But this seems the proper connection in wdiich to say something of the experiences of men who enlisted with original regiments, and went out with the same in '61 and '62. In many respects, their education was obtained under as great adversity as fell to the lot of recruits. In some respects, I think their lot was harder. They knew abso- lutely nothing of war. They were stirred by patriotic im- pulse to enlist and crush out treason, and hurl back at once in the teeth of the enemy the charge of co\vardice and accept their challenge to the arbitrament of w'ar. These patriots planned just two moves for the execution of this desire: first, to enlist — to join some company or regiment; second, to have tliat regiment transferred at once to the immediate front of the Rebels, where they could fight it out and settle the troubles without delay. Their intense fervor to do something/ right away to humble the haughty enemy, made them utterly unmindful that they must first go to school and learn the art of war from its very begin- nings, and right at that point their sorrows began. I thiids; the greatest cross they bore consisted in being- compelled to settle down in home camp, as some regiments HAW uECRUirs. 211 did for months, waiting to be sent off. Here tliey were in sight of home in many cases, yet outside of its comforts to a large extent ; soldiers, yet out of danger ; bidding their friends a tender adieu to-day, because they are to leave them — perhaps forever — to-morrow. But the morrow comes, and finds them still in camp. Yes, there were soldiers who bade their friends a long good-by in the morning, and started for camp expecting that very noon or afternoon to leave for the tented field, but who at night returned again to spend a few hours more at the homestead, as the de- parture of the regiment had been unexpectedly deferred. The soldiers underwent a great deal of wear and tear from false alarms of this kind, owing to various reasons. Sometimes the regiment failed to depart because it was not full ; sometimes it was awaiting its field officers ; some- times complete equipments were not to be had ; sometimes it was delaj-ed to join an expedition not 3-et ready ; and thus, in one way or other, the men and their friends were kept long on the tiptoe of exi)ectation. Whenever a rumor be- came prevalent that the regiment was surely going to leave on a certain da}^ near at hand, straightway there was an exodus from camp for home, some obtaining a furlough, but more going without one, to take anotlier touching leave all around, for the dozenth time perhaps. Many of those wlio lived too far away to be sure of returning in time, remained in camp, and telegraphed friends to meet them at some large centre, as they passed through on the specified day, which of course the friends faithfully tried to do, and succeeded if the regiment set forth as rumored. I said that many soldiers went home without furloughs. There was a camp guard hemming in every rendezvous for troops, with which I was familiar; but no sentinel could see a man cross his beat if he did not look at him, and this few of them did. Indeed, many of the sentinels themselves, as soon as they were })Osted and the relieving squad were out of sight, stuck their inverted nuiskets into the ground and 212 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. decamped, either for their two hours or for the day, and took their chances of being brought to answer for it. The fact is, the men of '61 and '62 ivanted to go to ivar, and, whether they left the camp witli or without leave, they were sure to return to it. This fact was quite generally understood by their superiors. This home camp life seems interesting to look back upon. Hundreds of men did not spend one day in six in camp. They came often enough to have it known that they had not deserted, and then flitted again, but other hundreds conscientiously remained. The company streets on every pleasant day were radiant with the costumes of "fair women, and brave men " — to he. On such a day a young man sauntering along the parade, or winding in and out of the various company streets, the willing prisoner of one or more interesting j^oung women — his sisters, perhaps, or somebody else's — walked, the envy of the men who had no such friends to enliven their camp life, or whose friends were too far away to visit them. If these latter men secured an introduction to such a party, it tempered their loneliness somewhat. And if such a party entered a tent, and joined in the social round, it made a merry gathering while they tarried. But there were other promenaders whose passing aroused no emotions of envy. The husband and father attended by the loving wife and mother, whose brow had already begun to wear that sober aspect arising from a fore- casting of the future, seeing, possibly, in the contingencies of war, herself a widow, her children fatherless — dependent on her own unaided hands for all of this world's comforts, which must be provided for the helplessness of childhood and youth. The husband, too, leading his boy or girl by the hand as he walks, is not unmindful of the risks he has assumed or the comforts he must sacrifice. But his hand is on the plough, and he will not turn back. Another interesting party often to be seen in the company street comprised a father, motlier, and son, perhaps an only If AW RECliUITS. 213 boy, who had volunteered for the wav. Their reluctance at the step which he had taken was manifested by turns n th lri:oks, words, and acts. But while he -™--d '" ^e State they must be with him as much as poss.ble. See that carpet-bag which the mother opens, as they take a sea on he t raw in the son's tent ! Notice the sohotnde wh.ch s e betrays as she takes out one comfort or convemence ateranotLr-the socks for cold weather, the woo lens to tv d off fever and ague, the medicine to antidote foul water, Zl ttle roll of bandages which - may he never have occa- s on for; the dozen other con,forts that he ought to be pm- 7L with, including some goodies which he had better take Tom if the regiment should chance to go in a day or two. td'so she lolds him up -God bless her !- nttery un- mindful that the government has ■'-^^3' Pr-cle hun with more than he can carry very far with h,s unaided strength. npdlers of " Yankee notions," Then, the camps were full ot peuieis oi which soldiers were supposed to stand in need of. I shall refer to some of these in another connection. The lesson ot submission to higher military authority was a hard one for free, honest American citizens to l«u.i, and while learning it, they chafed tremendously. It was d.th u £ then? to realize the difference between men «iead for a little more time. It could not be granted. If onr troops were green and inexperi- enced, it was urged, so were the Rebels. It is said that because he saw fit to review a body of eiglit regiments he was charged with attempting to make a show, so impatient was public sentiment to have rebellion put down. So having done no more than to arrange his regiments in brigades, without giving them an}- discipline as such, with- out an organized artillery, without a commissariat, without even a staff to aid him, McDowell, dividing his force, of about 35,000 men, into live divisions, put four of them in motion from the Virginia bank of the Potomac against the enemy, and tlie result was — Bull Run, a battle in which brigade commanders did not know their commands and soldiers did not know their generals. In reality, the battle was one of regiments, rather than of brigades, the regiments fighting more or less independently. But better things were in store. Bull Run, while comparatively disastrous as a battle-field, Avas a grand success to the North in other respects. It sobered, for a time at least, the hasty reckless s[)irits who believed that the South would not fight, and who were so unceasingly thorning the President to immediate decisive action. They were not satisfied, it is true, but they were less importunate, and manifested a willingness to let the •authorities have a short breathing spell, which was at once given to better preparation for the future. All eyes seemed now to turn, by common agreement, to General George B. McClellan, to lead to victory, who was young, who had served with distinction in the Mexican War, had studied European warfare in the Crimea, and, above all, had just finished a successful campaign in West Virginia. He took command of the forces in and around Washington July 27, 1861, a command which then numbered about fifty thousand infantry, one thousand cavalry, and six hundred .and fifty artillerymen, with nine field batteries, such as they 252 HAED TACK AND COFFEE. were, of tliivty guns. A part of these liad belonged to McDowell's Bull Run arni}^ and a part had since arrived from the North. The brigade organization of McDowell was still in force on the Virginia side of the Potomac. I say in force. That statement needs qualifying. I have already said that there was originally no cohesion to these brigades; but since the battle the army was little better than a mob in the respect of disci[)line. Officers and men were absent from their commands without leave. The streets of Washington were swarming with them. But I must not wander too far from the point I have in mind to consider. I only throw in these statements of the situa- tion to sfive a clearer idea of what a tremendous task McClellan had before him. In organizing' the Army of the Potomac he first arranged the infantry in brigades of four regiments each. Then, as fast as new regiments arrived — and at that time, under a recent call of the President for live hundred thousand three years' volunteers, they were coming in very rapidly, — they were formed into temporary brigades, and placed in camp in the suburbs of the city to await their full equipment, which many of them lacked, to become more efficient in the tactics of "Scott" or '•'Hardee," and, in general, to acquire such discipline as would be valu- able in the service before them, as soldiers of the Union. As rapidl}' as these conditions were fairly complied with, regiments were permanently assigned to brigades across the Potomac. After this formation of brigades had made considerable headway, and the troops were becoming better disciplined and tolerably skilled in brigade movements, McClellan began the organization of Divisions, each comprising three brigades. Before the middle of October, 1861, eleven of these divisions had been organized, each including, besides the brigades of infantry specified, from one to four light batteries, and from a company to two regiments of cavalry which had been specially assigned to it. CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 253 The next step in the direction of organization was the formation of Army Corps; but in this matter McClellan moved slowly, not deeming it best to form them until his division commanders had, by experience in the field, shown which of them, if any, had the ability to handle so large a body of troops as a corps. This certainly seemed good judg- ment. The Confederate authorities appear to have been governed by this principle, for they did not adopt the sys- tem of army corps until after the battle of Antietam, in September, 1862. But months had elapsed since Bull Run. Eighteen hundred and sixty-two had dawned. " All quiet along the Potomac " had come to be used as a by-word and reproach. That pov/erful moving force. Public Sentiment, was again crystallizing along its old lines, and making itself felt, and "Why don't the army move?" was the oft-re- peated question wliich gave to the propounder no sat- isfactory answer, because to him, with the public pulse again at fever-beat, no answer could be satisfactory. Meanwhile all these forces propelled their energies and persuasions in one ^,,nd the same direction, the White House ; and President Lincoln, goaded to desperation by their persistence and insistence, issued a War Order March 8, 1862, requiring McClellan to organize his command into five Army Corps. So far, well enough ; but the order went further, and specified who the corps commanders should be, thus depriving him of doing that for which he had waited, and giving him officers in those positions not, in his opinion, the best, in all respects, that could have been selected. But my story is not of the commanders, nor of McClellan, but of the corps, and what I have said will show how they were composed. Let us review for a moment : first, the regiments., each of which, when full, contained one thousand and forty-six men ; four of these composed a brigade ; three brigades were taken to form a division, and three divis- ions constituted a corps. This system was not always rigidly adhered to. Sometimes a corps had a fourth divis- 254 IIAIU) TACK AND COFFEE. ioii, but such a case would be a deviation, and not the regular plan. So, too, a division might have an extra brigade. For example, a brigade might be detached from one part of the service and sent to join an army in another part. Such a brigade would not be allowed to remain independent in that case, but would be at once assigned to some division, usually a division whose brigades were small in numbers. I have said that McClellan made up his brigades of four reo-iments. I think the usual number of regiments for a brigade is three. That gives a system of threes throughout. But in this matter also, after the first organization, the plan was modified. As a brigade became depleted by sickness, cap- ture, and the bullet, new regiments were added, until, as the work of addition and depletion went on, I have known a brio-ade to have within it the skeletons of ten regiments, and even then its strength not half that of the original body, M}' cam}) was located at one time near a regiment which had only tlurtij-eiijht vien present for duty. There were twenty-five army corps in the service, at different times, exclusive of cavalry, engineer, and signal corps, and Hancock's veteran corps. The same causes which operated to reduce brigades and divisions naturall}' decimated corps, so that some of them were consolidated; as, for example, the First and Third Corps were merged in the Second, Fifth, and Sixth, in the spring of 1864. At about the same time the Eleventh and Twelfth were united to form tlie Twentieth. But enougli of corps for the present. What I have stated will make more intelligible what I shall say about CORPS BADGES. Wliat are corps badges ? The answer to this question is somewhat lengthy, but I tliiidc it will be considered interest- ing. The idea of corps badges undoubtedly had its origin with General Philip Kearny, but just hoiv or exactly ivhen CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 255 is somewhat legendary and uncertain. Not having become a membei' of Kearny's old corps until about a year after the idea was promulgated, I have no tradition of my own in regard to it, but I have heard men who served under him tell widely differing stories of the origin of the ' Kearny Patch,' yet all agreeing as to the author of the idea, and also in its application being made first to officers. General E. D. Townsend, late Adjutant-General of the United States Army, in his '-'- Anecdotes of the Civil TFar," has adopted an explanation which, I have no doubt, is substantially correct. He says : — " One day, when his brigade was on the march, General Philip Kearn}', who was a strict disciplinarian, saw some officers standing under a tree by the roadside ; supposing them to be stragglers from his command, he administered to them a rebuke, emphasized by a few expletives. The officers listened in silence, respectfidl}^ standing in the 'posi- tion of a soldier ' until he had finished, when one of them, raising his hand to his cap, quietly suggested that the general had possibly made a mistake, as they none of them belonged to his command. With his usual courtesy, Kearny exclaimed, 'Pardon me ; I will take steps to know how to recognize my own men hereafter.' Immediately ou reaching camp, he issued orders that all officers and men of his brigade should wear conspicuously on the front of their caps a round piece of red cloth to designate them. This became generally known as the ' Kearny Patch.' *' I tliink General Townsend is incorrect in saying that Kearny issued orders immediately on reaching camp for all "officers and men " to wear the patch; first, because the testimou}^ of officers of the old Third Corps to-day is that the order was first directed to officers only., and this would be in harmony with the explanation which I have quoted ; and, second, after the death of Kearny and while his old division was lying at Fort Lyon, Va., Sept. 4, 1862, General D. B. Birney, then in command of it, issued a general order 256 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. announcing his cleatli, wliich closed with the following para- graph : — "As a token of respect for his memory, all the officers of this division will wear crape on the left arm for thirty days, and the colors and drums of regiments and batteries will be placed in mourning for sixty days. To still further show our regard, and to distinguish his officers as he wished, each officer will continue to wear on his cap a piece of scarlet cloth, or have the top or crown-piece of the cap made of scarlet cloth." The italics in the above extract are my own ; but we may fairly infer from it : — First, that up to this date the patch had been required for officers alone, as no mention is made of the rank and file in this order. Second, that General Kearny did not specify the lozenge as the shape of the badge to be worn, as some claim ; for, had such been the case, so punctilious a man as General Birney would not have referred in general orders to a lozenge as " a piece of scarlet cloth," nor have given the option of hav- ing the crown-piece of the cap made of scarlet cloth if the lamented Kearny's instructions had originall}^ been to wear a lozenge. This being so. General Townsend's quoted descrip- tion of the badge as "a round piece of red cloth " is probably erroneous. As there were no red goods at hand when Kearny initia- ted this move, he is said to have given up his own red blan- ket to be cut into these patches. Soon after these emblems came into vogue anions the officers there is strong traditional testimony to show that the men of the rank and file, ivithout general orders, of their own accord cut pieces of red from their overcoat linings, or obtained them from other sources to make patches for them- selves ; and, as to the shape, there are weighty reasons for believing that any piece of red fabric, of whatsoever shape, was considered to answer the purjjose. ISX Dl V. ^^ n_ 1ST Dl V. ST DIV. FIFTH CORPS. 2 NO DIV SIXTH CORPS. L 2 N°DI V, SEVENTH CORPS. 2 N B D I V. EIGHTH CORPS. 3R?DI V. 3 R >? D I V. 3R°D1V. J5TDIV- 2N5.DIV. 3R5DIV. 4Tt'DIV. MclNDOE Bros., Printei^s, boston. COUPS Ayn corps badges. 257 These red patclies took immensely with the "boys." Kearny was a rough soldier in speech, but a perfect dare- devil in action, and his men idolized him. Hence they were only too proud to wear a mark which should distinguish them as members of his gallant division. It was saul to have greatly reduced the straggling in this body, and also to have secured for the wounded or dead that fell into the Rebels' hands a more favorable and considerate atten- tion. There was a special reason, I tldnk, why Kearny should select a red patch for his men, although 1 have never seen it referred to. On the 24th of March, 1862, General McClellan issued a general order prescribing the kinds of flags that should designate corps, division, and brigade head- quarters. In this he directed that the First Division flag should be a red one, six feet by five ; the Second Division blue, and the Third Division a red and blue one ; — botli of the same dimensions as the first. As Kearny commanded the First Division, he would naturally select the same color of patch as his flag. Hence the red patch. The contagion to wear a distinguishing badge extended widely from this simple beginning. It was the most natural thing that could happen for other divisions tO be jealous of any innovation whicli, by comparison, should throw them into the background, for by that time the esprit de corps, the pride of organization, had begun to make itself felt. Realizing this fact, and regarding it as a manifestation that might be turned to good account, ^Major-General Joseph Hooker promulgated a scheme of army corps badges on the 21st of March, 1863, which was the iirst systematic plan submitted in this direction in the armies. Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac Jan. 26, 1863. Gen- eral Daniel Butterfield was made his chief-of-staff, and he, it is said, had much to do with designing and perfecting the first scheme of badges for the army, which appears in the following circular : — 258 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. Headquartkks Akmy of tue Potomac. Circular. March 21, 1863. For the purpose of ready recognition of corps and divisions of tlie army, and to prevent injustice by reports of straggling and misconduct througli mistake as to their organizations, the chief quartermaster will furnish, with- out delay, the following badges, to be worn by the officers and enlisted men of all the regiments of the various corps mentioned. They will be securely fastened upon the centre of the top of the cap. The inspecting officers will at all inspections see that these badges are worn as designated. First Corps — a sphere : red for First Division; white for Second; blue for Third. Second Corps — a trefoil: red for First Division; white for Second; blue for Third. Third Corps — a lozenge: red for First Division; white for Second; blue for Third. Fifth Corps — a IMaltese cross : red for First Division; white for Second; blue for Third. Sixth Corps — a cross: red for First Division; white for Second; blue for Third. (Light Division, green.) Eleventh Corps — a crescent: red for First Division; while for Second; blue for Third. Twelfth Corps — a star: red for P'irst Division ; white for Second; blue for Third. The sizes and colors will be according to pattern. By command of MAJOK-GEJfEKAL HOOKER, S. Williams, A.A.G. Accompanying this order were ])aper patterns pasted on a fly-leaf, illustrating the size and color required. It will be seen that the badges figured in the color-plates are much re- duced in size. Diligent inquiry and research in the depart- ments at Washington fail to discover any of the jjatterns referred to, or their dimensions ; but there are veterans living who have preserved the first badge issued to them in pursuance of this circular, from which it is inferred that the patterns were of a size to please the eye rather than to con- form to any uniform scale of measurement. A trefoil which I have measured is about an inch and seven-eighths each way. It is a copy of an original. The stem is straight, turning neither to the ricrht nor left. ANDREW S CROSS. CORPS AND COUPS BADGES. 259 The arms of the Fifth Corps badge are often figured as concave, whereas tliose of a ^Maltese cross are straig-lit. Tliis is believed to be a deviation from the original in the minds of many veterans who wore them, and they are changed accordingly in the color-plate. The Sixth Corps woi'e a St. An- drew's cross till 1864, when it changed to the Greek cross figured in the plate. That this circular of Hooker's was not intended to be a dead letter was shown in an cn-der issued from Fal mouth, Va., May 12, 1803, in which he says : — " The badges worn by tlie troops when lost or torn off must be immediately replaced." And then, after designating the only troops that are with- out badges, he adds : — "Provost-marshals will arrest as stragglers all other troops found without badges, and return them to their commands under guard." There was a badge worn by the artillery brigade of the Third Corps, which, so far as I know, had no counterpart in other corps. I think it was not adopted until after Getty s- buig. It was the lozenge of tlie corps subdivided into four smaller lozenges, on the following basis : If a batter}^ was attached to the first division, two of these smaller lozenges were red, one white, and one blue ; if to the second, two were white, one red, and one blue ; and if to the third, two were blue, one red, and one white. They were worn on the left side of the cap. The original Fourth Corps, organized by McClellan, did not adopt a badge, but its successor of the same number wore an equilateral triangle prescribed by Major-General Thomas, April 26, 1864, in General (Orders No. 62, Depart- ment of the Cumberland, in which lie used much the same 260 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. language as that used by Hooker in his circular, and desig- nated divisions by the same colors. The badge of the Seventh Corps was a crescent nearly encircling a star. It was not adopted until after the virtual close of the war, June 1, 1865. The following is a para- graph from the circular issued by Major-General J. J. Rey- nolds, Department of Arkansas, regarding it : — " Tins badge, cut two inches in diameter, from cloth of colors red, white, and blue, for the 1st, 2d, and 3d Divisions respectively, may be worn by all eidisted men of the Corps." This was an entirely different corps from the Seventh Corps, whicli served in Virginia, and which had no badge. The latter was discontinued Aug. 1, 186-3, at the same time with the original Fourth Corps. The Eighth Corps wore a six-pointed star. I have not been able to ascertain the date of its adoption. There was no order issued. The Ninth Cor2:)S was originally a part of the Army of the Potomac, but at the time Hooker issued liis circular it was in another part of the Confederacy. Just before its return to the army. General Burnside issued General Orders No. 6, April 10, 1864, announcing as the badge of his corps, "A shield with the figure iiine in the centre crossed with a foul anchor and cannon, to be worn on the top of the cap or front of the liat." This corps had a fourth division, whose badge was green. The corps commander and his staff wore a badge " of red, white, and blue, with gilt anchor, cannon, and green number." December 23, 1864, Major-General John G. Parke, who had succeeded to the command, issued General Orders No. 49, of which the following is the first section : — " 1. All officers and enlisted men in this command will be required to wear the Corps Badge upon the cap or hat. For the Divisions, the badges will be plain, made of cloth in the shape of a shield — red for the first, white for the second, and blue for the third. For the Artillery Brigade, the 1ST DIV. ISTDIV. 1ST DIV. ISTDIV. TENTH CORPS. I — i\ 2 NDDIV. ELEVENTH CORPS. 3R9DIV» 2N9DIV. 3R°DIV. TWELFTH CORPS. A 2N°DIV. 3RPDIV. FOURTEENTH CORPS. 2N?DIV. FIFTEENTH CORPS. 3R5DIV. ISTDIV. 2NeDIV. 3R5DIV. 4TyDlV. CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 261 AN ORIGINAL NINTH CORPS B.iDGE. s'nield will be red, and will be worn under the regulation cross cannon." This order grew out of the difficulty experienced in obtaining the badge prescribed by General Burnside. The cannon, anchor, etc., were made of gold bullion at Tiffany's, New York City, and as it was scarcely practicable for the rank and file to obtain such badges, they had virtually anticipated the order of General Parke, and were • wearing the three plain colors after the man- ner of the rest of Potomac's army. The figures in the color- plate, however, are fashioned after the direction of General Burnside's order. The annexed cut is a fac-simile of one of the original metallic badges worn by a staff officer. This corps had a fourth division from April 19 to Nov. 29, 1864. The Tenth Corps badge Avas the trace of a four-bastion ed fort. It was adopted by General Orders No. 18 issued by Major-General D. B. Birney, July 25, 1864. The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps have alread}' been referred to, in General Hooker's circular. On the 18th of April, 1864, tliese two corps were consolidated to form the Twentieth Corps, and by General Orders No. 62 issued by Major- General George H. Thomas, April 26, "a star, as heretofore worn by the Twelfth Corps," was prescribed as the badge. ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CORPS BADGES COMBINED. 262 UAIW TACK AND COFFEE. The annexed cut shows the manner in which many of the corps combined the two badges in order not to lose their original identity. The Thirteenth Corps had no badge. The badge of the Fourteenth Army Corps was an acorn. Tradition lias it that some time before the adoption of this badge the members of this corps called themselves Acorn Boi/s, because at one time in their history, probably wlien they were hemmed in at Chattanooga by Bragg, rations were so scanty that the men gladly gathered large quantities of acorns from an oak grove, near by which they were camped, and roasted and ate them, repeating this operation while the scarcity of food continued. Owing to this circumstance, when it became necessary to select a badge, the acorn suggested itself as an exceedingly appropriate emblem for that purpose, and it was therefore adopted by General Orders No. 62, issued from Headquarters Department of the Cumberland, at Chatta-nooga, April 26, 1864. The badge of the Fifteenth Corps derives its origin from the following incident: — During the fall of 1863 the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were taken from Meade's army, put under tlie command of General Joe Hooker, and sent to aid in the relief of Chattanooga, where Thomas was closely besieged. They were undoubtedly better dressed than the soldiers of that department, and this fact, with the added circumstance of their wearing corps badges, which were a novelty to the Western armies at that time, led to some sharp tilts, in words, between the Eastern and Western sol- diers. One day a veteran of Hooker's command met an Irishman of Logan's Corps at the spring where they went to fill their canteens. "What corps do you belong to?" said the Eastern veteran, proud in the possession of the dis- tinguisliing badge on his cap, which told his story for him. '■'■ What corps, is it ? " said the gallant son of Erin, straight- ening liis back; ''the Fifteenth, to be sure." "Where is your badge ? " " My badge, do ye say ? There it is ! " said VOliFS AND CORPS BADGES. 263 Pat, cla2:)ping his liaiul ou Ins cartridge-box, at liis side ; '' forty rounds. Can you show nie a betther ? " On the 14th of February, 1865, Major-General John A. Logan, the commander of this corps, issued General Orders No. 10, whicli prescribe that the badge shall be "A minia- ture cartridge-box, one-eighth of an inch thick, fifteen- sixteenths of an inch wide, set transversely on a field of cloth or metal, one and five-eighths of an inch square. Above the cartridge-box phxte will be stamped or worked in a curve ' Forty Rounds.' " This corps had a fourth division, whose badge was yellow, and headquarters wore a badge in- cluding the four colors. Logan goes on to say : — " It is expected that this badge will be worn constantly by every officer and soldier in the corps. If any corps in the army lias a right to take pride in its badge, surely that has which looks back tlirouo'h the lom^ and o-lorious line of . . . [naming twenty-nine different battles], and scores of minor struggles ; the corps which had its birth under Grant and Sherman in the darker days of our struggle , the corps which will keep on strug- gling until the death of the Rebellion." The following correct description of the badge worn by the Sixteenth Army Corps is given by the assistant-inspector general of that corps, Colonel J. J. Lyon : — " The device is a circle with four Minie-balls, the points towards the centre, cut out of it.'" It was designed by Brevet Brigadier-General John Hough, the assistant adjutant-general of the corps, being selected out of many designs, submitted by Major- General A. J. Smith, the corps commander, and, in his honor, named the ''A. J. Smith Cross." It is easily distin- guished from the Maltese cross, in being bounded by curved FIRST AND FIFTH CORPS BADGES COMBINED. 264 HAED TACK AND COFFEE. instead of straight lines. No order for its adoption was issued. The badge of the Seventeenth Corps, said to have been suggested by General M. F. Ford, and adopted in accord- ance with General Orders issued by his commander, Major- General Francis P. Blair, was an arrow. He says, " In its swiftness, in its surety of striking where wanted, and its desti'uctive powers, when so intended, it is probably as emblematical of this corps as any design that could be adopted." The order was issued at Goldsboro, N. C, March 25, 1865. The order further provides that the arrow for divisions shall be two inches long, and for corps headquarters one and one-half inches long, and further requires the wagons and ambulances to be marked with the badge of their respective commands, the arrow being twelve inches long. A circular issued from the headquarters of the Eighteenth Army Corps June 7, 1864, and General Orders No. 108, from the same source, dated August 25, 1864, furnish all the information on record regarding the badge of this body. While both are quite lengthy in description and prescrip- tion, neither states what the special design v/as to be. It was, however, a cross with equi-foliate arms. The circular prescribed that this cross should be worn by general officers, suspended by a tri-colored ribbon from the left breast. Division commanders were to have a triangle in the centre of the badge, but brigade commanders were to have the number of their brigade instead ; line officers were to sus- pend their badges by ribbons of the color of their division; cavalry and artillery officers also were to have distinctive badges. The whole system was quite complex, and some- what expensive as well, as the badges were to be of metal and enamel in colors. Enlisted men were to wear the plain cross of cloth, sewed to their left breast. This order was issued by General W. F. Smith. General Orders 108 issued by General E. O. C. Ord SIXTEENTH CORPS. SEVENTEENTH CORPS. 1ST DIV. O ^^ 2N° DIV 3 R ° D I V. EIGHTEENTH CORPS. 1ST DIV. 2N9 DIV. NINETEENTH CORPS. 3R° DIV. ISTDIV. 2N5DIV 3R°DI\; TWENTIETH CORPS. TWENTY-SECOND CORPS. TWENTY-THIRD CORPS. 2N9DIV. 3ReDIV. rPED INTO THK P0TO:\IAC. when the cook lost all confidence in mules as beasts of burden, and abandoned him. Josh Billings says somewhere that if he had a mule who would neither kick nor bite he would watch him dreadful " cluss " till he found out where his malice did lay. This same humorist must have had some experience with the mule, for he has said some very bright and pat things concerning him. Here are a few that I recall : — "To break a mule — begin at his head." "To find the solid contents of a mule's hind leg, feel of it clussly." " The man who w^ont believe anything he kant see aint so wise az a mule, for they will kick at a thing in the dark." " The only thing which makes a mule so highly respectable is the great accuracy of his kicking." "The mule is a sure-footed animal. I have known THE ARMY MULE. 289 him to kick a man fifteen feet off ten times in a second." These are a few samples, most all of which have reference to his great ability as a kicker. Unquestionably he had no equal in this field of amusement — to him. His legs were small, his feet were small, but his ambition in this direction was large. He could kick with wonderful accuracy, as a matter of fact. Mule-drivers tell me he could kick a fly off his ear, as he walked along in the team, with unerring accuracy. This being so, of course larger objects were never missed when they were within range. But the distance included within a mule's range had often to be decided by two or three expensive tests. One driver, whom I well knew, was knocked over with a mule's hind foot wliile standing directly in front of him. This shows something of their range. I have remarked, in substance, that the mule was con- quered only by laying hold of or striking his ears. It may be asked how he was shod if he was such a kicker. To do this, one of two methods was adopted; either to sling him up as oxen are slung, then strap his feet ; or walk him into a noose, and cast him, by drawing it around his legs. Of course, he would struggle violently for a while, but when he gave in it was all over for that occasion, and he was as docile under the smith's hands as a kitten. Being surer- footed and more agile than a horse, of course he gets into fewer bad places or entanglements; but once in, and having made a desperate struggle for his relief, and failing, he seems utterly discouraged, and neither whip nor persuasion can move him. Then, as in the shoeing, the driver can handle him with the utmost disregard of heels ; but when once on his feet again, stand aside ! He has a short memory. He lives in the future, and his heels are in business, as usual, at the old stand. I need not comment on the size of the mule's ears. Of course, everybody who has seen them knows them to be abnor- 290 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. mal in size. But disproportionately large though they may be, there is one other organ in his possession which surpasses them ; that is his voice. This is something simply tremen- dous. That place which the guinea-fowl occupies among the feathered bipeds of the barn-yard in this respect, the mule holds faeile princeps &.mong the domestic quadrupeds. The poets who lived in the same time with Pericles said of the latter that "he lightened, thundered, and agitated all Greece," so powerful was his eloquence. So, likewise, when THE REAR GUARD OF THE RK(;IMKNT. the mule raised his voice, all opposition was silent before him, for nothing short of rattling, crashing thunder, as it seemed, could successfully compete for precedence with him. In addition to his great usefulness in the train, he was used a good deal under a pack-saddle. Each regiment usually had one, that brought up the rear on the march, loaded with the implements of the cook-house — sometimes with nothing to be seen but head and tail, so completely was he covered in. They were generally convoyed by a colored man. Sometimes these strong-minded creatures, in crossing a stream, would decide to lie down, all encumbered as they were, right in the middle, and down they would settle in spite of the ludicrous opposition and pathetic pro- THE ARMY MULE. 291 tests of the convoy. Of course, it was no balm to his wound to have the passing column of soldiers keep up a running fire'of banter. But there was no redress or relief to be had until his muleship got ready to move, which was generally after every ounce of his burden had been stripped oif and placed on terra firma. Wlien the army was lying in line of battle in such close proximity to the enemy that the ammunition wagons could not safely approach it, two boxes were taken and strapped on a mule, one on each side, "to keep his balance true," and thus the troops were supplied when needed. At the terrible battle of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864, a steady line of pack-mules, loaded with ammunition, filed up the open ravine, opposite the captured salient, for nearly twenty hours, in that way supplying our forces, who were so hotly engaged there. Rations were furnished in the same manner under similar circumstances. But now and then a mule would lie down under his burden, and refuse to budge. Grant says (vol. i. p. 106) : " I am not aware of ever having used a profane expletive in my life, but I would have the charity to excuse those who may have done so if they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack-mules at the time," alluding to an experience in the Mexican War. I believe I have stated that the mule much preferred to do military duty in the safe rear; but if there was anything which the war proved with the utmost clearness to both Yanks and Rebs, it was that there was surely no safe rear. This being so, the vivacious mule did not always have a plain and peaceful pilgrimage as a member of the wagon- train. I vividly recall the enjoyment of my company, during Lee's final retreat, whenever our guns were unlim- bered, as they were again and again, to be trained on the columns of retreating wagon-trains. The explosion of a shell or two over or among them would drive the long-ears 292 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. wild, and render them utterly unmanageable, and the driver's best and often his onli/ recourse was to let them go if there was room ahead. But one demoralized, disorganized six-mule team would sometimes so effectively block the way, when the road was narrow, and the pursuit close, as to cause the capture of that part of the train behind it. Were any ex-Johnny m. d. to read this chuckling over the misfortunes of his craft, and not quite appreciate my enjoyment, I MtTLES LOADED WITH AMMUNITION. should at once assure him that there are some Yank m. d.'s who can heartily sympathize with him, having had a like experience. From what I have stated, it will be seen that the mule would be very unreliable in cavalry service, for in action he would be so wild that if he did not dismount his rider he would carry even the most valiant from the scene of conflict, or, what was just as likel}^ rush madly into the ranks of the enemy. The same observations would suit equally well as objections to his service with artillery. On the 5th of April, 1865, during the retreat of Lee, we came upon a batch of wagons and a battery of steel guns, of the Arm- THE ARMY AtULE. 