Rienzi. The 3rd Section, Lieutenant Hood, went out in
front and the first fell back to its old grounds. Foraging party brought in two
loads of corn, three neat cattle, one sheep, twelve geese, seven hens, two or
three bushels of sweet potatoes.
SOURCE: Jenkin Lloyd
Jones, An Artilleryman's Diary, p. 5
After some trouble
we managed to get to bed last night about eleven o'clock; but for a long time
after that the mules kept us awake; perhaps they were hungry also. The weather
was clear and not cold, so we got a little rest. At six o'clock this morning we
were ordered on, after a very light breakfast, excepting for a few who may have
foraged. There were a few chickens and a little applejack about our mess.
To-day has been the hardest of any day of the tramp, and there has been more
straggling. The company organization was in the line, but thinned out terribly.
We had no noon-rest; but at two o'clock we filed from the road to a field, came
to the front, and received a good scolding. Our regiment looked as if it had
been through two Bull Runs; only about 150 left, and the rest not
"accounted for." In fact there were very few left of those who should
do the accounting. The colonel stormed a little, but that did not bring up the
men; so, as he was probably as hungry, if not as tired, as we were, he let us
go to eating, which was a decided farce. Our haversacks were as flat as our
stomachs. We found a few grains of coffee and tobacco-crumbs in the bottom of
our bags, and succeeded in digging a few sweet potatoes, which we ate raw. We
were told they were very fullsome. We waited here two hours or so for the
stragglers, who finally came along. They had been having a fine time, plenty of
room to walk, and two hours more to do it in than we had; and, more than that,
they were in the majority, so nothing could be done but "Right shoulder
shift" and put the best foot forward. About sundown we saw, in crossing a
bridge, a wagon-load of hard-tack bottom side up in the creek. Some of the boys
sampled the bread, but it was not fit to eat. Shortly after a signboard indicated
fourteen miles to New Berne. That was encouraging! The walking was fearful, the
roads full of water, in some places waist deep, and covered with a skimming of
ice. At last we met a wagon loaded with bread, and after much talk with the
driver we got what we wanted. Next we met a man who said it was only twelve
miles to New Berne. They either have long miles or else some one made a
mistake; we seemingly had been walking two hours or more from the fourteenth
mile post, and now it was twelve miles. We came to the conclusion not to ask
any more questions, but "go it blind.”
We at last reached
the picket-post, seven miles out, and halted to rest and allow the artillery to
go through. Here Col. Lee told us we were at liberty to stay out and come into
camp Sunday; but most of "E" thought of the letters and the supper we
would probably get, and concluded to stand by the flag. After a rest we started
again, and at last began to close up and halt often, so we knew we were coming
to some place or other.
The writer has no
very distinct idea of those last seven miles, excepting that he was trying to
walk, smoke, and go to sleep at the same time, and could only succeed in
swearing rather faintly, and in a stupid sort of manner, at everything and
every one. It was dark and foggy, but finally we saw what appeared to be the
headlight of a locomotive a long way off. Then the fort loomed up, and we were
passing under an arch or bridge, and in a few minutes we reached
"E's" barrack, and our troubles were all forgotten. Now we were wide
awake; gave three hearty cheers for every one; had all the baked beans and
coffee we could stagger under; and then the captain's "Attention for
letters" brought us to our feet. Some had as many as a dozen. They had to
be read at once, and, notwithstanding our fatigue and the lateness of the hour,
read they were.
SOURCE: John Jasper
Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass.
Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 29-30
ARRIVAL AT NEW BERNE.
About nine this morning we saw our first of Rebeldom, and after taking a pilot, and passing several ugly-looking rips and bars, leaving Fort Macon on our left, we disembarked from the steamer to the wharf, which had a railroad depot on the farther end of it. The place is called Morehead City. But if this is a city, what can the towns and villages be? We stayed in this shed or depot awhile, and were then ordered on the train of open cars. Here we waited for two mortally long hours in a pelting rain, water on each side of us, water over us, and gradually, but persistently, water all through our clothes, and not a drop of anything inside of us.
Notwithstanding the rain storm was severe, we had considerable to interest us after we started, which was between two and three o'clock. There had been fighting along the line of road a year previous, and every few miles we passed picket-posts, occupied by Mass. regiments. We cheered them and they responded. Once, where we stopped to wood-up, we saw a settlement of negroes, and some of the boys bought or hooked their first sweet potatoes here. Others of us contented ourselves with trying to keep our pipes lighted, our tobacco dry, and the cinders out of our eyes. Most all of us came to the conclusion that North Carolina was a tough place, barren and desolate, and hardly worth the cost of fighting for it.
