Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-04-19
WAR SKETCHES,
BgING ANECDOTES AMI EXPERIENCES of
WEST VIRGINIA WARRIORS.
On The Field and in the Camp-RscOlls'dOns Of
Army Lite by an E-Msmbsr Of the wheel
ing" Batt.ry-HOw "Hs Mother
Cooked Rice"
Camp and Garrison Life.

Camp and Garrison Life.
This was the most monotonous OF tne
soId;er,s life The ordinary method OF
nassing away the time, outside OF routine
! duty. was by letter writing, reaolng, caru
PLAYING, working out puzzles ana oCner
snorts indoors and out. Besides this we
Sppd an eycentional lot of fun makers among
whom NAV be mentioned Charlie Trlssler,
Sergeant Feay, G. H. Domionor, Corporal
Casey and others, who by their funny
sneeches. mimicry and antics enlivened
| camn life In these short articles IL Is not
expected to give every phase OF camp NE:
! A few things occurred during our term OF
eervice which thought exceedingly funny,
whether | can succeed in conveying the
same impression remains to be seen.
Charlie Trissler perpetrated a very
profitable Joke. While at New Greek, IN
| is62 furloughs were very hard to obtain
II was impossible to get one except IN case
of sickness or death. Charlie wanted 10
90 home very badly. But no one was SICK,
nor anybody likely 10 die. Finally, ne
wrote home to his wife 10 take the oaoy
down into the cellar and send him tele
gram Ito come home, the baby is very iotc
She did so. Charlie took his telegram TO
the CAPTAIN. who set the machinery in mo-
tion which sent Charlie flying home on
~
ten days furlough.
Sergt. Feay had been very unlucky at
the battle of New Market, having lost ms
knapsack, while Henry Smith lof tne same
mess) was very lucky, having found well
| filled lnapsack that belonged to some one
i'm another battery. Lieut.. Chalfant, then
in command, thought we could get pay 1or
clothing lost in an actual engagement, ana
concluded he would hold an Inspection 10
determine the amount of clothing lost. lie
ordered each man to bring all his clothing
on inspection, whether clean or other
wise. Sergt. Feay came into ranks
with his clothes apparently rolled
up in his rubber poncho. After the ranks
were opened and the order to unsling KNAPP
| sacks was given, Feay very gravely laid
down his poncho. open knapsacks"
Feay spread out his empty ponchO. and
Strengthening himself up. drew out of mis-
pocket an old pair Of army socks and laid
them down in the middle of his poncho.
We were greatly troubled by false alarms
whileat Clarksburg in the winter of 1860.
Every night or so we were dragged out of
warm beds to answer roll call. Drivers
had TO hitch up their horses, and the can
noneers would SILVER at their posts for an
hour or two. The reason was an old dun
derhead was in command while the enemy
was at least so miles from us at the nearest
point. The cackling of geese, the braying
of a mule, or the drunken actions of an in
toxicated soldier was sufficient TO cause
picket to fire his gun, and alarm the
the camp. 1t was becoming monoto-
nous, and the canponeers begun
to answer roll call and slip back into bed
until there would not be enough men TO
man the guns In vain the men would be
routed out of the quarters. As fast as the
officers would pass along out of one into
another the men would fill them up be-
hind. One night the Captain and Lieut..
Chalfant were walking along the parade
ground nearly at their wits end. Il will
tell YOU what it is, Lieutenant; they are
advancing up the road, and the first thing,
train your guns on those quarters and
sweep them away, so we shall have fair
play at the enemy" You ought to have
seen the men pour out OF those shanties
and go to their respective guns.
At Parkersburg, in 1864, we lived high.
having plenty Of money. The consequence
was in our mess of four we had quite an ac-
emulation of odds and ends that no one
would eat, but, as | thought, too good to
throw away. In frying crackers we would
soak them all night; every one that would
remain whole we would fry and throw the
broken ones away. This seemed a great
waste, so one morning | gathered a lot of
these bits of soaked crackers, rice, hominy,
beans, potatoes, etc, and made potpOurri-
about gallon of it. | will tell YOU it was
remarkable tasting stuff. None of US could
eat it, The soaked crackers gave it a
wretchedly insipid, wish-washy taste. | set
it away under the flap of the tent Some
time in the afternoon Arch Snider came to
camp. He had been away on high old
lonesome for two or three days. Being
hungry, he looked around for something to
eat and found this mess had cooked. He
swallowed il, and laid himself down for a
nap. When he Weakened / was sitting at
the door of the tent writing. The first
thing he did he reached over and drew the
pan toward him that had contained the pot
pourri. He looked long and lovingly at the
bottom of the pan, then turning to me said:
Have you any more of that pot-pe! It's
the best stuff | ever tasted in my lifen
With all our cooks, and we had some
good ones, none could make a success cook
ing rice. The fact is we lacked milk, aud
try as hard as we could the stuff would not
be palatable. We used about everything
else, fairly doting on beans, even eating
dessicated vegetables, sauerkraut, and
| everything that came in our way, except
rice 1t could not be made TO go down. dis
guise it as we might. We bought butter TO
dress it, made soup out.of it,and boiled it to
eat with sugar; but in every case it palled
on our taste, lacking something, we knew
not what
When Bub DickerSon was cooking for
! No. mess, he told them he knew he could
cook rice so they could eat it. He knew
how mother cooked it, and he would
cook it the same way, and 1t was bound to
be good.
About an hour after breakfast he put on
a ten-gallou camp-kettle, and filed it about
half full of rice for a starter. Visions of
rice-fe bows rose before him as he poured
in water sufficient TO cover it, He stirred
the fire, moving from one side to the other
trying to recollect every motion mother
made. as he wanted to cook it Just as she
did Soon 1t began to simmer; he skinned
it little Presently it began to boil then
it began to swell up until the kettle was
full and running over He slashed on an
other kettle and began to ladle in rice until
that kettle was filled. He began to yell for
help, sweating like a puddler. The boys
crowded round with their hands in their
pockets to see the fun, and learn how
mother cooked rice
Bub could wait no longer. Another
kettle was dropped on the fire, and he dipped
out of the two till the third was filled;
then the fourth and fifth, and all the mess
pans the detachment had, until he began to
| think the stuff would never stop swelling.
No had rice stacked around their cook
place until you could hardly rest, and it
was some time before Bub Dickerson
ceased to hear about show mother cooked
rice