293 strong pattern, I think, which Sheridan's troopers had cut out of the enemy's retreating trains. The guns had appar- ently never been used since their arrival from England. The harnesses were of russet leather and equally new ; but the battery was drawn by a sorry-looking lot of horses and mules, indiscriminately mingled. My explanation for finding the mules thus tackled was that horses were scarce, and that it was not expected to use the guns at present, bat simply to get them off safely; but that if it became necessary to use them they could do so with comparative safety to the mules as the guns were of very long range. I should have pronounced these })articular mules safe any- where, even under a hot fire, if extreme emaciation had been a sure index of departed strength and nerve in this variety of brute. But that is not mule at all. The next day, at Sailor's Creek, my corps (Second), after a short, sharp con- test, made a capture of thirteen flags, three guns, thirteen hundred prisoners, and over two hundred army wagons, with their mules. And such mules ! the skinniest and boniest animals that I ever saw still retaining life, I sincerely be- lieve. For a full week they had been on the go, night and day, with rare and brief halts for rest or food. Just before their capture they would seem to have gone down a long hill into a valley, a literal Valley of Humiliation as it proved, for there they were compelled to stay and surrender, either from inability to climb the opposite hill and get away, or else because there was not opportunity for them to do so before our forces came upon them. Ancl yet, in spite of the worn and wasted state of those teams, it is doubtful if their kicking capacity was materially reduced by it. The question frequently raised among old soldiers is. What became of all the army mules ? There are thousands of these men who will take a solemn oath that they never saw a dead mule during the war. They can tell you of the carcasses of horses which dotted the line of march, animals which had fallen out from exhaustion or disease, and left by 294 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. the roadside for the buzzards and crows. These they can recall by hundreds ; but not the dimmest picture of a single dead mule, and they will assure you that, to the best of their knowledge and belief, the government did not lose one of these animals during the war. I recently conversed with an old soldier who remembered having once seen, on the march, the four hoofs of a mule — those and nothing more; and the conclusion that he arrived at was that the mule, in a fit of temper, had kicked off his hoofs and gone up. "But the noblest THiNl>rrALS AND AMBULANCES. 299 would be s|.(((liiy ended no one thought of such a thing as building |Kiiii;inent structures for hospital purposes. But this (-(MMliiion of affairs soon after changed. Prepara- tions for Will- wci'o made on a grander scale. The Army of the Potomac, iiinler the moulding liauds of McClellan, was iissuming fVnni. and the appointment by him, Aug. 12, 1861, of Surgeon ("Imiies 8. Tri[)ler as medical director of that army indicucd ;i, purpose of liaving a medical department set on fool :in«l put in completeness for active service. Jjct us paust' :in'l glance at the situation as he found it, and Ave may, perli.ijis, the better appreciate the full magnitude of the task which he had before him. Arni}^ Kfgii la lions were the written law to which it was attempted lo liave everything conform as far as possible. Jjut when these regulations were drafted, there was no expec- tation of sueii a war as finally came upon us, and to attempt to confine so large an army as then existed to them as a guide was as impo,.u liiaes demand new measures and new men," and so in r.-i-fn directions Army Regulations had to be ignored. For example, they provided only for the establish- ment of regimental and general hospitals. A regimental hospital is wiiai its name indicates — the hospital of a particu- lar regimen 1. ['>ut if such a hospital became full or received some patieiii- whose ailments were not likely to submit readily to iieaiment, such cases were sent to a General Hospital., thai i>. one into which patients were taken regard- less of the reginient to which they belonged. But in these early war times. In the absence of a system, any patient who was able could, at his pleasure, leave one general hospital and go to aiM'iJKa- for any reason which seemed sufficient to him, or he eonid desert the service entirely. By general orders issued from the war department May 25, 1861, g"\<,-iiiors of States were directed to appoint a 300 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. surgeon and assistant surgeon for each regiment. Tlie men appointed were for the most part country physicians, many of them with little practice, who, on reaching the field, were, in some respects, as ignorant of their duties under tlie changed conditions as if they had not been educated to the p)ractice of medicine ; and the medical director of the army found his liands more than full in attempting to get them to carry out his wishes. So, to simplify his labors and also to increase the efficiency of his department, brigade hospitals were organized about the beginning of 1862, and by general orders from the war department brigade surgeons were appointed, with the rank of major, and assigned to the staffs of brigadier-generals. These brigade surgeons had supervis- ion of the surgeons of their brigades, and exercised this duty under the instructions of the medical director. TJie regimental hospitals in the field were sometimes tents, and sometimes dwellings or barns near camp. It was partly to relieve these that brigade hospitals were established. The latter were located near their brigade ""or division. The hospital tent I have already described at some length. I may add here that those in use for hospital purposes before the war were 24 feet long by 14 feet 6 inches wide, and 11 feet 6 inches high, but, owing to their great bulk and weight, and the difficulty of pitching them in windy weather, the size was reduced, in 1860, to 14 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, and 11 feet high in the centre, with the walls 4 feet 6 inches, and a '' fl}^ " 21 feet 6 inches by 14 feet. Each of these was designed to accommodate eight patients comfortably. Army Regulations assigned three such tents to a regiment, together with one Sibley and one Wedge or A tent. The Sibley tent I have likewise quite fully described. I will only add here that, not having a *' fly," it was very hot in warm weather. Then, on account of its centre pole and the absence of walls, it was quite contracted and inconvenient. For these reasons it was little used for hospital purposes, and not used at all after the early part of the war. HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 301 The hospital tents in the Army of the Potomac were heated, for the most part, by what was called, for some reason, tlie California Plan. This consisted of a pit, dug just outside of the hospital door, two and a half feet deep, from which a trench passed through the tent, terminating outside the other end in a chimney, built of barrels, or in such a manner as I have elsewhere described. This trench was covered throughout its entire extent Avith iron plates, which were issued by the quartermaster's department for that purpose. The radiation of the heat from the plates kept the tent very comfortable. The honor of organizing the first field hospital in tents is said to belong to Dr. B. J. D. Irwin, U. S. A., of the Army of the Ohio. It occurred at the battle of Shiloh. While establishing a hospital near the camp of Prentiss' division of that army, which had been captured the day before, the abandoned tents still standing suggested them- selves to him as a convenient receptacle for his wounded. He at once appropriated the camp for this purpose, and laid it out in systematic form. It was clearly shown by this and succeeding experiences during the war that the wounded treated under canvas did better and recovered more rapidly than those treated in permanent hospitals. As fast as they could be procured, hospital tents were furnished, three to a regiment, in accordance with the pro- vision of Army Regulations referred to. Each regiment pro- vided its own nurses and cooks. In general hospitals one nurse was allowed to ten patients, and one cook to thirty. The capacity of a regimental hospital tent, like a stage- coach, varied according to the demand for room. I have said they were designed to accommodate eight. An old army surgeon says, "• Only six can be comfortably accommodated in one of them, three on each side." But when the surgeons were crowded with the wounded, it was a common practice to set two lono- narrow boards edgewise through the centre 802 II Ann TACK AND COFFEK. of tlio tent, about twenty inches a})art. If bi-m-Js were -want- ing, two good-sized jjoles were cut and used instead. Be- tween tliese was tlie passage for the surgeons and nurses. Behind the boards or poles a filling of strav^■ or line boughs was made and covered witli blankets. On tln-s»^ latter could be placed twenty patients, ten on either side: but they were crowded. When six single cots were put in one of these tents, three on each side, ample space was ;iiroi(|ftd to pass among them. In the latter part of 1861, the government, r.;di/.i ng its press- ing needs, began to build general hospitals lor the comfort A T\VO-WHEET.EI> AMBULANCE. and acconrmodation of its increasing thousiuMU of sick and wounded, continuing to build, as the needs ijni-.'ased, to the very last year of the war, when they nnmbered two hundred and five. Before tlie civil war, the government hin! never been supplied with carriages to convey the sick .uid wounded. Only two years before, a board, a})pointed b\' iho secretary of war, had adopted for experiment a four-w Imeled and a two-wheeled carriage. The four-wheeled vehicle was tried in an expedition sent into New Mexico, and was favorably reported on; the two-wheeled was never tested, but was judged to be the best adapted to badly wonuded men HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 303 (though the contrary proved to be the fact), and so the board reported in favor of adopting these carriages in the ratio of five two-wheeled to one four-wheeled. When Surgeon Trijiler took charge, he found several of these two-wheeled carriages in Washington, but they were used chiefly as pleasure-carriages for officers, or for some other private purpose. Tliis was stopped, for a time at least, and an order was issued, leaving one to a regiment and requiring the rest to be turned over to the quartermaster's department. But the perversion of ambulances from their proper use, I will add in passing, continued, to a greater or less extent, till the end of the war. This very year McClellan ivssued an order for them not to be used except for the transportation of the side and wounded, unless by authority of the brigade commander, the medical director, or the quartermaster in charge, and the provost-marshal was ordered to arrest officers and confine non-commissioned offi- cers and privates for violation of the order. The most important steps taken towards organizing the medical department, and placing it on that thorough basis which distinguished it in the later years of the war, were the result of the foresight, energy, and skilful maiiagement of Dr. Jonathan Letterman, who was made medical director of the Army of the Potomac on the 19th of June, 1862. His labor was something enormous. It was during the progress of the Peninsular Campaign. All was confusion. Medical supplies were exhausted. Thousands of sick and wounded men were dying for want of proper care and medicine. Yet this campaign, so disastrous in its results to our army from a military point of vicAV, was a valuable teacher in many respects, and one of its most pointed and practical lessons was the necessity shown of having the ambulances organized and under a competent head. It remained for Dr. Letterman to appreciate this need, and effect an organization which remained practically unchanged till the close of the war. Here is the substance of the plan which he drew up, and' 304 UABB TACK AND COFFEE. which General McCleUan approved, and published to the army in orders, Aug. 2, 1862, and which General Meade reis- sued, with some additions and slight changes, a little more than a year later. AMBULANCE CORPS. All of the ambulances belonging to an army corps were to be placed under the control of the medical director of that cor2:>s, for now, in addition to a medical director of the army, there was a subordinate medical director for each army corps. Such an ambulance corps was put into the hands of a captain as commandant. This corps was divided and sub- divided into division, brigade, and regimental trains, cor- responding to the divisions of the army corps to which it belonged, having a first lieutenant in charge of a division, a second lieutenant in chargre of a brigade, and a sergeant in charge of a regimental detachment. Besides these, three privates, one of them being the driver, were to accompany each ambulance on the march and in battle. The duties of all these men, both officers and privates, were very carefully defined, as well for camp as for the march and battle. Besides the ambulances, there acc6mpanied each corps one medicine- wagon and one army wagon to a brigade, containing the requisite medicines, dressings, instruments, hospital stores, bedding, medical books, small furniture (like tumblers, basins, bed-pans, spoons, vials, etc.). In addition to the foregoing articles, which were carefully assorted both as to quantity and quality, each ambulance was required to carry in the box beneath the driver's seat, under lock and key, the following articles : — Three bed-sacks, six 2-pound cans beef-stock, one leather bucket, three camp kettles (assorted sizes), one lantern and candle, six tin plates, six table-spoons, six tin tumblers; and, just before a battle, ten pounds hard bread were re- quired to be put into the box. HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 305 There was another scheme, which was conceived and car- ried into execution by Dr. Letterman, which deserves men- tion in this connection. This was the establisiiraent of Field Hospitals, "in order that the wounded might receive the most prompt and efficient attention during and after an engagement, and that the necessary operations might be performed by the most skilful and responsible surgeons, at the earliest moment." Under Surgeon Tripler, there had been rendezvous established in rear of the army, to which all the wounded were taken for immediate attention, before A FOUR-WHEELED AMBULANCE. being sent to general hospitals. But there was no recog- nized system and efficiency in regard to it. Just before an engagement, a field hospital for each division was established. It was made by pitching a suitable numljer of hospital tents. The location of such a hospital was left to the medical direc- tor of the corps. Of course, it must be in the rear of the division, out of all danger and in a place easily reached by the ambulances. A division hospital of this description was under the charge of a surgeon, who was selected by the surgeon-in-chief of tlie division. With him was an assistant surgeon, similarly appointed, whose duty it was to pitch the tents, provide straw, fuel, water, etc., and, in general, make everything ready for the comfort of the wounded. For 30r> JIAHJ) TACK AM) COFFEE. doing tliis tlie ]i()S})ital stewards and nurses of tlie division were placed under his cliarge, and special details made from the regiments to assist. A kitchen or cook-tent must be at once erected and the cooks put in possession of the articles mentioned as carried in the ambulance boxes and hospital- wagons, so that a sufficient amount of nourishing food could be prepared for immediate use. Another assistant surgeon was detailed to keep a complete record of patients, with name, rank, company, and regiment, the nature of their wound, its treatment, etc. He was also required to see to the proper interment of those who died, and the placing of properly marked head-boards at their graves. Then, there were in each of these division hospitals three surgeons, selected from the whole division, " without regard to rank, but solely on account of their known prudence, judg- ment, and skill," whose duty it was to perform all important operations, or, at least, be responsible for their performance. Three other medical officers were detailed to assist these three. Nor was this all, for the remaining medical officers of the division, except one to a regiment, were also required to report at once to the hospital, to act as dressers of wounds and assistants generally. In addition to these, a proper num- ber of nurses and attendants were detailed to be on hand. The medical officers left with regiments were required to establish themselves during the fighting in the rear of their respective organizations, at such a distance as not to unnec- essarily expose themselves, where they coald give such temporary aid to the wounded as they should stand in need of. I have said tliat these hos[)itals were to be located out of all danger. That statement needs a little modifying. In case the tide of battle turned against our army and it was compelled to retreat, what was before a safe place n.iight at once be converted into a place of great danger. But a hospital could not be struck and its patients moved at a HOSPITALS ANB AMBULANCES. 