10. X.
DESERTS — HIS EXPERIENCE IN CLOTHES.
Camp uv the Looisiana Pelicans, }
November the 1st, 1862.
[1]
I hev deserted, and am now a soljer uv the Confederacy.
Jest ez soon ez our regiment struck Suthrin sile, I made up
my mind that my bondage wuz drawin to a close — that I wood
seeze the fust oppertoonity uv escapin to my nateral frends, —
the soljers uv the sunny South. Nite before last I run the
guard, wuz shot at twice (reseevin two buck-shot jest below
the hind buttons uv my coat), but by eggstrordinary luck I
escaped. Had infantry bin sent after me I shood hev bin
taken, for I am not a fast runner; but the commandant uv the
post wuz new at the biznis, and innocently sent cavalry. Between
the hossis they rode, and the stoppin to pick up them
ez coodent stick onto ther flyin steeds, I hed no difficulty in
outrunnin em.
At last I encountered the pickits uv the Looisiana Pelicans,
and givin myself up ez a deserter from the hordes uv the
tyrant Linkin, wuz to-wunst taken afore the kernel. I must
say, in this conneckshun, that I wuz surprised at the style uv
uniform worn by the Pelicans. It consists uv a hole in the
seet uv the pants, with the tale uv the shirt a wavin gracefully
therefrom. The follerin colloquy ensood: —
“To what regiment did yoo belong?”
“776th Ohio.”
“Volunteer or draftid?”
“Draftid.”
“Yoor name?”
“Nasby, Petroleum V.”
I notist all this time the kernel wuz eyein my clothes wistfully.
I had jest drawd em, and they wuz bran-new. Sez the
kernel: —
“Mr. Nasby, I reseeve you gladly ez a recroot in the Grand
Army uv Freedom. Ez yoo divest yoorself uv the clothes uv
the tyrant, divest yerself uv whatever lingrin affecshuns yoo
may hev fer the land uv yer nativity, and ez yoo array yerself
in the garb uv a Suthrin soljer, try to fill yer sole with that
Suthrin feelin that animates us all. Jones,” sed he, addressin
his orderly, “is Thompson dead yit?”
“Not quite,” sez the orderly.
“Never mind,” sez the kernel, “he cant git well uv that
fever; strip off his uniform and give it to Nasby, and berry
him.”
I judgd, from the style uv the uniforms I saw on the men
around me, that I wood rather keep my own, but I sed nothin.
When the orderly returned with the deceest Thompson's uniform,
I groaned innardly. There wuz a pair uv pants with the
seat entirely torn away, and wun leg gone below the knee, a
shoe with the sole off, and the straw he had wrapped around
the other foot, and a gray woolen shirt. Sez the kernel:
“Don't be afeered uv me, Nasby. Put on yer uniform rite
here.”
Reluctantly, I pulled off my new dubble-soled boots, and I
wuz petrified to see the kernel kick off the slippers he wore,
and pull em on. I pulled off my pants — he put em on, and so
on with every article uv dress I possest, even to my warm
overcoat and blankit. Sez the kernel:
“These articles, Nasby, belongs to the Guvment, to which I
shel akount for them. Report yoorself to-wunst to Captin
Smith.”
Ez I passed out, the lootenant-kernel, majer, and adjutent
pulled me to wun side, and askt me “ef I coodent git three
more to desert.” Wun glance at their habillyments showd why
they wuz so anxious fer deserters.
I candidly confess that Linkin takes better care uv his soljers
than Davis does. The clothin I hev described. Instid uv reglar
rashens, we are allowed to eat jest whatever we can steal uv
the planters, and, ez mite be expectid, we hev becum wonderfully
expert at pervidin; but, ez the Pelicans hev bin campt
here three months, the livin is gittin thin. Yet a man kin endoor
almost any thing for principle.
