YES -- FANS, this is the story that started it all !! IT'S A DESPARATE tale of Civil War deprivations and FORAGING by the half-starved men of the 6th Maine Infantry, one of the regiments in Brig-Gen's Winfield Scott Hancock's historic First Brigade that saw good service at Williamsburg and White Oak Swamp earlier in the advance of Gen. McClellan's 1862 Peninsular Campaign, and only more recently skirmished with Rebs at Second Battle of Bull Run !! THE BATTLE-SCARRED men now make their way through a war-ravaged District of Columbia on their way to a certain rendezvous with the Army of Northern Virginia under command of Gen. Robert E Lee -- first at the battle of South Mountain, and shortly thereafter at ANTIETAM. But meanwhile, the men of the U.S. Army must EAT and as they enter Southern-sympathetic MARYLAND the citizens HOLDOUT on them, and official provisions are scarce, and what there is, is limited to Lincoln' s HARD-TACK and SALT PORK -- and if they want to sink their teeth into any fresh meat, the men are obliged to take DESPARATE MEASURES !! And then, they see the answer: Now ... FIND OUT HOW THEY STOLE THE GOOSE, KEPT IT SECRET, AND THEN COOKED IT GOOD ....

1. .
SHOWN HERE: Co. K, 6TH
Maine Infantry Regiment -- a reduced but effective force -- lined up for inspection
following the discovery by the Provost Guard -- on or about Sept. 12, 1862 -- of A MISSING GOOSE !!
It was taken from a farm northwest of Rockville, Maryland ….
… sometime during the Army’s march towards Crampton’s Gap and the Battle of Antietam !!
The newly-edited Memoirs of Pvt. Calif Newton Drew, 6th
Maine Inf., Yankee Scout in the Civil War ….
NOW IDENTIFY at long last the INSTIGATOR , RINGLEADER, AND PERPETRATORS
of this ATROCITY OF WAR and BREACH OF ARMY REGULATIONS !!!

2. tHE PROVOST GUARD WAS DETERMINED TO GET HIS MAN!
But 6th
maine WAS a cohesive fighting unit ….
… NOT A SINGLE MAN WOULD
talk , to betray a fellow
soldier -- even under
extreme forms of
interrogation !!!
Now it can be told …. HOW
THE MEN OF CO. K, 6TH
MAINE INFANTRY,
CAPTURED (in broad daylight !)
CONCEALED & COOKED to a crisp …

3. as the
IS MARCHING NORTH from WASHINGTON CITY, D.C. …. In EARLY SEPTEMBER, 1862 !!!!
“ We came near Tenallytown [ situated near the NW limits of Washington D.C. – Ed.] and got full rations and
other supplys. Even the Paymaster came and paid us three months wages, $39 -- new paper money, but we
could not get into Washington to spend any of it. We got new cloathing & shoes etc.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Tenallytown, D.C. now
Tenleytown, was situated on
the Rockville Turnpike near
the northwestern boundary of
the City of Washington, D.C.
[Image from Colton, Arnold et
al., Topographical Map of the
Original District of Columbia
and Environs, Showing the
Fortifications around the City
of Washington (1862)
(Library of Congress )]
IN ADDITION TO Unkle
Abe’s generous pay of a full
$13/mo., Union Army recruits
also received general issue
(G.I.) boots, socks, packs,
uniforms, & fine weapons – as
well as daily rations of crispy,
crumbly HARDTACK 
and savory SOWBELLY [not
shown ….. !!! ]
HOWEVER – dagnabit -- it’s
that consarned, mule-headed
STUBBORNESS of
some of the new troops
of the 6th
Maine Rgt., to
make the necessary
adjustment to the Army
Rations of this crisp
HARDTACK and
salted SOWBELLY, that
motivates Pvt. Calif Newton
Drew’s story …

