Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Civil War Oddities #124


While the Forty-second New York Regiment was encamped at Kalorama Heights, Virginia, Private Tinker captured a pigeon and made a pet of it. According to the Rebellion Record, the pigeon regularly followed when men of the Tammany regiment moved to another position. “Occasionally flying away at a great distance, it always returned and when weary, would alight on some wagon of the train.

Tinker’s pet reportedly went to Poolesville, Washington, Fort Monroe, and Yorktown. Staying with the regiment throughout the bloody days of the Wilderness, the pigeon is also credited with having been at Antietam and Harpers Ferry.