USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 48
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THE PEDDLER - A SPY.
During the winter of 1862 -63 a man got permission to go through the camps and peddle maps. He purported to come from some place in the North and so far as is known by the writer was never seriously sus- pected of being other than what he professed and appeared to be. After the battle of Gettysburg he was apprehended, tried, and executed as a rebel spy. Several of the Twelfth boys who saw him at the time of execution recognized him as the same man.
WHO STOLE THE COLONEL'S BEANS?
This was the question, ofttimes accompanied by a knowing wink, that went the rounds among the boys for a long time after the march to Fal- mouth, and which we have often heard significantly put and knowingly answered by some of the drum corps boys since the days when they were under military jurisdiction. The colonel of course never doubted but it was some nocturnal poacher from another regiment ( for certainly none of his boys would be guilty of such a grave misdemeanor ), unless, at some reunion after the war, upon hearing the dinner-call beat, he was reminded of his long before Sunday morning breakfast without beans, and chanced to look over his glasses in the right direction. If the receiver is as bad as the thief, some that are still living are, we fear, not entirely guiltless.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
A NARROW ESCAPE.
FIFTY MILES' TRAMP WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.
When the regiment left Waterloo, Va., there were more sick ones than could be carried in the ambulances, and some of these were allowed to ride on the baggage wagons, while others had to walk and get along as best they could. Among the last was Harlan Paige, of Company B, who was sick with jaundice, and being unable to keep up, W. H. Sleeper, of the same company, was detailed to help him along, and look after him if he should grow worse and have to stop.
The following account of their adventures by Paige is here given :
We only made about two miles the first day, and at night found quarters in a deserted negro shanty. The next morning, upon going to the door, we saw just across the road five rebel cavalrymen who at the same time saw us; but just then a squad of our own cavalry came dashing up the road, and the five retired to their support. A brisk skirmish ensued, during which the two boys made off as fast as they could.
That night we were passed by our cavalry before reaching Warrington, and the rebel advance, close following up our army, were soon again in sight. The next morning we were met by Captain Fowler, of Company C, who was going back to bury Edward Pratt, of his company, who had died of disease the day before. We called his attention to the danger of so doing, telling him he would surely be captured. He could not believe that rebel soldiers were so closely fol- lowing until he found himself a prisoner in their hands. Each day the rear guard of our army was skirmishing with the enemy; and several times we were passed by our cavalry who told us we should surely be picked up by the rebel cavalry as it seemed we must, for we would then be left between the two lines with the rebel forces often in sight. After passing Catlett's Station, we saw no more of our army, but Stewart's cavalry was all around us, and we had to use the greatest diligence to escape capture. In just one week we arrived at Bull Run where we found our forces guarding the bridge, and from whom we learned that seventy-two of our men had come in before them, but all as paroled prison- ers. Here we received transportation to Alexandria. I was now nearly well, but Sleeper was sick with chronic diarrhea, and was admitted to Baptist Church Hospital where he died in a few weeks. My experience of that week was the most trying of any I went through during the war. But the saddest of all was, that he who had so faithfully nursed and watched over me when sick, should so soon sicken and die himself.
THE BITTER WITH THE SWEET.
Many of the Virginia farmers, living on the route that the army took from Berlin to Falmouth, kept bees, and many were the stirring remon- strances and stinging rebukes made by the bees and received by the boys who tried to capture them.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
Most every company had two or three old bee hunters in it, who were constantly on the lookout for something sweet, and sometimes they got it from the bees, without getting any honey from the hive.
One of these watchful ones, sitting by his tent one warm day, soon after encamp- ing at Falmouth, and seeing a honey-bee light near by him, concluded to try and ascertain the direction of his " home-line," and, if successful, to follow it up to its headquarters. So he carefully caught it in his tin dipper and giving it an extra ration of brown sugar released his captive and watched its flight.
Two or three hours later he had found its forest-tree habitation, and with the assistance of two comrades, he soon was in possession of quite a bountiful supply of honey.
Another sweet-toothed member of Company D was so fond of the apiarian extract of southern plants and flowers that he stole a hive of bees and carried hive, bees, honey, and all on his back for several miles, before the regiment halted for the night and gave him a chance to enjoy the fun and pleasure of smok- ing out the bees and eating the honey.