4. ‘On the 7th
of Sept. [1862] we marched to Rockville up the Potomac a peace.1
“The Army is lined up in good shape, little Mc is in command [Again - Ed] we are on the left of the line moving
up the [Potomac] river without paying much attention to reach [Maybe (Capt.) Roach? See following -– Ed.] a
beautiful farming country with good water everywhere. We was getting considerable extry rations as we moved
very slow. We had plenty of time to forage and we improved the opportunity so well that a Provost Guard
marched beside us. This guard was maintained along all lines of marching men – strict orders was given against
forageing or leaving the ranks without a pass from the Capt [ Thomas P. Roach – shown in Cartes de Visite, at
left – Ed.] of the Company – the only exception being when a private had a dozen of a canteens and was going
for water on the march.”
Now above also :
Capt.. Roach, Co. K
6th
Maine Infantry
( Maine State Library)
At right,  showing location of camp at Rockville, Maryland, from E & G.W. Blunt’s Corrected
Map of the Washington and the Seat of War on the Potomac (1862) (Library of Congress)
‘Therefore here comes the story of the Confiscated Goose.’
1
ORIGINAL BAD SPELLING HAS BEEN MAINTAINED ! The Memorialist, Pvt. Calif Newton Drew, Co. K 6th
Maine
Infantry, enlisted in the Union Army at age 15, and so never completed high school. The result is, he was a maddeningly
poor speller, who, inter alia, routinely misspells “piece” as “peace” – with sometimes ironic results for a war memoir.

5. ‘One day on the march before the battle of Crampton Gap, the brigade for a few minutes rest[ed] the weather
was hot and the road very dusty.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
 The Union Army under
Gen. George B. McClelland, is
now advancing further up the
Potomac River on the
Maryland side, in the opening
days of the “Maryland
Campaign” which will
culminate in the Battle of
Antietam, on Sept. 17, 1862.
General Winfield Scott
Hancock is in command of a
volunteer brigade, including
the 6th
Maine Inft’y Regt., in
which Pvt. Calif Newton Drew
is a member. In addition, the
brigade includes the 5th
Wisconsin, 19th
Pennsylvania,
and 43rd
New York Infantries,
as well as a battery of NY light
artillery.
In a few days following this
story, Hancock will move his
all-volunteer brigade towards
 Crampton’s Gap in the
South Mountains of Maryland,
north of the Potomac river, and
after driving Rebel forces out,
will camp in the narrow
Pleasant Valley, on the night of
Sept. 15th
, before that great
Battle of Antietam Creek.
MEANWHILE …. during the
long march, as Pvt. Drew
relates, the soldiers are fairly
fed-up with their hard-tack and
salt pork, and have begun to
supplement their rations with eggs, corn and other vegetables, apples, peaches and whatever else they can thieve
from farms located along the route. So a Provost Guard has been assigned, and ordered to keep the troops from
pillaging the produce of farmers along the march…..

6. “In a field some distance from the road was a fine large farmhouse with a well [P. 64] at one side with the old
fashion sweep and pole, to draw water. About halfway between the road and house was a band of geese, the
Provose Guard [sic] sat [on] his horse between the geese and house.”
“Our company Drummer came along to talk with the boys.
He remarked how good a piece2
of roast goose would be for
supper. After a little talk a plan was laid (It had been said those
guards was mighty hard men to beat).”
EDITOR’S NOTE: 6th
Maine Infantry Regiment, Co. K (from
Machias, Maine) included a number of Native American
Indians, including Pvt. Henry C. Denbow, a Pleasant Point
Passamaquoddy Indian (but not shown) who regularly joined
memorialist Pvt. Calif Newton Drew in “scouting for rebs.”
During this period the soldiers were actually re-commissioned
as Majors in the Union Army.
 The company’s Indian drummer, the INSTIGATOR of
this INCIDENT, who is featured in the foreground of the
Company K photograph, has so far not been identified.

“I started to execute it.
“We must water up before the afternoon March, so, taking 12 canteens I went to Capt. Roach [ -- Ed.]: he had
come to us [as] we laid at Tanleytown [ Roach had there advised the company of this exception to breaking
formation – Ed.] and got a pass to get water.
“Dan done the same then Bill and one more, I think it was Frank. [Three men, off in sequence, to get water -Ed.]
2
This is perhaps the only time in his Memoirs, that Pvt. Drew correctly spells the word “piece.”

