SATURDAY STORY - ZACH HIGGENBOTTOM IN THE CIVIL WAR.

 ZACH - EPISODE 5

Dysentery had been the worst enemy of the Union Forces.  The Civil War soldier's chances of surviving the war were one in four. However, more than twice as many soldiers died of disease than were killed in battle

The Army realized that solider’s diets needed fruits and vegetables. Congress passed an ordinance to get vegetables to the soldiers. The rations of desiccated vegetables supposedly contained string beans, turnips, carrots, beets, and onions which had been compressed into one-inch by one-foot rectangular bricks. Soldiers would often refuse to eat the desiccated vegetables because they tasted so dreadful.

So, the army's attempt at a compressed brick of vegetables was also a disaster.  General Henry Frank Peck was faced with an army that was weakened by dysentery and disease. He knew the statement “An army crawls on its belly” which supposedly Napolean said.  

So, when Lieutenant Wheeler asked the question about taking over farms - he thought that might be a way to get some nutritious food into the soldiers. 

General Peck proposed competition in a staff meeting before they reached Tuscaloosa.  

“Let’s get maybe twenty squads of farmers and take over farms.  We have seeds (maybe not the right seeds for this soil or climate), but we’ll dole it out to the squads.  By, let’s say, the end of October we’ll compare who has produced the most produce.  We’ll give them a weekend off in Tuscaloosa (maybe not the best prize).” 

“We can also send out squads to find apple, peach, plum, and whatever orchards they can find and bring back fruit for the troops.  Let’s lick this dysentery once and for all!!!

***

His officers agreed.  Having an army that was functioning at about 50% due to illness wasn’t good.  If they could get most of the available soldiers well again, they could be a real force, run over the Confederates, knock them out, and restore the Union.

*****

General Peck sent out scouts to check out the farms around Tuscaloosa. And, to pick out a large enough site for the Southern Union Army to establish a semi-permanent camp.  On the southwest side of the town, there were excellent farms along the Black Warrior River.  Lieutenant Wheeler, one of the men General Peck sent out to scout the area saw that the land was fertile - probably from floods over the years depositing loess over the area.  The Black Warrior River meandered through the area with oxbows, places where the river had cut new channels and would be a good source of water for irrigation. 

The town had built a water purification area where water from the Black Warrior River was diverted into a sandy area.  The site was off-limits for animals.  The water passed through various sand and gravel pits and each time it was thought that the water was a little better.  

But over the years, the community had removed the old sand and gravel beds about every ten years and brought in tons of new sand and gravel.  Maybe this could be a source of good water for the Southern Union Army.

The scouts found eighteen farms that were either abandoned or that they could take over the farms by decree of the Union Army.  That didn’t sit well with the farmers already there, but the Army promised to return the land after the war and would improve it.  If the farmers wanted to stay on the land and cooperate with the Union forces they could.  

General Peck reasoned that keeping farmers on the land might help the farming competition he had proposed raising fresh vegetables.

On Tuesday, August 11, 1863, the Southern Union Army claimed a large area for their semi-permanent base.  The soldiers set up their tents, latrines, mess halls, stables, parade grounds, blacksmith shops, barber shops, quartermaster/supply shops, medical areas, and all the other functional areas. 

The camp wasn’t finished, but on Wednesday, August 12, 1863, General Peck called the squads who had indicated they wanted to try farming, and by random lot meted out the allotments.  Charles Wilson, Zach Higgenbottom, and Benjamin Smith with twelve other men from Connecticut were allocated lot #7 - which had some bottomland on the Black Warrior River.  

Immediately after the land allocation was finished, the 18 farming groups fanned out to establish their farms.  

*****

In the allocation of the 18 farm sites were two groups from Massachusetts, three from Connecticut (including Charles, Zach, and Benjamin), five from New York, four from Pennsylvania, and four from the mixed area - Maine, New Jersey, Vermont, and other states.

Zach, Charles, and Benjamin had been friends since their ride from Connecticut to Ship Island Mississippi on the USS Polk.  Some of the others of their group they had met, but with an army of 4,000 men there were three that Zach hadn’t met before.  

