The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-06-14
CRAZY IKE.

. dSdllI iIt OLLti tdNt oIlSi o0hcd lilt
Il sergeant:
Can't you tell me something more
about your experiences as scout, ser
geant =
We'll, pard, [ had just lots of them.
/ We ulster call ourselves scouts. but
we We're spies After [ was caught
down to Fredericksbur. ! thought I'd
I never want to 90 into the Johnnies'
lines no more, but in 4 few days | felt
+ just like going again.
There was a fellow IN our regiment
who were the funniest cuss you ever
see; he laid over all you ever heard Of
for nonsense and nobody could get
any duty out Of him. | uster think
. he was crazy-he'd DO the most out
landish tricks, and we all called him
Crazy Ike. Nobody knowed where he
come from, and sometimes he'd be
gone for more'n me nth. and nobody
knowed where he'd been, and when
he'd get back, our captain would ram
him into the guardhOuse. bat he'd
take his punishment cheerful-like and
be the life of all about him. On a
march, he'd throw away his knapsack
and piece and come into camp with
Just nothing at all, pard, but in a little
while he'd get all the equipments
sOmewheres. He was smart enough;
could make out the muster rolls and
keep the comp'ny's things all straight,
but he'd be drunk more'n half his
time but yet nobody ever see him
touch a drop Of liquor. One day when
we had a big review after Hooker took
command, III january, sixty three.
aud the old man and his staff come a
riding down the lines and the men
was all -hurTawing, right behind the
staff Crazy Ike come a galloping on a
mule. and he had an iron camp kIttle
on his head, and the most outlandish
uniform on, and he hurraWed for Gen
eral George Washington: and the men,
when they presented arms couldn't
help it, pard, they bust right out a
laughing, and our colonel and the adj
jutant dragged Ike off that there mule
and rammed hIm into the guardhouse
to be bucked and gagged, but bimeby
an order come down from headquar-
ters to let up on Ike. One might he
got out the drum and beat the long
roll and we all tumbled out and fell
IN, and the colonel We're the maddest
man you ever see and ordered him to
carry log for week; but an order
come down from headquarters to again
let him go. Nobody understood the
cuss. | went a a-fishing with him Wunst
when he was a-laying down there, and
when we got back to camp he was
drunk. [ knowed he hadn't no liquor,
and | couldn't get it through me what
he wanted to be playing drunk for.
And we had a drummer named
Adams, the pootiest boy you ever see.
He warnt more'n about fifteen, and
everybody liked him. He were as
tender as a gal and wouldn't listen to
any hard yarns, and he always tended
service when the chaplain preached
and he ulster say his prayers every
night at taps. | amt much on relig
ion myself, pard, but 1t don't do no
body no harm. | uster iist love that
there boy, and he We're mighty thick
with Crazy Ike all the time.
Along in March, sixty three Old
Jo sent for me to report dow to his
headquarters one day, and | went
down there and he were mighty glad
TO see me- He asked me about my
being captured and tried when [ were
over there afore and | told them all
about it. and he said he wanted a good
man TO 90 over there again, but he
wouldn't ask me to 20 because they
might know me- ] tell You pard. |
didn't want to go; | was afeard. but |
was afeared he'd see / were afeard,
and l says to him: General, I'm a
going
He told me | had better not. but |
stuck to going, and he got out a map
and told me [ could take that along:
but You can jist bet yer boots that |
didn't want that there map about my
clothes, so he sent his orderly out for
one Of his young ingineer officers
it weren't Warren pard, but he was
an ingineer-and be showed me how
t the Rappahannock and the Rapidan
! run and where Charlottesville were,
/ and Old Joe told me there was a bri
/ gade of Johnnies a-laying round
/ Charlottesville and he wanted me to
hang around there for a few days, and
I'd find something to bring him afore
/ | knOwed it
well, that night, think it were, or
mabe it were the next night, amt
dead sure which, sits up at the old
mans headquarters, and jist squeezed
that there map into my head, and the
next day | goes to General Patrick
and gifts a Johnny pris'ner and l
swopped clothes with him, and then |