All is quiet in the front today - nothing to indicate that two great armies are confronting each other. The bright sunlight comes streaming through the rich green foliage of the trees. Birds are flitting from branch to branch, while calling affectionately to their mates. A few squirrels are ambling overhead cautiously while they look down upon the vast throng of men who have so suddenly come into possession of their late domain.

Bang! The spell is broken. The birds stop their chirping and peek to see what has happened. The squirrels scampered to a place of safety. But not all. One large fox squirrel comes tumbling to the ground, badly wounded with lead slugs, and scarcely does it reach the earth when it is grabbed by a waiting soldier, who thrusts it under his blouse. The squirrel is not dead by any means, and does some scratching and biting in his death throes; but like the Spartan youth, who hid the fox under his tunic, the brave fellow would be disemboweled rather than betray its presence and be dispossessed of the prize. But the shooter could not escape so easily, as each man must account for his gun, and the loss of it would be a much more serious matter than the shooting. The smoke had not cleared from the muzzle of the gun until an officer appeared and arrested the culprit, taking him to headquarters to appear before his colonel. The guilty man was a mountaineer from the 12 Kentucky.

When brought before the colonel, he said:

"Colonel, I could in nowise help shootin' that thar squirrel, for the very sight of him made me long to be down in Turkey Creek bottoms in Old Kain-tuck, and if I hadn't shot that bushy-tailed beauty I'd of desarted dead sure. I can stand all other temptation, Colonel, except squirrel."

After receiving a severe lecture, the fellow got back in time to help eat the squirrel.

__________________

The soldiers from the northern states were prejudiced, or at least had preconceived ideas of slavery. The thought of any one laboring for another without recompense, or even reward, was repugnant to us at first. Oh, how we did pity the poor slaves that came into camp for protection. But this, like many other virtues that we had carried with us from our homes, not being found congenial with the surroundings of camp life, became obsolete.

Many messes had a negro to do their work. They did the cooking, carried the wood and water, and even washed our clothes. We enjoyed the respite from labor, and fully determined to recompense him for his toil at pay day with the shekels of commerce instead of shackles of bondage, but somehow as pay day was a long ways off, and never did come less than two months apart, our zeal cooled off also, and like the Israelites of old, the 'shekels became enlarged and the measure small.'

Wasn't he getting sufficient pay? Wasn't he getting the same food that we ate, who were fighting his battles?

Wasn't he getting our old clothes? And, above all, wasn't he getting his freedom - the greatest boon that a bondman could crave?

So we became hardened to the pricking of conscience, the chafing became less and less, and soon we were entirely free from preconceived ideas. In fact, we were seasoning our broth with the identical salt that the slave-holder wavered his with.

One day our negro boy (Jim Polk) came to me and said:

"Massa Benedict, dey say yo is a banker; allers got some money. An' Massa Allen (our first sergeant) say dat if I come to yo, dat yo gib me de loan ob a dollar to buy some lemons an' sugar, kase I can make a heap ob money selling lemonade." I gave him a fifty-cent sutler check, knowing that he would get the lemons of him, and the sugar would come from our own cook tent. In about two hours Jim came back flushed with success. He came direct to me.

Massa Benedict," said he, "Ise done awful well. I don't need borrow any more money ob you. Ise got jist all kinds ob money eben de long green."

Jim laid out his money for my inspection, and it truly was all kinds. One silver dime, one ten-cent sutler check, four pieces of yellow pasteboard, which he had taken for sutler's checks, and one 'long green,' which, on being straightened out proved to be only an advertisement the size of a greenback, but instead it had a green face. It read: Good for One Dollar, if presented as cash in payment of a ten dollar acct., at Cleveland Bookbindery."

Jim had evidently met just two fellows that had not been in the army very long. But if Jim was a poor tradesman, he was a remarkable success as a gambler. One day he came in with quite a lot of plunder, a blouse, two shirts, a pair of shoes, a hat, and a very brilliant red bandanna handkerchief. Those freedmen, like some of their white brethren, would even take off their clothes and stake them on a chance.

"Where did you get all this truck?" inquired a soldier.

"Sho, Boss," said Jim, with a warning gesture of silence, "Ise dun skinned a fool nigger."

It did not take long to prove the truth of Jim's assertion, for Captain Sam L'Hommedieu soon appeared upon the scene with his negro cook, who was not in a suitable attire for an evening reception. And I doubt whether the dapper captain would have relished a meal prepared by such an unsightly cook, for the only thing between that darkey and Adamic simplicity was a pair of blue army pants. As restitution was all that was required, the wrong was soon right.

This captain, L'Hommedieu, later became a high railroad official, and a locomotive on the C. H. & D. was named for him. I never after saw this engine without recalling this circumstance.

One day shortly after this occurred I with several others was put on extra duty for a slight infraction of army discipline.

We were supplied with shovels and sent to the rear to perform a very disagreeable job of work. As we were passing back, under the care of a sergeant, we came to a party of negroes, who had sought the seclusion of the rear to gamble. Our Jim was the biggest toad in the puddle, and the moment I saw him I was reminded of my thirty cents, and a happy thought struck me. I suggested to the sergeant a scheme for our emancipation.

With great official dignity he arrested the swarthy gamblers and supplied them with our shovels, we becoming guards. The work was well done, and done in a hurry, for we feared detection. It did come to the captain's ears, but he only said something about brains being trumps.

The Jim Polk of ours was an odd-looking creature, and I judge there were few tears shed by his mater over his loss. He was a slim fellow, all legs and neck, and very much resembled the bird we used to call 'Fly Up the Creek." Jim, like all our cooks, drifted away from us after a short service. Perhaps he became disgusted with our lack of appreciation.

Return to "Sunshine & Shadow" Home Page