Rick Saunders

“I put green hickory leaves in my cap, and kept them well saturated with water from my canteen. The leaves would retain the moisture and keep my head cool, and when they became stale and withered, would be thrown away, and fresh ones procured.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

“We had no planning nor thinking to do, and the world could just wag as it willed.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

“Halt! Who comes there?" "Friend, with the countersign!" was the answer. "Dismount, friend, advance, and give the countersign!" cried the sentinel. Kuh-sock, went the fine, high-top boots of the rider in the mud, and leading his horse, he walked up, gave the talismanic word, to which the response was made, "Countersign's correct! Pass, friend.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

“I think that a man who has never spent some wakeful hours in the night, by himself, out in the woods, has simply missed one of the most interesting parts of life. The night is the time when most of the wild things are astir, and some of the tame ones, too. There was some kind of a very small frog in the swamps and marshes near Bolivar that gave forth about the most plaintive little cry that I ever heard.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865