The other but to kill.
And while Minnie prays for me each day
Yankee “Minnie” seek me for a prey.
“And when this sad war is over,
Our independence won,
I’ll bid adieu to Yankee “Minn”
And seek the other one.
And together render thanks each day
That to Yankee “Minns” I never fell a prey.”
To see the victorious veterans of the Army returning and marching through Petersburg was a never-to-be-forgotten sight. As we sat, mounted, at the corner of a street, they marched by with easy swinging tramp, by hundreds and thousands, dust-begrimed, in faded threadbare blue uniforms that they had worn through many a bloody battle, and in which they had slept many nights, often in swamps, and mud on the battle-fields. The shabby knapsacks, battered canteens, ragged blankets, their well-polished old guns, the only fresh clean emblem in sight; and these for the most part were shouldered as if for a holiday, which in very truth it was, probably the happiest they ever enjoyed. Discipline of the tired host was quite forgotten, while the worn, faded, torn flags floated out proudly.