USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 54
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Under cover of the woods he hoped to remain awhile undiscovered, and possibly find something to eat ; but he was soon again under the watch of a rebel guard, who put all manner of questions to him, as to where he had been since the battle, and threatened to send him to Richmond, " with the rest of you'uns," at the first opportunity. This, he pretended, was just what he wanted, so as to get out of marching and fighting for a while, and could n't understand any more than they could, how in the world they came to take away all the rest of those
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that were able to travel and leave him behind. At last one of the officers said to him : " If you have no more heart for the work than you pretend to have, what did you come down here to fight us for? "
"Three hundred dollars and a cow," was the quick response ; at which they all set up a hearty laugh, not only at the idea, but at the quaint. comic way he expressed it. with the peculiar Yankee pronunciation of the last word.
.. Wonder if . Uncle Sam' won't give us all a k-e-o-te, if we'll go back and work for him on the old farm?" jokingly inquired one of the men.
"I reckin, right smart he would, with a little nigger boy to milk her," answered the prisoner boy, as a quid pro quo for the " keow."
Whereat there was another outbreak of laughter. followed by a free and amusing interchange of queries and jokes, in which the " funny Yank." as they called him, managed to hold his own so well that he gained the good will of his captors and was told that he might .. hang 'round hare and tote water for you'uns," thousands of whom were still lying on the ground, wounded and dying, with no shelter but the shade of the trees, and nothing but the dew of welcome night to cool their fevered brows.
In a few days the badly wounded of the Union army, as he was informed, would be sent across the river under a flag of truce, while those who had suffi- ciently recovered from sickness and slight wounds to be able to travel, would be marched in the other direction as another, and the last, squad for Libby prison ; and then he would have the pleasure, as he pretended, of accompanying them.
It was now only too evident that something must be done, and that quickly. But what, how, and when formed around him an adverbial triangle, to escape from which presented a problem about as difficult of solution, as that which so long puzzled the brain of Pythagoras. Indeed, was not the task of the great Grecian philosopher easier than his own; for he of Samos. with two sides given, had only to find the third. and a whole lifetime to do it in; while he of the Twelfth New Hampshire, was completely hemmed in on every side, with nothing given him but a choice between Libby and lice at Richmond, and liberty or death in an attempt to escape, with only a day or two left him to decide.
His choice was soon made, but his plan of operations was not so quickly decided upon : for he well knew that a hap-hazard undertaking was too uncertain to rely upon where so much depended upon the result. At last. prompted by the thought that had often recurred to him since its first happy inception and practical test, on the day of his capture, he resolved to try the confidence dodge. Ile had already, he believed, won the good will and confidence of the captain, who commanded the provost guard that captured him the second time, and learned from him that this officer had a sister in New York that he thought a great deal of, and to whom he was very anxious to send word of his being alive and well.
Here was, certainly. a slender sprout of hope. and he concluded to nourish and cultivate it. To his great joy the soil was congenial, and it grew and flour- ished beyond his most ardent expectations. He made the officer believe that he had not been joking about his being tired and sick of the war, and that while he did not like to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and remain in the South, as suggested to him. he was only waiting for the opportunity of a furlough that had been promised him before the battle, and that he was sure to get as soon as he got back to his regiment, to skip to Canada, where he had a copperhead
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uncle who had recently moved there to escape the draft. and then old " Abolition Abe " might get him back if he could.
A dish so well cooked and seasoned could not otherways than be palatable ; and so the rebel captain swallowed it all, but expressed some fears that the promised furlough might not be so easily procured. Being assured that getting a furlough from the Northern army was "as easy as falling off a log." and exacting a solemn promise from his confidant that he would see his sister on his way home and never again return to the army, he promised, in return, that he would try and get his Yankee captive across the river at the first good opportunity.