7. “The drummer had the head of his drum in proper shape. [As in … significantly loosened! See below – Ed.]
“I took the lead, the others followed, 25 or 30 spaces behind each others. As I passed the geese a large gander
attacked me as ganders they always do with his neck extended emitting a hissing that would scared most anything
but a bunch of soldiers on a lark. And that goose did actually take hold of the leg of my pants. I did not like
being bit by a goose – I grabbed it by the neck and swinging it around my head let it drive for Dan’s head.
“He caught it most beautifully twisting its neck; he sent it to Bill who gave its neck a [pretty?] twist, let it go for
Frank, he sent it to the drummer – and he had it in the drum and the [drum]head on and strained in quicktime …
And [he] went to the rear of the line where the drum corps was.” 
.
Drum and fife corps, 30th
Maine Vol. Infantry (Hubbard Family Papers)

8. “Such a time that poor guard had trying to locate that goose, he did not try to arrest any of the actors. All he
wanted was the goose, and being mounted he had to go to a gate some distance from where the goose went over
the fence.”
[P. 65]
“When he began to hunt for
the goose among the men of
the 6th
Maine ….
…they made it lively for
him.”
EDITOR’S NOTE :
A careful examination of the
photo of Co. K, 6th
Maine
Infantry reveals tell-tale
details… details that the
Provost Guard must have
somehow overlooked ….
Can you see what the Provost
Guard may have missed?

9. Our Goose is Cooked –
Don’t Get Caught Stealing !
A Lieutenant of Provose came riding along and he reported
to him he case, that Lieut’ [reported in turn] to Conol
[Hiram] Burnham and demanded the goose. Some of his
men …
“Had stolden what …?” says Burnham. “My men stole a
goose right from under your nose in broad daylight ?”
“I don’t believe it. My men don’t steal…”
While them two were talking Gen’l Hancock came along.
Col. Hiram Burnham
Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (Library of Congress)
“The Provose Guard was given permission to search the
men of the Co. K, but the Pro’ Guard could not identify
the men or locate the Company. He wanted to search
the whole [6th
Maine] Reg’t.!
“Hancock said, “And if you failed to find it in the 6th
Maine you would [want] to search the whole Brigade?
I think you will have to call around when the boys are
cooking supper -- but I think you must be mistaken bout
the men of the 6th
stealing – they’s Christians.”
“Here Col. Burnham remarked he did not blame the
men for stealing, but they [would be] blame fools to be
caught.
“The colum moved on all the P.M. and that Provose
Guard kep space with the Reg’t – it was 10 o’cl P.M.
when we halted for supper and camped.
“Sometime before daylight the goose was cooked.
“Gen’l Hancock and Cn’l Burnham each got a generous
peace.”

10. “On the mud campaign that winter when the whole Army was stuck in the mud, and the Colonel killed his cow so
the boys would have something to eat [ See “Mud Campaign,” in YANKEE SCOUT IN THE CIVL WAR !! -- Ed.]
he asked me if I wouldent like a good roast goose.
“He said Hancock asked him how the boys had done the trick.
“I told him all about it, and that we did it to beat that Provose Guard.”
A NOTE TO OUR READERS: The fine photograph of the Co. K, 6th
Maine Infantry, seen above, was
actually taken by famed American photographer Matthew C. Brady, shown over here  under
contract with the U.S. War Department, to chronicle the Union Army effort. Despite the
involvement of a number of U.S. Army officers, and even General Winfield Scott Hancock, in
the investigation of “The Confiscated Goose” incident, Mr. Brady was not actually doing
forensic photography when he captured this image. Little did he know …..
Instead, Brady took the photo the following year, probably very early in May, 1863, after the
Battle of Marye’s Heights, also known as the Second Battle of Fredericksburg; the photo was
taken to commemorate the heroism of the men of the 6th
Maine Infantry, who distinguished
themselves for daring and valor, in the storming of the stone wall and taking the works from the
rebel army, in the hills above Fredericksburg, April 30, 1863! To learn more about it ….