USA > Rhode Island > History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862 > Part 11
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and over into the ditch by the wayside. Then number three fol- lowed, displaying his broad 'whangs,' alias army shoes, to the rising sun, and so the fun went on, till order was at length restored, and we returned to camp as wide-awake and smiling a company as you can find in ' Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.'
"It was John Reynolds's night for guard duty, and the boys determined to 'put up a job on him,' and you should have seen the merchandise piled up in his allotted place in the tent. When he came in at a late hour, he went stumbling over the pile of rubbish, and got very angry at first, but knowing the crowd, he concluded 'the easiest way's to take it as it comes.' He not only took the pile of rubbish as it came, but proceeded to throw it in every direction, regardless of where it hit, until he had cleared out his quarters. In vain arose the general protest-he satisfied his revengeful feelings-and composed himself to rest with calm satisfaction. It was fortunate there were no broken heads."
Company K: "The boys have done well, thus far, in not getting caught 'napping' on picket duty. You remember Samuel Mitchell. He and Jesse Eddy, Zephaniah Brown, and Carlo Mauran belong to Company K. Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw tried to pass Sam the other night without the countersign. He said he must pass as he was making the rounds of the camp. But Sam replied, 'No, sir, you can't pass that on me,' and called the corporal of the guard. Colonel Bliss and Captain Dyer have also happened round on the picket line, and have tried, on some pretence or other, to get the boys to let them examine their muskets. No guns have been captured yet, however.
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RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
" June 12th. Last night was my first experience ' on picket.' The night was dark, the moon being off 'on an eclipse.' Our squad marched down a lonesome-looking road, about a mile and a half toward Fredericktown, and attempted to force an entrance into an old school-house by the roadside, but the barred shutters resisted all our efforts. We never felt so sorry for a school lock- out before ! We marched further on, and took the best quarters we could get, in a wheelwright shop, opening to the road. I was on 'the relief,' and had just got fairly into an uncomfortable snooze, when we were all suddenly startled by an alarm, and or- dered by the sergeant to buckle on equipments, right shoulder arms, and double-quick down the road for the picket line-all the work of perhaps two or three minutes. Were we wide awake ? Oh, yes, some, if not some scared ! But the trouble was soon explained. Some drunken soldiers from a neighboring regiment were attempting to pass our line without the countersign. Order was soon restored, and we were glad to march back to quarters, with all the arms and legs we brought out. It was about four o'clock in the morning when I found myself posted as sentinel. I paced my beat regularly, back and forth, nothing escaping my keen vision. Suddenly there came the sound of approaching wheels ; when, with bayonet at the charge, and, summoning all my voice to command, I called a 'Halt !' and the driver instantly halted! He proved to be a fishmonger on his early way to Georgetown. He strongly protested,-and his fish also strongly protested, against being interfered with-but we marched fish and fisherman to the sergeant of the guard, as orders were to let nobody pass without the countersign.
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" June 14th. There is nothing that gives such delight as boxes from home. When a box arrives at camp, the eatable portion of the contents, if sent to any of our boys, is con- sidered the common property of the mess. When my box was opened, therefore, the boys all gathered round me, and, as each package was taken out, they set up a terrible yelling and howl- ing, whether they knew what was in it or not. You can guess the peanuts disappeared in double-quick time, and, when I came to the lemons, there was 'tremendous applause and cheering in the galleries !' We not only had lots of fun over the box, but it was worth almost its weight in gold, for it contained every- thing we wanted. The combined knife, fork and spoon which can be folded up and carried in the pocket or haversack, will be very useful, and will allow my fingers to take a rest, as no army knives and forks have yet been issued. The towels, also, are just what I needed, as I've been trying to make that same poor, single towel go for more than a fortnight ! You ought to have seen me skinning my fingers trying to wash it ! But relief has come at last, and the contrabands now come round regularly for any washing on hand. So I ' put mine out,' to the tune of six cents a piece for shirts, and so on. I shall like the woolen shirts very much. I was getting to be truly 'a shiftless concern.' I never ate any ham which tasted so good as that in the box ; and we should have had small pieces if the whole seventeen had staid to dinner, as some of us are 'great feeders.' We are very much like the boys at the Thanksgiving dinner who kept on eating as long as the supply lasted. So it was agreed that as quite a squad was going to the Potomac for a swim, those who remained at camp
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should have the ham; and I tell you we enjoyed it, to the last hitch ! The mustard you sent flavored it in good shape, and will also help season the ' salt horse,' as you wrote.
