A Brevet Hoss: Molly the Cow and the Grand Review

When the veterans of General Sherman’s army marched along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington in that memorable parade that marked the close of the war, a placid old cow tied to the rear of an ambulance became burdened under a constantly increasing weight of garlands and flowers piled upon her by the enthusiastic spectators along the line of march. She bore her honors meekly for she had won them by a steady devotion to the Union cause through the Vicksburg and Atlanta campaigns and in Sherman’s March to the Sea.

          She belonged to that class upon whom greatness is thrust for she was drafted into the army for no nobler purpose than to be transformed into beef, but fate reserved her for three years of campaigning and a soldier’s burial at the end. Early in 1862, she was picked up in some quiet pasture of the North and sent with many of her kind to the Army of Tennessee which then operated in western Tennessee. As the commissary of subsistence surveyed his herd, he discovered one new milch cow among them that even to his official eye was unfit for beef. He reported the matter to General Mortimer D. Leggett who was in command and asked him what to do. “Weigh her out to me and I will pay you her value for beef,” said the general who had been reared in the dairy region of northeastern Ohio where the cow is the chief purveyor of the household. The transaction was officially completed and Molly was henceforth a member of the general’s military family.

Molly the Cow accompanied General Mortimer D. Leggett's headquarters from the summer of 1862 through the end of the war. The teetotaling Leggett scrupulously only kept two of the three horses he was allowed, reserving the third spot for Molly. Molly only saw action once and that during the Battle of Atlanta where the sudden Confederate attack on the Union rear sent her into a panic. She eventually recovered, but bellowed for days afterwards and refused to eat. 


          Uncle Joe, an African-American cook attached to Leggett’s headquarters, took her in personal charge and the comradeship thus formed was severed only by the dramatic fortunes of war. She was tied to the cook’s wagon and so easily adapted herself to soldier life that in a few days the rope was cast off. Yet she held her station and seldom allowed the wagon out of sight. She was generous in her yield, a portion of which was always reserved for the sick or wounded of the command. This arrangement secured her immunity from the fate that befell nearly all army cows as her milk was never stolen, and no effort was every made to confiscate her for beef even when the men were in the worst stages of beef hunger.

          She became so popular with the soldiers that when forage was scarce the boys would glean for her whatever could be found along the line of march and bestow it upon her when settled into camp. General Leggett always kept one horse less than regulations allowed and the extra ration was drawn daily and turned over to the cow. Much traveling made Molly footsore and she was taken to the blacksmith who fitted her with as neat a set of shoes as were worn by any horse in the army.

"General Leggett was as well known in Sherman's army for his temperance and his religious scruples as was O.O. Howard. He didn't swear, but he was as gruff and violent in speech as many of the hard swearers. His men liked him, but they never joked about him or with him as they did with Sherman. They knew he could not take a joke." ~Chicago Inter-Ocean

          Molly’s one personal adventure with the enemy was brief and dramatic and made a deep impression upon her memory. As she was always with the headquarters effects at the rear of the command and usually out of range of danger, she seemed to look upon army life as a long-drawn excursion and enjoyed it only as a true soldier could. But in the Battle of Atlanta, the first assault of the enemy was in the rear, running entirely over Union headquarters. Both Molly and her guardian Uncle Joe were completely demoralized and nearly scared to death. The cook never recovered and General Leggett was compelled to send him back home to Ohio, but the cow was of sterner stuff and gradually recovered. However, for nearly a week she refused her rations and bellowed for hours at a time. For a month afterward, the sight of a squad of men on a run would throw her into a panic.

Molly accompanied Leggett's headquarters all through the Atlanta campaign, then marched through the Carolinas and eventually in the Grand Review. An army blacksmith fitted her with a set of iron "horseshoes" when the Molly became footsore but like any good veteran, she barreled right through to the end of the war. 


          When peace came and the army that Sherman led on his famous march was ordered to Washington to take part in the magnificent parade, the old campaigner that had in turn ministered to the comfort of so many including guests at Leggett’s table such as Generals Grant and Sherman down to the sick drummer boy was taken along. She walked behind the headquarters ambulance as a marked and conspicuous part of the procession. The people along the line loaded her with bouquets and wreaths until she became a walking monument of flowers.

General Mortimer D. Leggett

          General Leggett felt that Molly had earned her ease for the remainder of her days and determined to take her home to Ohio. His command was mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky in July 1865 and he was ordered to proceed to his home at Zanesville to await further orders. Transportation was furnished him for three horses. His servant Tim went to the steamboat landing with the general’s effects, Molly among them. Tom led two horses up the gangplank and then advanced with the cow. The officer of the boat looked at the order and cried out, “Hold on! There’s no transportation here for a cow.”

          “Yes, sir,” Tom replied, “it calls for so many horses.”

          “But that isn’t a horse.”

          “A brevet hoss,” Tom quickly responded repeating the standing joke of the army as to the multiplicity of brevet honors that were flying about in those days.

          Molly lived through many years of peace and quiet upon the best the land would afford and when she died of old age, a squad of veterans in blue followed her to the grave and saw that she was laid away with proper military honors.

 

Source:

“Gen. Leggett’s Cow,” Western Veteran (Kansas), May 21, 1890, pg. 5

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more