We have plenty of water at this camp, but are on short
rations, having nothing but “gruel” and sweet potatoes to eat. What the boys
call gruel is made from flour and corn meal. The quartermaster issued some
flour and meal today, each man drawing his portion and cooking it to suit his
taste. The usual method of preparing it is to make a dough and then bake it in
the hot ashes or in the frying pan. Some of the new regiments from the North
are equipped with shelter tents, each man carrying his part of the tent on his
knapsack. The boys have nicknamed the new tents "dog tents." 1
__________
1 Our boys were inclined to ridicule the idea of
a man having to carry his tent on his back, and gave them the nickname “dog
tent.” But at that very time some of the
boys would have been glad for a chance to carry as good tents, for when we were
out on the march our tents had to be left in camp or else put in storage, and
we would have to bivouac without any protection. — A. G. D.
Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B.,
Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 81-2
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