Mule Teams

[Peace Society]

3 OH
Feb. 1862

A wagon with six unbroken mules attached is an uncertain conveyance. If the mules are desired to stop suddenly, they are certain not to do so, and if commanded to start suddenly, they are just as sure not to obey. If, after an immense amount of whipping and many fervent asservations on the part of the driver that all mules should be in Tophet, they conclude to start at all, they go as if determined to reach the place indicated without unnecessary delay. If a mud-hole, ditch, tree, or any other obstacle lies in the way and the driver cries whoa, the mules redouble their speed, and rush forward as if they did not in the slightest degree consider themselves responsible either for the driver's neck or the traps with which the wagon is laden.

John Beatty
The Citizen-Soldier: The Memoirs of a Civil War Volunteer, 1879

Available from Bison Books, U of NE Press, Lincoln, 1998, p.104

 

[Borderruffian]

My question would be why would you have six up of mules not broken to harness or to drive pulling a wagon and NOT expect problems?

 

[6thMichCav]

This sounds like several departments I support at work…

 

[John Hartwell]

Teams of unbroken mules were not used by the US. The government set up Mule Depots for the breaking and training of mules in several locations across the country, the earliest, established in September 1861, also for the training of civilian wagoners employed by the Army, was at Perryville, Md.

[Philadelphia Inquirer, 5 Nov. 1861]​

 

[Choatecav]

My question would be why would you have six up of mules not broken to harness or to drive pulling a wagon and NOT expect problems?

I agree completely with you on this. The only thing I can think of is that the scarcity of so many things late in the war, forced both sides, especially the southerners, to try some pretty unconventional combinations due to the dire nature of things.

 

[John Hartwell]

I suspect that the quote in the o.p. was exaggerated (the press has been known to do that), and/or was an exceptionally badly handled team, perhaps in extraordinary circumstances/weather/road conditions/etc/etc.

Mules are quirky beasts, to say the least, and well-known for making trouble simply out of boredom. Sometimes a wagoner might fall short in the battle of wits.

 

[Borderruffian]

Mules are quirky beasts, to say the least, and well-known for making trouble simply out of boredom. Sometimes a wagoner might fall short in the battle of wits.

Quirky is a nice way of putting it. Hammerheaded is more accurate.
Mules get used to same position and team size. So hitching them to unknowns and out of their position could have made them balky and fractious without a doubt.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I suspect that the quote in the o.p. was exaggerated (the press has been known to do that), and/or was an exceptionally badly handled team, perhaps in extraordinary circumstances/weather/road conditions/etc/etc.

Mules are quirky beasts, to say the least, and well-known for making trouble simply out of boredom. Sometimes a wagoner might fall short in the battle of wits.

Just my opinion, but I found John Beatty's The Citizen-Soldier: The Memoirs of a Civil War Volunteer, to be a sometimes hilarious read. He writes very much "tongue in cheek" and manages to make fun of quite a few things, including himself, while covering some hard topics and sad occurrences in relating his service during the war.

Here is a free digital version that can be read online for anyone interested.

The citizen-soldier : or, Memoirs of a volunteer : Beatty, John, 1828-1914 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[My] capture, imprisonment, and escape, by General Harrison C. Hobart of Milwaukee, Wisconsin: p. 375-401

archive.org

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Quirky is a nice way of putting it. Hammerheaded is more accurate.
Mules get used to same position and team size. So hitching them to unknowns and out of their position could have made them balky and fractious without a doubt.

Forgive me, but I'm gonna have to say a few nice words about mules… my great-grandfather raised them and we used them on our farm. They are really smart animals and unlike horses, in my experience, won't do something if they think it is dumb.

Horses will trust humans to their detriment. Mules won't trust anything but themselves. So, treat a mule right and it will treat you right, but left to their own discretion they will not pull an overloaded wagon up a hill.

 

[Rebforever]

Missouri is known for the Mule business. They use them in these mountains to hunt raccoon on. They claim they will not step where it will hurt you or them.

 

[Borderruffian]

Forgive me, but I'm gonna have to say a few nice words about mules… my great-grandfather raised them and we used them on our farm. They are really smart animals and unlike horses, in my experience, won't do something if they think it is dumb.

Horses will trust humans to their detriment. Mules won't trust anything but themselves. So, treat a mule right and it will treat you right, but left to their own discretion they will not pull an overloaded wagon up a hill.

I've got absolutely not one problem with mules,my uncle had a pair of matched bays good team my cousin had a roping mule. I've riden and driven mules. That said they are creatures of habit and any animal or person they don't like change and they do get balky and fractious when you change their routine up on them.

 

[John Hartwell]

Forgive me, but I'm gonna have to say a few nice words about mules… my great-grandfather raised them and we used them on our farm. They are really smart animals and unlike horses, in my experience, won't do something if they think it is dumb.