Arriving at their plot, they fanned out - two by two.  Charles was the squad commander and sent Zach and Benjamin to scout the northeast section of their land.  It was largely a wooded area with pine trees, but there was a small lake and a peach orchard.  Immediately Zach and Benjamin loaded as many peaches as they could carry.  Zach took off his coat and they made it into an informal sack and they got close to 90 peaches in the coat.  Coming back to the center of their allocation, they saw some cows grazing in a small pasture.  There was some flat land near the center that had been farmed before the war displaced people, and Zach and Benjamin thought it would be ideal for growing their vegetables.  

Ralph Tollson and Leonard Whitson found a well and a bucket.  It seemed to be good water, but after the dysentery issues, the squad thought they would find a way to test it better.  If nothing else, they could dig their well.  Having the Black Warrior River as a boundary seemed to be a sign that the water table was not too deep. 

Robert Walford and James Hardy found fields that had corn and tobacco growing.  The group knew nothing about growing tobacco, but corn, wheat, barley, and oats were familiar field crops in Connecticut.  There was a field with a few tobacco plants.  Robert and James brought back a few of the huge leaves.

Thomas Wickham found draft horses.  They looked weak and would need some care to get them back to health.  

All of the eighteen squads had been given two horses, a wagon, some implements (mostly shovels for diffing trenches), food, tents, utensils for making a fire and cooking, the men’s coats and rucksacks,  and boxes of seeds.  

This group called themselves “Connecticut Yankees”.  They decided that they needed to plant as soon as they could.  With the end of the competition at the end of October, they figured they had about ten weeks of farming.  To get some crops, they wanted to plant as soon as they could.  

There was a small house on the property but the men decided not to use the house for anything except storage.  A barn was on the north side of the house and there was an abundance of hay in the hay mow.  There had been stalls for animals but the animals had been set free before the Union Army approached.  

As the afternoon lengthened into twilight, Thomas Wickham harnessed the horses to an old plow they had found in the barn and they plowed some of the flat land near the house.  It had been plowed before so it didn’t take too much work to open the land again.  While there was still some light, the men cleaned the mucking pile out of the barn into a wagon for spreading on the plowed field tomorrow for manure, and before full night fell they set up their tents and cots.  

It had been a great first day, and the men fell asleep quickly.  Charles wasn’t quite sure how safe and secure they were, so he put two men on watch and divided the night into four watches.  Zach and Benjamin got the second watch - about midnight.  Zach and Benjamin heard some coyotes howl - but they didn’t seem very close. They also heard the almost imperceptible sound of owls’ wings as they swooped down on mice and small rodents.  

Their watch was unproductive and after about three hours, they woke Ralph Tollson and Leonard Whitson for the third watch.  

The next morning, found the little camp stirring and getting some breakfast going.  Jeremiah Follen was a good cook and he made pancakes out of their supplies.  Not knowing about the water, he boiled water and made coffee.  Coffee was in limited supply but for their first day in camp, Jeremiah thought that some coffee would make the new day start better.

*****

The water supply scared Charles Wilson.  There was a well and it seemed deep enough, and you could bring up water in a bucket - but was it clean or dirty water?  Did it carry the dysentery germs or not?

Charles hadn’t caught dysentery (yet).  He had eaten some of the peaches from the orchard.  He volunteered to be the water tester.  He filled a large vat of water from the well and drank a gallon of water and bathed in the water (and soaked).  If dysentery was going to happen, it generally showed up in two or three days.  If he didn’t have dysentery symptoms by Sunday, August 16, they would tentatively call the water from the well good.  

The group wasn’t quite so sure about the water in the Black Warrior River.  But, they didn’t need that water as much - maybe for irrigation.

*****

On Thursday, August 13, 1863, two teams - Zach and Benjamin and Robert Walford and James Hardy - took horses and a rope and went in search of cows, horses, pigs, sheep, and any other domesticated animals.  Zach and Benjamin found ten cows in the northeast quadrant of their land, and Robert and James found another twelve cows in the northwest quadrant.  

Zach walked up to the largest cow (and not a bull), and tried to befriend it.  While the cow had seen humans in the past, it didn’t pay much attention to Zach.  Zach looped a lasso over the cow's head and lead the cow towards the center of their land.  Benjamin kept the rope fairly loose and tried to steer the cow, and eventually, the cow moved toward the center.  The other cows followed along.  It took the two men about two hours to get the cows to the center area.

Meanwhile, Ralph Tollson and Leonard Whitson had been felling smaller trees and making a large corral for the cows.  

*****

Robert and James didn’t have it quite as easily as they had to drag their lead cow toward the center, and the cow didn’t want to go.  By the time they reached the corral, it was after lunch and Robert and James were tired from herding cattle.  

James said, “We need a dog to help us round up these critters”.

The cows were all beef cows so at least they didn’t have to milk the cows, but on the other hand, they didn’t have milk cows twice a day.

James said, “Growing up we had a neighbor who had a heart attack and died.  He had dairy cattle, and they went for a couple of weeks without being milked.  Two of the cows died, the rest were pretty sick when the neighbors came to help.  For about a month, the neighbors milked the cows twice a day but the milk was unusable, finally, the cows started producing good milk again, but never at the same level as previously.” 

Leonard and Ralph had made a corral for the cows, but since they were beef cows, the cows would be out in a pasture grazing most of the time.

*****

For the next two days, August 14 and 15,  they dug and planted seeds.  For the bigger fields, they planted corn for the cows and alfalfa for the horses and cows. For the smaller fields, they had a lot of room for green beans, northern beans, lima beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, sweet corn, beets, peas, carrots, and pumpkins. Zach remembered his grandfather planting radish seeds as they came up quickly and marked the rows.  If they were just growing food for themselves they wouldn’t have planted as much - but they were planted for an army!!! 

And if on cue, on the evening of Saturday, August 15, a gentle rain fell pretty much all night to help the seeds sprout.  Jeremiah Follen kept a good track of what seeds had been planted in which rows.  As the seeds grew, the men might have to thin out some of the plants so that the remaining ones had more room for their roots and foliage.  

The men rested on Sunday Morning August 16.  Zach gave a little service with some scripture and a sermon.  He was still thinking of going to seminary when the war was over.

Charles Williams hadn’t caught dysentery or had any discomfort from the well water, so he proclaimed the water to be good enough to drink and use.  With that in mind, on the evening on August 16, they heated tubs of water and took turns taking a long-needed bath knowing that they wouldn’t catch dysentery.

****

On Monday, Zach and Benjamin went exploring again.  Seeing some turkey vultures circling over the trees, they rode in that direction.  And, they were in time.  An emaciated calf seemed to be at death's door (and would be a feast for the vultures).  Benjamin scared the vultures away while Zach picked up the calf.  They brought the little animal back to the camp, where Jeremiah Follen, the camp cook, volunteered to nurse the calf back to life.  But, there had been bite marks on the calf - maybe from a coyote, or something else.  Zach carefully scanned the area near the calf and saw some muddy footprints like those of a dog or a coyote.  The men didn’t know if there were wolves in the area - but decided to return to that part of the farm in the pine trees and see if they could find out.  

Zach and Benjamin talked about how to make this farm the best in the competition.  

They had seen deer in the woods and knew that deer and rabbits would love to have some fresh produce from their garden areas.  They couldn’t put up large enough or thick enough fences.  

Zach said, “Well we could have a watchman sit by the gardens all night and shoot the deer and rabbits. But, that’s probably not practical.”

Benjamin suggested “If we had a good watchdog, he could scare the critters away.  But, we don’t have a watchdog.”

Zach agreed - “How can we get a dog or two?  Do you think we could go into town and buy a dog?”

Benjamin liked that.  “From what I’ve seen of the towns we’ve marched by, the people are hungry and scared. If we had something good to exchange - food maybe - and maybe money.  We don’t have any Confederate money, but I think these people would take good old Uncle Sam money.”

Zach thought that could work.  

Benjamin added, “Of course, we could go into town and find a dog and just take it”.

Zach shook his head, “Benjamin Smith, what part of thou shalt not steal did you forget?”, but then he laughed knowing or at least thinking that Benjamin wouldn’t steal a dog.