307 moment's or even a clay's warning, as a rule, and so it was made the duty of the medical director of a corps to select a sufficient number of medical officevs, wlio, in case a retreat was found necessary, should remain in charge of the wounded. When the Rebels captured such a hospital, it was their general practice to parole all the inmates — that is, require them to give their word of honor that they would not bear arms again until they had been properly exchanged A MEDICINE WAGON. as prisoners of war. Our government established what were known as parole camps, where such prisoners were required to remain until duly exchanged. I think it can now be readily understood, from even this fragmentary sketch, hoAV the establishment of these field hospitals facilitated the care of the wounded, and, by their systematic workings, saved liundreds of lives. With a skil- ful, energetic man as medical director of tlie army, giving his orders to medical directors of C()r[)S, and these carefully superintending surgeons-in-chief of divisions, avIio, in turn, held the surgeons and assistant surgfeons and officers of ambulance corps to a strict accountal)ility for a careful per- formance of their duties, while tlie latter fortified them- selves by judicious oversight of their sulK)rdinates. tlie result 808 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. was to place this department of the army on a footing whicli endured, with tlie most profitable of results to the service, till the close of the war. I vividly remember my first look into one of these field hospitals. It was, I think, on the 27th of November, 1863, during the Mine Run Campaign, so-called. General French, then commanding the Third Corps, was fighting the battle of Locust Grove, and General Warren, with the Second Corps, had also been engaged with the eneni}^, and had driven him from the neighborhood of Robertson's Tavern, in the vicinity of which the terrific Battle of the Wilderness began the following May. Near this tavern the field hospi- tal of Warren's Second Division had been located, and into this I peered while my battery stood in park not far away, awaiting orders. The surgeon had just completed an oper- ation. It was the amputation of an arm about five inches below the shoulder, the stump being now carefully dressed and bandaged. As soon as the patient recovered from the effects of the ether, the attendants raised him to a sitting- posture on the operating-table. At that moment the thought of his wounded arm returned to him, and, turning his eyes towards it, they met only the projecting stub. The awful reality dawned upon him for the first time. An arm had gone forever, and he dropped backwards on the table in a swoon. Many a poor fellow like him brought to the opera- tor's table came to consciousness only to miss an arm or a leg which perhaps he had begged in his last conscious mo- ments to have spared. But the medical officers first men- tioned decided all such cases, and the patient had only to submit. At Peach-Tree Creek, Col. Thomas Reynolds of the Western army was shot in tlie leg, and, while the surgeons were debating the propriety of amputating it, the colonel, who was of Irish birth, begged them to spare it, as it was very valuable, being an imported leg, — a piece of wit which saved the gallant officer his leg, although he became so nuich of a cripple that he was compelled to leave the service. HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 309 It has been charged that limbs and arms were often use- lessly sacrificed by the operators ; that they were especiallj^ fond of amputating, and just as likely to amputate for a flesh-wound as for a fractured bone, on tlie ground that thev could do it more quickly than they could dress the wound; A FOLDING LITTEK. that it made a neater job, thus gratifying professional pride : but how the victim might feel about it or be affected by it then or thereafter did not seem to enter their thoughts. It was undoubtedly true that many flesh-wounds were so ugly the only safety for the patient lay in amputation. A fine fellow, both as a man and soldier, belonging to my company, lost his arm from a flesh-wound — needlessly, as he and his friends always asserted and believed. A corporal of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery suffered a compound fracture of the left knee-joint from a piece of shell by winch he was struck at the battle of A STHKTCHEK. Hatcher's Run, Oct. 27, 18G4. In the course of time he reached the Lincoln Hospitals (w^ell do I remember them as they stood on Capitol Hill where they were erected just before the bloody repulse at Fredericksburg), where a sur- geon decided that his leg must come off, and, after instruct- ing the nurse to prepare liim for the operating-room, left the ward. But the corporal talked the matter over with a wounded cavalryman (this was a year wIumi cavalrymen were wounded quite generally) and decided that his leg must 7iot 810 IIAIW TACK AN I) COFFEE. come off; so, obtainino- the loaded revolver of his comrade, he put it under his pillow and awaited the reappearance of the surgeon. He returned not long after, accompanied by two men with a stretclier, and approached the cot. " What are you going to do ? " asked the corporal. " My boy, we will liave to take your leg off," was the reply of the surgeon. "Not if I know myself," rejoined the corporal, with determination expressed in both looks and language. For a moment the surgeon was taken aback by the sol- dier's resolute manner. But directly he turned to the men and said, " Come, boys, take him up carefully," whereupon the stretcher-bearers advanced to obey the order. At the same instant the corporal drew the revolver from beneath his pillow, cocked it, and, in a voice which carried convic- tion, exclaimed, '' Tlte man that puts a lia^ui on me dies!''' At this the men stepped back, and the surgeon tried to rea- son with the corjDoral, assuring him that in no other way could his life be saved. But the corporal persisted in declaring that if he died it should be with both legs on. At that "Sawbones." (as the men used to call them) lost his temper and sought out the surgeon in general charge, with whom he soon returned to the corporal. This head surgeon, first by threats and afterwards by persuasion, tried to secure the revolver, but, failing to do so, turned away, ex- claiming, with an oath, " Let the d fool keep it and die ! " but a moment after, on second thought, said to the first sur- geon that, as they wanted a subject to try the water-cure on, he thought the corporal would meet that want. After obtaining a promise from tlie surgeon that he would not himself take the leg off or allow any one else to, the cor- poral assented to the proposition. A can was then arranged over the wounded knee, in such a manner as to drop water on the cloth which enwrapped it da}^ and night, and a cure was finally effected. This is the substance of the story as I received it from the HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 311 lij)S of the corporal liimseli', who, let me say in passing, was reduced to the rank of private, and mustered out of the ser- vice as such, for daring to keep two whole legs under him. His bravery in the hour of peril — to him — deserved better things from his country than that. But to return to the field hospital again ; on the ground lay one num, wounded in the knee, while another sat near, wounded in the finger. Tiiis latter was a suspicious wound. Men of doubtful courage had a way of shooting off the end of the trigo-er-finaer to o-et out of service. But PLACING A WOUNDED MAN ON A STRETCHER. they sometimes did it in such a bungling manner that they were found out. The powder blown into the wound was often the evidence which convicted tliem. These men must be proud of such scars to-day. Three wounded Rebels also lay in the tent, waiting for surgical attention. Of course, they would not be put upon the tables until all of our own wounded were attended to ; they did not expect it. In one part of the tent lay two or three of our men, who were either lifeless or faint from loss of blood. Only a few rods away from the tent were some freshly made graves enclosing the forms of men whose wounds had proved fatal, either having died ou their way to the hospital or soon after their arrival. Among these was the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Tlieodore Hesser, who was shot 312 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. ill the head while bravely leading the Seventy -second Penn- S3"lvauia Infantry in a charge. The graves were all plainly marked with small head-boards. A drizzling rain added gloom to the scene ; and my first call at a field hospital, with its dismal surroundings, was brief. One regulation made for this department of the service was never enforced. It provided that no one but the I^roper medical officers or the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the ambulance corps should conduct sick or wounded to the rear, either on the march or in battle, CARRYING A WOUNDED MAN TO THE REAR. but as a matter of fact there were probably more wounded men helped off the field by soldiers not members of the ambulance corps than by members of that body. There were always plenty of men who hadn't the interests of the cause so nearly at heart but what they could be induced, without much persuasion, when bullets and shells were flying thick, to leave the front line and escort a suffering comrade to the rear. Very often such a sufferer found a larger body-guard than could well make his needs a pretext for their absence from the line. Then, too, many of these escorts were most unfortu- nate, and lost their tvay., so that they did not find their regi- ment again until after the battle was over. A large number of them would be included among the Shirks and Beats, HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 313 whom I have already described. But, in truth, it was not possible for the ambulance corps to do much more in a hot fight than to keep their stretchers properly manned. Each ambulance was provided with two of these, and the severely wounded who could not help themselves must be placed on them and cared for first, so that there was often need for a helping hand to be given a comrade who was quite seriously wounded, yet could hobble along with a shoulder to lean on. The designating mark of members of the ambulance corps was, for sergeants, a green band an inch and a quarter broad around the cap, and inverted chevrons of the same color on each arm, above the elbow; for privates the same kind of band and a half chevron of the same material. By means of this designation they were easily recognized. By orders of General Meade, issued in August, 1863, three ambulances were allowed to a regiment of infantrj^ ; two to a regiment of cavalry, and one to a battery of artil- lery, with which it was to remain permanently. Owing to this fact, an artillery company furnished its own stretcher- bearers when needed. I shall be pardoned the introduction of a personal incident, as it will illustrate in some measure the duties and trials of a stretcher-bearer. It was at the battle of Hatcher s Bun, already referred to, or the Boydton Plank Boad, as some called it. The guns had been ordered into position near Burgess' Tavern, leaving the caissons and ambulance nearly a half-mile in the rear. Meanwhile, a flank attack of the enemy cut off our commu- nications with the rear for a time, and we thought ourselves sure of an involuntary trip to Richmond; but the way was opened again by some of our advance charging to the rear, and b}^ the destructive fire from our artillery. Soon orders came for the battery to return to the rear. In common with the rest, the writer started to do so when a sergeant asked him to remain and help take off one of our lieutenants, who was lying in a barn near by, severely wounded. So actively had we been engaged that this was my first 314 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. knowledge of the sad event. But, alas ! what was to be done ? Our ambulance with its stretchers was to the rear. That could not now avail us. We must resort to other means. Fortunately, they were at hand. An abandoned army-blanket lay near, and, carefully placing the lieutenant on this, with one man at each corner, we started. But the wounded officer was heavy, and it was, as can readily be seen, an awkward way of carrying him. Moreover, his wound was a serious one, — mortal as it soon proved, — and every movement of ours tortured him so that he begged of us to leave him there to die. Just then we caught sight of a stretcher on which a wounded Rebel was lying. Some Union stretcher-bearers had been taking him to the rear when the flank attack occurred, when they evidently aban- doned him to look out for themselves. It was not a time for sentiment ; so, with the sergeant at one end of the stretcher and the narrator at the other, our wounded enemy was rolled off, with as much care as time would allow. With the aid of our other comrades we soon put the lieutenant in his place, and, raising the stretcher to our shoulders, started down the road to the rear. We had gone but a few rods, however, before the enemy's sliar|)shooters or outposts fired on us, driving us to seek safety in the woods. But it was now dusk, and no easy matter to take such a burden through woods, especially as it rapidly grew darker. Suffice it to know, however, that, after more than an hour's wandering and plunging, our burden was delivered at the ambulance, where another of our lieutenants, also mortally wounded, was afterwards to join him. This frag- ment of personal experience will well illustrate some of the many obstacles which stretcher-bearers had to contend with, and disclose the further truth that in actual com- bat the chances for severely wounded men to be taken from the field were few indeed, for at such a time stretcher- bearers, like the proverbial •' good men," are scarce. HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 315 I omitted to say in the proper connection that the men whose wounds were dressed in the lield hospitals were transported as rapidly as convenient to the general hospitals, where the best of care and attention could be given them. Such hospitals were located in various places. Whenever it was possible, transportation was by water, in steamers specially fitted up for such a purpose. There may be seen in the National Museum at Washington, the building in which President Lincoln was assassinated, beautiful models of these steamers as well as of hospital railway trains with all their furnishings of ease and comfort, designed to carry patients by rail to any designated place. Another invention for the transportation of the wounded from the field was the Cacolet or Mule Litter., which was borne either by a mule or a horse, and arranged to carry, some one and some two, wounded men. But although it was at first supposed that they would be a great blessing for this purpose, yet, being strapped tightly to the body of the animal, they felt his every motion, thus making them an intensely uncomfortable carriage for a severely wounded soldier, so that they were used but very little. The distinguished surgeon Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, whose son, Lieut. Bowditch, was mortally wounded in the cavalry fight at Kelly's Ford, voiced, in his "Plea for an Ambulance System," the general dissatisfaction of the medical profes- sion with the neglect or barbarous treatment of our wounded on the battle-field. This was as late as the spring of 1863. They had petitioned Congress to adopt some system without delay, and a bill to that effect had passed the House, but on Feb. 24, 1863, the Committee on Military Affairs, of which Senator Henry Wilson was chairman, reported against a bill •' in relation to Military Hospitals and to organize an Ambu- lance Corj^s," as an impracticable measure at that time, and the Senate adopted the report, and there, I think, it dropped. CHAPTER XVII. SCATTERING SHOTS. ' His coat was e'er so much too short, His pants a mile too wide, And when he raarclied could not keep step However much he tried." THE CLOTHING. ORTY-TWO dollars was the sum al- lowed by the government to clotlie the private soldier for the space of one year. The articles included in his outfit were a cap or hat (usually the former), blouse, overcoat, dress coat, trousers, shirts, drawers, socks, shoes, a woollen and a rubber blanket. This was the wardrobe of the infan- try. It should be said, however, that many regiments never drew a dress coat after leaving the state, the blouse serving as the substitute for that garment. The artillery and cavalry had the same except that a jacket took the place of the dress coat, boots that of shoes, and their trousers had a re-enforce^ that is, an extra thickness of cloth extending from the upper part of the seat down the inside of both legs, for greater durability in the service required of these branches in the saddle. This outfit was not sufficient to last the year through, for various reasons, and so the quartermaster supplied dupli- cates of the garments when needed. But whatever was drawn from him beyond the amount allowed by the govern- ment was charged to the individual, and deducted from his 316 SCATTERING SHOTS. 317 pay at the end of the year. If, however, a man was so fortunate as not to overdraw his allowance, which rarely happened, he received the balance in cash. The infantry made way with a large amount of clothing. Much of it was thrown away on the march. A soldier burdened with a musket, from forty to eighty rounds of ammunition, according to circumstances ; a haversack stuffed plump as a pillow, but not so soft, with three days rations; a canteen of water, a woollen and rubber blanket, and a half shelter tent, would be likely to take just what more he was obliged to. So, with the opening of the spring campaign, away would go all extra clothing. A choice was made between the dress coat and blouse, for one of tliese must go. Then some men took their overcoat and left their blanket. In brief, when a campaign was fairly under way the average infantryman's wardrobe was what he had on. Only that and nothing more. At the first start from camp many would burden themselves with much more than the above, but after a few miles tramp the roadside would be sprinkled with the cast-away articles. There seemed to be a difference between Eastern and Western troops in this respect, for reasons which I will not attempt now to analyze, for Grant says (Memoirs, vol. ii., pp. 190-191): — " I saw scattered along the road, from Culpeper to Ger- mania Ford, wagon-loads of new blankets and overcoats thrown away by the troops to lighten their knapsacks ; an improvidence I had never witnessed before." It was a way the Army of the Potomac had of getting into light marching order. When the infantry were ordered in on a charge, they always left their knapsacks behind them, which they might or might not see again. And whenever they were surprised and compelled to fall back hastily, they were likely to throw aside everything that impeded their progress except musket and ammunition. Then, in the heat of battle, again there was a dispensing with all encumbrances that would impair 318 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. their efficiency. For these and other reasons, the govern- mental aUowances would not have been at all adequate to cover the losses in clothing. Recognizing this fact, the gov- ernment sujiplied new articles gratis for everything lost in action, the quartermaster being required to make out a list of all such articles, and to certify that they were so lost, before new ones could be obtained. But the men who did garrison duty were not exempt from long- clothing bills more than were those who were active at the front. I have in mind the heavy artillerymen who orarrisoned the forts around Washington. They were in receipt of visits at all hours in the day from the most distinguished of military and civil guests, and on this account were not only obliged to be efficient in drill but showy on parade. Hence their clothing had always to be of the best. No patched or untidy garments were tolerated. In tlie spring of 1864, twenty-four thousand of these men were despatched as re- enforcements to the Army of the Potomac, and a fine lot of men they were. They were soldiers, for the most part, who had enlisted early in the war, and, having had so safe — or, as the boys used to say, "soft " — and easy a time of it in the forts, had re-enlisted, only to be soon relieved of garrison duty and sent to the front as infantry. But while they were veterans in service in point of time, yet, so far as the real hardships of war were concerned, they were simply recruits. I shall never forget that muggy, muddy morn- ing of the 18th of May, when, standing by the roadside IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER. SCATTERING SHOTS. 