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TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

'

Two Boys in the Civil War
and After

W. R. HOUGHTON
M. B. HOUGHTON

Montgomery, Ala.:
THE PARAGON PRESS

1912

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

JKIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

AT CHAPEL HILL

WE DEDICATE THIS LITTLE VOLUME

TO THE MEMORY

OF THE

CONFEDERATE DEAD

THOUSANDS OF WHOM SLEEP IN UNMARKED GRAVES

AND TO THOSE OF THEIR POSTERITY WHO ADMIRE

AND VENERATE IN THEIR FOREFATHERS,

HEROISM, COURAGE, BRAVERY, SACRIFICE, ENDURANCE,

LOYALTY.

<V

W. R. HOUGHTON.

W. R. Houghton as a Confederate Soldier
and After

William Robert Houghton, whose thrilling and in-
teresting narrations of his service and sacrifices in
the Great Civil War of 1861 to 1865 are published
hereinafter, was an intense Confederate and believ-
ed with all his ardent and enthusiastic nature in the
righteousness of the Southern cause. He was among
the last of the immortal thin gray line to yield up
his long cherished hopes of the final triumph of
Confederate arms on the fateful field of Appomatox.

Buoyant and bright of disposition, alert in mental
and physical perception, brave and gallant in action,
he was the ideal soldier with no selfish ambition for
place and power, but was consumed with an earnest
desire to achieve the independence of his native
South.

To him duty was but a way station on the rugged
highway of remorseless war, and he far transcend-
ed her demands in his enthusiasm to drive the North-
ern invaders from the soil of his beloved South.

It was such soldiers as William R. Houghton, and
their name was legion in all the armies of the South,
that caused our greatest general to modestly dis-
claim credit for so many splendid victories, but
freely accorded them to the unrivaled valor and
bravery of his men in the ranks.

An Athenian statesman is said to have boasted
that there was not a citizen in his state who was not
capable of conducting wisely and successfully the
destinies of Greece, so, in the ranks of the Confeder-

8 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ates there were many who would have led their com-
rades with equal or greater success. In more than
one important engagement of the great Civil War,
it has been freely conceded that the victory over the
enemy was won by the gallantry and invincible
bravery, of the Confederate privates in the face of
incompetent and unwise leadership on the part of
commanding officers.

The opening of the civil war found W.
R. Houghton eighteen years of age, engaged
in teaching school in a neighborhood of weal-
thy and aristocratic planters near Smiths' Station,
Russell county, Alabama, about eight miles North of
Columbus, Georgia. This neighborhood together
with other contiguous parts of counties have subse-
quently been formed into the county of Lee. Col-
umbus, Georgia, at that time was a prosperous and
influential city and dominated the social and com-
mercial interests of east Alabama. One of the crack
military companies of the city was the Columbus
Guards, in whose ranks were found the young men
of the best talent and blood of this thriving town. It
was an old organization with high standards, the
pride of West Georgia and Eastern Alabama.

With this organization W. R. Houghton volun-
teered for one year and at the termination of this
period for the war.

How well he acted his part is freely attested by the
love and admiration of his surviving comrades and
officers. The highest officers in command trusted
him implicitly and allowed him to go voluntarily on
many delicate and dangerous scouting expeditions
into the lines of the enemy.

The narrative of his personal experiences and ob-
servations, penned by himself, will interest thous-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 9

ands yet unborn, who in reading the history of this
Titanic struggle, wish to catch the view point of a
private soldier of quick apprehension and remark-
able memory.

At the close of the war he returned to the old
neighborhood where he had formerly taught, almost
a physical wreck. Penniless, and threadbare of
clothing, he was taken in hand by his cousins, the
Misses Whitten who were veritable angels of mer-
cy and sympathy and who devotedly nursed him
back to health and strength.

He again resumed his school under the changed
conditions among his former patrons or such of
them as had survived the struggle. He begun read-
ing law during his school term and after its clost;
he studied under his father at Newton, where he was
admitted to the bar.

He located in Hayneville where he practiced many
years and where he married Annie Streety only
daughter of John P. Streety one of the large plant-
ers and merchants of that town. His wife died a
few years after their marriage leaving one son,
Harry S. Houghton who is also an attorney and re-
sides at Morningview near Montgomery.

He removed to Birmingham in the year 1886 and
practiced his profession in partnership with Col
Collier, Colonel Tallifero, and Captain W. C. Ward
with whom he was practicing at the time of his
death.

He had among his clients some of the best and
most prominent citizens of Lowndes, Montgomery,
and Jefferson countit-.

He was noted for his ability as a lawyer, his high
sense of honor, sterling integrity and honesty, his

10 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

unfailing affability, charity, patriotism and love of
his fellow men.

What is somewhat rare in the legal profession,
joined with fine legal ability, he possessed business
acumen and had slowly accumulated a handsome
competence.

His life was full of good deeds, kindliness and
helpfulness but he asked for no inscription to be
chiseled on his monument commemorating any of
his virtues but requested this only

W. R. HOUGHTON

A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER

In Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery, the Capital
of the State he so fondly loved stands a lofty white
marble shaft above his grave with the above simple
but heroic inscription.

The following tribute to his memory is copied
from an editorial in the Birmingham Age-Herald of
July 31st, 1906, the morning after his death :

"Judge William R. Houghton died last night at the
Hillman hospital as the result of a stroke of paraly-
sis suffered last Tuesday morning. Since stricken
he had been in a critical condition and there had
been little hope of his recovery.

"On Tuesday Judge Houghton was paralyzed while
walking on Eighteenth street and in a few hours
lapsed into unconsciousness. He was convey-
ed to the hospital where he had received the best
medical attention. He remained in a deep stupor
most of the time with only occasional returns to con-
sciousness. His vocal organs were affected by the
stroke and he had never been able to speak a word,
but by slight movements of the head he was able to

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 11

indicate that he understood remarks addressed to
him.

"Last evening about 6:30 o'clock there was a sink-
ing spell and relatives were hurriedly summoned.
The end came at 7:30 o'clock. At his bedside at
the time were his son, Harry S. Houghton of Mont-
gomery and the deceased's brother, M. B. Houghton.
He leaves also a sister who resides in Austin, Tex.

"Judge Houghton's body will be carried to Mont-
gomery this morning at 8 :30 o'clock. The funeral
will take place there this afternoon.

SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.

"William R. Houghton was born in Heard County,
Georgia, on May 22, 1842. When he was but a small
boy his family moved to Alabama and settled near
Opelika, where he was reared and educated. At the
beginning of the civil war he was teaching school
near Mt. Zion, Ala., but at the first call for troops
he enlisted in the Columbus, (Ga.) Guards. He
served throughout the war and participated with
marked gallantry in many important battles, being
wounded several times. At the close of the war he
took up the study of law and practiced at Rutledge
and later at Hayneville.

Moving to Birmingham about fifteen years ago he
formed a partnership with E. T. Talliferro, and later
on practiced with W. A. Collier. In 1896 he became
the partner of Capt. W. C. Ward in the law firm of
Ward & Houghton a id had been associated with him
to the present time.

WAR ANNALS.

"Judge Houghton was deeply interested in liter-

12 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ature and especially war annals. He made valuable
contributions to Confederate history. His narrative
papers on the great battles are regarded as having
high historical value. The deceased was often urged
to put these narratives into book form, and was en-
gaged on this work when the end came.

"Devoted to the stirring memories of the sixties
and ever bound to his old comrades of the war, Judge
Houghton accepted the results of the surrender and
lived and worked for the upbuilding of the south.
Proverbially unassuming, the deceased was known
far and wide for his bravery and his heroic spirit,
and he was known, too, for his kindness of heart and
his unostentatious deeds of charity. His death will
be profoundly lamented in Alabama and to Camp
Hardee, United Confederate Veterans, his passing
away will come as a real grief."

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 13

WAR RECORD OF W. R. HOUGHTON WHILE

SERVING IN CONFEDERATE STATES

ARMY.

Name — W. R. Houghton.

Where born — Franklin, Heard County, Georgia.

Rank when entering service — Private.

Rank at close of service — Orderly Sergeant, de-
tached as scout for General Longstreet.

Age at time of enlistment — 18 years.

Occupation at time of enlistment — School teacher.

Occupation after the war — Lawyer.

Condition of health — Never robust.

Residence at time of enlistment — Smith's Station,
Ala.

Where mustered into service — Tybee Island.

How long — One year, afterward for the war.

Name of company — Columbus Guards, Co. G.,
Captains Roswell C. Ellis and Thomas ChafTm, Jr

Regiment served in — Second Georgia.

Brigade — Benning's, afterward Toombs'.

Division — Jones', afterwards Hood's.

Corps — Longstreet's.

Army — Northern Virginia.

How often on furlough — Twice for wounds, once
for gallantry at Chickamauga and once on one day's
leave.

In service how long — Three years, eleven months
three weeks.

How many times wounded and where — Seven
times, once at Malvern Hill, once at Second Manas-
sas, other wounds slight, at Chickamauga, Peters-
burg and below Richmond.

How often a prisoner of war and where captur-

14 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ed — In the evening of ninth of April, 1865, after
General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox.

Discharged from service — April 12th, 1865, at
Appomattox Court House, Va., paroled as a pris-
oner of war.

Engaged in battles and skirmishes — Yorktown,
Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Thor-
oughfare Gap, Fredericksburg, Suffolk, Gettysburg,
Falling Waters, Maryland, Chickamauga, Wills'
Valley, Knoxville, Fort Sanders, Spottsylvania, Cold
Harbor, Trenches at Petersburg, one month, under
incessant fire, North James River, Fusell Mills,
Fort Harrison, Darbytown Road (three separate
engagements), Petersburg again April 1st, 1865,
Farmville April 8th, 1865, Appomattox April 9th,
1865. Numerous skirmishes outside the lines.

WAR RECORD OF MITCHELL B. HOUGHTON
WHILE SERVING IN THE CONFED-
ERATE STATES ARMY.

Name — M. B. Houghton.

Where born — Franklin, Heard County, Georgia.

Rank — Private.

Age at time of enlistment — 16 years.

Occupation at time of enlistment — Newspaper
work.

Health — Fairly good.

Where mustered into service — Fort Mitchell
Alabama.

For how long; — One year, afterwards for the war.

Residence at time of enlistment — Newton, Ala-
bama.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 15

Name of company — Glennville Guards, Com-
pany H.

Regiment served in — Fifteenth Alabama.

Brigade — Law's, afterwards Trimble's.

Division — Hood's.

Corps — Ewell's, afterwards Stonewall Jackson's.

Army — Northern Virginia.

Captain — William Richardson.

How often on furlough — None except when
wounded.

In service how long — Three years, eight months.

How many times wounded and where — Twice, in
head Second Manassas, in hand at Chickamauga.
Latter light, former serious.

How often a prisoner of war and where captured
— On foot hills of Lookout Mountain, in night at-
tack a few days after the battle^, of Chickamauga.
My Captain and thirteen others captured at same
time.

Where confined and how long — Camp Morton,
Indiana, 16 months.

Discharged from service, at Richmond, Paroled
when liberated, and war practically over.

Battles engaed in — Siege of Suffolk, Second Ma-
nassas, Cedar Run, Port Republic, Gettysburg,
Chickamauga, and in all the engagements of Stone-
wall Jackson's valley campaign wherein three sep-
arate forces of the enemy each equal in numbers to
our own were defeated and vast wagon trains and
stores captured.

M. B. Houghton as a Confederate Soldier
in the Great Civil War and After

In the year 1861 I was living with my father at
Newton, Dale County, Alabama, our family having
moved in 1859 from Russell, now Lee County, a
county formed subsequent to the war by partition-
ing parts of Russell and other contiguous counties.
The family at that time consisted of my father,
Colonel William H. Houghton, my mother, who was
a daughter of Rev. Rev. Mitchell Bennett, two sisters,
Julia and Beatrice, and myself. My only brother,
W. R. Houghton, was teaching school in a neigh-
borhood of wealthy river planters near Smith's Sta-
tion in the then county of Russell. My oldest sister,
Elizabeth Ann, had married Caleb R. Olive and they
were living at Union Springs. Mr. Olive volun-
teered in the Fourth Alabama Regiment and was
mortally wounded in the battle of Gettysburg, and
we do not know the place of his burial.

My father was 53 years of age and was practic-
ing law in Newton in partnership with J. R. Breare,
an Englishman, and enjoyed a lucrative practice as
things then went. My father was known as Colonel
Houghton, having commanded a troop in 1837 or
1838, at Wetumpka, Alabama, where he and his
brother, Col. R. B. Houghton, latterly of Florida,
were then living. The object of the troop was to
protect the town of Wetumpka and settlers in sur-
rounding country from the depredations of In-
dians and desperados.

The town of Newton at outbreak of the war, was

M. B. HOUGHTON.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 17

a flourishing village, the county site, with court
house, churches, schools, some talented lawyers,
physicians, and other citizens.

I was employed for some time in the office of
clerk of the circuit court and afterward became a
compositor, assistant pressman, assistant editor of
the only newspaper published in the town, The
Newton Standard. I have preserved two or three
copies of the paper, one with an editorial written by
my father, and one written of me by the owner,
editor and manager, Mr. A. W. Weir, after I had
volunteered to serve in the Confederate war.

The following is the editorial written of me by
Mr. Weir:

(From the Newton Standard, July 5th, 1861.)

''Among the Dale volunteers that will start to Vir-
ginia today, may be found our worthy associate and
warm friend, Mr. M. B. Houghton. We part with
him with sincere and unfeigned regret. In all of
our experience in the printing and publishing life
we have never found a more efficient, industrious,
steady and trustworthy operator, a truer friend
and a more high minded, honorable gentleman; but
we are consoled by one reflection that our loss will
be our country's gain. No truer soldier, no more
ardent patriot, no more worthier man can be found
in the ranks of any army. The prayers and un-
ceasing solicitude of his friends in Newton will
accompany him wherever he goes, and if they avail
he will distinguish himself and will return in due
time to the embraces of his fond parents and the
greetings of his numerous friends. His speech at
the parting meeting last night was some evidence
of his intrinsic worth and the faithful manner with
which he will discharge his duties as a soldier."

18 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

As the foregoing was said of me by another T
am not open to the Biblical admonition, "Let not
him that putteth on his armor boast as he that tak-
eth it off."

I entered the Confederate Army as a private in
a company recruited from Barbour, Henry, Dale
and Russell Counties in Alabama.

John A. Truitlen of Glennville, Barbour Coun-
ty, came to Newton in July, 1861, and enrolled some
sixteen volunteers, myself among the number. I
was sixteen years old and fairly well developed for
a boy of that age.

A meeting was called to assemble in the Court
House, patriotic speeches were made, military ardor
was intensified by the beating of drums and the
shrill notes of the fife, while the women and girls
sang patriotic songs amid shouts and waving of
flags. A banquet was given at night and those of
us who had enlisted felt that we were great heroes
and were going forth to participate in a kind of
holiday excursion, soon to return crowned with vic-
torious laurels. The oratory of the occasion was
very fervid and the people were wild with excite-
ment. I had but a limited education and knew very
little of the ways of the world, but felt my import-
ance as a prospective soldier of the Confederacy.

There was a small but talented theatrical troupe
playing in Newton, the two principal actors were
Virginians about thirty years of age. They dis-
solved their company and enlisted with us. They
were handsome, educated men and made faithful
and brave soldiers. Their names were W. L. Wil-
son and Frank Boothby.

We went in wagons to Eufaula and thence to
Glennville in Barbour County, where the company

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 19

was recruited to its full strength of one hundred
men and named the Glennville Guards. John R.
Truitlen was elected Captain, who, on the forma-
tion of the Fifteenth Alabama Regiment at Fort
Mitchell was appointed Lieutenant Colonel and Wil-
liam Richardson was elected in his place.

Our regimental formation was made at Fort
Mitchell, a railroad and river station about nine
miles below Columbus, Georgia, on the Alabama
side. The regiment known as the Fifteenth Ala-
bama, was made up here and James Cantey, who
had seen service in the Mexican war, was appointed
Colonel.

The Glennville Guards was numbered Company
H, by which designation it was ever afterward
called.

Col. Cantey made a rigid disciplinarian, so we
thought, for the experience of military life was
novel and somewhat humiliating. We were uni-
formed in Confederate gray, and had new tents and
necessary equipments. The regiment was a fine
looking and soldierly body of a thousand strong.
It was numbered fifteen and was afterward cele-
brated as the glorious old 15th Alabama Regiment.
Among the officers was Major Daniels of Barbour
County, and Captain Vernoy, our commissary from
Columbus, Georgia. We afterwards found that the
commissary office was a very important one, and an
energetic forager for his men, highly to be praised,
although the soldiers mercilessly jibed and ridi-
culed him whenever the rations were short or not
on time and he was seen to beat a hasty retreat to
the rear wk°n the enemy was encountered.

I do not remember any incidents of importance

20 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

while we were at Fort Mitchell except several men
were drowned in the river while bathing and ths
daily visits of the ladies to our camp and the con-
stant drill and daily dress parade.

We were all anxious to get to the seat of war and
were delighted when orders came to break camp
and board the cars for Virginia.

We bivouaced at Manassas, arriving just one
month after the first great battle was fought. Ob-
taining permission the men would often explore the
battlefield and eagerly seize any relics they could
find, mostly for the purpose of sending back to rela-
tives and friends.

We camped at Centerville six miles from Ma-
nassas about six months and it was the most try-
ing period of the war. I say this because it was a
period of enforced idleness with little to break the
monotony of camp life but drills and parades. This
was the time that the frying pan and the raw flour
and fresh beef got in their deadly work. The men
fresh from their homes with no experience in cook-
ing did not know how to prepare the food furnish-
ed and the flap jack and half cooked roast produced
dysentery and the men died by scores.

The first few months of our camp life in Virginia
developed a hardihood and robustness in those who
survived that stood them well in hand for the ar-
duous marches, the great privations, the scanty ra-
tions and the threadbare clothing and equipme^f
that resulted as the war progressed. Our camps
were about thirty miles of Washington and our
picket lines were often in sight of the dome of the
great Capitol of what was once our country. It
was strange, but we did not envy our Northern

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 21

enemies their capital nor did we want to lay waste
their land and country, but felt that we had divided
our possessions, giving them their full share, and
only desired to be let alone and left to make the best
of our destiny.

There were almost daily rumors of the advance
of the enemy and most of our forces being untried
and raw we were kept in a high state of expec-
tancy. We wanted to fight and wanted to do so
right off, but the enemy would not gratify us, but
patiently worked to perfect his plans, drill his
troops and make a serious business of the war.

