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- Feb 5, 2017
This is a funny story I came across while doing research on Shiloh. Lieutenant William Hall was born in Montreal but his parents came from Vermont so he was not a foreigner, and was kind of an odd duck in looks - "not a comely man" was how other officers described him. He had constant ill health and was sallow in complexion but he never made illness an excuse. He always obeyed orders but almost always with protest and questioning. Yet he was a good tactician and brave in battle. But he had a temper…..
"While the Iowa Brigade was encamped at Clifton, Tennessee, just before starting across the country to Huntsville, a squad of raw recruits, from its different regiments, were put on picket. They were in the enemy's country and of course, were ordered to load their pieces. Returning to camp in the morning, they inquired of the veterans how they should get the charges out of their guns and received the following instructions: "Go out there, behind Colonel Hall's tent, and fire them off: that's the only place—and be sure and all fire at once."
They did as directed. What followed was better appreciated by the veterans, than by those who were learning their first lesson in soldiering. Colonel Hall, who was in bed, sprang out in a rage and ordered the poor fellows tied from morning to night."
Source: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 237-242
"While the Iowa Brigade was encamped at Clifton, Tennessee, just before starting across the country to Huntsville, a squad of raw recruits, from its different regiments, were put on picket. They were in the enemy's country and of course, were ordered to load their pieces. Returning to camp in the morning, they inquired of the veterans how they should get the charges out of their guns and received the following instructions: "Go out there, behind Colonel Hall's tent, and fire them off: that's the only place—and be sure and all fire at once."
They did as directed. What followed was better appreciated by the veterans, than by those who were learning their first lesson in soldiering. Colonel Hall, who was in bed, sprang out in a rage and ordered the poor fellows tied from morning to night."
Source: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 237-242
They excell at pushing buttons of testy colonels or whoever else the powers that be happen to be.
I can imagine how that went over
Bringing the