Feasting On The Northern Commissary

Cape Fear Historical Institute
“His mission [of chasing a Northern gunboat away with cannon fire], Pelham led his crew to the burning town, now deserted by the enemy infantry who had fled on [General Jeb] Stuart’s approach. When he reported to General Stuart, the cavalry chief warmly clasped Pelham’s hand and said: “Well done, Captain, you certainly handled the Union Navy as roughly as you do the Army of the Potomac.”

Turning to the smoking ruins of the town, “Jeb” said, “Pelham, my boy, take your crew and help yourselves to the bountiful provisions our Yankee friends were unable to destroy in their hurry to escape.” Pelham’s cannoneers needed no second invitation to join Stuart’s troopers in tackling the fancy luxuries intended for General [George] McClellan’s army. Hungry Southern lads who had lived the past few days on salt meat and crackers now feasted on tropical fruits, lemonade, preserved eggs, meat, fish, French rolls, candy, Havana cigars and assorted liquors.

When some of the troopers began to get tipsy from sampling the whiskey, Colonel “Rooney” Lee, General Lee’s second son, started a rumor that the enemy had poisoned the liquor to get even with the Confederates. The story spread swiftly causing many red-faced celebrators to throw away their flasks and hold their stomachs in imagined agony.

Pelham and Jim Breathed feasted on pickled oysters and fruit under the shade of a tree beside the river. After finishing a juicy pear, Jim commented, “Captain, if McClellan’s troops eat like this every day it’s no wonder they run away rather than fight and get killed.”

(Colonel John Pelham, Lee’s Boy Artillerist, William Woods Hassler, Garrett and Massie, 1960, pp. 41-42)