Battlefield Pickups

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

I found nothing to suit till I came to a rebel colonel who had a fine, large, gray overcoat and trimmed with gold braid. I rolled him over and took it off; took it to camp under my arm thinking, "Now I will have something fine and warm to put about me", but alas! When I got nice and settled down to sleep I could not sleep. The thoughts of lying under that rebel overcoat, and taking it off him in that lonley battlefield, overcame me. The way he appeared to me in the bright light of the moon made me think I was robbing my dead enemy, when he was helpless to defend himself, and no witness to the action but the sweet silvery moon. My heart filled with emotion and I got up and took it back and laid it over him, then returned to my company and lay down under a part of my comrads blanket, and immediatly went to sleep with a full ration in my stomach.

Sgt. Thomas Ford
24th Michigan

[marine05]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Not really sure that this qualifies as a 'battlefield pickup', but in reading Last Full Measure, about the 1st Minn, not the third book in the trilogy of the CW, a young soldier was wounded. A shell hit next to him and two of his mates, didn't kill any of them, but he was wounded in the groin. Actually his haversack was over his groin, a shell fragment or earth smashed into the haversack shredded it and as he found out later smashed a bottle he was carrying sending shards of glass into his thigh. After being a walking wounded for a couple of days he began to pick the glass out of his body and began to feel better. He was sent to a field hospital after his initial wounding and he picked up a "short" rifle to be used as a crutch, put the stock under his arm and the muzzle in the dirt.

Anyway after he began to feel better, a few days, he left the hospital to return to his company, he said "I picked up a rifle, a well stocked cartridge box, canteen, haversack and stuffed it full of items I needed and went to find the regiment."

[Mike Ventura]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

From the Inspecton Report of Lt. Gen'l Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Corps by Col. C. C. Jones in Jan-Feb 1865:

"ARMS
As a general rule, there is a great want of uniformity in the armament
of this command. The principal weapons in the hands of the men are the
long and short Enfield rifle, the Springfield musket, the Austrian
rifle, a variety of breech loading rifles, viz: the Spencer, the
Burnside, the Sharp, Maynard &c. and various kinds of pistols. Many if
not all of the breech loading rifles and pistols are captured arms. For
some of them, as the Spencer, there is a great difficulty in procuring
the requisite amount of ammunition, the supply now in the cartridge
boxes of the men and the ordnance train having been obtained exclusively
by capture...
...With such a variety of calibers, and in view of the fact that the
supply is at best but limited and uncertain, for at least some of the
guns mentioned, it becomes almost a matter of impossibility to secure at
all times the proper amount of ammunition...
...Many of the arms now in the hands of the men are claimed by them as
private property, having been secured by them by capture, purchase or
exchange...
...Captured arms are not turned over in very many respects as they
should be to the ordnance officer. Indifferent or heavy guns are
privately exchanged by the men upon the battlefield and elsewhere for
light carbines and other guns more suited to the fancy of the captor,
and thus where uniformity of armament existed, there occurs an
interpolation of guns of various calibers, descriptions and ranges....

And further on:

ACCOUTREMENTS
The deficiency existing in this particular is patent, a full supply, I
am informed, has never been received, and many of the accoutrements now
in use are captured property.

[DougCooper]

Every man on his own hook

Would be interesting to know if there is a primary source or a new book or paper on the attitude of the avg CS soldier toward his govt's ability to supply him with sufficient uniforms, equipment and especially weapons. There are many anecdotes of course but I am wondering if there was a sort of tacit acceptance on the part of overworked and under-appreciated QM's, as well as the soldiers themselves, that a certain pct of supply must come from the enemy. One wonders if there was a mental calculation on the part of the central QM to this effect when establishing rates of resupply, etc. There is no particular reason I can discern why overcoats could not be produced in larger quantities, yet they were not. Was there some calculation that enough could procured from the enemy to cover most requirements, allowing the QM's to concentrate on other items?

In Mike's excellent post above Col Jones decries the attitude that would consider captured property the private property of the soldier vice govt property. Jones might as well curse the wind - I imagine your avg soldier operated on the simple principle that "one in the hand is worth two in the bush" - "no matter how hard it is to get ammo for my new weapon, there is no way I am turning this back in to the QM - I will never see it again."

So you have the equivalent of a black market in weapons and ammo that the system cannot properly account for and hence supply. After awhile the system would begin to be tolerated by all concerned if the result was that everyone acutally had a weapon. American soldiers have always been extremely self sufficient...a good thing in this case. Doing less with more was the watchword of nearly every facet of Southern Industry...and it matched the attitude of self reliance and ingenuity of the soldiers themselves.
Great thread!!!

