Rambling Anecdotes

[4V50 Gary]

Don't wear new clothes in battle

A writer on "Fact and Fable" has said that most of the striking anecdotes of modern soldiers and eminent public men may be traced to the ancients. This is doubtless true to a great extent; nevertheless, a large proportion of those that relate to soldiers are very truly their own expressions of wit, humor, and sentiment as though the ancients had never lived. Men of all times fall into similar trains of thought in similar circumstances-certain apposite reflections or ludicrous whims suggest themselves with the occasion, and are as much the offspring of the last brain from which they are coined as though no other head had ever done so. Grimshaw, in his History of the United States, spices a page with a story of an American captain who went with a new hat on into battle with the British and got a bullet through it, which raked his skull with sufficient force to knock him senseless. When he was removed and had recovered consciousness, some began to condole with him about the severity of his wound, to which he replied: "Ah! Time and the doctors will mend that; but the rascals have spoiled my new hat!" Speeches with the same turn of thought were heard after almost every battle in which the brigade was engaged, from men who had probably never read Grimshaw's story. A soldier detailed for picket duty one day was observed to pull off a new shirt and put on an old and tattered one. "What's that for?" asked an astonished comrade. "Oh!" he answered, "I'm not going to let the Yankees shoot my new shirt!" And another, whose clothes had been badly torn by a piece of shell, settled the question of comparative merits of shell and solid shot by declaring that if a man was hit without being killed the shell was the worse missile because it tore his clothes up so."

Some digression on MarcusHook's (Joe) inquiry. To determine which book the anecdote involving Pvt. Terrence O'Connor came from, the unit was first determined to be a Union unit that fought at Gettysburg (how else is there any fighting around Hagerstown?). Anyhow, the National Park Service Soldier & Sailor registry listed several O'Connors and the most likely unit was found. The unit history (book) retrieved and by glancing on my handwritten notes on the endpapers, the source was confirmed. Darn lucky.

 

[4V50 Gary]

With Grant and Foote's capture of Fort Donelson, the lynchpin that held the chain of Confederate defenses in the west collasped. Bowling Green, Kentucky was abandoned. While not the commander of the captured Confederate forces, Gen. Simon Buckner was left to surrender the command. He had helped Grant out before the war when Grant was broke. Buckner was surprised when Grant offered Buckner no terms, no honors of war.

"Though Grant treated Gen. Buckner with characteristic manliness, there were not wanting smart fellows among his officers who could not profit by their cheif's example. As Buckner, with his faithful staff, stepped on the board the boat that was to convey them northward, one of his regiments raised a thrilling cheer, when a Federal band, apparently in derision, struck up Yankee Doodle. An officer afterward asked Buckner in Grant's presence, and in a very sarcastic tone, whether the national air did not revive in his mind some pleasant associations of the past. "Yes, Colonel," he replied, "but it also reminds me of an incident which occurred a few days ago in our camp. A soldier was being drummed out of one of the regiments for a serious offense. The musicians were playing the Rogue's March. 'Stop,' cried the fellow, you have mistaken the tune. Play Yankee Doodle; a half million of rogues march to that every day.'"

If you have a chance, visit Fort Donelson National Battlefield Park. It is well preserved and the site of some early sharpshooting in the Western Theatre.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Old (Royal Navy) sailor saying from the Napoleonic Era

Some folks might find this amusing. It illustrates the contempt the sailors had for soldiers of the period.

A mess mate before a shipmate, a shipmate before a stranger, a stranger before a dog, a dog before a soldier.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Dem boots

In the middle of the James River in Richmond, Virginia, is Belle Isle, an island used during the Civil War as a PoW camp. Here's an incident from Belle Isle:

During the first day of their sojurn on the island, Mayhorn observed a rebel lieutenant.. wearing a pair of magnificient boots... [H]e watched the officer, followed him from place to place, and haunted him like a shadow till night. When, at last, the officer retired, Mayhorn succeeded in hooking the boots and making off with them. Next morning, however, he began to grow ill at ease, lest the officer, missing his boots, discover the boots in his possession, and deal summarily with him... He, therefore, carried the boots to another part of the island, and sold them to one of the rebel sentinels for twenty dollars...