I have often done picket duty between Fairfax
Court House and Washington, guarding some lonely
trail in the blackness of night, feeling sure that I
was the most important safeguard of the splendid
army in my rear, as with strained eyes I peered
into the woods and imagined every rustling leaf an
enemy.

Our currency was good for a few months of our
camp life and we could purchase fine Norfolk oys-
ters at fifty cents a quart and the vegetables and
fruits with which Virginia abounded, at reasonable
prices. There were a great many hucksters and
the soldiers were liberal customers. With the in-
crease of Confederate money the peddlers and
their wares gradually disappeared, but be it said of
the noble men and women of Virginia, they never
turned away a hungry Confederate soldier if, of
their scarry store, they could supply his necessities.

We had fine beef in abundance when we first
went in camp, but we did not know how to prepare
it and were not accustomed to its constant use. Ba-
con would have suited us much better and if our au-

22 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

thorities had found it out sooner many valuable
lives would have been saved. We had to learn how
to feed an army by degrees and the lesson was
learned at a fearful cost of life. I have seen many
excellent quarters of Virginia clover-fed beef lying
in our camp on the snow, the men at liberty to help
themselves, but untouched for the very sight got
to be nauseating. The men divided into messes of
three, four or even six taking turns at cook-
ing, but the best cook usually had most of it to do,
the others building fires, cutting wood or bringing
water. I did not like large messes and never had
more than three to divide duties with, and believe
I got along better for it. We had skillets, a kind
of oven with a handle and lid and would cut up our
beef, put in the oven, fill with water, put coals of
fire on top and bottom and let it stew all night, oc-
casionally getting up to replenish the fire and wa-
ter. This made an excellent and savory stew and
was highly relished. We could do this very well
while in regular camp, but afterward on forced
marches we had no time or utensils, but used sticks
or our ramrods to scorch the meat and baked our
bread on the coals if we were so fortunate as to
have anything to cook.

When McClellan moved the seat of war to the
Peninsular and tried to capture Richmond from the
East we marched to Ashland, and afterwards to
Gordonsville so as to be in readiness to repel ,,~
attack from the North or East.

One night after Pope had succeeded McClellan
as commander of the Federal forces, we were on a
range of hills or bluffs on the South side of the
Rappahannock river and the enemy occupied the

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 23

opposite side. A furious cannonade was kept up
even into the night, while we could only lay down
and submit to the consequences. A large shell
struck the earth about three feet below where four
of us were reclining on the brow of a bluff and
nearly covered us with dirt, but fortunately failed
to explode. The air was full of whizzing balls and
bursting shells, but the destruction of life in con-
sequence was not very great.

Early in the night we started on a forced march
up the river which we waded to the opposite side
about midnight and with the Bull Run Mountains
between us and the enemy we pushed on toward
Manassas Junction. Tired, wet, wornout, all night
long we pressed forward, wading streams, climbing
hills, across farms, through forests and along coun-
try roads until the morning found our army well on
the way to the rear of the Federal army. We
marched through a gap of the mountains and fol-
lowed the railroad between Washington and Rich-
mond. At Bristow Station the advance guard and
cavalry had a fight with a force of the enemy and
we came up in time to see the finish. While we were
marching by the station a small detachment of
Federal cavalry made a dash at our line. They
were brave fellows, but we emptied every saddle
before they could reach us with their sabres.

We pressed on to Manassas, where we found
train loads of army supplies and sutler stores. The
boys helped themselves and I got some coffee,
canned fruit and other good things. We were in the
rear of Pope's army and he was hastening to over-
whelm us, consequently we had to burn and destroy
what we so sadly needed. We marched about Cen-

24 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

treville and Bull Run for two or three days, taking
many positions and obscuring our movements in
woods and behind elevations evidently with the ob-
ject of deceiving the enemy as to our numbers for
he was coming back at us to capture or destroy our
force before help could arrive. One evening about
dark, our lines and a brigade of the enemy came to-
gether and we had a hot fight. The firing of small
arms was terrific and the fiery blaze from the thous-
ands of guns made a fire works display that was
worth seeing. We were engaged at very close
quarters and the cry was raised "don't fire, you are
killing our men." It seemed to have proceeded from
both sides. Many ceased firing and both lines soon
withdrew in the darkness and we never knew
whether we were shooting at friends or enemies,
My part of the line was in the edge of a little
thicket and from the sizzing balls and cut twigs
it seemed that if I had held up an iron hat I could
have caught it full of bullets in a short time.

The hottest hand-to-hand fight I ever witnessed
was the next day after the incident just related. It
seemed General Jackson tried to avoid an engage-
ment as long as possible in order to give time for
Longstreet's Corps to come to our aid for Pope had
turned his whole army, or it so seemed to us in the
endeavor to crush our small force. The brigade to
which I belonged was stationed behind an old rail-
road right of way and the road bed had been partly
graded. The lK+h Alabama had an embankment in
front except on the extreme right where there was
an open space of some fifty yards not filled in. To
the right, still further, was a cut through a rise or
hill about six to eight feet deep. Two lines of bat-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 25

tie charged our front and a part forced through
the opening, but we slayed nearly every man who
got up to our line. They pushed our men back from
the opening, but we on the left poured an enfilading
fire into them that left few to tell the story. Three
lines of battle, one after another in beautiful order
with banners flying, hurled themselves against our
men in the cut. The front line was nearly anni-
hilated, but the second one came to the rescue and
nearly met the same fate, but some of the men and
the color bearers got to the edge of the cut and
waved their flags over our men. We had mostly
muzzle loading guns and there was no time to load.
Then such a contest with rocks and butt ends of
muskets I have never seen or read of before or
since. It was in full view of all of our regiment
next to our right, and we poured an enfilading fire
which somewhat staggered the third line, but most
of them got to the edge of the cut and were about
to annihilate our men with overwhelming numbers,
when with shouts and yells, our reinforcements
came up and a volley or two put the enemy to
flight. The maddened men, the flying stones, the
clubbed muskets, the shouts, yells, smoke, dust, din,
and rattle of that scene passes description.
I caught a glimpse of the banners of Longstreet's
men as they came rushing to our rescue some half
mile distant and our men shouted in unison with
them, inspiring us with a joy unspeakable and
made every man redouble his efforts, if that were
possible.

Our company fought behind the old dirt bank.
as said before, and in front of us was a small wood-
land which gave the enemy a little advantage as to

26 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

cover and they would fire at us whenever we show
ed ourselves on the bank. We had to walk up, take
a little time to get an aim, which gave the enemy
a fair shot and we lost a number of good and brave
men in this way. William Baily, who lived near
Newton, Alabama, and myself were firing alter-
nately. I had gone up and fired and stepped back
to load when Baily went up and was immediately
shot through the lower part of the neck. He fell
over me and I assisted him a little way to the rear.
He afterwards died at home from the effects of
this wound.

The Federals rapidly retreated after their bloody
repulse and the arrival of reinforcements under
Longstreet. Our regiment was moved to another
part of the field in the direction of the retreating
enemy, but I was ordered to remain at our last
stand to succor the wounded and guard the regi-
ment's baggage and some supplies. The field was
literally strewn with the dead and wounded. It was
a grewsome task, alone and in the moonshine, to
guard this field of death and destruction. The pite-
ous groans and wild despairing shrieks of the
scores of helpless wounded would have appalled any
but a hardened, half starved and wornout soldier.
I rendered what aid I could to those around and
made a Ire upon which I broiled some bacon and
boiled a large tin cup full of captured coffee. Near
me were at least one hundred dead men and six
within twenty feet of my camp fire. I took part in
the battles of Gettysburg and Chickamauga two of
the greatest and most sanguinary contests of the
war, but I saw more dead and wounded on this field
than in either of the two named. And the dead were

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 27

principally the enemy for our loss was comparat-
ively small, considering the sanguinary nature of
the combat.

The enemy retreated towards the Potomac and
the next day I joined the regiment in pursuit, al-
though there were other troops in our front. While
following the enemy two days after the battle the
rear guard of the Federals planted some cannon
on an eminence a mile or more in our front and
shelled us with great vigor. One of the shells burst
above our line which was in marching order and
a fragment struck me on the side of the head above
the right ear. A hole that you could put your
thumb through was torn in my old tough wool hat
and I was stunned and dazed. I felt the blood
trickling down my face but was hardly conscious
of my condition. I do not remember how I made my
way but do remember stopping in an old house
where there were many wounded being operated on
by a surgeon. Some one felt of my head and told
me I was badly hurt. Several pieces of the outer
scull bone came out and I began to suffer great
pain. The doctor's time was all taken up with cut-
ting off broken legs and arms and would not look
at others who had no shattered limbs. I do not know
how I did it but I filled my canteen with water,
punched a hole at the bottom and hung it up on a
nail in the wall. I then laid down on the floor and
let the water slowly drip on the wound. I kept this
up all night and the next morning felt somewhat re-
lieved but was in a semi-dazed condition. I did not
get any medical attention and did not ask for any:
for I did not realize the necessity and the serious
nature of my wound. Pieces of shattered bone con-

28 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

tinued to work out of the fracture at times for ten
years after the war. For some time after the wound
I have no recollection as to what happened to me,
but remember to have been in a hospital and to have
finally recovered sufficiently to rejoin the regiment.
After some forty years I often feel some pain from
this hurt and there is now a cut in the bone of my
head about a quater of an inch deep and an inch
long.

We were made a part of General Stonewall Jack-
son's celebrated foot cavalry and took part in his his-
toric campaign in the Valley of Virginia, which I
think in many respects, the most wonderful of the
many great achievements of the war. The men were
equal or superior to horses on the march, wading
streams and rivers, climbing mountains and often
engaged in skirmishes and brisk little fights with
the enemy. We waded the Shenandoah river, the
water coming up to our necks and quite cold but it
did not strike us then as anything out of the ordi-
nary. We crossed and recrossed the Blue Ridge
Mountains at a great elevation and one night camped
near the summit. As the regiments filed into their
positions in the wooded coves the bands played "The
Girl I Left Behind Me," and other familiar airs
which resounded among the mountain heights and
greatly flighted the weary soldiers. I thought I
had never heard anything so beautiful and inspir-
ing and in fact I have not since.

We captured an immense wagon train with sup-
plies and were retreating up the Valley towards
Staunton on the west side of the Shenandoah river
pursued by Fremont and an army equal to our own
in numbers. On the opposite side an equal force un-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 29

der Shields was trying to head us off. At Port Repub-
lic was a bridge, our only means of crossing an un-
fordable river. As we came up on the hills in view
of the bridge and the valley beyond the enemy was
in sight on the other side. Fremont also attacked
our rear, and our regiment with others had to right
about and fight his forces. We made short work of
it charging right up to their batteries, not giving
them time to work them effectively. While crossing
a rail fence I saw a Yankee take a deliberate aim at
me as I straddled the top rail. The bullet buried
itself in the rail but did me no harm.

After forcing back Fremont's forces we hurried
toward the bridge arriving in time to witness a
brisk fight going on across the river. The position
we occupied was much higher and we had a fine
view of the contest which was raging in the valley
beyond. We saw one line of our men charge the
enemy but were received with such a galling fire
they faltered and lay down on the grass. Another
brigade double quicked up and with the "Rebel" yell
rushed over them and put the enemy to flight. Our
calvary pursued them with relentless vigor and they
returned no more to trouble us.

We had defeated two armies equal to our own in
numbers, saved an immense wagon train and leis-
urely marched toward Richmond. Some time after-
ward the enemy rallied their forces and resolved to
try us once more. They attacked us while we held
a position on the base of a huge hill we called Cedar
Mountain. They gave us a hard fight which was
highly scenic and picturesque as we were far above
the plains below and both sides occupied at times
commanding positions in full view of each other

30 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

The charges and counter charges, the play of many
batteries of artillery, and the incessant rattle of
musketry away up on these eminences made a pic-
ture of real war that we could see and realize. We
finally repulsed them with heavy loss but it was not
a rout for they greatly outnumbered us.

I have seen some daringly foolhardy deeds but
where so many unflinchingly acted heroic parts it
is hard to discriminate. We often thought if the
enemy would only fight us two to one or double our
number we would ask no easier job than to whip
them, but we hardly ever had less than twice our
force to contend with and often three times our num-
ber. There was no disputing the fact that our men
were the best fighters for we had our hearts in the
work and our homes at stake, while the enemy
fought more like machines and their souls were not
in it.

It was at the siege of Suffolk I witnessed a foolish
act of bravery on the part of an aid, a Lieutenant
Cousins from Mobile. We had earthworks about
five feet high and the enemy's sharpshooters were in
a bushy swamp in our front. This Lieutenant would
get on top of the fort, take out his glasses and peer
at the enemy's position and to show his contempt
for thi ir markmanship he would occasionally stoop
down and with his pocket knife dig in the dirt for
the balls. He had long curly hair and was over six
feet tall, his appearance altogether impressing us
that he led a charmed life. He was not hurt at this
time nor afterwards that I ever heard of.

When our forces were near Orange Court House,
I was detailed to guard a private house some two
miles from camp. I do not know the reason a guard

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 31

was necessary unless it was to keep away foragers
as we called the men who were constantly seeking
from the hospitable Virginia people something bet-
ter to eat than our army rations. M. M. Pannell
was the name of the man whose house I protected
and I shall never forget the kindness of the lady of
the house. She was a true Virginia gentle woman,
full of grace and sweetness and made me feel more
like an honored guest than a soldier under orders.
I had the satisfaction of halting many intruders but
I can testify to the credit of the Confederate soldiers
in our army not one of whom persisted in trying
to enter contrary to my warnings. I remained on
guard about the premises for more than a week and
then our command was ordered to another part of
Virginia. It was stange but months after I had
guarded this home, and after the campaign in Penn-
sylvania and the battle of Gettysburg, while we were
leisurely retreating toward Richmond I was detailed
to guard the same premises, where I again remain-
ed several days. One thing impressed me less at the
time than afterwards, was a remark of Mr. Pan-
nell that our cause was lost after the battle of Get-
tysburg, but I was young and enthusiastic and re-
fused to believe it. Mrs. Pannell gave me a red
Morocco bound little New Testament which I car-
ried in my side pocket during the remainder of the
war including the great battles of Gettysburg and
Chickamauga and fourteen months in Camp Morton
prison. I lost this highly prized relic forty years
after the war in a fire on Court Street in Mont-
gomery.

The grandest military display I ever witnessed
was on the banks of the Potomac river when Gen-

32 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

eral Lee's army crossed over for the invasion of
Maryland and Pennsylvania. I was one of the Pro-
vost guard whose duties were sometimes in the front
and at others in the rear or on the flank, but why
we were on this particular occasion in the front I
do not know.

We were stationed near the river bank on a beau-
tiful bright morning when the calvary in columns of
fours marched by. The horses were in good trim
and the men in high spirits. The procession seem-
ed endless. Then came Battery after battery of ar-
tillery and the gray hosts of infantry. These men
were all tried veterans inspired with a spirit of in-
vincible determination and had the bearing of he-
roes.

The change of tactics or plans from the defensive
to the aggressive made a wonderful change in the
bearing and spirit of our men. They marched in
close order with a steadiness and vigor and an air
of conscious power and superiority that was majes-
tic. The men appeared to be over the average in
size and weight, fairly well equipped and uniform-
ed and had unbounded confidence in their great Com-
mander.

I had seen many bodies of fine soldiers but this
army -»f invasion impressed me at the time as being
the most superb fighting machine the world ever
saw. After many years I have no reason to change
the opinion then formed. With proper leadership
they would have routed the federal forces at Get-
tysburg but it was impossible to scale rocky heights
and dislodge a foe superior in numbers at the same
time. It was a fatal mistake to join battle with the
enemy in his chosen position where the natural ob-
stacles were almost insurmountable.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 33

Our brigade appeared to occupy the extreme right
at the battle of Gettysburg. At one time the enemy
occupied a hill in our front that was very steep and
rocky. We were on a hill also, within rifle range
but between us was a deep ravine. We could see they
were in some confusion and their teams and army
wagons ready for flight. The men in ranks spoke of
such a favorable opportunity to flank them on the
left as that part seemed wholly unprotected. It
seemed to us that a brigade or even a regiment
could have turned their left and started a panic that
might have caused a different result to have hap-
pened. Some of the officers afterward believed it
could have been done but no one in authority saw it
at the time.

GETTYSBURG.

One of the saddest sights I ever witnessed was
on the field of Gettysburg. We had captured some
fifteen hundred prisoners and I was one of the guard
marching them to the rear. Passing along where
there were hundreds dead, wounded and mutilated
I saw a soldier with a North Carolina regiment mark
in his cap leaning against a fly tent. A fragment of
a shell had struck him above the breast bone and
tore the whole stomach lining away leaving exposed
his heart and other organs which were in motion
and he seemed alive and conscious. I lingered a
moment for I had never seen any thing so shocking
before nor have I seen the countenance of a dying
man so peculiar and unearthly. The artillery fire
at the battle of Gettysburg was something terrific.
The battle field abounded in mounds and hills which

34 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

were advantageous for planting and operating the
cannon and the batteries on both sides were the pride
of either army. I do not know the number oper-
ated at the same time but it was said to be five
hundred; but I do know the roar was awful and
the heavens surcharged with hissing, roaring balls
screeching, screaming, bursting shells enveloped in
sulphorous smoke that clouded the July sun. When
the heavens are rolled together as a scroll in the last
dsys I doubt whether it will present a more awe-
inspiring spectacle than that historic field present-
ed on that fatal day.

EXCITING ADVENTURE.

A few days before the battle of Gettysburg while
we were encamped near the base of the South Moun-
tains in Pennsylvania, three of us obtained permis-
sion to go out foraging or in other words to buy
something better to eat than our army rations and
incidentally to have an adventure of some kind.

We saw a farm house dimly in the distance and
bore down on it fully expecting to share some frugal
Dutchman's ample supply of good things but on a
near approach the sight of a half dozen birds of the
same feather as ourselves blighted our hopes, but did
riv,!" dismay us. We saw a clearing on the foothills
of the mountain far in the distance and rapidly made
our way toward it. We found an uncultivated field
and an abondoned house, but beyond a trail or path
that had been recently traveled. Following the trail
we came into a thicket so dense and dark that one of
my companions proposed that we go back as we
might get into trouble, but we overruled him and

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 35

pressed on. Suddenly the front man came to a halt,
brought his gun to a ready and we followed his ex-
ample very quickly. He had discovered a horse fas-
tened by a line to a sapling about fifty yards ahead,
but on investigation could find no claimant. I had
separated from my companions a few paces when I
discovered an entrance to a cave and called to them
to examine it. Below was an immense ledge of rock
and an opening in which some dirt had collected
and I saw human tracks. We called to the supposed
inmates to come out that we would not harm them,
but could get no response. Finally against the pro-
test of my companions I entered, and advanced slow-
ly following the dim passage. I had gone some dis-
tance, when a short turn revealed a sight that
made my hair stand on end. Reclining on a rock
was apparently a pretty girl and near by was a man
with a gun in his hand. Their den was dimly light-
ed through crevices in the top in which were fallen
trees and limbs resting on the ledges of rock.