319 near what was known as the " Brown House," at Spottsyl- vania, I saw this fine-looking lot of soldiers go by. Their uniforms and equipments all seemed new. Among the regi- ments was the First Maine Heavy Artillery. " What regiment is this ? " was inquired at the head of the column by bj'standers. "First Maine," was the reply. After the columns had marched by a while, some one would again ask what regiment it was, only to find it still the First Maine. It numbered over two thousand strong, and, never having lost any men in battles and hard campaigning, its ranks were full. The strength of these regiments struck the Army of the Potomac with sur- prise. A single regiment larger than one of their own brigades ! These men had started from Washington with knapsacks that were immense in their proportions, and had clung to them manfully the first day or two out, but this morning in question, which was of the sultriest kind, was taxing them beyond endurance, as they plunged along in the mire march- ing up to the front; and their course could have been fol- lowed by the well stuffed knapsacks — or " bureaus," as some of the old vets called them — that sprinkled tlie roadside. It seemed rather sad to see a man step out of the ranks, un- sling his knapsack, seat himself for a moment to overhaul its contents, transfer to his pocket some little keepsake, then, rising, and casting one despairing look at it, hurry on after the column. Many would not even open their knap- sacks, but, giving them a toss, would leave them to fate, and sternly resume tlieir march. It was the second in the list of sacrifices that active campaigning required of them. Their first was made in cutting loose from their comfortable quar- ters and accumulated conveniences in the forts, which they had so recently left. The knaj)sack, haversack, canteen, and shelter-tent, like the arms, were government property, for which the com- 320 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. niaiiding officer of a company was responsible. At the end of a soldier's term of service, they were to be turned in or properly accounted for. ARMY CATTLE. An army officer who was reputed to have been of high and hasty temper, who certainly seemed to have been capa- ble of rash and inconsiderate remarks, was once overheard to say of soldiers that they were nothing but cattle, ajid de- served to be treated only as such. In the short sketch here submitted on the subject of Army Cattle, I do not include the variety above referred to, but rather the quadrupedal kind that furnished food for them. In the sketch on Army Rations I named fresh beef as one of the articles furnished, but I gave no particulars as to just how the army was supplied with it. This I will now en- deavor to do. When there came an active demand for fresh and salt meat to feed the soldiers and sailors, at once the price advanced, and Northern farmers turned their attention more extensively to grazing. Of course, the great mass of the cattle were raised in the West, but yet even rugged New England contributed no inconsiderable quantity to swell the total. These were sent by hundreds and thousands on rail and shipboard to the various armies. On their arrival, they were put in a corral. Here they were subject, like all sup- plies, to the disposition of the commissary-general of the army, who, through his subordinates, supplied them to the various organizations upon the presentation of a requisition, signed by the commanding officer of a regiment or other body of troops, certifying to the number of rations of meat required. When the army was investing Petersburg and Richmond, the cattle were in corral near City Point. On the l(3th of September, 1864, the Rebels having learned through their scouts that this corral was but slightly guarded, and that by SCATTERING SHOTS. 321 making a wide detour in the tear of our lines the chances were good for them to add a few rations of fresh beef to the bacon and corn-meal diet of the Rebel army, a strong force of cavalry under Wade Hampton made the attempt, capturing twenty-five hundred beeves and four hundred prisoners, and getting off with them before our cavalry could intervene. The beeves were a blessing to them, far more precious and valuable than as many Union prisoners would have been ; for they already had more prisoners than they could or would feed. As for us, I do not remember that fresh meat was any the scarcer on account of this raid, for the North, with its abundance, was bountifully supplying the goverhment with whatever was needed, and the loss of a few hundred cattle could scarcely cause even a temporary inconvenience. Had the army been on the march, away from its base of supplies, the loss might have been felt more severely. Whenever the army made a move its supply of fresh meat went along too. Who had charge of it? Men were de- tailed for the business from the various regiments, who acted both as butchers and drovers, and were excused from all other duty. When a halt was made for the night, some of the steers would be slaughtered, and the meat furnished to the troops upon presentation of the proper requisitions by quartermasters. The butcher killed his victims with a rifle. The killing was not always done at night. It often took place in the morning or forenoon, and the men received their rations in time to cook for dinner. The manner in which these cattle were taken along was rather interesting. One might very naturally suppose that they would be driven along the road just as they are driven in any neighborhood ; but such was not exactly the case. Tlie troops and trains must use the roads, and so the cattle must needs travel elsewhere, which they did. Every herd liad a steer that was used both as a pack animal and a leader. As a pack animal he bore the equipments and cooking uten- 322 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. sils of the drovers. He was as docile as an old cow or horse, and could be led or called fully as readily. By day he was preceded in his lead by the herdsman in charge, on horse- back, while otlier herdsmen brought up the rear. It was necessary to keep the herd along with the troops for two reasons — safety and convenience; and, as they could not LEADING THE HERD. use the road, they skirted the fields and woods, only a short remove from the highways, and picked their way as best they could. By night one of the herdsmen went ahead of the herd on foot, making a gentle hallooing .sound which the sagacious steer on lead steadily followed, and was in turn faith- fully followed by the rest of the herd. The herds- man's course lay sometimes through the open, but often through the woods, which made the hallooing sound neces^' sary as a guide to keep the herd from straying. They kept nearer the road at night than in the day, partly for safety's sake, and partly to take advantage of the light from huge camp-fires which detachments of cavalry, that preceded SCATTERING SHOTS. 323 the army, kindled at intervals to light the way, making them nearer together in woods and swamps than elsewhere. Even then these drovers often had a thorny and difficult path to travel in picking their way through underbrush and brambles. Such a herd got its living off the country in the summer, but not in the winter. It was a sad sight to see these animals, which followed the army so patiently, sacrificed THE LAST STEER. one after the other until but a half-dozen were left. When the number had been reduced to this extent, they seemed to realize the fate in store for them, and it often took the butcher some time before he could succeed in facino- one long enough to shoot him. - His aim vv^as at the curl of the hair between the eyes, and they would avert their lowered heads whenever he raised liis rifle, until, at last, his quick eye brought them to the ground. From the manner in which I have spoken of these herds, it may be inferred that there was a common herd for the whole army ; but such was not the case. The same system prevailed here as elsewhere. For example, when the army entered the Wilderness with three days' rations of hard 324 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. bread, and three days' rations of meat in their haversacks, the fresh meat to accompany the other three days' rations, which they had stowed in their knapsacks, was driven along in di- vision herds. The remainder of the meat ration which they required to Last them for the sixteen days during which it was expected the army would be away from a base of supplies was driven as corps herds. In addition to these there was a general or army- herd to fall back upon when necessary to supply the corps herds, but this was always at the base of supplies. Probably from eight to ten thousand head of cattle accompanied the army across the Rapidan, when it entered upon the Wilderness Campaign. THE ARMY HORSE. I have already stated that the horse was the sole reliance of the artillery and cavalry, and have given the reasons why the mule was a failure in either branch. I have also stated that the mule replaced him, for the most part, in the wagon- trains, six mules being substituted for four horses. I did not state that in the ambulance train the horses were retained because they were the steadier. But 1 wish now to refer more particularly to their conduct in action and on duty generally. First, then, I will come directl}^ to the point by saying that the horse was a hero in action. That horses under fire behaved far better than men did under a similar exposure would naturally be expected, for men knew what and whom to fear, whereas a horse, when hit by a bullet, if he. could get loose, was fully as likely to run towards the enemy as from him. But not every horse would run or make a fuss when wounded. It depended partly upon the horse and partly upon the character and location of the wound. I have seen bullets buried in the neck or rump of steady- nerved horses without causing them to show more than a little temporary uneasiness. The best illustration of the fortitude "\ GENERAL HANCOCK AT KEAM's STATION, VA., AUGUST 25, 1864. SCATTERING SHOTS. 327 of horse-flesh that I ever witnessed occurred on the 25th of August, 1864, at Ream's Station on the Weldon Railroad. In this battle the fifty-seven or eight horses belonging to ni}^ company stood out in bold relief, a sightly target for the bullets of Rebel sharpshooters, who, from a woods and corn- field in our front, improved their opportunity to the full. Their object was to kill off our horses, and then, by charg- ing, take the guns, if possible. It was painfully interesting to note the manner in which our brave limber-horses — those which drew the guns — succumbed to the bullets of the enemy. They stood har- nessed in teams of six. A peculiar dull thud indicated that the bullet had penetated some fleshy part of the animal, sounding much as a pebble does when thrown into the mud. The result of such wounds was to make the horse start for a moment or so, but finally he would settle down as if it was something to be endured without making a fuss, and thus he would remain until struck again. I remember having had my eye on one horse at the very moment when a bullet entered his neck, but the wound had no other effect upon him than to make him shake his head as if pestered by a fly. Some of the horses would go down when hit by the first bullet and after lying quiet awhile would struggle to their feet again only to receive additional wounds. Just before the close of this battle, while our gallant General Hancock was riding along endeavoring by his own personal fearless- ness to rally his retreating troops, his horse received a bullet in the neck, from the effects of which he fell forward, dismounting the general, and appearing as if dead. Believ- ing such to be the case, Hancock mounted another horse ; but within five minutes the fallen brute arose, shook him- self, was at once remounted by the general, and survived the war many years. When a bullet struck the bone of a horse's leg in the lower part, it made a hollow snapping sound and took him off his feet. I saw one pole-horse shot thus, fracturing the 328 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. bone. Down he went at once, but all encumbered as he was with liarness and limber, he soon scrambled up and stood on three legs until a bullet hit him vitally. It seemed sad to see a single horse left standing, with his five compan- ions all lying dead or dying around hiin, himself the object of a concentrated fire until the fatal shot finally laid him low. I saw one such brute struck by the seventh bullet before he fell for the last time. Several received as many as five REAL ' HORSE SENSE. bullets, and it was thought by some that they would average that number apiece. They were certainly very thoroughly riddled, and long before the serious fighting of the day occurred but two of the thirty-one nearest the enemy re- mained standing. These two had been struck but not vitally, and survived some time longer. We took but four of our fifty-seven horses from that ill-starred fray. But, aside from their wonderful heroism, — for I can find no better name for it, — they exhibited in many ways that sagac- ity for which the animal is famous. I have already referred to the readiness with which they responded to many of the bu^le-ctills used on drill. In the cavalry service thev knew their places as well as did their riders, and it was a frequent occurrence to see a horse, when his rider had been dismounted SCATTERING SHOTS. 329 by some means, resume his place in line or column without him, seemingly not wishing to be left behind. This quality was often illustrated when a poor, crippled, or generally used- up beast, which had been turned out to die, would attempt to hobble along in his misery and join a column as it passed. Captain W. S. Davis, a member of General Griffin's staff of the Fifth Corps, rode a horse which had the very singular but horse-sensible habit of sitting down on his haunches, like a dog, after his rider had dismounted. One moi'iiing he was missing, and nothing was seen of him for months ; but one night, after the corps had encamped, some of the men, who knew the horse, in looking off towards the horizon, saw against the sky a silhouette of a horse sitting down. It was at once declared to be the missing brute, and Captain Davis, on being informed, recovered his eccentric but highly prized animal. CHAPTER XVIII. BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. " And now conies ' boots and saddles ! ' Oh ! there's hurrying to and fro, And saddling up in busy haste — for what, we do not know. Sometimes 'twas but a false alarm, sometimes it meant a tight; Sometimes it came in daytime, and sometimes it came at night." PIE subject of this chapter is a very suo-o-estive one to the old soldier. It covers a whole realm of experience which it would be nearly impossible to exhaust. But there is much in this as in other experiences whicli was common to all long- term veterans, and to this com- mon experience more especially I shall address my attention. From the descriptions which I have already given of the various kinds of shelter used by the soldiers it will be read- ily understood that they got the most comfortably settled in their winter-quarters, and that in a small way each hut became a miniature homestead, and for the time being pos- sessed, to a certain extent, all the attractions of home. The bunk, the stools, and other furniture, the army bric-a-brac, whether captured or of home production, which adorned the rougfh tenement within and without, all came to have a value by association in the soldier's thought, a value which was not fully computed till campaigning impended — that usually direful day, when marching orders came and the boys folded their tents and marched away. This sketch 330 BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MAliCIf. 331 will relate something of army life as it was lived after march- ing orders were received. When the general commanding an army had decided upon a plan of campaign, and the proper time came to put it in operation, he at once issued his orders to his subordinate commanders to have their commands ready to take their place in column at a given hour on a given day. These orders came down through the various corps, division, bri- gade, regimental, or battery headquarters to the rank and file, whose instructions given them on line would be to the effect that at the stated liour they were to be ready to start with three days' rations in their haversacks (this was the usual quantity), the infantry to have forty rounds of ammu- nition in their cartridge-boxes. This latter quantity was very often exceeded. The Army of the Potomac went into the Wilderness having from eighty to a hundred rounds of ammunition to a man, stowed away in knapsacks, haver- sacks, or pockets, according to the space afforded, and six days' rations similarly disposed of. When Hooker started on the Chancellorsville Campaign, eleven days' rations were issued to the troops. Sometimes marching orders came when least expected. I remember to have heard the long roll sounded one Saturday forenoon in the camp of the infantry that lay near us in the fall of '63*; it was October 10. Our guns were unlimbered for action just outside of camp where we had been hdng several days utterly unsuspicious of danger. It was quite a surprise to us ; and such Lee intended it to be, he having set out to put himself between our army and Washington. We were not attacked, but started to the rear a few hours afterwards. Before the opening of the spring campaign a reasonable notice was generally given. There was one orderly from each brigade headquarters who almost infallibly brought marching orders. The men knew the nature of the tidings which he cantered up to regimental headquarters v/ith under 532 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. liis belt. Very often they would good-naturedly rail at hira as he rode into and out of camp, thus indicating their dislike of his errand; but the wise ones went directly to quarters and began to pack up. When it was officially announced to the men on line at night that marching orders were received, and that at such an hour next morning tents would be struck and the men in PACKING UP. place, equipped and provided as already stated, those men who had not already decided the question retired to their huts and took an account of stock in order to decide what to take and what to leave. As a soldier would lay out two articles on the bunk, of equally tender associations, one could seem to hear him murmur, with Gay, " How happy could I be with either Were t'other dear charmer away." as he endeavored to choose between them, knowing too well that both could not be taken. The "survival of the fittest "■ BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 333 was the question, which received deeper and tenderer con- sideration here in one evening; than Darwin has ever ofiven it in the same time. Then, there was the overcoat and the woollen blanket which should be left? Perhaps he finally- decided to try taking both along for a while. He will leave the dress-coat and wear the blouse. He has two changes of flannels. He will throw away those he has on, don a clean set and take a change with him. These