"Do you want to be a soldier? What had their brave jaws to chew? What's the jolly stuff we soldiers have to crack? "Want to be a soldier, do you? You must march through swamps and sludge, That's the jolly stuff we soldiers have to crack, The tack in question is always packed in square wooden boxes-generally bearing a date, as well as the brand of the maker or baker; anent which the following is told : "One day a lot of boxes, of peculiarly hard crackers, arrived in the camp of the Vth Excelsior. Several of the boys were wondering at the meaning of the brand upon the boxes, which was as follows: 'B C. "Various interpretations were given, but all were rejected, until one individual declared it was all plain enough-couldn't be misunderstood. "Why, how so?' was the query. "Oh! he replied, 'that is the date when the crackers were made-six hundred and three years before Christ—(603 B. C.)'" "McClellan pies," was at one time the name generally applied to hard-tack. Of late, another variety of pie has come forthas appears from a rather recent anecdote: Army pies are so terribly tough, that soldiers call them leather pies. A poor fellow of Grant's army, whose arm had just been amputated, was being carried past a stand the other day where an old woman was selling pies, when he raised himself in the ambulance, and called out: 'I say, old lady, are those pies sewed or pegged ?'" "Monitors" is a name sometimes applied by our men to hardtack, and sometimes to the abominable and tough pies sold by sutlers, or camp-followers. During the great Central Sanitary Fair, held in Philadelphia, June, 1864, an invalid soldier, who was selling a book called "The Haversack," for the benefit of the boys in hospital, was asked by one who bought a copy: "Is there any thing in this haversack?" He replied to this question: 66 Yes, sir-lots of hard-tack-the real old iron-clads." Apropos to pies, I find in a letter from the army, the following story of General Nelson, who succeeded to the command of General Mitchells Division: "General Nelson, the coinmander of our division, occasionally comes dashing through camp, bestowing a gratuitous cursing on some offender, and is off like a shot. He is a great, rough, profane, old fellow,-he followed the seas' for many years. He has a plain, good, old-fashioned fireplace kindness about him, that is always shown to those who do their duty, but offenders meet with no mercy at his hands. The General hates peddlers, and there are many that come about the camp, selling hoe-cakes, pies, milk, &c., at exorbitant prices. Cracker-fed soldiers are free with their money; they will pay ten times the value of an article-if they want it. The other day the General came across a peddler, selling something that he called pies, not the delicious kind of pies that our mothers make,-the very thought of which even now makes me home-sick,-but an indigestible combination of flattened dough and woolly peaches, minus sugar, minus spice, minus every thing that is good-any one of which the General swore would kill a hyena deader than the d-l.' 'What do you charge for those pies?' roared he. Fifty cents a-piece,' responded the pie-man. Fifty cents a-piece for such pies!' was the reply. 'Now, you infernal swindling pirate,' cried he, letting fly one of his great rifled oaths, that fairly made the elbow tremble, 'I want you to go to work and cram every one of those pies down you as quick as the Lord will let you-double quick, you villain!' Expostulations, appeals, or promises, were of no avail, and the peddler was forced, to the great amusement of the soldiers, to 'down' half a dozen of his own pies-all he had left. 'Now,' said the General, looking at the fellow, after he had finished his repast, and stood looking as deathlike as the doctor who was forced to swallow his own medicine, leave!-and if ever I catch you back here again, swindling my men, I'll hang you! The man departed." But the writer has a friend in the army who once ate of even worse pies than those, the bad quality of which so excited the mingled pity and wrath of General Nelson. The gentleman of whom I speak, had been taken prisoner by the rebels at Murfreesboro, was conveyed by them to Alabama, and sent thence as a prisoner to Richmond. While on the route, at a stoppingplace on the railroad in Georgia, certain female rebels made their appearance with sundry "rice pies," so badly made, that nearly all the prisoners, starved as they were, refused to touch them, though freely offered as a gift. "Imagine," said my friend, "the worst of rice spread on a dark and disgusting crust of hardened flour the rice itself but quarter softened. I was however very hungry, and had, in common with a friend, filled my pockets with some refuse sugar, which we had, unseen by the guard, scraped from the outside of some sugar-barrels stored at a way-station. This sugar we spread on one of the rice-pies— and contrived to worry it down. During the night, in the cattle car, in which we were shut, we were attacked by terrible pains, but were finally relieved by nausea. Among our fellow-prisoners was an eminent medical man and expert chemist. Firstly from the symptoms, and subsequently from an examination of the pie, he declared that we had been deliberately poisoned with arsenic, and that nothing but the large quantity of the nauseous mess which we had swallowed, had saved our lives. "If you had eaten only a little," said he, "you would have died." NOTES ON THE MAY CAMPAIGN ON THE JAMES RIVER. As a part of the grand campaign against the rebel capital, it was determined to move a large force up the James River, simultaneously with the movement of Meade from the Rapidan. This force was gathered at Yorktown and Gloucester Point, during the month of April. The Tenth Corps was brought from the Department of the South, under command of Major-General Gillmore. It had been previously reorganized-or rather its organization was completed at Gloucester-and consisted of three divisions, commanded respectively by Brigadier-Generals Terry, Ames, and Turner. There were seven brigades in the corps, all commanded by colonels. The troops in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, were concentrated, and the Eighteenth Corps was reorganized, and placed under command of Major-General W. F. Smith. There were two divisions, commanded by Brigadier-Generals Brooks and Weitzell, and four brigades, with Brigadier-Generals Heckman, Wistar, Burnham, and Marston as commanders. There was a fine force of artillery attached to each corps. A division of colored troops, under Brigadier-General Hinks, was organized at Hampton, and a magnificent division of cavalry, consisting of both white and colored troops, at Norfolk and Portsmouth, under command of General