Meanwhile, the bereaved officer missed his dear boots, and took active measures to recover them, in the shpae of offering twenty dollars reward. Mayhorn heard of it and, seeking out the officer, he said: "Will you give me the reward if I tell you who has your boots?"

"Yes, certainly; why not?"

"I thought because I was a Yankee--"


Oh, that makes no sort of difference; tell me who has my boots... and here are twenty dollars;" and the officer produced a twenty-dollar Confederate note.

"Well," said Mayhorn, "I will point out the fellow who has your boots, but I don't want him to know who informed on him... He would kill me if-"

"Very well; he shall not see you. Come with me and point him out, and here is your money."

The unfortunate sentinel was on post at the time, and wearing the stolen boots, large as life.

"Yonder he is! He has them on!" exclaimed Mayhorn, as he led the officer to a point from which the sentinel could be seen.

"So he has!... The barefaced scoundrel... here, take your money - Oh, I'll fix him!... To steal my - and from an officer...."

"It's too bad," said Mayhorn, sympathizingly; and he thrust his twenty-dollar bill into his pocket, and sought a position from which he could see the - as he called it - fun.

The rebel officer approached the sentinel, who was walking his eat displaying his boots to the best advantage-his pantaloons thrust within the tops.

"You burglar!" exclaimed the officer savagely....

"What!" and the rebel sentinel expanded his optics to an incredible size....

"What have I done?"

"What have you done! Varlet, look at those boots!"

The sentinel surveyed his boots with evident pleasure; he began to think that the officer was jesting with him. Supposing this to be a piece of unpardonable impudence and reckless defiance, the officer grew violent.

"You infernal rascal! OFF WITH THOSE BOOTS!" he vociferated.

The sentinel now perceived that the officer was in earnest; and he asked:

"What do you mean, anyhow?"

"What do I mean! You d__d thief!... Those boots are mine! You stole 'em; you know you did!"

"They're my boots; I bought 'em."

"You lie! You didn't!"

"I did; I bought 'em off a Yankee."

"You lying scoundrel! I"ll- CORPORAL OF THE GUARD!..."

"Corporal," said the officer, "bring another man here, and put him in this one's place. He has stolen my boots, and he must be arrested...."

"I didn't steal the boots," persisted the hapless sentinel....

"Not a word, or I'll punch a hole right through you, you miserable scamp."

As the adverturous-some would suggest suicidal-Mayhorn was among those Union prisoners exchanged, it may be concluded that neither the wrongfully accused sentinel, nor the outraged officer, managed to deduce that the brazen Yankee had outwitted both of them and gained 40 dollars in the bargain. Unfortunately, Mayhorn's Confederate bills would be useless along "Robbers' Row," as the sutlers' area at Harrison's Landing was called.

 

[4V50 Gary]

No Fishing

First Federal attempt to regulate fishing was during the Civil War.

Monday-Tuesday, May 25-26, 1863, Camp near Fredericksburg. We were told that Gen. Hooker requested General Lee to stop our men from fishing (seining) in the river. No doubt Hooker thinks the fish are Yankee and objects to their being caught by Southerners. Or perhaps he sympathizes with the fish. No, actually, he objects to the "communication" fishing brings between his troops and ours. Apparently he has some secrets (such as what he is going to do next) that he wants to keep from us.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Don't bring a handgrenade to a bomb fight

At Vicksburg, the Union soldiers hurled their handgrenades into the nearby Confederate trenches. The Confederates were dug in along the ridge line, which silhouetted them against the skyline and made them easy to pick off. The Federal trenches were downhill from the Confederates.

The hand-grenades were small shells about the size of a goose egg, filled with little bullets, probably larger than a buck-shot; they never exploded before hitting the ground, and only then when hitting a hard place, as they were fired by friction, and not by fuses. They wounded several of the regiment in the legs, generally slightly, but killed no one within my knowledge, always bursting too low to strike a vital park.

