"hudags" in an 1861 Civil War letter

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 3/3/03 10:20:07 PM Eastern Standard Time, gcohen at UMR.EDU
writes:

> there was two sent
>  in for a trial   <snip>  I took my
>  old Musket and got another
>
>  (3rd page now begins)
>
>  man and started off [as prisoner guards]
>  but did not have any
>  adventure as they are but poor
>  hudags.

My guess is that "dag" is a misspelling of "dog" and "hudag" therefore is
some term like "hangdog" or "hound dog"

           - Jim Landau