potatoes disappear in a mysterious way night after night, went to the nearest camp to see if he could not find some trace of the culprits. While strolling around among the tents, he saw one of the boys serving up a dish of fine kidney potatoes, which he thought looked very much like his own.

"Have fine potatoes here, I see," he said, halting before the

tent.

"Splendid."

"Where do you get them?"

"Draw them."

"Does the government furnish potatoes for rations?" "Nary tater."

"But I thought you said you drew them."

"Did. We just do that thing."

"But how-if they are not included in your rations?" "Easiest thing in the world. Won't you take some with us?" "Thank you. But you will oblige me if you will tell me how you draw your potatoes."

"Nothing easier. Draw 'em by the tops, mostly; sometimes with a hoe, if there's one left in the field."

If you

"Ha! yes! I understand. Well, now, see here. won't draw any more of my potatoes, I'll bring you a basketful every morning, and draw 'em myself."

"Will you? Bully for you, old fellow!"

And three cheers and a tiger were given for the farmer, who had the pleasure in future of drawing his own potatoes.

Among the slang used by the soldiers, "bully" was the highest term of commendation, and "I don't see it" expressed an equal degree of dissent. Before long the men had almost a language of their own, and used so many odd words and phrases that a visitor to the camp was at a loss to understand them. Every place had its nickname, and few officers were spoken of behind their back by their proper names. A tent was called a "canvas," a sword was a "toad-sticker," food was "grub," stockings were "scabbards," and any of the altered kinds of muskets were "howitzers." The word "skedaddle," which came into use in the first year of the war, caused a great deal of controversy even in Europe, where learned men tried to find out its origin. The word is said to have been first given by some German soldiers to the Confederate earthworks back of

1861.]

66

SOLDIERS' SLANG.

137

Munson's Hill, which they called "Fort Skedaddle" because its defenders ran away, and it soon came to be used by the whole army in the sense of the slang expressions to "cut stick," to vamose the ranche," and to "slope." Some thought from this that it was of German origin. Lord Hill wrote to the London Times to prove that the word was good Scotch, and said it was in common use in Dumfries, where it meant to spillmilkmaids saying, for instance, "You are skedaddling your milk." But the London Spectator said this was wrong; that the word was good Greek, the root being skedannumi, meaning to disperse or retire tumultuously, and that the soldiers used it in the proper sense.

During the first year of the war the Union soldiers commonly called their opponents "Rebs" and "Secesh;" in 1862,

saying that the Confederates depended on England to get them out of their scrape. This the other denied, saying that they were able to scrape themselves out. The Union man then said that a Reb was no better than a Johnny Bull, anyhow; whereupon the Confederate said that he would shoot him if he called him that again, for he would as lieve be called a nigger as a Johnny Bull. But the name stuck, and in the last part of the war the Confederate soldiers were almost universally called "Johnnies." Throughout the war the Confederates dubbed all the Union soldiers "Yankees" and "Yanks," without any reference to the part of the country they came from. The Western men often took as much offence at these names as

the Confederates did at the nickname "Johnny," or "Johnny Reb," as it was sometimes varied. Other nicknames for Union soldiers, occasionally used, were "Feds," "Blue Birds," and "Blue Bellies." Since the war the opponents have been commonly called " Boys in Blue" and "Boys in Gray."

66

At the close of October Lieutenant-General Scott, ill and infirm, and then more than seventy-five years old, asked to be placed on the retired list of officers. His request was granted, and he was allowed to retire with his full rank, and without any reduction in his pay or allowances. On the next day (November 1) Major-General McClellan was appointed commander-inchief of the army of the United States. This gave him charge

not only of the Army of the Potomac, but of all the other armies in the field, and of military operations in every part of the United States.

A fight near Dranesville, December 20, between a Confederate force of about twenty-five hundred men, under General J. E. B. Stuart, and a Union brigade of about four thousand men, under General E. O. C. Ord, ended for the year the campaign of the Army of the Potomac. Stuart was foraging-that is, was collecting hay, corn, and other supplies for the Confederate. army. To give his wagon-train time to get out of the way, he attacked the Union troops, who were also foraging, but after a sharp fight, in which he lost about two hundred men, was obliged to retreat. The Union loss was sixty-nine in killed and wounded.

1861.]

WINTER QUARTERS.

139

Cold weather had now set in, with plenty of snow and ice, and the canvas tents along the Potomac had given place to structures better calculated to keep out wind and rain. Notwithstanding the daily rumors of a forward movement, the soldiers, taking it for granted that there would be none before spring, had built rude cabins out of unhewn logs cut in the woods near by. Many of these were quite picturesque, but most of them were rude huts like those shown in the picture. The Confederates had done the same, and the hostile armies settled down for the winter, each in its city of huts, scarcely more than a day's march from each other.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ATLANTIC COAST.

SECRETARY WELLES AND THE NAVY.-CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS.-THE LADY DAVIS.-THE SAVANNAH'S CREW TREATED AS PIRATES. THE PETREL SUNK.-THE SUMTER.-RAPHAEL SEMMES. THE LAWS ABOUT PRIZES.-THE NASHVILLE.-BLOCKADE RUNNING.-EXPEDITION AGAINST HATTERAS.-THE FORTS CAPTURED.-A UNION EXPEDITION SPOILED.-FORT PICKENS.-WILSON'S ZOUAVES.-THE BOYS HAVE GOT THE MONEY.-NIGHT ATTACK ON THE ZOUAVES' CAMP.-BOMBARDMENT OF FORTS MCREE AND BARRANCAS.-THE MANASSAS RAM.-FIGHT WITH THE UNION FLEET IN THE MISSISSIPPI.-FIRE-SHIPS.

WH

HILE an army was thus forming, Secretary Welles, of the Navy Department, had struggled hard to create a navy. When the war began scarcely vessels enough could be found to do blockade duty. Many were in distant seas, and some had been captured or destroyed by the Confederates when they took the navy-yards in their States. What was still worse, two hundred and fifty-nine naval officers, born in the South, had "gone with their States." Fortunately, merchant vessels fit for use while war-ships were building were obtained, and enough officers from the merchant service were found to take the place of those who had left. At the beginning of July, 1861, there were forty-three armed vessels in the service, doing duty as blockaders and in defending the coasts. These were divided into two squadrons or fleets, one, called the Atlantic Squadron, consisting of twenty-two vessels, under command of Commodore Silas H. Stringham, and the other, called the Gulf Squadron, of twenty-one vessels, under Commodore William Mervine. The Naval Academy meanwhile had been removed from Annapolis, where it was no longer considered safe, to Newport, Rhode Island.

As early as April, 1861, Jefferson Davis had begun to send out privateers to prey on the commerce of the United States. The first of these vessels to sail under the Confederate flag was the Lady Davis, named after the wife of President Davis. She was a small steamer used at first for the defence of Charleston Harbor, and mounted only two guns. Two other steamers, the Savannah and the Petrel, were soon sent out, and by the time the blockade began to be strictly enforced quite a fleet of vessels