Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Civil War Oddities #123


In addition to four-legged pets, officers and men sometimes took a special fancy to feathered creatures.

Men belonging to a unit commanded by Confederate Brig. General Cobb claimed to have taught a rooster to crow when given a signal. At Fredericksburg, reported the Savannah Republic, every time Federals launched an advance the rooster responded to prompting. As a result, “just before our sharp-shooters opened upon them, the rooster’s clear, shrill clarion rang out on the sulphurous air. This strange defiance, while it cheered and amused out boys, fell with a depressing effect upon the ears of the enemy.”