We arrived at New Berne about six o'clock, wet through, hungry, tired, and ready for our feather beds, but found our hotel for that night was not supplied with any such articles of furniture.
Our company, with some others, was quartered in a big barn of a building built of green boards, which had shrunk both side and end ways, and for beds we had the floor, with a few bundles of hay scattered around. We could not expect much of a supper, but we managed some way, and then turned in, wet as we were. Soon after, we were called up and informed that coffee and beef, with compliments, from the Mass. 24th Reg't, were awaiting. We accepted, with thanks, and made quite a supper. Then we turned in again,—some on bundles of hay, others on the floor. Those on the hay had a hard time of it, as the bundles were shorter than we were, and we had a tendency also to roll off. So after several ineffectual attempts, many gave it up and started from the building to find better quarters. Finally, we found some wood, made a rousing fire in an old sugar boiler, and stood around it in the rain, trying to keep warm, if not dry.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 15
Yesterday I was on
guard for the first time since I went soldiering. I cannot say that I
particularly like the fun, but it gives one an opportunity of thinking over
past sins, and meditating new ones. To-day I have been cooking, and, to the
great joy of my mess, I made a good pot of coffee out of rice and sweet
potatoes. The small-pox is on the decline.
SOURCE: Edwin L.
Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History,
Vol. 1, p. 21
The army is filling
up with conscripts, absentees and others, and if we get also the principals of
the substitutes our army will soon be very formidable. Mose Cappock has
returned, although his wound has not quite healed. I believe if we whip the
Yankees good again this spring they will quit in disgust. Their cause is not
just, like ours, and they are sure to become discouraged more readily.
The people of
Richmond have had a great time recently, feasting and fêting General Morgan.
Men who saw him there tell me he is very young, handsome and attractive, but is modest
and has a most pleasing address. I learned that when he passed through Newberry
the people made him come out of the train and let them all take a good look at
him.
An officer in our
regiment was cashiered for forging a furlough, sure enough. I feel very sorry
for him and think he should go to the Yankees the first chance he gets, for he
is ruined wherever this thing becomes known.
The winter has been
unusually severe so far, but I am perfectly comfortable in every way, except
that our diet is becoming anything else but bountiful or extravagant. We draw a
little coffee and sugar occasionally. For breakfast this morning I had a cup of
"Pure Rio," some ham, rice, biscuit and butter, but I have a hankering
for such things as syrup, sweet potatoes, sauer-kraut, and the like. I do hope
it will not be a great while before I can have such things.
Edwin still has some
of the good things to eat which he brought from home in his trunk. His servant,
Tony, stole some of his syrup to give to a negro girl who lives near our camp,
and Ed gave him a pretty thorough thrashing for it. He says Tony is too much of
a thief to suit him and he intends to send him back home. I had to give Gabriel
a little thrashing this morning for "jawing” me. I hate very much to raise
a violent hand against a person as old as Gabriel, although he is black and a
slave. He is too slow for me, and I intend to send him back by Billie when he
goes home on furlough.
I must close, as
Gabriel is bringing in my dinner. I will write to you again in a few days.
The weather has been
fine recently and there have been some indications of a move. Yesterday we were
ordered to cook one day's rations and be ready to march, but it has turned very
cold to-day and everything is quiet again.
About ten days ago I
succeeded in buying some turnips and cabbage, and I found them most delightful
for a change until our box from home arrived. Everything in it was in excellent
condition except the sweet potatoes. It contained ten gallons of kraut, ten of
molasses, forty pounds of flour, twelve of butter, one-half bushel of Irish
potatoes, one-half peck of onions, about one peck of sausage, one ham, one side
of bacon and some cabbage. I am expecting Edwin to visit me to-morrow and I
shall offer him part of the kraut and some of the molasses, but he is so
independent I am afraid he will not accept it.
I saw Colonel Hunt's
wife yesterday, and she is the first lady with whom I have conversed since my
return in December. He pays ten dollars a day board for himself and wife at a
house near our camp.
Dr. Tyler has had
his furlough extended twenty days by the Secretary of War, and will not return
before February. I have been alone for over four weeks. I have had such a quiet
time that I have been reading Shakespeare some recently. I received a letter
from Robert Land's wife begging me to give her husband a sick furlough, and I
told him to write her that if he could ever get sick again he certainly should
go at once.
The postmaster is
here and I must close.
SOURCE: Dr. Spencer
G. Welch, A Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 88-9
This morning companies C, G and H, commanded by Major Estabrook, go out on a foraging expedition. We go about three miles—load our wagons with corn, fodder and sweet potatoes, and strap all we can to the mules, and then start for camp. Entering camp the detachment reminds us of what might be called a moving "fodder panorama."
