The National tribune., 1907-03-14
THE EXPERIENCES OF AN "AS.
SISTANT QUARTERNIASTER.
SherInnn's Bummers Had Far From a
Picnic on Their Long March.

SherInnn's Bunmers Had Far From n
Picnic on Their Long March.
Editor National Tribune: The differ
ent experiences of the boys puts me in
q reminiscent mood and with your kind
permission 1 will give you little of
my experience as Assistant Quarter
master while we were marching thru
Georgia"
You know it is an axiom of war that
an army lives off the country thru
which it travels and it was depending
upon this truth that Gen. Sherman
started on his famous march. AS the
Quartermasters were not able to pro-
vide all the necessary food and forage,
they We're obliged to have help, and
detail consisting of two men from each
company was formed to assist him.
Some called us foragers, but that was
miSnomer; we were Assistant Quarter
masters. l was one of this detail, and as
I did not belong to "critter'' company
my first days work was barren of re-
suits. being obliged to travel on "shanks
mare" On the second morning l was
fortunate enough to find an old mule
grazing peacefully by the wayside,
which 1 surrounded and captured with
out bloodshed With the aid of an old
piece of rope and a leather strap, 1
managed to fashion a bride and / chris
to be the name of every mule in the
army, or at least part of the name.
He would hardly have been called a
first-rate roadster, but ii beat walking,
and 1 was fairly successful the second
day. The two Assistant Quartermas-
ters'' from the same company seldom
went together, so that if one failed the
other possibly might be successful, but
we generally went in squads, SO that If
attacked by bushwhackers We would be
in sufficient force to defend ourselves
and our supplies, if we had any. We
had some exciting experiences and
made some ghastly discoveries. We
often saw pieces of clothing scattered
along the roads and once we came up
on a man hanging by the side of the
road In an entirely nude condition.
They had cut off a sapling about 20
feet from the ground and then split
the top end with a wedge which they
drove down until the opening was large
enough to admit of their victims head.
This they tied in the opening and as
the weight of the body was too great
to allow the sapling to fly back it left
the poor fellow dangling by the road
with slits cut in his back extending
from the edge of his hair to his heels.
On the small of the back was a card
bearing this inscription: "Foragers' due
bill" I think this was the most terri
BILE thing We discovered. From the day
/ picked up my mule it had been my
desire to get better mount. as ali the
boys had good horses, and it was only
thru his goodness of heart that John
Looney, my partner, stayed with me
and tried to help me, and 1 will state
right here that now regard him as not
only my protector and benefactor, but
my saviour, as we shall see. One Sun
day morning Looney and got an early
start, and he proposed to me that we
should spend the first part of the morn
ing in looking for the long-sought
horse. We had only gone a few miles
when we discovered at the bottom OF
the slope log cabin and small log
stable with a frame addition. I direct
ed old "Dammyou" to the latter, while
Looney rode up towards the house to
see how they all'' were getting on.