No doubt, an officer's privy, equipped with slots in the logs to aid him in fending off any assaults on his 'position'!

On your left, the new officers' latrine. The enlisted men have to find a tree.

I'm wondering if these very young men were orderlies or drummer boys. Both Federal and Confederate officers had Negro orderlies, some of these having served in the households where the officers grew up. This would account for Negroes being found in otherwise all-white units.

[There are lots of Federal (Union) Army photos in the Library of Congress Civil War archive showing black personnel with the white troops. If there is any mention of race in the caption information, it's often something like "Negro teamsters," "servant" or "colored cook." - Dave]

Looks like an outhouse to me. Room enough to sit and still keep watch for Johnny Reb, while offering some protection.

Dear Mom: We used our last tree to build this little doohickey shown in our field manual that seems to have no real purpose. At least no one can sneak up on us!