f\ A NORTH CAROLINA CAPTAIN'S BREAKFAST WHITTED y V" ■! / i. \ \ ' -"-■ / \ CpSTOT* A NORTH flAROLINA CAPTAIN'S BREAKFAST. I By Capt. Walter A. Whitted. Blue & Gray Feb. 1894. U Library of The University of North Carolina COLLECTION OF NORTH CAROLINIANA ENDOWED BY JOHN SPRUNT HILL of the Class of 1889 Q> 970.-TS.Wik ^ n of A frQORTH CAROLINA CAPTAIN S BREAKFAST. 97 A NORTH CAROLINA CAPTAIN'S BREAKFAST. Captain Walter A.- Whitted, Co. G, 55th North Carolina Regiment. I HAD only one day's fighting at Gettysburg. Two wounds, one in the foot and another in the face, received during the little ex- citement in the railroad cut on the first day, relegated me to the field hospital in the rear. Here I remained until the Army of Northern Virginia began its retreat southward. By that time my injuries were repaired to such an extent that I could hobble around fairly well, and could take a little solid nourishment instead of the soups and thin stuff to which my wounded mouth had confined me for three days. When we commenced our retreat, on the evening of the 4th, I was decidedly hungry, but in the hurry and confusion of loading up and stowing away our wounded I found no chance to go through my slow process of eating. The result was that after I had ridden all night across a spur of the mountain I found myself, at eleven o'clock next day, still without food and nearly famished. About the hour named our column was halted, and not knowing the orders, I assumed that we would at least be given time to get a bite to eat. To my dismay the wagon-drivers said they .had nothing, and I was informed that our brigade, rations and all, was "a loDg ways ahead." I was further informed, upon authority, that as soon as our horses could graze and rest a little we would continue our retreat, " rations or no rations." This did not suit my ideas very well. I began prospecting on my own account. Looking to the left of the highway I saw a substantial farm dwelling about half a mile distant. The very appearance of the houses of the thrifty farmers of Pennsylvania suggests abundance, and I felt an irresistible desire to find out what good things that house contained for me. Could I go there and return in time to keep up with my comrades? Are we near the end of the column, and who is covering the retreat ? Are there any ' ' Yanks ' ' in those woods near the right of the house? These and similar queries flashed through my mind. But that silent monitor within me — not conscience this time, but hunger — cut short my dilatory musings. At any cost my hunger must be appeased. I reined my horse up to the fence and threw off the top rails. In a moment I was galloping across the field, over hedges and ditches, through fields of wheat and corn. Approaching the house from the rear, I halted at a distance of about a hundred yards and took a quick survey of the premises. In the front yard were half a dozen cavalry horses tied to the cherry trees. This was far from cheering, as I had no means of determining whether those horses represented Union or Confederate troopers. My aforesaid inward monitor urged me forward, however, and I rode rapidly into the yard and looked through an open window at the end of the house. 98 BLUE ^ND GRAY. My boldness was rewarded by the welcome sight of three gray coats. Leaving my horse in com- pany with the others under the cherry trees, I entered. On the piazza I encountered a fine- looking old gentlemen, apparently the owner, whom 1 saluted, but who neither returned my salute nor bid me welcome. I was too hungry to stand upon ceremony, and passed on toward the kitchen end of the dwelling. I met two of our officers coming out, one of whom assured me that the young lady in charge was " as mad .as a wet hen," adding, " if you get anything to eat in there you will have to take it !" n Upon entering the room I found three more of our officers — a captain and two lieutenants — com- fortably seated at a table, stowing away buck- -\vheat cakes and fresh country butter. A nice- looking young lady bent over the stove frying the cakes, but with evident reluctance. Her face was flushed with anger, and the tears were falling down her cheeks, while her eyes flashed fire. And she was certainly giving my hungry comrades a piece of her mind. She was evi- dently a hearty, good-natured girl, who felt that she was being greatly imposed upon, and our boys, under the genial influence of her buck- wheat cakes and golden butter, were inclined to chaff her good-naturedly. "I'll be glad when you're all gone, and I hope the good Lord will never let you live to come back here to take and carry away every- thing you can lay hands on. Why don't you go on back to that ' Dixie,' as you call it? You a,re the most hateful, ugly '' " There, now. madam, you are greatly mis- taken ; and if yon will come down in Dixie we will prove to you that we are nice people, cour- teous, polite, and not always hungry. Besides, we will give you a nice little ' reb ! for a sweet- heart." "No, indeed, you won't! I wouldn't have one of you ' rebs ' if he was the last man on this green earth ! Our men gave you fellows a good whipping." she went on, " and now I hope you will go back where you came from and stay there. I don't want to see another one of yon as long as I live ! ' ' As the young girl thus rattled on, her tor- mentors leaned back in their chairs, patiently awaiting, knives in hand, another instalment of the luscious cakes, and eyeing a large bar of fresh, yellow butter. " There, now, that is all you will get in this house. You can go on farther and rob someone else. I