People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1895-12-27
GUNS LOADED WITH FOOD.
Laughable Incident That Is Said to
Have Occurred During the War.


recently, told an Express reporter q
humorous story of the war. Dur
ing the siege of Vioksburg he was in
command of a Confederate regiment
outside of General Grants lines.
eve had plenty of food" he said.
ut was a fertile territory that we
had to draw from, and there was no
difficulty in getting enough to eat.
We intercepted poorly guarded sup
ply train of the Yanks and had
enough to feed regiment for a
month stored right in our little
camp In spite of Yankee vigilance,
spies would now and then steal out
of the city, and we saw and talked
with several of them. Each had a
pitiful story to tell of how the in
habitants of Vioksburg suffered for
food, and we racked our brains to
devise some means of sending them
a portion of our plenty.
IAN old negro who was acting as
q gunner under me was the one to
suggest what looked at first like a
feasible plan. His idea was to load
supplies into the four cannon which
we had and fire them bodily over
| the heads of the Yankees into the
city itself 1t was u great idea, and
after some study we decided that it
was worth while making the expert
ment. The supplies which we had
| captured consisted of hard tack in
tins, that would go into the guns
like grape shot, and we calculated
that by giving them plenty of ele-
walton wo could send the food direct
ly into the city, whore even such
morseis would be welcome. I was in
/ command of the detachment and
gave my consent to what an older
and moro experienced officer would
probably have frowned upon as be-
ing contrary to all the rules of war.
Next morning at sunrise we load
ed tho guns We put a plentiful
charge of powder in each and then
rammed home as many cans of hard
tack as would equal in weight an
ordinary cannon ball, and that was
not a great many, assure you. In
one of the guns we put four cans Of
tomatoes. This we considered an OK
pertinent, as we had little hope that
such fluid stuff would survive the
impact of falling in tho city, but it
was worth trying. We pointed the
guns, and Just before the lanyard OF
tho first ono was pulled our old ne
gro gunner ran a few rods down the
hill, where he would be below the
line Of smoke and able TO see where
cur novel shot struck.
Tho first gun to be fired happen
cd to be the one wo had loaded with
tomatoes. The gunner pulled the
lanyard, there was a rear and q puT
of smoke that obsourod our sight Tor
an instant, then it blew away and
we saw, running up toward us, our
old negro, covered from head to foot
with what looked like blood, whilo
no waved his arms wildly and Shrek
/ ed I'm killed I'm killed! o Lord,
have massey on my soulr We wcro
/ alarmed and ran down toward him.
/ He still screamed, and shrioIIed. and
/ Tell down in a faint as he saw US.
We rushed up to him, and then cv-
cry man of us burst into laugh
1 that would have wakod the dead. It
reused old Ton, who opened his eyes
/ and shrieked the loudor when he
saw our apparently inhuman legity,
| AS soon as we were able to speak or
move we picked the old negro up,
| stood him on his feet, to assure him
that he was still alive, and then Or
dered him to scrapo the tomatoes off
/ himself. He was the most thorough
r. bedaubcd specimen L ever saw.
1 You see, the heat of tho discharge Of
the cannon had melted the solder i'll
| the tomato cans, and thoy had simp-
ly dropped to pieces ON leaving the
gun, while their contents had been
propelled just far enough down the
hill to spatter all over the old nc
gro. Tho major paused and
chuollled again.
"How did the hard tack worll?"
asked the reporter.
I've didn t get a chance to try it, p"
was tho reply. 1.-THE Yanks, think
ing that wo were about to lombard
them from the rear, started up the
hill after US, and rs there would
have been no use in making any re-
sistanco against so superior force,
we spiked the guns and rotreatcd.
What they thought whom they found
the hard tack in them / never learn
ell, but suppose it only confirmed
thoir idea that we were going to at
tack them.
There lS aUWVC1lI I or pathos al
ways in tie sight of great man
lost for momont to tho response
bilities of his position, the burden
of his own fame, and wrapped in
such slumbors as might oyertaka
the meancst son Of Toll Wholner
it ba Nelson snatching moments
oblivion in sleep amid the restless