" I am going to dig a hole right under my knapsack, and drop the box in, with the top a little above the ground. This, with my blue army overcoat, will make a good pillow at night. It will not make things damp in the box, because the soil, where the rain "does not reach it, is very dry and hard."
Some home messages and directions which came with the box : "We didn't want to put in too much so as to make your knap- sack too heavy. The lemons and oranges are in, as many as could be. The sugar we thought would be handy for lemonade. The sardines and peanuts will be acceptable, I guess, as well as the sugar ham. That is 'mustard' in the two bottles. We thought it would go well with the ham, and would season up the ' salt horse.' We put in the woolen shirts, beside two calico ones. The little roll of old cloth and glove fingers mother thought would be useful, if your toes were sore after marching. The box of salve you can use the same as tallow. 'Old Morse's ' Dockroot is to keep your stomach in good trim, but you are not to use it unless you really need it. It might have the same effect upon you that Brandreth's pills had upon the old lady. We should want more than your cap to come home with the regiment. The necktie and collars are also in. The fancy pillow is filled with feathers from the old black hen. Mother covered it with dark cloth so that it would not appear soiled so soon. The padlock, which is non est in this box shall be e pluribus unum in the second. The pocket inkstand is right down in one corner. The paper,
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envelopes, pencils, pens, and jack- knife, all went into the portfolio. There was no room for the shoe- brush, although we got in a box of blacking. We had an idea of putting in some cream-cakes with the oranges, but were afraid they would get flattened and sour. Letters from Home. In regard to the tea mother says, if you chew a little while marching, you won't be half so thirsty." This reminds the author of a story of the virtues of pennyroyal tea, one of the old-time remedies. A good old lady, in telling her experience, said she had seen a great deal of trouble through life, but, she continued, 'I have triumphed over it all with my three Ps, 'Prayer, Patience, and Pennyroyal !'"
In approving of the presence of ladies at our recent reunions, General Rogers said: "The anxiety, the suffering, and the suspense, endured by the mothers and sisters of the soldiers, during the war, can never be fitly measured. Theirs was the ser- vice which furrowed the brow and whitened the hair."
June 14th. A letter to the writer says : " It was college ex- hibition (class-day), Thursday, and the orator was a student named Addeman, who went out in your regiment. He got a leave of absence to come on and deliver his oration, and then went back the same night. His subject was 'The Alliance of Scholarship and Patriotism.' The audience cheered him like fun, I can tell you, but he looked kind o' gray, as though he was smelling 'salt- horse,' in the distance !"
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RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
Two more home letters are added for the special entertainment of our youthful readers :
"Providence, June 4th. I meant last night to be up this morning, at half past four, and write this letter, to show you that I could be as smart as some other folks ! I woke up and double- quicked it out to the clock, when behold, to my astonishment, the hands were in the neighborhood of six !
"I guess by this time you'll like to hear how we are all flour- ishing in Providence, and I shouldn't wonder either if you'd like to be here yourself, on the identical old lounge sleeping off the effects of 'salt-horse' and those beautiful soft crackers ! I guess slippers would feel better than 'whangs.' I suppose you are as tough now as a pitch knot, can eat anything or nothing, probably just as it happens ; but I mind that your stomach now and then requires a meal at a neighboring farm-house. How glorious it must be to sleep sixteen in a bed, with now and then the variety of standing out in a thunder-storm to shoot secesh. There was a letter in the Press the other night about your regi- ment, and it said the men were very much disappointed because there was no fighting to do. Now don't you have any such ' gassy ' talk as that. They may take you at your word and send you right on to Richmond! Do you know of anybody in your regiment that was poisoned in Baltimore? There was such a rumor in last Saturday evening's Press. It didn't give any name, and was enough to frighten anybody to death. I think it was a story started by the New York Tribune to sell the papers. I guess if you hadn't got away that night, you wouldn't have got to the war at all. We are thinking you are sick, or out on picket
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THE TENTH REGIMENT
duty or something, the whole time. The fact is, we have learned a lesson in intellectual philosophy, viz. : People are fools to let green boys go to the war! You are a green boy ! Therefore we were fools to let you go! By the way, I haven't seen any of that bounty money I was to have for being on your side !