As I was in a position where I could not be seen,
I watched carefully for other occupants until I was
convinced they were alone. They commenced a con-
versation in a low tone and slipping into a crevice of
the rock I determined to test their nerve. "Hello'
there," I called, and the effect was magical. He
bounded up striking his head against the logs and
she screamed a succession of very healthy and vol-
uminous screams. Her companion cried "mine Got!
we be kilt already, mine Got!" and kept time with
her for several minutes. Finally, during a lull I call-
ed to him to stuff his hat in his mouth and stop that
noise, for I would not hurt him and if they contin-
ued they would scare all the wolves and bears off the

36 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

mountain and run the rebels back over the Potomac.
My jocular tone somewhat assured them but they
trembled perceptibly, visible even in a dim light.

I ordered the man to put his gun aside, which he
did, and I advanced into their chamber. My cap-
tives I found to be a fair Dutch girl and her com-
panion her brother, an overgrown boy. They had
been over the mountain on a visit when our cacalry
cut them off from home and their minds were so
filled with fear of the horrid rebels they had sought
this retreat the whereabouts they had learned in
hunting. We led them to their horse and down the
mountain to the place where they had left their jer-
sey wagon, hitched it up and sent them on their way
rejoicing and heaping blessings on the heads of
"repols" generally.

During the campaign in the Valley of Virginia
while we were on the march, General Stonewall
Jackson, our commander, several times rode to the
front from the rear of his army. At such times we
knew he was coming by the shouts of the men be-
hind who quickly opened rank two and two on either
side of the roadway. He came in a gallop on his
chestnut brown horse, sitting not gracefully but
easily, with the visor of his cap well down over his
brow and a pleased expression on his countenance.
While not an imposing military figure he appeared
soldierly and striking. The men were wild with en-
thusiasm whenever he appeared, giving vent to their
admiration by continual shouts and waving of hats.
We had unbounded confidence in his leadership and
would have rushed into the jaws of death had he so
ordered. It is said that he rode down near the
bridge over the Shenandoah river, when pressed in

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 37

the rear by Fremont and saw that Shield's forces
had planted a battery on the other side commanding
the bridge, our only means of crossing over. He
shouted to the enemy to move that battery lower
down, that the rebels were crossing below, which
order they quickly obeyed. He then rushed a bri-
gade across and met the Federals before they found
out that they had been duped. The truth was that
some of our cavalry did cross the river, but far be-
low the bridge we so badly wanted at the time.

We were all proud of our connection with Jack-
son's army and whenever asked to what command
we belonged we replied "to Jackson's Foot Cavalry."

Jackson was merciless in marching his men, pre-
ferring to strike terror to the foe by a surprise and
flank or rear attack and at an unexpected time
rather than have his men meet superior forces on
their chosen battle ground.

One of the bravest men I ever saw in battle, and
I have seen many brave ones, was John G. Archi-
bald from west Alabama, I believe from Greensboro.
He was not spectacular in his ways, making himself
a target without reason, but always exchanged
places, if in the rear rank, with the front man when
a fight was imminent giving as his reason that he did
not want to be shot with a dirty ball. He was never
seen to show a tremor under the most galling fire
nor to dodge a hissing shell, but always stood square-
ly to the front, cool and determined. He was about
45 years of age, rather under medium size, jocular
and good humored. I saw him shot through the
face the ball entering just below the left cheek bone
and coming out on the right of his neck, making a
horrible wound. We all thought he was mortally

38 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

hurt but such was his vitality, he returned to ranks
within six weeks, as valiant and true as ever.

The rations given us were often insufficient to
appease hunger, and consequently there was more or
less foraging to supplement the deficiency. One even-
ing two of our men went to a farmer's house but
found nothing they wanted but some stands of bees.
Waiting until dark a little distance off they returned
but found the place guarded by a fierce dog. By
some means they made friends of him and soon made
way with two stands fairly well filled with honey.
Next day the farmer complained to the commanding
officer of the theft, and stated that he had left his
dog to guard the premises. The officer inquired
why the dog had not done his duty, "The scoundrels
stole the dog too" said the farmer at which we all
laughed him into a good humor.

Longstreet's corps was transferred to Georgia to
aid General Bragg and in a short time after we
plunged into the battle of Chicamauga one of the
great battles of the war, and one among a number
of the most destructive recorded in history.

Our regiment, the 15th Alabama did not get into
the hottest part of the great fight, but we lost many
men. We were engaged mostly in the woods and
with a retreating foe. We mixed up with the Fed-
erals several times and shot at each other at close
range. I was slightly wounded by a minnie ball
cutting open the top of my left fore finger but other-
wise escaped unhurt. After the battle, while on
picket duty near Chattanooga, I often exchanged
newspapers and tobacco with the Yankee pickets.
The Western men we found braver and more stub-
born than those of the Army of the Potomac.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 39

Our rations about this time, were irregular and
very poor. Our bread was made from corn and
pea meal mixed and unsifted, with a very small
piece of rusty bacon. The constant downpour of
rain made the bread an unsavory mush. It was not
strengthening and the men became greatly weak-
ened.

About two weeks after the battle of Chickamau-
ga we were ordered upon Lookout Mountain. It was
a night march and altogether through woods and
undergrowth. We halted several times, formed line
of battle and threw up breatworks of logs and rocks
only to leave them and go forward. Finally we
reached the crest of a range west of Lookout. We
halted, formed line of battle and made slight
breastworks as before. We could hear the rumbling
of the wagons and the sound of horses' feet far be-
low in the valley. We constantly expected the ene-
my to attack us in front but we could not see, for
the woods were dense and the hills steep, somewhat
precipitous. It was an ominous hour for the thin
gray line, away up on the mountain top in the midst
of the scraggy woods. We could hear the roar of
the moving hosts of the enemy with fresh re-enforce-
ments prepared to cut off our retreat and strike us
in the rear. About 12 o'clock at night we heard vol-
ley after volley of musketry far to our left, but the
firing was intermittent and followed by ominous
silence. The enemy's pickets were in front of us
and we fired several volleys into the dark woods
whenever we heard the rustling of leaves and
bushes, but they did not answer. No doubt it was
a mistake to have fired when we did as it only served
to reveal our position. Suddenly one of the enemy's

40 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

pickets came blustering up to our line immediately
in front of my position, beseeching us not to shoot,
that they were friends, and talking like a crazy man.
Five or six muskets were pointed at his breast, but
no one fired. Without faltering, he came right into
our line but did not hold his gun at ready, talking
and gesticulating like an actor. One of our men took
his gun and gathering him by the collar made him
lay down, threatening to use the butt of his gun
on his head if he did not keep quiet. The tension of
expectancy was now intense and I was so occupied
with the front that I do not know what became of
him.

A few minutes after two companies of our regi-
ment on the extreme left broke and fell back, nearly
doubling on us. The officers finally succeeded in ral-
lying most of them and they returned to their posi-
tions. It was but a very short time after this that
all of the left of the regiment fell back in confus-
ion and stampeded to the rear. Not a shot had been
fired and we could see no enemy. Most of us got
up and followed but more leisurely. With several
others I made an effort to rally the men. I remem-
ber one fellow ran by me so excitedly that he struck
a large size sapling, straddling it and going over
the top down the hillside. I called to my compan-
ions "Let's go back, I do not see anything to run
from." Twelve or fifteen of us did return to our
former places and in the confusion, being at night
and in the woods, we thought the regiment was re-
forming. It never occurred to me that the enemy
had flanked us, and we kept a sharp watch out in
front.

A short time after we had resumed our positions

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 41

the rustling of leaves and tramp of men in my rear
attracted my attention and I turned to see what it
was. In the dim moonshine I saw a line of men that
appeared better uniformed than our men and seem-
ed larger, and had brighter guns. Still I would not
believe that our men had all gone and decided they
were re-enforcements. The line advanced within
fifteen or twenty steps and I raised up and asked
what regiment that was. The answer came "the
74th Ohio," and I knew I was in a bad fix, for I
heard another officer command to shoot the first man
who showed himself in front. When the line was
nearly on me I gave up, and I found later they had
my Captain Richardson and fifteen other men.

PRISON EXPERIENCE

It was a novel experience to find one's self a boy
prisoner in the hands of an enemy we did not high-
ly respect. The blue coats were every where; there
seemed to be myriads of them and they seemed to
be handsomely uniformed, well fed and thoroughly
equipped with superior guns, accoutrements, wagons
and tents, presenting a striking contrast to my brave
Confederate countrymen whose manly hearts were
beating true under tattered and time-worn gray rem-
nants of former uniforms. We were sent up in a
boat to Chattanooga and guarded two days and then
forwarded in freight cars to Nashville. At the lat-
ter place we were confined in the capitol and the
yards surrounding it. Here we were drawn up in
line and reviewed by Andrew Johnson, the military
governor, and afterwards president of the United
States.

42 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Those who consented to take the oath of allegiance
to the North were released but few did so, and then
Gov. Johnson appeared disappointed and mad at
what he considered the stubbornness of the helpless
prisoners. As fast as transportation could be pro-
vided we were forwarded via Louisville to Camp
Morton prison, near Indianapolis, Indiana. On the
way from Chattanooga to Nashville I believe some
of us could have escaped, as the cars were loosely
guarded, but most of us after the trying experiences
of the Chickamauga battle, the heavy rains and poor
rations, were nearly prostrated. After the excite-
ment of battle and subsequent capture we had phy-
sically collapsed and did not possess vitality enough
for a desperate undertaking.

It was in the latter part of September 1863, we ar-
rived at Camp Morton named for Governor Morton
of Indiana. The Prison had been the State fair
grounds enclosed with a stockade about twelve feet
high, made of one by twelve inch plank nailed up-
right on the outside of which was a sentry walk or
platform about three feet from the top. About eight
or ten acres were enclosed, and the old cattle and
animal sheds were our barracks. These houses were
made of plank placed up and down with the cracks
or joints not broken or stripped and had dirt floors.
The barracks had three rows of board bunks on each
side of an eight foot passage way. Three men were
assigned each bunk and no bedding furnished. Three
to four thousand men were confined in this Camp un-
der very strict surveillance. It was a motley crowd,
dressed or partly dressed in all kinds of clothes ex-
cept good and clean ones. Most of the men when
captured, were worn out and famished and their
faces had a haggard and weary appearance.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 43

Our bread was cooked in a bakery out side the
walls and was good and wholesome but only a half
pound loaf was allowed daily. The daily allowance
was devoured in a few minutes. Our meats were
cooked in big cauldrons inside the camp and was
usually beef. No coffee or tea was given us but we
had some beans and soup occasionally. The gen-
eral ration was cut down to less than half the army
allowance and many men slowly starved to death.

Some of the officers commanding were cruel and
tyrannical and inflicted all sorts of punishment on
many of the men who committed thoughtless acts
or were in any way refractory. Often men were re-
ported by spies and traitors among us to the com-
mander for the expression of any sentiment of hope
for victory for our side or criticism of the Federal
conduct of the war or the management of the pris-
on. Tieing up by the hands, bucking and gagging
were common. Whenever a prisoner escaped they
seemed to take revenge on many of the men by more
than usual severity of treatment. It was not uncom-
mon for a guard to shoot a prisoner for very slight
infraction of the rules, and one little officer said to
have been from Missouri delighted to show his au-
thority by abusing the men in every conceivable man-
ner.

The mortality among the prisoners was frightful.
Insufficient food, and clothing, no bedding, little
medical attention and the dull hopeless existence of
prison life in a severe climate sapped the remaining
vitality of the men and they died by the score.

Slow starvation among a lot of idle men gradual-
ly robs them of every noble instinct and transforms
them into weak but ravenous beasts. It was curious

44 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

but tragic to hear the prisoners recount the story
daily and hourly of former feasts and revive the
memory of every ample dinner they had enjoyed in
the past. With glowing eyes and animated faces
they delighted to tell of the good things provided by
their wives and mothers in the halcyon days in Dix-
ie. The subject became a passion — a frenzy, and
men only existed to remember what had been.

I remember the case of a once handsome man who
after the war achieved prominence at the bar in
Georgia. He talked bread, bread, bread all kinds
of bread, and what a great lover of bread he was un-
til we thought he had gone daft. The boys nick-
named him "Bread."

There was a large ditch or canal across
the grounds through which flowed a small
sluggish stream that was always more or less
filthy. Thousands of cray fish or craw fish as wc
wont to call them bred in this stream and the men
would gather them for the purpose of making soup.
Every dog, cat and rat also had to run for his life
for the hungry men were omnivorous.

With two other men I had the top bunk at the
North end on the East side of one of the barracks.
The passage way between the two houses was cov^
ered but had a ground floor. The gabled end was
not entirely closed up and the cold northwest wind
was very severe. We had an old rubber blanket to
spread on our rough plank bed and two other thin
hair blankets for cover. We took turns as to sleep-
ing in the middle for that was the warmest posi-
tion. The winter was a very cold one, snow covering
the ground more than forty days in succession, with
two or more blizzards intervening. On one of these

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 45

cold nights we laid down to try to sleep. One of
my companions named Searcy, from Eufaula, Ala-
bama, occupied the middle while I was on the outside
most exposed. Searcy was over medium sized, well
proportioned and seemed strong and vigorous. Dur-
ing the latter part of the night he talked of his ad-
ventures in battle, describing how he had shot three
men in a certain fight, declaring that he knew he
had killed them, and detailing all the circumstances.
He expressed regret that he had not slain more, and
bitterly upbraided the enemy for the treatment he
was receiving, denouncing them in the strongest and
most vigorous terms of which he was capable. He
talked on while we his two bedfellows, were par
tially benumbed with cold and semi-conscious from
drowsiness. He finally became quiet and when the
morning came we found him dead.

It was astonishing to see the ingenuity the men
developed. With their pocket knives they carved all
sorts of trinkets, cups, plates and puzzles out of
wood and other material. Time was no object and
with infinite patience they wrought many artistic
articles that they never could or would duplicate out-
side of a prison.

The guards and inspectors and such visitors as
were allowed to see us rebels would buy many of
these articles, paying a mere pittance for them, and
many were taken by hook or crook and never paid
for. By reason of this traffic more or less currency
of the "shinplaster" kind was in circulation, besides
some of the prisoners had money concealed on thei>'
persons when captured or had friends on the outside
who managed to give them some.

As in life in the outside world among these three

46 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

to four thousand men many were thrifty, many
barely held their own, and others exhibited the ex-
tremes of want and despair. By their skill, energy
and tact a considerable number managed to live
fairly well and made a little money.

A sutler store was one of the institutions of the
camp and we could spend our little change for to-
bacco, cakes, bread, can goods and other goods not
contrabrancl. If the commander found that the men
were buying too much for their comfort he forbade
the sale for a while, but the love of gain would pre-
vail and the sutler would slyly lay in stock some
more of the forbidden goods. The commandant cf
the prison wanted the men deprived of everything
that would mitigate their misery. The finger ring
industry was the most important in the prisor.
Along with this trade was the making of wat li
charms, bracelets, breastpins and other jewelry.

The sutler was allowed to sell us large guttaper-
cha coat buttons at five cents each. These we would
boil in tin cups until they resumed their original
shape. With great patience the worker would cut
the centre out and fashion it into a ring. Old gold
pens, pieces of silver, brass buttons, and any other
bright metal was used in making sets representing
clasped hands, hearts and shields and other designs
which were nicely engraved and highly polished
The sets were riveted in with pins or strips of meta1
so perfectly that the fastenings could not be dectoc-
ted. We used sand paper and a greasy cloth to pol-
ish. With my two bunk companions for partners T
started a ring factory. These men were Johnathan
Smith, farmer and blacksmith and R. M. Espy ?.
farmer, both from Henry county, Alabama. Smith

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 47

was somewhat of a genius at tinkering-, Espy had
no skill in any particular line and I was an untrain-
ed boy with a bent toward barter and some tact as
a salesman.

Our first investment was for two rubber buttons
costing ten cents which amount we raised by selling
a part of our rations which we sorely needed. I
cut a brass button from my old coat which we ham-
mered out on an old piece of iron. By some means
we bought or borrowed a ten cent file. Smith made
two rings, Espy and I assisting in cutting and pol-
ishing. The sets were clasped hands with hearts on
either side. The rings were well shaped and the
metal shone like polished gold. I willingly acted as
salesman and found a purchaser in the sergeant of
the guard at ten cents each. With the money we
purchased more buttons and made more rings.

Smith constructed a little machine that cut a small
ring out of the centre of the button thus giving us
two to the button. The small ones were suitable for
children and were made as carefully as the larger
ones. Double rings for men were made by riveting
two buttons together so deftly that the joint could
not be readily detected. All of the metal was nicely
engraved, highly polished and were artistic and
beautiful.

Smith invented boring and riveting machines and
we gradually acquired the facilities for doing the
work with more ease. Now and then a particularly
mean official would come along and destroy all the
little helps that a factory contained. He would de-
light in smashing everything in sight and we learn-
ed to conceal and scatter our treasures when one
came in sight.

48 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAE AND AFTER

There were so many rings and trinkets made and
so few buyers that I had to seek a market. The
prison authorities ran wood wagons to haul our fuel
and would detail men to go outside of the camp to
load the wagons and unload on return. I have of-
ten volunteered to work all day lifting very heavy
sticks of green beach wood for the chance to sell my
stock to the guards. The trip was about a mile and
the grounds was covered with snow and my clothes
were very thin but I braved it all and some days was
not rewarded with a sale, but usually sold two or
three.

Our trade in rings graudally increased and a short
time, before we were released, and in one day I dis-
posed of twenty dollars worth, but it was the ban-
ner sale of the season and a riddance of accumulated
stock.

Sometime the sergeant of the guard would ask
me to allow him to carry the rings outside to show
to his friends or to the people of the city. No doubt
they were in demand as curiosities or relics or were
purchased by kind hearted civilians who did not
object to aiding in this way the suffering prisoners.
He did not always account for all put in his posses-
sion and at times paid over ridiculously low prices
for those he said he had sold. With the money or
shinplasters obtained by our handicraft we bought
some extra rations and some few articles for our
comfort.

