Tag Archives: Eighth Maine Regiment

Time Saver

In our daily lives we are always looking to save time. In Charley’s case time saved him.

George was understandably traumatized by his bloody work at the surgeon’s tent. Afterwards he shirked all official duties focusing instead on scavenging whenever, wherever and whatever he could. Soon the pickings at Petersburg became slim and as his unit was being called to move out, he went to say good-bye to his brother Charley who had been assigned to a new unit. Charley was downtrodden, not at all enthusiastic about yet another march and inevitably another battle. George decided he would go on one last foraging mission in search of a special good-bye treat for his big brother.

Wherever there were soldiers there were laypeople selling their wares from knitted socks to home-made cakes and pies. These brave (or crazy) men would fill up their wagons and drive right up to the front on the days they knew that the men got paid. On this day a ragged old man with a wagon fixed out with a stove was selling fresh hot mince pies. The smell alone was making the men drool. For each man lucky enough to get one there were ten or more standing around wistfully watching him eat it. After analyzing the situation up and down and realizing that theft was not an option with such a crowd, George ran as fast as he could back to his brother to beg for $1. Charley had no money at all and his sorrow was written all over his war worn face. George sat down next to him and thought through all his scavenging tricks. He had to get his brother one of those pies.

He recounts:

Charley, my brother, owned an old-fashioned silver watch, one of those old “English levers.” He thought a great deal of it as a keep-sake and always gave it to me to keep when he was going into action. I had this watch now, and made up my mind I would trade it and get a lot of pies for us all. Oh! such bright anticipations of hot mince pies. I could almost see them floating in the air as big as cart wheels, and fearing they would all be sold before I could reach the wagon, I ran as hard as I could. The crowd had thinned out and so had the pies. “How many have you got left?” I eagerly asked. 

“Oh, plenty,” he replied; “how many, do you want?” “Well,” I said, nearly out of breath, “I haven’t any money, but I want all you have, and I’ll trade you a nice watch for them.” 

“Say, cully! what yer givin’ me? I don’t want no watch. Let’s see it.” 

I quickly passed it up to him, and stood working my fingers and feet impatiently and revolving in my mind how many pies he would give me and how I would manage to carry them back, when he broke out into a loud, contemptuous laugh, and passed the watch back. 

“Say, young fellow, that aint no good. I’d rather have a blacking box than that thing.” 

“It’s silver,” I replied. 

“That don’t make no difference. I’ll give you one pie for the thing if you want it, see!” 

I turned the watch over and over in my hand, my feelings hurt and my stomach disappointed. Then I thought of my brother, forgot that it was his high-priced time-piece, and quickly said: 

“Give me the pie and take the watch.” 

Of course once the pie was greedily devoured down to the last crumb Charley started to ask questions as to how George had managed to get the pie with no money. Eventually he guiltily confessed that he had traded Charley’s prized silver watch. The disappointment in Charley’s eyes broke his heart. Determined to get it back he ran back to the pie man and  convinced him that he could show him how the complicated watch worked in exchange for a ride. George slowly set the time and wound the watch stalling so that he could come up with some way to get it back. He knew he couldn’t just bolt with it with so many soldiers around. Suddenly a shell exploded very close scaring the already skittish horse and overturning the wagon. Lucky George slipped away in the confusion returning the watch to his grateful brother.

Some of George’s luck must have rubbed off on that watch. That evening a fierce battle erupted. Charley was slightly wounded by shells and shrapnel but the one bullet that would have killed him was deflected by his silver watch. His watch was shattered but Charley was fine. Charley kept the fragments of that watch with him for the rest of the war. It really was a time saver.

Next Up:  George is injured, will he survive the War?

George the Scavenger

The Front at Petersburg

For almost 13 days, George and the remnants of the Eighth Maine regiment remained at Cold Harbor. As things settled down, they spent their days collecting their dead and nursing their injured. George with the nervous energy and cockiness of youth would take off for hours at a time foraging for his battle brothers.

He dodged Rebel sentries, sharp shooters and angry Southern farmers to beg, borrow and steal whatever he could. With supplies running low, his only thought was to bring back something special to cheer up his faithful friends. On one mission he found an orchard and filled his pockets and sack with as many apples as he could carry. George was so excited to surprise the regiment with applesauce that evening (without sugar which they did not have). His heart was in the right place, but unfortunately the apples must have been spoiled and the men were sick with the runs the next day. That almost put an end to his illicit scavenging. Almost.

Eventually the battalion was given the orders to march. One dark night in a skirmish outside of Petersburg, a shell landed in the middle of his company. Bullets were soon flying in all directions and George who had yet to shoot a gun in this War took off running. He ran, ducked and crawled until he found himself completely turned around and was not sure if he was running towards his camp or towards the enemy. Ahead was a traditional Southern mansion with a white picket fence and derelict slave cabins. He crept through the creaky gate towards a chicken house he had spotted in the yard. The fighting completely forgotten, all he could think about was bringing back some chickens to camp. What a hero he would be! Hearing the clucking of the chickens he slipped in without a thought but immediately froze as he saw two enemy soldiers sitting on a bench against the wall. Again, George’s incredible luck held. Those two soldiers were deserters who wanted to give themselves up! Proud as a peacock George marched those two back to headquarters. He was offered a two week furlough for his heroism. Later he snuck back out and took five chickens from that chicken coop which he boiled then saved until he found his brother Charley.

George may have been the luckiest boy in the Civil War. I am sure that his family enjoyed his letters home bragging about his exploits, but mostly they were probably warmed by the thought of the two brothers together. Charley looking after the precocious George as battles were waged.

Next Up: What Would My Poor Mother Say?