12-16-2012, 02:39 PM,
(This post was last modified: 12-16-2012, 02:40 PM by LincolnMan.)
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LincolnMan
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The value of pets in the Civil War
I found this entry in the November/December 2012 issue of History Magazine:
"Nearly every company, certainly every regiment, in the service,, has a pet of some kind or other. It matters not whether the object of their affection be dog, cat, possum, cow or horse, whatever it be, the brute is loved by all, and woe be to the outsider who dares to insult or injure one of these pets. More personal encounters have been brought on between soldiers about some pet or animal, than in any other way. Occasionally these pets become great heroes, in their way, and then they become general favorites with the whole army."
Then there is this touching account:
"Many canine companions risked their lives to locate soldiers or simply comfort them as they lay dying. After the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, a dog belonging to a fallen Union soldier of the 3rd Illinios Infantry, Lt. Louis Pfeiff, stayed by his side, licking his mortal wounds until he was buried. Shortly afterward, the lieutenant's wife, Elizabeth, was informed that her husband had been killed in the battle and buried on the battlefield. She went to find the body to take it back to a family plot in Chicago, but when she arrived on the battlefield, no one could direct her to his grave. After searching among the thousands of burial sites for over a day, she was about to give up when she saw a large dog running towards her. The dog led her to a distant part of the battlefield and stopped before a single grave. A soldier opened the grave and sure enough, it contained the body of Pfeif. The dog had remained by his slain master's grave for 12 days, leaving his post only long enough to satisfy his need for food and water-a true soldier indeed."
Bill Nash
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12-20-2012, 01:38 PM,
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RJNorton
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RE: The value of pets in the Civil War
We cannot forget the cats, too. From Carl Sandburg's The War Years:
During his visit to City Point, the president happened to be in the telegraph hut on the day that Grant's army began the final advance of the Civil War. In the hut the president came upon three tiny kittens. They appeared to be lost and were wandering around and meowing. Abraham picked up one of the kittens and asked, "Where is your mother?" A person standing nearby said, "The mother is dead." The president continued to pet the little kitten and said, "Then she can't grieve as many a poor mother is grieving for a son lost in battle." Abraham picked up the other two kittens and now had all three in his lap. He stroked their fur and quietly told them, "Kitties, thank God you are cats, and can't understand this terrible strife that is going on." The Chief Executive continued, "Poor little creatures, don't cry; you'll be taken good care of." He looked toward Colonel Bowers of Grant's staff and said, "Colonel, I hope you will see that these poor little motherless waifs are given plenty of milk and treated kindly." Bowers promised that he would tell the cook to take good care of them.
Colonel Horace Porter watched the president and recalled, "He would wipe their eyes tenderly with his handkerchief, stroke their smooth coats, and listen to them purring their gratitude to him." Quite a sight it was, thought Porter, "at an army headquarters, upon the eve of a great military crisis in the nation's history, to see the hand which had affixed the signature to the Emancipation Proclamation and had signed the commissions....from the general-in-chief to the lowest lieutenant, tenderly caressing three stray kittens."
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The value of pets in the Civil War
