hide Sorting

You can sort these results in two ways:

By entity (current method)
Chronological order for dates, alphabetical order for places and people.
By position
As the entities appear in the document.

You are currently sorting in ascending order. Sort in descending order.

hide Most Frequent Entities

The entities that appear most frequently in this document are shown below.

Entity Max. Freq Min. Freq
Beaufort, S. C. (South Carolina, United States) 79 9 Browse Search
De Lord 76 0 Browse Search
Florida (Florida, United States) 76 0 Browse Search
Rufus Saxton 53 1 Browse Search
South Carolina (South Carolina, United States) 46 0 Browse Search
Charles T. Trowbridge 41 3 Browse Search
Jacksonville (Florida, United States) 40 2 Browse Search
Fernandina, Fla. (Florida, United States) 37 1 Browse Search
Hunter 37 23 Browse Search
United States (United States) 34 0 Browse Search
View all entities in this document...

Browsing named entities in a specific section of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment. Search the whole document.

Found 321 total hits in 122 results.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ...
December 19th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
way, gives an odd look to a well-dressed young girl on Sunday, but one often sees that spectacle. The passion for tobacco among our men continues quite absorbing, and I have piteous appeals for some arrangement by which they can buy it on credit, as we have yet no sutler. Their imploring, Cunnel, we can't lib widout it, Sah, goes to my heart; and as they cannot read, I cannot even have the melancholy satisfaction of supplying them with the excellent anti-tobacco tracts of Mr. Trask. December 19, 1862. Last night the water froze in the adjutant's tent, but not in mine. To-day has been mild and beautiful. The blacks say they do not feel the cold so much as the white officers do, and perhaps it is so, though their health evidently suffers more from dampness. On the other hand, while drilling on very warm days, they have seemed to suffer more from the heat than their officers. But they dearly love fire,.and at night will always have it, if possible, even on the minutest scale,--
December 20th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
er-sponge, which floated to the river-bank. As winter advances, butterflies gradually disappear: one species (a Vanessa) lingers; three others have vanished since I came. Mocking-birds are abundant, but rarely sing; once or twice they have reminded me of the red thrush, but are inferior, as I have always thought. The colored people all say that it will be much cooler; but my officers do not think so, perhaps because last winter was so unusually mild,--with only one frost, they say. December 20, 1862. Philoprogenitiveness is an important organ for an officer of colored troops; and I happen to be well provided with it. It seems to be the theory of all military usages, in fact, that soldiers are to be treated like children; and these singular persons, who never know their own age till they are past middle life, and then choose a birthday with such precision,--Fifty year old, Sah, de fus' last April, --prolong the privilege of childhood. I am perplexed nightly for countersigns,
December 21st, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
complain these cold nights; but they say nothing, though there is a good deal of coughing. I should fancy that the scarlet trousers must do something to keep them warm, and wonder that they dislike them so much, when they are so much like their beloved fires. They certainly multiply firelight in any case. I often notice that an infinitesimal flame, with one soldier standing by it, looks like quite a respectable conflagration) and it seems as if a group of them must dispel dampness. December 21, 1862. To a regimental commander no book can be so fascinating as the consolidated Morning Report, which is ready about nine, and tells how many in each company are sick, absent, on duty, and so on. It is one's newspaper and daily mail; I never grow tired of it. If a single recruit has come in, I am always eager to see how he looks on paper. To-night the officers are rather depressed by rumors of Burnside's being defeated, after all. I am fortunately equable and undepressible; and it
December 25th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
it is very convenient that the men know too little of the events of the war to feel excitement or fear. They know General Saxton and me, --de General and de Cunnel, --and seem to ask no further questions. We are the war. It saves a great deal of trouble, while it lasts, this childlike confidence; nevertheless, it is our business to educate them to manhood, and I see as yet no obstacle. As for the rumor, the world will no doubt roll round, whether Burnside is defeated or succeeds. Christmas Day, 1862. We'll fight for liberty Till de Lord shall call us home; We'll soon be free Till de Lord shall call us home. This is the hymn which the slaves at Georgetown, South Carolina, were whipped for singing when President Lincoln was elected. So said a little drummer-boy, as he sat at my tent's edge last night and told me his story; and he showed all his white teeth as he added, Dey tink de Lord meant for say de Yankees. Last night, at dress-parade, the adjutant read General Saxt
December 26th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
