Thursday, June 9th.
After being out all night “the Sheriff” was relieved and reported at camp about 8 o’clock this morning. All was quiet along the lines to-day, and an extra ration of pork, beans and cabbage was issued to the men by the Sanitary Commission, which was most gratefully received. The provisioning of an army is no small matter, but it does seem as if better food, or at least more of it, could be supplied by the department in charge. Sometimes our men have had practically nothing to eat for twenty-four hours, and I have actually seen them pick up ribs and other very stale bones left where cattle have been slaughtered, and roast them in their little coffee-boiling fires and gnaw them as they resumed the march. It was no very unusual thing to see hardtack crackers bought by the men from each other at twenty-five cents apiece, and I have known a man whose pay was $13 per month to offer a dollar for one.
For the first time since May 4th my satchel was brought to me to-day, and I was able to indulge in the luxury of a comparatively clean shirt and suit of underclothing, but that exhausts my wardrobe, for the garments removed were so ragged and infested with “gray-backs” that I burned them all at once, trusting to luck some time to run across a Quartermaster’s train.
Notwithstanding the rough experiences which the war entails, there are occasional incidents which save us from altogether losing confidence in human nature. For instance, to-day at a point where the picket lines were not more than fifteen yards apart, the men on these lines agreed not to fire upon each other and at once got out of their burrows, exchanged papers, traded knives, tobacco and coffee and discussed politics, it being generally agreed among them that if a few men on both sides who stayed at home were hung, matters could be easily arranged. So many men got together that the rebel officers, fearing demoralization, ordered the firing to commence again, and the “Johnnies” sung out, “get into your holes, Yanks, we are going to fire,” and when the incredulous “Yanks” moved very deliberately, the “Johnnies” actually fired over their heads to give them time to hide. Our pickets often hear those on the other side discussing the advisability of coming into our lines and surrendering in the night time, and every night some of them come in, and yet when it comes to fighting, one would not suppose that any of them had the faintest idea of surrendering. It is currently reported that each side is driving mines under the field-works of the other, and that pretty soon somebody will be blown up, but no one seems to have any definite information on the subject. Lieut. Vanderpoel reported for duty with my company, I having had but one lieutenant since Lieut. Clark was detailed to Co. E.
