the camp was killing hogs, guided by soldier instinct,
they went directly to his house, and found the meat nicely cut up, the
various pieces of each hog making a separate pile on the floor of an
outhouse. The proposition to buy met with a surprisingly ready response
on the part of the farmer. He offered one entire pile of meat, being one
whole hog, for such a small sum that the foragers instantly closed the
bargain, and as promptly opened their eyes to the danger which menaced
them. They gave the old gentleman a ten-dollar bill and requested
change. Pleased with their honest method he hastened away to his house
to obtain it. The two honest foragers hastily examined the particular
pile of pork which the simple-hearted farmer designated as theirs, found
it very rank and totally unfit for food, transferred half of it to
another pile, from which they took half and added to theirs, and awaited
the return of the farmer. On giving them their change, he assured them
that they had a bargain. They agreed that they had, tossed good and bad
together in a bag, said good-by, and departed as rapidly as artillerymen
on foot can. The result of the trip was a "pot-pie" of large dimensions;
and some six or eight men gorged with fat pork declared that they had
never cared for and would not again wish to eat pork,--especially
pork-pies.

A large proportion of the eating of the army was done in the houses and
at the tables of the people, not by the use of force, but by the wish
and invitation of the people. It was at times necessary that whole towns
should help to sustain the army of defense, and when this was the case,
it was done voluntarily and cheerfully. The soldiers--all who conducted
themselves properly--were received as honored guests and given the best
in the house. There was a wonderful absence of stealing or plundering,
and even when the people suffered from depredation they attributed the
cause to terrible necessity rather than to wanton disregard of the
rights of property. And when armed guards were placed over the
smoke-houses and barns, it was not so much because the commanding
general doubted the honesty as that he knew the necessities of his
troops. But even pinching hunger was not held to be an excuse for
marauding expeditions.

The inability of the government to furnish supplies forced the men to
depend largely upon their own energy and ingenuity to obtain them. The
officers, knowing this, relaxed discipline to an extent