In return for the hand-grenades, our regiment, whose position was more elevated than the enemy's, threw shells, varying from six to ninety pounds, into his works, many of which did great execution; but we did not know it at the time, and this sort of shelling was not kept up: it was only after the siege that we learned, if it had been sustained, especially with the heavy shells, the works there would have been untenable.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Culp's Hill

Here's something that caught me by surprise. Most of us have heard about civilian John Burns who walked up to the Iron Brigade and asked to fight in their ranks. Burns was a veteran of earlier wars and age did not diminish his fighting spirit. Injured several times, he was hailed as the Hero of Gettysburg. This is about another civilian who joins the Yankees in fighting the Confederates at Gettysburg. He is unknown to us today but was seen by 5th Ohio Sergeant Peter A. Cozine who was fighting atop of Culp's Hill.

"On the left of our regiment an American citizen of African descent had taken position, and with a gun and a cartridge box, which he took from one of our dead men, was more than piling hot lead into the Graybacks. His coolness and bravery was noticed and commented upon by all who saw him. If the negro regiments fight like he did, I don't wonder that the Rebs and Copperheads hate them so."

I can understand why he fought. He may have been a runaway or may have had relatives nabbed by the Confederates and turned over to bondage. He may have been patriotic and defending home and hearth.

 

[Scorch]

Sorry Gary, don't meant to hijack the thread (I love this thread as I am a history buff), just a bit of information: "Copperheads" were anti-war pro-slavery Northerners.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Chow time

in the Vicksburg City Jail. Some boys in blue were captured and were sent to the Vicksburg City Jail. Their food was prepared by a black cook.

Upon reaching Vicksburg we were placed in the city jail, an old two story brick bulding situated in the heart of the city near the Court House. The building was enclosed by a brick wall about twelve feet in height, the enclosure containing about half an acre. In one corner of the yard was built a small brick cook house, used in cooking the food for the inmates of the jail. The cook was a great big buck Negro weighing about 250 pounds, and as important as a chef at Delmonicos in New York City, but I don't think it required as much skill to prepare a meal in the prison cook house as it would be in the above named place, as about all he had to cook was corn meal, corn cob, and all ground together, and stirred up with water, which was our regular fare... We received two meals a day at this place, breakfast at 9 a.m., supper at 4 p.m., no change of diet which consisted of a chunk of the aforesaid corn bread, pieces about four inches square. It was laughable to see our old d____y cook after having prepared our corn bread. He would step outside of the cook house door and yell, "Hellow dar yo pore white trash, fall in two ranks and come and done git yoah grub." If one of the boys should happen to get a little out of line he would yell out, "you get back in line Sah imejately sah." After they had formed ranks to suit him and we would march past and receive our rations.

It's better than what happened later in the war ('64-65) when prisoners on both sides were regularly starved. Let's not get into a discussion about Andersonville, Elmira, Camp Douglas or Libby Prison. If you want, go to http://www.CivilWarTalk.com/forums, gwine (Civil War parlance for "join") 'em and speak your civil mind there.

BTW Sorch, thanks for pointing out the meaning of copperhead to our non Civil War audience.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Definitely don't try this at home. More 19th Century medicine.

Here's something I found on-line from the Richmond Whig. Talk about substitutes.

RICHMOND [VA] WHIG, June 24, 1864, p. 1, c. 5
Lactucarium—A Cheap Substitute for Opium.—Port Gibson, Miss., May 23, 1864.—With a pocket knife cut the top of the lettuce off, just before or during blooming time. Scrape on a piece of glass the milk from the severed top, then apply the edge of the glass to the cut end of the plant and scrape off the milk.—The exudation will now cease unless you cut a wafer from the top of the tem, when it will pour out as before; this may be repeated with success for half a dozen times at that milking, when it ceases for that day. Repeat the process daily until the plant is exhausted of its milky fluid. This extract dries and turns brown. On the day succeeding the gathering, scrape the glass and collect the extract by pressing it into a lump, wrap it in paper and bottle tight.
A. . Peck, M. D.
[We have a sample of this substitute for opium, which we will take pleasure in showing to any one desiring to examine it. It is easily made, and is for many uses superior to genuine opium.—Mobile Advertiser.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Lose weight now!

