The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-11-26
A WAR TIME THANKSGIVING.

How the Day Was Celebrated Under
Great Difficulties.
1t was most natural for the minds of the
soldiers to turn toward the good things at
home when Thanksgiving approached. If
the army was lying in camp and communi-
cations with the north were convenient
the matter could be arranged with some
satisfaction by having goodies" sent on
in boxes, and the boys sharing and divid-
ing up so as to give variety at the feast
Thanksgiving of 1862, however, found
the Army OF the Potomac campaigning
toward fredericksburg, on the Kappa
hammock. Nearly every mess among the
eastern troops especially, to whom Thanks.
giving is the festival of all the year, had
requested boxes to be shipped as far as
Washington, there to take their chances of
transportation to the front.
The last Thursday in November found
them in Washington STILL the contents
spelling If they were perishable, and for
the most part perishable they were. The
next resource for something extra with
which to celebrate the occasion was the
suffers store. Our regimental sutler hav-
ing received good scare somewhere on
the peninsula some months before had not
returned to camp. Still another thing was
to fall back on the supplies of the country
These, however, were wholly inadequate
to meet the wants of hundred thousand
men, for the range of territory where it
was safe to forage was limited
As the time drew near knot of men in
our company decided that a Thanksgiving
feast for them was going to be out of the
question, and in order to equalize things it
was decided to form company of regula
,,,l t,S - =
had anything beyond the customary ra-
tons of the government. Boxes could not
come to camp, and the men had no money
with which to patronize strange suffers
There was only one other chance for a
mess to get the best of the vegetables and
that was by foraging. This work, now
that it had got to be SO dangerous. was
confined to small gang of men headed
by fellow known as Devil Dan.
In addition to foraging, which they did
both for their own comfort and for profit
Devil Dan and his pals did the laundry
work of the company. This was of suf
fcient Importance to get them excused
from some of the ordinary duties of the
camp, and this increased their opportuni
ties for foraging A parley began some
days before Thanksgiving, but the bum
mers declared that the forage of the
region was completely exhausted, and
that they would not supply so much as a
potato either for love or money. But the
reputation of the gang for saying things
that were untrue was quite equal to that
they bore for appropriating other peoples
goods, and the vigilantes set d sharp watch
around the laundry quarters.
For fear the bummers would anticipate
the day, pickets were placed on duty some
Gays before Every kettle on the fire was
looked after to see that it contained cloth
ing. Devil Dan was serene and answered
iii questions, acting as though he pitied
the lncreduhty OF the regulators and
would save them all their trouble if they
would but take him at his word
i he regulators were trimming with ham
plness of the ''dog-in-the- manger' kind
There were six of them and they hatterad
themselves that they could raid any mess
that violated their prohibition. Thanks
giving came and Devil Dan had an
immense washing on hand. All day his
kettles sputtered and sent up clouds of
steam that kept his quarters in an impene-
trable mist. while the fumes of the suds
filled the air. The yigilantes grew ashamed
of their suspicious, for they were known
to all the company.
Finally dress parade came. Devil Dams
kettles were still steaming, and ne and mis-
men were excused from parade After the
parade, to the establishment of the vici
iantes, the orderly sergeant marched all OF
the men TO the laundry quarters instead
OF 10 the cooks tent. Devil Dan and his
helpers were reclining on the ground be-
fore a lovely spread of pot pie, their eyes
bright with merry wrinkles When the
company drew up before them the gang
sprang to their feet, took two kettles from
the fire, and served out a lavish plate full
TO every one of their comrades excepting
the yigilantes
Nov boys" said Devil Dan, "enioy
yourselves. This is for your kind patron
age of my laundry"
The pot pie had been boiled in cloths tina,
.welled at the top, thus hoodw;nking the
fnI Yilantes, who didn't hear the last of thai
10. fksgiying "a e long time;
product GEORGE L. KrLMER.