The National tribune., 1892-09-15
SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED.

A Plea for the Men Who Hauled the Pro-
visions and Ammunition.
IN the midst OF all the arrangements for the
Encampment of the GAR. such as
corps, regimental and other Reunions,
what provision is being made for the
teamsters? I have vivid recollection that
there was such an individual connected with
the different portions of that vast assemblags
of citizen soldiers who were engaged in the
laudable undertaking of putting down the re-
bellion and preserving the Union. But where
is he now? What was he tbeu and what was
he good for? l have some knowledge of one
teamster who helped in assembling the troops
for that Burnside expedition which first
gave the Ninth Corps its prestige; that later,
with the Pennsylvania Reserves advanced from
Tennailytown to Langley aud Dranesville,
where the Bucktails " received their baptism
of fire +" ard made of them the invincible Re-
serves; later was at Poolesvile with supplies
for the Pennsylvania Fire Brigade when they
returned from Balls Bluff; again with the 9Th
Ill. Cav. tone of the best from the State) at
Port Tobacco. These were movements in Oc-
tober and November, 1861, to say nothing about
the barrels of salt horse" and pork hauled
to and from the Postoffice Department, the po-
tatoes and -four to the basement of the unfn-
ished Capitol the thousands of loaves of bread
across Long Bridge" to Fort Runyon" and
beyond, the relief taken to that gentleman
and Christian" Surg Armstrong of the n. Y.
H. A., together with the mounting of the guns
in the forts opposite and below Alexandria
they are not much, but they all show that the
teamster was there. That teamsters personal
observation leads him to this conclusion, that
Gems Mcclellan. Burnside, Hooker, Meade and
Grant while in the command of the Army of
the Potomac did not always sleep in house,
but frequently occupied tent which they did
not carry. He knows that Gen. Seth Williams
did not carry in knapsack all the Adjutant-
Generals Department of the Army of the Po-
tomac. Gen. Rufus ingalls,, Quartermaster
Gen. Clark, Chief of Staff; Gen. A. A.
Humphreys, Chief of Typographical Engineers,
would have been more effectually "stuck in
the mud" than was Gen. Burnside in 62 had it
not been for the teamsters.
That tcamster could tell not only of the cor
duroy roads of the Peninsula, but of the de-
tails made for auling gabions and mortar beds,
together with tons of ammunition, shell and
solid shot, for the siege of Yorktown. He
could also tell how Headquarters train in COW
ering the retreat of the 9Th Pa. Cav, came near
being captured at New Kent Courthouse He
is vain enough to think that Cos. A and L of
the 4th U. S. Cav; the I'd U. S. Cav, the Stur-
gs Rifles, and four companies of the 93d n. Y.
could say q good word for the Headquarters
teamster at least.
That teamster has some recollection of there
being few boxes Of hardtack, few bags of
coffee a few barrels of pork and beef, with now
and then bean, hauled around somewhere and
somehow other than by rail, in such a manner
that now and then soldier, who kept out of
Libby, Salisbury, and Andersonville, did not
starve
That teamster knows that, although the
roads were much better in Pennsylvania than
in Virginia, the soldiers engaged at Gettysburg
could not have carried the amount of lead they
fired, neither could the ammunition chests and
caissons have contained the amount of shot and
shell, grape and canister, expended in the artil-
lery duel before Picketts charge, to say moth
ing Of the amount used in other parts of the
three days BATTLE had there been no one else
tax ing some part in that struggle but the Off
GERS and enlisted men.
Who was he? The peer of any man in the
army; he was frequently one who had been
rejected as soldier on account of some physi-
cal defect but was always an intelligent Ameri-
can citizen embracing, as | know the school
teacher of the North, the printer, the mechanic,
men from every walk OF life, but all AS patriotic
and self sacrificing as the man that shouldered
the gun. Never deserter; always at his post
Of duty rs subject to orders as the soldier.
Well what did he get? For pay from $40 to
$50 per month. Must furnish his own cloth
ing; no bounty, present or prospective; a
chance to be shot at; as liable to disease and
death as the soldier; often abused, seldom
thanked (although thanks should not always
be expected for doing duty, in the end dis
charged and cast aside, as worthless and un-
worthy of further recognition.
Comrades, is this fair2 You know you all
could not be officers Not every man was
Grant, Sherman, or Sheridan. Give each man
his need OF praise, and count and recognize all
who had a part in the great struggle. no matter
how humble that part, as comrade indeed
ANsoN S. TAYLOR, Justice of the Peace;
Teamster No. 1s, Headquarters Army Of the
Potomac.