Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1891-07-31

were dragged from the sloughs the army
went back to its old camp
Everybody was disheartened. The pen
lnsula veterans, who were stanch Nc
Clellan men, shook their heads mourn
fully, saying, II 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-
tdous occurred every day and the army
had no confidence In Its commander I'M
til Joe Hooker succeeded Burnside
THE REonENTs.
: Twas sergeant in Company Q Of tho
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 tho Peninsula and ct Antietam. It
was known In the Army Of the Potomac
as the Vermont brigade. It was CON-
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
90 big that whenever he killed a Yer
mont Yankee he had to go up and shove
him over before he would tumble.
! 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 II 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, big
Scotchman In our regiment, con6scated
. 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 . tree by its hind legs and
dressed It. He had hardly finished the
work when he was frightened by a 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 It 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 1t up and distributed It among his
friends in tho ranks and the commits
doued officers.
DOC INSTEAD OF HUTTON
Twenty-four hours afterward q Yer
mont regiment, then commanded by
Louis A. Grant, now assistant secretary
Of war (and by the way. Redfleld Proctor
was q captain in the same regiment),
passed through our camp on picket de-
tail As they struck company Cs street,
through which they marched down tho
bill, they all began to bark like dogs.
The Jerseymen rushed from their tents
and wondered what the barking meant.
The Vermonters kept up the canine DEM
onstration for half a 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 delnonstra-
ton 1t did not taste like mutton. 1t was
little rank, one said, and tasted more
Ike coon meat that hadn't been par
boiled Many who had received the gift
were sick at the stomach.
Il 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
it's place the dressed body Of an old New
foundland dog that had been following
q 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
100 Threats came the cry: "Head cheese
head cheese, you Yankeesr'
This cry gave pallor to the Vermont
faces Their stomachs were turned.
While they were on picket duty some
Germans In the Jersey regiment had
gathered al Of the cold roast dog in
camp, turned it into head cheese, and
peddled It on the Vermont picket reserve.
Head cheese was delicacy rarely seen
IN the army. It had gone like hot cakes.
Everybody bought 1t. Possibly even sec-
rotary Proctor and General Louis A.
Grant got their share Of it. At all events
there was no more barking and no more
buying Of head cheese on the picket line.
Amos ]. Cummings in New York Sun.