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| Snapshots of Soldier Life |
It was not until midway through the war that the Federal Army of the Cumberland was universally issued smaller tents to replace its large, bulky Sibley and bell tents. The new ones consisted of two 6-foot-square pieces of duck canvas fastened together with buttons, and accommodated two men. They were termed "shelter tents" by the quartermaster department, but the soldiers immediately coined another name for them. Sergeant Mead Holmes Jr., 21st Wisconsin: Tomorrow we get "dog-tents", composed of two pieces of common cotton cloth, buttons on two edges, and holes on two, so you can carry one piece and I the other; at night we button our tent together, drive down a couple of stakes, place a stick across the top, and this cloth over all, pinned down at the corners; now, on your hands and knees creep in, and see how you like your kennel. Near us, a regiment was supplied, and at night what a barking there was! You would have thought all the dogs in the country were having a debate on "canine rights." Sergeant
Nixon B. Stewart, 52nd Ohio: Here [at Murfreesboro] we saw for the first time the
"pup" tent. Over them were all kinds of odd signs, such as "No
loafing," "A Baker," "Attorney at law, office upstairs." It was
made in two sections or halves, fastened together with buttons. Each ... had an improvised
ridge pole, and two stakes with the cloth stretched and pinned down at the corners. The
gable end was shut with a poncho, and the house was complete. When finished it resembled a
chicken coop. ... |
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| Brig. Gen. John Beatty: The shelter tents ... are so small that a man cannot stand up in them. The boys were then very bitter in condemnation of them and called them ... dog pens. Almost every one of these tents was marked in a way to indicate the unfavorable opinion the boys entertained of them, and in riding through the company quarters of the Pioneer Brigade, the eye would fall on inscriptions of this sort: PUPS FOR SALE General [William S.] Rosecrans and staff, while riding by one day, were greeted with a tremendous bow wow. The boys were on their hands and knees, stretching their heads out of the ends of the tents, barking furiously at the passing cavalcade. The general laughed heartily and promised them better accommodations. Corporal William H. Records, 72nd Indiana: This change of tents was the occasion for a good deal of fun, for as soon as the little dog House was staked down some of the men got down on "all fours" and pretended to be dogs going in and out of their houses. All went well enough as long as each "dog" remained in his own house, but when the "dogs" got to running about they naturally met other "dogs" and then doglike they would get to fighting; then such "barking" and "yelping." And those that played the part of dog's master would now rush up and scream: "You Bull! You Penny, let go there! You Watch! Get back to your house, sir!" and in that way the play was kept up for hours. [Sources: Mead Holmes, A Soldier of the Cumberland, Boston: American Tract Society, 1864; Nixon B. Stewart, Dan McCook's Regiment, 52nd O.V.I., Alliance, Ohio: Review Print, 1900 (Reprint edition to be published by Blue Acorn Press in January 1999); John Beatty, Memoirs of a Volunteer 1861-1863, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1946; William H. Records journal, excerpts published by Blue Acorn Press in Blue Lightning: Wilder's Mounted Infantry Brigade in the Battle of Chickamauga]. |