" We are very glad to hear you are having such 'a gay old time,' but you mustn't try to make it out any better than it really is. Your friend Sam Mitchell said the same thing in his first letter, in his second he didn't say anything about it, and in his third he sent home three sheets of blank paper. His father didn't know what had come over Sam. It now appears that he wrote his letter one evening, in his tent, and had just finished it when lights were ordered to be put out. In the dark he sent home the three sheets of blank paper by mistake, and kept all the cream of the correspondence to himself ! Write as often as you can. Enclosed you will find some postage stamps.
"Your friends went trouting together yesterday and brought home some nice ones. WVe had one for breakfast thirteen or fourteen inches long. It tasted about right I can tell you : but you will pardon me for writing about the delicacies that grace our table. Still, Mary, the cook, wants me to ask you if you've had any waffles since you went away ? I told her the nearest to them you had written about was having some Virginia hoe-cake. You have enough to eat, now, don't you? Our cherries are ripening fast. The peaches will be ready for eating about the time of your return. Your fowls are all in good health, and the chickens increasing in stature. The rooster and other friends send love. So good-bye, from the folks at home."
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RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
The following selection will conclude "letters from home :"
" Providence, June 6th. Would you like to know what all the girls are up to, while all the boys, 'beaux,' I mean, are gone off to the war ? Well here we are, trying to make the best of it, but it is real 'Old Maidendom,' for it seems as if almost every- body that we knew has gone. When we go anywhere now, in the evening, we must get back the best way we can, three or four together perhaps. Isn't it too bad ? I did not have even time to bid you good-bye, you went off in such a hurry. I started for the depot to see you off, and arrived only to find, not you, but a crowd of people, and an empty depot. You must have had a delightful journey from your description. Such nice accommodations on the floor ; such delicate rations of sandwiches and sponge-cake !
"I should like to be out to your camp, if only for just a few minutes, to see how you are living, and how nicely you keep your tent that you live in. Please write me all about your soldier-life if you can find time. Tell me how you get along housekeeping ; who makes the fires, cooks the breakfast, and fries the hot cakes in the morning. Auntie says you must try to take good care of yourself, and be careful and keep out of danger !"
June 16th, Lieutenant De Wolf wrote : "Our commissarist, has now become pretty well regulated, and we have rations of pork, bacon, salt beef, fresh beef, loaf-bread, hard bread, beans, rice, coffee, tea, sugar, vinegar, and salt, with the accessories of soap and candles. Gradually such conveniences as cups, plates, knives forks and spoons are being supplied. Our government pantaloons have also arrived, and we are no longer obliged to take the back- ward march at the approach of visitors."
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Puss in Army Shoes.
Henry T. Chace, of Company D, declares that his ""'ferry-boats,' alias 'whangs,' alias 'scows,' alias 'tan- yards,' alias 'army shoes,' alias ‘ pon- toons,' are great institutions : Easy to march in, easy to drill in, and large enough to sleep in. They are so broad-soled, that I have taken one off, and, putting a piece of brown paper on it, have improvised a satis- factory writing-desk."
Thirty years later an old soldier said to his wife, " Mrs. Sage, I should like to know whose ' ferry- boats' those are that I stumbled over in the hall ?" "Ferry-boats, indeed, sir! Those are my shoes. Very polite of you to call them ferry-boats !" "I didn't say 'ferry-boats,' Mrs. Sage ; you misunderstood me-'fairy boots'-I said, my dear."
" It is pleasant to-day, and the boys feel accordingly jolly. The morning has been improved by most of the mess in cleaning our guns and in writing home. I have been out with Mason sweep- ing Benefit street in front of our quarters. Price and I are now at the foot of a tree, sitting on the ground, just above the Athenaeum tent. Terms for board in this tent $3.00 per year, commanding officers no charge. Three of the tents are emptied of their contents, and the proprietors are busy 'cleaning house !' Some of the tents have spruce trees located near the doors, with short branches and bark off, which serve as clothes-horses, and blankets, coats, and towels, are out for an airing.
