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| DOGS | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15th, 2011 01:18 am |
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1st Post |
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pender Member 
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I have read in the histories of the several regiments and battalions from N.C. In What is called Clark's Regiments, a very interesting thing about some union dogs. Yes that is right some union dogs. I have a question about them that I will ask but first I will read what it says to help you understand my question. In Clark's history of N.C. Regiments, Benjamin H. Cathey of the sixteenth N.C. writes, on page 754, of the days before the Seven Pines Battle. " At this time General McClellan had got a pretty good foot- hold on Virginia soil, and within a few miles of the Confederate capital. He had extended his line from the James River a considerable distance up the Chickahominy. His organization was to every appearance complete. Balloons could be seen to ascend every day, spying out our peculiar location. The enemy was using in front of the Sixteenth some large New Foundland dogs as advance pickets. When we wished to move forward our picket line we disposed of these quadruped yanks in short order by administering our favorite prescription, rebel pellets in lead." OK here is my question, has anyone ever heard of this? Did the Union use dogs at times for advance pickets? Also I would like to ask if anyone has any dog stories during the war, either side reb or yank? Pender
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15th, 2011 04:22 am |
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2nd Post |
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Hellcat Person 
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I've heard of the Confederates using bloodhounds and there being fear among Federal soldiers of them. But if I recall correctly that was for tracking escaped Federal POWs, nothing about on the front lines for either side using dogs as pickets. I've got a couple of books I'd like to check and I'll get back to you on that. Edit: Sorry Pender, struck out. I was thinking Michael Sanders's Strange Tales of the Civil War and More Strange Tales of the Civil War both had chapters pertaining to animals. Turns out only More Strange Tales of the Civil War has any a chapter dealing with animals. And there are only two tales in there that deal with dogs with neither of them being about Newfies or bloodhounds. And only one of them is about a dog being present during battle, a brindle bull terrier named Sallie who was the mascot of the 11th Penn (she's represented on their monument at Gettysburg). I also thought of a couple of others (Encyclopedia of the American Civil War and Burke Davis's The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts), but still no luck in either of them. Maybe Webb Garrison has something in one of his books but I'm not sure which one would be good to check. Now I want to know where I read that thing on the bulldogs. Last edited on Sat Oct 15th, 2011 05:26 am by Hellcat |
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15th, 2011 11:22 am |
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3rd Post |
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Hellcat Person
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This might be of some interest. http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/mascots.htm http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/07/09/rebeccas_war_dog_of_the_week_union_jack_from_lucky_dog_to_courageous_lion
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15th, 2011 12:04 pm |
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4th Post |
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pender Member
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Hellcat, you have a way of finding info on the net. Thanks for the links, I really enjoyed the links. I found the first one packed with good info on animals during the war. Allways love to learn new things, I did not know. Hope the members check out the link. If they are like me they never heard of Old Douglas the 43rd Mississippi's camel or one of the 34th Massachusetts dogs chasing half-spent cannon shot. Stonewall Jackson the dog, I do not think the human Stonewall Jackson would approve of the dog smoking a pipe. The 8th Wisconsin's bald eagle is a very good story, he was called that yankee buzzard by the confederate's. It did mention a big Newfoundland dog as mentioned in the 1st post. Pender
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15th, 2011 12:46 pm |
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5th Post |
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Mark Member
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If I remember correctly, the 1st MD (Confederate) had a big dog as a mascot. Poor guy got killed in their attack on Culp's Hill at Gettysburg. Mark
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16th, 2011 02:23 am |
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6th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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I have a few sites on my website I hit a lot that I can get links off of. But I didn't have much luck as far as dogs go. That first site was pretty much it, the majority of the links pertained to horses. That was from hitting the Index of Civil War Information Available on the Internet (http://www.civilwarhome.com/indexcivilwarinfo.htm) under their Animals/Veterinary Science section. The second site came from a Yahoo hit on War Dogs. It actually came from an article this past may in Foreign Policy magazine (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/04/war_dog) which linked to the Union Jack article. Looking thast article over now I can actually grab the Harper's Weekly edition mentioned in the article (http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/general-rosecrans.htm).