flannels, by the way, if they were what he drew from the government stores, were often as rough to the skin as coarse sand-paper, which they somew^hat resembled in color. From the head of his bunk lie takes a collection of old let- ters which have accumulated during the winter. These he looks over one by one and commits to the flames with a sigh. Many of them are letters from home ; some are from acquaint- ances. Possibly he read the Waverly Magazine., and may have carried on a correspondence with one or more of the many young women who advertised in it for a "soldier cor- respo])dent, who must not be over twenty," with all the virtues namable. There w^as no man in my company — from old Graylocks, of nearly sixty, down to the callow "chicken" of seventeen — but what felt qualified to fill such a bill, "just for the fun of it, a'ou know." The young woman was generally "eighteen, of prepossessing appearance, good education, and would exchange photographs if desired." An occasional letter from such a quarter would provoke a smile as tlie soldier glanced at its source and contents Ijefore committing it to the yawn of his army fireplace. This rather impleasant task completed, he continues his researches and work of destruction. He tucks his little collection of photo- graphs, which perhaps he has encased in rubber or leather, into an inside pocket, and disposes other small keepsakes about his person. If he intends to take his effects in a knap- sack, he will at tlie start have put by more to carry than if he simply takes his blankets (rubber and woollen) rolled and slunsf over his shoulder. Late in the war this latter Avas the 334 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. most common plan, as the same weight coukl be borne with less fatigue in that manner than in a knapsack, slung on the back. I have assumed it to be evening or late afternoon when marching orders arrived, and have thus far related what the average soldier was wont to do immediately afterwards. There was a night ahead and the soldiers were wont to " make a night of it." As a rule, there was little sleep to be had, the enforcement of the usual rules of camp being relaxed on such an occasion. Aside from the labor of personal pack- ing and destroying, 'the rations were to be distributed, and each company had to fall into line, march to the cook-house, and receive their three or more days' allowance of hardtack, pork, coffee, and sugar, all of which they must stowaway, as compactly as possible, in the haversack or elsewhere if they wanted them. In the artillery, besides securing the rations, sacks of grain — usually oats — must be taken from the grain- pile and strapped on to the ammunition-chests for the liorses; the axles must be greased, good spare horses selected to sup- ply the vacancies in any teams where the horses were unfit for duty ; the tents of regimental headquarters must be struck, likewise the , cook-tents, and these, with oflicers' baggage, must be put into the wagons which are to join the trains : — in brief, everything must be prepared for the march of the morrow. After this routine of preparation was completed, camp-fires were lighted, and about them would gather the happy-go-lucky boys of the rank and file, whose merry din would speedily stir the blood of the men who had hoped for a few hours' sleep before starting out on the morrow, to come out of their huts and join the jovial round ; and soon they were as happy as the happiest, even if more reticent. As the fire died down and the soldiers drew closer about it, some comrade would go to his hut, and, with an armful of its furniture, the stools, closets, and tables I have spoken of, reillumine and en- liven the scene and drive back the circle of bystanders again. BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 335 The conversation, which, with the going clown of tlie fire, was lilcely to take on a somewhat sober asjiect, would again assume a more cheerful strain. For a time conjectures on the plan of the coming compaign would be exchanged. Volumes of wisdom concerning what ought to be done changed hands at these camp-fires, mingled with much "I told you so " about the last battle. Alexanders simply swarmed, so WAITING FOR MAKCHING ORDERS. numerous were those who could solve the Gordian knot of success at sight. It must interest those strategists now, as they read history, to see how little they really knew of what was taking place. When this slight matter of the proper thing for the army to do was disposed of, some one would start a song, and then for an hour at least " John Brown's Body," " Marching Along,^' " Red, White, and Blue," " Rally 'round the Flag," and other popular and familiar songs would ring out on the clear evening air, following along in quick succession, and sung with great earnestness and enthusiasm as the chorus was 336 BAUD TACK AND COFFEE. increased by additions from neighboring camp-fires, until tired Nature began to assert herself, when one by one the company would withdraw, each going to his hut for two or three hours' rest, if possible, to partially prepare him for the toils of the morrow. Ah! is not that an all-wise provision of Providence which keeps the future a sealed book, placing it before us leaf by leaf only, as the present ? For some of these very men, it may have been, whose voices rang out so merrily at that camp-fire, would lie cold and pale ere tlie week should close, in the solemn stillness of death. But morning dawned all too soon for those who gave up most of the night to hilarity, and all were summoned forth at the call of the bugle or the drum, and at a time agreed upon Tlie General was sounded. Presto. The Geneeal. :t=tt -|— I \- 0-m-m—»-m -m-\- m~0-0—m-m -m- t^ -^- ^|g^E^g3Efes3:l=l •-•- -•-#-•- -•- -•-•-•- -<&- The above is the General of infantry. That of the artil- lery was less often used and entirely different. At this signal, every tent in a regiment v/as struck. It was quite an interesting siglit to see several acres of canvas disappear in a moment, where before it had been the jjromi- nent feature in the landscape. As a fact, I believe the General was little used in the latter part of the war. For about two years, when the troops were sheltered by the Sibley, Wedge, and Wall tents, it was necessary to have them struck at an early hour, in order tliat they might bs packed away in tlie wagon-train. But after the Shelter tent ARTILLERY q'r. MASTER. CORPS H^Oq^RS. BRIGADE. MCINDOE BROS-, PRINTERS. BOSTON BREAKING CAMP. — OX THE MARCH. 337 came into use, and each man was his own wagon, the General was seldom heard unless at the end of a long en- campment ; for, when marching orders came, each man understood that he must be ready at the hour appointed, even if his regiment waited another day before it left camp. No more provoking incident of army life happened, I believe, than for a regiment to wait in camp long after the hour appointed to march. But such was the rule rather than the exception. ^Nlany a man's hearth-stone was then desolate, for if the hour of departure was set for the morn- ing, when morning came and the stockade was vacated, it often suffered demolition to increase the heat of the camp- fires, as previously noted. But as hour after hour wore on, and men still found themselves in camp with nothing to do and plenty of help, they began to wish that they had not been so hasty in breaking up housekeeping and tearing down tlieir shanties, else they might resort to them and make their wait a little more endurable. Especially did they repent if rain came on as they lingered, or if night again overtook them there VN^ith their huts untenable, for it would have been the work of only a moment to re-cover them with the Shelter tents. Such waits and their conse- quences Avere severe tests to the })atience of the men, and sometimes seemed to work more injury to their morals tlian the average army chaplain could repair in days. But there is an end to all things earthly, this being no exception. The colors of corps headquarters borne at the heels of the corps commander, and followed by his staff, are at last seen moving into the road. The bugler of the divis- ion having the lead sounds the call Attention. Attention. Allegro. 338 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. This call is tlie Attention of infantry at which the men, alread}^ in column, take their places, officers mount, and all await the next call, which is Forward. D.C. --t:: :t=: -H 1 1 At this signal tlie reg^iments take " ricrht shoulder shift," and the march begins. Let the reader, in imagination, take post by the roadside as the column goes by. Take a look at corps headquarters. The commander is a major-general. His staff comprises an assistant adjutant-general, an as- sistant inspector-general, a topographical engineer, a com- missary of musters, a commissary of subsistence, a judge- advocate, several aides-de-camp — and perhaps other officers, of varying rank. Those mentioned usually ranked from colonel to captain. In the Union army, major-generals might command either a division, a corps, or an army, but in the Confederate service each army of importance was com- manded by a lieutenant-general. Take a look at the corps headquarters flag. Feb. 7, 1863, General Hooker deci'eed the flags of corps headquarters to be a blue swallow-tail field bearing a white Maltese cross, liaving in the centre tlie number of the corps ; but, so far as I can learn, this decree was never enforced in a single instance. Mr. James Beale, in his exceedingly valuable and unique volume, '"The Union Flags at Gettysburg," shows a nondescript cross on some of the headquarters flags, which some qiuirtermaster may have intended as a compliance with Hooker's order; but though true copies of originals they are monstrosities, which never could have had existence in a well ordered brain, and which have no warrant in heraldry or general BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 339 orders as far as can be ascertained. When the army en- tered upon the Wilderness Campaign, each corps headquar- ters floated a blue swallow-tailed flag bearing its own partic- ular emblem in white, in the centre of which was the figure designating the corps, in red. Here comes the First Division. At the head rides its general commanding and stafl". Behind him is the color- bearer, carrying tlie division flag. If you are familiar Avith the corps badges, you will not need to ask what corps or division it is. The men's caps tell the story, but the flags are equally plain-spoken. This flag is the first division color. It is rectangular in shape. The corps emblem is red in a white field; the second has the emblem white in a blue field ; the third has the emblem blue in a white field. The divisions had the lead of the corps ou the march by turns, changing each day. But here comes another headquarters. The color-bearer carries a tria^igular flag. That is a brigade flag. May 12, 1863, General Hooker issued an order prescribing division flags of the pattern I have described, and also designated what the brigade flags should be. They were to be, first of all, triangular in shape ; the brigades of the fii'st division should bear the corps symbol in red in the centre of a white field, but, to distinguish them, the first brigade should have no other mark; the second should liave a blue stripe next the staff, and the third a blue border four and one-half inches wide around the flag. Tlie brigades of the second division had the corps symbol in white in the centre of a blue field, with a red stripe next the staff to designate the second brigade, and a red border the third. The third division had its brigades similarly designated, with the symbol bbie, the field white, and the stripes red. Whenever there was a fourth brigade, it was designated by a triangular block of color in each corner of the flag. 340 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. The chief quartermaster of tlie cor2:)S and the chief of artillery had each his appropriate flag, as designated in the color-plate, but the arrangement of the colors in the Hag of the chief quartermasters differed in different corps. This scheme of Hooker's, for distinguishing corps, division, and brigade headquarters remained unchanged till the end of the war. The brigades took turns in having the lead — or, as mili- tary men say, the right — of the division, and regiments had the right of brigades by turns. There goes army headquarters yonder — the command- ing general, with his numerous staff — making for the head of the column. His flag is the simple star-spangled banner. The stars and stripes were a common flag for army head- quarters. It was General Meade's headquarters Hag till Grant came to the Army of the Potomac, who also used it for that purpose. This made it necessary for Meade to change, which he did, finally adopting a lilac-colored swal- low-tail flag, about the size of the corps headquarters flags, having in the field a wreath enclosing an eagle, in gold. You can easily count the regiments in column by their United States colors. A few of them, you will notice, have a battle-flag, bearing the names of the engagements in which they have participated. Some regiments used the national colors for a battle-Hag, some the state colors. I think the vol- unteers did not adopt tlie idea early in the war. Originally battles were only inscribed on flags by authority of the secretary of war, that is, in the regular army. But the volunteers seemed to be a law unto themselves, and, while many flags in existence to-day bear names of battles in- scribed by order of the commanding general, there are some with inscriptions of battles which the trooj^s were hardly in hearing of. The Rebel battle-flag was a blue spangled saltier in a red field, and originated with General Joe John- ston after the first Bull Run. You -will have little difficulty in deciding where a regi- BREAKING CAMP. — ON TUE MARCH. 341 meiit begins or ends. It begins with a field officer and ends with a nmle. Originally it ended with several army wagons ; but now that portion of regimental headquarters baggage which has not gone to the wagon-train is to be found stowed about the mule, that is led along by a contraband. Yes, the head, ears, and feet which you see are the only visible externals of a mule. He is '' clothed upon " with the various materials necessary to prepare a - square meal " . for the colonel and other headquarters officers. His trap- pings would, seemingly,, fit out a small family in houseiiold goods of a kind. There is a mess-kettle, a fry-pan, mess- pans, tent-poles, a fly (canvas), a valise, a knapsack and haversack, a hamper on each side, a musket, and other mat- ter which goes to make the burden at least twice the size of the animal. Four mules were regarded as having tlie carry- ing capacity of one army wagon. At the end of the brigade you will see two or three of these mules burdened with the belongings of brigade headquarters. The mule had other company than the negro ofttimes. That man who seems to be flour and grease from head to heels, who needs no shelter nor rubber blanket because he is waterproof already, perhaps, inside and out, whose shabby, well-stuffed knapsack furnishes the complement to the mule's lading, who shuffles along with - no style about him," is the cook, perhaps, for the regiment, probably for headquarters, certainly not for Delmonico. It is singu- lar, but none the less true, that if a man made a slovenly, indifferent soldier he was fully as likely to get a berth in the cook-house as to have any other fate befall hini. This remark applies to men who drifted into tlie business of ''army caterer" after trying other service, and not those who entered at once upon it. Here comes a light battery at the rear of the division. Possibly it is to remain with this part of the corps for the campaign. Such was sometimes the case, but later a battery was often used anywhere within the limits of a corps that 342 HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. it could be of advantage. This battery lias six brass Napo- leons, 12-pounders. They are very destructive at sliort range. It is followed by a battery of steel guns. They are Parrots, three-inch rifles ; best for long range, but good anywhere. Not so safe for close action, however, as the Napoleons. Yonder you can see the Second Division moving across the fields, made up like the one just passed. It will close in upon the rear of this division farther up the road. What an interesting spectacle it presents, the bright sunlight glint- ing from the thousands of polished muskets, the moving masses of light and dark blue inching along over the uneven ground, the various flags streaming proudly in the air, marking oft' the separate brigades and regiments. The column is moving at a moderate pace. It takes some time for a corps to get under way. If we wait long enough, the Third Division, made up like the others, will pass by us, unless it has gone on a parallel road. It is growing warmer. The column has now got straight- ened out, and for the last hour has moved forward quite rapidly. The road is evidently clear of all obstructions, but the heat and speed begin to tell on the men. Look at the ground which that brigade has just vacated aftei- its brief halt for rest. It is strewn with blankets, overcoats, dress- coats, pantaloons, sliirts — in fact, a little of everything from the outfit of the common soldier. As the Second Corps advanced into the Wilderness on the morning of May 4, 1864, I saw an area of an acre or more almost literally covered with the articles above named, many of them prob- ably extras, but some of them the sole garment of their kind, left by the owners, who felt compelled, from the in- creasing weight of their load, to lighten it to the extent of parting with the blankets which they would need that very night for shelter. This lightening of the load began before the columns had been on the road an hour. A soldier who had been through the mill would not wait for a general BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. o4o halt to occur before parting with a })ortioii of his k)ad, if it oppressed him; but a recruit would hang- to his until he bent over at an angle of 45° from a vertical, with his eyes staring, his lower jaw hanging, and his face dripping with moisture. If you were to follow the column after, say, the first two miles, you would find various articles scat- tered along at intervals by the roadside, where a sol- dier quietly stepped out of the I'anks, sat down, un- slung liis knapsack or his blanket-roll, took out what he liad decided to throw away, again equipped him- self, and, thus relieved, hastened on to overtake the regiment. It did not take an army long to get into light marching order after it was once fairly on the road. I have been dealing with the first day out of set- tled camp. On subsequent days, of course the same programme would not be enacted. And, again, if a man clung to his effects till noon, he was likely to do so for tiie day, as after noon the thought of shel- ter for the night nerved him to hold on. But men would drop out in the afternoon of the first day for another reason. They blistered or chafed their feet and sat down at the first stream to bathe them, A FOOTSORE STRAGGLER. 