The Portland daily press., 1865-08-10
TIE "BUMMERs.D .

From "The Story of the Great March," by
Maj. Geo. Ward Nichols: f...,
1t is sked whata bummeris, and the reply is
easy. He is raider on his own account-a
man who temporarily deserts his place in the
ranks while the army is on the march, and
starts out upon an Independent foraging expe-
dition Sometimes he is absent for a few days
only, occasionally he disappears for weeks to-
gether. An officer whose duty requires him
to pass from one column to another, or pri-
vate soldier sent out upon a scout in the for
est or on the flank of the army not unfrequent-
ly stumbles suddenly upon an eneampment of
bummers in the woods, or finds party of them
at house by the wayside. This party bears
all the outward aspect of an sauthorized and
perfectly legitimate foraging party; the capa-
cious wagons are there, with caparisoned
mules: blood horses stand tethered within
reach of their apparent owners the camp fires
burn brightly; sumptuous meal is ready
butif one of these men be accosted with some
such question as this, "To what command do
you belong? the answer comes thus:
'Well, we don't answer for anybody in par
ticular-'bout every corps in the army; eh,
Bill, amt that SOP"
"Bilf says "Reckonp p and thinks it huge
joke, and then everybody except the interlocu-
tor laughs. g
"How onghave you been away from your
regiment P" M
At this question the hummer rises upon his
feet, and replies, rather more respectfully:
"A week and ten days, cap'n."
"No, sirn
What use or benefit are you to the service,
10 say nothing of the criminality of your abb
sence without leave2 Now, you belong to
class Which has brought discredit upon your
comrades, You ought to be ashamed of your
selves, all of you,'
The dozen muscular and daring fellows who
heard TINS H.tie speech seemed to fail to see
the point OF it. One of them renlied.
"See lear, cap'n; we amt so had affer oil
We keep ahead OF the skirmish line alters
We let's 'eIn know when an emenv's a-oonoin,.
and then we amt alters away from the rao;l'
ment. We turns over all we don't want o11r-
selves, and we can lick five times as many rehs
as we are, any day. Amt that 50, bows >, -o''
click 'em d-n 'em yes. Why OF course p,
were the instant replies of the "boys" ssRatb-
er shoot rebs than hogs any dayp roared an
other. .sAA
1t may be readily imagined that high NOR
al precepts are lost upon these men, and
that conversations with them upon the gener-
al improperly of their conduct are decidedly
useless. They are the B0hemianS OF the
camp, and they act upon this consolatory re-
Election.
A hummer" may once have been foot
soldier, but l never saw one who was not
mounted on some sort of an animal. Some
uIneS ne bestrides a superb biooded horse,
Wnlch IS the envy of every general in the ar
my; more frequently he rides a broken down
nag that is able to hobble along sufficiently
iasg lor It's owners purposes but the fayorite
ls tne mule. There may be little or no actual
poetry in mule-although profess an un-
Willingness to admit any slur upon that much
abused animal-yet it would be difficult to
ma amore hardy, long-winded, strong-legged.
llAeoInnplaining, A and altogether loveable 'crea-
ture for the use Of man than the mule 0FTbe
Dummer" appreciates his good qualities. and
hence the favoritsm.