The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-03-23
WAR STORIES.
a Confederate in Camp and His House
keeping Arrangements.
Richmond Times Dispatch

obtained in each battle, until our
sntire force was supplied with this
splendid article Of soldier equipment.
These flies were about one and a half
yards square, with buttons along two
sides and buttonholcs along the other
two, and were made Of good tent cloth,
out not so heavy as that used in the
,cguar tents. BY buttoning two Of
them together and stretching them
ever pole which rested on two forks,
good shelter was obtained for two,
and On squeeze, three men. AS
avery man carried Il pair in his belt,
the remaining ones were used to close
n the ends. Quarters !hus arranged,
with good ditch around to carry of
the water when it raincd, were very
,osey and comfortable, and had the
advantage over the larger tent Of
being easily and quickly prepared.
When three men occupied one Of these
little tents it was understood that
they would all lie the same way-that
is on the right or left side, or Spoon
Fashion, as there was not room to
spread out on their backs. During
the night, when tired of resting on
one side, one Of the trio would give
the command-"By the right (or lcfD
aank-spoonT'-and every man would
Immediately turn over.
When on picket duty we did not
ase our flies, prcferring to make a
biyouao shelter of fence rails and
brush, with big log fires in front.
This was headquarters for the picket
aorce.
On one occasion the writer Of this
sought shelter from slcot and rain in q
small onthouse, but when he entered
bhe door he found the floor complete
ly occupied by other soldiers, who had
preceded him. Casting his eyes
around, he noticed one or two loose
planks lying across the joists, the
house not being ceiled. 1t only took
him moment to decide that the night
could be passed in much more COM
Portable manner up there than out
side, and he soon had his bed made
on those planks, which were about
eight feet above the floor. He slept
soundly during the entire night. Even
Il nc had rolled OF the pianks it is
likely that the fellow who slept i'm
mediately beneath him would have
been the greatest sufferer.
On the retreat up the peninsula, in
she rain, slow progress was made and
halts Of few minutes were constant
]y occurring. Men would actually
sleep leaning against trees during
shese momentary stoppages. They
had been taking their rest, such as it
was, in the trenches at Dam No. for
Bome time, and were in condition to
nap it without any rocking.
While in camp few miles below
Manchester we we're ordered op forced
march up toward Ashland to look
after some Federal raiders. When
We had proceeded about fifteen miles
We were halted and remained there
bill morning. Our blankets were
spread in the open air and we slept
aonndly during the night. On awaken
ing in the morning we were surprised
TO find that We were covered with sew
eral inches Of snow. AS we had
adopted the donkey's plan of covering
head as we'll as body in cold weather
We kaew nothing about the snow until
morning. We were soon on the way
back, marching through heavy snow,
and when camp was reached had to
scrape it away befors pitching our
little fly tents.
Down near Chiokamauga the writer
was flooded out three successive
nights, the bitches around the tent
not being large enough TO carry of the
heavy downI our of rain that occurred,
and was compelled to sleep on one
side in order to keep the other dry.
On another occasion, out on the
Chickahominy, several of US were
sent off on picket duty. we selected
little knoll on the bank of tho river
as0ur post, piling up some rails as
sleeping place when not on outpost.
During the night heavy rain fell
and in the morning we had to wade
over hundred yards through water
up to our necks to reach land. But
a soldier 8 ardor was not dampod by
'such incidents, even if his clothing
did get wet.
And now comes the subjec: that
was always uppermost in soldiers
mind-"interna improvements" as