Page updated 05/23/2004
The President's House -
In the summer of 1861, a regiment of light infantry from the vicinity of Norway, Maine, were encamped in Washington for a few days. Two of the men had become dissatisfied with their fare, and they conceived the sublimely impudent idea of foraging on the President's rations. How they did it is related as follows:
They proceeded directly to the President's house. Without ceremony they wended their way quietly into the broad kitchen − “bowing to a tall man” on their passage − and carefully selecting what they thought would “go round,” made the following speech to the cook:
“Look here, we've sworn to support the government; for three days we've done it on salt junk; now if you would spare us a little of this it would put the thing along amazingly.
It is needless to say that the boys had an abundance that day.
Brockett, Dr. L. P., The Camp, The Battle Field, and the Hospital; or, Lights and Shadows of the Great Rebellion, Philadelphia: National Publishing Company, 1866
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