344 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. after wliicli, if the weather admitted, they could be seen plodding along barefooted, their pantaloons rolled up a few inches, and their shoes dangling at the end of their musket- barrel. Then, this very crossing of a stream often furnished an interesting scene in the march of the column. A river broad and deep would be spanned by a pontoon bridge, but the common creeks of the South were crossed by fording. Once in a while (in warm weather) the men would take off most of their clothing and carry it with their equip- ments across on tlieir heads. It was no uncommon exjierience for them to ford streams waist-deep, even in cool weather. If the bottom was a treacherous one, and the current rapid, a line of cavalry-men was placed across the river just below the column to pick up such men as should lose their footing. jNIany were the mishaps of such a crossing, and, unless the enemy was at hand, the first thing to be done after reaching shore was to strip and wrinq; out such clothins; i^s needed it. With those who had slijiped and fallen this meant all they had on and what was in their knapsack besides, but with most it included only trousers, drawers, and socks. After the halt w'hicli allowed the soldiers time to perform this bit of laundry work had ended, and the column moved along, it was not an uncommon sight to see muskets used as clothes-lines, from which depended socks, shoes, here and there a shirt, perhaps a towel or handkerchief. But if the weather was cool the wash did not hang out in this way. When it became necessary to cross a stream in the night, huge fires were built on its banks, with a picket at hand, whose duty it was to keep tliem burning until daylight, or until the army had crossed. A greater number of mis- haps occurred in fording by night than by day even then. During Meade's retreat from Culpeper, in the fall of 1863, — it was the night of October 11, — my company forded the Rappahannock after dark, and went into camp a few rods BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 345 away from tlie ford ; and I remember what a jolly night the troops made of it when they came to this ford. At short intervals I was awakened from slumber b}^ the laughter or cheers of the waders, as they made merry at the expense of some of their number, who came out after immersion usino- language which plainly indicated their disbelief in that kind of baptism. Here was the field for the tired, overloaded "headquarters" in trouble. headquarters mule to display his obstinacy to a large and changing audience, by getting midway of the stream and refusing to budge. I can see the frenzied Ethiopian in charge, now, waist-deep in water, wild with despair at the situation, alternating reasoning with pulling and beating, while the brute lies down in the stream all encumbered with the baggage, the passing column jeering poor Sambo, and making the adjacent woodland echo with their loud guffaws at his helpless yet laughable condition. That was a noisy night, and it has always been a matter of wonder to me that we remained undisturbed, with the enemy less than three miles up the river, as General Birney, with whom we then were, has left on record. Tiiere was no stop- ping to wring out. But " close up ! " was the order after 346 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. crossing, and the dull rattle made by the equipments, the striking of the coftee dipper on the canteen or buckles, as the column glided along in the darkness, or the whipping-up of belated mule-teams, was heard until the gray of morning appeared. The army on the march in a rain-storm presented some aspects not seen in fair weather. As soon as it began to rain, or just before, each man would remove his rubber blanket from his roll or knapsack, and put it over his shoulders, tying it in front. Some men used their slielter tent instead — a very poor substitute, however. But there was no fun in the marching business during the rain. It might settle the dust. It certainl}- settled about everything else. An order to go into camp while the rain was in progress was not much of an improvement, for the ground was wet, fence-rails were wet, one's woollen blanket was likely also to be wet, hardtack in the haversack wet — in fact, nothing so abundant and out of place as water. I re- member geing into camp one night in particular, in Pleasant Valley, Md., on a side-hill during a drenching rain, such as mountain regions know, and lying down under a hastily pitched shelter, with the water coursing freely along beneath me. I was fresh as a soldier then, and this experience, seem- ing so dreadful then, made a strong impression. Such situa- tions were too numerous afterwards to make note of even in memory. Then, the horses I It made them ugly and vicious to stand in the pelting rain at the picket-rope. I think they preferred being in harness on the road. But they were likely to get subdued the next day, when sloughs and mire were the rule. If two corps took the same road after a storm, the worse for the hindermost, for it found deep ruts and mud-holes in abundance ; and as it dragged forward it would come upon some piece of artillery or caisson in the mire to the hubs, doomed to stay, in spite of the shoutings and lashings of the drivers, the swearing of the officers, and BREAKING CAMP. —ON THE MARCH. 347 the lifting and straining of mnd-bedraggled cannoneers, until six more horses were added to extricate it. Anon the corps would arrive at a place utterly impassable, when down would go the fence by the roadside, if there was one, and out would go the column into the field skirting tlie road, returning again be^^ond the mire. At anotlier slougli, a staff officer might be found posted to direct the artillery where to make a safe passage. Such places by night were generally lighted by fires built for that purpose. I remember such a spot in particular — a THE FLANKERS. reminiscence of the Mine Run Campaign ; I think it was the night of Dec. 4, 1863. My battery was then attached to the Third Division of the Tliird Corps. B}^ the edge of the slough in question sat General J. B. Carr, the division com- mander, with a portion of his command near by, and, as a caisson went down in the mire, he called in his "Blue Dia- monds" to lift it out, which they did right manfully. Tliere was no turning into fields that night, for, while the roads were soft, the fields were softer, and worse travelling I be- lieve the Army of the Potomac never saw, unless on the " Mud March." When the army was expecting to run against the enemy 348 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. in its ad\ance, flankers were tlirovvii out on either side of the column. These flankers were a single file of soldiers, wJio marched along a few feet a[)art parallel to the column, and perhaps ten or twelve rods distant from it in open country, but not more than half that distance when it was marchino- througli woods. In the event of an attack, the Hankers on that side became the skirmish line in action. It was an interesting sight to see a column break up when the order came to halt, whether for rest or other i-eason. It would melt in a moment, dividing to the right and left, and scattering to the sides of the road, where the men would sit down or lie down, lying back on their knapsacks if they had them, or stretching at full length on the ground. If the lat- ter was wet or muddy, cannoneers sat on their carriages and limber-chests, while infantrymen would perhaps sit astride their muskets, if the halt was a short one. Wlien the halt was expected to continue for some considerable time the troops of a corps or division were massed, that is, brought together in some large open tract of territory, when the muskets would be stacked, the equipments laid off, and each man rush for the "top rail" of the nearest fence, until not a rail remained. The coffee would soon begin to simmer, the pork to sputter in the flames, and, when the march was resumed^ the men would start off refreshed with rest and rations. BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 349 But if the halt was for a few minutes onl}^ and the march- ing had not been relieved by the regular rests usually al- lowed, the men stiffened up so much that, with their equip- ments on, they could hardly arise without assistance, and, goaded by their stiffened cords and tired muscles and swollen or chafed feet, made wry faces for the first few rods after the column started. In this manner they plodded on until ordered into camp for the night, or perhaps double- quicked into line of battle. During that dismal night retreat of the Army of the Potomac from Chancellorsville, a little event occurred which showed what a choleric man General Meade was on occa- sion, and to what an exhausted bodily condition the rigors of a campaign often reduced men. While the general was sitting with General Warren at one of those camp-tires always found along the line of march after nightfall, a poor jaded, mud-bedraggled infantrymen came straggling and stumbling along the roadside, scarcely able, in his wet and wearied condition, to bear up under his burden of musket and equipments. As he staggered past the camp-fire, he struck, by the merest accident, against General Meade, who jumped immediately to his feet, drew his sabre, and made a lunge at the innocent offender, which sent him staggering to the ground. There he lay motionless, as if dead. At once Meade began to upbraid himself for his hasty temper, and seemed filled with remorse for what he had done. Whereat General Warren made efforts to calm his fears by telling him it was probably not as serious as he supposed, and tliereupon began to make investigation of tlie nature of the injury done the prostrate veteran. To General ^Meade's great gratifica- tion, it was found that while his sabre had cut through the man's clothing, it had only grazed his side witliout drawing blood, but so completely worn out had the soldier become through the exactions of the recent campaign that matter dominated mind, and he lay in a double sense as if dust had returned to dust. CHAPTER XIX. AEMY WAGON-TRAINS. " That every man who swears once drove a mule Is not believed by any but a fool ; But whosoe'er drove mules and did not swear Can be relied on for an honest prayer." EFORE giving a histoiy of the wagon-trains which formed a part, and a nec- essary part, of every army, I will briefly refer to what was known as " Grant's Military Railroad," which M-as really a railroad built for the army, and used solely by it. When the Army of the Potomac appeared before Peters- burg, City Point, on the James River, was made army headquarters and the "base of supplies," that is, the place to which supplies were brought from the North, and from which they were distributed to the various portions of -the army. The Lyncliburg or Soutliside Raih-oad enters Petersburg from the west, and' a short railroad, known as the City Point Railroad, connects it with City Point, ten miles eastward. Tlie greater portion of this ten miles fell 'witliin the Union lines after our army appeared before Petersburg, and, as these lines were extended westward after the siege was determined upon, Grant conceived the plan of 350 ARMY WAGON-TRAINS. 351 running a railroad iusitle our fortifications to save botli time and mule-flesh in distributing supplies along the line. It was soon done. About five miles of the City Point road were used, from which the new road extended to the south- west, perhaps ten miles, striking the Weldon Railroad, which had been wrested from the enem3^ Down this the trains ran three miles; then a new branch of about two miles more to the west took them to the left of the Union lines. Of course, there were stations along this road at which supplies were left for those troops near by. These stations were named after different generals of the army. Meade and Patrick stations are two names which yet linger in my memory, near each of which my company was at some time located. The trains on this road were visible to the enemy for a time as they crossed an open plain in their trips, and brought upon themselves quite a lively shelling, resulting in no damage, I believe, but still making railroading so uncom- fortable that a high embankment of earth was thrown up, which completely covered the engine and cars as they rolled along, and which still stands as a monument to the labors of the pick-and-shovel brigade. This railroad was what is known as a surface road, by which is meant that there were no cuts made, the track being laid on the natural surface of the ground. When a marsh was met with, instead of filHng, the enghieers built a trestling. The effect of such railroad- ing to the eye was quite picturesque, as a train wound its serpentine course along the country, up hill and down dale, appearing much as if it had jumped the track, and was going across lots to its destination. But the trains of the army were w-a^'ow-trains, and so little has been written about them in histories of the war that a limited sketch in this volume will have interest for many readers. Tlie trains belong to what is known in French as the materiel of the army, in distinction from the personnel, the 352 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. men employed. In Roman history we frequently find the bag- gage-trains of the army alluded to as the impedimenta. The materiel., then, or impedi^nenta., of our armies has, very naturally, been ignored by the historian ; for the personnel, the actors, are of so much more consequence, they have absorbed the interest of both writers and readers. I say the persons are of much more consequence, but I must not be understood as belittling the importance of the trains. An army without its varied supplies, which the trains care for and provide, would soon be neither useful nor ornamental. In fact, an army is like a piece of machinery, each part of which is indis- pensable to every other part. I presume every one of mature years has an idea of wliat army wagons look like. They were heavy, lumbering affairs at best, built for hard service, all, apparently, after the same pattern, each one having its tool-box in front, its feed trougli behind, which, in camp, was placed length- wise of the pole ; its spare pole suspended at the side ; its wooden bucket for water, and iron " slush-bucket " for grease, lianging from the hind axle ; and its canvas cover, which when closely drawn in front and rear, as it always was on the march, made quite a satisfactory " close car- riage." As a pleasure carriage, however, they were not considered a success. When the Third Corps was winter- ing at Brandy Station in 1863-4 the concert troupe, which my company boasted was engaged to give a week of evening A MULE DRIVER. AEMY WAGON-TBAINS. 353 entertainments not far from Culpeper, in a large hex- ao-onal stockade, which would seat six or seven hundred persons, and which had been erected for the purpose by one Lieutenant Lee, then on either General French's or General Birney's staff — I cannot now say which. To convey ns thither over the intervening distance of four or five miles, as I now remember, we hired a mule-driver with his arm}^ wagon. More than twenty-three years have since elapsed, but those twelve or fourteen rides, after dark, across the rough country and frozen ground around Brandy Station were so thoroughly jolted into my memory that I shall never forget them. The seven dollars apiece per night which we received for our services was but a trifling compen- sation for the battering and mellowing we endured en route, and no more than paid for wear and tear. No harder vehicle can be found to take a ride in than an army wagon. By some stroke of good luck, or, perhaps, good manage- ment, many of the regiments from New England took their transportation along wdth them. It consisted, in many cases, of twenty-five wagons, two for each company, and five for regimental headquarters. These were drawn at first by four horses, but afterwards by six mules. A light battery had three such wagons. They were designed to carry the baggage of the troops, and when a march was ordered they Avere filled with tents, stoves, kettles, pans, chairs, desks, trunks, valises, knapsacks, boards, — in fact, whatever con- veniences had accumulated about the camps. General Sherman, in his Memoirs (vol. i. p. 178), describes very graphically the troops he saw about Washington in '61, as follows : — " Their uniforms were as various as the states and cities from which they came ; their arms were also of every pattern and calibre ; and they were so loaded down with overcoats, haversacks, knapsacks, tents, and baggage, that it took from twenty-five to fifty wagons to move the camp of a regiment 354 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. from one place to another, and some of the camps had liaker- ies and cooking establishments that would liave done credit to Delmonico." General Sherman might have seen much the same situa- tion near Washington even in '62 and "63. Every company in a regiment located in the defences of the capital city had one or more large cook-stoves with other appointments to match, and when they moved only a few miles they took all their lares and penates with them. This could then be done without detriment to the service. It was only when they attempted to carry everything along in active campaigning that trouble ensued. In October, 1861, McClellan issued an order which con- tained the following provisions : — '' 1. No soldiers shall ride in loaded bao-o-acre-wao'ons under any circumstances, nor in empty wagons unless by special in- structions to that effect. " 2. Knapsacks shall not be carried in the wagons except on the written recommendation of the surgeon, whicli sliall be given in case of sickness. " 3. Tent-floors shall not be transported in public wagons, and hereafter no lumber shall be issued for tent-lioors except upon the recommendation of the medical director for hospital purposes." This order was issued before the corps Avere organized, while the wagons were yet with tlieir regiments, and while the men yet had their big knapsacks, which they were always ready to ride with or toss into a wagon when tlie regiment moved. This was the time of transporting tent- iioors, the luxurious fault-finding period before carpets, feather-beds, and roast beef had entirely lost their charm ; when each man was, in his own way and belief, fully the size of a major-general ; when the medical director of the army had time, unaided as yet by subordinates, to decide the question of tent-floors versus no tent-floors for individuals. Ah, the freshness and flavor of those early Avar days come back AliMY WAGON-TRAINS. 