Chapter XXI: Talking Flags and Torches

Old Glory—Signal Flags—The Signal Corps—Its Use—Its
Origin—The Kit—The Talking—The Code—A Signal Party—Sending
a Message—Receiving a Message—The Torch—General Corse’s
Despatch—Signal Stations—Lookouts before Petersburg—“Which
one?”—What Longstreet Said—What a Paper Correspondent
Did—Reading the Rebel Signal Code—Signal Station at
Poolesville, Md.—The Perils of Signal Men—Death of a Signal
Officer—At Little Round Top—Anecdote of Grant 394

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

1. General Grant reprimanded by a Lieutenant _Frontispiece_

2. Rending the Flag 15

3. A Bell-and-Everett Campaigner 16

4. Southerners discussing the Situation 17

5. A Lincoln Wide-Awake 20

6. “Nayther av us” 21

7. The Minute Man of ’61 23

8. Sweet Little Men of ’61 27

9. Adjutant Hinks notifying Captain Knott V. Martin 29

10. Captain Martin’s Company on its way to Faneuil Hall 31

11. A Drum 33

12. A Dismounted Cavalryman 34

13. A War Meeting 39

14. A Bugle 42

15. On the Lookout 43

16. Mustering in Recruits 44

17. Readville Barracks (from a photograph) 45

18. Sibley Tents 46

19. A, or Wedge Tents 48

20. Spooning Together 49

21. The Hospital or Wall Tent 50

22. Officer’s Wall Tent with Fly 51

23. The Dog or Shelter Tent 52

24. Shelters as sometimes Pitched in Summer 53

25. Shaded Shelters 54

26. A Poncho on 55

27. A Chimney on Fire 56

28. A common Bomb Proof 57

29. A 13-inch Mortar 58

30. A Bomb Proof in Fort Hell before Petersburg, Va. 59

31. A Sleeping Soldier 60

32. Two of a Kind 61

33. Sibley Tent—inside view 62

34. Writing Home 63

35. Stockaded A Tents 66

36. Drafting 68

37. The Camp Minstrels 70

38. Our Silverware 72

39. Building a Log Hut 73

40. Inside View of a Log Hut 75

41. Army Candlesticks 77

42. Pediculus Vestimenti 80

43. (K)nitting Work 81

44. “Turning Him Over” 82

45. Boiling Them 83

46. A Wood-Tick 83

47. Cleaning Up 84

48. A Housewife 86

49. The Camp Barber 88

50. The Musket on Hooks 89

51. “Beating It” 90

52. The Jonah Spilling Pea-Soup 92

53. The Camp Fire before the Jonah Appears 93

54. The Camp Fire after the Jonah Appears 94

55. The Unlucky Man 95

56. Going after Water 96

57. The Rheumatic Dodge 100

58. Water for the Cook-House 101

59. The High-tempered Man 104

60. The Paper-collar Young Man 105

61. The Mourners 106

62. “Hurrah without the H” 107

63. Off for the War 108

64. The Cooper Shop, Philadelphia 109

65. The Union Volunteer Saloon, Philadelphia 111

66. A Brigade Commissary at Brandy Station, Va. 113

67. A Hardtack—full size 114

68. A Box of Hardtack 116

69. Frying Hardtack 117

70. An Army Oven 120

71. Soft-Bread, Commissary Department Headquarters, Army of
Potomac 121

72. Apportioning Coffee and Sugar 122

73. The Milk Ration 125

74. The Company Cook 126

75. Going into Camp 127

76. Broiling Steaks 133

77. Mess-kettles and Mess-pans 136

78. A Coffee-cooler 142

79. A Ball and Chain Victim 143

80. Carrying a Log 144

81. Bucked and Gagged 146

82. Posted 147

83. A Loaded Knapsack 148

84. Isolated on a Platform 148

85. On the Spare Wheel 149

86. On a Wooden Horse 150

87. In the Sweat-box 151

88. On the Chines 152

89. A Wooden Overcoat 153

90. Strapped to a Stick 154

91. Drumming out of Camp 155

92. Tied Up by the Thumbs 156

93. A Plan of the Troops at an Execution 158

94. Death of a Deserter 159

95. Digging a Sink 163

96. Waiting for Headquarters 164

97. A Canteen Wash 166

98. Fall in for Roll-call 167

99. At the Grain Pile 170

100. “Fall in for your Quinine” 175

101. The Picket-Rope 176

102. Going to Water 188

103. Stockaded Sibley Tents 192