But usually the honey hunters waited until the farmer and his bees were too tired and sleepy to be on guard before venturing to load up. Even then, however, there was sometimes more run than fun in the business, as the following experi- ence of one of Company A's foraging heroes will plainly show.
He had marked with his eye, as he marched by, a farmhouse near which were several gum-tree bee-hives. The regiment going into camp but a short distance beyond, gave him a good opportunity to fulfill his part of a contract with his tent-mate, that if the latter would pitch tent and get supper, he would bring in a most delicious dessert. So before the camp guard was posted he was taking back tracks toward the farmhouse, lingering a little for the twilight to fade before venturing to approach it. But impatient to join his comrade in a luscious lunch of hard-tack and honey by the time the coffee was ready to wash it down, he was, perhaps, a little bolder than the semi-darkness would warrant ; for no sooner did he grab a " bee-gum " and start for camp, than the watchful farmer grabbed his gun and started for him !
At first he clung to his prize, for the very weight that impeded his progress convinced him of its value. But when a bullet whizzed by his head, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps in the rear, he concluded to lighten up and let out, lest a gun-breach or a butcher knife might accomplish what the bullet had failed to. It was now a race between fear and revenge for a short distance, but the former was the swifter footed, and in a few minutes our Company A man was sitting by his own camp-fire and explaining to his comrade, as they drank their unsweetened coffee, his experimental proof, that though
" Stolen sweets are always sweeter."
yet life is the sweetest of all.
" CAMP CORPORAL."
The following is a description of one of the first company quarters built at Falmouth on the camping ground of the Twelfth. * It was constructed
* See page 37.
26
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
by Corporals Clarke, Lane, and Whittier, of Company G, and named by them " Camp Corporal." Corporal Clarke in a letter to his wife says :
We laid it out seven feet square and built it up three feet from the ground with pine sticks or small logs, and in one end -the front, next to the street - we built a fireplace, projecting out the size of it, in true southern style, and opening into our room, which is a kitchen, dining, sitting, and bed room, parlor, cellar, chamber, and attic, all in one. The fireplace is about three feet wide, and two and a half feet high in front, and then commences the chimney, tapering in as it goes up four or five feet above the ridge-pole and is topped out with a barrel. The chimney takes up about half of the front end, and the other half is left open for a door. After logging up three feet high all round, except the doorway, we put on the ridge-pole and cover with our shelter-tents for a roof.
Next we take the clay mud, of which there is no stint here, and chink up the crevices in the log walls and plaster up our chimney. Our three rubber blankets answer well for the two gable ends and a door and our house is completed.
Our bedstead is a rack of limber poles, covered with cedar boughs for a feather bed, and our woolen blankets and overcoats answer for sheets and coverlids. We sleep fect to the fire, and sleep warm. We have got the best house in the camp, they all say ; lots of the boys and officers have come to look at it. General Whipple stopped and looked us over, as he was riding past the other day, and I have heard that he suggested to Colonel Potter that others take pattern by us. I am writing this by the light of our fireplace.
"TAIL END TU."
One day, while Colonel Potter was standing outside his tent and looking over his glasses for the return of an orderly, whom he had sent after his horse, he noticed a queer looking specimen of the genus homo, dressed in a semi-military costume, sauntering across the parade ground in that lazy, careless gait that bespeaks anything but the trained soldier.
Having several times before noticed the same fellow hanging around the camp, the Colonel determined to "interview" him. So, getting into his saddle, he rode up to the man and something like the following col- loquy occurred :
" Who are you, sir, and to what company do you belong?"
" WV-a-1-1, Colonel, to answer yer last question fust, so I sha' n't forgit and git mixed up, I don't exactly belong to any company jest neow, but kinder go it alone, yer sce ! though before this ere pesky war split us, we used to hang out as Ben Thompson & Co."
" I perceive, sir, you are more rogue than fool, and -"
" Thank yer, Colonel, for the compliment, but -"
" But what, sir? I want to know what your business is out here, and what you are hanging round in this way for."
" W-a-1-1, yer know, Colonel, a good coconut will chitter when yer shake it, but yer can't git the milk nor meat out till yer crack the shell."
