Comments on: “Tockwotton”, 2nd Rhode Island Infantry, On the March to Manassas (1)

By: Chris Evans

Chris Evans — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 05:47:25 +0000

Mentioning the campfires reminds me of a passage in the book ‘Tom Taylor’s Civil War’ where from a mountain during the Atlanta campaign the writer looked down on thousands of campfires of the armies that Sherman had assembled with him. It really must have been incredible.

Chris

By: Harry Smeltzer

Harry Smeltzer — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:36:50 +0000

Brian, Contrary to popular belief, the area through which the army moved was not verdant, lush farmland. "Played out" is the term that comes to mind. The South had a lot of two things, land and cheap labor. This did not encourage scientific, economic farming methods, Also, keep in mind there were not 40,000 men in McDowell's column. 30,000 with a 5,000 man reserve (Runyon). About. As for the comet, see this post.

By: cwbattlemapart

cwbattlemapart — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:16:09 +0000

Very informative description of the march and the surrounding countryside…never heard “thriftless” used to decribe anything of late.

Can you imagne a camp of 40,000 with campfires. Must have been awe inspiring. Of what Comet do they speak of. Halley’s or some other?

Thanks for posting.

Brian K

By: What’s a Tockwotton, and What’s That About a Comet? « Bull Runnings

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:49:22 +0000

[...] This letter to the Providence Evening Press from a member of the 2nd RI infantry, published 7/20/1861, raises a couple of questions. For one, who was and what is a Tockwotton? For another, what’s this comet he talked about watching during the regiments first night under the stars? [...]