Where have we heard this before?

RICHMOND [VA] WHIG, March 18, 1864, p. 1, c. 4
A Cure for Corpulence.—A philanthropist has lately laid his story before the public, and although the record may provoke a passing smile, yet no one who reads it can doubt the correctness and sincerity of the writer, or his hearty desire to benefit his fellow creatures. It is simply the narrative of a man who was tremendously fat, who tried hard for years on years to thin himself, and who was at least successful. He wished to let the world know how he had vanquished his terrible enemy, and how at last the demon of corpulence fled from him. This is really a great kindness, and a man who, without fear of ridicule, and simply from benevolent motives, comes forward to reveal an experience of this kind, is doing a service which his fellow-creatures ought to recognize. Mr. Banting, the gentleman who has had the courage and good feeling to write and publish this narrative, not long ago measured five feet five inches, and weighted about fourteen stone and a quarter. He owns that he had a great deal to bear from his unfortunate make; in the first place, the little boys in the street laughed at him; in the next place he could not tie his own shoes; and lastly, he had, it appears, to come down stairs backwards. But he was a man who struggled gallantly, and whatever he was recommended to do he honestly tried to carry out. He drank mineral waters, consulted physicians, and took sweet counsel with innumerable friends, but all was in vain. He lived upon sixpence a day, and earned it, so the favorite recipe of Abernathy failed in his case. He went into all sorts of vapor baths and shampooing baths. He took no less than ninety Turkish baths, but nothing did him any good; he was still as fat as ever. A kind friend recommended increased bodily exertion every morning, and nothing seemed more likely to be effectual than rowing. So this stout warrior, with fat, got daily into a good, safe, heavy boat, and rowed a couple of hours. But he was only pouring water into the bucket of Danaides.—What he gained in one way he lost in another.—His muscular vigor increased, but then, with this there came a prodigious appetite, which he felt compelled to indulge, and consequently he got even fatter than he had been. At last he hit upon the right adviser, who told him what to do, and whose advice was so successful that Mr. Banting can now walk down stairs forwards, put his clothes quite over the suit that now fits him, and, far from being made the victim of unkind or ill-judged chaff, is universally congratulated on his pleasant and becoming appearance. The machinery by which this change was effected was of a very simple kind. He was simply told to leave off eating anything but meat. It appears that none of his numerous friendly advisers, and none of the physicians he consulted, penetrated so far into the secrecy of his domestic habits as to have discovered that twice a day he used formerly to indulge in bowls of bread and milk. The Solomon who saved him, cut off this great feeder of fat, and since then Mr. Banting has been a thinner and happier man.—London Saturday Review.

I have the honour, Sirs, to be your friendly correspondent at TFL and

Your Humble and Obedient Servant,

4v50 Gary

Edited: Here's more and this time, you get to have your nightcap!

RICHMOND [VA] WHIG, July 18, 1864, p. 1, c. 2
The Cure for Corpulency.—Mr. Banting's Course of Treatment.—The means by which Mr. Banting managed to reduce his physical proportions may be interesting to some of our readers. Breakfast—four or five ounces of beef, mutton, kidneys, boiled fish, bacon, or cold meat of any kind except pork, a large cup of tea (without milk or sugar) and one ounce of dry toast. Dinner—five or six ounces of any fish except salmon, any meat except pork, any vegetables except potatoes, one ounce of dry toast, fruit out of any pudding, any kind of poultry or game, and two or three glasses of good claret. Nightcap, if required, a tumbler of grog, (gin, whisky, or brandy, without sugar), or a glass or two of claret or sherry. The quantities of the different articles specified in this liberal diet roll, Mr. Banting states, must be left to the natural appetite, but for himself he took at breakfast six ounces of solid and eight of liquid; at dinner, eight ounces of solid and eight of liquid; at tea, three ounces of solid and six of liquid; and the nightcap he introduces to show that it is not injurious, whilst for the encouragement of smokers it may be mentioned that tobacco is allowable. When Mr. Banting began this treatment in August, 1862, he weighed 202 lbs., and after a year's perseverance in it, in September, 1863, he had lost 46 lb., and reduced his girth 12¼ inches.