When, in a day or two, the Union army sent over their ambulances for the wounded, fearing the captain would not keep his promise, or fail in trying to, he tried hard but vainly to elude the rebel guard and get across the pontoon bridge on his own hook. But the officer was as good as his word, and, before the next morning, had sent him in a small skiff across the Rappahannock, from which, with light feet and a lighter heart, he very soon found his way to General Hooker's headquarters, and thence to the camp of the fortunate. but sad and sorrowful, few who had been left to march back from the bloody field of Chancellorsville.
QUICKER LOST THAN FOUND.
Here is given an incident that the writer forgot to connect with other brief ones, referring to the same battle, as one printed earlier in this chapter.
Lyman Hamblet, of Company F, picked up a bass drum while retreating from the shot-swept field of Chancellorsville. One of the sharpshooters then under the command of Captain Locke, who was a witness to this incident, told Hamb- let to throw it away, as he would be lucky to save himself without encumbering himself with old drums.
No quicker were the words spoken, and before the advice could be heeded, a cannon-ball crushed through the drum and gave close warning to the Twelfth boy that, though safely off' from that ridge of death, where the bodies of so many of his comrades were left to be buried by the enemy, he was still upon dangerous ground.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S GREATNESS,
As shown by the following incident, which well illustrates the great chieftain's kindness and consideration at all times and for every person, whatever his rank or condition, was of the highest order of that native nobility that only belongs to the very few God-like characters, who by their lives have blessed and honored mankind.
O. F. Davis, of Company A, while in the Veteran Reserve Corps at Wash- ington, was one day called upon, as sergeant of the guard, to permit President Lincoln to enter one of the military prisons, at the door of which he had been
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halted by the soldier on gnard there. The sergeant said that his instructions were to allow no man to enter without a pass from the provost marshal or General Auger, then in command at the capital. .. But do you not know me?" asked the President.
.. Yes, sir, answered the sergeant, I know you are President Lincoln ; but my orders are strict and unqualified, and I have no authority or discretion but to obey and inforce them."
" But you receive your orders from your superiors in rank, do you not? and I am, as I suppose you know, commander-in-chief of the whole army of the Union."
" Yes, sir," humbly replied the sergeant, who was beginning to doubt the correctness as he more clearly appreciated the delicacy and responsibility of his own position, " but I received my orders from the officer of the guard, and should 1 not continue to obey them until changed or countermanded by him, instead of any one else, even though it be your honored and respected self?"
.. Very well, Sergeant," was the calm and quiet response, and a few minutes later the sergeant was sent for by the provost marshal, where the former again found himself face to face with President Lincoln, and trembling lest the marshal was to severely reprimand him in the presence of his honored and distinguished visitor. But he was soon gladly assured to the contrary, when the President, without waiting for the marshal to introduce or explain, simply said : .. Sergeant, you have been sent for that I might compliment you upon knowing your duty, and thank you for daring to perform it."
Thus was one member of the Twelfth, as the whole regiment had formerly been, * noticed and honored by one of the greatest and best of men.
MARRIED HIER ". JUST THE SAME."
.. None but the brave deserve the fair."
Ignorance and prejudice are intimate associates, and it is because of the baneful influence of the former upon the mind and heart that the latter finds a lodgment there.
Every old soldier knows how deep and bitter was this prejudice between the northern and southern sections of our country at the com- mencement of the war. There would have been much less of this, if the people of these sections had better known and understood each other. But while this feeling, to a greater or less degree, obtained at the North, much wider and deeper, because of the ignorance of the masses, it pervaded and penetrated every part of the South. It can hardly be believed now, though none the less a fact, that there were some white persons living in the southern states when the war commenced, who actually believed that Abraham Lincoln was a mulatto, and that some of the Yankees had horns on their heads like cattle. Bitterest of all, in feelings of pure hatred, were the southern women. This can hardly be
· See page 62.
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accounted for, except upon the principle that " the sweetest apples make the sourest vinegar."
