Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1863-06-02

men after you are within our lines" and he
dubbed bis gun which he had no time to reload,
and placed him hors du combat on the spot, with.
out ceremony. The fellow who told me the story,
did not know whether be killed him or not, but
he thought he might safely predict that in future
he would be more circumspect in selecting oppor.
tunitiss for shooting Yankees.
Since we have been this side Of the river, we
have enjoyed the utmost luxury Of ease and lsz-
ness that hot weather can afford. We are about
two miles from our old camp, nearly north. We
have fixed up our new camping ground in as good
style as we know how. 1t is situated on elevated
ground in the edge Of the woods where the cool
air and shady pines make our position almost
enviable. Water is plenty and Of the purest
quality. The rest of the brigade is situated near
Everything goes on as Of old, and as yet see not
the slightest sign of move. A bakery has been
fitted up, which is calculated to turn US out loaf
Of soft bread apiece every day. This bakery In
stution stands high in the estimation Of the boys.
No benevolent enterprise could rival it. have
heard men say they could tell in a minute by the
mems appearance whether they were living on
hard tack or soft bread. The difference is as
vide, almost, as between rye.strsw and grain
provender for horses. II behooves Uncle Sam,
therefore, to feed his soldiers we'll and keep them
in good, healthy order, for bounties rule so high
nowadays, aud recruiting is SO slow, that new
soldier is getting TO be quite a costly article. Un
Gle Sam understands th, hence bis disintercsled
beuevolehcs in giving us soft bread, in place of
his 4" castirOn biscuits"
The old man played us rather mean trick du-
ring the late Federal raid, as the boys call it,
around Frecericksburg. We we're obliged 10
start with eight days rations which we did with
out murmurng, trusting that our appeties would
gradually diminish the load. But hard bread
was brough. to US every day except one, and some
times it wa, brought 10 u, ia the night, and we
were expressly required 10 keep the sacred eight
days ratons untouched When we recrossed the
Rappabannock we supposed we we're getting to a
land OF peace aud p enty, 90 we very naturally
forgot the reverence due to these fragments Of
hlrd.tack which had been kicked about in our
knapsacks so much that they were constitution
ally entitled to d,ehArge--mine had got reduced
TO -four almost, ard had a way Of baking
that | didn'I liks-and some Of the men
threw them away. They thought they had earn
ed a rgh, to rely on the cemmissary department
for a supply Of grub but they we're mistaken.
1t vas precisely eight day, TO a minute before we
drew anything, and those fellows who we're desti-
tu!e and could neither beg, buy, nor borrow, had
to 20 without or steal.
| am bound to call that little mean, because
in the first place, we had to use our knapsacks
for everything II furnished US seat in the day
time when we stopped, and was our pillow a,
nigh, when we slept. |, was our bed, band-box
and storehouse. The ha,d-tack suffered every
indignily, and were positively unsuitable fodder
for anything that claims TO be human, as soldiers
sometimes do, being created, they think, by the
government little lower than the niggers, and
being endowed with certain qualities that nigh,
be called human as well as great many that are
almost inhamau. A Captains waiter offered
some to bis horse and hs refused to ca, them, and
think it no exaggeratiOn to say ths, any utelli-
gent pig possessing the least spark Of pride would
have considered it pure insult to have them put
into bis swl.
Speaking of ra,iOn' remind, US Of the warm dis
cusson some Of the boys had in regard to what il
allowed US and what is not. We all know that
Governmen, gives US besides our bread, meat
and coffee, sundry articles such as hominy, meal
peas, vegetables, and SO forth, but which We
seldom ever see. The army regulations al
} lows US these, or something in a lieu thereof
As these articles so conducive to health in hot
; weather are not provided us, we sometimes feel /
, no mpudeuce to inquire in what shape the he'
( thereof" is coming. Undoubtedly it is all righ
the officers say /, is-but we wish they woulC
( make ii little psinsr for there are some whC
pretend they" can't see it"
As yet we have not been called out to drill, bu
: we probably shall be before long. The rebel
can be seen every day drilling on the plain below
E Fredericksburg with their usual assdui,y. Th'
/, balloon goes up to reconnoitre the enemy ever,
day as usual, bu, up to the moment Of going t.
1 the ro,tOfhcs, all was quiet along the Rappahsn
mock ANTI REBEL.