About those “dog tents”:
“Winter and spring, 1863. Cold and rain and mud while the armies waited out nearly six months for good marching and fighting weather. By March there was an indication it had come. The Pioneer Brigade was ordered to strike its big tents and turn them in. In their place it was issued small shelter ones which the men derisively called dog tents or pens and placarded accordingly.
PUPS FOR SALE
RAT TERRIERS
BULL PUPS HERE
DOGHOLE NO. 1
SONS OF BITCHES WITHIN
DOGS
PURPS [sic]
“General Rosecrans and staff, while riding by one day, were greeted with a tremendous bowwow. The boys were on their hands and knees, stretching their heads out of the ends of the tents, barking furiously at the passing cavalcade. The general laughed heartily and promised them better accommodations.”
~ From “Storming Of The Gateway Chattanooga 1863” by Fairfax Downey, published 1960.
We wonder did they get their big tents back?
The soldiers must have known General Rosecrans would appreciate their raucous appeal. Perhaps he appreciated dogs as army companions. At this link you can see an illustration of the General in camp with a canine friend.
About our illustration:
Our cover illustration can be viewed in full here, courtesy of the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/soldierinourcivi02lesl/page/n279.
Loyalty Of Dogs 