Civil War Mules

[EJ Zander]

Interesting read thanks for posting. Draft animals never get the limelight.

 

[Drew]

I have never heard of this before. Not saying it isn't so, but, would like to see some sources. And, why would you "have done the same"?

F. L. Olmstead wrote of this, in his Backcountry volume, IIRC. In terms of "doing the same," I can relate to doing in the master's property, but thinking it through (and mindful of the guy looking over my shoulder, tapping the palm of his paw with a ruler), I doubt I'd do it to a critter.

 

[donna]

We had question on mules, thought this thread should be in new Four Footed Friends of the Civil War. Could a Mod move? Thanks.

 

[Reb]

My gg grandfather was a mule skinner in Forrest's Escort. He got a mention in "Forrest's Escort and Staff" by Michael Bradley. On page 145, there is reference to him in a letter written by one of the escort, a Mr. LH Russ.

My mother's father was the last of 5 generations that raised mules in middle Tennessee, starting in 1810. They may have done the same before that in North Carolina, but I have never found anything that could prove it. Photo below is a Mule Day in Lynchburg, Tn.

 

[Tom Elmore]

On the march to Gettysburg, a member of Company F [22nd Massachusetts], who had been nearly a year a prisoner, found it difficult to keep up. He struck a bargain with a cavalryman to forage a mule and turn him in at the end of the march. He fell in with a man from the 20th Maine, who packed the mule. Near Gum Springs the mule was given a big feed of salt and tied to a sapling. The mule, hungry and thirsty, commenced on the foliage and ate the tree, limbs, and trunk by morning. The mule traveled well on his hearty meal. (History of the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry, Historical Committee)

 

[JerseyBart]

We had question on mules, thought this thread should be in new Four Footed Friends of the Civil War. Could a Mod move? Thanks.

I think someone moved it Donna. Remember you can send a moderator a inbox message or report the thread and we can fix it.

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

With apologies to Alfred, Lord Tenyson....

The Charge of the Mule Brigade
(author unknown)

Half a mile, half a mile,
Half a mile onward,
Right through the Georgia troops
Broke the two hundred.
"Forward the Mule Brigade!
Charge for the Rebs," they neighed.
Straight for the Georgia troops
Broke the two hundred.

"Forward the Mule Brigade!"
Was there a mule dismayed?
Not when their long ears felt
All their ropes sundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to make Rebs fly.
On! to the Georgia troops
Broke the two hundred.

Mules to the right of them,
Mules to the left of them,
Mules behind them
Pawed, neighed, and thundered.
Breaking their own confines
Breaking through Longstreet's lines
Into the Georgia troops
Stormed the two hundred.

Wild all their eyes did glare,
Whisked all their tails in air
Scattering the chivalry there,
While all the world wondered.
Not a mule back bestraddled,
Yet how they all skedaddled --
Fled every Georgian,
Unsabred, unsaddled,
Scattered and sundered!
How they were routed there
By the two hundred!

Mules to the right of them,
Mules to the left of them,
Mules behind them
Pawed, neighed, and thundered;
Followed by hoof and head
Full many a hero fled,
Fain in the last ditch dead,
Back from an ***'s jaw
All that was left of them, --
Left by the two hundred.

When can their glory fade?
Oh, what a wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Mule Brigade,
Long-eared two hundred!

 

[donna]

Thanks for moving. I am trying to get several moved.

 

[Lusty Murfax]

One of my great-great Grandpas was a mule-skinner/teamster during the war. He had been raised in Kentucky and had two six mule teams and wagons and his services were considered valuable enough to keep him out of military service. However, he was a Southern man and opposed to serving the Union. So the authorities in Missouri let him freight the plains hauling Army supplies from a Missouri River depot out west to the Indian forts. Without this compromise they would have forced him choose between enrolling in the MSM or fleeing south to Arkansas. He moved his young family temporarily to Nebraska City, while his in-laws remained on the eastern side of the River on a farm outside of Rock Port. Eventually, the locals of Atchison County got brave and burned his in-laws out for being Southern people and keeping four slaves. GGGpa sold his mules teams and wagons in Nebraska and sewed the money into his clothes, then bought a cheap horse to ride back to Missouri. He gathered up his family and his in-laws and although they had been forced to pledge loyalty oaths, pay cash bonds of $1000 and been ordered not to leave Atchison County, they fled to Arkansas, where they stayed until the war ended. Then they return to northwest Missouri, minus the slaves and re-settled on their Andrew County farm, which I still own and farm today.

His oldest son, my GGpa (born in 1866) ran a livery stable and became a masterful horse and mule trader up into the 1920s. I grew up hearing stories about his exceptional ability to judge horses and livestock trading. He evolved into a land agent and when he reached advanced age in his 80s he owned several thousand acres. Unfortunately, my Grandmother was baby sis and she only inherited a half section of his farms. I was ten years old when the old boy died at age 98 and remember him well.

 

[Reb]

on....
The Charge of the Mule Brigade

Thank you for this post. I never heard of it. Learned that it's based on an incident in the battle of Wauhatchie, Tennessee. Union soldiers joked that the mules should have been "breveted as horses".

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

Thank you for this post. I never heard of it. Learned that it's based on an incident in the battle of Wauhatchie, Tennessee. Union soldiers joked that the mules should have been "breveted as horses".

Yep, exactly right.

 

[diane]

I just found some info on it. Turns out it's the wrong era, it's Spanish-American War.

That's good to know! I'd found that same photo only it was a lot less clear - couldn't see the leggings and other detail. It was captioned as 'possibly' one of Abel Streight's officers. (Always believe everything you see on the internet - it's all been well researched by the finest historians and academics or it wouldn't be on the internet.)