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Saucy Schimenti= s Sage Page Well, what did you really expect from some one whom writes as much as Richard does!! Saucy Schimenti’s Sage Page Civil War Factoid: After the war, President Jefferson Davis never did seek a citizen status from the U.S. government. It was awarded to him posthumously by President Jimmy Carter. In a battle near Lynchburg, Virginia, in June 1864, a former Vice‑President of the United States, Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, faced two future Presidents in uniform‑General Rutherford B. Hayes and Major William McKinley.( Four other Union generals went to the White House: Grant, Chester A. Arthur, James A. Garfield and Benjamin Harrison.) By the end of the war in conquered Richmond, inflation had become ruinous, with hens at $50 each, butter at $20 per pound and fish $50 for two. The diet of Confederates in the field was movingly described by a Federal Officer who found the slender body of a Tennessee boy, about fifteen, lying barefoot in the cold after the battle of Chattanooga. A day's rations were in his haversack:" A handful of black beans, a few pieces of sorghum and half a dozen roasted acorns." SAUCY WRITES AGAIN; Esprit de Corps..., in part from Reflections on the Civil War, by Bruce Catton It remains to be said, of course, that with all the defects in discipline and training, many of the regiments on both sides had an extremely high esprit de corps. Today, there is a tendency to assume that this was more a feature of the Southern regiments that those raised in the North. Actually, that's not quite the case. Both armies had enthusiastic regiments in abundance. A regiment that was always willing to fight and that fought with a fire and a valor unfailingly got plenty of work to do and, toward the end of the war, they were cut down to a very small number. The Southerners had the advantage, since they were fighting on their own soil. They could feel that they were fighting in defense of their homes because their homes were not really far away. They were part of the South; they were fighting in the South. That, I think, did a good deal for their morale and enthusiasm. The Northern soldier, of course, had come a long way from home; and he was fighting in what often felt like a foreign country. I am sure, there were a good many times when he sat down and wondered just what he was doing there, and the whole thing didn't seem quite as carefree and pleasant as he had imagined it would be when he had joined up During the entire war, the spirit of both sides stayed high because the soldiers were essentially good men. They knew they were good men, they took pride in the fact that they were good soldiers, and they proved their right to be considered good soldiers on a great many desperate battlefields.
Mad Jack=s 25 Years of Brilliant Ideas and Rat Packery House of Horrors Have you ever been in a porta‑potty equipped with an anti‑gravity system? Why can=t they equip one with an automatic hydraulic leveling and stabilization system? I=ve been in porta‑potties where they should have had a hand rail behind the seat so you could pull yourself in. Why don=t they install a big computer chip, you know how much stuff one of those things will hold? Then maybe they could make the unit a little deeper so you don=t have to put your forehead against the door to pull your trousers up! Refrigerators and car trunks have lights, but how often do you really need one there? I suspect porta‑potties were invented by the same guy that came up with the marginally useful plastic spork. Hand washing stations are all fine and good but they are just a cover up as the porta‑potty itself continues to be a place of hideous and incessant torture. Again, I=ve been in some that should have provided showering stations. Where in the world do they find 2 ply toilet paper? When the weather turns humid the stuff melts. It must because there=s never any left, and the floor is always wet! How about a simple battery operated 12 volt seat heater. Sound proofing is a thought, too. I=d like to see a really comfortable porta‑potty with tinted windows, so you could watch people standing in line outside wondering if anyone is really in the damn thing.
So long for now, Mad Jack
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