Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-27
CONFEDERATE WHISKY.


A Story of Colonel Jack Dade.
Washington Cor. PHILADELPHIA Record.
1 asked a genuine ex-Confederate Colo
mel the other day whether the stories of
the privations experienced by the Con-
federate troops were not exaggerated?
mot a Bit" he said; mot bit | could
tell you stories of suffering in the Army
of Northern Virginia that would make
your hair curl. / could tell Of hunger
and thirst and cold and heat such as you
never dreamed of. Why, sir, the secession
of the South was the grandest game of
bluff in the history of the world. You
had everything and we had nothing,
yet we kept you at bay for
four years, and bothered YOU
considerably in the operation. We
suffered terribly, though. Hunger! I've
seen the day when fat pork, raw, was
delicacy to me, and l remember that after
fast of three days and nights quart of
unrOasted peanuts, with their shells on,
seemed like shrimp salad to my hungry
soul. ate them, shells and all, you can
be perfectly certain. After the first year
our clOthes-you couldn't fiatter them into
unltorms-and acc0utrements were laugh
able, and our forage and rations-well,
most OF the time we hadn't any. A blum
dering Federal General was meat and
drink to us. Why, Banks was seldom
called anything else but Quartermaster
Banks on our side Of the line. He
was the best quartermaster we had.
Not but what our fellows meant
well, but they didn't have Banks
ineXhaustible supplies. Sometimes they
did, though; for example, in the Valley
of the Shenandoah" speaking of pri-
yations in the rebellion" said an eX-Con-
federate Surgeon standing by, reminds
me OF the scarcity of the elixir of life in
the Southern army. Whisky was scarcer
than corn, and that's saying great deal.
Everybody wanted it. Very few people
had it, and as a general rule what they
had was mighty bad. Usually the Sur
geon had whatever spirits there were in
camp, and so / had my daily drink
right through the war with few
memorable exceptions. But it was not
always the best whisky. Once l remem-
Der got some liquor, but l had nothing
to put it in except an old barrel that
had been used for vinegar. Now
they made vinegar out Of anything that
came handy during the war. This vinegar
had been made of chemicals. There was
little or no fruit juice in it. At the bot
| tom of the barrel was a very curious
chemical deposit of a composite character
that | could make little or nothing of. l
risked the whisky, though, and it really
wasn't hurt; but there was just this about
it: If you put water with it it turned
So ! told everybody that the liquor was
weak and that it ought to be drank out of
a tin cup. Almost everybody was too
glad to get it to be particular about the
conditions. But one day Col. Jack Dade, a
well-knOwn Nirginian, came to camp as
a visitor. OF course he came to see me.
ANY liquOrY he asked. Yes said |;
but it's mighty weak, and we have moth
ing but tin cups well, he said, Il can
stand the tin cups and the whisky, too, l
guess SO | drew him a cupful. Here
john he said to my niger, who was
standing grinning by, bring me some
| water why, Colonel l eXpOstulated,
you are not going to put water in weak
whisky, are you| Certainly he said; Il
always put water in my liquor and the
boy who had darted off full of laughter
as soon as the Colonel spoke, was back
with cup of water before / could say
! another word. Of course that niger
knew as well as | did what
was coming, but the more
l trembled the more he grinned. The
Colonel poured the water in, and that
| COMPOUNDED liquor turned as white as my
face anG frOthed like beer. Great heav-
ensr said the Colonel, pale as a sheet,
hes tried to poison me- And he rushed
from the tent in parOXysm of terror that
gave me no opportunity to explain. l
don't believe that he accepted my eXpla-
nation save in form, when | did get a
chance at him. \ fine old Virginia gen.
tleman was Jack Dade, and fond Of his
to6dy to his dying day. He was a great
! friend of Tyler, and when the latter
! became President he asked Jack what
! he would like to have. 'Well,' said
/ Jack, with unusual frankness, i
wait a good berth, where there's plenty
to get and nothing to do Tyler made
/ him Superintendent of the Washington
/ jail. His assistant did the work and Jack
! drew the pay He was the fellow who
made the famous Fourth of July speech
| to his cOnvicts: Men, he said, in his ora
! tOrical way; men, if you don't behave
| yourselves better, Fll turn you all out
/ doors. You shan't stay here day. Jack
| found it difficult sometimes afterward, as
well as during the war, to get his daily
! drink. Once, l remember, he came to the
/ house of a relative of his who had lost
| every thing in the war but his Old-fash-
/ Toned honor and his elegant furniture.
| Where's your liquOrY asked Jack as
/ soon as he arrived. why, COlOnel,' said
| his relative, sitting in his handsome par
/ lOr, times are not what they were before
! the war with me. | am too poor to buy
! whisky. l haven't a dollar in the world
| 'Well,' said the Colonel, why don't you
/ sell some of these superfluities' (waving
| his hand around the room and buy some
/ of the necessaries of life% His relative
| had nc answer ready"