'TWEN AUG '62 & CHANCELLORSVILLE
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
The Colonel was more pleased than angered by this shrewdly evasive reply, although he well understood the hint it contained, that he had got a hard nut to crack. But not wishing to compromise his official dignity, and curious to know what would be the next evasive twist of the fellow's wit, he decided to hazard another inquiry, and looking as sternly as he could into the comical countenance of the enigmatical Yankee, said :
" What do you mean, sir. by such silly subterfuge? Do you want me to order " you under arrest, as an idle camp follower and suspicious character ?"
"Oh no. Colonel, I don't want any orders to 'rest anybody. though I jest guess yer right about these ere idle camp fellers acting mighty 'spicious! I've been watching out for 'em with one eye, myself. And that's the reason, yer see, Colonel, that I can't train in their company ; for there's nothing 'spicious or speck- led 'bout me, but I'm jest as full of fun as two kittens and a fiddle."
The Colonel's sober-faced gravity was severely taxed, and he slightly touched the spur to his horse to hide a smile that was foreing itself into his mouth and eyes. As he turned his horse round, he at first thought he would ride off and leave his antagonist master of the situation ; but hating to be so ludicrously driven from the field, he again faced to the front, and once more untimbering his tongue battery gave him another, and the last, interrogatory shot.
" Will you answer my questions, or will you not, sir? I give you one more chance to explain yourself and your business here."
" W-a-1-1 th-a-r, Colonel. since yer so mighty pertikeler to git a wee sip of the coconut milk, I'll jest tell yer, that if this ere regiment should happen to git turned wrong side out before it gits through, and go back to New Hampshire tail end tu, I should then be Colonel instead of you."
GOOD EATERS BUT POOR FIGHTERS.
Plenty of lazy and worthless fellows were found in every new regiment ; but they soon weeded themselves out of the ranks, and either became " hospital bummers" or got their discharge from the service.
"Seventy-five for rations and only twenty-five for duty." as Company F's wit used to say when he would see a large number of those "fall in" at the dinner call, who two or three hours before had, also, answered the surgeon's call and got excused from duty. And it was somewhat surprising how soon a dose of quinine and whiskey or a tonic pill would create an appetite for a good plate of pork and beans. But what was more surprising still, how the disease for which they would daily take their medicine, and the appetite which demanded a full supply of hearty rations could so long continue mutual friends and run the busi- ness together as joint partners. We suppose, however, it may all be accounted for, not upon any theory of natural affinity, but upon the fact that consumptives usually have voracious appetites, and this class were all chronic consumers of " Uncle Sam's" time and money, as well as rations. without ever returning any equivalent either in camp or on the field.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
RABBITS AND BLOODHOUNDS.
The following comes from one of Company G boys, who was so tall and slender that his comrades used to call him " Lengthy ":
One night while at Falmouth, I was sent outside the picket-line to keep a sharp eye on the house of a citizen who had the freedom of our lines and was suspected of not being quite as loyal as he professed to be.
There was an old log shanty not far from the house, and here I thought to estab- lish my headquarters ; but, on approaching a piece of woods close by, I could hear in the stillness of the night ominous sounds, twigs snapping, and leaves rustling, as if someone was approaching. No one coming in sight, after waiting and watching a while I plucked up courage to reconnoitre a little, and found, instead of guerrillas, two little, innocent jack-rabbits at play! Returning, I could hear noises in or under the log house, and was sure someone was there. So, with gun all ready for action, I crept up cautiously, and seeing a tobacco cask placed suspiciously against the house, I gave it a violent kick, when out sprang a big bloodhound, or a kind of a blood and thunder one, judging by the way he roared and frightened me. I at once changed my headquarters.
A NEW GENERAL.
One day while picketing on the banks of the Rappahannock, J. B. Leighton, of Company G, was hailed by a rebel picket across the river, and asked if he had any coffee.
" Plenty of it," responded Leighton, " come over and get some."
" Wish I could," replied Johnny, " but I tell you what I will do, Yank, I'll exchange a cargo of the weed for one of the berry."
" All right, rig up your transport, Johnny, and send her along."
In a few minutes a little " dug-out," with rudder set to hold it against the current and laden with a twenty-ounce plug of tobacco, is pushed out into the stream and slowly makes its way toward the opposite shore. While the Federal picket watches its diagonal course across the river, the witty reb again shouts to him : "Oh ! Yank, did you know we 'uns have got a new general ?"
