Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-06-02

Ast' iuusu uutll All nau mao rev days
at home. | don't know whether the
plan was carried out fully, but know
IN our regiment certain officers and men
started home on the old river steamer
Moderator in August, 1863. Each otti-
Ger was given twenty days leave OF alb
sence, and in my case il took me exact
~ twenty days to go and come
This left me no time for visit at
all, but on the advice of my regimental
commander, | remained a few days at
home hoping to give satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION when | returned TO camp.
The explanation was satisfactory, but.
| meantime, / was called before q court
Of inquiry and told a story that the
members of the board plainly regarded
as high grade fiction. | explained that
when we left Vicksburg on the Mod
orator we had TO put in all our spare
time sparring the boat up stream. and
that while engaged in this work we
stuck on bar and were detained there
the full time of journey to Cairo. In
other words that and others spent
the full limit of our furlough on that
old boat coming to Cairo and on the
return trip
That, however. was not the only re-
markable thing about the river trip
When we started we supposed, of
course that there would be accommo-
dations for those who were willing to
pay for them on the boat. Therefore,
the officers carried no provisions and
no blankets with them. We were In
| sorry plight. There was not one very
large table in the cabin, which would
not accommodate one tenth OF the off
| GERS and men on board As there were
| no other provisions aboard than the
| supplies of the boat, there was always
Il crowd about the table. The lucky
ones would get seats and devour the
| rations of bareback, bacon and coffee.
! There was nothing else, but to the hun
! CRY men crowding about the table this
was enough.
The regular practice was. when
| breakfast was ready, for the first com
| ers TO take seats, and II seemed to me
that some of the boys sat up half the
night to pre-empt chairs Then, behind
each man at the table would stand the
other fellows in ranks six or eight deep,
each man watching every movement
! made by the man in front OF him. or
course, the man who stood first IN the
ranks would wait only ten or fifteen
minutes, urging the man at the knife
| and fork TO hurry. The second man in
| the ranks would wait thirty minutes,
the third man forty minutes, and so on,
! but it was continuous performance
from breakfast until dinner time, the
/ men in the rear ranks being ravenous-
| ~ hungry when their turns came
There was, of course. great deal
| of joking and badgering, and not a
! little trickery. Among those on board
was Captain NJ. W. Marble, who was
one of General Sherman's spies. On
| this occasion however. he wore his uni
| form as Captain, and when he saw
another Captain about 10 take his place
| at the table, said. with easy assur-
anGe: 1 beg your pardon, Captain, but
what Is the date of your commission
The other Captain explained. There
| upon Marble stepped forward with q
1 sInlle, took the others place, and said
! I'm sorry, but | rank you Now, as
rank cut no figure at all in the mat
ter OF getting a seat at the table, the
most of us We're surprised to see the
other Captain yield his place; but he
did it without thinking until it was too
late to reclaim his position at the Ia
| bie.1
1T is astonishing" said the Ser
geant, "how much soldiers cared for
something good TO eat. In 1861 most Of
! the boys went from homes where there
| was plenty of well-cooked food at every
meal. In fact, few people ever lived
! better than the well-to-do farmers Of
the Middle West When the young men
| from the farms and villages went into
/ the army they carried with them an ap-
! probation of good breakfasts and din
ners that caused great dissatisfaction
with the food furnished in the nstruc
! ton camps In our case the companies
were formed and marched up to what
was called the cookho where
chunk of bread and a chunk Of boiled
beef and a boiled potato were put on
tin plate, and that was called
/ hearty meal.
In few days the men Of our com
pany rebelled. They complained to the
/ Captain. and the Captain complained
to the Colonel, and stiil things grew
worse instead Of better, One day. when
/ the company was formed for dinner,
and il was the same old chunk Of bread
and the some old chunk Of beef and the
same old dirty potato, there was noisy
/ protest. The Captain placed himself at
the head Of the company. ordered the
men to throw the tin plates away and