Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-06-01

;
sign the requisition for rations, and the
General being too drunk to do it.
AS specimen of the orders issued by
him, and the way he wished to do busi-
ness [ subjoin the following extracts
from an order issued February 26th
1865 -
/. ''The practice of making application
by officers and men Of this command direct
to these Headquarters, is contrary to or
ders. The attention Of officers Of this
command is called to General Order No l29
War Department, a. G. O.
2. Hereafter no verbal application of
any kind will be tolerated. Officers so
guilty will be tried for disobedience of or
ders, and enlisted men Immediately arrested
and summarily punished. y
The new uniforms referred to in for
mer order, were found deficient in one
important article trousers, so the Gen
eral in his wisdom and power, went to
New Berne, and procured from the
Quartermaster' Department, several
hundred GRAY trousers, all moth-eaten
and rotton, which had been discarded
years before, when the army uniforms
was changed from gray to blue, and had
been packed away in boxes ever since !;
and had them issued by his Quartermas
ter to the Quartermasters of the several
brigades as unJorna clothing, requiring
the Quartermasters to receipt for them,
and to have the men receipt on regular
clothing rolls to them again. In order
to induce the men to take the pants, it
was stated that they were a gift, and
although receipting, yet would never
have to pay for them.
Several questions arose at this point,
like this by what authority does a
General donate government property !?
How can he relieve soldiers from paying
the government price charged for such
articles? IF the soldiers were not to
pay for the trowsers, why ask them to
receipt fer them? What guaranty could
he give the soldiers, that the price Of
clothing rcceipted for in the usual man
ner. would not be collected in the usual
manner-at the pay table? Not being
able to obtain satisfactory solutions to
these queries, the commander Of the I'd
brigade hesitated to issue articles OF
damaged clothing in place Of good ones,
or to charge full uniform price Ter goods
that were not uniform, or to have men
receipt for and draw such things under
a false impression there ore he issued the
following =
Headquarters % Brigade, p D. A. T.
Camp Chattanooga. New Borne, n. G.
February 18th, 1865.
Special Orders No. 46.
A board of Survey to consist Of the fol
lowing named officers
Major Nj. G. Hannill, I'd Iowa Tnf'y
Major 7. b. Marshall 18th Iowa Lnfy
Captain VIM. Howard sd Indiana Infy
will convene at 3 o'clock P. NJ this 9th
cay Of February at these Headquarters for
the purpose Of investigating and reporting
upon the Quality and deficiency Of certain
articles of clothing from which Lieut.. Geo.
5. Johnson SD Indiana Inf'y and A. A. @.
NJ Of this Brigade is responsible.
By order Of
A. G. MALLoY
! SOl. SOluillatiulilp Oi
VIM P L. MdfR
Lieut.. & A. A. A General
This aboard Of Survey" met, exam
ined tie trowsers, admitted that they
were not uniform, and otherwise almost
worthless. and therefore appraised them
at one cent per pair. Upon this being
laid before the General, be was very an
cry, disapproved their valuation and
ordered new board, The question
naturally arises,-why object to their
valuation, if the articles were not to be
paid for? Or why order new board,
unless to appraise the goods higher? A
very useless operation, unless they were
to be paid for. 1t was binted that the
General was interested in getting the
trowsers on to the boys I hope it was
not so, but there was certainly a SUSPECT
Gus appearance about the operation, SO
much SO that the officers of the I'd brig
! ade refused to accept the trowsers, and
their men had to make shift with their
old ones, while the other brigades took
them right along, and soon were stirring
around in their wormy trowsers as gray
as any reb in Dixie.
Shortly afterward we were furnished
with an order forbidding all shouting or
noise in the camp, aud threatening con
dign punishment upon any and every one
who should make any remarks concern
ing ''Hard-tack and belly" in the
presence of an officer, in an excited OF
boisterous manner. Ever since the Pee
wee Division was organized it had been
on short rations, and, as [ have shown,
not always from necessity, and it had
become practice, when supplies ran
low, for curses to run high, and that pc
culiar cry 'Hard-tack and sow-belly
to be uttered in every variety Of tone
and modification possible. accompanied
with yells, groans, gruntings, neighings
brayings. crowings, barkings, and squal-
ings almos. intolerable to men of tender
coasctences SO the fat went forth. the