[TeamsterPhil]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

I wish I'd seen this thread when I was at work to day.

Battlefield pickups started very early in the war. I have a copy of a letter written by a Virginia Private, just after 1st Manassas, stating that he was kept dry by a blanket taken from a dead Union cavalryman, and the letter was being written using paper and pen taken from the same source.

Phil Campbell

[John of the Skulkers Mess]

writing papers

There are some surviving letters of officer A.C. Riley of the 1st Missouri Infantry on 'union' stationary taken from an Ohio regiment's campsite at Shiloh.

Missouri Historical Review had a multi-part article several years back by descendant H. Riley Bock of New Madrid, Mo.

John Pillers

:)

[marine05]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Here's another one that I found interesting also in the book on the First Minnesota Volunteers: Oct 26, 1862 was extremely hot, according to Lochern, who recalled the effect of the heat on the Nineteenth Maine, a brand-new regiment recently brigaded with the Minnesotans and now marching just ahead of them. The men were "unused to marching with the heavy loads carried by soldiers, and having knapsacks stuffed with everything, provided by the thoughtful care of friends and relatives on leaving home, found their burdens too heavy, and, in general, lightened by throwing away their new overcoats, strapped on top, and most readily removed. As our regiment marched next behind, with light knapsacks, and were well seasoned to fatigue, the men picked up the overcoats, and before night were fully supplied, ready for the cold weather, which set in within a week afterward."

So I guess they did!!

YOS,

DJM

[ScottMcKay]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Here's an account of battlefield pickups and those of another sort. It is from a letter to the wife of 2Lt Sebron G. Sneed of Co. G, 6th & 15th Texas Regiment in regards to the engagement at Dug Gap on May 8, 1864, the opening day of the Atlanta Campaign. This passage focuses on the day after the fight:

“The next day we built breastworks on the summit of the ridge - - Went over the battle field. There were one hundred and twenty nine dead yankees in front of our Brigade and a number of wounded. Our men got plenty of coffee and little necessaries from Knapsacks that were left on the field. I got a blanket, the first yankee property I have had, We lost all our baggage that we threw off at the place we were ordered to double quick - - Some of the soldiers that we were going up to assist rifled the pile of everything that was worth carrying away. They went down the mountain that night before we could send for our baggage. I thought a mean trick - - Had we been running away from battle, then I would not have minded it, but since we had thrown down our things in order to hasten to the relief of the very men who plundered us I cannot but say it was thievish and they were a set of scoundrels but such acts are not uncommon - Southern Chivalry will do to boast over, but to tell you the plain fact, there is as much low manners and cowardice in the Southern ranks as you will find anywhere else. There are some Regiments and brigades that are the honorable exceptions and not only fight nobly, but in their intercourse with the citizens and with each other seem to be actuated by the spirit of gentlemen generals, but with the citizens and the balance of the army, so far as plundering and robbing them would indicate; and they live for self alone - - preying upon their comrades and countrymen whenever they can do so without being detected. The war is having a fearfully demoralizing influence on our men - developing what some had heretofore kept concealed and implanting the seeds of viciousness and selfishness in the hearts of others that be hard to eradicate.”

[ScottMcKay]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

I have several regimental accounts that mention just 'Kentucky Cavalry' as the men that ransacked the baggage of the men that came to their aid, but the following article from the Memphis Daily Appeal (published in Atlanta) on the next day, gives more detail to the identity of those men.

FROM THE FRONT.

DALTON, May 9. - Hookers corps attempted yesterday afternoon to carry Dug gap by storm, but the attack was defeated by Grigsby’s Kentucky cavalry and the 1^st Arkansas Infantry, who repulsed three assaults, inflicting loss on the enemy.

Our ammunition becoming exhausted, the men resisted the last assault by pelting the enemy with stones, until the arrival of Granbury’s Texas brigade when the enemy were routed as he hastily withdrew. Our loss was very small. One Yankee lieutenant and twenty men were captured. Slight skirmishing was going on in front up to dark.

The enemy having massed a heavy force in front of Rocky Face five lines of battle being visible, it was thought they would attempt to carry it by storm this morning, but as yet no demonstration has been made.

[Holy Joe]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Found a couple more, one relating to battlefield pickups, the other relating to the "spoils of war";

MOBILE REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, July 24, 1864, p. 1, c. 8

Picture of the War.
Jack Hardin, or the Old Soldier of the Arizona Brigade.
[From the Texas Telegraph]

* * * He was passing by our camp with a simple nod, driving before him a miserable pony that should have been discharged with a pension.

"Stop, old soldier, and give us the news. What command are you from?"

"Baylor's regiment, Major's division. Wo, there, Starvation, and browse the leaves a little. "Hain't had a mouthful but piney woods grass for four days."