A good anecdote illustrative of this intensity of feminine dislike of all Yankeedom, and everybody and everything therefrom, is the following :
Some fifteen years after the close of the war a bright, active specimen of the New England Yankee, who had been a partcipant of the " late unpleasantness " between the sections, concluded to go South again; but this time, bearing a message of peace and good will, instead of hostile arms.
Liking and prospering, he finally concluded to make a life settlement there ; and, as the next wise thing to do, bethought himself of selecting from the many beautiful daughters of the " Sunny South " one who would become his domestic partner for the same length of time. Soon he became acquainted with and attracted toward one of the three daughters of a widow lady whose husband and one or two sons had been killed fighting for the " stars and bars." Things progressed with mutual satisfaction, and with no announced objection from any- one for a time; but our home and wife seeker had noticed such a difference of temperature between the maternal and matrimonial atmospheres, that he feared that a sudden cold current from the former would produce a storm.
Soon the cold blast came, too ice-like to be pleasant, but not soon enough, as will be seen, to do much damage. The watchful mother, deeming further delay hazardous, sought an interview with the young man, and the following conversa- tion between them occurred :
" It seems, Mr. , that you and my daughter, Zelia. think ' right smart' of each other."
" It seems about the same way to me. Mrs. - , and I hope, craving your approval. that things may prove as real as they seem."
" Now, my dear sir, I am really sorry to hear you say so, because I cannot share with you in any such hope, even if my daughter does. Yet I am more pained than surprised by your earnest avowal, and frankly confess that I am some to blame for not speaking to you before about it."
"Am I to understand, then, that you decidedly object to your daughter's reciprocating any affection that I may have for her, stronger than that of simple friendship? "
" Yes, sir, most decidedly so ; and now listen, and blame me not, while I talk · plumb straight' to you what I both feel and mean. You are a promising young man, and have been so correct and exemplary in your deportment and habits since coming to our section of country that I have never seen or heard one single thing against you. Though this be all true, and that I myself feel more friendly and kindly towards you than I care now to express, yet it is equally true and much more certain, that rather than have one of my daughters marry a full- blooded New England Yankee I would quicker cut her throat!"
This, substantially as above written, came to the writer's ear a few years ago, from the tongue of the aforesaid Yankee himself. at Morristown, Tenn., where both were then sojourning.
"But." added the narrator, who had evidently too often faced hot shot from the cannon's mouth upon the field to be badly frightened by the same salute from a woman's mouth in the parlor. "I married the daughter, just the same, and she is my wife to-day."
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WHISKEY.
This article, which the boys used to call " commissary," was, para- doxically speaking, both plenty and scarce in the army -plenty for commissioned officers at twenty cents a quart or canteen full, at the commissary's, but absolutely forbidden to the men at any price.
When, however, a colonel or other commanding officer of a regiment or battalion deemed it necessary or judicious for his men, because of unusual hardship or exposure, he could make requisition for a barrel of whiskey as a free treat from " Uncle Sam." Of course the frequency of these treats to any particular regiment depended more upon the temperance ideas of the colonel than upon the physical condition of his men : although it was observable that many commanding officers who used it most them- selves were not correspondingly liberal in its free distribution to those under them. Perhaps this was because they had learned from their own experience the folly of its use. But it must not be supposed because the commissary was not allowed to sell it to any but commissioned officers that the rank and file never got any except when issued to them, upon rare occasions, in rations of a gill each. Those who could be trusted to make good use of it - and their number, until the recruits came, was but little smaller proportionately among the privates than the officers- could usually get an order for a canteen full from a commissioned comrade when solicited, unless the situation of their regiment was such that the officer could not get it himself, which was frequently the case.
Sometimes, moreover, the men would shrewdly manage to supply themselves with liquors of some kind, not only without the aid, but in spite, of the officers. This was true of quite a number belonging to the New Hampshire brigade while stationed at Point Lookout, Md. : and it cannot be denied that the Twelfth, after the " subs" appeared, furnished its full quota. Money, with this class, was of no value as compared with anything that could intoxicate : and some of them would balance a bottle of whiskey with its weight in gold, almost. rather than deny to themselves the contents of the bottle.
