Drum Taps in Dixie: Memories of a Drummer Boy, 1861-1865
John Stuart Mill · en
First Maine, 2d corps, 423; 8th New York, 2d corps, 361; 7th New York, 2d
corps, 291; 2d Connecticut, 6th corps, 254, 1st Massachusetts, 2d corps,
241, 2d Pennsylvania, 9th corps 233; 14th New York 9th corps, 226; 2d New
York, 2d corps 214; 9th New York, 6th corps, 204.
Naturally the writer is proud of the fact that his old regiment stands
high on the honor roll. The record of 214 killed in battle tells the
story, plainer than words, that the 2d New York Heavy Artillery were where
the bullets were flying thick and fast.
BOUND FOR THE LAND OF FREEDOM.
The negro contrabands that flocked to our lines during the closing days of
the struggle furnished a great deal of amusement to the soldiers. In their
hasty flight for freedom they picked up the very articles that were of
little use to them, even to feather beds, boxes, cotton umbrellas,
stovepipe hats and of course every musician his banjo. The girls wore huge
hoop skirts which were then in vogue, and many had on flounced silk
dresses that had evidently been borrowed from “Missus’ wardrobe.” There
was nothing these poor black people would not do for “Massa Lincum soldier
men,” whom they fairly worshiped. An old “Mammy” made my chum and I an old
fashioned “hoecake” at high bridge, baking it in a skillet which she
buried in the coals of a campfire, and it was about the most toothsome
morsel I ever ate. Goodness gracious! what would I give for the appetite
and digestion of those days.
PRAYER FOR THE C. S. A.
We entered a neat looking church one day, and one of the boys opened an
Episcopal prayer book at the altar, and at the “Prayer for All in
Authority,” found that the words “the president of the United States” had
been cut out, and, folded in the book, was a manuscript copy of prayers
for the “Confederate States of America.”
RICHMOND AFTER THE EVACUATION.
Those who have visited this beautiful Virginia city in recent years have
no idea of the appearance of the place after it was evacuated by the
Confederates. Lee’s message of April 2, telling Jefferson Davis that “my
lines are broken in three places, Richmond must be evacuated this
evening,” found Mr. Davis in church. He quietly withdrew, and the fate of
the city was soon noised about the streets, which became filled with men,
wagons and negroes carrying trunks and bundles of every description.
After the departure of President Davis and others of the Confederate
government, Gen. Ewell issued orders for the burning of the large
warehouses of the city, and thus a great conflagration was started that
threatened to lay in ashes all of the business structures.
The city council met and decided to destroy every drop of liquor in town,
and at midnight committees of citizens visited every ward and rolled
hundreds of barrels of whisky into the streets, and, knocking the heads
out, the gutters were flooded. The shipping at the wharves was fired and
pandemonium reigned complete for 24 hours.