McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-01-03
THREE SOLDIERS CHRISTMAS.
: From the New York 5uK, Ii3


From the Eew York sun, 3.i4
As the guests were rising from din
ner table which lad been covered with
the good things of the season, one of
them said to; the hostess: .'No one
could enjoy q dinner more than have
enjoyed this. 'tjGli 1868 t5+a
"John will not agree with you, " turn
ing to her husband; she insists that he
helped to cook and eat dinner that
tasted better thar any ever prepared. y
/ The guests joined in requesting the
husband to tell the story of that dinner,
and after. they had moved to the sitting
room and were comfortably seated,
John began: '""
son the last Thursday of November,
1864, three of US sat in shebang in the
prison stockade at Florence, South
Carolina. Shebang was the PRISON
word for dwelling constructed in this
way: An excavation about seven feet
in length, six feet in breadth, and two
feet in depth was made. The earth
taken ont was banked up perpendicu-
larly on the edge of the excavation in
side; outside the surface was sloped.
Two crotched sticks driven firmly into
the ground, rid re laid in the crotches,
army blankets stretched over the ridge
pole and fastened to the earth slope
with wooden pins, mud chimney at
one end and hole for door at the
other finished the building.
''It was IN the afternoon We had
received our daily rations-about three
tablespoonfuls of gookas or cow-peas,
and a little over pint of cOrn-meal-
had cooked and eaten them, and were
sitting on the ground floor of the She
bang, our eyes listlessly turned towards
rude bas-relief upon the chimney,
which was meant to represent human
figure. In moment of art enthusiasm
one of us, Kentucky cavalry man, had
fashioned it when the chimney was put
up. It would have made a tobaccon-
lists Indian split it's sides with laugh
ter. But our though were as shallow
as our faces.
"After time the Iowa man spoke:
"Boys, it must be Thanksgiving day at
home, and my folks are just through
their dinner. l don't believe they cared
much for it."
eve were silent for while. I was
the first to speak:
"Well, boys, we mustn't think about
home, or any one there. We all know
what that means if we keptit up--death
and place in the trench. l want my
bones laid in New York, where l was
born. know we have had mean
Thanksgiving dinner, and it. does seem
as though we had to look around u lit
tie to find something to be thankful for,
but we are alive yet, and we may yet
get home after all Thanksgiving's gone,
but if we live until Christmas we can
have dinner, and won't be hungry
after we have eaten it,
"How?" inquired my two comrades
eagerly. 4. .st a.
"We won't feel much hungrier than
we do now if we each put by spoon
full of meal and a spoonful of gookas
every day from now until Christmas,
and | think our savings will make a
dinner that will be satisfying
ssAfter some discussion as to the rela-
tive strength of our appetite and our
wills, it was decided to lay by our six
spoonfuls of food every day, all agree
ing that the spoonfuls should not be
heaped, but even. [ dreamed that night
of feasting on ell the good things in
the way of food that had ever heard
of or eaten. The next morning we
made two bags of generous size. In
the afternoon, when our rations came,
we put three spoonfuls of gookas in
one bag and three spoonfuls of meal IN
the other. Every succeeding day the
bags received their portion, and were
felt of affectioEately, to find out how
much they contained.
christmas morning, 1864, after
being long waited for, came at last.
The faint light of the morning found
us stirring. We had boarded our fuel,
saving little every day. 1t was not
an easy thing to do, for the daily fuel
ration of ninetJ- men was three sticks
of cordwood of average size. To this
supply we had added by picking up
every splinter as large as toothpick
and every chip as large as 4 ten cent
piece that we discovered in our wander
ings about the stockade.
"The occupants OF shebang near
our own, in addition to the usual cook
ing utensils-quart bottles and tin-cups
or sheet-iron pans-possessed a gun
boat. This was piece of old roofing
tin, made into pan more than a foot
long and about six inches side and deep.
The corners where the tin had but cut
off or turned were soldered with corn
meal. 1t was not slightly, but was con-
yenient. We had barpalned before for
the use of this gunboat.
"rhe 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 fnr,yard end six