Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1903-02-05
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL Some INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys of Both Armies Whiled
Awhy Life in Camp Foraging Ex-
periences, Tiresome Mnrches-Tbril-
ling Scenes on the Battlefield.

the Adams Express Company In the
South during the civil war, and, put
out of business carly IN 1864 by the
operations about Knoxville, supported
himself by cutting cordwood. He had
Il good supply on hand, in fact, quite
wood yard of his own, when Sheri-
dams division camped near, and the
boys conflsc0ted every stick and chip.
and were jolly over finding wood chop
ped and piled up ready to hand.
| "Of course, the men Of Sheridan's
division will plead guilty. 1t was
! hard winter and at many camps wood
was scarce. In this particular case
there was abundance of wood, without
the chopping and the boys appreciated
| WoOdwardS work and have no doubt
scores of them will write him at Knox
vile, Tenn, expressing their thanks for
favors rendered in the matter of cord
wood thirty-nine years ago This story
reminds me of scores of incidents in
which tired or freezing soldiers burned
anything combustible, from shingles to
saw logs, or from fence rails to houses,
with enthusiasm and reckless dlsre-
gard of consequences.
"When we first camped at Shell
Mound, after crossing the Tennessee in
1868, there was neat, substantial
brick building used as the railway sta
ton, and the orders were that the
structure be strictly guarded. 1t was,
but in the comings and goings, up and
down the Tennessee, the boys needed
brick for fire places in their little shan
ties and frame timbers for the same.
A few bricks were torn out first from
one corner and then from another. I'M
til the building was pronounced I'M
safe. Then the men of the regiment
swooped down upon 1t like vultures,
and in twenty minutes there was only
a bare skeleton left, and that was car
ried off that night.
! open campaigns in winter would
have abounded in hardships had it
not been that most of the men In the
service were good fire builders. When
we first entered Kentucky in January,
1862, every fence rail was tied down,
as the boys put It, with the order
don't touch and l have seen three
thousand men shivering in rain and
snow through a cold night without
shelter and without fire because there
was nothing to burn. There were
trees and wood piles all about us, but
none for soldiers. Several of our Of
ticers were put under arrest because
they instructed their men to appropri-
ate wood or rails to prevent great suf-
fering
"In one case a Colonel became popu-
lar at home and in the army because
on stormy night he took possession of
wood yard and a straw stack and
worked theoretically to make his men
comfortable. When threatened with a
cOurt-martial the next day he paid for
straw and wood and said nothing about
1t. The boys found it out however.
and the year after the war that Colonel
received the vote of every man in our
township, Republican and Democrat
for sheriff, and he was reelected. with.
out organized opposition in the county.
until he insisted he was too old to serve
All because he believed that when the
boys needed things to burn they must
have things to burn.
"The men of some companies in the
old army" said the Major, called them
selves destroying angels and when il
came to building fires or providing
shelter they were. In the early spring
of 1864 our brigade was twenty or
thirty miles east of Chattanooga and
with no expectation of severe weather
the men lay down under blankets or
the thin shelter tents, and during the
night were literally showed under.
| When reveille sounded the next morn
Ing there were six inches of snow on
the ground. The camp looked like "A
cemetery with its clusters and lines
of little hillocks, and there was only
one fire in the brigade, and that was
at guard headquarters
AS the men were reused from heavy
sleep and three out their arms to lift
oyercoat cape, or blanket from their
faces the snow startled them to sitting
or standing posture, and the scene was
comical beyond any other | ever saw
In the army. Those who had taken
off their shoes could not find them.
Many could not find their hats. All
were chilled, but the boys laughed and
swore by turns. Then they started to
build fires, and while some cut down
dead trees as big as saw logs, others
tore down an old barn, and in half an
hour dozens of big fires were going.
coffee was boiling, breakfast was cook
| III
were as frolicsome as children.
ut so happened that the barn de-
stroyed belonged to one of the Brown
low clan, and when he saw the fires
that had been built of It's material he
opened his eyes very wide and said
shucks. The boys Joined in making
out a certificate for him which read
This is to certify that the First Ken
lucky volunteer infantry, being buried
In a snow storm and suffering dire