Item description: Entry from the published diary (Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, copyright 1913) of Louis Leon describing his experiences on 3 June 1861 around Bethel Church, Va.
Item transcription:
We changed camp several times, until about the 3d of June, when we marched fifteen miles and halted at Bethel Church, and again commenced making breastworks. Our rations did not suit us. We wanted a change of diet, but there were strict orders from Col. D. H. Hill that we should not go out foraging. Well, Bill Stone, Alie Todd and myself put on our knapsacks and went to the creek to wash our clothes, but when we got there we forgot to wash. We took a good long walk away from the camp, and saw several shoats. We ran one down, held it so it could not squeal, then killed it, cut it in small pieces, put it in our knapsacks, returned to the creek, and from there to camp, where we shared it with the boys. It tasted good.
Our comrade Ernheart did not fare so well. He went to a place where he knew he could get some honey. He got it all right, but he got the bees, also. His face and hands were a sight when he got the beehive to camp.
[Full item description available via Documenting the American South.]
Item citation: From Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, C970.78 L57d, from the North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, UNC Chapel Hill.
