Just when we think that the weather cannot hate us any worse, it does. When it is not raining, it is snowing. When it is not snowing, it is sleeting. When it is doing none of these things, the temperature falls to a point where penguins would be comfortable. We all suffer and most all are sick.
Firewood has never been abundant since we took up residence here several months ago. It had been hoped that this place, unlike the place we spent the last winter, would have a supply of firewood sufficient to keep a body comfortably warm for all this winter. That is so much hash. The easy wood is gone. To find more, we must go further and further away. The area in back of our works is bare of trees for many hundreds of yards. But there is wood in front of our works.
Two nights ago, a detail of wood-cutters was assembled with a guard. Several of us, including myself, Hancock, Castles, Terry, Denton, Taylor and Vincent were to go with the party as guards. We were told to load our muskets but not cap them lest an accidental discharge reveal our presence to the Yankees and they send us all to the Promised Land.
It was well after dark when we sneaked away from our forward pits and moved towards the enemy, some of us armed only with axes. I would have preferred that we waited until the Moon was more in the wane but the cold drove us to take the chance.
We were told to chop quietly. Such lunacy. There is no quiet way to work an ax on a tree. In all reality, it was not entire trees we were after. Should we have felled one, we could not have hauled it back into our lines without benefit of horse and wagon which we dared not take with us. All we could attack were limbs and branches. It was raining and although it made us miserable, we were warmed a little by the thought that the rain may help conceal our intentions and our position.
Each blow of the ax sounded like a thunderclap. We expected at any moment that Yankee fire and brimstone would be visited upon us. The longer the axmen stayed at their work, the more certain we felt that the Yankees would finally realize what was happening under their noses.
Those of the guard tried not to get ahead of the axmen. I tried to determine my place by the sounds of the axes since it was too dark for these old eyes to see. Judging by sound did not work well due to the rain. I did not know it but I was in advance of the working detail. Crawling on my belly, I came to a slight rise which I took to be only that. Over it I went and tumbled into a hole. I had company.
I shall never forget the conversation.
"Ho, friend, do not hurt yourself." That was the first voice. There were two.
"Getting firewood are ye? Save some for us. We are cold, too, but so are those Rebs."
Dear God, I thought. These are Yanks and they think that I am one as well. There was a Yank on either side of me. I felt doomed. "I am all right", I said, hoping that a sentence of a few words would not betray my accent. The first voice spoke again.
"Where are you from, friend? Are you lost? You do not look familiar."
How do I answer his question? We sometimes know what states' troops are in front of us but seldom do we know the individual regiment. Not to answer his question would get me a prison cell or a bayonet. I had no time to think this one through so I just replied, "Seventh." The second voice said,
"Seventh? Seventh Michigan? You and your people are lost. You are too far south of where you need to be. We are 69th Pennsylvania, in a different brigade, entirely. You and your people do not know this area. Go and warn away your friends lest they stumble into a Reb hornet's nest."
I thanked him and my Maker and crawled back the way I came. After a short while, I came across Denton and Vincent who had come looking for me. The detail had finished their business and was already making their way back to our lines.
The detail had gathered enough wood for a very short while but we enjoyed it while we could. I told my pards of my experience. All except Castles shook their heads. He asked, "Did you at least bring back some cheese and coffee for us?" I hit him with a rock.
I Send You These Few Lines
Going in front of one's positions towards those of the enemy just to gather firewood might not sound like a bright idea but J.F.J. Caldwell, the brigade historian mentions it in his book, "The History of a Brigade of South Carolinians". This is one of the works that I depend upon for this blog. There is so very little written about the brigade in which Tooms serves.
It is funny that the one Union soldier mentions a hornet's nest as the company Tooms is in was known as the, "Lancaster Hornets." Well, considering who is the author of this blog, perhaps it's not so funny.
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| Death of Baker at Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia |
The regiment that the two Union soldiers belonged to, the 69th Pennsylvania, is of some interest. It was originally called the 2nd California and served with the 1st, 3rd and 5th California regiments all comprising the California Brigade. Certain people living in California wanted their state to have representation in the eastern combat theatre. They petitioned Oregon Senator Newton Baker to enlist troops in the east and have them accredited to California. Baker eventually recruited four regiments, all from Philadelphia. Baker, the brigade commander, was killed at the 1861 Battle of Ball's Bluff.
Shortly thereafter, Pennsylvania claimed the regiments and gave them Pennsylvania numbers and a new name, the Philadelphia Brigade. It was this brigade, under Alexander Webb, that held the apex of the stone wall at the copse of trees at Gettysburg during Pickett's Charge in 1863.
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| Brigadier General Alexander Webb |
The historical phases of the Moon are to be found in the, "Confederate States Almanac", for 1865. The full Moon had just occurred on February 10.
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