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Page 10
Soon after we camped at Randolph I was appointed third sergeant, and
after serving a few days as such was promoted to orderly sergeant.
This position, of course, exempted me from actual labor in the
trenches, but I had to oversee a squad of workmen. During these two
months we, with three other regiments, built Fort Wright, an
irregular fortification, inclosing about thirty acres. The fort had
no spring of water within the line of intrenchment; and after long
deliberation about some means of supplying it with this
indispensable article,--during which time we carried every bucket of
water used from the river,--the engineers erected a small wheezy
second-hand steam-pump on the bank of the river, which was intended
to force the water up the bluff into a large cistern that had been
constructed for that purpose. The cistern held about a week's supply
for two thousand men; but they never seemed to think that a single
cannon-ball could smash up the pump and cut off our supply of water.
If this defect had been remedied, and the fort had been well armed
and manned, it would have been hard to take; but it never availed
any thing to the Confederate service. We built four batteries on
the bank of the river, three of them mounting three guns each, and
the lower one six guns. These guns were 32 and 64 pounders. Three
miles further up, above the mouth of Hatchie river, another battery
of three 32-pounders was built.
Our rations at this time were neither very lavishly given nor very
choice in quality, yet there was no actual suffering. For the first
month whiskey was served, and the men were satisfied to work for the
promise of forty cents a day extra pay and three drams. In the fifth
week the drams were stopped, and the extra pay never began. I am
letting that little bill against the Jeff. Davis government, and
some larger ones, run at interest. The reader will agree with me
that they are likely to run some time.
"Stolen waters are sweet," says high authority, but some of our
regiment seemed to set a higher value upon stolen liquor. While the
whiskey ration was continued, there was little drunkenness. The men
were satisfied with the limited amount given, and the general health
of all was good. When the spirit ration was stopped, illicit trade
in the "crathur" was carried on by Jews and peddlers, who hung
around the camp a short distance out in the woods. The search after
these traders by the authorities was so vigilant, that at last there
was no whiskey vended nearer than the little town of Covington,
eight miles distant. This, however, did not deter the men from
making frequent trips to this place after it. Various expedients
were resorted to, in order to bring it inside of the guard-lines.
Some stopped the tubes on their guns, and filled the barrel with
liquor. The colonel, while passing a tent one day, saw one of the
men elevate his gun and take a long pull at the muzzle. He called
out, "Pat, what have you got in your gun? Whiskey?"
He answered--"Colonel, I was looking into the barrel of my gun to
see whether she was clean."
The colonel walked on, muttering something about the curiosity of a
man's eyes being located in his mouth. He was no sooner out of sight
than Pat inspected his weapon again, and from the sigh of regret
which escaped him as he lowered it, I judged that it was "_clean
dry_."
During our stay at Fort Wright, we were all thrown into commotion
one day by a mutiny, which for a time threatened very serious
consequences. Some of the members of Captain Cosset's company, of
our regiment, having found a treasure in the shape of a barrel of
whiskey, which an unlucky trader had not concealed securely from
their vigilance, got drunk, "ov coorse," and determined to show
their independence of military rule by absenting themselves from
evening dress-parade. The colonel, noticing the small number present
from this company, instructed Lieutenant Beard, then acting captain,
to have all the absentees arrested and sent to the guard-house. When
parade was dismissed, and the company returned to their quarters,
the lieutenant gave the order to one of the sergeants, who was
himself intoxicated. On attempting to carry out the order, the
sergeant was badly beaten by one of the offenders. A private in the
company by the name of Whalen, here interfered and rescued the
sergeant from the hands of his assailant. At this moment the
regimental quartermaster, Isaac Saffarrens, a brother of the
redoubtable hero of Belmont, whose deeds of valor will be duly
chronicled, appeared on the scene of action, and attempted to arrest
the man Whalen, whose only crime had been committed in saving the
sergeant from further beating. Whalen told him that he would not be
arrested, as he had not created any disturbance. The quartermaster
then tried to seize him, and was knocked down for his trouble. By
this time a crowd of officers had hurried to the ground, and the
surgeon of the regiment, Dr. Cavenaugh, came to the assistance of
his brother officer, and got a pair of damaged eyes for his
interference. The drunken company, who were really the proper
subjects for punishment, now sided with Whalen, and loaded their
guns with the avowed intention of shooting all the officers if they
again attempted to take him. In the _m�l�e_ that followed, one of
the officers shot Whalen, but the ball glanced from his forehead,
leaving only a red line on the skin, and he was soon on his feet.
He used no weapon but his fist; but he knocked the officers down as
fast as they approached. Reinforcements now arrived for the
officers. Colonel Walker, seeing that a general mutiny was imminent,
ordered out two batteries of light artillery and two companies of
infantry. The guns were placed so as to sweep the camp of the
mutineers, and they were summoned to surrender. They had intrenched
themselves behind a large mass of rock, whence it would have been
difficult to dislodge them without serious loss of life. After some
deliberation, they agreed to surrender if they were allowed to
retain their arms and return to duty. This proposition was of course
rejected, and the guns were double-shotted with grape, and a second
summons to surrender sent to them. This time they obeyed and threw
down their arms, which were secured, and they were soon strongly
guarded. I was detailed the same evening, with a number of others,
to guard these mutineers. During the night a fight occurred between
one of the mutineers and a prisoner in the guard-house. I interfered
between them, and was handsomely whipped by both of them. This was
too much for any one to stand, and seizing a gun from a sentinel I
pinned one of them to the wall of the guard-house with the bayonet,
and the other was bound by the guard. I now released the man I had
pinned to the wall, and was glad to find that he was only slightly
wounded in the side. He was also ironed and confined in the
black-hole.
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