Foraging Parties vs. Companies

[unclefrank]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

We all will treat you'ens plenty fair, both before and after we hang ya! :baring_te

[Ken Cornett]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

Jim, I'll just say that scenario has been discussed on the Mess No. 1 side...but volunteers are hard to come by.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

Eric-

To what address can we send boxes of "breakable/searchable" period items that can be used in scenarios? I have a few things of period stuff I don't mind destroying. I heard that there would be a collection point for these items.

Thanks- Johnny Lloyd

[BenjaminLDavis]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

Why Jim, that's an easy one. Somebody stops at a medical center for a cadaver or wanders inner city alleys until a dead bum is located. Another guy volunteers some worn out or mainstream clothing to dress our new friend, let's call him Issac, in grave clothes. A country ham, some produce and a few silver trinkets from the flea market placed around the body in plain pine box completes the picture.

Matt ~ a grisly picture indeed, but these hardened men would not be deterred.
I must, however, clarify my original remarks. It was more of an either/or, in that
you found valuables and/or food in the casket, or you found rotting remains, but
not both.
Boys of Mess #1 it is to your credit that you discussed this. If anybody could bring
it off, it would probably be Mr. Woodburn ( I still remember the rats of Vicksburg!! I
never did hear, how did they taste? )
I look forward to this event a little more every day. Poague will do the stealing, and
young Eric will clean the unfortunate creatures that cross our paths, and I will keep
them amused! And do my share of the foraging, digging and cooking!
Forage liberally!! And keep one eye to the dark shadows of the woodline.

[Tom Craig]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

Jim, I'll just say that scenario has been discussed on the Mess No. 1 side...but volunteers are hard to come by.

At one of the Winter '64 events (I forget which year) we actually had a guy who "died" and we put him in a coffin and carried him off, out of the event. The guy was a young guy, and had volunteered to end his event...it was creepy and cool.

The next time around I was the NCO in charge of "digging up" the remains of a dearly departed private who's wife had come to claim the body. I had my squad out digging, and figured it was just a kind of for show type of thing, until one of the guys shovels hit something hard and hollow! It was then that I realized that the event hosts had actually buried a casket in that semi-frozen ground. The guys were all a little creeped out, but also displayed some of that maudlin humor you read about in period accounts. We dug the casket up, and again were surprised when we lifted it, and found it was heavy enough actually have a body in it! The cool final touch was when a wagon came in to camp, and we loaded the cakset on board, and off went our dead pard in the wagon! Cool stuff!

Take care,
Tom Craig

[Ken Cornett]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

I know Hank Trent did it at the last I-600. Pretty cool.

[Ken Cornett]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

I want to make it clear that foraging parties will not be combined before the events starts. We have "full" parties, and we have "half-filled" parties. The goal on the Yankee side was to have representation of all of the parties we started with and we want to stay that way. In other words, (example) if the 4th Minnesota only brings 6 men, then they will operate with 6 men and if they don't have an officer or NCO, then they will run with a private in charge.

This is not to say that the division commander won't send them out with another party that is also short. He can send them out with a full party as well. And, the exampled party can do as they wish within reason. The military structure is very loose. This will all be addressed in a meeting on Friday night.

I just wanted to be clear about "no combining of parties" before hand. What you do after the bell rings is up to you. I won't care one bit.

[Pvt_Sullivan]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

With all the talk of pie and prisoners... This thread might need some rereading.

I wonder how many people remember the Federals are Foraging Parties, the Georgians are retreating Militia and the Civilians are going to be victims of war waged on the populace?

I believe fresh baked pie doesn't ride well in a haversack.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

With all the talk of pie and prisoners... This thread might need some rereading.

I wonder how many people remember the Federals are Foraging Parties, the Georgians are retreating Militia and the Civilians are going to be victims of war waged on the populace?

I believe fresh baked pie doesn't ride well in a haversack.

A voice of reason!! Pete you can always tell who reads and who does not!!