 

[grymster2007]

Excellent! Can't wait to tell Mrs. Grymster that my new diet will require 3 lbs. of filets a day! Oh yeah.... think it'd be OK to wash them down with half a bottle of 1995 Marguax Marguax?... only the dinnertime ones!

BTW: This is an excellent thread Gary and I thank you for all the effort that you put in to it.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Preventing rust

Here's another tidbit from the past. The comment about perspiration is notable and I had a friend who deblued his Ruger MK I because of his "acid" hands.

Rust on Guns.

In keeping a gun from rust always use animal oil and never let a gun remain rusty long. If a soldier wants to clean a rusty gun, he should first procure fine sand, which is easy obtained after a rain in water courses, mix it with oil, then scour all the rust off, if any rust remains it is apt to poison the iron and cannot be got off without great labor. Perspiration is a great enemy to iron; a soft tallow candle is good to prevent rust, and to kill rust first rub the rusty place with tallow, then put it in the sun shine, when it gets warm then rub the rust off, if the rust leaves a stain or holes always scour it out—lard oil is the best oil we can procure now. Always after a days shooting wash your gun out, wipe it dry inside and outside, then if the sun is shining put it in the sunshine and when warm wipe with a little oil; it is bad to oil the inside too much, for it will dampen the powder and render the gun useless until the charge is drawn; when the ball is drawn fill the barrel with water and let it remain for a quarter of an hour and then you can wash all out. One oiled rag can be used many times without adding oil to it, always prevent the air if possible, from getting inside of your rifle. I wish to give our soldiers as good advise [sic] as I can, hoping my advise [sic] will benefit them. Although old and not in the field, I wish to help as much as possible, and in a few days you will hear from me again.
H.
I fully endorse the above as my experience in rifle shooting, &c.
E. H. Rogers.

DAILY CONSTITUTIONALIST [AUGUSTA, GA], July 9, 1864, p. 2, c. 1

 

[4V50 Gary]

No soap, ask Norm Abrams for help...

Yankee Workshop can give you all you want; yours for the asking.

SAVANNAH [GA] REPUBLICAN, August 1, 1863, p. 1, c. 2

A Substitute for Soap.

Editor Savannah Republican:
As soap is very scarce and dear, it will be a great relief to our noble soldiers and their families, and so the public generally, to inform them that saw dust will clean the hands and face better than soap, and in half the time. This is particularly the case with blacksmiths and those that are used to heavy work.
In places where saw dust is scarce, a hair sifter should be used to pour the water from the washbasin to catch the saw dust, as it can be used over again as often as you please, either wet or dry. By using this economy a peck of saw dust would wash a regiment of soldiers for years; and it has another advantage, it does not smart the eyes like soap. [rest of article torn off]

 

[4V50 Gary]

Al Bundy is losing his job

Because TFL is going to teach you how to make your own shoes good enough for a black tie event. Imagine a model strolling down the runway with a pair of these puppies adorning her feet.

SAVANNAH [GA] REPUBLICAN, August 28, 1863, p. 2, c. 2
Squirrel Skin Shoes.—Squirrel skins tacked down to a board, the hair next to the board, with hickory ashes sprinkled over them for a few days, to facilitate the removal of the hair, and then placed in a strong decoction of red oak bark will, at the end of four days, make excellent leather, far stronger and tougher than calf skin. Four skins will make a pair of ladies shoes. We hear that the ladies of some of the interior counties are wearing these shoes, and find them equal in softness and superior in durability to any other. The longer the skins are left in the decoction of bark the better the leather. By this plan anybody may have a tanyard, and make their own leather, as the skins are easily and cheaply procured, and any vessel holding a gallon will serve as a vat. Any one will do well to try it.—Richmond Whig.

If you don't like squirrel shoes, how about traditional cowhide for shoe material?

