Here in the deep South we have no snow so CS troops had to improvise. Below is one of my favorite entries of the Truman diary.
April 18th. All the troops of Frensh's division that are here were reviewed a nine o'clock by Gov. Clark of this state. Many ladies were present and a salute of five guns was fired by the "Wooden Battery". Our brigade made a fine appearance as usual, we battery boys had on our best cloths, our horses, harnesses, and guns, were in the best condition, the six fine horses on my gun are hard to surpass. Our battery and brigade have had great fun during the past week, fighting sham battles, with Ector's Texas Brig, each side would gather piles of pine burrs during the day, as we were camped amidst pines, and at night, the officers would take command, form their lines of battle, each man armed with a pine torch in one hand and a haversack full of burrs, or a pile of burrs close by, were ready at command to light the burrs and throw them at the opposing line. The burrs would blaze like they had been soaked in turpentine and as thousands of them were sailing through the air at once on a dark night, the illumination was grand. As those blazing burrs fell into the opposing lines, they were immediately snatched up, and came sailing back again, only to be returned the second and even third time before they were consumed. The tremendous yelling that was carried on, made the woods ring for miles and miles around; the fruits of victory were the mess kits of the opponents, which were generally held until late the next day, when the owner was required to take off his hat, and politely ask for the loan of his kit, the victors of today were often the borrowers of tomorrow. To get mad over your loss made maters worse as Gen. Gates learned to his sorrow, when he lost his kit one night, when he got ready to beg for it, it was returned. In these battles we were all equals, and the rules of the engagements had to be carried out by officers, as well as privates. This showed the independent spirit of the Southern soldier, he knew no superiors, when from under his military oath. No men were more obedient to every command of their officers than the Missouri and Texas, and I am [to] say the Southern soldiers in general. All of us 1st. Mo. Battery boys agreed to fall in line tonight and march to the Captain's headquarters, and took the oath to fight for forty years, or to the end of the war, we are here until the end, which may come to some of us poor fellows in the next battle. We seldom come out of a battle without the loss of one man or more in our battery.
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