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For the first year of the war each company wore its own uniform, and some were of fine material, but now the factory jeans, the famous Confederate grey, became a necessity, and our fine jackets were exchanged for long tailed frocks. We forgot those long tails when standing near the fire, and most of them got scorched, so that we had fork-tail coats, and learning wisdom by this experience mostly wore jackets afterwards. Sometimes the government would get a supply by blockade runners of fine English cloth and we would get good uniforms, almost too blue. I remember the Jenkins, S.C. brigade clad in these new uniforms, created a sensation when it appeared in Bragg's army in 1863, so blue did they appear in the distance and some of our scouts lost their lives by mistaken pickets. This writer was fired upon by his friends more than once whilst trying to enter the picket line
Salt was always scarce after the first year of war. Each man treasured a little in a box tied up in a rag in his haversack, but in damp weather, it frequently lost its savor, as well as its substance. I have tried a little gun powder as a substitute, but do not approve of it.
Cooking utensils were plentiful at first. After a time we were reduced to an oven and frying pan for each mess, and later to a skillet for each company. When the wagon drove up, each company had a man to claim the skillet, some being marked with a file, and frequently disputes as to ownership occurred. Some men would tie a frying pan or skillet to his knapsack, hence the famous expression, "tote his own skillet" so well known in one Alabama district. Halted for the night in a rain in the wet woods, one could wonder how he could light a fire. Soon a little glimmer appeared, when some man had obtained a little dried inner bark of a dead tree, ceder twigs or dry leaves, or a piece of newspaper, the little flame was carefully fed with pieces of dead twigs until it became a fire, then a hundred hands bore away little torches of twigs to become the parent of other fires. Some would gather wood for the night, some take the canteens and get water, and with the cheerful blaze, would arise the shouts of laughter and the hum of conversation. The meal, if we had any, being over, the old campaigner would bathe his feet in cold water, rub the bottoms with tallow, if he could get it, and toast them before the fire in order to harden them for the next day's tramp. Then if it still rained, blankets, oil cloths, or little tent flies captured from the foe were stretched over tent poles, and the men would crawl under them and sleep better than inmates in palaces. I have seen men who had lost their blankets sleeping on logs or fence rails by the fire, whilst snow was falling. Two men usually slept together, thus having a blanket under and one over them. When one's comrade was killed or went on picket, the other one had to fare as best he could. The night before eve charged Fort Sanders at Knoxville, was bitterly cold, and snow driven by a fierce wind that fell at intervals. As we lay on the side of the rocky hill facing the fort, the shells fell fell among the rocks and made us wakeful. Just before day, I saw the captain and first lieutenant of the next company fighting. I ran down, and assisted by main force in separating them, but could not learn the reason for the quarrel, until we formed line about break of day, when I was informed it was for "pulling cover" that is, the fellow on the windward side was angry because the other fellow got too much cover.
"Two Boys in the Civil War and After" by W.R.Houghton and M.B.Houghton.
Salt was always scarce after the first year of war. Each man treasured a little in a box tied up in a rag in his haversack, but in damp weather, it frequently lost its savor, as well as its substance. I have tried a little gun powder as a substitute, but do not approve of it.
Cooking utensils were plentiful at first. After a time we were reduced to an oven and frying pan for each mess, and later to a skillet for each company. When the wagon drove up, each company had a man to claim the skillet, some being marked with a file, and frequently disputes as to ownership occurred. Some men would tie a frying pan or skillet to his knapsack, hence the famous expression, "tote his own skillet" so well known in one Alabama district. Halted for the night in a rain in the wet woods, one could wonder how he could light a fire. Soon a little glimmer appeared, when some man had obtained a little dried inner bark of a dead tree, ceder twigs or dry leaves, or a piece of newspaper, the little flame was carefully fed with pieces of dead twigs until it became a fire, then a hundred hands bore away little torches of twigs to become the parent of other fires. Some would gather wood for the night, some take the canteens and get water, and with the cheerful blaze, would arise the shouts of laughter and the hum of conversation. The meal, if we had any, being over, the old campaigner would bathe his feet in cold water, rub the bottoms with tallow, if he could get it, and toast them before the fire in order to harden them for the next day's tramp. Then if it still rained, blankets, oil cloths, or little tent flies captured from the foe were stretched over tent poles, and the men would crawl under them and sleep better than inmates in palaces. I have seen men who had lost their blankets sleeping on logs or fence rails by the fire, whilst snow was falling. Two men usually slept together, thus having a blanket under and one over them. When one's comrade was killed or went on picket, the other one had to fare as best he could. The night before eve charged Fort Sanders at Knoxville, was bitterly cold, and snow driven by a fierce wind that fell at intervals. As we lay on the side of the rocky hill facing the fort, the shells fell fell among the rocks and made us wakeful. Just before day, I saw the captain and first lieutenant of the next company fighting. I ran down, and assisted by main force in separating them, but could not learn the reason for the quarrel, until we formed line about break of day, when I was informed it was for "pulling cover" that is, the fellow on the windward side was angry because the other fellow got too much cover.
"Two Boys in the Civil War and After" by W.R.Houghton and M.B.Houghton.
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