I concealed on my person a dozen or more choice
rings when we were released and brought them safe-
ly to Alabama. They were objects of curiosity and
interest to my friends and relatives and were high-
ly prized. Unfortunately, a few years after nearly

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 49

all of them were stolen, presumably by a servant.
A small one is yet in my possession. I also carved a
wooden mug with a relief scroll bearing the inscrip-
tion "Camp Morton Prison 1864," which I left with
relatives in Lee county Alabama. It was much ad-
mired and was really a pretty keepsake but unfor-
tunately was destroyed when their house was burn-
ed soon after the close of the war. I also brought
home a large tin cup, more than a quart size that I
had used during my campaign experiences as a gen-
eral utility cooking vessel. As occasion demanded
it was a soup pot, coffee pot, meat pot or for any pur-
pose almost that a small cook stove could supply.
The coffee was of burned bread crusts, parched corn
or wheat, bran or sweet potatoes. This highly priz-
ed old friend was also destroyed in a fire more than
thirty years after the war had closed.

Tunneling was a favorite method of attempting
to escape from the prison. The black soil of the
prison enclosure was about three feet deep and un-
derneath was a thick stratum of white sand. The
men would commence under their bunks and dig
with knives, sticks or any tool they could improvise
down to the sand and then scrape out a tunnel to-
ward the guard wall. The dirt was carried away in
their pockets or they would tie a string around the
bottom of the legs of their pants and partially fill
the space around their limbs with the sand, then
walk out and slowly scatter it about on the grounds
so as not to attract attention. They often patiently
worked for weeks until they estimated they had
run their shaft outside the guard wall, usually about
fifty yards, and await a dark night to open out on
the outside. A number of men escaped in this way

50 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

but spies and traitors made it dangerous and nearly
every eflort made during the last six months of our
confinement was defeated by some scoundrel who
would betray the workers.

In one or more instances the guards would allow
the prisoner to open the outside end of the tunnel
and shoot him down as he emerged. A preconcert-
ed movement was projected for a general escape.
It was one of those unaccountable uprisings that
take possession of men without a head or immediate
cause. No one appeared to direct but it was whis-
pered from man to man and caused great suppress-
ed excitement. For some reason it was reported
that most of the guard for the prison had been with-
drawn leaving barely sufficient men to mount the
guard on the walls. It was believed that the Confed-
erates were threatening some nearby point and all
their men were needed to repel them. On a certain
night armed with rocks and sticks, we were, aboul
eight o'clock to scale the east wall, rush the guard
and escape to the country. Hundreds of us drifted
in the direction indicated. We were desperate and
did not take into count the risk. I had several stones
of convenient size to knock a guard down if he of-
fered resistance. The few sentinels could not kill
all of the mob and we could get over before others
could come to the rescue. Then the sentinels on the
walk high up on the walls would not be able to shoot
often or accurately with hundreds of stones being
hurled at them. We were in striking distance when
we heard the bugle calls on the outside, the double
quick of infantry, the unlimbering of artillery and
the tramp of cavalry. We had been betrayed and
sullenly returned to our quarters.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 51

Thirteen of our men escaped one day, but a few
of them were afterwards retaken. A detail was
sent out with some wagons for wood about two miles
from camp. This detail of thirteen was guarded b;y
six men. By some means a signal was agreed on
and at a favorable opportunity they seized the guard,
took their arms and made off. Afterwards the guard
was doubled and no more escapes were made in this
way.

During the latter part of the year 1864, sometime
in November, we had orders to move. It was not
made known to us that we were to be exchanged but
to be sent back South on terms never fully under-
stood by us. Joyfully we boarded the freight cars
at Indianapolis and set out for the long, slow jour-
ney toward Washington. We were sent down the
Potomac and passed Fortress Monroe, Newport
News and thence up the James river to our lines just
below Richmond.

It was a ragged, emaciated lot of men, spiritless
and weak from long confinement and ill treatment
that once more entered Dixie. Our heroic fellow sol-
diers guarding the lines, looked on us with tender
compassion for they were in dire straits themselves
and the coming collapse of Confederate hopes cast
a baleful shadow over the remnant of Lee's once in-
vincible army. They appeared to us as men who
realized that their fate was fixed but who were de-
termined to meet the consequences without an ex-
hibition of fear.

We went into camp for a time but whether for
want of equipment or in compliance with terms of
release we were dissmissed subject to call. The or
der for again entering ranks never came, for com-

52 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

munications were cut off in all directions and the
end of all things hoped for by the Confederates was
at hand.

My only brother, W. R. Houghton who was a
gallant soldier of the Second Georgia regiment
Longstreet's corps, attempted to send me money at
two different times to Camp Morton and had the let-
ters safely mailed within the enemy's lines but it
is needless to say I never received the robbed let-
ters.

Dr. John A. Wythe an eminent physician now of
New York, who was a prisoner also in Camp Mor-
ton, who seems to have had some influential friends
outside the prison, wrote a series of articles on pris
on life in Camp Morton which were published in the
Century Magazine. The story of the abuse, cruel-
ty, graft, neglect, starvation and mortality connected
with the conduct and management of that prison
makes the history of Andersonville mild in compari-
son when the resources of the two governments are
considered.

These articles can be found in the public library
of Montgomery and should be read by every South-
erner when the story of Andersonville prison is
quoted as a reflection on the Confederacy.

COMMENTS ON OFFICERS

I never saw General Beuregard but once during
the war and that was shortly after the first battle
of Manassas or Bull Run as the Federals call the
first great fight of the war. He was a small dark
nervous, soldierly looking man whose appearance in-
dicated French extraction. He was regarded as one
of the coming great commanders of the war bat sub-
sequent events did not add to his first reputation.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 53

I frequently saw General Joseph E. Johnston who
achieved fame at the battle of Manassas. He had a
clear cut, military air, rotund and of medium size.
He gave out the impression that he was a man of
quick perception and thoroughly self possessed. He
wore a military goatee with side whiskers which
contributed largely to his soldierly appearance. His
subsequent career proved his ability as a tactician
and strategist but fate denied him the glory of
achieving any great victory.

General J. E. B. Stuart was a handsome, dash-
ing, spectacular officer. He wore a broad brimmed,
heavily plumed hat with a cockade and dressed in a
fine suit of Confederate gray. His sword and belt,
his boots and other equipments were bright and
clean. He had long reddish brown beard and mount-
ed a splendid charger. Altogether he was a pictur-
esque commander but his showy appearance made
him the target of the enemy. He was a brave and
gallant officer and his reputation as a capable com-
mander increased until his untimely death.

General Trimble, at one time our brigade comman-
der was a sturdy but slow officer with great tenaci-
ty and purpose. He handled his brigade usually
with skill and effect. He was not personally very
striking but inspired confidence by his calmness and
exhibition of utter fearlessness.

General E. M. Law at one time also our brigade
commander was from Tuskegee, Alabama, and was
small of statue but brave and alert. He usually
kept close to his men in battle and was considered
a reliable officer.

General Longstreet, our corps commander, was a
large heavy set, determined looking man who was
regarded as slow but sure and possessed the confi-

54 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

dence of his men and the army generally. He was
not showy or dashing nor was he very aggressive
but held on to any advantages with great tenacity.
Colonel W. C. Oates who commanded the 15th
Alabama regiment for some time was a handsome
and brave leader. He was regarded by many as too
aggressive and ambitious but he usually was well to
the front and did not require his men to charge
where he was unwilling to share the common danger.

RECONSTRUCTION

The Southern States were in a deplorable condi-
tion just after the close of the war. The widows, or-
phans and the aged seemed to constitute the body of
the population of hopeless whites. There was little
left in a material way except the land. The negroes
or freedmen as they were then called did not know
what to do with their newly conferred boon of en-
franchisement. Their former masters were dead
or too poor to provide for them. Work stock were
scarce and old broken down army horses were in
great demand for plow purposes. Hundreds of ne-
groes drifted about aimlessly, indisposed to work
because they wished to enjoy freedom for a while
without restraint. The southern people knew lit-
tle else than farming except in the old way and they
went to work to get a living from the soil as best
they could. With an idle, shiftless horde of negroes
turned loose it was natural that larceny and other
crimes increased with amazing rapidity. Pigs
fowls, cattle and farm produce had to be vigilantly
guarded. Military government did little for the pro-
tection of the public and the scum of both armies
preyed on the helpless and scattered inhabitants.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 55

Then came the crowning infamy of negro suffrage
followed by carpet bag and negro rule. The adven-
turers who were mostly subordinates and hangers-
on of the northern army in partnership with a small
following of southern renegades, took advantage of
the negro's ignorance and with the aid of his suf
frage filled every office, state, county and municipal
where there was a prospect of plunder.

The so-called elections were a travesty on the
right of suffrage. Hordes of negroes, like a great
black, portentous cloud, armed with old shot guns,
knives, sticks and other weapons would encamp the
nights before an election on the hills near the coun
ty sites, build bonfires, sing, dance and drink, pre-
paring for the election on the morrow. They had
been industriously drilled into believing that if they
did not vote the republican ticket they would be
placed back in slavery or deported to Africa.

They had no conception of the value of their votes
or the purposes of government but obeyed implicit-
ly the direction of their white bosses. The so called
elections were farces but backed by the military
arm of the conquerors the southern people had no
recourse but submission.

Military authority was gradually withdrawn and
the white people began to assert themselves in every-
way possible. They had success in localities but the
era of carpet bag and negro rule lasted for ten years.
Its baneful effects will be felt for generations.

In order to break up this infamous domination the
southern people resorted in many places to taking
forcible possession of the ballot boxes, substitution
and destruction of ballots and many other devices.
In many precincts where the negroes were in the

56 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

majority the whites would not open the polls and
they did not have sufficient intelligence to conduct
an election themselves. However they never failed
to turn out in great numbers to vote or try to vote.
It was only a question of time after the withdrawal
of military authority that the intelligent white man
would overcome the brutal and ignorant black.

There is no parallel in history to the condition of
the Confederates after their surrender. Their north-
ern foes after subduing them by force of overwhelm-
ing numbers deliberately turned loose upon them
millions of half civilized, ignorant aliens, totally un-
fitted for absorption and made them the governing
and dominant factors over their prostrate former
foes. It was more diabolical than the emancipation
proclamation during hostilities which seemed in-
tended to incite insurrection in the south and cause
the slaughter of the women and children while their
protectors were at the front fighting back the in-
vaders of their country. The last has the very slight
justification as a war measure ; the former was evolv-
ed long after the last armed foe had surrendered.

Some Recollections of Confederate Camp Life

BY W. R. HOUGHTON.

I propose to tell something of the life of the Con-
federate soldier in camp and on the march, aside
from his prowess in battle.

Enlisted in April, 1861, we went to Savannah,
thence to Tybee Island, where we drilled, fought
mosquitoes and fleas for two months, thence tc
Brunswick, Ga., where we had the same troubles,
varied by an outbreak of measles and mumps, which
played havoc with the companies composed of men
from the country. On this account, I always con-
gratulate mothers when their children have these
complaints in infancy.

We had, in our ranks, men of every calling, sailors,
soldiers of the Mexican war, a French Zouave who
had served in Algiers, men who had been educated in
Europe, travelers, circus clowns, poets, authors and
musicians. It was at first, hard to get accustomed
to camp life. Men divided into messes, according to
their likes and dislikes, but soon one found that his
best friend was not inclined to cut wood, fetch water,
make a fire or do his share of washing the tin plates.
Others who had been foppish in dress at home, be-
came careless and dirty, and others used much pro-
fanity and vulgarity. So these messes in four years
became greatly changed, sometimes by death, some-
times by weeding out objectionable fellows.

I remember one man, whose ill-temper, profanity

58 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

and obscenity was such that he could not find a mess-
mate who would stay with him. Another one who
knew more Shakespeare than any man I ever saw,
was so lazy and dirty that he messed alone. Another
in the next company, an old bachelor of means was
so objectionable that a detail of men cut off his hair
and scrubbed him, not very lightly, in the effort to
get him less offensive. But long campaigning, dan-
gers shared together, hungers and the brotherhood
of comrades, finally made many of those who messed
together, regard each other with a love like Jona
than and David, passing that of women. However,
it was the rule of one mess to the close of the war,
that during our meals, however taken, standing or
sitting, no profanity or vulgarity was permitted.

Several of the company had their musical instru-
ments until forced marches caused them to disap-
pear, and thus we had music, and a glee club gave
excellent vocal entertainments around the camp fires
or under the trees, but these too, disappeared in the
severe campaigns. At first we had chess, checkers,
cards and games, but after the first year all games
except cards were abandoned. I have seen men
playing poker on a knapsack within ten steps of a
preacher discoursing to men sitting on the ground
around him.

But it was singular that the men would not carry
a pack of cards into battle. When the cannon be-
gan in front, and we pressed forward to form in
line of battle, one could walk a long distance on
cards strewn by the way, and I have never seen a
pack of cards on one of the thousands of dead, either
friend or foe, I saw on battlefields.

The members of card clubs will take note, and

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 59

they are sure not to order pockets in their shrouds
for cards.

Perhaps nine-tenths of the soldiers played some
game of cards and about three-fourths indulged fn
gambling. On the march from Culpepper, Va., to
Gettysburg, we marched an hour and rested ten
minutes, with an hour's rest at noon. As soon as
the men stacked their arms for the midday meal, the
gamblers would set their roulette, chuckaluck and
faro spreads, which they had lugged under the burn-
ing summer sun. Crowds surrounded the ''lay out"
eagerly reaching over the shoulders of the nearest
to lay on their favorite color or number of card
bundles of Confederate currency. When we recoiled
from the rock bound heights of Little Round Top at
Gettysburg, leaving so many gallant fellows cold in
death, we saw no gambling on our sullen retreat.
At Chambersburg, I lent a gambler $20 who said he
was in a game. He was captured the next day and
kept in prison a long time. On returning from fur-
lough I met him on a train in North Carolina, and
after embracing me with every appearance of joy,
he suddenly thrust his hands into his pocket and
handed me the money. There are some debts a
gambler feels bound to pay. No doubt the spirit of
gambling that permeates the women's clubs, the so-
cial clubs, and infests the towns with games and
disreputable characters, owes something to the de-
moralization of war times.

The blockade runners brought over fresh supplies
of cards which were generally plentiful in camp.

We were ordered to Richmond in July, 1861,
which caused a great deal of joy and a stag dance.
We marched through streets, thronged with peop^

60 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

cheering and waving handkerchiefs, just as the same
Richmond did at the reunion in 1896. My company
had more baggage then than the brigade had in
1863-4, but we began to lose "impedimenta" at this
point. We went to Acquia Creek where the gun
boats shelled us from afar, which caused a few In-
dians who had enlisted with us to desert. Thence
we marched to Fairfax, C. H., in the sultry August
days, a trial to the parlor soldiers.

A fine looking lieutenant of a north Georgia com-
pany had a heavy black mustache previous to this
march, but before it ended, one side of his adorn-
ment was white as snow, because his hair dye was
with the wagon train which took a different route.
We spent the fall around Centerville, and built log
huts, with no floors but the moist earth, daubed the
cracks with mud and covered the huts with boards
split out of very refractory oak.

We had rations and clothing in abundance, but
the mud prevented exercise. Books were plentiful,
and the folks at home kept us supplied with good
things.

Here we saw the first miltary execution. Three
of the Louisana Tigers were shot for insubordina-
tion, and our command was among those marched
out to witness the sad scene.

We left quarters in March for Yorktown, and our
real hardships began. Rations were often scarce
and poor. Coffee had been issued to us, but now
that failed, and from that time to the close of the
war, only an occasional ration of coffee was given
us as some blockade runner would bring a supply.
The men first tried sassafras tea, but as a steady
diet, it proved debilitating. Parched corn meal, po-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 61

tatoes and other substitutes were tried for the re-
maining three years, but open air life made the men
long for their coffee and the writer whilst scout,
never failed to ransack wagons or knapsacks for
coffee, and fared much better than the men in the
line in this respect.

CAMP PESTS.

In the trenches at dam No. 1, on the Warwick
river, near Yorktown, we were in mud and water
night and day under fire from the enemy and almost
incessant rain, and some unburied Federals lay near
us. When we were relieved we occupied some bark
shelters erected by other troops, and had our first
experience with body lice, that pertinacious pest of
all armies. For years it was common around the
camp fires to see men holding their shirts above the
fire to rid them of the annoying enemy, and one sol-
dier for experiment, placed several on a piece of
wood and laid it on the snow for the night. Of
course, the creatures were frozen stiff, but when
placed near the fire next morning, they were soon
lively as ever. Nothing but fire and boiling water
could kill them. The boys declared that they had
"I. F. W." which meant "in for the war," described
on their backs which did bear some marks. The
amount of fine underwear infested by these pests
given to the flames at Yorktown, would stock a gents
furnishing store, but it was of no avail, for like the
poor, they were always with the soldiers in camp.

For the first year each company wore its own un-
iform, and some were of fine material, but now the
factory jeans, the famous Confederate grey, became

62 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

a necessity, and our fine jackets were exchanged
for long tailed frocks. We forgot these long tails
when standing near the fire, and most of them got
scorched, so that we had forked-tail coats, and leavn-
ing wisdom by this experience mostly wore jackets
afterwards. Sometimes the government would get
a supply by blockade runners of fine English cloth
and we would get good uniforms, almost too blue.
I remember the Jenkins, S. C, brigade clad in these
new uniforms, created a sensation when it appeared
in Bragg's army in 1863, so blue did they appear in
the distance and some of our scouts lost their lives
by mistaken pickets. The writer was fired upon by
his own friends more than once whilst trying to
enter the picket line.

Salt was always scarce after the first year. Each
man treasured a little in a box tied up in a rag in his
haversack, but in damp weather, it frequently lost
its savor, as well as its substance. I have tried gun
powder as a substitute, but do not approve of it.

