There is much here by way of something to eat, or, at least there will be in a few months. This area is a bounty of wheat, peaches, plums, cherries and all sorts of tasty things. As it is, we will be far away from here in the fall when this bounty will be ripe. The Yankees will get it all, d--m them.
We were up early, as usual and left our resting place without breakfast, as usual. We heard firing last night, as usual but we were unmolested. We hope that becomes as usual as well.
We passed through a rude little place called New Store. It's singular value to us is that we stayed a while there, resting, as Gordon's corps overtook us to assume the lead in the line of march. Longstreet's corps, which has included us since the death of General Hill, now comprises the rear guard.
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| Major General John Brown Gordon. |
While we waited, we organized foraging parties and went off in search of victuals. We dared not go far as we could hear firing pretty much all around us. It was at this point that we noticed that Vincent was missing. None of us recalled seeing him after we crossed the High Bridge. Troy Crenshaw is missing as well. We, of the Dandy Eights mess, have been reduced. There are four of us left.
We were told by someone who knew the area that we might find something at a nearby farmhouse. There were a few handfuls of dried apples and a like amount of corn meal. We left behind a note and two hundred dollars, Confederate. That is all our money is worth. We filled our canteens from the well.
As we were feeling somewhat better than normal of late, we thought that we would have some fun with the Yankees. We found what we thought was a barrel of molasses. Upon tasting the contents, we rapidly discovered our mistake. It was tar. We rolled the barrel out to the side of the road and, warning our comrades of the sticky contents, left the barrel to be discovered by the Yankees.
This night, we were issued some rations from the few wagons that have not been set on fire.
There was some small amount of bacon and some meal. To our surprise, some wheat flour and coffee was issued. On hot rocks, we cooked some rude cakes. The coffee we drank slowly to make it last longer. That was difficult.
We were not molested today by the Yankees but the weather has turned quite warm. We will be in Lynchburg on Tuesday.
I Send You These Few Lines.
The agricultural description of the Appomattox area comes from a history of the 152nd New York Infantry.
The prank was a real one. A Union soldier wrote in an after-war memoir:
About 4p.m. we caught up with the Confederates at New Store and had a little tilt. They moved
as usual, but just before leaving they played a joke on us. They rolled out a barrel of
cold tar and as our men came along, some thought it was molasses. Their dippers will
be utterly useless forevermore.
The monthly pay for a Confederate infantry private at this time of the war was $18.00, payable every two months or whenever the paymaster made an appearance which might be much longer. At this time, Confederate paper money was very nearly worthless.
Isaac Vincent was captured by Union forces in the Farmville area and was paroled in the same area. Troy Crenshaw was not paroled at Appomattox and does not appear in the Union prisoner records. He just disappears.
The term, bacon, as used during this time, can refer to most any pork.
Tooms says Lynchburg on Tuesday.
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