The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-05-30

quality The rest of the brigade is situated near.
Everything goes on as of old, and as yet | see not
the slightest sign of a move. A bakery has been
fitted up, which is calculated to turn us out loaf
of soft bread apiece every day. This bakery in
stiution 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
wide, almost, as between rye.straw and grain
provender for horses. 1t behooves Uncle Sam
therefore, to feed his soldiers we'll and keep them
in good, healthy order, for bounties rule SO high
nowadays, and recruiting is SO slow, that new
soldier is getting to be quite costly article. I'm
Gle Sam understands this; hence his disinterested
benevolence in giving US soft bread, in place O.
his caSt-iron biscuits"
The old man played us rather mean trick du
ring the late Federal raid, as the boys call it
around Fredericksburg We we're obliged &c
start with eight days rations which We did with
out murmurlng, trusting that our appeties would
gradually diminish the load. But hard breat
was brought to US every day except one, and some
mes it was brought to us in the night, and VI
were expressly required to keep the sacred sigh
days ratons untouched. When we rscrossed tn
Rappahannock we supposed We were getting to
land of peace and plenty, SO we very natura
forgot the reverence due to these fragments @
hard-tack which had been kicked about in ou
knapsacks so much that they were constitution
ally entitled to discharge--mine had got reduce
: to -four amest, and had way of bakin
that | didn't like-and some of the me
threw them away. They thought they had carr
} ed right to rely on the commissary departmer
r for supply Of grub; but they were mistaken
. 1t was precisely eight days to minute before v
r drew anything, and those fellows who were dest
| tute and could neither beg, buy, nor borrow, ha
to go without or steal.
| am bound to call that little mean, becaus
in the first place, we had to use our knapsacl
for everything. 1t furnished US seat in the da,
time when We stopped, and was our pillow
, night when we slept. 1t was our bed, band-bo
? and sterehouse. The hatd-tack suffered eyei
ndgnity, and were positively unsuitable fodd
t tor anything that claims to be human, as sodie
:, sometimes do, being created, they think, by I'll
a government little lower than the nggers, ar
}, being endowed with certain qualities that mig
i be called human as we'll as great many that a
almost inhuman. A Captains waiter ofert
l. some to his horse and he refused to eat them, al
y think it no exaggeration to say that any intel
gent pig possessing the least spark of pride wou
It have considered it pure insult to have them
r into his sw
y Speaking of ratons reminds us of the warm d
is cussion some of the boys had in regard to what
d allowed us and what is not. We all know tn
e Government gives us besides our bread, me;
is and coffee, sundry articles such as hominy, me
n peas, vegetables, and SO forth, but which
y seldom ever see. The army regulations
a lows US these, or something in " lieu thereo
u AS these articles so conducive to health in
II weather are not provided us, we sometimes feel
lie no impudence to inquire in what shape the Ii
d, thereof" is coming. Undoubtedly it is all rig
4. the officers say it is-but we wish they wou
y, make it little palmer for there are some W
1t pretend they "can't see it."
re AS yet we have not been called out to drill, b
r we probably shall be before long. The reb,
can be seen every day drilling on the plain belc
70 Fredericksburg with their usual assidui,y.r
i. balloon goes up to reconnoitre the enemy eve
4 day, as usual, but up to the moment of going
= the post-ofice, all was quiet along the Rappaha