This fact becoming known. together with the information that a very good substitute, called " apple-jack," could be procured in any quantity, but three or four miles from camp, for less per gallon than many of these new comers would give for a single sip, it was more than Yankee cupid- ity could well withstand : and some of the speculative ones taxed their inventive wit to procure, transfer, and deliver without discovery. It was quite an easy thing for almost any of the old members to get a pass across the " neck " into the country above, but to get back by a guard who had special instructions to carefully search for the very article that they wanted to carry in was quite another thing. But where the demand is urgent, the supply must sooner or later come, as it did in this case : and so when the boys came back from a visit up to the " Pines " loaded
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with canteens of milk and big pumpkins, the guard was too much inter- ested with the thought of luscious pumpkin pies to even imagine the beautiful yellow fruit of the vine, so carefully carried with the smaller ends up, could possibly contain anything contraband. Nor did the most vigilant guard think of leaving his post to dive beneath every string of logs that the men used to raft down the creek to see how many jugs and canteens of " apple-jack " he could find hid beneath the raft.
Sometimes, when the right kind of a man for this smuggling business happened to be posted at the "block-house," as the building at the narrow pass was called, the " fire water" speculators would run, until the "relief" came round, a very successful business : for the guard, expecting a liberal share of the profits, could not of course be supposed to know by sight, smell, or taste the difference between . apple-jack " and apple-jelly, or perceive any contrast between the strong juice of the peach and the strained juice of the cow. And the profits, as above mentioned, were most temptingly large, where some of the recruits were willing to, and actually did, give as high as five dollars for only one suck at a canteen of whiskey, peach brandy, or even " apple-jack."
Now and then the buyer would get drunk and be arrested, and then an investigation follow, but no one, not even the culprit himself, would know or could be made to tell where the liquor came from that caused the trouble.
One day Signal Officer A. W. Bartlett, while sending a message from the top of one of the highest of the signal towers, thought he noticed an unusual wabbling of his flagman as he swung his flag in answer to the numbers given him. The next moment the officer knew he was not mistaken, though with his face to the glass he could only see by a side glance, and looked up just in time to grab the man by his coat tail and save him from a drunken tumble of one hundred and thirty feet into eternity. When the rescuing grab was made, the man, who was trying to stand upon a box close against and not more than thirty inches below the top of the outside planking, had so nearly lost his balance in trying to hold on to his flag, the weight of which was tipping him forward over the fatal edge, that a few seconds delay would have added another to the long list of tragic deaths caused by the great sin of intemperance.
And great as is this evil in civil life, it was even greater, if possible, in the army, notwithstanding the general prohibition of intoxicating liquors. And this strong statement there would be none to dispute if the world only knew how much of misery and death, in the hospital and on the field, was directly or indirectly attributable to the demon of alcohol.
". BONEY."
This history would be incomplete should no mention be made of him who, though his name cannot be found upon the muster-rolls, deserves to be remembered for his courage and fidelity, and for always acting well his part, whether in the camp, upon the march, or upon the field of battle.
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lle was large and intelligent above the average of his kind, being of New- foundland descent, and weighing, when he entered the service, just five pounds less than one half the weight of his master - the once robust and stalwart third sergeant of Company H - who could tip the scale at one hundred and eihgty.
.. Boney " went with or followed the regiment from Concord to Arlington Heights; thence to Berlin, Md., and Falmouth. Va. ; through the battle of Fredericksburg and the .. Mud March " following; through the battle of Chan- cellorsville, where he was severely wounded; and was last seen on the fourth or fifth day of the march toward Gettysburg, when, being no longer able to keep up, on account of his wound, he was shot. as is supposed, by one of the rear- guards. Thus sadly ended the life of a faithful servant and true friend of his master and the boys of the company, among whom he had become a special favorite, and was greatly missed.
