The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-12-04
ARMY CATCH WORDS.
Some of the Sayings in Vogue with Con
federate Soldiers.

When man was telling Il long yarn.
and one that seemed rather incredible,
and auy Que thought he was putting il
on rather strong. and wanted to call a
halt, they would say: ''Oh, there's wool
on that" The word was synonymous
with the present much-used "chest-
nut"
The men who never went after wat
er, but who went round at night help
ing themselves from the canteens of
their comrades. were called shakers"
Strange stories of moving troops, or
of big victories in different sections of
the country, were known as 'canteen
dispatches"
The fruit of the big revival in the
Army of Northern Virginia in 1864
was called Madison Run Christians"
1t is pleasure to note that many of
them are to-day live. active workers in
the Christian Church.
The vile stuff mixed up with simple
water, flour and salt, with which the
soldiers were fed at times, was known
as putty bread"
The men who had soft snaps aud
followed the army without getting into
fights were called bombproofs.
If Il man was especially nimble in
getting away with other peoples prop
ertv it was said of him that che would
steal anything but red-hot stove, and
he would take that if he could get Il
wet blanket"
Some one asked one of the Elliott
Grays if he had read Victor Hugos
Les Miserables." The reply was:
a. l., ~,
around here every day to read about
them"
Hugo also wrote book called Fan
tine, and les Miserables Painting"
was one OF the worst of the many bad
Confederate attempts at punning Wet
Measure Harding was Il noted man in
the Sixth Virgiea. He bought some
meal somewhere. and undertook to
clear expenses by retailing part of it
to his comrades. He had only Il tin or
wine quart measure, one of the men
objected TO having his meal measured
in that way. Saws he: Meal is sold
by dry measure, aud you have only Il
wet measure. and that amt right"
Harding replied: You fool, can't l
take my measure to the fire aud dry it
if it is wet?"
After that he was known as wet
Measure Harding"
The dried beef issued out at the last
of the war was known as "mule meat"
and the salt pork as Nassau bacon"
1t was one time reported that some
of the people of Poland were coming
over to help the Confederates. After
that one of the jokes was: Have you
heard anything from that load of Poles?
The Virginia troops were called both
'Graybacks" and 'Mossbacks, but
why no fellow could ever find out We
called ourselves The Cavaliers aud
'The Knights of the Golden Horse
shoe" The North Carolinas were
known as Tar Heels" The FIoridans
"Gophers." The South Carolinians re-
joiced in the name "PalmcttOes."
The Louisianas were callel Sugar
Canes" and the Mississippians Crack
ers.n
On one occasion, when Zeb Vance
was n candidate for Governor of North
Carolina, he came up TO the army and
addressed Il mass-meeting of the North
Carolinians. He began his speech as
follows: "Fellow-citizens-no, | can't
say that, for YOU are soldiers. Fellow
soldiers-no, that will not do, for | am
not Il soldier. But | will say fellow
tar-heels, for that term embraces every
man. woman and child in the Old
North State" That took the boys.and
Ieb Vance got ninety out of every 100
of the soldiers votes in the army of
Northern Virginia.
When the troops first went to the
fair grounds, the cadets from LeXing-
ton were the instructors. They were
so accurate and precise that they were
known as little tin soldiers Ever
after that. when man tried TO put on
any extra frills in the manual or in the
company drill, he would be called "a
little tin soldier. "-Bditini9re Herald.