Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-08-06
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell of
Whistling Bullets, Bright Bayonetsr
Bursting Bombs, Bloody Battles
Camp Fire, Festive Bngs, Etc, Etc.

amp FIRE. restiVe bugs, Etc.s ktcs
In the early spring of 1864. l was
one of the many that went with Gen
eral Banks through the State Of Lon
isiana TO stir up the Johnntes that
We're supposed 10 be sleeping along
the Red river. We went into camp
one night after a hard days march,
and !, very tired and hungry, rs | usu-
ally was after taking care Of my horse
built little fire and commenced 10
prepare some coffee when along came
a comrade and stood by my fire.
noticed he had in one hand nosebag,
which seemed TO be filed with some
thing. He was a very large man. but
his heart was too small and altogether
out of proportion for so large body.
| l said
/ Hello! What have you got in that
nosebagE"
He put his hand down into the bag.
took out handful of something. open-
ed his mouth. gave a gruut and a
couple of winks and suffered out:
''Shugar.'
give me some"
Il wont either. Go and get it where
l did"
where did yor get itT'
lie tried to tell me- but he could
not let go of his words, Finally point
ing in the direction from which he
came, lie stammered out: " YOU can
get there before l~lI can t-t.t-telI
/ you"
went in the direction indicated.
and soon came to Il building which /
+ afterwards found to be sugar mill
i opened the door, looked cautiously
j ia, and saw Il light down at the lower
4 end, and around it several soldiers
/ who seemed to be very busy. | start
ed in the direction Of tho light. but
had gone only few PAGES when /
stepped into vacancy ana commenced
to go down. Only a man who has been
in like circumstances can imagine
how much a fellow can think of and
how far he is falling in descending
but few feet thought OF every
thing that ! had done wrong in my
brief. innocent life, ana even the uucs-
ton occurred TO me If | would have
to square up any of the accounts Of
my ancestors. | thought | had found
the bottomess pit. In the course Of
time | struck something. ker-spiash
/ When | collected my heWildcred
thoughts found myself in n vat of
molasses up to my shoulders. | yelled
at the top of my voice for help, but
the only response that came back to
me was, shut up your ID II nth:
the officers will hear you and come
ana drive US ont"
Well. out" at that time. was what
wanted. and ] didn't care who got
me out SO long as | got out, and if US
ing my lungs would help the matter.
| yelled the louder
Finally two of the comrades came
over with light One Of them look ed
down in the vat and said, Where are
you?"
Here | am" | answered Won't
you please help me out:" Il had good
reasons for being polite TO him.
He turned to the other and said.
That Id fool is in the molasses up
to his ears"
20 no, | said, Il am only up to my
shoulders. Won't you please help me
out?'
He reached down as far as he could.
but was not long enough, and after n
great deal Of skrmishing around. they
got a pole hat did reach me. did
not have to be told to hold on. They
pulled and yanked ana twisted. hut so
firmly was embedded in the nolasses
that they found II no easy matter to
start me. After a great deal of per
smsion they got me ioosened up, when
discovered that | was leaving my
boot behind | said. Hold on, you
are pulling my boots of"
20! d--n your boots. was the re-
ply
/ could not afford to leave my boots
behind so J let 20 Of the pole and
sank back into my boots / was at
last drawn out. boots ana all. and
when ! left the molassps it was some
thing like a cork out Of pop bottle.
went flying to the top Of the vat and
once more landed on solid footing
don't know whether if was for JOY or
because Of my sad plight but / was
crying, and one of the comrades said
to me: who are YOU anywayt'
Il am a bugicr' / said
"Well, you are the sweetest bugler
ever saw You better 70 and wash
your clothes"
Il don't care, anyway" I sobbcd.
! slowly wendell my way to my sad.
die. where ] had small piece Of soap.
and started for the river. only to meet
new trouble In the shape Of mosqui.
Toes. They bit and whizzed ana
whizzed aud bit. aud in trying 10 keep
them off from natures uniform. / lost
my soap in the river, and for the first
time in my life / realized how hard
ii was TO wash clothes without SOAP.
/ got the tbickcst OF il off and went