Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-12-19
DE- , 1R FOR TILE
IN A PS;9oN SToCKADE, DECEMBER
IS, 1864.
From Thanksgiving to Christmas Three
SpJu' iui- OF GOokas and Three OF
Meal 81 Watching Gin "Gunboat"
A Lifetime Memory.


On the last Thursday of November, 1864,
three Of Us sat in a shcbnng in the prison 4
stockade at Florence, s. C.. SheLang was
the prison WORT for a dwelling con ,tructed
in this way. 1t was in the aft rdoOn. We
had received our daily rations-about three
tabespoonfu' of gookas, or COW peas. and
little over pint of corn meal-had cooked
and eaten them, and were sitting on the
ground floor of the shebang our eyes list
les.ly turned roofwards, while our thoughts
were as shallow Us our faces.
We were silent for awhile | was the first
to speak:
Thanksgiving gone, boys, but II we live
until Christmas we can have n dinner, and
won't be hungry after we have eaton it,"
How" inquired my two comrades
eagerly.
ave won't feel much hungrier than we do
now If we each put by spoonful Of meal
and q spoonful of gookas every day from
now until Christmas, aud l think our saw
ngs will make dinner that will be satisfy
ing"
After some discussion rs to the relative
strength Of our appetite niil oar wills it was
decided to lay by our sx spo rfnls of food
svery day. all agreeins That tho spoonfuls
should not be heaped, but even | dreamed
that night Of fenStiny on all tue go,d things
in the way of food that ia, ever heard Of
IL eaten. The next morning We made two
bags of generous ,izn. In the u! ttrnoon when
ur rations cam, W. put thr.e 5pounfuls Of
gookas in one bag ami thr,e spounfus of
neal in the other. Every SUI, o.d.ng day
the bags received their portion, All wore felt
Of atfectionately, to tnI out how much they
contained.
Christmas morning, l'Gi. after being long
uyatt n1f for In H,,.. ,itf lt.rht %
The morpehg found u stirring. We had
boarded our fuel, saving little evory day.
1t was not an easy thing to do, for tie daily
fuel ration Of ninety men was three sticks Of
oinewood of average size To this supply we
had added by picking up every splinter as
arge as a toothpick and every chip as large
as Decent piece that we discovered in cur
wan lerngs about tho stockade.
The occupants of u shebans near our own,
n addition to the usual cooking utensils
quart bottles and tin or sheet iron pans
possessed gunboat This was piece of old
roofing tin, made into II pan more than
foot long and about six inches wide and deep.
The corners where the tin had been cut off
or turned were soldered with corn meal. 1t
was not slightly, but was convenient We
had bargained before for the use of this gun
boat
The fire was lighted The gookas had been
soaked the night before, and were now put in
the gunboat covered with water, and the
gunboat was set over the fire upon two mud
bricks made for the occasion. A watched
pot may not boil, but a watched gunboat
did, for three heads bent forward ald six
eyes gazed intently upon the contents Of the
vessel over the fire, until the water was bub-
bling and the peas dancing in aud out among
the bubbles.
At short intervals a few peas were taken
out i'll spoon and allowed to COOL and p,a
was tasted by each of us and Judgment
given as to its being done. Finally we were
unanimous in the opinion that the gookas
were cooked enough. Meal was brought
forth and stirred i'll, and the pudding was al
lowed to remain on the fire until 1t had thick
.ned so that there was danger Of its being
,corched. The peas were dark skinned, and
lad given the pudding purplish hue. The
Sunboat was lifted off and set on the ground
~ cool While we were waiting the fire was
renewed. Corn meal saved for the purpose
was put in pan and thoroughly dried and
Drowned. This corn coffee was divided into
three portions, put in three quart kettles,
and boiled.
At last our dinner was ready. The gun
boat was put on the ground in the center Of
/, the shebang, and we sat around it, Two OF
, US had small tin pans and one fiat piece OF
sheet-iron for plates, and each had a spoon.
Not one of us would have been called a
religious man, but we hesitated, looked
at one another, bowed our heads and were
still. But it was only for moment, and
, then the Kentuckian volunteered to act a.
, aost, and helped us and himself.
When that dinner was over the contents
, Of the gunboat and quart cups had van,
ished and it was just noon. After such un-
usual exertion we Law down, drew our
blankets over US and slept. We were
awakened near night by a neighbor, who
called us that we might get our rations
After returning to the shebang the Iowa
man said Boys, I'll think of that dinner a.
long as live. Why amt hungry yet"