Cooking utensils were plentiful at first. After a
time we were reduced to an oven and frying pan
for each mess, and later to a skillet for each com-
pany. When the wagon drove up, each company had
a man to claim its skillet, some being marked with
a file, and frequently disputes as to ownership oc-
curred. Some men would tie a frying pan or skil-
let to his knapsack, hence the famous expression,
"tote his own skillet" so well known in one Alabama
district. Halted for the night in a rain in the wet
woods, one would wonder how he could light a fire.
Soon a little glimmer appeared, when some man had
obtained a little dried inner bark of a dead tree,
cedar twigs or dry leaves, or a piece of newspaper,

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 63

the little flame was carefully fed with pieces of dead
twigs until it became a fire, then a hundred hands
bore away little torches of twigs to become the par-
ent of other camp fires. Some would gather wood
for the night, some take the canteens and get water,
and with the cheerful blaze, would arise the shouts
of laughter and the hum of conversation. The meal,
if we had any, being over, the old campaigner would
bathe his feet in cold water, rub the bottoms with
tallow, if he could get it, and toast them before the
fire in order to harden them for the next day's tramp.
Then if it still rained, blankets, oil cloths, or little
tent flies captured from the foe were stretched over
poles, and the men would crawl under them and
sleep better than the inmates of palaces. " have
seen men who had lost their blankets sleeping on
logs or fence rails by the fire, whilst snow was fall-
ing. Two men usually slept together, thus having
a blanket under and one over them. When one's
comrade was killed or went on picket, the other one
had to fare as best he could. The night before we
charged Fort Sanders at Knoxville, was bitterly cold,
and snow driven by a fierce wind fell at intervals.
As we lay on the side of the rocky hill facing the
fort, the shells fell among the rocks and made us
wakeful. Just before day, I saw the captain and
first lieutenant of the next company fighting. I ran
down, and assisted by main force in separating
them, but could not learn the cause of the quarrel,
until we formed the line about break of day, when
I was informed it was for "pulling cover" that is,
the fellow on the windward side was angry because
the other fellow got too much cover. But the men
were and are yet, excellent gentlemen, and one lost

64 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

a leg in battle. In an hour after this little fracas, we
had charged Fort Sanders and Longstreet lost 218
dead in the unavailing assault.

Whilst on the sea coast or camped near large
streams, our facilities for bathing were good, but
often the men had no means of getting a good bath.
I have cut through ice four inches thick with an axe
and bathed in Cub Run, and while in the trenches at
Petersburg under incessant fire night and day, the
only water we used came at night in canteens from
a spring reached by a deep ditch. The spring still
gushes forth its pure water, remembered only be-
cause it quenched our thirst and laved our faces and
hands for it was used for no other purpose. On our
last retreat, for five days, many of us never bathed
our faces. We waded streams, but like Gideon's
band, we never stopped and after the surrender, I
gave the last money I had in the world to a Fed-
eral for some soft soap he had taken from some farm
house.

Our laundry work was of the rudest. We had six-
teen negro cooks in our company until rations got
too scarce to divide with so many, and they were re-
duced to three. On forced marches these were
sometimes captured, but always escaped and return-
ed to us. We paid them to wash our clothes, but
when they were absent, we had to do it ourselves.
Only twice did I attempt the job. I waded out to
the middle of a swift creek rubbed and dipped and
finally beat the clothing with a rock, but was a fail-
ure as a laundryman. In preference I wore woolen
underclothing even in summer, as many laborers do,
and am not convinced that it is not as cool and heal-
thy as cotton or linen. Few men and officers had an
entire change of clothing or anything but a change

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 65

of underclothes. Knapsacks were abandoned by all
but a few and the extra clothes were wrapped in a
blanket; this was rolled up, the ends tied together
and worn over the shoulder. On forced marches and
desperate charges these were laid aside and often
lost. I have seen thousands of federal knapsacks in
line as their owners fled. The federal government
furnished them with a new supply, ours could not.

NOT ALWAYS GLOOMY.

The southern soldiers could or would not as a gen-
eral rule carry the regulation knapsacks, although
we often captured thousands. Our guns weighed
11 pounds, ammunition and accoutrements about
six pounds. Then a haversack, canteen and blan-
ket about the same so each had to bear a load of
about twenty-three pounds, which on a long day's
march counted heavily as the straps bound one,
about the breast. There were some men who car-
ried a full knapsack with an axe or hatchet or a
skillet tied to it, and these men, even on long
marches, were generally the life of the line. They
could hallo, sing, jest, relate anecdotes and play
pranks. In camp, if we started an unfortunate
squirrel or rabbit, the yells and shouts of the men
could be heard a long distance, and often would be
heard the remark, "There goes Jackson or a rab-
bit." One must not think that these men suffering
so many hardships, and winning so many desperate
fights, were gloomy and sad all the time, or even
much of the time. There was merriment and fun,
and one could hear jests as we charged the enemy.

Discipline, as it goes in the regular army, was not
enforced after the first year. Officers and men

66 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

messed and slept together. I played whist in the
captain's quarters for a long time. The first year
we had candles, tallow dips, then we had Confeder-
ate candles, made by dipping a long wax wick until
it was the size of a goose-quill. This was wound on a
stick and sent to us, and by unwinding a foot
of it, we had a candle that lasted until more was
wound off. But in the gloom of approaching defeat
in the winter of 1864-5, our people were too poor to
furnish even this substitute. But the men built them
a theater of logs with blankets and tent flies for
drop curtains, and with these poor accessories, but
with trained actors who were our comrades, got up
some excellent performances.

The worst trial besides hunger was want of shoes.
A near relative a sixteen-year-old boy, came with a
different regiment to Virginia in the fall of '62. I
visited him and found him barefooted. Mark Pow-
ell of Lowndes was guard over a prisoner to be tried
by a court martial for desertion. Conveying his
prisoner over the frosty ground to the house where
he was to be tried, Colonel, afterwards Governor,
O'Neil of Alabama, came in and returning the salute
of the sentinel, asked how the man came to be bare-
footed. The reply was that the government had not
supplied him and he had no money. Colonel O'Neil
said, "Here Sentinel, take this money and get this
man a pair of shoes. I'll be d — d if I can try a
bare-footed man for his life this cold morning and do
him justice." It is needless to say, the man was ac-
quitted.

My shoes gave out at Second Manassas. I had a
long walk before me to the hospital as I was wound-
ed, and I took a pair off a dead foe. He did not

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 67

need them, and I did. On the march to Gettysburg
I wore out three pairs in a month. The leather had
been hurriedly tanned and the shoes came to pieces.

KNOXVILLE CAMPAIGN.

On the East Tennessee campaign, we were cut
off three months from railroads, mails and sup-
plies. I saw hundreds of bare-footed men marching
over frozen snow near Dandridge on the French
Broad river, and saw the blood from their feet mark
the snow. Sometimes an order would come for the
barefooted to go to the butcher's pen. A man would
put his foot on the hairy side of a fresh cow hide
and a piece heart-shaped would be cut out. Then
holes were cut near the edges, and it was sewed with
thongs of the same material over his feet. They
were better than nothing for a time, but when near
the fire they shrank amazingly, and when wet by the
rains, they became too large. Yet men clad in this
fashion on empty stomachs, drove the enemy, and
after dark we felt among the shucks where the ene-
my had camped and picked and ate raw corn that
had dropped from the horses mouths.

Before coming to the Tennessee army I had for-
tunately procured a pair of English army shoes,
iron-heeled, with rows of iron and brass tacks. On
a scouting expedition I captured a lot of horses and
saddles, and from a saddle skirt a soldier cobbler
half soled my shoes with maple pegs hardened in the
camp fire. I paid him with the other skirt for the
job.

The East Tennessee campaign was the hardest we
ever had. Coarse corn meal was issued to us at

68 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Chattanooga. It would hardly stick together when
baked, and in a haversack in rainy weather it crum-
bled. Then little filmy threads like spider webs ap-
peared in the bread. On the march to Knoxville we
pushed the enemy hard, finding abandoned wagons,
ammunition, etc., along the road, but no food. It
was cold and a quick pursuit for a whole evening
made us hungry, but we had not a mouthful to eat.
Off before day the next morning, I picked up in the
road a piece of cabbage stalk, which constituted my
entire sustenance for thirty-six hours. I was so hun-
gry that I felt like I had reverted to the original
type of savage man, and would have stolen bread
from a baby, if there had been bread and a baby to
be found. The country had been harried by both
armies, and the secession element had been run off,
leaving a population very forbidding in appearance,
and all the boys used to say that all east Tennessee
lacked of being hell was a roof over it.

Birmingham has some excellent citizens who lived
in that section but owing to their participation in
the war, were not permitted to return there.

After the failure to take Knoxville, we marched
northeast, fought a bitter little skirmish at Bean's
Station, where I pulled up a fence post and in the
darkness prized out of the frozen ground some Irish
potatoes, my only food for that day. Crossing the
Holston, we marched without food for a whole day
in the bitter cold. Jim Dubose of my company,
nephew to General Toombs, raided the corn which
had been given to the headquarters horses. Another
procured some of a fat hog which had been killed
for trying to bite some soldier. I volunteered to make
the corn into hominy with the aid of hickory ashes
from our camp fire, the only luxury we had. It was

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 69

an all night job. I put too much ashes and the lye
ate the skin cff the corn. Before daylight I had fried
the hominy with the fat pork, and woke up the com-
pany to a hearty meal, enough for all and it enabled
us to make another day's march.

The winter of '63-4 at Morristown, Tenn., was
peculiarly hard. We had no huts, rations were scant
and poor, as were blankets, clothing and shoes We
did not get a mail for three months. Plug tobacco
could not be had, and "stingy green" the unpressed
leaf raised in the surrounding country, was all we
had, and very scarce. We could hear of the men who
would leave the fire and go behind a tree to take a
chew, being fearful they would be asked to divide.
Making our way towards the Virginia line, we pass-
ed through the home of Andy Johnson, and the place
where Morgan was killed. Camped near this place,
three days rations were issued to us. A vote was
taken whether we should cook and eat the whole at
one meal or dole them out. I voted for the latter
and was upbraided for my want of trust in Provi-
dence, and the majority being against us, we ate the
whole at one meal, and did not have enough. That
night we heard the whistle of a locomotive, the first
in months. The bridge over the Holston had been re-
paired, a train came in, and before noon a large box
with a huge side of bacon and a bushel of cow-peas
came to Tom Coleman from his father in Columbus,
Ga. Big hearted Tom made it common property to
the company, and what a feast we had ! I trust Tom
has his reward in the beyond.

DESTROY LETTERS.

Mail facilities were not very good most of the war,

70 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

especially whilst campaigning, but in camp we had
letters pretty regularly. Paper was poor and hard
to get, and we often got supplied from captured
knapsacks. I noticed that southerners seldom car-
ried their letters into battle. When moving into line
in hearing of shells, one could see men tearing up
precious missives from loved ones at home, and the
way was littered for miles with the fragments. I
am inclined to think this was also common to the
better class of federal soldiers, as the letters found
in their knapsacks, whilst numerous, I counted fifty-
two in Asa Frear's at Savage station, indicated that
the writers did not belong to the cultivated class, but
the contrary.

Of course there was nothing wrong about taking
property on the battle field but robbing the dead was
never favored by most soldiers. Yet, strange to say,
almost every corpse had his pockets turned out very
soon after he fell. In the tumult of a charge and
retreat and return, one would think that killing and
victory would be the supreme thought of men, yet in
a very few minutes after a charge and repulse, I
have returned over the ground and saw where the
robbers got in their work, and neither side seemed
to have been exempt.

At Chickamauga near the pond, now drained, in
front of the Kelly house, lay a federal breathing
heavily, but insensible from a bullet in the head.
We camped near him all night and the next morning
I saw a dozen or more Confederates sitting like
vultures over their expected feast. He had a gold
watch chain plainly visible, and just as he was gasp-
ing his last, a man reached for it, took out the watch
saying, "Well, I reckon he won't need this any more."
The others had been waiting for the man to die.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 71

A near relative in a northern prison wrote me that
he was ragged and starving and to send him some
money. Having none, I determined to get some on
the next battle field, and took a pocketbook from a
man headless by reason of a cannon shot, named
John W. House, of Wheeling, W. Va. I wrote to
his mother and sister according to a request found in
the book, and sent the letter by flag of truce, but I
devoted the money to the relative. This, and taking
the shoes from a dead federal at Manassas, com-
pleted my experience in such matters. Those may
condemn who will, but under the same circum-
stances, I would again act in the same way, and I
believe they would.

At Fredericksburg, from the top of a hill, I saw
the morning sun shining brightly over some hun-
dreds of dead lying on the frozen ground and nearly
all stripped of clothing taken by our men to ward
off the cold.

To supply blankets, the people at home cut up their
carpets, took the carpets from the churches and sent
them to us. Under such covering I slept the winter
of '62-3. One ingenious fellow having worn out his
clothes, made himself an entire suit including a peak
shaped hat or cap out of a flaming red carpet, with
figures on it so large that it took his whole body to
display one rose. When we left quarters it was
snowing and our command waited by the roadside
to allow his regiment to pass, and as he appeared
against the white background, the shouts that went
up attested the admiration for his genius. It took
a brave man to stand the gibes hurled at him.

The suceeding winters we had no carpets and suf-
fered much discomfort from want of blankets.

72 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

POLITE PRISONER.

I was wounded at Second Manassas and my com-
rade, Oliver Cromwell, lost his blanket. Staggering
along in the rain the following night, he spied a form
under a federal blanket by the roadside, and he crept
under the good shelter, for these blankets turn rain,
and spent a comfortable night. Awakened by the pro-
vost guard the next morning, he found that he had
shared the blanket with a dead federal. The same
night weary and weak from the loss of blood, I slept
in the Chinn house, whilst the busy surgeons were
amputating limbs in the yard. A wounded captain
was placed beside me, and when I awoke he was
dead.

Next morning I wandered in the chilly rain look-
ing at the dead and the debris of the battlefield. I
was hungry and the smell of so much blood had made
me sick. Approaching a party of wounded federals,
who had on oil cloths, they were very polite, they had
coffee and rations, but wounded in the legs, could
get no water or fire. I had feet and one hand so I
got wood and water, and around a cheerful fire, we
had a hearty meal and friendly talk.

One, a polished Pennsylvania captain, with a
crushed ankle, gave me his card and told me if ever a
prisoner or in happier days a visitor to his state, to
call on him. I parted with him with regret when the
long line of white ambulances came from Washing-
ington for him, whilst I with ill-fitting shoes taken
from a dead foe, turned in the opposite direction to
trudge through the mud forty miles to Culpepper,
and a hospital.

Our men generally treated prisoners well. I never
permitted a harsh treatment of them in my pres-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 73

ence, nor did others to my knowledge. On two oc-
casions I carried water to wounded federals under
a heavy fire, and I have repeatedly seen others risk
their lives to aid wounded foes.

Of course there were exceptions. On a scout I
captured a German who could not speak a word of
our language. When I took him to the others of
my party, I heard the click of a gun hammer, and
was just in time to throw up the rifle of a Texas
scout. I had a sharp controversy with him, and af-
terwards learned that his brother's wife, with an in-
fant of three weeks had been driven from her home
in far away Missouri into the snow and without
clothing by union men while they burned her house.
She and the infant both died, and it was said the two
brothers never took prisoners. He was one of the
handsomest men I ever saw, and daring to rashness.
I had to guard that prisoner, and shared my scant
rations with him, and when nightfall came he had
a hundred opportunities to escape, but each time I
lost him among the wagon trains, he would find me
with a glad cry. If he did not understand English
he understood the gesture with the rifle of the Tex-
an.

I have captured many of these creatures whilst
alone on a scout. Tempted by the huge bounty, they
were gathered by the thousands in foreign coun-
tries and drilled on their way over, even in the har-
bor of Liverpool, and had no heart in the war, but
they could defend breatworks, and hold forts. Two
of us captured a picket post of fifteen men, killing
one, only one, and he a Canadian, could speak a word
of English. If Stonewall Jackson's plan for raising
the black flag had been followed, these creatures
would not have crowded the union armies. I saw a

74 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

provost guard take $400 bounty greenbacks from one
of these men. Many of these cattle surrendered on
slight provocation, or deserted to lie in Confederate
prisons, where by eating our rations, they served
more effectually than with arms, and now most of
them draw pensions and glory in the flag.

The northerners managed to make money out of
every war, including the Spanish, except the war
of 1812 when the New Englanders tried to secede,
but the histories say that patriotism urged them on
in 1861-5, when the fact is that large bounties and
bonds mostly sustained the fight.

HARD LINES.

One morning in 1862, I was sick and attended
hospital call in a driving snow. The surgeon order-
ed the steward to give me a dose, which taken I fell
insensible before I had gone a dozen yards. I was
sent to the church at Montpeller, the former home
of President Madison. It was of brick with floor
of the same material, with narrow high-backed pews,
which formed our only beds. The fire in the only
stove went out, and to prevent freezing, I went out
in the snow and tore palings off the enclosure of
graves and renewed the fire. From a wound at Mal-
vern Hill I was sent to the hospital in Richmond,
where owing to the immense number of wounded,
accommodations were little better, and I was fur-
loughed home. Wounded again at Second Manassas,
I was sent to Charlottesville, thence to Lynchburg,
thence to Liberty, now Bedford City, Va. Here were
about 2000 sick and wounded with a clever assist-
ant, and an inhuman surgeon. Quartered in tobacco
factories, our dining room was on the ground floor

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 75

of 120 feet in length. Our supper was light oread,
"wasp nest" we called it, and sorghum syrup, and
about one-eighth enough. I have gone in, spread my-
self before two plates set one over the other, hid
one piece of bread in my jacket, and ate both rations,
then getting up and walking further down, been hus-
tled into a seat by the sergeant and repeated the per-
formance. The surgeon refused a furlough but
through Vice-President Alex Stephens, I got one and
went home for sixty days. Reporting on my re-
turn I found that the men, incensed because the sur-
geon, using all the delacacies sent for the sick and
giving wine parties with these things, had waylaid
him one night as he came out of the house where he
had given a wine supper, and nearly killed him with
brickbats. This was the extent of my hospital ex-
perience. Once in 1863 I went to surgeon's call with
a sharp pain in my side betokening pneumonia. The
man in front reported the same symptoms. We were
ordered to march, as the surgeon said the ambu-
lances were full and we had to march in the driving
snow. Before noon the man who reported sick in
front of me, gave one gasp, fell in the snow and was
dead. At 3 P. M. we waded an ice laden stream
150 yards wide and it seemed as if I had turned to
ice. Going into the wet woods to camp, the boys
said I would die, and got me into a barn, spread our
wet blankets on the clover, one getting on each side
of me and covering me with other wet blankets. I
awoke next morning well and since that day have
had faith in the efficiency of a "wet pack."

Many were the expedients used to get out of reach
of bullets by the "malingerers" or shirkers of duty.
Some shot themselves, but the powder blown into
the flesh revealed the author of the wound. All sorts

76 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

of diseases were simulated and complained of. The
most ingenious was invented by a man who bound a
piece of plug tabacco under his arm until he was
as yellow as gold, including the whites of his eyes.
The doctors recommended his discharge because he
was in the last stages of something very bad they
knew not what, but I suppose they called it heart
failure, not having any other name.

Now and then the doctors would make a raid on
the hospital and drive back crowds of these "play
outs" but that sort of a man never makes a good
soldier, though he may defend breastworks, as al-
most any animal will fight in self-defense.

