General Warren is just one of the staving best officers we ever had!

SWMODave

Sergeant Major
Thread Medic
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Location
Southwest Missouri
fitz warren.jpg

When we came into the town it had been hastily deserted by many of its inhabitants. They supposed that their former activity in behalf of the Confederacy would subject them to arrest and punishment. Stores were abandoned with goods in them. Some of the boys would insist upon looking them through General Warren had properly given strict orders against their doing so.

One evening as he was walking along the street he found some of the lawless soldiers who had found a way through a back window into one of the deserted stores and were taking a look at the tobacco and other like goods. Instead of having them arrested General Warren dismissed them in his own prompt and energetic way. One of them was the eccentric Weed, of Company A. He was always sure to be caught if any one was.

Weed soon returned to our company quarters. He had been suddenly converted. General Warren was now his ideal of a thorough soldier. He rushed into the company quarters with wild enthusiasm—" I tell you, boys," he exclaimed," General Warren is just one of the staving best officers we ever had! He means business! He is the kind of officer we want!" Such unexpected commendation for General Warren brought all the boys around him, asking for explanation.

Weed explained: "I just now saw the General catch some of the boys who bad broken into a store and were stealing the tobacco and sugar. He did not fool about it a bit. He caught one fellow and kicked him lively—kicked him clear into the middle of limo street. I tell you, boys, he is a splendid officer! He is a staving fellow! He is the boss! "

As soon as this eloquent praise could be broken into, the boys asked: " Weed, who was it that got the kicking? " With increased enthusiasm Weed answered: "Oh, I tell you, boys, General Warren is a staving fellow—a good officer—chock full of energy! I—got the—kicking."

And it was true. Weed, in his awkward way, had stumbled in after some of the other soldiers; they had skipped lively out of sight, and Weed, the most innocent one of the crowd, was left to be caught and booted into the middle of the street by the angry and energetic Fitz Henry Warren.

william weed.png


Find a grave

WEED, WILLIAM G D
DATE OF DEATH: 09/15/1901
BURIED AT: SECTION 16 ROW 7 SITE 5
LEAVENWORTH NATIONAL CEMETERY
Story from Army Life From a Soldiers Journal (33rd Illinois)
 
Yes, @byron ed, "staving", or averting/avoiding harm, as in this sentence, "I staved off starvation by foraging in an orchard."

But in this case it's "General Warren is just one of the staving best officers we ever had!" which is not in your context of avoiding or delaying something, but rather crazily applied as an adjective for a person. Also curious is that it is used that way several times in the quote. It just doesn't work, if I'm the only one that thinks so. Is it perhaps a misspelling of "sterling"?
 
But in this case it's "General Warren is just one of the staving best officers we ever had!" which is not in your context of avoiding or delaying something, but rather crazily applied as an adjective for a person. Also curious is that it is used that way several times in the quote. It just doesn't work, if I'm the only one that thinks so. Is it perhaps a misspelling of "sterling"?

I see the the writing is using "staving" as we would "preventing". He was preventing the "lawless" soldiers from their intent to steal.
 
I see the the writing is using "staving" as we would "preventing". He was preventing the "lawless" soldiers from their intent to steal.

Thanks, I see it now. The actual meaning is "General Warren is just one of the best staving officers we ever had."

(Why the words "best" and "staving" were so oddly ordered in the original quote -- which was "General Warren is just one of the staving best officers we ever had" -- a regionalism possibly. Sure confused the heck out of me.)
 
Last edited:
Thanks, I see it now. The actual meaning is "General Warren is just one of the best staving officers we ever had."

(Why the words "best" and "staving" were so oddly ordered in the original quote -- which was "General Warren is just one of the staving best officers we ever had" -- a regionalism possibly. Sure confused the heck out of me.)

Seems very improper choice of words today, a century and a half later. It is also new usage to me, and I've read quite a lot from that era.
 
Back
Top