The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-05-20
Victualing Vicksburg.

niston, Ala, on a visit to Buffalo re-
Gently, told an EIpreSs reporter hu
morous story of the war. During the
siege of Vicksburg he was in command
of Confederate regiment outside of
General Grants lines. "We had plenty
of food" said he. " 1t was a fertile
territory that we had to draw from, and
there was no difficulty in getting
enough to eat. We Intercepted poorly
guarded supply train Of the Yanks and
had enough TO feed a regiment for
month stored right in our little camp.
In spite of Yankee vigilance, spies
would now and then steal out of the
city. Each had pitiful story to tell of
how the inhabitants of Vicksburg SUI
fered for food, and we ransacked our
brains to devise some means of send
ing them portion of our plenty. An
old negro who was acting as a gunner
under me was the one to suggest what
looked at first like feasible plan. Hi,
idea was to load supplies into four
cannons which we had, and fire them
I bodily over the heads of the Yankees
into the city itself. 1t was great idea,
and after some study we decided that
it was worth while making the expert
ment. The supplies which we had cap.
tured consisted of bareback in tins that
would go into the guns like grape-shot,
and we calculated that by giving them
plenty of elevation we could send the
food directly into the city, where even
such morsels would be welcome. l was
in command of the detachment and
gave my consent TO what an older and
more experienced officer would prob
ably have frowned upon as being con-
trary to all rules of war. Next morn
ing at sunrise we loaded the guns. We
put a plentiful charge of powder in
each and then rammed home as many
cans of bareback as would equal in
weight an ordinary cannon ball, and
that was not great many, l assure
you. In one of the guns we put four
cans OF tomatoes. This we con sidered
an experiment, as we had little hope
that such fluid stuff would survive the
impact of falling in the city, but it was
worth trying. We pointed the guns,
and just before the lanyard of the first
gun was pulled the old negro gunner
ran a few rods down the hill, where he
would be below the line of smoke and
able to see where our novel shot struck.
l. hC Alpt Suh W OO ulCu HdppCuCu W
be the one we had loaded with to-
matoes. The gunner pulled the Ian
yard. there was roar and puff of
smoke that obscured our sight for an
instant, then it blew away and we saw
running up the hin toward US, our old
negro, covered from head to foot with
what looked like blood, while he waved
his arms wildly and shrieked: Pm
killed. o Lord, have massy on my
SOUL We were alarmed and ran down
toward him. He still screamed and
shrieked and fell down in faint as he
saw US. We rushed up to him, and
then every man of us burst into a laugh
that would have walked the dead. II
reused old Tom, who opened his eyes
and shrieked the louder when he saw
our apparently inhuman levity. 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 ordered him Ia
scrape the tomatoes off himself. He
was the most thoroughly bedaubed
specimen / ever saw. You see the
heat of the discharge of the cannon
melted the solder on the tomato cans
and they had simply dropped 10 pieces
on leaving the gun, while their con.
tents had been propelled just far enough
down The hill to spaiter all over the old
negro" The major paused and chuckled
again. How did the bareback workp''
asked the reporter We didn't get q
chance to try it," was the reply. "The
Yanks, thinking that we were about to
lombard them from the rear, started up
the hill after US, and, as there would
have been no use in making any re-
sistance against so superior force, we
spiked the guns and retreated. What
they thought when they found the
bareback in them | never learned, but
suppose it only confirmed their idea
that we were going to attack them."-
Buffalo Express.