Update to my previous post regarding "Rubber Rugs" recovered from the battlefield at Murfreesboro that may be of interest to some. I copied the following from a New York Times article by a Union Private in "Uncle Bill Sherman's Army" recalling Nov.-Dec. 1863 from his diary:
"During this march to Knoxville and back to Chattanooga [Nov.-Dec. 1863] the weather was sufficiently cold to freeze at night and thaw in the sunshine, which made marching very tiresome, as we were either slipping in the ice or in the mud. When we stopped at dark the first thing we did was to build a big fire of logs, sufficient to last all night. Then we put our fresh pork and chickens (foraged earlier by detail from regiment) in a big camp kettle, and after they had boiled a proper length of time we added the sweet potatoes. As a matter of course we ate them as soon as cooked. Each man put enough in his haversack for next day’s lunch. In the morning we warmed up what was left, and, with our coffee, we were ready to continue our march.
"Each man had his rubber and woolen blanket, and, in addition, every two men had a half woolen one. One day one man carried the half blanket and the next day the other. After supper one rubber was placed on the ground, then the half woolen, leaving the two whole woolens and remaining rubber to cover us. We removed our shoes and jackets and made pillows of them. The beds were made close to the fire, and soon all was quiet, varied occasionally by someone’s foot getting to warm from a falling ember, or the muffled noise of “Tom, let’s turn over; that hip has dug a hole in the ground and aches.”
Rob Swinson
32nd & 45th Miss. (Consolidated) Flag Abstract
RESwinson@aol.com