as we called them, was
simply atrocious. As you know, beans should be cooked until they are
thoroughly done; otherwise they are decidedly harmful. Well, we would
not cook them much more than half enough, the result being a sloppy,
slimy mess, its looks alone being well-nigh sufficient to extinguish
one's appetite. And as for the rice--the horrible messes we would make
of that defy description. I know that one consequence with me was I
contracted such an aversion to rice that for many years afterwards,
while in civil life, I just couldn't eat it in any form, no matter how
temptingly it was prepared.

Owing to improperly cooked food, change of climate and of water, and
neglect of proper sanitation measures in the camps, camp diarrhea
became epidemic at Pittsburg Landing, especially among the "green"
regiments like ours. And for about six weeks everybody suffered, more
or less, the difference being only in degree. The fact is, the
condition of the troops in that quarter during the prevalence of that
disorder was simply so bad and repulsive that any detailed description
thereof will be passed over. I never saw the like before, and never
have seen it since. I always thought that one thing which aggravated
this trouble was the inordinate quantity of sugar some of the men would
consume. They would not only use it to excess in their coffee and rice,
but would frequently eat it raw, by handfuls. I happen to think, right
now, of an incident that illustrates the unnatural appetite of some of
the men for sugar. It occurred in camp one rainy day during the siege
of Corinth. Jake Hill, of my company, had covered the top of a big army
hardtack with sugar in a cone-like form, piling it on as long as the
tack would hold a grain. Then he seated himself on his knapsack and
proceeded to gnaw away at his feast, by a system of "regular
approaches." He was even then suffering from the epidemic before
mentioned, and so weak he could hardly walk. Some one said to him,
"Jake, that sugar ain't good for you in your condition." He looked up
with an aggrieved air and responded in a tone of cruelly injured
innocence, "Haven't I the right to eat my r-a-a-tion?" Strange to say,
Jake got well, and served throughout the war. He was a good soldier,
too.

For my part, I quit using sugar in any form, early in my army service,
(except a little, occasionally, with stewed fruit, or berries,) and
didn't resume its general use until some years after my dischar