The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
History
The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2
Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
SHOWING HOW THE GENERAL OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE ISSUED AN AFFECTING
GENERAL ORDER; EXEMPLIFYING THE BEAUTIES OF A SPADE-CAMPAIGN AS
EXHIBITED IN STRATEGY HALL, AND CELEBRATING A NOTABLE CASE OF
NAVAL STRATEGY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 26th, 1862.
The high-minded and chivalrous Confederacy having refused to consider
itself worsted in our recent great strategic victory near Paris, my
boy, it only remained for the General of the Mackerel Brigade to
commence undermining the Confederacy, after the manner of a civil
engineer; and when last I visited the lines, I found a select
assortment of Mackerels engaged in the balmy summer pastime of digging
holes, and dying natural deaths in them.
There was one chap with an illuminated nose, who attracted my
particular attention by landing a spade-full of sacred soil very neatly
in my bosom, and says I to him:
"Well, my gallant sexton, how do the obsequies progress?"
"Beautiful," says he, pausing long enough to take a powder which the
surgeon had left with him. "We've just struck a large vein of typhoid
fever, and them air Peninsula veterans, which, you see in them holes
yonder, are already delirious with it. Really," says the chap, with an
air of quiet enjoyment, as he climbed into the hospital litter, just
sent after him--"really, there's a smart chance of pushing on our
cemetery to Richmond before the roads become impassable again."
I was looking after him, as the bearers carried him off, my boy, when I
saw Captain Villiam Brown ambling leisurely toward me on his
geometrical steed, Euclid, alternately perusing a paper which he held
in his right hand, and discussing a canteen in his left. The
countenance of the warrior was thoughtful, and his shovel swung
listlessly against the charger's flank.
"How now, my Jack of Spades?" says I, sportively.
"Ah!" says Villiam, slowly descending from the roof of his stallion,
and suffering the latter to lean against a tree, "here is a new
Proclamation for the moral refreshment of the United States of America.
Read this impartial edick," says Villiam impressively, "and you will
find it worthy of the Union Track Society."
I took the official parchment, my boy, and found inscribed upon it the
following affecting
GENERAL ORDER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account