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17th, 2011 03:51 am |
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7th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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Ok, hit my Webb Garrison books. Should have done so in the first place but the one I needed wasn't easily accesible in my collection (I really need to get a new bookshelf). I've got his Civil War Stories (a '97 collection of his Civil War Curiosities and More Civil War Curiosities and which was released earlier this year for the 150th Anniversary as Curiosities of the Civil War: Strange Stories, Infamous Characters and Bizarre Events) which has a lovely chapter in the first part on critters other than horses. Ok, let's see, after the initial paragraph explaining the subject of the chapter (basically mascots and pets) there's a paragraph on the 11th Penn's Sallie. Here she's described as a mongrel rather than as a brindle bull terrier as Sander's describes her in his book. The next paragraph is on the 6th Iowa's mascot, which Garrison again describes as a mongrel. Noy much here other than they named the dog Jeff Davis. Next is Jack, the mascot of the 102nd Penn. Garrison does mention he was wounded at Malvern Hill after having gone through previos battles with being wounded and later captured and taken prisoner at Salem Heights, being a POW in Richmond for six months. He was again taken at some later point in the war for just six hours. Brigadier General Alexander S. Asboth is brought up next for his dog York. Apparently during the Battle of Pea Ridge York remained close to the heels of the General's horse, which resulted in the artist for Leslie's Weekly drawing York and the General during the battle. Then comes the first Confederate mascot/pet. Sawbuck, described as a black and white bird dog, was the mascot of the 4th Louisian Brigade. Apparently Sawbuck knew the bugle call for attack enemy positions because some sergeant the dog liked the most reported the dog would go into battle and run up and down the line to watch the fighting. The next story Garrison makes clear there's a little uncertainty who the dog belonged to. It was a bulldog he says is believed to have belonged to Company D of the 4th New York Heavy Artillery. Like Sawbuck, this unnamed dog apparently liked battle.... as long as it didn't affect him. According to an observer the dog tried catching balls (either minnie balls or artillery shells) out of the air until his tail got shot then he high-tailed it to the rear. Sorry for the pun there. Up next is an unnamed Newfie. A Capt E.R. Monfort recorded "a very large Newfoundland dog" had wandered into the brigade's camp and became it's mascot. At the Battle of McDowell (Garrison incorrectly says it was April instead of May) the dog was reported to run back and forth in front of Monfront's unit, trying to catch bullets. The end result was the dog ended up catching them alright, his body was riddled with bullets which was the end of the unnamed Newfie. I found a Lt. E.R. Monfort served with the 75th Ohio during the Chancellorsville campaign, if this is the same man and Garrison got the month right then it may have actually been the Battle of Monterey where the Newfie bought it. Another Ohioian in the chapter was Captain Werner Von Bachelle who trained his dog to preform salutes. Garrison records that the dog was always beside it's master and when Von Bachelle was killed at Antietam the dog stood guard over the body even after the Von Bachelle's men abandoned the line. The next six paragraphs deal with bloodhounds. The first two paragraphs are about a pack of bloodhound, according to Brigadier General Rufus Saxton, which belonged to a Confederate cavalry unit and which he said attacked one of his scouting parties along with their masters. According to General Saxton, the scouting party killed three of the doggs which threw the entire attack into disorder. Saxton did not report any humans on the Confederate side being killed. The next two deal with the 1st SCCT's retreat near a battle near Pocotaligo, SC. The Confederates released bloodhounds to track them down but the colored troops fought back, at least one dog ended up with a broken broken leg and five were bayonetted, their bodies taken back to camp as trophies. The final two of these six bloodhound paragraphs deal with Federal prisoners at a prison in Columbia, SC in 1864. Lt. A.O. Abbott of the First NY Dragoons records that two bloodhounds entered the camp and were killed using an ax they'd managed to find. They were then dumped into an abandoned well. They had been part of a pack used to make sure no prisoner escaped. The last dog story (after this one it the chapter starts getting into other animals) is actually a pre-war story concerning Lee. According to the Story Lee once rescued a dog he found trying to stay alive in the water between Fort Hamilton and Staten Island, NY. He named her Dart. One of her pups, Spec, was allowed to litterally go to church with the Lees. By Literaly I mean the dog was allowed to enter the church during services rather than have to wait outside. The chapter then gets into other animals. Sheep, squirrels, bears, badgers, a pelican, a racoon, a camel, an ox (little story about how a NY unit deemed it a pet and got so ticked off when the regimental cooks slaughtered it that they refused any of the meat), a lizard, and various birds. There is a thing on Old Abe I found interesting based on you're comment from the link I posted, Pender. It may not have been the Confederates in general who called him a Yankee Buzzard. According to what Garrison writes some Confederates called him "that Yankee eagle" while the Confederates at Vicksburg during the siege were the ones who called him "that Yankee buzzard."