"Is that a specimen of your cavalry horses that have had the forty-six days' running fight."

"Not exactly. I had a first-rate horse I got from a dead Ohio Yankee, t'other day, but I met a fine boy going to the army, limping yet from a wound at Pleasant Hill, and he had broke down this horse and was trying to walk. As I was going on a furlough, I took his nag and gave him mine, and I have been driving him and walking ever since."

"Put him to the trough there; he shall be fed. Where is your command now, and what doing?"

"Chasing the d---d Yankees yet—down below the Atchafalaya—giving 'em h—l."

"You don't seem to have much affection for the rascals. Why are you going the wrong way to find and punish them?"

"Well, Capting. I've been thinking o' that, and have half a notion to turn back. But then you see I'm 55 years old and I have not had no furlough or lost a day in three years and three months; and I drawed with the rest of the boys and it was my luck to get it. I offered it for a pound of tobacco, but none of 'em had more'n a chaw, and so I started; sort o' shamed too 'cause I hadn't no family, but a little girl with her mother's people way down in San Antonio. Hain't no home myself. So I told the boys to give me all their money and I'd go out and see my child and bring in a load of country tobacco. They said hurrah for old Jack Hardin, they did; and they gave me their little change. They've only given me a short furlough and I think old Starvation can't make it to San Antonio and back, so I'll gist go out to Hardin county and see my old uncle, git my tobacco and come back and let some of the other boys go."

"Have you been through all the fights without getting wounded or taken prisoner—Arizona and all?"

"Everywhere, and never got a scratch; but good many times I thought it was all up. You've hearn of Glorietta, I reckon. Well thar was the d---st place I ever got into. I was left with the sick to watch the teams, and all of 'em went into the fight and 'fore I know'd it, here come the Yanks to cut off our train and teams and all. I did manage, God knows how, to chase off twenty mules down a holler and hid behind the rocks, and they never did find me nor my mules; so I saved that many, and that was all that was saved. It saved the lives of our poor sick boys, for they couldn't walk, and every d—d thing besides was gone up."

"But you have a new homespun coat; where did you secure that piece of good luck. The dead Yankee that gave you a horse was not dressed in homespun, was he?"

"No, I was in a sort of hurry when I got his horse, or I'd pulled on his long boots, seein' he wouldn't need 'em any more. But d—n his blue coat! I'd go naked 'fore I'd wear that! You see the hailstones was mighty thick and I might o' got hurt by delayin'. This coat ha, ha! I got curious. As I came along in the jayhawker thicket a feller jumped up from behind a tree and run like a quarter horse. I reckon he'd been asleep. I examined his bed and found only this coat, which had been his pillow. It fits me mighty well, and as I had none I just borrowed it. My old uncle, they say, is rich and I wanted a coat for fear he wouldn't own me. And that d—d jayhawker, he hain't got no rich uncle to visit. I reckon, if he kept on agoin' he's at Orleans by this time."

Having replenished his pony and his appetite, he trudged on saying, "Might obliged, Capting; good luck!" Three days later I was astonished at a hearty salute from old Jack Hardin, passing by with only a "gwine back, you see!"

"Hold on here, my old soldier—halt, and give us the news of your rich uncle."

"Well, I heard at Jasper that he'd moved away out 'tother side of the Warloup [sp?], and I thought it warn't no use to be follerin' him, so I jist gathered up as much tobacker as the pony could travel under, and started back to camps. You see, I hain't got no home and nobody, but the boys cares for Hardin, and the tobacker will give him a welcome. I bet they'll hurrah when they see me and old 'Starvation' with the load. Then they might git into a fight, and they'd miss old Hardin equal to a squad of doctors among our wounded men. They'll miss me—they will if any on 'em gits hurt." And he started off.

"Stop. You shall not be cheated out of your furlough. Just report to the sergeant in camp, and put old "Star" in the cavallard. He shall be fed—and you, too, till you recruit."

"Thank you, Capting; I'll do that. But you're the first man has offered me shelter since I started. These d----d fellows this o' way don't know that a soldier's human—they think he's a feller to gouge, and charge him a month's wages for a night's lodgin'. D---n 'em! They need a Yankee raid up here. I hearn one making a mighty fuss out here, cause one of his niggers has to work for the Government at the breastworks. I axed him how many years he'd carried a musket in the war himself. This sort o' flummoxed him, and he said he was 45.

"And I'm 55," says I, "and would fight the Yankees if I was 65, ef I could see to draw a bead."

