Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-01-29

beside all the other stores necessary to
feed large army.
Fresh beef was an item not to be over
looked, and the Department had in herd
and corral in the country surrounding
Alexandria from 1000 to 5000 head of
beef cattle, with orders to ship to the
front daily as many as were required
The larger portion of these cattle were
from the West, and were as wild as deer.
The herders had to drive them through
the main streets of the city to put them
on board steamers en- route for the front.
1t was during the loading of the 1amer
Warrior (she had a carrying capacity for
500 head on deck) that an incident oc-
Cured worth mentioning.
Before driving down through the city
the cattle were divided into lots of 100
each, as that number could be more
easily handled. Now, any one who has
ever seen wild Western steer can easily
imagine just how they would perform,
when they were being whipped up with
the herders' long goad sticks, down a
narrow street with cheap clothing, red
shirts, ETC., hanging in of the num-
erous stores, flying in their faces. 1t
olhipiJ bntLl ouC olIl,
broad-horned fellow suddenly lowered
his head, shot his tail into the air and
made rush for red shirt. The door
was open, and he never stopped until he
reached the rear end of the store. At
that spot stood a sewing machine with
red cover over it. The steer saw it,
lowered his head and dashed at it. The
sewing machine went up to the ceiling
and came down wreck. In the mean
time the proprietor had taken refuge
under the counter. About this time a
herder appeared on the scene, and with
his long goad stick prodded the steer out
in good shape.
But the Hebrew proprietor was the
worst scared and the maddest man
ever saw. He declared that $50 would
not begin to pay him the damages. He
was told to go to Colonel Bell for redress,
and he lost no time in going down to the
bank of the Old Dominion, where the
Colonels headquarters were located.
| The Colonel, who had not been made
aware of the circumstances, was thun-
derstruck when the Hebrew rushed in
with his hair standing on end and his
coat-tail flying out straight enough to
| play checkers on. He opened up the
music with: Colonel, l am all broke
up; my clothing all ruined, my sewing
machine is all broke up, and $3.50 will
not pay me-"
The Colonel ordered him to shut up
and get out of the office, but it was of no
use; the man went right on with his
complaint. He soon had his damages
raised to $780, and $50 help me Moses,
not one cent less would settle it,"
BY this time the Colonel had himself
got mad clear through. Calling an or
derly, he told the latter to take that
crazy fool to the old slave pen and give
him shower bath.
At that moment Captain A. B. Mott,
who had charge of the beef cattle, came,
and upon learning the trouble, went
with the Hebrew to see what the amount
of damages really was. He settled all
claims by paying $50 to repair the sew
ing machine and that ended the fun.
| have often heard people say since
the war, "Well, if you were in the Com
missary Department, you had soft
time of it, and never in danger of being
shot" Granted to certain extent. At
the same time, / can assure you that the
Johnnies, who were always short of ra-
tions, were always on the lookout to
gobble the commissary train. And after
a battle, if the commissary was not
promptly on hand with his train to feed
the tired and hungry soldiers, what a
howl would be raised by the army. 1t
used to be one of the soldier sayings,
''No good rations; no good fight"
l knew it to be fact that the COM
missary worked day and night, and new
er knew when Sunday came, unless it
was by the double work he had to do on
that day. He always had to take a
mountain of scolding when the rations
were bad. The fault of the contractors
in New York, Philadelphia and Boston
would be saddled on the commissary.
Well, the most of them lived through it,
and do not know of one that is drawn
ing pension to-day.-Captain o. A. Co
burn. in n. Y. Tribune.