On May 14, 1864, Gen. Grant and his Army of the Potomac were about a week into the Wilderness Campaign (sometimes called the Overland Campaign). It had fought two vicious battles in the Wilderness forest and at Spotsylvania Court House. Although stymied at both places by Gen. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Grant was determined to keep moving towards Richmond, despite his heavy casualties. Here is one of my favorite Civil War stories. It is set during the campaign. I ran across this story decades ago and did not take note of its source. It could be apocryphal, but is so good I hope it isn’t. Regardless, enjoy.
During the Wilderness Campaign both sides’ soldiers suffered from some of the most vicious combat of the war. And in the hellacious environment of a dense forest. Needless to say, some soldiers reached a breaking point. One morning, after a bad thunder storm the night before, a Union camp awoke to tree limbs and big puddles. And a soldier sitting in front of a puddle with a string tied to his rifle. The end of the string was in the water, as though the soldier was fishing. This, of course, gathered a crowd. His buddies asked him what he was doing, but he refused to respond. He just occasionally lifted the string to see if he had gotten a bite. Word quickly reached his commanding officer, who came up with a scowl on his face. The soldier had a reputation as a malingerer, so the officer began to chew him out. “What do you think you’re doing soldier?”, he screamed. But the soldier did not react. He just kept checking his bait. Finally, the officer called over the regimental doctor. The doctor gently asked the soldier what was going on, but the soldier still did not even look up. After fruitlessly asking a series of questions, the doctor turned to the officer and said “Well, I guess he has just cracked. I’ve seen this before after intense battles. Sometimes a soldier just snaps. We’ll have to send him home.” The doctor filled out the discharge papers and handed them to the soldier. He put down his rifle, went to his tent, packed up his stuff, and headed out of camp. He didn’t say a word, didn’t say good bye to his buddies. As he was leaving the camp, the officer grabbed him and said “Look, before you go, you just have to tell me what you were fishing for in that puddle.” The soldier held up the discharge papers, smiled, and kept walking.
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