At last, on the eight of November, 1862, we reached Edgefield, on the
Cumberland River directly opposite Nashville, a distance of one hundred
and eighty three miles from Louisville, and went into camp. On the
afternoon of our arrival, after camp had been established, the writer
went over to a house near by, where there was, what had been the summer
before, a vegetable garden. There were several of us in there, digging
around with sticks to get a few onions that had been left in the ground.
We were all busily engaged, when we heard a voice ring out "what in ——
are you fellows doing in there? —— —— ye, get out of there and go to
your quarters." We raised up, and saw a man of medium size approach one
of the boys who was busily engaged in digging for onions, and hit him on
the back, shouting at the same time: "Get out of here." The man had on a
long military overcoat, all buttoned up, and it was impossible to tell
who he was by his clothing. The boy whom he had struck quickly raised
up, and with a well directed blow of his fist, knocked the unknown
gentleman sprawling; he went one way, and his cap another. Gathering
himself up, he shouted: "What do you mean, you rascal; I am General
Sheridan." That was all he needed to say; his opponent was gone in a
flash, and Sheridan after him, shouting out: "Stop that man! stop that
man!" but the General's legs were not equal to the race, and the boy
succeeded in getting to the camp, where, of course, it was impossible to
find him. The rest of us slipped away as quietly and quickly as possible
to our quarters, carrying with us the results of our search. But we
laughed and laughed at the remembrance of it; who the boy was, that had
so wilfully violated one of the sternest of army laws, that of striking
his superior officer, we never found out, but we think he belonged to
the 52nd Ohio, which regiment, as we have before stated, was brigaded
with us. We would like to have been at Sheridan's headquarters, and
heard his account of the affair, but perhaps he never told it, although
knowing him as we did, we were firm in the belief that he must have done
up a terrible amount of hard swearing at such an insult to his dignity,
but he had only himself to blame for it. If we could have seen who it
was, distinctly, he never would have got close enough to have struck any
one, for we would have fled at the sight of him.
Before we reached Nashville we had received reports of how hard run the
citizens of the place were for groceries, more especially coffee, and
had heard remarkable stories of the prices paid for such articles. So we
had been saving of our rations, thinking, perhaps, that when we arrived
at Nashville, we could realize something for them. We had grown tired of
hardtack, and visions of warm bread, butter, etc., floated through our
minds. So to saving we went; but as a true chronicler, we must state
that some of the boys did not show that true honesty which ought to
pervade all business transactions, but had been boiling their coffee
without grinding it, and afterwards drying it, and storing it away in
their haversacks, blankets, or any way they could, so when we finally
reached Nashville, there was a considerable quantity of this article in
the regiment. The next day after our arrival, the writer and his
partner, obtained a pass to go to the city. Tying up our coffee, which,
by the way, made a considerable package, we started on our trip. We
arrived in the city without any trouble, and as we were walking up a
street, was accosted by a woman who wished to know if we had any coffee
for sale. We instantly showed our stock, and informed her that she could
have it at the rate of one dollar per pound. This seemed in our eyes an
outrageous price, but she closed with our terms, and after weighing it
in a store near by, paid us for it in good greenbacks. We do not
remember, at this late day, how much it was we received, but we pocketed
it, all the same, and started out to find a place where we could obtain
a square meal. This was a difficult task, for most all the stores and
restaurants were closed, but at last we managed to find a little store
open, and in we went. We enquired for something to eat; the proprietor
informed us, a fact which we could plainly see for ourselves, that his
stock had run down somewhat, owing to the difficulties of obtaining a
new supply, and the best he could do for us, he said, was to offer us
some tripe, which he had in a jar. We were no way squeamish, and told
him to bring on his tripe. He had but a small supply, but when we got
through he had none. After the army fair of "hardtack and sow-belly,"
tripe seemed to us to have a royal taste. We paid him for his property
and departed to look up some new field of adventure. Sauntering along
the streets we came to a building in front of which we saw a good many
of our boys, some going away with light bread in their arms, and others
hurrying up to obtain some. We hastened our steps, and ascertained that
light bread could be bought there for five cents a loaf. We immediately
invested, and obtained as much as we could carry on our arms, piled up
like stove wood. We were now ready to return to camp, so away we went.
On the road back we met a number of our fellows coming along, and every
one wanted light bread.
"What'll you take for a loaf?" was the enquiry.
"Ten cents a loaf," was the reply. The consequence was that we did not
go far until our bread was all gone at double the price we had paid for
it. We then concluded to go back and get some for ourselves, but here
was where we missed it, for on our again apply-for bread, we were told
it was all gone, and no more could be had. We had contemplated having a
good supper out of that light bread, which was of good quality, but we
had foolishly let our desire for speculation run away with our supper.
There was nothing left for us to do but return to camp without any, so
away we went, cheering ourselves with the thought that if we had no
bread, we had some money, which, as we had never yet been paid off by
the Government, was something to be glad of.
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