Horses will trust humans to their detriment. Mules won't trust anything but themselves. So, treat a mule right and it will treat you right, but left to their own discretion they will not pull an overloaded wagon up a hill.

Agreed on every point. Just think of the misery (and outrage) of such a creature under military discipline -- where being forced to "do something they think is dumb" might be a daily occurrence.

A Guide to the Army Mule of the Civil War at CivilWarTalk | Four Footed Friends

A pert young mule is a Thing of Beauty [https://www.nps.gov/choh/meetthemules.htm] A decade threads from our "Four-footed Friends" forum: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/dumb-mules-or-are-they.16309/#post-191144...

civilwartalk.com

The Army Mule
By Tom of Co. K

For years upon years, very patiently, too,
I've waited for some one to give me my due.
The officers, soldiers, the batteries, flags,
The donkeys of all kinds, the cavalry's nags,
Have been mentioned with praise. It seems to me cruel
That none should remember the old army mule.

Though my voice is no longer so vibrant or strong
At the last I am driven to sing my own song.
For, boys, you remember, as surely you must
I brought up your rations through mud and through dust;

I raided the hard-tack; I chewed up the tents;
In somebody's ribs made a couple of dents,
And doubled the fellow who was such a fool
As to tickle the side of the old army mule.

I stopped when I chose; went on when it suited
Myself; not because I was beaten or booted.
We gave the bold Sothrons a terrible licking,
While you did the fighting, 'twas I did the kicking.

If I share not the honors with you in your pride,
Why did they put US in plain sight on my side?
Ah! The war days are over; old friends have grown cool
To the broken-down, pensionless, old army mule.

As I creep down the tow-path, the old boat behind,
The days that have vanished come back to my mind.
When forage was plenty; how luscious and sweet
The juicy, green oats and the young, tender wheat!

How often at night when the teams reached their goal,
And forage was missing, I had but a roll.
Ah! Life on the tow-path, a tyrant to rule,
Will soon end the days of the old army mule!

~From "History of the Corn Exchange Regiment, 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1888.

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

Mule-Drawn Wagon Trains – The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

www.clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

The Perryville Mule School Historical Marker

(Main Text) Soon after the Civil War erupted in April 1861, Perryville became an important Union staging area. (A historical marker located in Perryville in Cecil County, Maryland.)

www.hmdb.org

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Mule-Drawn Wagon Trains – The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

www.clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com

As noted in this article, our mules were driven using voice commands only. As I recall, my dad and grandfather used "Get up (giddup) for straight ahead instead of the "Yay" mentioned in the quote below.

"Haw!" would head the team to the left. Short jerks and "Gee!" would head them to the right. "Yay!" meant straight ahead….Mule skinners were reputed to have used original and colorful vocabularies when addressing their mules, but a skinner with a good team could guide them using only his voice.

 

[Rebforever]

General Imboden was given some mules carrying mountain howitzers to keep out of way of the fight. There is a gorge on Port Republic battlefield he elected to use to get out of the way. However. Cannons were so loud shooting from both sides over the gorge and the whistling of the cannon balls spooked his mules and he had one heck of a time trying to keep control. His men got a kick out of the fight with the mules.

 

[Jack7171]

We're pack mules used? With crates and stuff lashed to a frame instead of a saddle?

 

[Choatecav]

As noted in this article, our mules were driven using voice commands only. As I recall, my dad and grandfather used "Get up (giddup) for straight ahead instead of the "Yay" mentioned in the quote below.

"Haw!" would head the team to the left. Short jerks and "Gee!" would head them to the right. "Yay!" meant straight ahead….Mule skinners were reputed to have used original and colorful vocabularies when addressing their mules, but a skinner with a good team could guide them using only his voice.

That's the exact same terms that my dad used, too. I have a friend who still logs with mules. He really has a vast amount of experience with mules. He learned under the guidance of an old black man who was from the old school. Even taught my friend how to drive a team of eight. Really impressive. Just about an hour south of me is Columbia, TN. which is the location of the large "Mule Day" celebration each April. It is still a very large turnout but not on the scale it was a few decades back.

 

[Peace Society]

I suspect that the quote in the o.p. was exaggerated (the press has been known to do that), and/or was an exceptionally badly handled team, perhaps in extraordinary circumstances/weather/road conditions/etc/etc.

Mules are quirky beasts, to say the least, and well-known for making trouble simply out of boredom. Sometimes a wagoner might fall short in the battle of wits.

This is from his diary, written on the ground. Maybe he didn't know about the Mule Depot. You are no doubt right about the other possibilities.

 

[Peace Society]

We're pack mules used? With crates and stuff lashed to a frame instead of a saddle?

Sherman used them in his march through Georgia. He limited the regiment's wagons and the officers to pack mules.