"No, who is it?"
" General Starvation by -
Company G man took the hint, and when the transfer boat returned it carried, in addition to the coffee barter, a big chunk of pork and a lot of " hard-tack."
LONG ROLL.
"And being thus frightened, swears a prayer or two And sleeps again."
Although it was a long roll that quickly aroused the colonel, it did not reach the ears of the rank and file until the next morning when " Mother,"
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
as the boys all called him, was joked about dreaming of an attack of the rebel cavalry, and trying to sound the alarm by using his legs for drum- sticks and the colonel's head for a drum.
It was during the first night's bivouac after breaking camp for Fredericksburg that " Mother Jones" in trying to keep warm -for the night was bitterly cold- got himself, in some way, horizontal to the plane of descent and rolled for some distance down over the steep, frozen ground, bringing up suddenly against the head-quarters of Colonel Potter himself, who being thus unceremoniously dis- turbed in his slumbers, remonstrated in regular army style against being run over by his own men.
INCIDENTS OF FREDERICKSBURG.
Corp. Charles E. Moody, of Company H, with Moulton, Wilkinson, and Lewis, of his company, were placed on guard over a house, during the battle of Fredericksburg, in which was a sick woman who could not be removed when the city was bombarded. They would have been left and taken prisoners but for a continued muffled sound coming to them from the river, near which they were stationed, which, upon investigation, they discovered the cause of just in time to join the rear of the army that was hurrying across the pontoon bridges.
A minister's wife by the name of Stowe, with her three children, remained in the city all through the battle, although the house they staid in was struck eight times with solid shot or shells, and one passed through the underpinning into the cellar, directly under the room where she was sitting, surrounded by her frightened children. Yet, strange to say, not one of them was injured, but all escaped without a scratch or bruise. This incident was told to Captain Barker by Mrs. Stowe, herself, on the last day the army occupied the city. It was learned before the evacua- tion, that several civilians, white and black, remained in the city during the battle, screening themselves from the artillery fire of the two armies by getting into cellars, cisterns, etc. Some of them kept secreted after the danger was over fearing the "Yankee " soldiers would kill them at sight.
One of the Twelfth stood watching a soldier of another regiment who was trying to milk a nervous cow that he had found in one of the stable yards, and was about to offer his assistance, in hopes to get a little milk himself as a recompense, when a shell from a rebel gun so suddenly started the rebellious cow, that both milk and milker went onto the ground, and the observer another place soon found.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
A FRIGHTFUL LEAP.
Walter Libbey, one of the drummer boys, who was about as heedless as generous, and always ready to make sport for the boys, thought one day he would show the officers a specimen of General Grant's cadet horseman- ship. So, mounting a spirited animal, without saddle or bridle, he gave a Comanche yell, which so frightened the horse that he soon changed the would-be Ulysses into a veritable John Gilpin, riding at a break-neck speed up the length of the parade ground, and heading directly for a wide, deep ditch that had just been dug out for a hospital reservoir. The officers, whose laughing shouts helped to scare the horse when he first started, now stood in fearful silence, expecting to see both beast and boy go headlong into the open reservoir. But the suspense was as short, as the glad cheer that followed was loud and long ; for, with one tremen- dous bound, the noble steed landed himself and rider safely on the other side, and John Gilpin was General Grant again. The most remarkable part of this incident is, that one of the men who afterward measured the ditch is now living, and is willing to swear that it was seventeen feet wide!
Too BIG FOR HIS CLOTHES,
BUT NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR THE TRIPE.
There was one man in the regiment who was called Company D's giant, who was six feet and two or three inches tall and weighed three hundred and fifty pounds. He was so large that it actually took two pair of pants to make one pair that he could wear.
His appetite was even greater than himself, and it was quite astonishing to witness the amount of " salt horse and hard-tack " he would manage to stow away at an ordinary meal, to say nothing about his alimentary capacity after he had been on short rations for a few days.