355 to me as I write — each day big \A' ith importance, as our letters, yet preserved to us, so faithfully record. Not many months elapsed before it became apparent that the necessities of stern warfare would not permit and should not have so many of the equipments of civil life, when the shelter tent, already described, took the place of the larger varieties; when camp-fires superseded the stoves, and many other comfortable but unnecessary furnishings disappeared from the baggage. Not how Uftle but how much could be dispensed with then became the question of the hour. The trains must be reduced in size, and they must be moved in a manner not to hamper tlie troops, if possible ; but the war was more than half finished before they were brought into a satisfactory system of operation. The greater number of the three-years regiments that arrived in Washington in 1861 brought no transportation of any kind. After McClellan assumed command, a depot of transportatioyi was established at Perryville on the Susque- hanna ; by this is meant a station where wagons and ambulances were kept, and from which they were sup- plied. From there Captain Sawtell, now colonel and brevet briga- dier general U. S. A., fitted out regiments as rapidly as he could, giving each dx wagons instead of twenty-five, one of Avliich was for medical supplies. Some regiments, however, by influence or favor at court, got more than that. A few wagons were sup[)lied from the quartermaster's depot at Washington. A quartermaster is an officer whose duty it is to provide quarters, provisions, clothing, fuel, storage, and transportation for an army. The chief officer in the quar- itermaster's department is known as the quartermaster- 'general. There was a chief quartermaster of tlie army, and a chief quartermaster to each corps and division ; then, there were brigade and regimental quartermasters, and finally the quartermaster-sergeants, all attending in their appropri- ate spheres to the special duties of this department. ^56 UAHD TACK AND COFFEE. During the march of the army up the Peninsula in 1862, the fighting force advanced by brigades, each of which was followed by its long columns of transportation. But this plan was very unsatisfactory, for thereby the army was extended along forest paths over an immense extent of country, and great delays and difficulties ensued in keeping the column closed up ; for such was the nature of the roads that after the first few wagons had passed over them they were rendered impassable in places for those behind. At least a quarter of each regiment was occupied in escorting its wagons, piled up Avith ammunition, provisions, tents, etc. ; and long after the head of the column had settled in bivouac could be heard the loud shouting of the team- sters to their jaded and mire-bedraggled brutes, the clatter of wagon and artillery wheels, the lowing of the driven herds, the rattling of sabres, canteens, and other equip- ments, as the men strode along in the darkness, anx- ious to reach the spot selected for their uncertain quantity of rest. At times in this campaign it was necessary for the wagon- trains to be massed and move together, but, for some reason, no order of march was issued, so that the most dire con- fusion ensued. A struggle for the lead would naturally set in, each division wanting it and fighting for it. Profanity, threats, and the flourishing of revolvers were sure to be prominent in the settling of the question, but the train which could run over the highest stumps and jmll through the deepest mud-holes was lil^ely to come out ahead. The verdancy wdiich remained after the first fall of the Union army at Bull Run was to be utterly overshadowed by the baptism of woe which was to follow in the Peninsular Campaign ; and on arriving at Harrison's Landing, on the James, McClellan issued the following order, which paved the way for better things : — . AlUir WAGON-TRAINS. 357 Allowance of Transportation, Tents, and Baggage. iead'^iuirtrrs, <^rmn of i\\^ |otomii([. Camp near n((rrl.sou\-i Landing, Vu., August 10, 1862. General Orders, ( No. 153. ) I. The following allowance of wagons is authorized: For the Head-Quarters of an Army Corps Four " " a Division or Brigade Three For a Battery of Light A rtillerj', or Squadron of Cavalry . . . Three For a full regiment of Infantry ^'/x This allowance will in no case be exceeded, but will be reduced to corre- spond as nearly as practicable with the number of officers and men actually present. All means of transportation in excess of th.e prescribed standard will be immediately turned in to the depot, with ' the exception of the authorized supply trains, which will be under the direction of the Chief Quartermasters of Corps. The Chief Quartermaster' of this Army will direct the organization of the supply trains. II. The Army must be prepared to bivouac when on marches away from the depots. The allowance of tents will therefore be immediately reduced to the following standard, and no other accommodations must be expected until a permanent depot is established : For the Head-Quarters of an Army Corps, Division, or Brigade, one wall tent for the General Counnanding, and one to every two officers of his staff. To each full regiment, for tlie Colonel, Field and Staff officers, three wall tents. For all other commissioned officers, one shelter tient each. For every two non-commissioned officers, soldiers, officers' servants, and camp folloAvers, as far as they can be supplied, one shelter tent. One hosijital tent will be allowed for office purposes at Corps Head- Quai'ters, and one wall tent at Division and Brigalle Head-Quarters. All tents in excess of this allowance will be immediately turned in to the depots. Tents of other patterns required to.be exchanged for shelter tents will be turned in as soon as the latter can be obtained from the Quartermaster's department. Under no circumstances will they be allowed to be carried when the Army moves. III. The allowance of officers' baggage will be limited to blankets, a small valise or carpet bag, and a reasonable mess-kit. All officers will at once reduce their baggage to this standard. The men will carry no baggage except blankets and shelter tents. The Chief Quartermaster will provide , storage on the transjjorts for the knapsacks of the men and for the officers' surplus baggage. 358 llABB TACK AND COFFEE. IV. Hospital tents must not be diverted from their legitimate nse, except for offices, as authorized in paragraph II. V. The wagons allowed to a regiment or battery must carry nothing but forage for the teams, cooking utensils for the men, hospital stores, small rations, and officers' baggage. One of the wagons allowed for a regiment will be used excluswely for hospital stores, under the direction of the regi- mental sui-geon. The wagon for regimental Head-Quarters will carry grain for the officers' horses. At least one and a half of the wagons allowed to a battery or squadron will carry grain. VI. Hospital stores, ammunition. Quartermaster's Stores, and subsistence stores in bulk will be transported in special trains. VII. Commanding officers will be held responsible that the reduction above ordered, especially of officers' baggage, is carried into effect at once, and Corps commanders are specially ciiarged to see that this responsibility is enforced. VIII. On all marches. Quartermasters will accompany and conduct their trains, under the orders of their commanding officers, so as never to obstruct the movement of troops. IX. All Quartermasters and Commissaries of Subsistence will attend in person to the receipt and issue of supplies for their commands, and will keep themselves constantly informed of the situation of the depots, roads, etc. By commanp of Majoii Gexerai. McClellan: S. WILLIAMS, jlasistaiit Adjutant General. Official Aide-de-Caiiip. This order quite distinctly shows some of the valuable lessons taught by that eventfid campaign before Rich- mond, more especially the necessity of limiting the amount of camp equipage and the transportation to be used for that purpose. But it farther outlines the beginnings of the Supply Trains, and to these I wish to direct sj)ecial attention. I have thus far only referred to the transportation pro- vided for the camp equipage ; but subsistence for man and beast must be taken along ; clothing, to replace the Avear and tear of service, must be provided ; ammimition in quantity and variety must be at ready command; intrenching tools were indispensable in an active campaign, — all of which AliMY W'A aON-TRAINS. 359 was most forciljly demonstrated on the Peninsula. Some effort, I believe, was made to establish these trains before that campaign began, but everything was confusion when compared with the system which was now inaugurated by Colonel (now General) Riifus Ingalls, when he became Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac. Through his persevering zeal, trains for the above purposes were organ- ized. All strife for the lead on tlie march vanished, for every movement was governed by orders from army head- quarters under the direction of the chief quarternuister. He prescribed the roads to be travelled over, which corps trains should lead and which should bring up the rear, where more than one took the same roads. All of the corps trains were massed before a march, and the chief quartermaster of some corps was selected and put in charge of this consolidated train. The other corps quartermasters had charge of their WAGf)N-TRAIN CROSSING THE RAPPA- HANNOCK ON A PONTOON BRIDGE. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. respective trains, each in turn having his division and bri- gade quartermasters, subject to his orders. " There never was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster's corps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864," says Grant in his Memoirs. Let us see a little more clearly what a corps train in- cluded. I can do no better than to incorporate here the following order of General Meade : — 360 MAUD TACK AND COFFEF, i^a(l=^uai[ki[s, ^\[n\^ of iht, Potomac* General Orders, ) AlK/ust 21, 1863. No. 83. ) ' In order tliat the amount of transportation in this Army shall not in any instance exceed the maximum allowance prescribed in General Order, No. 274, of August 7, 1863, from the War Department, and to further modify and reduce baggage and supply trains, heretofore authorized, the following allowances are established and will be strictly conformed to, viz. : 1. The following is the maximum amount of transportation to be allowed to this Army in the field : To tlie Head-Quarters of an Army Corps, 2 wagons or 8 pack mules. To the Head-Quarters of a Division or Brigade, 1 wagon or 5 pack mules. To every three company officers, when detached or serving without wagons, 1 pack mule. To every 12 company officers, when detached, 1 wagon or 4 pack mules. To every 2 staff officers not attached to any Head-Quarters, 1 pack mule. To every 10 staff officers serving similarly, 1 wagon or 4 pack mules. The above will include transportation for all personal baggage, mess chests, cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c. The weight of officers' baggage in the field, specified in the Army Regulations, will be reduced so as to bring it within the foregoing schedule. All excess of transportation now with Army Corps, Divisions, Brigades, and Kegiments, or Batteries, over the allowances herein j)rescribed, will be immediately turned in to the Quartermaster's De- partment, to be used in the trains. Commanding officers of Corps, Divisions, ifec, will immediately cause in- spections to be made, and will be held responsible for the strict execution of this order. Commissary stores and forage will be transported by the trains. Where these are not conveniemt of access, and where troops act in detachments, the Quartermaster's Department will assign wagons or pack animals for that purpose; but the baggage of officers, or of troops, or camp equipage, will not be permitted to be carried in the wagons or on the pack animals so assigned. The assignment for transportation for ammunition, hospital stores, subsist- ence, and forage will be made in proportion to the amount ordered to be car- ried. The number of wagons is hereinafter prescribed. Tlie allowance of spring wagons and saddle liorses for contingent wants, and of camp and garrison equipage, will remain as established by circular, dated July 17, 1863. 2. For each full regiment of infantry and cavalry, of 1000 men, for bag- gage, camp equipage, &c., 6 wagons. For each regiment of infantry less than 700 men and more than 500 men, 5 wagons. For each regiment of infantry less than 500 men and more than 300 men, 4 wagons. For each regiment of infantry less than 300 men, 3 wagons. AEMY WAGON-TBAINS. QQl 3. For each battery of 4 and G guns — for personal baggage, mess chests, cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c., 1 and 2 wagons respectively. For annaunition trains the number of wagons will be determined and as- signed upon the following rules: 1st. Multiply each 12 pdr. gun by 122 and divide by 112. 2d. Multiply each rifle gun by .50 and divide by 140. 3d. For each 20 pdr. gun, IJ wagons. 4th. For each siege gun, 2| wagons. 5th. For the general supply train of reserve ammunition of 20 rounds to each gun in the Army, to be kept habitually with Artillery Reserve, 54 wagons. For each battery, to carry its proportion of subsistence, forage, etc., 2 wagons. 4. The supply train for forage, subsistence, quartermaster's stores, etc., to each 1000 men, cavalry and infantry, 7 wagons. To every 1000 men, cavalry and infantry, for small arm ammunition, 5 wagons. To each 1500 men, cavalry and infantry, for hospital supplies, 3 wagons. To each Army Corps, except the Cavalry, for entrenching tools, &c., 6 wagons. To each Corps Head-Quarters for the carrying of subsistence, forage and other stores not provided for herein, 3 wagons. To each Division Head-Quarters for similar purpose as above, 2 wagons. To each Brigade Head-Quarters for similar purpose as above, 1 wagon. To each Brigade, cavalry and infantry, for commissary stores for sales to officers, 1 wagon. To each Division, cavalry and infantry, for hauling forage for ambulance animals, portable forges, &c., 1 wagon. To each Division, cavalry and infantry, for carrying armorer's tools, parts of muskets, e.xtra arms and accoutrements, 1 wagon. It is expected that each ambulance, and each wagon, whether in the bag- gage, supply or amnumition train, will carry the necessary forage for its own team. By command of Major General Meade: S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant General. Official : AssH Adft Genn. As the transportation was reducetl in quantity, the capac- ity of what remained, was put to a severer test. For ex- ample, when the Army of the Potomac went into the Wilder- ness, in 186-1:, each wagon was required to carry five days forage for its animals (600 pounds), and if its other freight was rations it might be six barrels of salt pork and four 3(32 IIAUl) TACK AND COFFEE. barrels of coffee, or ten l)arrels of sugar. Forty boxes of bardtack was a load, not so nmcb because of its weight as because a wagon would hold no more. It even excluded the forage to carry tliis number. In the final campaign against Lee, Grant allowed for baggage and camp equipage three wagons to a regiment of over seven hundred men, two wagons to a regiment of less than seven hundred and more than three hundred, and one wagon to less than three hundred. One wagon was allowed to a field battery. But, notwithstanding tlie reductions ordered at different tinies, extra wagons were often smuggled along. One captain, in charge of a train, tells of keeping a wagon and six mules of his own more than orders allowed, and whenever the in- specting officer was announced as coming, the wagon, in charge of his man, Mike, was driven off under cover and not returned till the inspection was completed. This enabled him to take along quite a personal outfit for him- self and friends. But his experience was not unique. Tliere were many other "contraband" mule-teams smug- gled along in the same way for the same object. In leaving Chattanooga to advance into Georgia, General Sherman reduced his transportation to one baggage-wagon and one ambulance for a regiment, and a pack-horse or mule for the officers of each company. His supply trains were limited in their loads to food, ammunition, and cloth- ing ; and wall tents were forbidden to be taken along, barring one for each headquarters, the gallant old veteran setting the example, by taking only a tent-fl}^ which was pitched over saplings or fence rails. The general has recorded in his " Memoirs " that his orders were not strictly obeyed in this respect, Thomas being the most noted excep- tion, who could not give up his tent, and " had a big wagon, which could be converted into an office, and this we used to call ' Thomas's circus.' " In starting on his " march to the sea," Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 120 ; paragraph 3 of this order reads as follows : — ABMV n'AGON-TIiAINS. 353 *' Tliere will be no general train of supplies, but each corps will have its ammunition train and provision train distributed habitually as follows: Behind each regiment should follow one wagon and one ambulance; behind each brigade should follow a due proportion of ammunition-wagons, provis- ion-wagons and am])ulances. In case of danger each corps commander should cliange this order of march, by having his advance and rear brigades unencumbered by wheels. The separate columns will start habitually at 7 A. M., and make about fifteen miles per day, unless otherwise fixed in orders." I presume the allowance remained about the same for the Wilderness Campaign as that given in Orders No. 83. General Hancock says that he started into the Wilderness with 27,000 men. Now, using this fact in connection with the general order, a little rough reckoning will give an approximate idea of the size of the train of this corps. Without going into details, I may say that the total train of the Second Corps, not including the ambulances, could not have been far from 800 wagons, of which about 600 carried the various supplies, and the remainder the baggage — the camp equipage of the corps. When the army was in settled camp, the supply trains went into park by themselves, but the baggage-wagons were retained with their corps, division, brigade, or regi- mental headquarters. When a march was ordered, however, these wagons waited only long enough to receive their freight of camp equipage, when away they went in charge of their respective (quartermasters to join the corps supply train. I have alluded to the strength of a single corps train. But the Second Corps comprised only about one-fifth of the Union army in the Wilderness, from which a little arith- metic will enable one to get a tolerably definite idea of the impedimenta of this one army, even after a great reduction in the original amount had been made. There were prob- abl}^ over 4000 wagons following the Army of the Potomac into the Wilderness. An idea of the ground such a train would cover may be obtained by knowing that a six-mule 3(34 uAnn tack and coffee. team took up on the road, say, forty feet, but of course they did not travel at close intervals. Tlie nature of the country determined, in some degree, their distance apart. In going up or down hill a liberal allowance v/as made for balky or headstrong mules. Colonel Wilson, the chief commissary of the army, in an interesting article to the United Service magazine (1880), has stated that could the train which was requisite to accompany the army on the Wilderness Cam- paign have been extended in a straight line it would have spanned the distance between Washington and Richmond, being about one hundred and thirty miles. 1 presume this estimate includes the ambulance-train also. On the basis of three to a regiment, there must have been as many as one hundred and fifty to a corps. These, on ordinary marches, followed immediately in the rear of their respective divisions. When General Sherman started for the sea, his army of sixty thousand men was accompanied by about twenty-five hundred wagons and six hundred ambulances. These were divided nearly equally between his four corps, each corps commander managing his own train. In this campaign the transportation had the roads, Avhile the infantry plodded along by the roadside. The sup2)ly trains, it will now be understood, were the travelling depot or reservoir from which the army re- plenished its needs. When these wagons were emptied, they were at once sent back to the base of supplies, to be reloaded with precisely the same kind of material as before ; and empty wagons had always to leave the road clear for loaded ones. Unless under a pressure of circumstances, all issues except of ammunition were made at night. By this plan the animals of the supply consumed their forage at the base of supplies, and thus saved hauling it. It was a welcome sight to the soldiers when rations drew low, or were exhausted, to see these wagons drive up to the lines. They were not impedimenta to the army just then. A RM r ]VAGO N- 77? A INS. 365 It has sometimes been thought that the wagon-train was a glorious refuge from the dangers and hard hibors endured at the front, but such was not the case. It was one of the COMMISSARY DEPOT AT CEDAU LEVEL. — FROM A PHOTOGRArH. most wearing departments of the service. The officers in immediate charge were especially burdened with responsibil- ity, as the statement above illustrates. They were charged to have their trains at a given point at or before a speci- fied time. It vnii