DAILY CONSTITUTIONALIST [AUGUSTA, GA], April 10, 1862, p. 2, c. 5

From the Southern Federal Union.
Raw Hide Shoes.

A few weeks since I casually heard one of the most intelligent planters of Georgia, and who also plants largely in Texas, giving a description of this article, and believing that the manner of preparing them would be useful to a people who are fighting a powerful enemy without and a worse enemy within our midst, the vile and detestable extortioner, I procured for publication the following statement.
Baldwin.

Raw Hide Texas Shoes.

Capt. Clark Owens, of Texana, Jackson county, Texas, has a company of eighty men, now stationed at Houston, Texas, defending the coast and city of Galveston; many of these gallant soldiers are well shod with the raw hide shoes, which in symmetry and utility are not behind the best shoes used in our Southern Confederacy. The beef hide hide [sic] is placed in water and ashes and remains there until the hair will come off, the hide is then soaked in fresh water and rubbed until the lye is extracted; it is then soaked from 48 to 60 hours in strong salt and water; this prevents the hide from ever becoming hard and horny; it is then dried in the open air, not in the sun, and then beat with a maul or mallet until it becomes pliable as leather; it is then made into shoes as shoemakers make other shoes; upper part and soles are all of this prepared raw hide and made by sewing or pegging on the soles. The shoes are then well greased with oil, hog’s lard or tallow, greased all over the outside, both upper and bottom parts; this renders the shoes water-proof and in every way as valuable as the best leather shoes. These shoes are made with the grain or hair side outside, and in every respect are a cheap and valuable shoe.

 

[4V50 Gary]

And to go with those shoes...

TFL brings you hoisery, well, sorta.

SAVANNAH [GA] REPUBLICAN, October 19, 1863, p. 1, c. 4

A Substitute for Socks.
[Correspondent of the Register & Advertiser]

Marion Station, Oct. 7, 1863
In your issue of the 23d inst. I noticed a letter from a soldier on the subject of "covering for our soldiers." Many an appeal will, no doubt, soon be made to that effect, and I feel confident will be nobly responded to by the patriotic self-sacrificing ladies of the South.—Woolen socks will be needed; nevertheless, as there may be many a soldier who will be sadly deficient and unprovided in that respect, owing to the high price of wool, and to the growing scarcity of cotton, I thought it might not come amiss to call the attention of the soldiers to the following facts that came under my notice while travelling in Europe. During a winter's stay in France, I noticed that, as a general thing, the peasantry and soldiers wore no socks at all, but spread in the bottom of the boot or shoe a layer of soft beaten straw or hay, of sufficient thickness, without producing any pressure on the foot; the reason of this is obvious, since any pressure on the foot prevents the circulation of the blood, and consequently causes cold feet. The novelty of the system induced me to try the experiment, and I can, therefore, from experience, testify to its utility in point of comfort and economy; for while I used hay as a substitute, I never suffered from cold feet, nor had even occasion to grieve o'er

"Heel-worn, to [illegible] sock",
The greatest of all griefs, to bachelors of three score."

The advantage of the substitute I have suggested will appear plain, when its philosophy is considered, for what are generally the external causes that produce cold feet, beside the one above mentioned? Want of cleanliness, socks seldom or never washed. But allow even these to be clean, yet the moisture which arises from perspiration, and is absorbed by the socks being unable to evaporate, renders them damp, and necessarily produces cold feet; but all this is obviated by the simple substitute I have suggested. Moreover the hay so far from hurting the feet, by producing a gentle friction has a tendency to worm them, while any moisture arising, meeting with no absorbing surface, evaporates as rapidly as engendered, and thus the feet are kept dry and warm.
If necessity, the mother of invention, taught those trans-atlantic savages, perhaps centuries ago, the use of hay as a comfortable substitute for socks, let not our high toned soldiery, in this our pressing necessity, and in this enlightened country, consider it a retrograde step in civilization to "go and do likewise." I would advise them to give it at least a trial; and, if it is found to answer, let the wool be saved, be used in providing warm clothes for the "covering of our soldiers."
In view of the approaching winter, I have frequently mentioned these facts to the soldiers in the hospital, with the request to communicate them to their comrades, on returning to their respective comrades; but believing that my object will be more speedily accomplished by giving publicity to them through your columns, I determined to write to you, leaving it to your judgment to reject or insert this communication, if you think it proper.
With sentiments of the highest respect, I remain, gentlemen, yours, etc.
F. W. Damus,
Chaplain, P. A. C. S.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Horse Trading

Like buying a car, don't get taken. Take your time, shop & compare.

