Slapjacks Along the Big Black

I found this great little bit in Osborne H. Oldroyd’s A Soldier’s Story of the Siege of Vicksburg. Oldroyd served with Company E of the 20th Ohio. His account, published in 1885, featured an introduction by Bvt. Maj. Gen. Manning Force and touted itself as being “illustrated with portraits and appropriate engravings.”

This “appropriate engraving” cracked me up.

It comes from page 26 and accompanies his diary entry from May 17, 1863. His division, Logan’s, part of McPherson’s XVII Corps, had just been engaged in a fight near the Big Black River on the way to assault Vicksburg.

It’s one more reminder that an army always marches on its stomach.

By the way, according to the Knox County (Ohio) Historical Society, Osborne Hamline Ingham Oldroyd’s name had initials that intentionall spelled out the name of his home state: OHIO.



7 Responses to Slapjacks Along the Big Black

  1. I know quite a bit about fellow Buckeye State native Osborne Oldroyd due to his postwar connections to the Lincoln Home in Springfield and the Petersen House in Washington DC (House Where Lincoln Died), but I did not know that his initials spelled out OHIO!

    Thanks, Chris!

  2. Yankee boys had a wonderful sense of humor in general. When I read things like this, those guys seem so close to us.

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