"THE PRIDE OF THE REGIMENT."
The pet-making disposition which had led Andy and me to take so
much trouble with our mice was not confined to ourselves alone. The
disposition was quite natural, and therefore very general among the
men of all commands. Pets of any and all kinds, whether chosen from
the wild or the domestic animals, were everywhere in great esteem,
and happy was the regiment which possessed a tame crow, squirrel,
coon, or even a kitten.
Our own regiment possessed a pet of great value and high esteem
in Little Jim, of whom some incidental mention has already been
made. As Little Jim enlisted with the regiment, and was honorably
mustered out of the service with it at the close of the war, after
three years of as faithful service as so little a creature as he
could render the flag of his country, some brief account of him
here may not be out of place.
Little Jim, then, was a small rat-terrier, of fine-blooded stock,
his immediate maternal ancestor having won a silver collar in a
celebrated rat-pit in Philadelphia. Late in 1859, while yet a
pup, he was given by a sailor friend to John C. Kensill, with
whom he was mustered into the United States service "for three
years or during the war," on Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa.,
late in August, 1862. Around his neck was a silver collar with the
inscription,--"Jim Kensill, Co. F., 150th Regt. P. V."
He soon came to be a great favorite with the boys, not only of
his own company, but of the entire regiment as well, the men
of the different companies thinking quite as much of him as if
he belonged to each of them individually, and not to Sergeant
Kensill, of Company F., alone. On the march he would be caught
up from the roadside where he was doggedly trotting along, and
given a ride on the arms of the men, who would pet him and talk
to him as if he were a child, and not a dog. In winter-quarters,
however, he would not sleep anywhere except on Kensill's arm and
underneath the blankets; nor was he ever known to spend a night
away from home. On first taking the field, rations were scarce
with us, and for several days fresh meat could not be had for poor
Jim, and he nearly starved. Gradually, however, his master taught
him to take a hard-tack between his fore-paws, and, holding it
there, to munch and crunch at it till he had consumed it. He soon
learned to like hard-tack, and grew fat on it too. On the march to
Chancellorsville he was lost for two whole days, to the great grief
of the men. When his master learned that he had been seen with a
neighboring regiment, he had no difficulty in finding volunteers
to accompany him when he announced that he was about to set out
for the recapture of Jim. They soon found where he was. Another
regiment had possession of him, and laid loud and angry claim to
him; but Kensill and his men were not to be frightened, for he
knew the Buck-tails were at his back, and that sooner than give up
Little Jim there would be some rough work. As soon as Jim heard
his master's sharp whistle, he came bounding and barking to his
side, overjoyed to be at home again, albeit he had lost his silver
collar, which his thievish captors had cut from his neck, in order
the better to lay claim to him.
He was a good soldier too, being no coward, and caring not a wag
of his tail for the biggest shells the Johnnies could toss over at
us. He was with us under our first shell fire at "Clarke's Mills,"
a few miles below Fredericksburg, in May, 1863, and ran barking
after the very first shell that came screaming over our heads. When
the shell had buried itself in the ground, Jim went up close to
it, crouching down on all fours, while the boys cried "Rats! rats!
Shake him, Jim! Shake him, Jim!" Fortunately that first shell did
not explode, and when others came that did explode, Jim, with true
military instinct, soon learned to run after them and bark, but to
keep a respectful distance from them.
On the march to Gettysburg he was with us all the way, but when we
came near the enemy, his master sent him back to William Wiggins,
the wagoner; for he thought too much of Jim to run the risk of
losing him in battle. It was a pity Jim was not with us out in
front of the Seminary the morning of the first day, when the fight
opened; for as soon as the cannon began to boom, the rabbits began
to run in all directions, as if scared quite out of their poor
little wits; and there would have been fine sport for Jim with the
cotton-tails, had he only been there to give them chase.
In the first day's fight Jim's owner, Sergeant John C. Kensill,
while bravely leading the charge for the recapture of the 149th
Pennsylvania Regiment's battle-flags (of which some brief account
has been elsewhere given), was wounded and left for dead on
the field, with a bullet through his head. He, however, so far
recovered from his wound that in the following October he rejoined
the regiment, which was then lying down along the Rappahannock
somewhere. In looking for the regiment, on his return from a
Northern hospital, Sergeant Kensill chanced to pass the supply
train, and saw Jim busy at a bone under a wagon. Hearing the old
familiar whistle, Jim at once looked up, saw his master, left his
bone, and came leaping and barking in greatest delight to his
owner's arm.
On the march he was sometimes sent back to the wagon. Once he came
near being killed. To keep him from following the regiment or from
straying and getting lost in search of it, the wagoner had tied
him to the rear axle of his wagon with a strong twine. In crossing
a stream, in his anxiety to get his team over safely, the wagoner
forgot all about poor little Jim, who was dragged and slashed
through the waters in a most unmerciful way. After getting safely
over the stream, the teamster, looking back, found poor Jim under
the rear of the wagon, being dragged along by the neck, more dead
than alive. He was then put on the sick-list for a few days; but
with this single exception he had never a mishap of any kind, and
was always ready for duty.
His master having been honorably discharged before the close of the
war because of wounds, Jim was left with the regiment in care of
Wiggins, the wagoner. When the regiment was mustered out of service
at the end of the war, Little Jim was mustered out too. He stood
up in rank with the boys and wagged his tail for joy that peace
had come, and that we were all going home. I understand that his
discharge-papers were regularly made out, the same as those of the
men, and that they read somewhat as follows,--
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Know ye that _Jim Kensill_,
Private, Company F, 150th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, who
was enrolled on the twenty-second day of August, One Thousand
Eight Hundred and Sixty-Two, to serve three years or during
the war, is hereby DISCHARGED from the service of the United
States, this twenty-third day of June, 1865, at Elmira, New
York, by direction of the Secretary of War.