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18th, 2011 09:47 pm |
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8th Post |
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pender Member
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Some very good stories Hellcat, Thanks. Had you heard of these before? Pender
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18th, 2011 11:43 pm |
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9th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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No, as I said their from one of Webb Garrisons books. I'd gotten the book a few years ago and only managed to read a little out of it. That's one of the things I like about him, chapters in most of his books aren't related. Their individual elements of the war that could have their own books written about them. You can go through with a "what subject am I interested in at the moment" mentality and pick and choose the chapters.
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25th, 2011 09:45 pm |
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10th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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Hey, I haven't had a chance to really look through it as I just got it today. But after you originally posted this thread I ordered Dogs of War: And Stories of Other Beasts of Battle in the Civil War by Marilyn W. Seguin. Might be of some intrest, especially if it has a mention of your initial question, Pender (not sure it does).
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| Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2011 10:31 pm |
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11th Post |
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pender Member
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Hellcat, I hope it does mention my question. I have had the regimental history I read for some time. It has always been some what of a mystery about those dogs. One thing that might be some help is the union men they would of been in front of before the battle is the 1st MN 65th NY 23rd PA. The dogs probably would belong to one of these regiments. Thanks Pender
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| Posted: Sat Feb 11th, 2012 04:40 pm |
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12th Post |
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LoyaltyOfDogs Member 
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Hello, I enjoyed reading these posts about the dogs and was pleased to learn about Webb Garrison's books, which I was unfamiliar with. In addition to Marilyn Seguin's book that you mention, I would recommend a wonderful history of Civil War dogs by Michael Zucchero: "Loyal Hearts: Histories of American Civil War Canines." Maybe you can help me locate information concerning one of a Confederate dogs at Gettysburg who is called Grace. "Loyal Hearts" and others (including Ms. Seguin) recount the story of the canine mascot of the 1st Maryland (CSA) who died at Gettysburg and appears in the famous painting by Peter F. Rothermel of the action at Culp's Hill. Rothermel's inspiration for including the dog was the report of Union Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Kane of the dog's fearless charge with the 1st Maryland and, afterwards, of finding the dog going about on three legs, "as though looking for a dead master, or seeking . . . an explanation of the Tragedy he witnessed. . . . He licked someone's hand, they said, after he was perfectly riddled. Regarding him as the only Christian-minded being on either side, I ordered him to be honorably buried." I have found no historical evidence that the dog was actually named Grace, so I am curious: Was Grace the dog's name, or did that name become attached to the dog after the fact, because of the story told by Gen. Kane? Thank you for any information you can provide.
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| Posted: Wed May 30th, 2012 04:58 am |
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14th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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How does that pertain to the topic at hand?
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| Posted: Wed May 30th, 2012 05:20 am |
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15th Post |
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henrycollins512 Member
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any update? _______________ stroke treatment Last edited on Sun Jun 3rd, 2012 08:44 am by henrycollins512 |
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| Posted: Wed May 30th, 2012 07:34 am |
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16th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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Might be an interesting watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjKwvUtGwmA
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