mas Eve with pattern simplicity. We omitted, namely, the mystic curfew which we call taps, and let them sit up and burn their fires, and have their little prayer-meetings as late as they desired; and all night, as I waked at intervals, I could hear them praying and shouting and clattering with hands and heels. It seemed to make them very happy, and appeared to be at least an innocent Christmas dissipation, as compared with some of the convivialities of the superior race hereabouts. December 26, 1862. The day passed with no greater excitement for the men than target-shooting, which they enjoyed. I had the; private delight of the arrival of our much-desired surgeon and his nephew, the captain, with letters and news from home. They also bring the good tidings that General Saxton is not to be removed, as had been reported. Two different stands of colors have arrived for us, and will be presented at New Year's,--one from friends in New York, and the other from a lady in Connec
December 29th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
r first company, and also of a skirmish on the late expedition. I must not forget the prayer overheard last night by one of the captains: O Lord! when I tink ob dis Kismas and las' year de Kismas. Las' Kismas he in de Secesh, and notin‘ to eat. but grits, and no salt in 'em. Dis year in de camp, and too much victual! This too much is a favorite phrase out of their grateful hearts, and did not in this case denote an excess of dinner,--as might be supposed,--but of thanksgiving. December 29, 1862. Our new surgeon has begun his work most efficiently: he and the chaplain have converted an old gin-house into a comfortable hospital, with ten nice beds and straw pallets. He is now, with a hearty professional faith, looking round for somebody to put into it. I am afraid the regiment will accommodate him; for, although he declares that these men do not sham sickness, as he expected, their catarrh is an unpleasant reality. They feel the dampness very much, and make such a coughin
December 30th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
couragement which finds any place in our minds. They are used to sleeping indoors in winter, herded before fires, and so they feel the change. Still, the regiment is as healthy as the average, and experience will teach us something. A second winter's experience removed all this solicitude, for they learned to take care of themselves. During the first February the sick-list averaged about ninety, during the second about thirty,--this being the worst month in the year for blacks. December 30, 1862. On the first of January we are to have a slight collation, ten oxen or so, barbecued,--or not properly barbecued, but roasted whole. Touching the length of time required to do an ox, no two housekeepers appear to agree. Accounts vary from two hours to twenty-four. We shall happily have enough to try all gradations of roasting, and suit all tastes, from Miss A.'s to mine. But fancy me proffering a spare-rib, well done, to some fair lady! What ever are we to do for spoons and fo
December 31st, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 2
iss A.'s to mine. But fancy me proffering a spare-rib, well done, to some fair lady! What ever are we to do for spoons and forks and plates? Each soldier has his own, and is sternly held responsible for it by Army regulations. But how provide for the multitude? Is it customary, I ask you, to help to tenderloin with one's fingers? Fortunately, the Major is to see to that department. Great are the advantages of military discipline: for anything perplexing, detail a subordinate. New Year's Eve, 1862. My housekeeping at home is not, perhaps, on any very extravagant scale. Buying beefsteak, I usually go to the extent of two or three pounds. Yet when, this morning at daybreak, the quartermaster called to inquire how many cattle I would have killed for roasting, I turned over in bed, and answered composedly, Ten,--and keep three to be fatted. Fatted, quotha! Not one of the beasts at present appears to possess an ounce of superfluous flesh. Never were seen such lean kine. As
January 1st, 1863 AD (search for this): chapter 2
y, and even the pledge would scarcely seem efficacious where hardly anybody can write. I do not think there is a great visible eagerness for tomorrow's festival: it is not their way to be very jubilant over anything this side of the New Jerusalem. They know also that those in this Department are nominally free already, and that the practical freedom has to be maintained, in any event, by military success. But they will enjoy it greatly, and we shall have a multitude of people. January 1, 1863 (evening). A happy New Year to civilized people,--mere white folks. Our festival has come and gone, with perfect success, and our good General has been altogether satisfied. Last night the great fires were kept smouldering in the pit, and the beeves were cooked more or less, chiefly more,--during which time they had to be carefully watched, and the great spits turned by main force. Happy were the merry fellows who were permitted to sit up all night, and watch the glimmering flames
January 3rd, 1863 AD (search for this): chapter 2
nthusiastic and happy gatherings I ever knew. The day was perfect, and there was nothing but success. I forgot to say, that, in the midst of the services, it was announced that General Fremont was appointed Commander-in-Chief,--an announcement which was received with immense cheering, as would have been almost anything else, I verily believe, at that moment of high tide. It was shouted across by the pickets above,--a way in which we often receive news, but not always trustworthy. January 3, 1863. Once, and once only, thus far, the water has frozen in my tent; and the next morning showed a dense white frost outside. We have still mocking-birds and crickets and rosebuds, and occasional noonday baths in the river, though the butterflies have vanished, as I remember to have observed in Fayal, after December. I have been here nearly six weeks without a rainy day; one or two slight showers there have been, once interrupting a drill, but never dress-parade. For climate, by day,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ...