I have before alluded to the general incapacity of the Rebels to deal accurately with even simple numbers.
It was never very difficult for a shrewd Sergeant to make nine sacks count as ten.

After awhile the Rebels began to see through this sleight of hand manipulation, and to check it.

Then the Sergeants resorted to the device of tearing the sacks in two, and turning each half in as a whole one.

The cotton cloth gained in this way was used for patching, or, if a boy could succeed in beating the Rebels out of enough of it, he would fabricate himself a shirt or a pair of pantaloons.

We obtained all our thread in the same way.