Zach added, “How about some rabbit traps?  We used to make them on the farm.  You put a box with a small hole in the back of the box, run twine through the hole, tie it around a carrot or something a rabbit likes, and then it ties to a stick that holds the front of the box up.  When the rabbit pulls on the carrot, the twine gets pulled and the stick gets pulled and the box falls.”

Benjamin asked, “And where do you magically get the boxes and twine?”

Zach was ready - we’ll have to go to the base and get some supplies one of these days, we’ll just put a box and twine on our list.”

Zach continued, “How about chickens?  I’ve seen a few but they’ve scattered, and I guess that the coyotes and foxes have raided the hen house.”

Benjamin said, “Well, maybe the general store in town will have some chickens.  That would be a good idea, we could have some eggs.” Benjamin paused and then asked, “Do you think eggs are a good anti-dysentery food?”.

Zach said, “I don’t know.  But, I do like eggs.  And, it seems likely that fresh foods - like eggs are probably good against dysentery.”

The friends rode on, making mental notes about the land and what they could do to win the competition.  

Zach was daydreaming some as they rode.  What if after the war, he and Esther Gladfellow, settled down on a farm like this one?  Could they be good farmers? It had been a while since he thought of Esther.  It made him a little homesick.  Here, hundreds or even thousands of miles from Connecticut - it seemed like a whole different world than the life he grew up in.  Here he slept on a cot every night, but back home, he had a bed, a house with windows, a big kitchen, a fireplace, and a stove in the winter.  Sometimes he thought about all he had given up to join the army and fight to save the Union.  And, then how he was unable to shoot at another human being.  He didn’t like war, but he also didn’t like slavery and wanted the country to stay together as one.

*****

As they came over a hill and looked down at a small valley and creek that ran into the Black Warrior River, they were just in the right position to see a small hut back among the trees. 

“Did you see that?” Zach asked Benjamin.

“Yes, I did”, was Benjamin’s reply.

Zach added, “Let’s watch for a while to see if it is occupied.”

They tied up their horses and sat on two rocks and watched.  After about twenty minutes, a black man with gray hair came out of the hut and went to a small clearing behind the hut.  It seemed like the man was gathering some vegetables out of the patch of land.  Zach wished he had his binoculars to see what was going on. Then he saw a black woman, also with gray hair and a dirty red dress come out and sit on a chair in front of the house.  He thought she had a cup or something in her hand.  

Zach said, “Do you think we can go check it out without scaring them?”  

Benjamin said, “We could walk around the back and surprise them.”

Benjamin asked, “Do you think they know English?”.

Zach looked surprised at his friend.  “Of course, they know English.”

Zach said, “Let’s go quietly as far as we can and then yell ‘Hello” to them.  Maybe we can say ‘We come in peace or something not to scare them.”

So, they went down the hill keeping in the trees and behind the hut as much as possible   When they were about 50 yards from the hut, they walked out to the front of the building and yelled “Hello”.  

The woman jumped and the man came around from the back of the hut.  

Zach and Benjamin held their hands up as if surrendering.  Zach yelled, “We come in peace”.

They slowly advanced toward the hut.  The man went into the hut and came out with a shotgun and aimed at Zach and Benjamin.  

Zach yelled out, “We come in peace.”  He didn’t know if he should stay they were part of the Union army or not.  

The man yelled, “Where are y’all from?”

Zach answered back, “We are from Connecticut”.

The man looked like Zach had said “Mars”.

The man asked, “Where’s that?”.

Oh my, Zach thought.  This man didn’t recognize Connecticut.  So, he changed his answer.

“We’re Yankees from up north,” Zach answered.

Zach and Benjamin were carrying rifles.  The man yelled, “Put down those guns”.

The man definitely had a different accent.  In basic training, the commander had said the Confederates had almost a different language because of their regional differences.

Zach and Benjamin put their rifles down on the ground and then stepped to one side - still with their hands up.  

The man came out to them, “Yankees, you say.  Do you have black slaves up north?”.  

Zach continued talking, “No sir, we don’t have slaves - we are all free people”.

The man stepped back and went to his wife.  He kept his rifle on Zach and Benjamin but they were talking quietly.  

The man said, “You can lower your hands”.

Zach and Benjamin did.  

Then he said, “Come up to me slowly.  Any rapid moves and I’ll shoot you”.

