Civil War
Example for the entire army
WISHED THE ARMY CHARGED LIKE THAT.
A prominent volunteer officer who, early in the War, was on duty in Washington and often carried reports to Secretary Stanton at the War Department, told a characteristic story on President Lincoln. Said he : "I was with several other young officers, also carrying reports to the War Department, and one morning we were late. In this instance we were in a desperate hurry to deliver the papers, in order to be able to catch the train returning to camp.
"On the winding, dark staircase of the old War Department, which many will remember, it was our misfortune, while taking about three stairs at a time, to run a certain head like a catapult into the body of the President,striking him in the region of the right lower vest pocket. "
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Lincoln and a Soldier's Request for Furlough
President Lincoln received the following pertinent letter from an indignant private, which speaks for itself: "Dear President I have been in the service eighteen months, and 1 have never received a cent. I desire a furlough for fifteen days, in order to return home and remove my family to the poor house/ The President granted the furlough. It's a good story and true.
From Old Abe's Jokes: Fresh from Abraham's Bosom.
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General Grant and a rebel's knapsack
The day before General Grant attacked Fort Donelson, the troops had had a march of twenty miles, part of it during a bitter cold night. Grant called a council of war to consider whether they should attack the fort at once, or should give the troops a day or two of rest. The officers were in favor of resting. Grant said nothing until they had all given their opinion; then he said: "There is a deserter who came in this morning, let us see him and hear what he has to say." When he came in, more...
Colonel Owen's Squad Drill
Great difficulty was experienced in furnishing the Pennsylvania troops with shoes at the commencement of the three months service. Those that were furnished were generally much too large for the wearers - a fault which occasioned much merriment and some inconvenience. A raw recruit in Colonel Owen's regiment was being put through the squad drill, when the following colloquy took place
SERGEANT. " Why don't ye mind the others there, Patrick Kelly ? There ye've bin standin' like a spalpeen iver since ye come out, and niver a once faced to the right or left! Shure an' I'll arrist ye! D'ye mind that ?"
PRIVATE. " Ye're mistaken altogether, sargeant. Shure an' ye've been lookin' at me shoes. Devil a bit can I turn thim around! "
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Stonewall Jackson
At a council of generals early in the war, one remarked able to perform a duty that it was proposed to assign him. " Wounded !" said Jackson. "If it really is so, I think it must have been by an accidental discharge of his duty."
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Sentimental poem
A Sentimental Young Lady in Northern Georgia indited the following to some of her admirers in the � "Ridgeament":
"'Tis hard for youens to sleep in camp;
'Tis hard for youens to fight;
'Tis hard for youens through snow to tramp;
In snow to sleep at night;
But harder for weans from youens to part,
Since youens have stolen weans hearts."
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Grave Inscription
A rebel soldier, after burying a Federal who had been killed during one of those sanguinary engagements which terminated in the retreat of the Union army from before Richmond, fixed a shingle over the grave, bearing this inscription:
�The Yankee hosts with blood-stained hands
Came southward to divide our lands
This narrow and contracted spot
Is all that this poor Yankee got!"
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General Kelley and a Secession Girl
When the General was in quest of guerrillas in Western Virginia, he captured a young woman named Sallie Dusky, two brothers of whom were Captains in the rebel army. The General, feeling confident that the girl knew the hiding-places of the guerrillas, had a private conversation with her, and during the interview, having failed to get much satisfaction, he told her, if she would make a clean breast of it, he would give her the chances for a husband of all the young officers in his staff. This failed to bring the information, more...
Bungtown Riflemen - the army of none
Sparrowgrass' proposition, that the Home Guard should not leave home except in case of invasion, is equal to the old story of the Bungtown Riflemen, an Ohio military company, whose by-laws consisted of two sections, namely :
- Article First. This company shall be known as the Bungtown Riflemen.
- Article Second. In case of war this company shall immediately disband.
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