have nothing more for you." AVhile listening to this little spat I had been standing near the stove warming and drying myself, and enjoying, in anticipation, my share of the cakes. I had ridden all the preceding night in the rain, and although it was the 5th of July I was actually cold. A moment later I found myself alone ; my Georgian comrades had departed, the little cook had gone, and even the cake of butter had dis- appeared. I was sadly disappointed, and hungrier than ever. I looked into the tray which had contained the buckwheat batter ; sure enough, it was empty. Just then the young lady re- turned, seized the tray, and abruptly left the room again. I began to reflect upon the advice of my brother officer, given me as I entered, and looked about to see what I could " take." Nothing whatever, of an edible character, re- warded my search. I was beginning to grow desperate, for I knew rny time was short, and I was growing actually faint. Just then my fair tormentor came back again to the kitchen. Planting herself defiantly about six feet from me, she said : '■ Do not stand here thinking I will give you something to eat, for you heard me tell those men that we have no more buckwheat flour, and " She had a pleasant, hearty countenance, despite its mask of unwonted wrath. I deter- mined to try a little diplomacy. •' My dear young lady, have you any relatives in the Federal army?" "Yes, I have; a brother and two cousins." "Were they in the first day's fight, do you know?" "I know they were in General Reynolds' Corps, but I have not heard a word from them since the battle.'' ' And the look of wrath began to fade into an expression of deep anxiety. "What regiment do they belong to? " I asked. '•The — th Pennsylvania," she responded. "Why," said I, "our fellows fought that regiment at the railroad cut." "Perhaps you can tell me something about my brother, then," she said, eagerly. " No, miss," I replied, " I only know that one of the colonels in that brigade was wounded and captured at that place, and that he was with me at our hospital. The surgeon of my regiment treated both of us, and our own cook prepared our food. My wound was such that I could not eat my share of the good things, so the wounded colonel took my place at mess." Jt U^ORTH CAROLINA CAPTAIN'S BREAKFAST. 99 I remembered the name of this colonel at the time, and mentioned it to her, but I have now forgotten it. This incident was strictly true, but I have often wondered since .that she believed it at once. There was a marvelous change in her manner. She actually smiled, and asked me to be seated, then, hurrying from the room, returned directly with a tray and some buck- wheat batter. In a few moments I was in the midst of luxury — golden brown cakes and golden yellow butter. As the girl bent over her work I could see her eyes fill again with tears, and her manner was kindness personified. Speak- ing iu an earnest, sorrowful tone, she said : • ; You seem to be a gentleman . and I hope I have not been rude to you. I heard that Colonel was wounded and captured. Didn't he tell you anything of my brother ? " mentioning his name. ,; No, I regret to say that he did not. But w r e talked of the war, its cause, its progress and probable conclusion, and recounted our experi- ences of that first day's fight. I asked him why he did not hold his position, posted as he was behind a rail fence, when we first struck him. His reply was: ' You fellows fight like wild cats, just as if you had not a particle of sense or fear. You would run over the devil himself at that rate. There is not a particle of sense in such fighting as that.' " By this time nry first instalment of buck- wheat cakes had disappeared. My ! my ! Like the old negro, I was not able to " 'spress myself." My long fast, the rain, and the low temperature of my body had reduced the fever and the soreness of my face, and I ate with a will. "While I ate, the young lady stood with her hands resting on the back of my chair, asking me many questions about the war and the people of Dixie. I assured her that a large majority of the Confederate soldiers were high- toned, Christian gentlemen, many of them highly cultured graduates of colleges, chivalrous and refined, having at home humble Christian mothers whose prayers were constantly ascend- ing to heaven for the protection of their sons ; that we were fighting the Union soldiers, and were not making war on women and children ; that we were fighting for what we conceived a just cause, though that cause might be hard to define ; that we had no animosity against any Union soldier — as an example, I had, while at the hospital, divided with two Union soldiers, lying wounded under a tree, the last particle of tobacco I had, knowing that I could not get any more for perhaps a week ; and after having assisted in the amputation of my own colonel's arm, I hobbled out to a shade tree near the house, and found a little boy suffering very much, a grape-shot having penetrated about two-thirds its own diameter into the top of his foot, crushing its way through and embedding itself among the bones. He asked me to see the surgeons and ask them to "please put him on the table next." Though it caused me con- siderable pain to walk, yet I knew the kind, ' sympathetic heart of the surgeon of my own regiment, and begged him to attend to that little Yankee boy. He stopped one moment, raised up, turning his benevolent, sympathetic face to me and said: "Captain, I have been watching that little boy for the last six or eight hours, giving him all the stimulants he will bear, but he