Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1900-12-05
THE BOOMING CANNON
RECITALS OF CAMP AND BAT
TIE INCIDENTS.
Survivors of the Rebellion Relate
Many Amusing and Startling Incl
dents of Marches, Camp Life, Forag-
ing Experiences and Battle Scenes.

dents of Marches, Camp Life, Forag-
ing Experiences and Battle Scenes.
Il would give a thousand dollars"
said the Sergeant, If / had carried a
kodak during the Civil War. If kodaks
had been in vogue then l would now
have pictures of the boys as they were.
| would have taken snap shots at them
as they tdmbled out to roll call in the
morning, as they vent down to the
creek to wash, as they lounged about
eating breakfast, or as they stroye in
their awkward way to patch their
trousers or darn their stockings. But,
above everything else, l would have
taken snap shots at our army pets.
4 never have been able to give my
ehilfren fair idea of my pet squirrel,
because can't make then see 1t as
see It whenever | think of it. l can
make them understand why | was at
tached TO the little fellow, because he
came to me in battle We were lying
down awaiting an attack, shielding
ourselves as well as we could frOpl fly
ing bullets, waiting under n terrible
strain. From the front came n storm OF
musket balls, screaming shells, and
bounding cannon balls, and to our right
and rear roared the thunder of terrific
battle going against US. AS we lay
there, fearing the worst, ready for the
worse, great flock of scared things
from the forest came leaping, running
to ward us and over us. There were
rabbits and squirrels and all the crea-
lures of the woods and field. Birds
were flying low and rabbits and SOUR
rels were acting as though their eyes
had just been put out.
This was fearful thing to see. 1t
scared men more than the bullets COM
ing from the front 1t was SO uncanny,
so suggestive of disaster. of supernat-
ural character, such Overwhelming evil
dence of supreme fear, that men SHY
cred and were dumb in the presence OF
the scared animals that ran over them
or nestled among them. l felt some
thing run up my leg, under my oyer
coat, into the pocket, and felt it squirm-
ing and throbbing over my owr throb-
bling heart 1t was no time to We at
tention to trifies or to give way to SEN
timent. lay there Ike scores of 9TH
ers, appalled, by the noise, by the ter
rors of the situation, but with my eyes
fixed on the lines coming in front. Like
hundreds of others, shouted in relief
and gladness when the order TO charge
gave us something to do.
"An hour or two of hard fighting fol-
lowed Then two or three hours of des-
ultory firing. In all these hours | never
thought of the something in my over
coat pocket. but when saw squirrels
tail sticking out of the trousers pocket
of comrade / was moved to inquire as
to what l had in my own pocket.
found a full-grown squirrel, with seem
ingly too little life to care what hap
pened. put it back in my pocket, and
that night as I rested by the side of
comrade I felt stir. The next morn
ing it acted like a squirrel, and, to make
long story short, it became great
pet. not only in our mess and company,
but in the regiment. / do not know
whether the moment of supreme fear
changed the nature of the animal or
not, bit it was easily tanned, and it
stuck 10 that overcoat pocket as ref
uge, ard when l didn't wear The over
coat II ran into my haversack.
'sThat squirrel became the most com
panionable pet we had in the service,
but months after that while on the
march we were attacked with such
fury that there was great confusion in
the ranks. In the melee the squirrel
disappeared, and none of us ever saw
it again. A dozen of us went back the
next day to look through the woods and
to call plaintively for Skip in every
tone of pleading that soldier could use
We did not find Skip. but we came upon
group of Confederates who had APP
parently been watching our operations
for an hour. We were in their power
before we realized that they were Con-
federate soldiers.
"Then came a surprise. When we
told these fellows of our loss they ca
planned their presence there by saying
they were conscripts who had been
forced into the Confederate army, and
they were waiting an opportunity to re-
turn to their homes in the mountains
or to go North. They abused US for not
coming TO their part of the country
sooner, saying they had waited for US
until the conscript officers of the Com
federate government came with their
strong guard and carried them off to
fight against the flag. | knew from the
way those men talked they were as
stanch friends of the Union as myself.
| have often wondered what became of
them. They simply told us to go our
way and they would go theirs. When
| ever think Of my pet squirrel 1 think
of the Union mountaineers conscrlpted
into the Confederate service Chicago
Inter Ocean.
Grant as Humorist.
People seem to think, says a veteran
who served on Gen. Grants staff, that
the latter didn't know how to make a
joke. l wish they had been with us
down in southeast Missouri We were
after JEFF Thompson, and the boys had
mighty hard work foraging enough TO
eat. The country was pretty near
drained dry. One day Lieut. Wick
| field. of an Indiana cavalry regiment,
saw a good Hooking house a little dis
! lance from the road, and rode over to il