Interesting military tradition for mules: New arrivals had their tails shaved hence shavetails Then as they learned new skills and their tail grew a bell was cut into the tail to show the mastered skill. First bell was added when the animal could pack Second bell was added when the animal could...
Riding Morgan's Mule: A form of punishment in which the prisoner was forced to sit on, or straddle, a large sawhorse for hours at a time. The rail on which they sat was sometimes 15 feet above the ground and accessible only by a ladder. If the prisoner joked about needing spurs, bricks were...
Thought this was an excellent account of Col. Emory Upton's charge on the Mule Shoe salient at Spotsylvania, . From the diary of Clinton...
On this day, May 12, 150 years ago one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War occurred. At 4:35 am this morning the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock launched a major assault on the tip of the Confederate salient named the "Mule Shoe" for its U shape...
The handler pointed the mule at the empty prairie and then the handler lit the fuse to the loaded Mountain Howitzer on the back of the mule. The mule had never heard the sound of a "spitting and sputtering" burning fuse before, and started to buck and try to run off. The handler tried to regain control of the mule- of the bucking and turning mule.
Often the the name "Bloody Angle" is used to describe the Mule Shoe salient overall, but it originally referred to an angle within the line on the western side of the salient, also known as the "Western Angle." The fighting took place all across the salient that day but the worst was there. Due to the terrain, Grant considered that side of the salient to be the weakest and concentrated the ...