Kautz. This army was a splendid body of men, containing some of the best disciplined troops in the service, and all eager to have a share in giving the grand finishing stroke to the great Rebellion. Our destination was kept a profound secret. Whether we were to proceed up the York River to White House or West Point, or march up the Peninsula, or through Gloucester county to threaten the flank and rear of Lee's army, or whether we were to steam up the James to Harrison's Landing or City Point, none could tell. The rebels, of course, were as much puzzled as our own people, in regard to the point to be aimed at by this formidable force, which they knew was concentrating at Yorktown. On the 1st of May, one brigade of Turner's Division, under command of Colonel Henry,. of the 4th Massachusetts, embarked on transports, and proceeded up the York River, and landed at West Point the next day. This was intended to conceal our real destination. This brigade remained there in rear of the earthworks erected by Gordon's Division in the spring of 1863, which were still in good condition, until the night of the 4th, when they re-embarked, descending the York on the 5th. An incident occurred illustrating the murderous spirit of secessionism. A small party of men appeared near a house on the left bank of the river, and made signals to one of the gunboats accompanying the expedition. A boat was promptly lowered and sent to the shore. As it neared the landing, the party which had signalled fired a volley into the boat, killing one man instantly. The main force was embarked during the day of the 4th, and that night dropped down the river, passed Fort Monroe and entered the James, convoyed by the fleet, under command of Rear-Admiral Lee. In the afternoon of the 5th, the expedition reached a landing at the junction of the James and Appomattox Rivers, a mile or two above City Point, and about twentytwo miles from Richmond, and twelve miles from Petersburg. There is no village there, and but two or three houses in the vicinity, but the tract of country is called Bermuda Hundreds. The troops were rapidly disembarked, and a portion of them moved out into the country. The signal stations of the enemy were captured, with the men of the signal corps, at several points. The colored troops of Hinks's Division were landed at two or three points on the north side of the James, and at City Point on the south side. The disembarkation of the troops at Bermuda Hundreds was completed on the 6th, the whole having arrived. The Eighteenth Corps had advanced on the afternoon of the 5th, five or six miles toward the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, its left resting on or near the Appomattox. In the morning of the 6th, one brigade from that corps moved on, and struck the railroad, a little north of the junction of the Walthal road with the Petersburg. Here a small body of the enemy was encountered, and a sharp skirmish ensued, in which the advantage was with the Union troops. The whole army, that evening, had taken up its position within about three miles of the railroad, and its lines reached from the James to the Appomattox, the Tenth Corps on the right and the Eighteenth on the left. This was the position on the morning of the 7th-thirty-six hours after landing. The force had advanced but about seven or eight miles. There were many speculations and wonderings as to why we had not advanced rapidly, and struck-vigorously all the points near us. No intelligent person had the slightest suspicion that the main purpose of this formidable expedition was accomplished by merely securing a landing at Bermuda Hundreds, and possessing the little neck of land between the James and Appomattox, because this could have been done at any time by the naval forces. It was thought, in well-informed circles, that the objects of the movement were: to interrupt the enemy's communications, thereby retarding, and, if possible, preventing the advance of his troops coming up from the South; to threaten Richmond; to seize any opportunity that might offer for damaging the enemy, and at the same time to furnish a point d'appui for Meade's army, if it should be judged best to move it across the Peninsula, in its efforts to capture Richmond. It was also thought by many that there was little danger in a rapid advance, for it was well known that there were very few troops at either Richmond or Petersburg. Sober-minded and intelligent officers asked in all seriousness, "Is not Petersburg within our grasp?" and some, more sanguine, affirmed their conviction that Fort Darling and Richmond could be taken by a prompt and vigorous movement upon them. It was also feared that these advantages would be ours but a very few days; for undoubtedly the enemy would move troops as rapidly as possible to confront this formidable force, threatening him in a vital point. How well-founded were these opinions as to the number of troops at Richmond and Petersburg, and fears as to the dangers of delay, may be inferred from the fact, since definitely ascertained, that ten thousand of the best troops, intended for the defence of Richmond, had been sent to North Carolina to operate against Newbern, and in anticipation of the supposed purpose of the gathering of Burnside's force at Annapolis, in addition to the troops sent to Lee's army. These forces were hastening toward Richmond, and with them several brigades which had been stationed in North Carolina; and not far behind was the command of Beauregard, from Charleston, Savannah, and Florida, numbering about twenty thousand men, thus making an aggregate of nearly forty thousand; a force equal to that under command of General Butler. On the morning of the 7th, five brigades, three from the Eighteenth and two from the Tenth Corps, under command of General Brooks, advanced, and found the enemy posted along the railroad between Chester Station and Walthal Junction, and drove them from their position. They, however, rallied, and showing considerable force, pushed back our right, and finally both parties withdrew. Our loss was quite severe, the 8th Connecticut losing heavily. In the mean time, working parties were diligently occupied fortifying the line between the two rivers, the distance being less than three miles, with a deep ravine in front of both the right and left. On the morning of the 9th, nearly the whole force was put in motion, on the different roads leading to the railroad. Terry's and Turner's Divisions of the Tenth Corps, struck the railroad at Clover Hill Junction, thirteen miles from Richmond. Terry left one brigade there, faced toward Richmond, its right toward the James, and its left crossing the railroad, and with the other brigade followed Turner, who had turned to the left |