The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-09-14
AFTER THE MUD MARCH.
AN INCIDENT OF CAMP LIFE sPolLs
SuNDRY DINNERS.

CheeS0.
Every old soldier of the Army of the
Potomac remembers Burnside's mud
march. 1t began on Jan. %, 1858. This
was forty days after his defeat at Fred
er1cksburg. 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.
1t began to rain on the evening of the
22d, and it rained necessarily for three
days. The pontoons never reached the
river. They were stuck in seas of mud.
Nearly every man in the army was wet
to the waist for days in efforts to drag
them to dry ground.
The Confederates on the other side of
the Rappahannock quickly OWNED the
situation. They stuck up immense pla-
cards on the bank of the river bearing
such inscription as ''Burnside's Army
Stuck in the Mud" Burnside is not Nc
Clellan," and other pat sayings. When
the sun began to shine and the pontoons
were dragged from the sloughs the army
went back to its old camp.
Everybody was disheartened. The pen
Clellan men, shook their heads mourn
fully, saying, 81 told you how it would
be- The discomfort rose to such pitch
that there was spirit of mutiny in some
of the regiments. Hundreds of deser-
tions occurred every day and the army
had no confidence in its commander uil-
til Joe Hooker succeeded Burnside
THE REGIMENTS
was sergeant in Company @ of the
Twenty-sixth New Jersey volunteers at
this time. The New Jersey regiment
was part of the Second brigade. This
brigade had won brilliant reputation
on the Peninsula and at Antietam. 1t
was known in the Army of the Potomac
as the Vermont brigade. 1t was com
posed, with the exception of the Jersey
regiment, of Vermont troops.
They were tall, ungainly Yankees.
They drawled their words, and gave
them peculiar nasal twang. Their feet
were so big that the Johnnies compared
them to old-fashioned griddles.
A Mississippian once told me they were
so big that whenever he killed Yer
mont Yankee he had to go up and shove
him over before he would tumble.
L saw some captured North Carolinians
sent in from the front at the first battle
of Fredericksburg In stature, gait and
accent they resembled the Vermonters.
believe that if they had worn the Fed
eral uniform the Vermonters themselves
would have taken them for brothers.
We went into camp after the mud
march near White Oak church. About
two weeks afterward Bill Young, a big
Scotchman in our regiment, confiscated
a sheep owned by some farmer in the
vicinity. He had found little copse in
an out of the way nook, where he butch
cred the the sheep, hung the carcass to
the limb of a tree by its 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 concealing the carcass he
sneaked back to camp.
Two hours later he returned to the
copse. The mutton seemed to be all
right. 1t did not appear to have been
disturbed. He avoided collision with
the camp guard, and managed to get it
to his shelter tent after dark Then he
cut it up and distributed it among his
friends in the ranks and the commits
stoned officers.
DOG INSTEAD OF MUTTON.
Twentyfour hours afterward YER
mont regiment, then commanded by
Louis A. Grant, now assistant secretary
of war (and by the way, Redfeld Proctor
was captain in the same regiment).
passed through our camp on picket de-
tail. As they struck company Cs street.
through which they marched down the
hill, they all began to bark like dogs.
cI,a1
and wondered what the barking meant.
The Vermonters kept up the canine dem
onstration 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-
tlon it did not taste like mutton. It was
little rank, one said, and tasted more
like coon meat that hadn't been par
boiled Many who had received the gift
were sick at the stomach.
It turned out that some bright Yer
monter had seen Young at work on the
sheep. He rang in his comrades and
frightened the Scotchman back to camp.
Then they stole the carcass, and put in
its place the dressed body of an old New
foundland dog that had been following
a Wisconsin brigade.
When the Vermonters returned from
picket duty and began to cross our camp
the barking was resumed. This time the
Jerseymen were ready for them. From
700 throats came the cry: Head cheese,
head cheese, you Yankeesl"
This cry gave pallor to tho Vermont
faces. Their stomachs were turned.
While they were on picket duty some
Germans in the Jersey regiment had
gathered all of the cold roast dog in
camp, turned it into head cheese, and
peddled it on the Vermont picket reserve.
Head cheese was a deicacy rarely seen |
in the army. It had gone like hot cakes.