The rebels in Johnson’s army...

...are beginning to appreciate the Spencer rifle with which some of our regiments are armed, and when fully loaded, contains sixteen balls. Some of the “rebs” taken prisoners inquired what kind of guns the Yanks had, which they loaded on Sunday, and fired all the week. The motion in priming the rifle is peculiar, and led one prisoner into the belief that the Yankees were the politest soldiers in the world, “for,” said he, “when ever they kill one of our men they present arms.”

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, July 9, 1864