Tuesday, December 4, 2012

A Yankee Trick

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette narrates the following incident as having occurred recently down on the Tennessee river:–

A rebel Captain was taken by a Yankee ruse that must have struck him as exceedingly unchivalric.  He was out on picket duty. – One of our scouts came suddenly on him at a point where two of his pickets were posted. – Fortunately the scout was quick witted, or the capture might have been on the other side. – “Who are you?” he boldly inquired of the first rebel he reached.  “I’m a picket.”  “Well, so am I, but a little off my post, looking around for the Yankees.”  “Where is your post?” asked the Captain; “You have no business to be away from it.”  “Come this way and I’ll show you,” responded the scout.  The moment he got out of sight of the two privates, he quietly informed the officer that he was a picket on the other side, and would have to take him along!  And he actually marched the Captain in, sword, pistols, shoulder straps and all.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 1

2 comments:

Sean McLachlan said...

Funny story! One wonders, though, how many of these newspaper tales are the product of the journalist's imagination.

Jim Miller said...

I can't help but to think less detail equals more anecdote than fact. Did this happen? Possibly, but if names, regiments, dates and places were added then we begin to be able to move further into the fact category, where said information could be cross referenced and verified. It's a nice story though and one to file in the back of my mind for a future Civil War novel.