the very best quality; on
the other hand, our men were "long" on coffee, of which commodity they
were "short." So "Johnny" would fix up a trade. "Say, Yank, if I send
you over a boat-load of 'backy,' will ye send her back filled with
coffee?" If he got an affirmative reply, which he often did, he would
place his little boat in the stream with its rudder so fastened that the
current would shoot it across a hundred yards or so further down. Yank
would watch his opportunity, get the boat, take out its precious cargo
of tobacco, reload it with coffee, reverse the rudder, and send it back
to "Johnny," who was watching for it further down the stream. Newspapers
soon were called for by "Johnny," and became a regular part of the cargo
of these boats, for the rebels were wild to get our papers. The exchange
of coffee and tobacco was a comparatively harmless matter and would
probably have been winked at, but the sending of our Northern papers
into their line, containing news of every movement of our forces, was a
thing that must be prohibited. A large part of the special instructions
of all picket officers related to the suppression of this traffic.
Scarcely a day passed that we did not confiscate one or more of these
boats. The tobacco our men were allowed to take, but the boat and all
rebel newspapers had to be sent to army head-quarters. Some of these
miniature boats were marvels of beauty, and showed mechanical skill in
construction of the highest order. Others were rude "dugouts." They were
generally about thirty inches long, six to ten inches wide, and about
six inches deep. They were therefore capable of holding quite a
quantity. It was a traffic very difficult to suppress, for our men
wanted the tobacco and were unwilling to take that without sending back
the proper _quid pro quo_. I doubt if it was ever altogether stopped
that winter. The desire for tobacco on the part of our men was so great
that they would break over, and some of the subordinate officers
participated in it. These exchanges generally took place in the very
early dawn, when the officer of the day and the officers of the picket
were not supposed to be around. The officer of the day was required to
make the "rounds" of his picket-line once after midnight, and then if
everything was all right he could rest, his officers of the picket being
responsible to him for their respective sections of the line. What is
known in army regulations as the "grand rounds," a