[PetePaolillo]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

A little review for those that might need it.....

http://books.google.com/books?id=A6EOAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

The army which turned its back upon this ruined town and plunged boldly into the enemy's country was a remarkable one. Herculean efforts had been made to purge it of all non-combatants. Invalids, sutlers, servants, war correspondents, and all the host of camp followers that hang upon the skirts of a great army had been relentlessly ordered to the rear. In all there were in line 62,204 men, all able-bodied veterans, ready to do and dare all that their leader might direct. In their cartridge-boxes were forty rounds apiece; in the ammunition wagons was enough powder and ball to make up 200 rounds for each soldier. Stripped to its lightest, as it was, the wagon train of this army was formidable. Twenty-five hundred wagons dragged by teams of six mules each, six hundred ambulances with two horses apiece, and sixty-five cannon, to each of which were harnessed eight animals, made up a column that, if extended along a single road, would have been over twenty miles long. As the army advanced by four nearly parallel roads, however, this train was broken up, and in each column a procession of wagons about five miles long held the center of the road, while the troops trudged along on either side. Herds of cattle were driven along to furnish food for the army. The wagons held some quantity of food,— 1,200,000 rations, or enough for twenty days, Sherman says,—but the chief reliance for food and forage for the horses and mules was to be placed upon the country, on which the leaders of the different columns were instructed to forage liberally.
Though not a holiday jaunt exactly, the march through Georgia was still so easy a task that, when the heads of the columns entered Savannah, the men were actually more robust and in better spirits than when they left Atlanta. The armed resistance that was offered to the progress of the columns was so slight as to afford only amusement to these grizzled veterans. Sherman had had a clear idea of what he had to expect, when, before starting from Atlanta, he had told an officer whom he was sending back to join Thomas at Nashville, " If there is going to be any fighting at all you will have it to do." Indeed the fierce words of the proclamations of Confederate governors, senators, and members of Congress were the principal weapons which the startled and demoralized people of Georgia employed against the invaders.

It was a cheerful and confident army that undertook the great march to the sea. General Sherman describes for us the scene upon the first day.
About 7 A. M. of November 16 we rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps, and reaching the hill just outside of the old Rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scene of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay Atlanta, smoldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air and hanging like a pall over the ruined city. Away off in the distance, on the McDonough road, was the rear of Howard's column, the gun-barrels glistening in the sun, the white-topped wagons stretching away to the south ; and right before us the Fourteenth Corps marching steadily and rapidly, with a cheery look and steady pace that made light of the thousand miles that lay between us and Richmond. Some band, by accident, struck up the anthem of " John Brown's soul goes marching on;" the men caught up the strain, and never before or since have I heard the chorus of " Glory, glory, hallelujah! " given with more spirit or in better harmony of time and place.

Then we turned our horses' heads to the east; Atlanta was soon lost behind the screen of trees and became a thing of the past The day was extremely beautiful, clear sunlight with bracing air, and an unusual feeling of exhilaration seemed to pervade all minds— a feeling of something to come, vague and undefined, still full of venture and intense interest. Even the common soldiers caught the inspiration, and many a group called out to me as I worked my way past them, " Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond ! "

Two tasks occupied the attention of the soldiers while on the march— foraging and tearing up railroads. The work of scouring the country for provisions was soon reduced to a science. The twenty days' rations that were in the wagons when the army left Atlanta were held as a reserve store, only to be touched in case of dire need. Scarcely was the second day's march begun before the foragers had begun their work. About onetwentieth of each regiment was detailed upon this duty. The men scattered over the country in every direction, taking care to keep near enough together to be able to protect themselves against a sudden dash of the enemy's cavalry which hovered about the flank of the marching army. They started out at daybreak on foot, and returned at nightfall mounted on horses and mules, or driving wagons, carts, family carriages, or buggies heavy-laden with all kinds of provisions. It was a sorry moment for a Georgia plantation when a party of Sherman's "bummers," as the foragers came to be called, descended upon it. It is greatly to the honor of the army that cases of any personal violence to the people of the plantations were very rare, but the rights of property were not so strictly respected. Everything was seized by the insatiate marauders. The barns and the coach-houses were first raided and every beast of burden and every vehicle seized—the barnyards received early attention, and the " bummers " soon became expert in running down and capturing chickens, ducks, and pigs. When everything eatable, and frequently a good many things that were not eatable, but which caught the fancy of some unscrupulous soldier, had been secured, the foragers would make their way back to the route of the main army and await the arrival of the wagons, into which their booty was poured.
" Often would I pass these foraging parties at the roadside waiting for their wagons to come up," writes General Sherman, "and was amused at their strange collections—mules, horses, even cattle packed with old saddles and loaded with hams, bacon, bags of corn meal, and poultry of every character and description."

Sometimes the foragers would appear clad in the gorgeous uniform of the Georgia militia, taken from trunks in some plundered plantation. Occasionally an old revolutionary Continental uniform, after over half a century of fairly religious care and preservation, would be thus rudely dragged forth to bedeck the person of a " bummer." On one occasion several parties of foragers joined together and captured a town. The usual pillaging followed, and when the van of the main column came up the soldiers were astonished to be greeted by a procession of their comrades clad in Continental blue and buff. In the midst of the cavalcade there progressed at a dignified pace a much-battered family carriage, laden with hams, sweet-potatoes and other provisions, and drawn by two horses, a mule and a cow, the two latter ridden by postilions.

Sometimes the foragers had to fight for their plunder, for the Confederate cavalry hung close on the flanks of the Union column, ready to snatch up any unwary stragglers who might stray too far away. But in the pursuit of their adventurous calling the "bummers" soon learned to rally at the first note of danger, and to fight stubbornly while falling back slowly to the main line. In this way they not only protected themselves, but interposed an impenetrable shield between the flank of the marching column and the enemy's forces. And though the duty of the foragers was more perilous than that of those who stayed with the main column, it had its compensations. More than one garden yielded up its buried treasures to their persuasive bayonets. Guided by the sly hints of slaves they extracted jewelry and money from their hiding-places beneath cellar floors and behind oak wainscots. They lived on the fat of the land. Before the fruits of their foraging were turned over to their respective commands the cravings of their own appetites were fully assuaged. General Sherman tells of meeting one soldier who bore a ham impaled upon his bayonet, a jug of sorghum molasses under his arm, and a big piece of honey in his hand, which he was voraciously devouring. "Forage liberally on the country," remarked the soldier, quoting meaningly from the general orders as he caught a reproving glance from Sherman. But the general stopped him to explain that foraging was not for the sole gratification of the foragers, but that the provisions thus obtained must be turned over to the regular commissaries. Instances of wanton or irregular plundering of plantations, however, were comparatively rare, and the Georgia newspapers, published at the time of the invasion, afford ample evidence that the planters suffered quite as much from the rapacity of Wheeler's Confederate cavalrymen as they did from Sherman and his foragers.
Before the invading column had penetrated very far into Georgia the immense concourse of negroes that gathered in its rear and followed it upon the march had become a source of serious annoyance. Despite the efforts of planters the news of emancipation had spread among the slaves. To them the men in blue were saviors and protectors, all-wise and allpowerful, come to lead them from slavery into a better land and a better

[PogueMahone]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

I believe fresh baked pie doesn't ride well in a haversack.

Then we shall have to eat it here and now!

[Coatsy]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

Good post Pete and Pete. Smotherman has his priorities correct! Pie now, troop the colors later!

Foraging Parties you are looking after yourselves and your pards 'back in camp.' don't get too distracted by those militiamen. They tended to run a lot. Sometimes they caught trains to get away. Battalion what? No way pard! You are on the hunt for taters, corn, and HAMS! Mmm Hams! Better fill you haversacks up... Better get ready to carry stuff. I don't want to take it home!

Folks bottom line is don't sweat the little stuff. That's my job (plus Eric, Ken, Jordan, Kiev, and the support crew)

Georgia will howl again, so will Skunk Ape.

[Auld Pelty]

Re: Foraging Parties vs. Companies

I am going to dig a deep pit and bait it with a moon pie. All the yankees that fall in the pit will eat nothing until somebody (who cares), someday hears y'alls' Georgia Howl.