The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-21

at an emo, ana next fnurElnS E4S OIeaIg
routine of prison life is taken up again. No
uatil July 4, 1881.
AMOS ]. CUMMINGS HARDEST CHRISTMAS
about as tough q Christmas as ever
pas ed said tho Hon. Amos J. Cummings.
was ia the Army Of the Potomac. IL was
rear the banks of the RapahannOcS IN 49,.
There was a very cold snap a:d seVeFai
pickets were frozen to death. l had eS-
pec.ed to receive a box from home hlled
with kllhkinick, plum puddina, soy. ano
other delicacies. IL die not come CIR .senas
DAY was cold and glo my. Even tie ire'h
beef ratio ns had gwen gu. aid nothing was
left but salt pork and hard tack. We hxed
up some LOT scouss but IL dii not MI the Dill.
We had gooi coffee, taken from olockaoe
runner, but no sugar.
"After dark a sergeant proposed that we
should creep under building near brigade
hesdo1artcrs VII srs quarter masters sup
plies were stored The sergeant had found
an auxur ia a confederate cellar; II we
c uld creep under the slanty without bel z
discovered, We proposed TO b1re through the
flooring il search of a barrel OF whisky.
mink / crept upol my stomach for forty
yards before l got under the building. 1t
was quite O dark night out the snow had
melted away, and he grou ID was very wet.
I could hear the centres at brigade head
quarters coughing aad splitting and cursing
the cold wen her.
The sergeant joined me half an hour
later, and dew the auger out from has
d cket. Our wet cictGes fro2a stlf. Our
hands were numb, and we had great diff
Guilty in workipg the anger. The FIRST
barrel we struck was noS success
reafn of bri poured down our backs,
and WAS glad to move along. The next
barrel seemed to be "A barrel OF mOlasSsS.
This. mixed with the brine, produced a
sticky effect We bored into en- or twelve
barrels, ard fi.aliy struck what we at
first thought was the good old stuff. 1t
turned cut t. be, however, a key OF yeast.
Concluding that this was the bet we could
do, we filed our caHteens with yeast and
spent al hour ia 9 eakng from cove. it
was half past II when | crawled into my
shelter tent. started a fire i the Little
mud Gu mney aud We had royal old time
With the yeast.
"Not long afterwards my brother c~eps
into the tent. He Lad been On guard at
division headquarters. Ills eyes were glow.
ing with excitement.
"'wha+ have you got, Charley " asked.
"'Sukar,'" he replied.
"It was just what we wanted for your
coffee.
"where "a itr the sergeant asked.
II goo up and felt OF his 'ckets, but there
wnS morning there. we pulled OH MS cap,
faDcying that it might be tucked away over
his mead. But we could not fild it.
"a quiet bat confident air rema ned upon
his features. After we had blessed him, SOL
dier fashion, for lying. he turned his musket
upside down and poured pound or moro Of
sugar out of its barrel. 1t was the only way
| could get away with it, he said, for they
searched US when we came Off guari.'
"On the next morning there was great
commotion a. brigade hea quarters. The
brine had been drained from three polk
barre q. A barrel of molasse5 had ran out
upon the ground beow the shanty, aud two
negroes were scraping it up. with visions OF
mOlssses candy before their eyes. Bat tbis
was not the worst. Two holes had been
bored into a rude cofin, containing the re-
mains Of the son of a prominent official.
who had been killed in a previous engage
meat.
"Tue corpse had been wrapped in a
blanket and buried nesr by, and his father
bad come down to get tbs b idy Oefo Q arm
weather set Ia. / Eel, badly, but my sorrow
was tempered when | remembered that the
sergeant had me the boring 10 that part Of
shanty where the cyifin rested"