A victory was much, but the spoils of
victory were more. No sooner, then, did the Federals arrive within
close range, than the wild yells of the Southern infantry became
mingled with fierce laughter and derisive shouts. "Take off them
boots, Yank!" "Come out of them clothes; we're gwine to have them!"
"Come on, blue-bellies, we want them blankets!" "Bring them rations
along! You've got to leave them!"--such were the cries, like the
howls of half-famished wolves, that were heard along Jackson's lines
at Fredericksburg.* (* "During the truce on the second day of
Fredericksburg," says Captain Smith, "a tall, fine-looking Alabama
soldier, who was one of the litter-bearers, picked up a new Enfield
rifle on the neutral ground, examined it, tested the sights,
shouldered it, and was walking back to the Confederate lines, when a
young Federal officer, very handsomely dressed and mounted,
peremptorily ordered him to throw it down, telling him he had no
right to take it. The soldier, with the rifle on his shoulder, walked
very deliberately round the officer, scanning him from head to foot,
and then started again towards our lines. On this the Federal
Lieutenant, drawing his little sword, galloped after him, and ordered
him with an oath to throw down the rifle.
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