(No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist.)
Said _Jim Kensill_ was born in Philadelphia in the State of
Pennsylvania, is six years of age, six inches high, dark
complexion, black eyes, black and tan hair, and by occupation
when enrolled a Rat Terrier.
Given at Elmira, New York, this twenty-third day of June, 1865.
JAMES R. REID,
CAPT. 10TH U. S. INF'Y. A. C. M.
Before parting with him, the boys bought him a silver collar, which
they had suitably inscribed with his name, regiment, and the
principal engagements in which he had participated. This collar,
which he had honorably earned in the service of his country in war,
he proudly wore in peace to the day of his death.
* * * * *
Although not pertaining to the writer's own personal recollections,
there yet may be appropriately introduced here some brief mention
of another pet, who, from being "the pride of his regiment,"
gradually arose to the dignity of national fame. I mean Old Abe,
the war eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteers.
Whoever it may have been that first conceived the idea, it was
certainly a happy thought to make a pet of an eagle. For the eagle
is our national bird, and to carry an eagle along with the colors
of a regiment on the march, and in battle, and all through the
whole war, was surely very appropriate indeed.
Old Abe's perch was on a shield, which was carried by a soldier,
to whom, and to whom alone, he looked as to a master. He would not
allow any one to carry or even to handle him except this soldier,
nor would he ever receive his food from any other person's hands.
He seemed to have sense enough to know that he was sometimes a
burden to his master on the march, however, and as if to relieve
him, would occasionally spread his wings and soar aloft to a great
height, the men of all regiments along the line of march cheering
him as he went up. He regularly received his rations from the
commissary, the same as any enlisted man. Whenever fresh meat was
scarce and none could be found for him by foraging parties, he
would take things into his own claws, as it were, and go out on a
foraging expedition himself. On some such occasions he would be
gone two or three days at a time, during which nothing whatever was
seen of him; but he would invariably return, and seldom came back
without a young lamb or a chicken in his talons. His long absences
occasioned his regiment not the slightest concern, for the men knew
that though he might fly many miles away in quest of food, he would
be quite sure to find them again.
In what way he distinguished the two hostile armies so accurately
that he was never once known to mistake the gray for the blue, no
one can tell. But so it was that he was never known to alight save
in his own camp and amongst his own men.
At Jackson, Mississippi, during the hottest part of the battle
before that city, Old Abe soared up into the air and remained there
from early morning till the fight closed at night, having, no
doubt, greatly enjoyed his bird's-eye view of the battle. He did
the same at Mission Ridge. He was, I believe, struck by the enemy's
bullets two or three times; but his feathers were so thick, that
his body was not much hurt. The shield on which he was carried,
however, showed so many marks of the enemy's balls, that it looked
on top as if a groove-plane had been run over it.
At the Centennial celebration held in Philadelphia in 1876, Old
Abe occupied a prominent place on his perch on the west side of
the nave in the Agricultural building. He was still alive, though
evidently growing old, and was the observed of all observers.
Thousands of visitors from all sections of the country paid their
respects to the grand old bird, who, apparently conscious of the
honors conferred upon him, overlooked the sale of his biography
and photographs going on beneath his perch with entire satisfaction.
As was but just and right, the soldier who had carried him during
the war continued to have charge of him after the war was over,
until the day of his death, which occurred at the Capitol of
Michigan some two or three years ago.
Proud as the Wisconsin boys justly were of Old Abe, the Twelfth
Indiana Regiment possessed a pet of whom it may be truly said that
he enjoyed a renown scarcely second to that of the wide-famed war
eagle. This was "Little Tommy," as he was familiarly called in
those days,--the youngest drummer-boy, and so far as the writer's
knowledge goes, the youngest enlisted man, in the Union Army. The
writer well remembers having seen him on several occasions. His
diminutive size and childlike appearance, as well as his remarkable
skill and grace in handling the drum-sticks, never failed to make
an impression on the beholder. Some brief and honorable mention of
Little Tommy, the pride of the Twelfth Indiana Regiment, may with
propriety find a place in these "Recollections of a Drummer-Boy."
Thomas Hubler was born in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana,
October 9th, 1851. When two years of age, the family removed to
Warsaw, Indiana. On the outbreak of the war, his father, who had
been a German soldier of the truest type, raised a company of men,
in response to President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five
thousand troops. Little Tommy was among the first to enlist in his
father's company, the date of enrolment being April 19th, 1861. He
was then nine years and six months old.
The regiment to which the company was assigned was with the Army of
the Potomac throughout all its campaigns in Maryland and Virginia.
At the expiration of its term of service in August, 1862, Little
Tommy re-enlisted, and served to the end of the war, having been
present in some twenty-six battles in all. He was greatly beloved
by all the men of his regiment, and was a constant favorite amongst
them. It is thought that he beat the first "long roll" of the great
Civil War. He is still living in Warsaw, Indiana, and bids fair
to be the latest survivor of the great and grand army of which he
was the youngest member. With the swift advancing years the ranks
of the soldiers of the late war are being rapidly thinned out, and
those who yet remain are showing signs of age. The "Boys in Blue"
are thus, as the years go by, almost imperceptibly turning into
the "Boys in Gray;" and as Little Tommy, the youngest of them all,
sounded their first reveille, so may he yet live to beat their last
tattoo.
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