Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-10-23
LOST TWO
FAT MULES
YANKEE RUSE THAT FOOLED AN
IRATE ARKANSAS COLONEL.
MARCH DOWN WHITE RIVER
Refusal to Swap Animals Resulted in
Forced Trade, Much to the Ad-
vantage of a Wisconsin Regiment
Captain Birds Yarn of War
Days.

Washington Post-Capt. F. A. Bird,
department A. A. G. for Wisconsin,
served his state in two regiments dur
ing the war. He enlisted Aug. 6, 1861,
in the Eleventh Wisconsin, and was
made quartermaster sergeant. Aug.
II, 1861, he was commissioned second
lieutenant of Company B of the
twentieth regiment where he rose to
the rank of captain. He was wounded
at the battle of Prairie Grove, and was
mustered out August. 1865.
Being asked to tell something of his
service in Arkansas in the summer of
1862, the captain went back in thought
to that eventful summer forty years
ago, and became reminiscent. These
are some of the things he told:
From May 16, '62, until June %,
our regiment was camped at Bates
Vile, on White river, in the northern
part of Arkansas. We needed corn
for our horses and mules, and l
started out to find some. After driv-
and asked him if he had some corn
that he could sell us. He said he had
no corn, but that his neighbor had. We
asked where his neighbor lived. He
answered, over on the divide, be-
tween the Jeems and the Findley, in
the bresh, sort o. like
Now, this direction was rather in
/ definite, but 1t was about as straight
as any Arkansas traveller was likely
to get, and so we went on. We found
the divide, between the Jeems and
the Findely, all right, yet just where
it was in the bresh sort O. like that
the neighbor with the corn lived, we
could not find out. But we drove on
along the divide between the Jeems
and the Findley' till we came to a
point on the White River fifteen or
sixteen miles above Batesville, where
on the bank a lot of pole corn cribs
containing thousands of bushels of
corn, that had been gathered to send
down the river to the confederate
army. We loaded our wagons and
drove back to camp with a good sup
ply of provender. We drew corn
from those cribs to feed our teams as
long as we remained at Batesville.
we left Batesville June %, and
marched down the White river. After
going about twelve miles we came to
the farm of a Col Magness. They
have about as many colonies there as
in Kentucky. This particular colonel
had a large farm-the finest in all that
country.
while passing one of the fields |
saw a negro reaping grain. The team
he was driving consisted of two of the
best mules | ever saw--large and
strong. 1t occurred to me that they
would do good army service, and so |
proposed a trade-that he should let
us have the big mules for pair of lit
tie leaders on one of our wagons. The
darkey said:
"Oh, no, Massa, deed | couldn't
make dat trade, nohow! Dem mules
don't blong to me, sab. Massa Cunnel
Magness, he owns dem mules.
couldn't make no trade wild dem, no.
howl
II told Sanbo that I'd do the trad
ing myself And so we made the
change. Slmbo took the attitude OF
one who must, if he must, and made
the most of the matter. He made sc
little ado about the forced trade that
concluded he was a good unionist
and would just al lief as not that his
master, the colonel, should do some
thing for the good of the cause. Any
how, We drove the big fat mules away
with us.
when we got those mules into
camp that night, about twelve miles
further along, the boys transformed
them-they reached their names
that is, cut them pompadour, trim
med their tails so that they had paint
brushes at the end, and put on each O
them a United States stamp-oh, no
not postage stamp, just u. S.'-anc
} tied them among the others.
when Samho left the field anC
drove those little mules up to the bis
house and told the story of the trade
there was, am quite sure, fighting
mad colonel on that farm. | don
know what he did to Sambo, but h,
/ took after our army with blood in hi
eye. Having overtaken us. he huntet
up our colonel, Harris, and demanded
the return of those mules. sah,' Co
Harris seemed to sympathize with him
and went at once to find the mules
There were mules and mules tie
along that rope, some asleep, other
thinking of the days befo' de wal
some kicking. and others 'yaw-yawing
Col Harris asked his brother colone
to find his team. Wen, h wen
clear down the line and then bac
a again, and then said that he reckoue
some other regiment must have then
And 50 he left us to tell his story {
another colonel. l must say that hi
departure gave me a bit of a sense {
relief, for was not certain that Co
Harris would approve of my name
of trading.
7 I'VE were getting very short {
food on this march. The weathe