The two men walked slowly up to the hut.  

The man said, “I’ve seen you before.  You were planting up at the master’s house, and rounding up animals. But, just recently.”

“Yes sir,”, Zach answered.  “We didn’t know if this farm was occupied or not.  It seemed to be empty.”

The man replied, “That’s right Sonny.  The master left maybe a year ago.  I think he joined up with the army, and the missus went away someplace.  For a while, we kept working, but after a couple of months, we just stopped, and most of us walked away.  Stella and I stayed here.”

Zach answered, “My name is Zachariah Higgenbottom from Litchfield Connecticut.  My friend is Benjamin Smith from Chester Connecticut.  We are with the Union Army.  We are farmers and are trying to work this farm for food.”

The man just listened.

Zach said some more about Connecticut and snow, and the ocean.  He didn’t know if it made any difference but figured if he was talking the man wouldn’t shoot him.

The man lowered his gun and looked at his wife.  “Do you have any more coffee, Stella?”.

Stella jumped up and went into the hut and got two enamel wear blue cups with about half a cup of black liquid in them.  She handed it to the men.  

There were two more chairs on the small porch and the man indicated Zach and Benjamin could sit down.

They did sit down.  Zach took a sip of the hot black liquid and almost spit it out.  It sure wasn’t coffee like back home.  But, it was bitter.  

The man almost laughed to see Zach take a sip of the liquid.  “It’s chicory coffee, a local delicacy”, then he laughed.

“We haven’t been able to get coffee so this is a mixture of mostly chicory roots and a small amount of stale coffee.”

Zach said graciously, “Thank you.  I’ve heard of chicory coffee, but haven’t had it until now.”

The man introduced himself and his wife.  “I’m Rufus and this is Stella. We’ve been on this land all our life.  I’ve been to town a few times with the master, loading up supplies and such. “ 

“Master Jenkins raised some tobacco, corn, and barley.  I think you found the tobacco field.”

Zach interrupted - “When did you see us”?

Rufus said, “Just a couple of days ago.  I have heard some things and seen men on horses, so I went to watch. I stayed out of sight in the woods.  I saw you had some tents and were planting something.

Zach replied, “Yes, there are twelve of us.  We’re in the Union Army, but we’ve been getting sick because of bad water.  So, we were assigned some land to grow some vegetables - we hope to get some crops before winter comes.

Rufus, “We don’t get much winter here as they do farther north.  Maybe a little around Christmas or the New Year - maybe a little snow, but generally not much.”

Zach asked, “Do you celebrate Christmas, that is are you Christians?”.

Rufus looked at him with wide eyes, “Are you a Christian, son?  We have our church - or we did.  Our pastor was Anthony from a neighboring farm.  Master and Missus go into town for service at a big white people’s church.  We use a barn at the Smith place for our worship.”

Then it seemed as if Rufus remembered something.  Turning to Benjamin, “Wasn’t your name also Smith, sonny?  Are you related to the master and missus?”.

Benjamin laughed “I don’t think I’m related.  There are a lot of people with the last name of ‘Smith’.

Rufus took that in and sipped on his chicory coffee. “So, what can we do to help you folks out”.

Zach smiled. “We are raising vegetables.  Could you help us with that?  Are there any chickens or pigs on this land?  Are there wolves?  

Rufus laughed, “No wolves sonny, but coyotes.  There were some chickens, but probably the coyotes and fox got them.  I think there are some pigs down by the river.  We can go look for them.

Zach smiled, “Could you come with us and meet the rest of the group?  Maybe have dinner with us tonight.”

Rufus looked at Stella.  “We’ve never eaten with white folk, but if you think it is okay, we’ll come with you.”

They walked back to the top of the hill, and Zach got his horse and put Rufus ahead of himself, and Benjamin put Stella ahead of himself and they rode to the Connecticut Yankee headquarters. 

*****

Charles Williams was making up a supply list when he saw the two horses coming - but with two people on each horse - and the extra people were older and black.

He had a premonition that this wasn’t going to be an average night and tonight might change several lives.

******

End of Zach Higgenbottom - episode 5

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KAREN ANNE WHITE, © JULY 8, 2023