He was also brave, as well as trusty, showing, when the occasion demanded, the true grit of a fighter.
At Frdericksburg, when the loud bark and dismal howl of all the dogs in the city broke suddenly out upon the midnight air, " Boney " thought the time had come for him to act, and quickly signified his determination to attack the whole rebel horde, single-handed, at the word of command. Again, at Chancellors- ville, instead of turning tail to, he fiercely faced the foe and made ready for close action by uncovering his weapons of defence, which he doubtless would have used with effect had the rebels reached our line in their attempted charge.
One thing is true of him that cannot be claimed, perhaps, of any human con- testant on that field, that he refused to go to the rear after he was dangerously wounded, but bid defiance still by snapping and growling at the shot and shell striking and bursting around him.
.. COULDN'T PLAY WITH KNAPSACKS ON."
BY DRUM MAJOR IRA C. EVANS.
While the Army of the Potomac was camped in front of Fredericks- burg, in the Winter of 1862, reviews were being constantly held so that the boys would not get restless and uneasy(?). First there would be a brigade review, then a division review, then a corps review, and finally to wind up with a grand review by President Lincoln.
Now every time the boys were ordered out for these reviews, they were ordered to appear in "heavy marching order." This toting around a whole stock of " gents' furnishing goods " became a little monotonous after a while, so the drum corps of the Twelfth New Hampshire held a " council of war." and decided that they had stood about enough of it, and as the other regimental drum corps were not compelled to wear theirs, they would leave the knapsacks in camp at the next review.
A short time after we had come to this decision an order came that the army was to be reviewed by President Lincoln. We appeared without our knapsacks.
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took position at the right of the regiment, and marched to the parade ground in front of division headquarters, where the other troops of the division were assem- bled, and the line of march was taken for the reviewing ground. All went well until we got about a mile from camp, when the colonel happened to notice we were without our knapsacks, and then came the inquiry :
" Where are your knapsacks?"
George Washington like, we would not tell a lie and replied, " In camp, sir ; we cannot play with them on, or rather we cannot play as well."
Nothing more was said, and we were congratulating ourselves we had gained a point. But judge of our surprise after we got back to our camp, just at sunset, after a hard day of it, to receive orders to " sling knapsacks," heavy marching order, and report with our fifes and drums at headquarters.
After reporting at headquarters we were ordered to march up and down the parade ground. and keep step, as usual, to our own music. We took our posi- tion at the head of the grounds and started off, the whole regiment of course being out to " review " us. One or two of the boys did not take very kindly to this style of punishment. and while the most of the corps were playing some two- four time, they took it into their heads to play a six-eight or four-four time, and the result was that no one could tell what we were playing, for it was a perfect babel of sounds. This was kept up for fully half an hour, to the great delight of the boys of the regiment. Finally the colonel motioned for us to form in front of headquarters. We obeyed this order with greater alacrity than we were ever known to obey one before. The colonel addressed us thus :
" You have done well. I cannot see but what your playing is about the same whether you have knapsacks off or on. Go to your quarters, and the next time you get orders to appear in heavy marching order see that you obey !"
We returned to our quarters, but, considering the " devil of a racket" we made, thought the colonel was either a little sarcastic in compliment, or had a " bad ear" for our kind of music.
LIBBY AND HOW WE GOT OUT OF IT.
BY LIEUT. A. W. BACHELER .*
We were on the lines between the James and Appomattox. Had been " bottled up" there with Butler early in '64. At the time of which I write it is hard to tell which was getting the better of it -the " Johnnies " in trying to keep us and the cork in, or Butler in trying to get us and the cork out. Disinterested parties would doubtless have voted for the "Johnnies." However, we and the rebs were making the best of the sit- uation, and daily, on the picket-lines between the hostile earthworks, you might have seen us making the usual exchange of coffee and salt for " terbac," or swapping ... New York Tribunes " and " Baltimore Ameri- cans " of yesterday for the Richmond morning sheets damp from the press.
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