Nothing to eat yet.
Wortheim, W. Eagle and myself went out foraging, to buy something to eat. We
got to one house and there was no one at home, but in the yard there were two
chickens, which we captured, for we were afraid they would bite us.
We went to the next
house and ate our breakfast. One of the ladies asked us where we got those
chickens. I told her that we bought them at the house before we got there. She
told us she lived there and that there was nobody at home. I then told her the
truth, paid her for them and left. The next house we got to we bought a ham, a
peck of meal, a peck of sweet potatoes and some turnips. We took dinner in this
house. We then returned to camp. We had a good reception from our mess, as they
had still nothing to eat.
LOUISIANA STATE
SEMINARY, ALEXANDRIA, April 15, 1860.
This is Sunday. Some
of the cadets have gone to church, some fishing and the balance are walking
about. The Board of Supervisors are now sitting in a large room only two
removed from me, and I hear them wrangling and quarreling over points of
discipline and instruction which they have been now discussing for two days.
They have authorized
me to make plans and estimates for the two houses. And I expect a builder to be
out any moment to help me estimate. The Board approve my selection of the site
for the two new houses, and I believe the one selected for ours the best, being
on a fine high point, distant from the college building yet overlooking its
grounds. There is a fine spring near by. The weather continues warm and
excessively dry and all are praying for rain to bring up the corn and cotton
which has been planted for a month.
I have your several
letters asking the price of servants, etc., but I cannot answer as all servants
here are scarce and most everybody owns their own. I suppose ten dollars a
month will hire a black woman but it is impossible to hire a strong man fit for
field work at less than $25 a month and board. If Emily and Gertrude come with
you we will still need a man and maybe a black girl, as white girls won't work
down here long. Still we can agree to pay them a bonus if they stay a year. But
as I wrote you there is no chance of your coming down for a long time, may be
November.
Dr. Smith one of the
supervisors, a physician of long standing, says that October and November are
the sickly months. July and August though hot are perfectly healthy. So that he
favors those months as the vacation. So great is the variation of opinion that
I let them fight it out as it is proper that they who have lived here all their
lives should determine the question. I hope to get the builders to work in the
course of a month but all such things proceed so slowly here that I doubt if we
can finish this year. Nobody seems to pay any attention to time or
appointments.
Red River too has
already begun to fall and soon will be navigated only by the smallest kind of
boats and it will be next to impossible to procure anything from New Orleans,
the only point where furniture can be had. The stores in Alexandria contain
nothing of the kind. Indeed California in its worst days had a better market
than this country. There are no farmers here. The planters produce only cotton
and sugar on a large scale and deem it beneath their dignity to raise anything
for market. Some of the negroes raise a few sweet potatoes, corn, etc., which
they sell about Christmas time, but all the year else everything must come from
New Orleans. We are now paying for corn one dollar and ten cents a bushel and
hay costs about forty-eight dollars a ton. Everything is proportional, so that
I doubt if my four thousand dollars will more than barely maintain us.
This morning about three o'clock General Rosecrans comes riding up to Gen. Davies’ headquarters, (which is near the Seventh's camp,) calling out—"General ! General! It is time for reveille. Get the Second in motion as soon as possible," and on he goes dashing to the front. Long before day we are moving. All day news from the front is cheering, the rebels are abandoning everything and fleeing to the swamps and woods. Hurlbut engages them at the Hatchie river, disputing their passage by fighting a desperate battle, which throws the whipped rebels in still greater confusion, but turning they succeed in crossing six miles above the Hatchie bridge. In the afternoon we halt, make some coffee and eat our breakfast; rather late, “but better late than not at all.” After which our regiment, with a section of artillery, makes a scout in the Tuscumbia bottom. Finding nothing but a few straggling rebels we return, and on the way Colonel Rowett halts the regiment and puts it into a sweet potato patch, commanding the men to go to work or he would buck and gag them. The boys dig with a gusto and their haversacks are soon filled, when the regiment moves on and takes its position in the division, and after moving across the Tuscumbia we go into camp upon its banks, and after enjoying a bountiful supper on sweet potatoes, we lie down to rest.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 110-1
Hickory Hill, S. C., February 1, 1865.
Fifteen miles to-day and had an excellent supper of South Carolina ham, honey and sweet potatoes. Found a good deal of road blockaded to-day, but the pioneers removed the obstructions so rapidly that the train did not have to halt once. The Rebels disputed our advance a little, killed a cavalryman and wounded another for us, but did not stop the column a moment. Sherman rode at the rear of our regiment all day and was quite sociable with some of the men. Don't think any of the officers noticed him. Miserable pine land country, but some quite large plantations.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 339
December 4, 1864.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 331