I had two furloughs on account of wounds, one so
it said for gallantry, one to have some dental work
done, and one for a day whilst en route to Chicka-
mauga. Of course, much was made of the returned
soldier, who feasted on good things, and was a kind
of hero. I did not envy the lot of the few young
men who stayed at home under one plea or another.
The girls did not fail on every occasion to let them
know their opinion of a "stay at home," and surely
I would have preferred the fire of the enemy to the
scorn of the girls.

Captain Tom Chaffin of Columbus, Ga., never had
a furlough, never swore an oath, never was in the
hospital, and never received a wound, though he had
the seams on both sides just below his pockets cut
out at Chickamauga, and his sword belt was shot off,
and his canteen punctured on other occasions. In
a fight he always got a gun, and if coolness accounted
for anything, he did execution. The friendly post
oak which sheltered us at Chickamauga, was just his
size then, but it is larger now. Nearly every sol-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 77

dier got one or more wounds. I was hit seven times,
but only three of them disabled me for more than a
few minutes.

Some years ago I sat on a dummy car in Birming-
hrm, with six others, all of whom had been wounded
more than once, and three of them five times. Two
were wearing minnie bullets in their muscles.

There were a few soldiers who never were in a
hospital, never had a furlough, received a wound or
shirked a fight.

At first each regiment had a chaplain but after a
time there was not enough to go round. Some of
the devoted men were very attentive to the sick and
wounded and preached occasionally. It took a de-
voted man to be patient in constant hearing of the
profanity, ribaldry and general deviltry of camp
life, but those who were patient, kind and loving to
the men, had their rewards in the affection and re-
spect of the soldiers. Sometimes we could hear of
great revivals in other parts of the army, but I never
saw one in Hood's division. I think men got to lean
towards fatalism after awhile. We could stand on
the field looking down into the peaceful, sometimes
smiling, faces of dead comrades, so full of life an
hour before, and around us, not a tree or a twig the
size of of a pencil but cut or barked by bullets, and
yet we had charged and fought and stood at this
very spot for minutes or hours.

We could but wonder why we were left and the
others taken, and some argued like the Mohamme-
dans, "It is kismet, it is fate."

Nevertheless, most of these same men who return-
ed home became pillars in the church, some minis-
ters. One of the most daring of Longstreet's scouts,

78 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

profane and ribald of speech, unable to write his
name then, is now a useful and respected minister
of the gospel. He belonged to the gallant Fifteenth
Alabama of glorious memory.

It also happened that the war was fought during
the transition stage from the smooth bore musket
which carried 100 yards to the Enfield rifle, which
was dangerous at 1000, and even more, and the re-
peating rifle was also used by the federals. Few of
our Generals except Wilcox and Rhodes had the
genius to meet the situation.

These organized corps of sharp-shooters drilled
by bugle to advance or retreat, rally or charge and
to take advantage of trees, rocks or the conformation
of the ground, and drawn out in a thin skirmish line,
frequently drove solid lines of battle before them,
and now all the armies of the great powers copy the
tactics of those two great Alabama soldiers.

BADLY LED.

We were very badly led at Malvern Hill. In two
ranks touching shoulders with another supporting
line just in the rear, we marched through an, open
field against batteries of many cannons, supported
by men armed with rifles. A bullet which struck
a front man at close range, was likely to kill the
man in the rear. Some of the generals got excited,
made speeches and, as might be expected, lost con-
trol of their men. Afterwards the men learned to
fight according to common sense, and not according
to antiquated tactics for smooth bore arms. We
took advantage of every defense or obstacle, and
charged by rushes, spreading out to a more open for-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 79

mation. After we were put in position, the officers
never interfered with the men to any great extent,
and the men knew what to do, and generally did it.
I have seen a little pale sergeant, after the enemy's
charge was repulsed, leap over the works and cry:
"Charge 'em boys," and the whole line went with a
rush that was irresistable. One of my regiment was,
by court martial, convicted of stealing some fish
hcoks and lines, and he was a disgraced man. In
the first battle afterwards, at the command to charge,
he took his hat in one hand, and his gun in the other,
being very fleet and yelling like an Indian. After
that, he was welcome to every camp-fire, and to a
"chaw" of tobacco from every man.

The winter of '64-5 was very sad. We did not get
enough to eat once a month. The men grew gaunt
and thin. Clothing and blankets were tattered. Fuel
was scarce, and we cut the green loblolly pine for our
fires. We were on the Darbytown road, five miles
from Richmond, and had about one man to every
8 yards as a guard for the line of fifty-five miles in
length, the whole army numbering about 45,000
whilst 120,000 confronted us, superbly armed, cloth-
ed and fed with abundance.

Sherman's army had laid waste in Georgia and
North Alabama, and letters came telling how the
loved ones at home, the helpless women and children,
were starving. The fire in the rear caused many a
good man to go home never to return. In whispers,
with a tried and faithful few, we would discuss our
inability to hold so long a line, and supposed and de-
termined that when the grand final came, we of
Lee's army would go down like Napoleon at Water-
loo, in a blaze of glory, not forseeing that starvation

80 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

on the last retreat would so cripple the army, that
although Hood's division was nearly intact, yet only
13,000 would be left to lay down their arms. The
last scene at Appomattox is imprinted on my mem-
ory. The tears, the oaths, the hysterical, insane
laughter, the breaking of guns, swords, the prayer
for death from men who had toiled and sweated,
starved and bled for a cause they loved better than
life.

Most of us anticipated then that the negro would
be placed to rule over us, but we did not foresee the
exceeding sordid malice and attempted humiliation
with which it would be brought about, nor did we
foresee the deviltry by which money would be wrung
out of the south by the despicable carpet-baggers,
who were the agents of the victors.

To my mind the greatest battle the Confederate
soldiers ever fought was not on bloody fields, but
in his desolated home, when for years he maintained
the supremacy of his race against the sordid politi-
cians, the fanatics and the credulous victors of the
north, who sought, whilst robbing him, to degrade
him, as well as themselves, by injecting into our po-
litical system four millions of a race not prepared
for the experiment.

The Confederate was reared in the belief that John
Brown, who sought to murder at midnight women
and children, was an assassin like Guitteau. The
northern men agreed with us that the latter was an
assassin but worship the memory of the former as
a saint, mostly because he wanted to harm only
Southerners. They were reared that way, or to use
an expression applied to the president, they are built
that way and cannot help it.

We have long been accustomed to thinking that a

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 81

man who believes the negro is equal to himself, is the
best judge of the matter, and it is best to accept the
situation, but meanwhile keep our own doorsteps
clean as did they in the happy days of Jerusalem.

The terrors of misrule, reconstruction, the long
years of negro domination, and the worse rule of
thieving carpet-baggers, did not shake the stern soul
of the Confederate. Not one in a thousand deserted
his race or forsook the faith of his forefathers, and
now he sees the fruit of his labors, and his faith in
states redeemed and independent, and communities
careless of the opinions of the worshippers of an
inferior race. If America is saved from the fate of
San Domingo and Jamaica, the salvation came by
the courage, faith and persistence of the Confeder-
ate soldier and southern women.

CAMP FARE.

With the last number I thought I had naturally
brought these recollections to a close, but so many
people, young and old, have expressed a desire for
more of the experiences that otherwise do not get
into history, that some other things are added.

We did not often get good bread in camp. In
winter quarters '61-2, we took it by turns to cook a
week at a time, and we often had light rolls, obtain-
ing yeast from some neighboring house and "rais-
ing" the bread by the fire in our stick and mud chim-
neys. Afterwards on occasions we cooked biscuits
with the aid of soda and grease fried out of bacon.
When ovens or skillets were scarce we often had to
wait our turn. After a time we got only poor beef
and flour, and our bread was poor indeed.

In the spring the men would strip the bark off a

82 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

hickory or poplar and make a beautiful tray in which
to knead the flour into dough. But these luxuries
were not always accessible, and I have seen the com-
missary wagon drive up in dark wet woods, after a
hard day's march, and the flour for a whole com-
pany would be dumped on an oil cloth or a blanket.
Then with cold water we would mix the flour, often
without salt, on an oil cloth, and bake in ovens,
skillets or frying pans ; or if these were not avail-
able, then a string of dough would be wrapped
around a ramrod and held to the fire, turning often
until it was baked, or partially baked. The only
meal we had in the five days preceding Appomat-
tox was cooked in this manner from flour brought in
by a haggard, weary man after a severe skirmish on
a scouting expedition. But he does not remember
that a couple of drinks of "apple jack" taken with
Fitzhugh Lee, helped him to carry the load to his
famished comrades. General Scott said that the fry-
ing pan killed more soldiers than Mexican bullets,
but we seemed to be proof against its bad effects, or
perhaps our rations were so scant that we could have
devoured the food raw and been none the worse for
it. Corn meal was harder to manage than flour. In
a newly built fire on the damp earth, we could not
bake an ash cake, nor could we cook corn bread on
ramrods, so we had to take our turn waiting for the
skillet. We preferred bacon to beef, because we
could ea the former raw and had little trouble in
preparing it; it afforded more strength and fortified
us against the cold. Sometimes the beef was so
wretchedly poor that it was hard for even a hungry
man to eat it. We would chop it up bones and all
and set it by the fire to simmer all night, and then
parch some flour in the frying pan to make gravy

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 83

and get a good meal out of very poor material. If
the men got enough to eat there was always merri-
ment, shouts and laughter, but if rations failed the
men were sullen and gloomy.

Hence young wives are always advised by mothers
to see that the breadwinner is well fed, if he is ex-
pected to stay in a good humor.

I feel positive that Hood's old division did not get
one-half, and much of the time one third, enough to
eat for the last three months of the war, whilst we
were within five miles of Richmond. Men can stand
a hungry spell for a short while, but long starvation
will sap the strength of any army. Our men grew
gaunt, lean and haggard. Only now and then would
a scouting trip result in anything that could be con-
verted into Confederate money, and the writer would
get off to Richmond for a day. If he visited the fa-
mous "hole in the wall" and got a measured glass of
applejack it cost $5. A dinner at the Powhattan
Exchange or American cost $10, with a $2 tip to the
waiter for an extra dish or two. Then he had a nap
on the grass in the noble capitol square free, and a
ticket to the new theatre $10 more. Supper was not
to be counted in to a man who had a dinner that day.
After the theater a five miles tramp to the lines, to
creep between blankets that had seen long service,
and this made a red letter day long to be remember-
ed, and not one man in five hundred had this chance
to enjoy one day's surfeit in a year.

It was against military rules to sell liquor in a
camp or cities like Richmond under martial law.

In the early days of the war men would bring li-
quor into camp in their gun barrels, a convenient
stopper being inserted in the muzzle. Then an in-

84 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

nocent looking countryman would dirve his little wa-
gon in with vegetables and a keg of butter, in which
was concealed a keg of apple brandy. The sentries
soon broke up this game, and then men would come
in with canteens concealed under their coats, but the
occasions when men could drink were few and far
between. Early in 1863 during a hard snow, Gen-
eral Hood rode to each camp fire, spoke a few words
and told us we would get some whisky and sugar
soon. It came, and such a glorious stew we had, that
when I awoke the next morning, the piece of church
carpet covering me was so laden with snow that I
could hardly turn over. One morning we started
for Richmond in a driving snow which got to be
eighteen inches deep, and only four paths could be
seen for the twenty-five miles as we made our way
in ranks without a halt. About 3 P. M. Sunday, with
bands playing, we plowed our way through Frank-
lin street, the fashionable avenue of the city. Our
hats, beards, shoulders, blankets, every vantage of
rest was piled with snow, and the citizens, then at
dinner, rushed to the doors and windows, some cry-
ing and exclaiming. Soon. those dinner tables were
cleared of everything, and pitchers of coffee, tea,
brandy and all the eatables were distributed among
those grim looking veterans. 'Twould make the fame
of a painter could he portray that scene as it is im-
printed on memory now, but how few of these gal-
lant sph:ts are left to recall the snow, the tears of
the beautiful women, the anxious faces of the gray
haired men, and the wild burst of music from the
most famous band of Hood's division as it echoed
from the stately residences on the finest street of
Richmond, dear Richmond on the James! It was

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 85

five miles further to camp, and not over one third
of my company got there that night. When the ex-
citement of the music gave way, one became weak,
and many times I had to rest before we got to the
snowy plain where we halted. We cleared away a
space, throwing the snow on the windward side, and
unable from sheer fatigue to stretch a tent, built a
fire and again came rations of whisky and sugar for
the whole company, which those present appropri-
ated, and again the stew made us sleep like the right-
eous.

WADING THE POTOMAC.

On the way to Gettysburg we waded the cold and
swollen Potomac at Williamsport. It was breast
deep and over half a mile wide, and the winding road
on either side down the long hills, afforded a view of
near ten thousand men with their clothes hung on
their guns, breasting the swift current. On the top
of the hill in Maryland, were barrels of whisky with
the heads out, from which each man was expected to
take a gill, but those who had them filled their quart
cups. About one third of our command, including
some officers, failed to get to camp on Pennsylvan-
ia soil that night, and the red mud on their uniforms
attested the tangle leg quality of the liquor. Noth-
ing was done about this breach of discipline, and
some of the brave fellows were left under the rock
bound heights at Gettysburg.

We read of the groans and cries of the wounded in
battle, but in reality I heard little of the sort. Most
of the dumb animals when stricken (your dog for in-
stance) may cry out with pain, but if badly hurt
they go off to some secluded place and are quiet. It

86 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

is so with man. Occasionally one heard a cry of
pain, but usually these were reserved until fever and
delirium set in at the hospital. In the tumult of the
charge one could hear but little, except the roar of
cannon, musketry, shouts and cheers. In breast-
works I have seen men shot down by sharp shooters,
and there was maybe a groan and a lifeless lump of
clay instead of a comrade full of life and vigor. I
have studied the faces of friends dead on the field a
few minutes, or hours after they fell, and without
exception they wore a peaceful smile or an express-
ion of repose, from which so far as one can see, it
must be better to leave the world suddenly than to
linger in agony until suffering imprints its heavy
lines on the features. But there was one sort of suf-
fering that appalled the stoutest. At Spottsylvania a
federal was shot through the stomach and lay be-
tween the lines for two days, groaning and begging
for water. His comrades kept up an incessant fire
and did not allow us to aid him. At last, some of
our men with extreme risk crawled out and brought
him over to our works. Mortification had set in, and
he was as dark as an African. He was given a drink
of water and died in a minute afterwards. This is
only one instance out of many that came under my
observation and I knew men who carried in their
pockets a lump of crude opium with the resolve that
should like fate be theirs they would end life more
painlessly.

The writer knows a soldier, whose leg, near the
ankle, was shattered by a bullet at Gaines' Mill. He
lay three days where he fell, and got a piece of wood,
which with his knife he cut into splinters, and stuck
them m the ground around his leg as a setting. I
have seen him since in full run on a deer hunt. Joe

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 87

Bethune returning after his wound at Chickamauga,
accidentally shot himself in the knee joint with a
self-cocking pistol, then very uncommon. When I
went to see him, the blood and oil from the joint
were slowly oozing from the wound, and he was
gathering handfuls of snow and applying it to the
hurt.

Expressing my sorrow, the big brave fellow burst
into a boo-hoo of crying, and between sobs: "I
wouldn't mind it, but the d — d playouts at home will
say I shot myself to keep out of the war." He used
the same pistol to keep the surgeons from amputa-
ting his leg, and now walks with an almost imper-
ceptible limp. He is now a judge of United States
Court in California. The oldest lawyer in this city
lay on the ground with a bullet in his groin for days,
and a comrade has cut "WARD" on the big boulder
where he got the wound at Gettysburg, the first mon-
ument to a Southerner on that field. He relates that
whilst in the hospital near the town, good women
ministering to all, expressed great surprise because
they never heard a complaint or groan from his peo-
ple, whilst their people were just the opposite. It
may be that the Confederates did not expect much, or
perhaps being mostly from the farms, like the In-
dians, they were stoical.

On the other hand, a man came to our regiment,
who said that he knew a wound would kill him. At
second Manassas a bullet took from one finger a
piece about as large as a grain of corn, and the man
died in a few days. The pluck in a man made the
difference, when the wound was not necessarily fa-
tal. Jim Johnson lay with a bullet through his lungs
at Petersburg until the surgeons had finished with

88 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

the other wounded, and then five of the wise gath-
ered about him, and four of them bet the other a
gallon of whiskey that he would die. Jim lived to
help drink the whisky, and is yet an excellent citi-
zen.

Girard Cook of Lowndes, now over the river, re-
lated that at Fredericksburg he lay with a bullet
through his lungs on the frozen ground from sun-
down until midnight. The last searchers had aban-
doned their quest, but finally he saw the dim light
of a lantern which finally approached. He could
only utter faint groans, and after a time Colonel
afterwards Governor, 0 'Neil, came up to him, gave
him from his canteen a stimulant, and remained till
help to bear him off was procured. No wonder that
O'Neil could not be defeated before the people.

Many sad scenes we saw, but the most pitiful of
all were the boys, those of fourteen and fifteen
years, as they lay dead on the field. We had car-
ried their guns on the march, petted them in rough
soldier fashion, and lightened the burdens of the lit-
tle heroes.

It was pathetic, too, to hear in the still hours of
the night the screams of horses with one or more
legs shattered by cannon shot. Other wounds they
bore in silence, but the effort to stand on shivered
bones was more than the poor creatures could bear.
At Dandridge, Tenn., the Eighth Texas cavalry had
charged up a steep hill, the surface of the frozen
ground beinc melted by the sunshine. Their horses
had broken through the frozen crust underneath the
surface and many strewed the ground and in an
upright position, their legs buried in the mud. But
their master! fook the fence rail breastworks, and

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 89

left their four-footed servants, mute monuments of
their obedience even unto death.

One cannot transfer to these lines the gibes and
jests, the humor and the fun that enlivened these
dark scenes. One busied himself all day making a
parody of some poetry captured in the last battle,
and late one evening as we were trudging through
the mud and rain, gloomy, tired, hungry and sullen,
some one suddenly broke out in a stentorian voice :

"When this d — d old war is over,
And we go marching home again."

The gloom was gone and the soldiers laughed
again. And in the line of battle, when the shells
and bullets seemed to be just scraping our backs as
we lay flat on the ground, one sang out: "I wish I
was a baby and a gal baby, too, so I wouldn't have
to go to war." The nervous tension was gone, and
that fellow inspired the regiment in the charge
which followed. There were some men whose spir-
its were irrepressible. They were the life of the
camp and march and they now go to all the cir-
cus, minstrels and other shows, whilst others who
heard 400 cannons thunder at Gettysburg saw the
panorama of second Manassas, the slaughter of
Malvern Hill and the plunging fire at Fredericks-
burg, can hardly keep awake in front of painted ac-
tors and painted scenery that stir not the blood as
did the shouts of victory in the days of old. But
the others get the most out of life, as did the Roman
who said : "Whilst we live, let us live."

