Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-10-18
CAMP Mcclellan Oct. 18th. 1861

UEAk COUkNAlL - uOiI kIlOW Cal
get rid of answering a dozen inquiries any
easier thanby answering them through your pa
per, and thereby answer everybody land thu
rest of mankind" have been asked severa
questions as to how we ''fare in camp"-hov
we ''pass the time'-how we are fed, ETC.
Now, while have spare hour, propose t.
write of camp life, that our friends may know
exactly 'what we eat and how we Sleep"
First in the morning is Revielle, at day
break. All the men in camp have to get W
and dress, ready for roll call, which take.
place as soon as it is light enough to see t.
read the names. Every man failing to an
swer his name is marked down for extr;
guard duty. The boys who are found in the
"sleepy-head" class few times, are we're APP
to become early risers.
After roll call, about a half an hour inter
venes before the call to breakfast During
this half hour the boys wash and comb. Al
the call to the table, every one goes with {
"double quick" Our table is about fifty fee
long, and high enough for men to stand W
to eat. The "new tin plates" are ranged
along the sides of the table, about twenty
inches apart, and on each plate is placed {
slice of bread, piece of meat and few pc
tatoes-the number regulated according tt
the size of the "murphies." A tin cup full
of coffee by the side of the plate, pepper anc
salt being on the table, now, friends,
have told you Of soldiers "every day
breakfast
At dinner we usually have soup. Beans
molasses and cabbage are dealt out accord
ingly. The quantity to each man, is, think
enough for any one. Although buttcr,pies and
''sweet-me&tsn are not found on soldiers
table, Except when sack fulp is sent in
by friends yet we have good appetite fol
common fair" and particular tooth fol
good things.
Our company has four men for cooks
They are exempt from guard duty and drill
otherwise they would have the hardest task
of any on the private list.
Each company is provided with half a
dozen-sheet-iron camp kettles, in which We
cook our meat and potatoes, and boil ou1
coffee. Our "oook stove" is made by dig
ging trench sig or eight feet long and about
ten inches deep, forEed-post at each end
with pole laid across at the top. From
this a few wooden hooks are suspended, on
which to hang the kettles. When 1t is dry
weather, such ''stove' works like charm
but when it is rainy, as it has been most Of
the time for week past, it is anything but
c},arming. We expect to see many such
rainy DAYS bafore we return to our homes,
and so we are not discouraged at the begin
ming. ..t
After breakfast, two and a half hours are
devoted to various kinds of :cniicc:ceess"-such
as sweeping off the grounds around the quar-
I'll IL l..
the head of our hunks, etc. Four or five
men are called to 60 for the rations. At 9
o'clock, guard mounting comes off. There are
over ninety detailed every day for guards
They are divided into three reliefs, and each
relief is put on duty for two hours, when
they are relieved, and are then off duty four
hours. At 10 O'Clock the drum beats for
drill. One hour is devoted to drill, after
which we prepare for dinner.
After dinner, one and a half hours is devot-
ed to drill At o'clock, the music calls for
dress parade. All the men not on guard
duty, or left as cooks, 60 out at this call.
Supper comes off after the return from
dress parade. At sunset the evening salute
is fred, and the camp flag lowered down.
At o'clock is roll call, after which the men
repair to their hunks. At half-past nine is
taps, at which all the lights are extinguish-
ed, and all loud singing and talking is hush
ed. at etG
Our beds art not exactly the kind we were
to sleeping on at home; still, we
do not feel at all like complaining. They are
very simple, and easily made. Each man has
. blanket furnished him. The hunks are
partly filed with straw, on which we "rest
'ur weary limbs" and our blanket is our
covering.
We are now busily engaged in building up
winter quarters, though we don't expect to
tay in them much of the winter. The quar-
ers we now occupy are quite open, and:.eyery
ime it rains we geqgently "dampened:" The
lew quarters we are building are Is feet by
70, II feet high to the eaves-the roof to be
Mingled. the sides made tight, and floor like
rise. They are built in row, in regular in:
antry camp order.
Last night several Of our boys, who had
zen home on furlough, returned. Henry
ladden came into camp, and will now stay