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" Samuel Dorrance is sitting on a pile of knapsacks, overcoats, and blankets, putting a letter 'D' on his cap. Mr. Vose, who used to keep a shoe store near father's, is now captain of the seventh ward company, called ' Company C.'"
" Wednesday, June 4th. At about six, this evening, nearly three hundred of the regiment gathered together upon the rising ground between the streets of Companies B and L, and formed in hollow square to our chaplain, Rev. Mr. Clapp, for an introduc- tory Divine service. It commenced with singing the familiar hymn, 'All hail the power of Jesus' name,' and was followed by the reading of the twenty-seventh psalm, remarks and prayer by the chaplain. During the meeting, which was an interesting one, we had a slight shower. We are now waiting for rations. These have improved. When they are served we form in line and march to the foot of the street, and receive them in turn. This morning we had meat, bread, and coffee, with a dish of cold beans, which was good enough as long as it lasted, but there wasn't enough to go round. I didn't hanker after either the beans or the strong black coffee. So, with others, I took a sharp stick for a fork, and holding several slices of bread before the fire, 'dry toast for three,' soon crowned our efforts. We have found out that 'fingers were made before forks,' and that knives, plates, and napkins, cups, and saucers, are all modern innovations. When I return home you will fail to elicit a single growl from me, whether the meat is cooked too much or too little. Camp-life is thus doing us good in making us willing and obliging.
" Raining again to-night, and the company streets are slippery and disagreeable, but we must take our turn for guard duty.
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Fred Armington and John Cady from our 'mess,' N. W. Aldrich, Aborn, and New- comb, all of Company D, with thirty five from other companies, are off to-night on picket duty, under command of Lieut. Stephen Thurber, of Company E. It promises to be a dark and rainy night. Aldrich, the youthful volunteer, marching Senator N. W. Aldrich. with his comrades to the post of duty, worthy to command and ready to obey, is a fitting type of the private soldier in the War for the Union. Content to serve in an humble position in times of trial and danger, he was soon called by his native state as her chosen representative at the capital, which his youthful footsteps had hastened to defend. He has long continued, as senior senator, to dignify and adorn the high position of official trust committed to his charge. At one of our regimental reunions Senator Aldrich spoke highly of the officers of the regiment and of his own company, saying to them he owed some of the first and best lessons of his life. He learned by his service with them that in every sphere of life one can show the greatest amount of heroism by performing the duties assigned to him in a quiet and unobstrusive manner. The privates of the Tenth Rhode Island Regiment learned in their brief campaign a lesson which should last them through life- that heroism is not in brilliant achievement, but in an unselfish devotion to duty, and the performance of every trust committed to them in a manner which shall receive the respect of men and the commendation of God.
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Resuming, Chace, of Company D, says : "We 'turned in' at nine o'clock, but did not get to sleep until ten, listening to the good singing in another tent. We have some fine voices, George Briggs, Levi Burdon, Albert Ham, Ned Glezen, and W. C. Bene- dict of the Ninth." "The Sword of Bunker Hill," and "See- ing Nellie Home," as rendered by Burdon, became very popular with the regiment, and he is still called out, at our reunions to sing them as he used to sing them in camp. "Last Sunday even- ing, we all enjoyed very much. Several of us sat in the tent-door enjoying the scene. The air was still, the moon bright, the sky blue, the great trees threw a soft shade, a choir, near us, furnished sweet music, while we discoursed of home and heavenly themes."
"I was reading the other day," says a well-known writer, "that on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the wives of the fishermen, whose husbands have gone far off upon the deep, are in the habit at even-tide of going down to the seashore, and singing, as female voices only can, the first stanza of a beautiful hymn ; after they have sung it, they listen, till they hear, borne by the wind across the desert sea, the second stanza, sung by their gallant husbands as they are tossed by the gale upon the waves, and both are happy.
"Perhaps if we would listen, we too might hear in this desert world of ours, some sound, some whisper borne from afar, to remind us that there is a heaven and a home, and when we sing the hymn upon the shores of earth, perhaps we shall hear its sweet echo breaking in music upon the sands of time, and cheer- ing the hearts of them that are pilgrims and strangers, and look for a city that hath foundations."
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K
Little Abe.