does not revive. He has never recovered from the first shock, and I fear never will. In his present condition he would cer- tainly die on the table. I shall continue to watch him, and if he revives I will put him on the table immediately." I went back to the house by another" path. I could not look upon that pale, boyish face again and tell him what the surgeon had told me. After I had eaten the cakes she once more left the room and returned, bringing a dish full to the brim with large, luscious raspberries. I asked her to place in another dish the part she wished me to eat, warning her that if they were placed in my hands in their present condition I should eat them all. She assured me that I was welcome to all. I ate all. They had been gathered early in the morning and sugared. Before I left the house, this hospitable young woman placed in my hands a generous slice of delicious dried beef, neatly wrapped, saying, '• You will need this, perhaps." I thanked her, and rejoined the retreating column, but left in her hands, as a memento and not as a reward, the last piece of silver I possessed. "DUTCHY'S" ORIGINAL CHALLENGE. George H. Hosea. BEYOND establishing the authenticity of the following story, I do not know as it matters much where the incident occurred, but as I have heard it re- lated several times, and as in each instance the narrator claimed it as an incident of his own regiment, it may not be out of place to say that it was told me as early in the war as August, 1862, and as an occurrence of the previous night. So I think I have good reasons for be- lieving that it really occurred in the regiment to which I was then attached. The Fourth Regiment was a militia organiza- tion which responded to a certain call of Presi- dent Lincoln's for troops and went intocamp fully organized as a regiment. With the excep- tion of parade and muster duty, it was without experience in military service. A few days after entering camp. Company G was detailed for guard duty, which, under the existing camp arrangements, made its captain officer of the day. At that early period of the war it was quite the fashion for newly-fledged oF' ts to indulge in all the "pomp and circum- stance of war," and during the day Captain Orville was formally notified that the Com- mandant of the post would personally visit his guard lines during the night. This meant, in military practice, that he would make the " Grand Rounds." Captain Orville, commanding Company G, naturally desired that his company should make as favorable an impression upon the command- ing officer as possible, hence the lieutenant of the guard was duly instructed to see that every man was thoroughly posted in his duty as a sentinel, and particularly in the manner of chal- lenging the Grand Rounds, which form differed, somewhat, from the usual night challenge. Among the more recent accessions to the company was a middle-aged German, to whom the boys had quickly applied the sobriquet of " Dutchy." and who was somewhat dull of com- prehension and rather liable to get " mixed" in his English. To him the lieutenant deemed it expedient to give especial attention. "Now, Jacob," he said to him, "the Grand Rounds will visit your post to-night, and I want you, in particular, to be on the alert and to be very careful to challenge exactly as I am about to explain to you , and if you do it right it will be a big feather in your cap. " Now, when you see the Grand Rounds coming you will halt about the middle of your beat, and when they have approached to within about ten paces you will come to arms, port, and cry, ' Who comes there ? ' The sergeant will answer, ' Grand Rounds.' You will then say, ' Halt, Grand Rounds ! Advance, sergeant, and give the countersign ! ' The sergeant will then advance to within reach of the point of your bayonet, and speak the countersign to you in a low tone. If the word is correct, you will say : ' The countersign is correct, advance, Grand Rounds ! ' and you then permit them to advance and pass on." After making him repeat this over and over again until it seemed impossible for him to make a blunder, the lieutenant left him, quite satis- fied that he could make no mistake. Presently away down the line a sentinel chal- lenged and "Dutchy" heard the answer, "Grand Rounds." Immediately he was on the qui vive. Soon from out the shadowy darkness a shape emerged, which, as it approached, took the form of a body of people. Promptly to " charge bayonets" came "Dutchy's" musket, and, standing fast, he faced the approaching group. Nearer and nearer they came and soon were within the prescribed limits for challenging, and yet not a sound did "Dutchy" utter. In the excitement of the late confusion and the de- mands of the present exigency, his brain and tongue seemed at variance with each other. By this time the Grand Rounds had come to a halt, and the sergeant, slowly and expectantly, ad- vanced to the very point of the menacing bayonet, and still no challenge. " Why don't you challenge, you chuckle- head, you?" hissed the sergeant. " Mine gootness ! " cried poor " Dutchy," in great trepidation, " vat vos it? Grand — grand Corporal ov ter gard mit ter post vorteen, advance mit ter countermand and say some leetle tings mit me, yah!" at last he yelled, and then in a most self-satis- fied tone he continued : " Pass, Grand Roundts, dot vas right!" Poor " Dutchy" evidently had his lesson all right in his mind ; it was only his tongue and a slight confusion of ideas that led him astray. 100 m-; : UNIVERSITY OF N.C. 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