From the National Tribune, 6/28/1906

That Dog on Belle Isle.

Editor National Tribune: I saw in the National Tribune of May 24 that if any one is living who feasted off that little dog on Belle Island in 1863. I wish to tell him that I caught and killed that dog, and never ate, and never will eat, a piece of meat that tasted as good as it did. Comrade Vinson made a mistake about the time, something we are liable to do after so many years. That officer did not come in the evening; he knew his life would not have been safe in that desperate, starving crowd. He would have disappeared like the dog, but hardly have been made a meal of, for I don’t believe he would have tasted as good. I wonder how many of the 10,000 we had at one time there are living yet. I hope many are still living, and are able to read that great National Tribune, the best friend of the soldiers. When I get it with some others in the mail on Thursday, it is the one I open first to look for news of my comrades. I would specially like to hear from the one who got the wood to cook the dog. I believe one comrade had a pinch of salt, but I would not swear to the latter, as everybody knows salt was a scarce article in the Southern Confederacy. We never had any on our so-called meals. - E. Niederman, Co. H, 1st Ky., Cincinnati, Ohio.

Page last updated on 07/24/2009