 The ensuing "feast" on the Confederate side might be better described as a rush to consume the beef before it spoiled.For days afterwards, the southerners would taunt the northern sentries, thanking them for all the food and inviting them over for dinner.There was so much beef available that Confederate sentries would sometimes offer it in unauthorized trades with Union sentries for certain luxury items of which the Federal soldiers had a plentiful supply, but the Confederates lacked.