To decide a bet between two of his comrades he undertook one day to eat the whole of a steer's tripe at one meal ; the conditions being that he should have all the time he wanted to complete the job, but that he should keep up a constant grinding and swallowing until either he or the tripe was vanquished. It was a long, hard contest, and it seemed for some time that the giant gormandizer had the best of it; but after about two hours he seemed to have lost all relish for his favorite dish, and notwithstanding the urgent oral efforts of his backer to get him to try and " finish up just that little piece left " it was no use, for his overloaded stomach revolted and he threw up -the sponge.
" But man we find the only creature,
Who, led by folly, combats nature."
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
COLD WATER JOKE.
Major Savage with a heart " as large as an ox," as the boys used to say, was one of those graduates of the old school who deemed it extremely impudent, especially while in the army, not to have a supply of " com- missary " always on hand, as well for the benefit of himself, as the enter- tainment of his friends ; and he was not the only officer of the regiment who seemed to endorse the benefit idea, when exposed to the malarial poison of the South, on the homeopathic principle, doubtless, of similia similibus curantur.
One day at Falmouth, Captain Shackford, who was always ready for fun, stole slyly into the Major's tent, while he was out on his rounds as officer of the day, and exchanged his spirits of rye for about an equal quantity of cold water, and then got several other of the line officers to be on hand when he should return, to listen to the dry humor of their victim.
Pretty soon the Major rides up to his tent, dismounts, and, as expected, invites his brother officers to step in and " take a smile " with him. Taking off his hat and wiping the sweat from his brow, as was his habit, he says : " Well, gentle- men, it isn't often, you know, that I take anything, but when I do, it is generally about this time of day." Then reaching under his bunk he finds his jug where he left it, and in order to satisfy the others that it is " safe," he is per- suaded to take the first drink. Putting the jug to his lips, intending to take it " straight," in regular army style, he swallows one mouthful, squirts the next upon the ground, and with well feigned terror, exclaims: "My God! I'm a dead man !! "
INFLUENCE OF THE MOON.
A balmy atmosphere, clear, genial, and soothing beyond expression, had caused the tents of our regiment nearly all to be vacated, that their occupants might the more fully enjoy and pleasantly pass the quiet camp hours between retreat and taps.
Lunar's bright crescent, slowly nearing the western horizon, seemed to vie with Venus in her brilliant glow to give light and beauty to the scene. The colonel and lieutenant-colonel, outside their canvas walls, sat in silent and pensive enjoyment. From the company quarters, across the parade ground, came songs of home and boyhood, commingled with sounds of mirth and sport.
But soon the attention of our senior and junior commanders is turned toward the drum corps quarters near by, where they can distinctly hear an earnest dis- cussion between two of the musicians as to the reason why the outline of the other part of the moon could be dimly seen when there was a "new moon." The members of the drum corps at this time acted as camp orderlies for regi- mental headquarters, and the lieutenant-colonel, calling to the one whose turn it was to be on duty that day, inquired :
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
" What fellows are those at your camp discussing the moon?" The orderly hesitates and listens.
"Can't you tell them by their voices?"
" Yes, sir ; that's what I was trying to do. I think it is B - and C -. "
" Well, who is that talking now?"
" It is B -. "
" Is he that little, young drummer about the size and age of yourself ? "
" Yes, sir."
" Well, I want you to not forget to tell him when you go to your quarters that I want to see him at my tent to-morrow morning at S o'clock."
" All right, sir."
The next morning at the precise hour designated, our young disputant, expect- ing nothing but a severe reprimand for the loud talk of the evening before ( though wondering all the while why "t'other fellow," who was quite as loud spoken, had not been called upon to face the music, as well as himself ), rapped at the colonel's tent, gripping his teeth to keep his heart from jumping out of his mouth, as he listened for the response from within which bid him come in.
A glance at the colonel's countenance at once dismissed all fears he might have had of being very severely dealt with; and a few assuring words (so differ- ent from those he had ofttimes before heard from the colonel's lips when irritated or displeased) convinced him that either the colonel never intended to punish him very badly, or had thought better of it after the soothing effect of a good night's sleep. But we will particularize no further but boil the whole story down by saying that the result of the evening spat and the morning chat was, that our young combatant of the tongue was soon requested to exchange his drum- sticks for a sword, which he continued to carry through several promotions to the end of his service. So much for the benign influence of the new moon, especially when seen over the right shoulder.
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