At a military function when Lincoln presented a new commander to a
legion, one of the soldiers burst out with that irreverence
distinguishing the American volunteer:
"It is not shoulder-straps (the officers' insignia), but hardtack that
we want!"
Hardtack was the nickname for the disused ship bread turned over to the
army by remorseless contractors.
* * * * *
"MARYLAND A GOOD STATE TO MOVE FROM!"
Thurlow Weed, prominent "wire-puller," presented as a preferable puppet
to Montgomery Blair his choice, Henry Winter Davis, upon which the
President said:
"Davis? Judge David Davis put you up to this. He has Davis on the
brain. A Maryland man who wants to get out! Maryland must be a good
State to move from. Weed, did you ever hear, in this connection, of the
witness in court asked to state his age? He said sixty. As he was on
the face of it much older, but persisted, the court admonished him,
saying:
"'The court knows you to be older than sixty!'
"'Oh, I understand now,' owned up the old fellow. 'You are thinking of
the ten years I spent in Maryland; that was so much time lost and did
not count!'"
* * * * *