by John McElroy
CHAPTER V. FAT PORK--INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM.
IT WAS told in the last chapter how the patriotic impulses of Si Klegg,of the 200th Ind., reached his stomach and digestive apparatus, andbrought them under obedient subjection to hardtack. He didn't have quiteso rough an experience with that other staple of army diet, which wasin fact the very counterpart of the hardtack, and which took its mostpopular name from that part of the body of the female swine which isusually nearest the ground. Much of Si's muscle and brawn was due to thefact that meat was always plenty on his father's farm. When Si enlistedhe was not entirely free from anxiety on the question of meat, for tohis appetite it was not even second in importance to bread. If breadwas the "staff of life" meat was life itself to Si. It didn't makemuch difference to him what kind it was, only so it was meat. He didn'tsuppose Uncle Sam would keep him supplied with quail on toast andporterhouse steaks all the time, but he did hope he would give him asmuch as he wanted of something in that line.
"You won't get much pork, unless you're a good forager," said oneof Si's friends he met at Louisville, and who had been a year in theservice.
Si thought he might, with practice and a little encouragement, be fairlysuccessful in foraging on his' own hook, but at the same time he saidhe wouldn't grumble if he could only get plenty of pork. Fortunatelyfor him he had not been imbued with the teachings of the Hebraicdispensation which declared "unclean" the beast that furnished the greatbulk of the animal food for the American defenders of the Union.
Co. Q of the 200th Ind. received with the first issue of army rationsat Louisville a bountiful supply of bacon of prime quality, and Si washappy at the prospect. He thought it would always be that way.
"I don't see anything the matter with such grub as that!" said Si."Looks to me as though we were goin' to live like fighting-cocks."
"You're just a little bit brash," said his veteran friend, who hadjust been through the long, hungry march from Huntsville, Ala., toLouisville. "Better eat all you can lay yer hands on now, while ye'vegot a chance. One o' these days ye'll git into a tight place and yewon't see enough hog's meat in a week to grease a griddle. I've binthere, myself! Jest look at me and see what short rations 'll bring youto?"
But Si thought he wouldn't try to cross a bridge till he got to it, norlie awake nights worrying over troubles that were yet in the future. Sihad a philosophical streak in his mental make-up and this, by the way,was a good thing for a soldier to have. "Sufficient unto the day is theevil thereof," was an excellent rule for him to go by.
So Si assimilated all the pork that fell to his share, with an extra bitnow and then from a comrade whose appetite was less vigorous. He thrivedunder its fructifying influence, and gave good promise of militaryactivity and usefulness. No scientific processes of cookery werenecessary to prepare it for immediate use. A simple boiling or frying ortoasting was all that was required.
THE VETERAN TALKS TO SI 049 ]
During the few days at Louisville fresh beef was issued occasionally. Itis true that the animals slain for the soldiers were not always fat andtender, nor did each of them have four hind-quarters. This last fact wasthe direct cause of a good deal of inflammation in the 200th Ind., as inevery other regiment. The boys who got sections of the forward part ofthe "critter," usually about three-quarters bone, invariably kicked, andfired peppery remarks at those who got the juicy steaks from therear portion of the animal. Then when their turn came for a piece ofhind-quarter the other fellows would growl. Four-fifths of the boysgenerally had to content themselves with a skinny rib or a soupshank. Sishared the common lot, and did his full quota of grumbling because his"turn" for a slice of steak didn't come every time beef was issued.
The pickled pork was comparatively free from this cause of irritation.It was all alike, and was simply "Hobson's choice." Si remembered thefragrant and delicious fried ham that so often garnished his mother'sbreakfast table and wondered why there was not the same proportion ofhams and sides in the Commissary that he remembered in the meathouse onthe Wabash. He remarked to Shorty one day:
"I wonder where all this pork comes from?"
"It comes from Illinoy, I suppose," said Shorty. "I notice the barrelsare all marked 'Chicago'."
"Must grow funny kind o' hogs out there--a mile long each, I shouldsay. What do you mean?"
"Why, we've drawn a full mile o' sides from the Commissary, and haintstruck a ham yit. I'm wonderin' jest how long that hog is!"
"Well, you are green. You oughter know by this time that there are onlyenough hams for the officers."
Now and then a few pigs' shoulders were handed round among the boys, butthe large proportion of bone they contained was exasperating, and wasthe cause of much profanity.
Sometimes bacon was issued that had really outlived its usefulness,except, perhaps, for the manufacture of soap. Improperly "cured," it wasstrong and rancid, or, occasionally, so near a condition of putrefactionthat the stench from it offended the nostrils of the whole camp. Sometimes it was full of "skippers," that tunneled their way through andthrough it, and grew fat with riotous living.
DRAWING RATIONS 051 ]
Si drew the line at this point. He had an ironplated stomach, but putridand maggoty meat was too much for it. Whenever he got any of this hewould trade it off to the darkies for chickens. There is nothing likepork for a Southern negro. He wants something that will "stick to hisribs."
By a gradual process of development his appetite reached the point whenhe could eat his fat pork perfectly raw. During a brief halt when on themarch he would squat in a fence corner, go down into his haversack forsupplies, cut a slice of bacon, lay it on a hardtack, and munch themwith a keen relish.
"ALL RIGHT, BOSS; DATS A GO" 052 ]
At one of the meetings of the Army of the Cumberland Gen. Garfield tolda story which may appropriately close this chapter.
One day, while the Army of the Cumberland was beleaguered in Chattanoogaand the men were almost starving on quarter rations, Gen. Rosecransand his staff rode out to inspect the lines. As the brilliant cavalcadedashed by a lank, grizzled soldier growled to a comrade:
"It'd be a darned sight better for this army if we had a little moresowbelly and not quite so many brass buttons!"