Show 1 RARE FEASTS E IN WAR TIME Tennessee s Colonel o Tells of Dining or oi ora oia a Cows Head I Christmas with its promise of goo gooc good cheer often reminds the veteran bj by b force of contrast of the many time times during the civil war when whop the plain plainest plaInest est eat food had for him a zest that n no present holiday can impart says th the Magazine of History One of these thes veterans a Tennessee colonel wh who served with cavalry be became became became came reminiscent the other day dayA A good dinner was as strange tc to t tour our camp as a 5 gold piece he re remarked remarked remarked marked as he stroked his gray graj graybeard beard and I remember well how hov eager we were for persimmon time Then it often happened that we got gol gola gota go goa a good fat possum Ossum out of o one of the th trees Wed skin him and leave him hung up over night for the frost tc to t touch him just once Next day wed we roast him in the ashes with plenty ol of o yellow yams so sugary that the syrup would ooze out of them th m like hike resin ou out of a pitch nine Dine tree Talk about terrapin and canvas canvasback canvasback canvasback back Why man alive possum and am I titters is the thins that makes you yot truly thank God for the space there then thenis theris is within you Such sweet meat and so fat anc am and juicy And when the last morsel has ha gone wn how calm and contented contente you feel how much at peace with al all mankind aI I r reckon the best dinner we had hac hacIn hadIn hain In our camp was one fall day in 64 61 when we were hanging on the flank Hank ol of o Shermans army as It marched Georgia One of our foraging parties partie brought a cow co into camp cam and the head hea fell feU to my share I 1 had my iy man wash ash and clean it then I set him to digging a pit in th thi the clay soil soli about a yard ard square In it ithe Ithe I he built hunt a fire an heaped it way wy way wa up so 80 that after atter it had burned for ar an hour and been cleaned out o t that pit was wa pretty near as hot bot as Then 11 It I Iwas was ready for business We Y put the head skin akin and all alt or on orthe the bottom with plenty of those su eu sugary sugary gary yams alongside Over the top w we put some oak planks we borrowed borrowe from a neighboring neI farmhouse and ande am cOvered e ered them over with earth You Yoi Youcan can imagine how perfectly everything was waR cooked in that readymade oven Meantime I sent out invitations tc to t General Pat Cleburne of f Arkansas General Brown of Tennessee my own owr state he was afterward governor Co nel Moses Wickes and other army arm men stationed near us Theres nc no fl need to say that all responded for lei tet id me tell you the tho federals had swept the th country almost bare and it had been beer short commons with Braggs army tot for several weeks Our table was made of three oak oali planks held up by crotched tree tret branches our dining room was the scrub oak oale grove where we had pitched our camp with the wild birds singing and chirping in the th leaves the fresh smell of the earth was in the air all and what more did we want The cows head was served on a hot log plank for a trencher with the yams cuddled alongside Our hunger was our sauce ond condiments were plain salt and pepper But how It made you smack your lips Ups Our mouths were watering all ll the time we were skinning that savory smoking head headpiece headpIece headpiece piece with our Each man stepped up to the table and cut ut off ofT a slice with the same sam handy weapon pared off the hard baked rind of ot a yam xam and sat down on a n nearby log to chew and chat We Ve would shake hands at each other and smite smile in a knowing fashion f and then shake our heads and smile again like like schoolboys out for a frolic froU Take it altogether we ate yes sir we really ate with a relish and gusto Del Det or never never saw Everybody agreed that the melting tongue ton e of that cow was wag the most re responsible responsible responsible eating they had ever ver en enJoyed enjoyed Joyed joed All AU that is needed to make this auspicious banquet complete re ye remarked remarked marked General Brown as ho he cut out outa outa a second section of or tongue is a good big snifter of old Kentucky bourbon But then as we all know there are spots on the sun We handed over the tho bones meat there was was left if tp ifa toa a poor widow wid V whose husband died fighting for the confederacy and an l whose son was also In the army amy I fed the thel l I 1 roasted skin to my horse and he ate it lt in time This reminds me of a favorite story General Bankhead Magruder used to tell teU about a dinner he had while he was serving in the army of northern Virginia The army was not much more than strong I reck reckon on and it had to do some right sharp work to stand off three well equipped federal armies each of them nearly twice as large Well WeIl one day Magruder was out reconnoItering with his staff in the th Shenandoah valley and he stumbled across a likely looking plantation tie He H sent his orderly off oft on the Jump to present his compliments to the mistress of the mansion and tell her ber that he and his officers were powerful hungry Would Woud she be kind enough to give them hem some me dinner Of course she sent back word shed do her best Along comes a young soldier right after that and he tells her the same thing It seems he was on his lila way to Join his regiment and ered with dust and looking tired to death I My young friend Im doing my best to get up a good dinner for Gen General General General eral Magruder and his staff stair Get down and come in and If there is anything any anything anything thing left after they get through you OU shall shaIl have It said this hospitable lady The young chap was hardly out of ot othis his teens and it happened that he came from one of the finest families in Jn Vir Virginia Virginia Virginia ginia He dismounted and went into the he house Just naturally he knew how affairs were conducted in the old plan plantation plantation tation households and when Magruder and his staff arrived he did some pretty tall scouting around the dining room As soon as dinner was announced he marched in at the head of the pro procession procession procession cession and took a seat next to Ma Magruder Magruder Magruder gruder The general looked at him pretty savage for a minute and saidI said I Sir do you know with whom you are dining I No sir I dont Before I joined the army I was mighty careful who I ate a meal of victuals with but now I make no distinction whatever That settled it Magruder looked nettled for a minute and then burst out laughing So did the others and the he dinner went on with everybody in high good humor |