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 5 Camp Giddings S e a son o f C omp l a in t , L a t e F a l l 1 8 6 1 The Village and the Camp The goodwill the fair had engendered spread through the whole of September and on into October. Jefferson opened its arms to the soldiers, so that the camp seemed an extension of the warm society of the village. Citizens brought out baskets filled with enough supper to feed several hundred soldiers, and the soldiers repaid their kindness by putting on a dress parade. Everyone had a grand time, although one soldier fresh to camp observed that the clumsy soldiers did better justice to the victuals than they did to their drill.1 The people of Jefferson devoted themselves to making the soldiers’ stay at camp as comfortable as possible. To improve their sleeping accommodations a drive was begun to collect quilts and coverlets, and strips of old carpet.2 To enliven their rations, farmers brought apples and tomatoes. One soldier was seen carrying the gift of a “whaling big cheese” down the village streets, and the village folk were encouraged to follow the donor’s good example.3 Friends and family who lived close enough to allow easy travel to camp continued to devote themselves to their pet companies. A caravan from the neighborhood of Pierpont rolled in one afternoon with banners flying. They set up a feast for their Boys in Company B and passed a pleasant afternoon with their soldiers.4 It was hoped that the memories of such visits would cheer the Boys in the future, when they sat around the gloomy campfires of distant places that the war would surely contain. In October the weather grew too fickle for picnics on the field, the society between the camp and the village moved inside. Sawdy Tyrrell, proprietor of the Jefferson House hotel, arranged a military ball to celebrate Halloween and invited all the Twenty-Ninth’s officers and men to join the village’s young folks for an evening of dancing. The hall was decorated with patriotic bunting, pumpkins, and corn shocks.5 One shy soldier recounted, in the style of the country’s most popular humorist, Artemus Ward, how he had straightened himself and asked a young woman if she would like to dance. “I asked Senator so-and-so’s daughter if she wouldn’t glide in the mazy dance. She said she would and so we glode.”6 Young boys still not in the army service roamed the village streets after dark, frightening the residents with their awful yowling and throwing cabbage heads at peacefully disposed citizens.7 Gradually, the regiment was becoming less dependent on the village. Theron S. Winship was appointed regimental quartermaster, in charge of managing their commissary and supplies. He had recruited many of the soldiers of Company E, and he had been their unanimous choice to serve as first lieutenant. With Winship gone to his new post, the company’s efficiency fell to the point that Buckley and Thomas took notice. For the good of the men, Winship resigned his higher post as quartermaster and returned to his company. An Akron man, Oscar Gibbs, was appointed in his place.8 s e a s o n o f c o m p l a i n t , l at e f a l l 1 8 6 1 53 They were soldiers now, but unlike future wars, in which recruits would assemble at huge depots far from home, the Twenty-Ninth Ohio’s preparation was taking place in the Boys’ backyards, and close proximity to home had its benefits. If a bored or homesick boy could not get a furlough, he skirted the rules and took a French leave, or simply a French, as the Boys were fond of putting it. A soldier could run back home most anytime he wanted and say hello to the folks.9 After only a month in camp, a considerable number of soldiers were absent on these informal furloughs.10 Except for the occasional knockdown, typical among young men thrown together for the first time with those from competing villages, and from different lots, life in camp was as peaceful as in the home village.11 Into this convivial atmosphere marched the regiment’s sixth company. Capt. John F. Morse had finally overcome the obstacles thrown in his path by the unpaid ninety-day veterans and found enough men in Lake and...

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