Left camp after dinner. Dinner generally means noon, but our
dinner-time on the march is quite irregular. Advanced unmolested till within
about three miles of Utica, and camped again at dark.
This forenoon my bunk-mate (Cal. Waddle) and I went to a
house near camp to get some corn bread, but struck the wrong place, for we
found the young mistress who had just been deserted by her negroes, all alone,
crying, with but a scant allowance of provisions left her. She had never
learned to cook, and in fact was a complete stranger to housework of any kind.
Her time is now at hand to learn the great lesson of humanity. There has been a
little too much idleness among these planters. But although I am glad the
negroes are free I don't like to see them leaving a good home, for good homes
some of them I know are leaving. They have caught the idea from some unknown
source that freedom means fine dress, furniture, carriages and luxuries. Little
do they yet know of the scripture—“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread.” I am for the Emancipation Proclamation, but I do not believe in
cheating them. This lady's husband is a confederate officer now in Vicksburg,
who told her when he left she should never see a Yankee “down thar.” Well, we
had to tell her we were “thar,” though, and to our question what she thought of
us, after wiping her eyes her reply was we were very nice looking fellows. We
were not fishing for compliments, but we like to get their opinions at sight,
for they have been led, apparently, to expect to find the Lincoln soldier more
of a beast than human. At least such is the belief among the lower sort.
Negroes and poor whites here seem to be on an equality, so far as education is
concerned and the respect of the better classes. I have not seen a single
school-house since I have been in Dixie, and I do not believe such a thing
exists outside of their cities. But this war will revolutionize things, and
among others I hope change this state of affairs for the better.
War is a keen analyzer of a soldier's character. It reveals
in camp, on the march and in battle the true principles of the man better than
they are shown in the every-day walks of life. Here be has a chance to throw
off the vicious habits of the past, and take such a stand as to gain a lasting
reputation for good, or, if he dies upon the field, the glory of his
achievements, noble 'deeds and soldierly bearing in camp will live in the memory
of his comrades. Every soldier has a personal history to make, which will be
agreeable, or not, as he chooses. A company of soldiers are as a family; and,
if every member of it does his duty towards the promotion of good humor, much
will be done toward softening the hardships of that sort of life.
This is Sunday, and few seem to realize it. I would not have
known it myself but for my diary. I said, “boys this is Sunday.” Somebody
asked, “how do you know it is?” I replied my diary told me. Another remarked, “you
ought to tell us then when Sunday comes round so we can try to be a little
better than on week days.” While in regular camps we have had preaching by the
Chaplains, but now that we are on the move that service is dispensed with, and
what has become of the Chaplains now I am unable to say. Probably buying and
selling cotton, for some of them are regular tricksters, and think more of
filling their own pockets with greenbacks than the hearts of soldiers with the
word of God.
SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story
of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 12-13
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