Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-09-11
THE MUD MARCH.
CONGRESSMAN CUMMINGS RE
LATES "A STORY OF THE WAR.
How New Jersey Regiment Toasted
on Dressed Dog, Which Was AT.
terwnrd Served to Vermont
crs as Head-cheesc.

ers as Head-chcesc.
Every old soldier of the Army of the
Potomac remembers Burnside's mud
march, says Congressman Amos j. Cum.
mings in the New York Sun. It began
on January %, 1868. This was forty
days after his defeat at Fredericksburg.
In an effort to retrieve it, he followed
the example Of Charles XII. and opened
winter campaign. He tried to strike
the Rappahannock some miles above
Fredericksburg, cross the river on
pontoons and reach Lees rear. It be.
gan to rain on tho evening of the
22d, and 1t Tnined necessarily for three
days. The pontoons never reached the
river. They were stuck in seas of mud.
Nearly every man in the ermy was VIC.
to the waist for days in efforts to drug
them to dry ground. The Confedeatcs
on the other side of tho RappahaunocS
quickly OWNED tho situation. They
stuck up immense placards on the bank
OF tho river bearing such Inscriptions as
"Durnsidcs Army Stuck in the NIud,n
BURNSIDE is not Mcclellan" and other
sayings. When the sun began to shine
and the pon.oons were dragged from the
sloughs, the army went back to its old
camp. Everybody was dishcartcncd.
The peninsula veterans, who were stanch
Mcclellan men, shook their heads
mournfully, saying, "I told you how it
would be-" Tho discomfort rose to such
pitch that there was spirit of mutiny
in some of tho regiments. Hundreds of
desevtious occurred every day, and tho
army had no confidence in its comman-
der until Joe Hooker succeeded burn.
side.
was sergeant in Company G of the
Twenty sixth New Jersey Volunteers ut
this time. The New Jersey regiment
was part of tho Second brigade. This
brigade had won brilliant reputation on
The Peninsula and at Antictam. 1t was
known in tho Army of the Potomac rs
the Vermont Brigade. 1t was composed,
with the exception OF the Jersey lcgi-
mcnt, of Vermont troops.
We went into camp after the md
march near White Oak Church. About
two weeks aftcrward Bill Young, big
Scotchman i'll our regiment, conllscatcd
4 sheep owned by some farmer in the
vicinity. He had found little copsc in
m out -the-way nook, where he
butchcrcd the sheep, hung the carcass to
limb of tree by his hind legs, and
dressed it. He had hardly finished the
work when he was frightened by file
of men who were approaching the spot.
After hastily conccaling the carcass he
sncakcd back to camp. Two hours later
he returned to the copse. The mutton
seemed to be all right. 1t did not APP
pear to have been disturbed. He avoided
collision with the camp guard, and man
aged to get it to his shelter tent after
dark. Then he cut it up and distributed
it among his friends in the ranks aud the
commissioned officers.
Twcnty-.our hours afterward Yer
mont regiment, then commanded by
Louis A. Grant, now Assistant Secretary
of War (and by the way, Secretary Of
War Proctor WINS captain in tho same
regimenD, passed through camp on
picket detail. AS they struck Company
C's street, through which they marched
down the hill, they all began to bark
like logs. The Jerscymcn rushed from
their tents and wondered what the bark
ing meant. The Vcrmonters kept up the
canine demonstration for half mile,
yelling with delight.
Commissioned officers who had par
taken OF the mutton were the first to
solve the riddle. Some of the cold meat
was left. After the Vermont demonstra-
ton it did not taste like mutton. It was
q little rank, one said, and tasted more
like coon meat that hadn't been par
boiled. Many who had received the gift
were sick Mt the stomach.
1t turned out that some bright Yer
monter had seen Young at work on the
sheep. He rang in his comrades aud
frightened the Scotchmau back to camp.
Then they stole tho carcass, and put in
its place the dressed body of m old New
foundland dog that had been following
Wisconsin brigade.
When the Vermonters returned from
picket duty and began to cross our camp
the barking was resumed. This time the
Jcrseymcn were ready for them. From
seven hundred Threats came the cry:
''EIead-cheese, head cheese"
Their cry gave pallor t, the Yer
mont faces. Their stomachs were turned.
While they were on picket duty some
Germans in the jersey regiment had gath
cred all of the cold roast dog in camp,
turned it into head-cncesc, and pcddled
it on the Vermont picket reserve. Head.
cheese was dclicacy rarely seen in the
army. 1t had gone like hot cakes.
Everybody bought it. Possibly even
Secretary Proctor and General Louis A.
Grant got their share of it. At all events
there was no mere barking and no more
buying of head-cheesc on the picket
line.