104. Taps 197

105. A Raw Recruit 198

106. A Wood Detail 203

107. Recruits in Uniform 205

108. A Spare Man with Spare Horses 207

109. Drilling the Awkward Squad 208

110. Drafted 215

111. Indifferent to Consequences 216

112. Opening a Box from Home 217

113. A Wagon-load of Boxes 220

114. We Drank from the same Canteen 223

115. A Sutler’s Tent (from a war-time photograph) 225

116. Cooking Pancakes 226

117. Serving out Rations at the Cook’s Shanty 228

118. Departed Joys 230

119. Vis-a-vis 231

120. A Discovery, Act I. 233

121. A Discovery, Act II. 233

122. Going to Army Headquarters 236

123. A Corn-Barn and Hayrick 238

124. Tobacco Drying-Houses 239

125. Scene at a Wayside Farm-House 243

126. No Joke 246

127. The Turkey He Didn’t Catch 247

128. A Dilemma 248

129. The Soldier’s Friends 249

130. Logan’s Corps Badge 250

131. A Color-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 258

132. St. Andrew’s Cross 259

133. A Color-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 260

134. An original Ninth Corps Badge 261

135. Eleventh and Twelfth Corps Badges combined 261

136. A Color-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 262

137. First and Fifth Corps Badges combined 263

138. A Color-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 264

139. A Color-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 266

140. A Torpedo 269

141. A Gunboat 271

142. A Mortar Boat 272

143. A Double-turreted Monitor 273

144. A Havelock 276

145. A Haversack and Dipper 276

146. A Zouave 277

147. A Breech-Loader 278

148. A Long-eared Patriot 279

149. A Six-Mule Team 280

150. A Mule Eating an Overcoat 281

151. A Corral 283

152. Dismounted 284

153. Oats for Six 285

154. Dumped into the Potomac 288

155. The Rear-Guard of the Regiment 290

156. Mules Loaded with Ammunition 292

157. “But the noblest thing that perished there was that old Army
Mule” 294

158. Charge of the Mule Brigade 295

159. Loose 297

160. A Cot in the Hospital 298

161. A Two-wheeled Ambulance 302

162. A Four-wheeled Ambulance 305

163. A Medicine Wagon 307

164. A Folding Litter 309

165. A Stretcher 309

166. Placing a Wounded Man on a Stretcher 311

167. Carrying a Wounded Man to the Rear 312

168. Trying on Clothing 316

169. In Heavy Marching Order 318

170. Leading the Herd 322

171. The Last Steer 323

172. General Hancock at Ream’s Station 325

173. Real Horse Sense 328

174. A Buzzard’s Paradise 329

175. Striking Camp 330

176. Packing Up 332

177. Waiting for Marching Orders 335

178. Color-plate of Second Corps Flags, opposite 340

179. A Footsore Straggler 343

180. “Headquarters” in Trouble 345

181. The Flankers 347

182. A Halt of the Column 348

183. A Wagon Park 350

184. A Mule-Driver 352

185. Wagon Train on a Pontoon Bridge 359

186. Commissary Depot at Cedar Level 365

187. A Mule-team under Fire 367

188. The Bull Train 369

189. General Meade and the Quartermaster 373

190. Old Cronies 376

191. Present Badge of Engineer and Pontonier Corps 377

192. Corduroying 378

193. A Trestle Bridge, No. 1 379

194. A Trestle Bridge, No. 2 380

195. A Large Gabion 381

196. Fascines 381

197. Chevaux-de-frise 381

198. Abatis 382

199. The Fraise 382

200. A Canvas Pontoon Boat 384

201. An Angle of Fort Hell 385

202. A Wooden Pontoon 387

203. A Pontoon Bridge at Belle Plain, Va. 389

204. Poplar Grove Church 392

205. Bridging the Rappahannock under Fire 393

206. Signalling 394

207. A Flagman, Plate 1 396

208. A Flagman, Plate 2 397

209. A Flagman, Plate 3 397

210. A Signal Tree-Top 402

211. A Signal Tower, before Petersburg, Va. 403

HARD TACK AND COFFEE.