Three days after I called for Jack, thinking to make him a courier to Gen. Taylor, as I needed one; but he was gone—left early that morning, leaving me a message of "bleeged," and saying to the sergeant:--"Tell the 'Capting' that he knows now how to treat an old soldier. That I'm washed clean, well rested, got my belly full, and horse, too, and am good for another three years now, or for the war, if it takes forty years to whip out the Yanks."

Let the readers of this sketch remember the name of old Jack Hardin, of Baylor's regiment, Arizona regiment, as a model patriot and soldier.

From the MOBILE REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, May 15, 1864, p. 3, c. 3;
(Referring to the aftermath of the Red River Campaign)

From the Houston Telegraph, April 23.....

In the saddle near Grand Ecore, La....Many of the stately residences along the route are blackened ruins, the fences destroyed by fire, and a scene of desolation and devastation is seen on every side. I wondered what the object was for an army and people who professed to belong to a Christian nation, to thus devastate the land they profess to come to save—oh shame! where is thy blush? I had formerly believed that many of the stories of the burning of dwellings, robberies of churches, &c., were exaggerated, but after seeing these things with my own eyes I am now satisfied they are true. A Catholic Church in the Spanish settlement near Double Bayou bridge was sacked and the church ornaments carried away, even the window curtains were taken. This cannot be denied.
In the knapsack of one of the 10th army corps was found the jewelry of a young lady. Ear-rings, breastpins, and even her underclothing was there. I will do the enemy the justice to say that the orders of their Generals severely punish outrages of this kind, but many of the inferior officers encourage their men to do these acts, and even share with them in the spoils. These incidents are no bombast or misrepresentation. I can vouch for their truth. Well may we say, "Oh Union, what atrocities are committed in thy name!" . . . Sioux.

[BobRoeder]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

More a trade of necessity, but thought it could be included in the examples offered thus far.

From A Yankee Private's Civil War - Robt. Hale Strong, pg. 20.

While fighting in Georgia, Strong recounts the following: "We went back to the breastworks [relieved from the skirmish line] and were eating our crackers and coffee when some of the men from the skirmish line came up with a rush. Some Rebels were attacking. Captain Scott says, 'Boys, you will have to move.' We jumped up. As we struck our feet, down went Elias Cook, shot through the breast...Things calmed down on the skirmish line, so we sat down again. Almost immediately, we had to rise and get ready to fight if needed. Elias Burns sang out, 'The Rebel bullet is not yet made, that is to kill me.' At that, he jumped up and fell down the same instant with a bullet in his brain. He fell across my lap - I was still sitting - and his brains and blood ran into my haversack, spoiling my rations. So I took his."

[tmdreb]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Not a good day to be named Elias.

[NCyankee]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Maybe more guys could say it's what was issued instead of they picked it up when using federal qear as part of their confederate impression.
Lots of reports about cavalry action from Forrest,Stuart,Mosby,Wheeler and more list captured supplies in detail and number. Many reports list thousands of arms or accouterments,uniform parts,blankets and all sorts of stuff captured on raids not to mention livestock,ammo and rations.
While the north usually burned warehouses and depots full of southern goods they captured, captured northen supplies were usually turned over to the army quartermaster dept. and issued where needed.

Chad Nasworthy

[jamie gillum]

Re: Battlefield Pickups

Thomas R. Hooper, of the 16th Tennessee, recorded in his diary that at the battle of Perryville while going to the rear after being wounded:

"I now was so weak that I could not keep up, I therefore went to the rear, taken a pair of shoes off a dead Yank upon my way, but I would not have did it for aany a minute if I had not have been in great need of them. I also picked up a cup and canteen - could here get peaches and a great many thirsting if I could have packed them."

Jamie Gillum

[csuniforms]

Re: Battlefield Pickups--From Atlanta

In the St. Charles Historical Society in Illinois is a English knapsack picked up at Atlanta and carried by a member of the 127th Illinois for the rest of the war, and brought home.

Headquarters Dep't of the Cumberland
Murfreesboro, Tenn. Feb. 20, 1863.

General Oder No. 10.

IT having been frequently reported to the General Commanding that the Confederate soldiers approach our lines dressed in our uniforms and apperard such in battle and thus savagelike, carried out colors to deceive us. It is ordered that none so dressed shall receive when so captured, the rights of prisoners of war and that in battle no quarter be given them.

By Command of Major General Rosecrans.

As a consequence from the 60th NY- October, 1863.

A day or two after the regiment left, 37 non-commissioned officers and men of Longstreet's Corp came into Bridgeport and gave themselves up.
The Rebels understanding that orders were given to shoot all prisoners taking having on the US uniforms...when captured some are entirely destitute of clothing in fear of the consequences.

So during a tactical-- in some situations to be captured naked would be very very authentic--
From Cadet Gray and Butternut Brown

Tom Arliskas
csuniforms