NASHVILLE DAILY UNION, May 15, 1862, p. 2, c. 4

Fast Horse Swapping.

A physician of Wilson county informs us that while riding along the road some ten miles from Lebanon, on the morning when Morgan's gang was cut to pieces, he met a rebel soldier galloping along on a horse half-dead with fatigue. The rebel drew his pistol on the physician and ordered him to swap horses immediately. Which urgent demand our friend readily complied with, thus getting a very poor in exchange for a very fine horse. The physician mounted and jogged along on his new steed for near half a mile, when he met another guerrilla, also riding as though the devil was close after him. Rebel number two also presented his little hostile arrangement, and requested an immediate transaction in horse flesh. The doctor again complied, and got on his second horse. He trudged slowly along the road on his worn-out and panting Rosinante for nearly a mile when a third guerrilla came plunging towards him, who also, like his predecessors, made an exhibition of belligerent machinery, accompanied with a proposition to swap horses, and a request to be d----d quick about it. The doctor had by this time got so used to such sudden commercial transactions, and losing any foolish attachment for his horse, just in proportion to the rapidity of his exchanges, that he smilingly got down a fourth time, and then, like John Gilpin, "got up again." Long before he reached his home he repeated this horse swapping, or rather had it repeated for him, no less than six times, he being rather passive in the business. The last horse he got was a very fine one, and better than the first. We have heard of places being so hot that "there was no time for swapping knives," but it appears that the hotter a place gets the better it is for swapping horses! This is the way in which these guerrillas get horses. Whenever a horse gets fatigued the first rider or team is topped and a trade is forced.

 

[FL-Flinter]

Gary,

The sawdust washing agent works but it has to be from hardwood - use wet.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Fighting Irish, they fight!

Thanks FL-Flinter, but a few years back Cost-Plus had a sale on soap. Ten cents a bar. Still got some. I'll defer on the sawdust for now.

Here's one on the Irish.

MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA, GA], October 24, 1863, p. 2, c. 6
The color-bearer of the 10th Tennessee, (Irish), having been shot down in the battle of Chickamauga, the Colonel ordered one of the privates to take the colors. Pat, who was loading at the time, replied: "By the holy St. Patrick, Colonel, there's so much good shooting here I haven't a minute's time to waste fooling with that thing."--Rebel.

 

[4V50 Gary]

The Docktor is in...

and shares the secret of curing a sore throat. Kids, don't try this at home.

[MARSHALL] TEXAS REPUBLICAN, January 7, 1860, p. 4, c. 1
To Cure Sore Throat.—Take the whites of two eggs and beat them with two spoonsful of white sugar; grate in a little nutmeg, and then add a pint of luke warm water. Stir well, and drink often. Repeat the prescription if necessary, and it will cure the most obstinate case of hoarseness in a short time.

Here's another cure. Both are probably better than syrup of snail.

WEEKLY COLUMBUS [GA] ENQUIRER, March 4, 1862, p. 1, c. 5
Malone's Mixture for a Cough or Cold.—Take one tea cup of flax seed, soak it all night; in the morning put in a kettle two quarts of water; a handful, split up, of liquorice root; one quarter of a pound of raisins, broke in half. Let them broil till the strength is thoroughly extracted, then add that flax seed which has been previously soaked. Let all boil half an hour more, watching and stirring, that the mixture may not burn. Then strain, and add lemon juice and sugar to the taste. Take any quantity of it cold through the day, and half a tumblerful of the above mixture warm at night. The recipe is excellent.