New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-02-29
THE OLD CANTEEN.
The Many and Queer Uses to Which is
Was at Last Put.

L +
When Josiah (called ST, for SHORTY
Klegg, of the 200th Ind, drew his
canteen from the Quartermaster at
Louisville, he did not have a very
high idea OF it's present or prospective
Importance. In the twenty-five hot
summers he had lived through he had
never found himself very far from a
well or spring when his thirst cried
out to be slaked, and he did not sup
pose it was much further between
wells down South.
II don't see the use carrying two or
three pints O water along allday right
past springs and over cricks," he re-
marked to his chum, as the two were
examining the queer, cloth-coyered
cans"
'We've got to take EN- anyway"
answered the chum, resignedly. ats
regulations.
On his entry into service boy &C
cepted everything without question
/ when assured it was regulations"
He would have charged bayonets on a
| buzz-saw if authoritatively informed
| it was required by the mysterious
/ regulations
The long march the 2ooth Ind.
made after Bragg over the dusty turn
| pixies the first week in October, 1862,
| taught ST the value of a canteen
After that it was rarely allowed to
get empty. When itdidn't have water
in, it had milk, molasses. or even
apple-jack, for ST then was not a mem
Der of the Independent Order of Good
! Tenplars, OF which society he is now
anhonored officer. Nothing could be
nicer, when he was on picket, to bring
buttermilk in from the neighboring
farmhouse to his chum Steemy John
son, who stood postwhile he was gone.
| Later in the service ST learned the
nestimable value of coffee to the sol
der on the march. Then he stript the
cloth from his canteen, fastened the
straps on with bits OF wire, and made
a splendid coffee-pot of it, In the
morning he would half fill it with the
splendid coffee the Government fur
nished, fill it up with water and hang
it from bush or a stake over the
fire, while he went ahead with his 9TH
er culinary preparations. By the
time these We're finished he would have
at least a quart of magnificent coffee
that the cook of the Fifth Avenue
could not surpass, and which would
last him until the regiment halted in
the afternoon
| Tho I,,1l1v IF tho O00+l
his thick head one day to try to 'srun
over" ST. The latter has Just filled
his canteen, and the bully found that
the momentum Of three pints of water
swung at arms length by an angry
boy was about equal to mules kick.
After the company wagon had
run over and hopelessly ruined the
little frying pan which ST had brought
from Posey Co., he would des-
pair as to how he should fry
his meat and cook his "lobscouse' y
Necessity is the mother of invention.
He melted in two a canteen he picked
up, and found it's halves made two
deep tin pans, very light and very
handy. A split stick made a handle,
and he had as good a frying-pan as
the one he had lost, and much more
convenient, for when done using the
handle was thrown away, and the
pan slipt into the haversack, where it
lay snug and close, instead Of clatter
ing about as the frying-pan did when
the regiment moved at the double
quick.
The other half OF the canteen was
useful to brown coffee, bake hoe-cake,
and serve for toilet purposes
One day on the Atlanta campaign
moved up in line to the top of a bald
hill. AS it rose above the crest it was
saluted witha terrific volley, and saw
that another crest across the narrow
valley was occupied by at least bri.
gade of rebels.
s'We'll stay right here, boys" said
the plucky little Colonel, who had only
worn Sergeant's stripes when the regi
ment crossed the Ohio River. "We've
pre-empted this bit OF real estate, and
we'll hold it against the whole South.
ern Confederacy. Break for that fence
there, boys, and every fellow come
back with a couple of rails"
1tseemed as ifhe hardly ceased speak
ingwhen the boys came running back
Will Cuo idllS WHICH Cuey ldy uOWL
, along the crest, and dropping flat be.
hind them, began throwing the gravel
ly soil over them with their usefu,
half-canteens. In vain the showers o.
rebel bullets struck and sank about
them. Not one could penetrate that
, little ridge Of earth and rails which in
an hour grew into a strong ride-pit
against which the whole rebel brigade
charged, only to sustain a bloody re
pulse.
Later on in the campaign sihad the
misfortune to be with train that was
captured by a dash OF Wheeler's cav
, airy, and he was taken to Anderson
vile. He was stript there OF every
thing which old Wirz thought was o.
any value or use, but the black and
greasy piece of concave sheet-lron was
contemptuously returned to him. II
had been Of great value to him be
fore-now it was priceless. It was al
that he had to receive his scanty ra
lions of coarse cornmeal in; it was al
that he had to carry water in, mix hii
meal into bread Or mush, and ther