"June 15th. Our mess in Company B has engaged a prepossessing young con- traband who boasts the name of Abraham Douglass, to do the singing and wash the dishes, for the modest salary of two dollars and a half per month. We enjoy having him sing and wash the dishes very much indeed. Last evening he sang for us :
' De gospel ship's a sailin'-sailin'-sailin'- De gospel ship's a sailin'-bound for Canin's happy sho'!
Chorus : 'Den, glory, glory, hallelujah !
"Another of his best ones is :
' Dere's a light in der winder fur thee, brother, Dere' a light in der winder fur thee ! '
"Each member of the regiment was presented with a small, red-covered hymn book, containing the old familiar hymns, which were sung at religious services. In opening my book the other day I found on the inside cover the following beautiful lines written by a private in Stuart's engineer regiment, which made a deep impression on my mind :
' " Halt! who goes there ?" my challenge cry, it rings along the watchful line; " Relief!" I hear a voice reply-""Advance, and give the countersign !" With bayonet at the charge, I wait-The corporal gives the mystic spell- With arms aport, I charge my mate: Then onward pass, and " all is well !" But in my tent that night awake, I ask. if in the fray I fall,
Can I the mystic answer make, when th' angelic sentries call ?
And pray that Heaven may so ordain, where'er I go, what fate be mine, Whether in trouble, or in pain. I still may have " the countersign!" '"
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One of the members of another company wrote home : "The men have found a remedy for poor rations, in songs which carry the mind back to the scenes of other days. Here, a group, as the evening twilight gathers, sing the familiar hymns remem- bered from childhood. Surrounded by the instruments of death, and within reach of the battery's guns, you may hear rising on the air of evening, 'Oh, where can rest be found,' ' Pleyel's hymn,' and ' Jesus, lover of my soul.' Here a band of students revive the memories of 'Brown,' with ' Lauriger Horatius,' ' Here's to good old Prex., drink him down,' while far at the other end of the camp, from the tents of the Ninth Regiment, come to our ears the strains of ' Let me kiss him for his mother.'" "Camp- life has its pleasures, too. If you could hear the manly chorus swelling up from the group of singers before yonder tent, in the broad moonlight, the mingled yet not discordant notes of violin, guitar and banjo, from different parts of the encampment, with here and there a hushed and reverent group, listening in the privacy of their own tent to one who reads the Word of God, you would not think that our life is but a weariness."
"A few from each company are allowed a pass to Washington now and then. The other day a party from Company B were sauntering down Pennsylvania avenue, when a door opened on the opposite side of the street, and there stood General Burnside ! They all ran across and claimed the privilege of shaking hands with him on the score of being Rhode Island soldiers. He shook hands cordially with them, and asked where they were stationed, and they left him feeling repaid by this incident alone for the journey to Washington."
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"Thursday, June 12th. Our camp was enlivened yesterday by the presence of Maj. Lewis Richmond and wife, and Mrs. General Burnside. Would that the general could run out to see us." A few days after General Burnside made us a flying visit, and was received with warm demonstrations of honor and affection.
General Burnside at Camp Frieze.
A few months later, on September 17th, the battle of Antietam was fought, but sixty miles away from our camp, in which Burn- side bore a gallant part. Young Adjt. William Ide Brown, after- wards mortally wounded before Richmond, thus wrote home of Burnside : "O, how I love that general ! I would think myself happy if I could be an orderly and follow him from place to place. How I wish I knew him personally ! How proud I was to have him speak to me on the night of the battle of Antietam, where I was on duty at the famous Antietam bridge! There may be
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greater generals than Burnside, but nowhere a more honest, noble, patriotic hero!" Young Brown was the beloved class president of the class of 1862, in Brown University. He fell only a few weeks before the final surrender at Appomattox.
"Senator Simmons and Dr. Okie were also in camp recently, which reminds me of William Okie's experience on guard duty. After a guard has been on two hours he is relieved. When the guard hears the relief approach he calls out, 'Halt ! who comes there?' Answer, 'Corporal, with relief.' 'Advance, corporal, and give the countersign.' Young Okie was on guard one night, and, after the answer from the corporal, instead of saying, 'Ad- vance, etc.,' he said, ' You can't come too soon !' Generally after the two hours' duty the men are glad to get back to their tents.
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