I love to go to the reunions, not as a delegate, for
that is dull, but as a free lance, to approach and
grasp the hands of any man wearing a badge, to

90 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

hear his hearty "God bless you" to see the cheerful
faces, and hear them tell of their lot since the war.
At Memphis, one man said: "I landed in Texas
with my wife after the war with just three copper
cents, and I've got 'em yet." "Is that all you've
got?" I asked. "No, I have five plantations, have
raised six children, my girls are well married, and
me and the best wife in the world have a good bank
account and have plenty of friends."

The tales cne hears would fill a volume, and most
of them tell of the rewards of patience, fortitude and
courage instilled by experience in the war

OLD COMRADES MEET.

After a third of a century I recognized in the
throng at Atlanta the man whose lap pillowed my
head in the trenches at Petersburg, after the con-
cussion from a bullet, deflected by the silk lining of
my cap, had rendered me insensible, and I can yet
hear those first words that came to me of the gen-
tle voiced, but brave and true, Henry Bussey : "Boys
I don't believe he's killed." The good old comrade
cried when he embraced me, and just afterwards I
saw his old captain cry in turn as he embraced Hen-
ry.

The youngster in search of a new sensation at the
cheap theater or card party has never had the depths
of his heart proved, and the great fountain of mem-
ory stirred like these comrades of old, when they
meet after the lapse of so many years.

We built a great many miles of breastworks dur-
ing the war. From Winchester to Petersburg, Vir-
ginia is criss-crossed with lines of earthworks, some
of v.hich are still perfect, and will be for a century

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 91

to come. The huge first and second lines around
Richmond were built by slaves in 1862, and behind
a salient in the outer line we resisted the only charge
ever made against us behind works. No doubt they
protected us against attempts to charge and against
sharpshooters very often, but it was our luck to have
to charge the enemy in every instance but one, that
I can now recall. Grant nearly succeeded in captur-
ing Petersburg in June, 1864, and about midnight
after a hard march, we lay down to sleep in an old
field east of the city. With the dawn, came the sound
of musketry and the whiz of bullets, and we woke to
find ourselves in a bare field exposed to fire from
works at short range, although in front of us was a
line of our men covered by works too low to protect
us. I took a bayonet for a pick, and a tin cup for
a spade and commenced burrowing, throwing up the
dirt in front. Billy Redd, our adjutant, assisted me,
and soon all the line were working like beavers. We
lost several men before we could protect ourselves.
To stand up, was almost sure and instant death, so
our work was done lying down. Frequently after
a hasty march we were ordered to build breastworks,
and it was astonishing how quickly without spades
we could protect ourselves. The enemy outnumber-
ed us toward the close of the war so greatly that he
could overlap us on both flanks, and then outnumber
us at any point. But he was dilligent in burrowing
as we, and when Petersburg fell, there were over
forty-five miles of double line of fortification ex-
tending from the north to Richmond across two riv-
ers to a long distance south and west of Petersburg,
and this does not take into account the numerous
double lines, the forts and deserted useless works.

92 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Grant would fortify with the heaviest kind of earth-
works, replace every man we killed by a foreigner
and move around the end of our line with real Amer-
ican troops and fortify again. This is why we, on
the Richmond side of the James, were so scattered
that, each man defended eight yardsvof the line un-
til Grant outflanked us forty-five miles away at Five
Forks. General Lee, reporting to the secretary of
war in February, 1865, said his men had been fight-
ing in sleet and rain without meat for three days,
and his calvary was dispersed in search of forage.
As early as February 21, 1865, General'Lee'report-
ed that he was accumulating supplies in the line of
his proposed retreat .which did riot commence until
April 2, but many oi" us be^fBrVmat rfa"d discussed
around our camp fires the impossibility of holding
Richmond against four to one who had fortified
themselves and kept building breastworks towards
the only railroad that brought us the scant food we
got. One may well say that Grant's spades did more
to take Richmond than did his guns. We had not
the men to spare for charging forty miles of works,
nor could we take any one part without stripping
our own line of its defenders. One not familiar with
these lines will never understand how much labor
they cost. Near the crater there was a front line
with broad ditch for fighting. In the rear of this
another line for bringing in relief, provisions, and
carrying out the dead and wounded. Then there
were numerous cross ditches and banks of earth call-
ed traverses, perpendicular to the main line to pre-
vent enfialde fire. Although not required of me,
for over a month I took part in defense of this line.
I would be roused up, take a gun fire every minute

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 93

or two in the darkness toward the enemy about 100
yards distant, this to prevent them from forming a
line for attack. At the end of two hours I would
wake up the next man, lie down in the ditch, and my
relief would stand with one foot on each side of my
head and fire in the same way till the turn of the
next man came. This sort of firing did not prevent
us from sleeping soundly, but when they played sky-
ball with 100-pouder mortar shells we were wide
awake at once. Undertaking to dodge one sleek,
black shell that appeared to be dropping directly on
us from the sky one day, my chin came in contact
wth Prince Anderson's head, and both of us were
knocked down just as the shell exploded burying a
piece weighing at least twenty pounds in the hard
clay within a foot of us. Each of us believed for an
instant that we were wounded by the shell. One of
these shells fell among some Virginia artillerymen
engaged in a game of poker within a few yards of
us and killed nine. I did not like fighting in breast-
works, but in the open where one can look his enemy
in the eyes as I have done at less than two paces,
one can feel that his manhood is worth something.
A. B. Vandergrift of this city tells something
unique in the way of fighting. At Rocky Face Ridge
his regiment occupied the top of a perpendicular
ledge overhanging a steep hill covered with large
trees. His command rolled many huge rocks to the
edge of the precipice, and when the advancing ene-
my had got about two-thirds the way up the moun-
tain, an avalanche of great boulders was discharged
over the ledge to go bounding, crashing and thunder-
ing among the astonished federals. Oak trees two
feet in diameter were cut down as if they were
grass. The discomfitted foe fled with all haste and

94 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

for an hour the valley below could be heard their
curses, the burden of which was : "D — n you, that
is no fair way to fight."

One morning before day, six of us went out and lay
in the ditch of an old set of works on the Darbytown
road, where Kautz's cavalry picketed during the day,
withdrawing at night. We knew that twenty-four
cavalrymen armed with Sharp's carbines and pistols
came to that point every morning leaving three of
the number as videttes. But on this particular morn-
ing it was horribly cold, and the officer in charge
must have been a good sort of fellow as he let the
men scatter in their various posts, and only three
came directly to us, and they were in a sort of In-
dian file. They first stopped, one with his horse's head
within six feet of us as we lay in the ditch. Being
in charge, I sprang up with the others, and with lev
elled guns ordered him to surrender. He said, "By
God, I'll do it." and came to the ground at once.
The others turned and galloped off. In the firing
that ensued, one of them was shot through and died
that day in his camp. We went there to meet four
to one, not expecting the officer in command to allow
his men to scatter, which had never been done before
within our knowledge. The cavalry were very bit-
ter about it, and stuck notices on the trees that they
would not spare the scouts if they caught us, and if
we took prisoners they always made it a burden of
complaint. Whilst we regretted shooting the man as
he fled, and that there were only three instead of
twenty-four, I can not see how one could be surprised
at the event.

The calvary horses were very intelligent. They
could discover one's approach at night long before
their masters. One night John Lindsay and I

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 95

crawled through an open field, the thin ice breaking
under us, to capture a vidette stationed near a cedar
Against the dim starlit sky we could see the dark
outline of the horse and rider, the latter with the
cape of his overcoat over his head and evidently fast
asleep. The horse was restless and moved his head
up and down to inform his master of danger. We
got within fifteen paces and Lindsay wanted to shoot
but I restrained him, and we called out, "Surrender!"
Suddenly his horse wheeled off in a gallop. We fired
into the darkness, but never got our man. Cavalry-
men have often told me that they depended on their
horses for warning them of the approach of danger
at night. I used to wonder what time horses got for
sleep. One might pass hundreds in an artillery or
cavalry camp at almost any hour, and they would be
eating, stamping, or showing some signs of wake-
fulness, but I discovered that about an hour before
day they were generally quiet, some resting on three
legs, the toe of the other foot just touching the
ground, and cavalrymen told me they were sleeping
in this position. I have slept walking, but never
could sleep standing. One's knees give way, but a
horse seems to be better gifted in this respect.

Kautz's cavalry were good fighters. Sometimes
when we stepped out of a thicket and demanded sur-
render, a picket would raise his carbine and fire, and
he would have to be killed. We were ordered now
and then to take a prisoner in order to get informa-
tion, and if the unfortunate fellow selected would
not surrender it was kill or be killed. Keenan of the
Fifteenth Alabama got two holes shot through the
slack of his pants trying to capture a vidette, and
though brave as Caesar, had to run for it, as the

96 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

fellow had a repeating carbine. Sometimes they were
very polite and have shaken their canteens at me as
I passed on a scout.

On picket below Fredericksburg we would rig up
a board with sails and rudder and send over tobacco
in exchange for coffee and newspapers. Above the
city Wilcox's men would wade out to the middle of
the river and make exchanges. It is related that
three yankees were having a good chat this way one
time and their line being relieved they were reported
as deserters and sentenced to be shot, but Loncoln
set aside the sentence of the court martial.

On the right at Petersburg men would fire from
their picket holes for hours, when some man wcild
shout in a loud voice, "Rest!" Then both sides would
get out of their holes, walk around, talk, exchange
papers or tobacco, and the firing of a gun in thp air
would be the signal for them to disappear and the
work of murder would again commence.

It is hard to believe that brave and seemingly
clever men like these would afterwards use the ne-
gro and the worse carpetbagger to rob and oppress
the south. Perhaps the politician, the stay at home,
and the settlers outvoted them and the soldiers could
not stay the hand of the thieving crew. There <iever
seemed to be much opposition to misrule in the south
till every state government was bankrupt, the cities
and counties in the same condition and the bad crops
of '73 made the farmers insolvent. Then it was that
New York and even Massachusetts found they could
not sell their goods to bankrupt people, and in 1874.
both states elected a majority of conservative con-
gressmen and the way was paved for the withdraw-
al of the troops from the south, and the tramp of

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 97

soldiers was no longer heard in legislative halls. The
northerners have a keen eye to the main chance,
which in this case meant money, and the darkey is
not so dear to him when cash does not follow that
sort of philanthrophy.

But the Confederate has known all the time that
there were honest, well meaning people in the north,
but their voices could not be heard above the noisy
clamor of greed and hate. As part of history of the
times, I must give an instance or two. One fairly
intelligent man for a yankee came south to raise
cottoa when it was forty cents a pound, educate the
poor, ignorant southerners in farming and incident-
ally make a little money for himself. After his cot-
ton blossomed out and began to fruit, he wrote a lit-
tle country paper in his far northern birthplace that
he had, discovered one important fact about cotton
which the southerners did not know, viz: that i
white cotton bloom never yielded fruit, but was use-
less. Every southern boy knew that a cotton bloom
is white the first day it opens, has little red veins at
sun down, and is red the next day, but the sublime
superiority of this man never led him to ask che
small darkey about this little fragment of botany.

INCIDENT OF RECONSTRUCTION ERA.

Shortly after the war, old man Roebuck came from
Ohio to Lowndes county and purchased from a d°.
scendent of the Clan Cameron, a plantation yet
bearing his name, and it is said the canny Scotch-
man, McCall by name, related by affinity to me, madf
a good trade when he parted with the land, mules
and good will of the darkey tenants, who ha:l bem

98 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

his slaves all their lives. Roebuck was a gooi Chris-
tian, if men are ever such, but honestly believed
that the only difference between a white man and a
negro was in the color of their skins, wherein we
all know he was about as far from the truth as the
other "God and morality" man was about the cotton
blooms. But Roebuck came down to shed the light
of the gospel on poor benighted freedmen and south-
ern whites, teach them religion by example, and in-
cidentally make a little money by farming. McCall
agreed to stay with him a few months and assist as
far as he was able, in showing the new settler how
to farm.

Roebuck, from the start called his tenants Brother
Sam and Sister Susan, etc., and had prayer meeting
every night, and the darkey brothers and sisters did
their full share in praying. They went on beautiful-
ly and Roebuck was reaping the reward of his devo-
tion to the colored brother, until finally when spring
plowing got under way, he noticed that his mules
were gaunt and poor, although bountifully fed.
When he complained, Brother McCall told him to
watch the big trough after the mules were fed at
night. He did so, and came with a woefully injured
air and said, "Brother McCall, what do you think? I
found Brother Sam stealing corn from my poor
mules." Brother McCall, who had known such
things for forty years, only said, "You don't say so?"
Shortly afterwards he became downcast and heaving
deep sighs with the tale that Sister Susan was not
as chaste as Diana of old. Brother McCall said,
"you don't say so?" Thus, because Roebuck, good,
honest Christian as he was, already knew so much
more than McCall, the latter let him find out things
for himself. He farmed the year through and the

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 99

darkeys stole his corn and cotton from the fields at
night, so that the old man lost money, and worse
than all, lost faith in his ability to change the leop
ard's spots, so that he sold out and went back to Ohio
a wiser and sadder man.

Secretary Root said in his speech to the Union
League that negro suffrage was a failure, and when
he read it Brother McCall, no doubt, exclaimed, "You
don't say so?" When on his dying bed Roosevelt
shall confess that he could not make the Mississippi
river run up hill, nor enforce negro social equality
in the south, Brother McCalPs ghost will groan, "You
don't say so?" Profound ignorance, not innate cus-
sedness is at the bottom of many prejudices. No
doubt, we have ours, but we do not try to force them
on others, but let them alone.

So it is that very good people a thousand miles
away know so much better than we how to manage
the inferior race. The fathers resolved that the
earth belonged to the saints, and forthwith took
their muskets and shot the Indians in order to rob
them of their land, and the poor Indian still gets the
worst of every bargain. But when other people are
not altogether angels in dealing with an inferior race
suddenly given the ballot, under new and untried
conditions, their malevolence knows no bounds and
the southerner is pictured as the worst of beings.
I am very high tempered, but have never struck a
negro, nor have I seen half a dozen struck since the
war by whites, though for a long time I lived where
they outnumbered the whites five to one.

HOW I BECAME A SCOUT

The campaign had dragged its slow, toilsome and
murderous length from the Wilderness to Cold Har-

100 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

bor. By confronting Lee's army with a force double
its own, fortified behind breastworks, and detaching
a force to threaten our right flank, Grant had ad-
vanced crabwise, with a loss of 40,000 to the ground
occupied by McClellan without a struggle, and on
June 9, 1864, the terrible slaughter of second Cold
Harbor had taken place. We lay in a wheat field
behind earthworks, the enemy's pickets being about
500 yards in front in the edge of the woods, which,
just to the left, abruptly terminated so that two sides
of the woods were surrounded by the wheat, then a
few inches high.

Shortly after daybreak, one of the pickets came
running into camp calling to me, stated that the ene-
my had retreated in the night, and there was a force
just in front of us which had captured John Moore
of the Buena Vista guard, a little fellow who always
wore in his hat a buck tail, captured from the fa-
mous Pennsylvania regiment. The picket was ex-
cited and insisted that I ought to go and recapture
Moore.

I had done a little amateur scouting, and had al-
so been detailed for that duty on a few occasions,
and without giving much thought to the conse-
quence, with the hope of some fresh excitement, I
got an Enfield rifle, and failing to find Colonel Shep-
herd, obtained permission from Captain Chaffin,
who was second in command, and set out. Reaching
our pickets, I found them much excited. The picket
line of the enemy where it appeared in the field was
deserted, but in front was a post whose number^
were unknown, and the woods prevented us from
seeing the line on the right. Dave Moreland of the
second Georgia volunteered with the commander's

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 101

permission to accompany me, and we set out to the
left, going aroung the angle of the woods and pass-
ing through the enemy's deserted picket line. After
we had passed the deserted picket pits some 40 paces
being about 80 yards from the woods, we heard to
our right and rear shouts of "Halt! Surrender!-'
Looking back we saw a number of bluecoats with
their guns leveled at us. Some of them got behind
trees and some got on the reverse side of their little
breastworks, while the rest stood squarely up, and
pointing their guns at us, commanded us to come in.

To say the least of it, the situation was appalling.
I had made up my mind never to surrender, and as
this was a kind of volunteer task on my part, with
our pickets, whom I had left in plain view, I could
not think of giving up. The scanty wheat was not
high enough to afford a cover if I lay down, and
any attempt to retreat would only bring a storm of
bullets, with death as the sure result.

All these things flashed over me, and I decided
that the only thing possible to be done was to bluff
the enemy and fight as a last resort. So I spoke to
Moreland to advance with me against the blue coats,
and facing about, we began to move toward them,
telling them to lay down their arms or they would
all be killed. It seemed to be the most difficult walk-
ing I ever did. Moreland, stooping down, kept at my
side with gun in position, and I halooed myself
hoarse ordering our adversaries to surrender. I or-
dered Moreland not to shoot, for I believed it woulJ
draw their fire on us, in which case we would have
no chance. As we neared them there seemed to be
great commotion among them, some running from
one tree to another, .but some stood up facing us all

102 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

the while. A tall, heavy built Canadian seemed to
be the leader, and he swore many vigorous oaths a'
us, while he kept ordering us to throw down our
guns ; I saw he was the man most to be dreaded. The
rest moved about and seemed undecided, but thh
man never wavered ; keeping his eye on us along his
leveled gun, he continually declared he would shoot
if we did not surrender, and I vociferated as loudly,
that he would be killed if he did not give up. When
we approached within about twenty paces of the
crowd, it seemed matters were at a crisis. I have an
indistinct recollection, that I felt myself on the verge
of an awful precipice, that a moment more and T
would meet death, and eternity would be revealed.
In such moments men live fast and ideas flit past
with lightning-like rapidity.

TWO CAPTURE FOURTEEN.

Just then Moreland's nerves must have given
away. He fired and one of the enemy fell, uttering
loud outcries and awful groans. It proved to be for
tunate for us that Moreland disobeyed orders in fir-
ing. I took advantage of it at once, and calling to
the Canaaicv-i, on whom I kept my eyes all the time
"That man's blood is on your head! Every one of
you will be killed! Look at our men coming! I
walked straight up to him and seized the muzzle of
nis rifle with my left hand, while I put the muzzle of
my gun in his face with my right. He was a brave
man, but his comrades, all foreigners, who could not
speak English did not support him, and he dashed thp.
butt of his rifle to the ground with an oath, and his
comrades also threw down their arms. In a moment

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 103

we had thrown the captured arms into a pile, and
had our feet on them. I felt like a man who had
been rescued from drowning. The joy of victory
was nothing; the escape from death was the only
thought. We took fourteen men back to camp, and
left one dead. Moreland had shot him through the
waist belt, and the poor man's cries and moans had
demoralized his comrades more than our appear-
ance.

