JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Somewhere near Fredericksburg, pontoons across the river join two sides. Wagons and planks in foreground, men ( engineers? ) enjoying peace, however temporary. Gardner's print didn't catch the pickets along the Rappahannock, if he had he may have witnessed peace in that camp, too.
Always keep an eye peeled for these stories. Beyond the obvious fascination they represent ( maybe just to me ) who we are. Stripped of ego and agenda, peeling back all those shellacked layers composed of American caste marks, it takes little encouragement for plain, old Peace to break out. No one had a better idea we were over there and really, 'sides' can be silly ( unless the Steelers are playing Baltimore ) than pickets. You just know for every story printed where enemy pickets created cheated hate for awhile were ten more no one ever heard of.
A Massachusetts officer's eye witness account;
Anyone insisting this is a made-up story is working way too hard 150 years later to keep war ticking over. Apocryphal accounts tend to be told with romanticized embellishments. This is ' quoits ', however they did this one. From Dictionary dot com, briefest description I could find.
- a game in which rings of rope or flattened metal are thrown at an upright peg, the object being to encircle it or come as close to it as possible.
Officers were a obligated to break up this kind of thing- you just know this one hated to do it.