The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-02-05
WHEN FIRES WERE NEEDED.
The Soldiers Acquired the Fence
Rail Habit and Hustled for
Anything to Burn.

IN. 5. Woodward" said the captain,
according to the Chicago Inter Ocean,
tells a good story in the last number
of the Express Gazette. Woodward
served as agent of the Adams Ex-
the civil war, and, put out of bust
ness early in 1864 by the operations
about Knoxville, supported himself
by cutting cordwood. He had a good
supply on hand in fact, quite a wood
yard of his own, when Sheridan's di-
vision camped near, and the boys con-
fiscated every stick and chip, and
were jolly over finding the wood
chopped 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 Woodward's work, and l
have no doubt scores of them will
write him at Knoxville, Tenn, ex-
pressing their thanks for favors rem
dered in the matter of cordwood 80
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 disre-
gard of consequences.
"When we first camped at Shell
Mound. after crossing the Tennessee
in 1868, there was a neat, substantial
brick building used as the railway
station, 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 fireplaces in their
little shanties and frame timbers for
the same. A few bricks were torn
out first from one corner and then
from another, until the building was
pronounced unsafe. Then the men
of the regiment swooped down upon
it like vultures, and in 20 minutes
there was only bare skeleton left,
and that was carried 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
see 5000 men shivering in rain and
snow through 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 officers were put under arrest
because they instructed their men to
appropriate wood or rails to prevent
great suffering.
The men of some companies in
the old army" said the major, "called
themselves destroying angels and
when it came to building fires or
providing shelter they were. In the
early spring of 1864 our brigade was
20 or 30 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 sound
ed the next morning there were six
inches of snow on the ground. The
camp looked like a cemetery, with it's
clusters and lines of little hillocks.
and there was only one fire in the
brigade, and that was at guard head
quarters.
Gas the men were reused from
heavy sleep and threw out their arms
to lift overcoat, cape, or blanket