Robert E. Lee would, at least once a weekend, both Friday and Saturday nights, would produce, direct, script, and star sometimes, in plays he had put on, as he said, “to bump up the morale of the men after a long week of battle.” He would have charades, “Run Rabbit Run,” impersonators, jokesters, and magic tricks, all of them part of the “warm-up acts” prior to the shows.
No alcohol was permitted at the shows in front of his tent, however, because Lee for the most part abstained from booze, although he would sometimes mix for the officers a concoction of buttermilk and bourbon, or cognac, to celebrate with at Christmas, or New Years, although it was widely known that the casks, canteens, and flasks the men drank from were filled with spirits, mostly homemade grape and apple ciders, and, o