It turned out that during the heavy rain storm of
the previous night, the pickets had been freely sup-
plied with liquor, had been ordered to retreat, but
by mistake or the effects of the liquor, the order had
never reached this post of seventeen men under the
command of the Canadian. So that when morning
came he found his little party isolated. He had sent
off two of his men with Moore after his capture, and
like a faithful soldier, was still holding his post
when we came up. His men were all ignorant Ger-
mans, probably confused by the effects of the liquor
and their lonely situation. Had they been as brave
as the Canadian, this tale would not have been writ-
ten, and my life would have been the price of my
folly. I do not think I ever felt fear to the same ex-
tent, before or since, as on that occasion, and the
conviction that I had caused Moreland to be in such
unnecessary peril made it all the worse.

John Moore was retaken in a few minutes, and
came back looking very foolish. Of course many of
our pickets saw the affair, and when Dave Moreland
and I returned in triumph, each carrying a load of
muskets and guarding our fourteen prisoners, our
comrades crowded around us. To them the practical
results were that two men had surrounded and over-
come fifteen of the enemy. Instead of being punish-

104 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ed for my folly I was complimented and a few days
after this General Longstreet detailed me as a Scout.

After turning our prisoners over to the provost
guard, and getting breakfast, I was ordered to fol-
low Grant's army, while our own moved towards
the James river.

Falling in with some Texas scouts, we followed
the Federals several miles until we became very
weary. While resting near the intersection of two
country roads, I saw through the bushes a blue uni-
form and going toward the wearer ordered him to
surrender. He threw down his gun and held up his
hands, and I told him to come to me. On getting back
to my companions, I turned to ask him a question
and found he could not speak a word of English.
Directly I heard the click of a rifle behind me, and
one of the Texans, with an oath, told me to stand
aside. I turned and beheld him with his cocked rifle
leveled at the breast of the miserable brute I had
just captured. I had some sharp words with the
Texan before I could make him desist from his in-
tention to shoot the prisoner, and he finally told me
I had to guard him back to camp, which I was com-
pelled tf do. I divided my scant rations of raw ba-
con with the poor creature, and overtaking the
wagon-train of Longstreet's corps about dark, I fre-
quently lost my man, but he would always get up
with me and make his presence known by a sort of
glad exclamation like the bark of a dog. Doubtless
it meant something in German. He could not under-
stand my words, but he understood the gestures and
motions of the Texan when I was protecting his life.

Late at night, fatigued beyond measure, I found a
provost guard, and by the dim light of the camp fire,

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 105

took a receipt for my prisoner. When I started off
and the guard made him understand by putting a
bayonet to his breast, that he must stay, and I mo-
tioned him back, the disappointment on the poor
brute's face, at parting with his new found friend,
made a picture which lingers yet in memory.

From some of the Texan's friends, I afterwards
learned why he was so blood-thirsty. His brother,
living in Missouri, was a confederate soldier, and
went home on a furlough to visit his young wife and
his first born, then a few days old. It was the dead
of winter and some union troops attempted to cap-
ture him. He escaped to the woods and saw the
savage brutes drive his wife without clothing, with
her infant in her arms, out into the snow and burn
his home. The wife and child died from exposure
and the two brothers' hearts were steeled against
mercy, and, but for my interference, this ignorant
German would have been punished for the crime of
others.

Tempted by the high bounty, he came to murder,
rob and destroy a people who had never harmed him,
of whose very language he was ignorant, and, while
the conduct of the Texan was inexcusable, yet these
things are a part of the history of the times.

I often met this Texan afterwards, but as our sal-
utation was generally by the name of our respective
states, as "Hello Texas," I cannot remember his
name, if I ever knew it. He was tall, lithe, graceful
and comely ,with ruddy cheeks, laughing eyes and
long auburn hair, the sort of man over whom women
rave and brave men dread to meet in combat. While
apparently fearless in the face of the enemy, he was
ever cautious in the scout.

106 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

INCIDENTS ON THE FIELD.

In October, 1864, the enemy made a demonstra-
tion in force against our lines, below Richmond,
which led to some sharp fighting and also sent a
force to turn left and get in our rear. We were
hurried out in the direction of the old Seven Pines
battle ground, late at night? and early next morning
I was ordered to the front to ascertain the where-
abouts of the enemy. I got permission for Simmons,
a brave little fellow, who had a white patch in the
midst of his coal black hair, to accompany me, and
after a time came in sight of the Federal cavalry vi-
dettes, who seemed to be retreating. We followed
them through the old field till we came to some fed-
eral hospital tents, where we found some dead and
wounded soldiers, among whom was a black negro
with his thigh broken by a bullet.

The white men were quite friendly in their man-
ner, but' this impudent fellow asked, "Why the d — d
rebels did not send some one to take care of thg
wounded ?" Simmons retorted m a way that showed
he had no Quaker like scrupples about swearing, and
appeared co be willing to use his rifle on the brute,
but on my intervention let him alone. I noticed that
he had on a fine pair of cavalry boots, almost new,
such as were worth about $500 in Confederate
money. Of these more anon. I got from the side of
a dead Michigan Captain, whose name I think was
Peter Bennett, a green, patent leath sachel, and
near by were some wagons, the wheels of which had
been cut down, loaded with hospital stores. We found
cases of Otard brandy labeled 1858, barrels of crush-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 107

ed loaf sugar, crackers, packages of new woolen un-
derclothing and various other things. We had been
fasting for twenty-four hours, and the copious drink
of brandy each of us took as the first thank offering
for our success, had a considerable effect on our
empty stomachs as well as our heads. We took a
supply of clothing, sugar, and a dozen bottles of
brandy and started to return. We soon met the hand-
some Texan with some companions, and told him of
the good things to be found further in front. Our
command had marched off, and in the effort to over-
take them we became well nigh exhausted, but did
not fail to give our companions an opportunity to
drink a thank offering with the Otard. In the calm
which followed the battle I took the opportunity to
go to Richmond and recruit for a day. Life ap-
peared to be a short affair then, and as we did not
get enough to eat one a month in camps, the oppor-
tunity to go to the city and fill up on good things once
more, and be our of range of shot and shell, afforded
a temptation we did not try to resist, when we had a
supply of confederate currency. Dinner at the Amer-
ican hotel was $20, a drink of apple brandy was $5,
and a theater ticket was $10. I took all the rounds
and just after getting seated in the beautiful new
theater, I saw all my Texas friends come in. They
sat in the row next in the rear of me. After exchang-
ing greetings I asked : "Boys, did you get any sack-
ing the other day?" Receiving an affirmative reply
I asked if they saw the boots on the wounded negro.
The handsome Texan threw his foot encased in those
very boots, on the top of the seat beside my head
remarking: "Yes by G — d, here they are." In ans-
wer to my wondering inquiry as to how he got them
off, he said that he put his foot against the man and

108 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

jerked them off, and the negro could be heard yelling
a mile, which was not to be wondered at. It is all
sad, but it is history.

Afterwards, on a scout, about a dozen federal cav-
alry suddenly charged on this Texan and four com-
panions. They stood their ground in the road, and
my handsome friend got a saber cut on the head and
a horse knocked him into the corner of the fence.
His thick wool hat and the fortunate blow from the
horse's shoulder doubtless saved his life. He picked
himself up and was ready for the fray again within
the time that a modern dude could brush his hair
or wax his moustache.

The last time I saw him was a day or two before
the surrender. Famine had pinched his handsome
features, but his bearing, when, while on a scout,
far from supporting force, a handful of us, sallied
into the woods to engage unknown numbers, was
as gay as if he was entering a ball room.

The little skirmish was soon over, and in a short
while, we came to a fine country mansion. General
(afterwards governor) Fitzhugh Lee was sitting
cross-leg -ed on the lawn with an empty pitcher in
front of nim. He had the pitcher refilled with apple
juice from the farmer's cellar for our benefit, and
there under the noble oaks, as the darkness was fall-
ing on us, doubly dark because the heavy clouds of
defeat were lowering over our devoted army, we
drank a merry round from the Virginian's apple
brandy, and separated to meet no more, each to join
our respective commands, then on the march.

Gallant Texan! I seem to behold your Apollo-like
form, and look into the depths of your laughing blue
eyes.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 109

I came to a mill on a creek near by, and our cav-
alry were helping themselves to flour. As my com-
rades of the line were reduced to worse straits for
food than myself, I took about thirty pounds in a
sack and started off in the darkness, crossing the
creek on a log, and I wonder how I did it, consider-
ing the fatigue, the heavy load I bore, the hunger and
the brandy. I ascended a hill and came to a field.
As I approached within five paces of the woods on
the far side, two men suddenly arose up from the
edge of the bushes, with guns leveled at my breast,
demanded my surrender. I had determined never to
surrender, but the situation was not cheerful. Under
such circumstances men think fast and in a flash it
occurred to me that my captors, being as weary as
myself, I could escape from them or overcome them
in the night. So I surrendered, and immediately
asked what command my captors belonged to, and
was overjoyed to hear the reply "Longstreet's corps."

I engaged one of them, with the promise of five
pounds of flour, to carry the sack to my command,
which, after a weary march, we overtook, and the
next morning my company had bread, made from the
flour, without lard, and baked on ramrods and pieces
of wood. Two days more, and our battle flags were
furled forever at Appomattox.

FORT SECOND GEORGIA.

I had never sacked a soldier dead or alive. True,
after I was wounded at second Manassas, I had re-
placed my shoes, worn out by that long march
through Thoroughfare gap to the relief of Stonewall
Jackson, with a pair of shoes taken from the feet of

110 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

a dead enemy, but that was a necessity, and I never
felt any pangs of remorse for the act. There are in
all armies men who rob — sack is the soldier's word
for it — the dead, the wounded and the living, some-
times being careless whether they are friend or foe.
I have seen gold watches, money and other valuables,
which were said to have been taken from the dead,
and on one occasion I had seen a prisoner, who said
he was a bounty jumper, relieved of a belt contain-
ing over $400 in greenbacks. I had captured him
while alone on a scout, and had guarded him two
miles to camp, and when I turned him over to the
provost guard, the sergeant, Lynch by name, cooly
went through him with results very gratifying to the
Confederates, but most vexatious to the gentleman
in blue.

I was thoroughly imbued with the idea that it was
not in accord with the character of a chivalrous
southern soldier and gentleman to be guilty of rob-
bing the dead. It was with pain and sorrow that I
was forced to confess that we had in the ranks of
our army ghouls and vandals capable of such con-
duct nevertheless. I saw the sun rise after Freder-
icksbuj * on more than 1000 corpses, stripped of ev-
ery vestige of their clothing which could be useful
to the victors and on other occasions after we had
recovered from the enemy the ground where our own
dead lay, I saw that they, too, had vandals in their
ranks.

I think now that I had extreme ideas on the sub-
ject. I expatiated to my comrades on the horrible
custom. The company to which I belonged was an
old one, organized for the Indian war of 1836. It
marched into the city of Mexico with Scott, and had
been feted and toasted in the piping times of peace

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 111

for its superior drilling and the excellent material
of which it was composed. It was our boast that
every man of the one hundred and forty-odd who
composed the company was a gentleman. It was not
singular that I, boy as I was, should have abhorred
the practice of sacking the dead, for we dwelt upon
the enormity of the fiendish practice, and vied with
each other in condemning it.

I wonder now how a change came over me. After
the lapse of more than a quarter of a century, I will
try to tell how it was that I, too, sacked the dead.

It was in September, 1864, after the terrible cam-
paign of the Wilderness when the two armies had set-
tled down before Petersburg into steady seige work,
but murder kept going on all the time, day and night,
with bomb and shell, minnie bullet, mine and coun-
termine. Over to the north of the James a force of
the enemy had a demonstration, and the part of the
army to which I was attached had hurried over there
and met them at Deep Bottom, where Colonel Oates
lost his arm and the gallant Girardy lost his life.
Three small brigades, some cavalry and artillery,
about 1500 in all, were left to guard the north side,
and the writer was one of this force. The writer
had a brother, an only brother, in the fifteenth Ala-
bama, who was captured in a night fight in Wills
Valley near Lookout mountain in November, 1863.

The first information received stated that he had
been killed, but letters sent by flag of truce to differ-
ent prisons, were finally answered by him, and he
stated that in a land of plenty, in sight of fields of
wheat and corn, he was slowly starving, and that
numbers of his comrades had already succumbed to
famine, and cruel treatment. He further stated that

112 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

his clothing was in rags, his only blanket worn out,
the building in which he was quartered, open; he
did not believe he could survive the rigors of the ap-
proaching winter, and wound up by an appeal to his
brother to send him some funds with which to pur-
chase food and clothes, which might prolong his life.
These letters were received during the summer and
fall of 1864, while we lay at Deep Bottom. My ser-
geant's pay was $28 per month in Confederate cur-
rency, and all my friends could not have raised a dol-
lar in greenbacks.

Somehow, during the quiet days at Deep Bottom,
the thought of that boy, starving in a land of plenty;
of how I had shared my scanty rations with Yankee
prisoners, and risked the enemy's bullets to carry
their wounded succor and water, and how hopeless
I was to aid my only brother, preyed on my mind un-
til it underwent a great change. The only way to
get any funds which would benefit my brother was
to sack a dead Yankee, and I found myself arguing
that, in so good a cause, it could not be wrong, and
from this I soon grew to believe it would be a praise-
worthy a t. Thus it was that I made up my mind to
raise son e funds from the dead the very next time I
had an opportunity. We fronted James river, dis-
tant about a mile, about eight miles below Richmond.

ON THE JAMES RIVER.

On September 29, 1864, Ben Butler, with an army
of 18,000 crossed the James, and pushed a force di-
rectly up the river, where was only a picket line, and
another force attacked us. Before day I was out
near the river and saw the enemy's skirmish line and

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 113

heard their words of command. I hurried back and
reported to the general in command, who directed me
to go out and again report what I could find out. Be-
fore I could return from this duty, an attack was
made all along the line and a large force marched
between us and Richmond, compelling my command
to beat a hasty retreat from its position, and I never
returned to camp again. All my worldly effects —
clothing, blankets, everything except what I wore,
fell into the enemy's hands. I was completely sacked,
and my anticipations of booty vanished ; and with
the rest of the command I was speeding at a double-
quick toward the fortifications.

About two miles distant was a line of works, one
part of which was called Fort Harrison. When we
emerged from the woods and came in sight there
was a brigade of some 3000 blue coats between us
and the fort. Like us they, too, had been at a dou-
ble quick for a long way, and were now quietly rest-
ing under the shelter of a little hill, preparatory to
making a dash at the fort, which, but for an accident
would have been entirely without defenders. A work-
ing detail of seventy men, under Major Moore of
the seventeenth Georgia, was passing near when the
enemy came in sight and he immediately resolved to
fight the overwhelming force. He got a sick artil-
leryman to show him how to load a thirty-two pound-
er in the fort, and with this he kept up a great noise,
while the enemy was advancing through the field in
front. Being in light marching order and swift on
foot, three of us, who were scouts, were ahead of
the command and came up very near the rear of the
enemy, firing into the mass of men, who took very
little notice of us; there was a bigger game in front

114 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

of them, and Richmond was almost in their grasp.
But when the head of our column well night exhaust-
ed with the long run, came near enough to cause
alarm, the blue coats rose and made a rush at the
fort. The old thirty-two pounder had been double
shotted with grape as large as walnuts, and when
the enemy reached the crest of the hill, the gallant
Moore pulled the lanyard, and the charge tore a lane
through the masses of the enemy. That scene is
pictured on memory now. The cannon was dismount-
ed by the recoil. The enemy filled the ditch and
climbed up the parapet of the fort, and I could see
our few but gallant fellows striking at them with the
butts of their muskets. In a few moments the fort
was taken and the attention of the victors was turn-
ed to the approaching Confederates. I got a few men,
crossed over the flanking breast-works, and getting
behind some log cabins, which had been winter quar-
ters, kept up a brisk fire on those in possession of
the fort. The main body of our men, still outside the
line of the fortifications, attempted to reach a small
salient about one-fourth of a mile from Fort Harri-
son and r^rt of the same line. The enemy rushed
after th „m, and there was a scene such as is seldom
witnessed even in war. Both sides were almost ex-
hausted with their long run, tongues hanging out,
guns empty, one side calling to the other to halt in
great oaths, and the gray coats refusing to surrender
and swearing back with equal vigor, some striking
at others with their guns. Of course many of our
men were captured, but about eighty of them reach-
ed the small salient, and two pieces of artillery under
the command, as far as I could see, of a young Vir-
ginia corporal — Charlie was his first name, the other

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 115

I never heard, came to our help. A more gallant
fellow than Corporal Charlie I never knew.

The enemy, exhausted, withdrew for a time, and
then reserves began to file into the fields, in plain
view of our position, by the thousands.

In a short while they detached a regiment about
500 strong to charge our position. They advanced
gallantly under fire of Corporal Charlie's two guns
and the remnant of our force until within 150 yards,
when they began to lie down behind convenient po-
sitions, such as logs, stumps and other cover. Some
brave fellows came within 20 yards of the works,
and, finding themselves unsupported, lay down there.
In the spring previous a small piece of woods in front
of the fort had been cut down and the sprouts had
put up, and these, covered with leaves, furnished cov-
er which concealed while it did not protect the as-
sailants, who kept up a brisk fire on our devoted
few. Every man of Corporal Charlie's force was
killed, wounded or had become demoralized, and he
had to call on the infantry to help him load after the
gun had recoiled from the platform, and to help push
the gun back to its position, after which, amid a hail
of bullets, he would aim his gun at the ground just
in front of the fort, and, with hearty curses, pull the
lanyard. Sometimes we saw caps, pieces of muskets
clothing and other things fly into the air, as the solid
shot tore through the cover in front of us. The am-
munition of the infantry gave out, and things looked
very critical; but after awhile two men, who had
been sent for it, returned with a supply of cartridges
in their blankets, having to run the gauntlet of a tre-
mendous fire of artillery and musketry. Our devoted
band raised a shout, and hope revived in their
breasts. Across the wide field about a half a mile

116 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

distant, were at least 5000 federal infantry and many
pieces of artillery. There was nothing for them to
do but to walk over us, but for some unexplained
reason they stood supinely and let the brave fellows
in front bear all the brunt of the fight.

We saw that we must get rid of these men nearest
to us, and volunteers to charge them were called for.
Eleven of us responded at once, all that were needed
or could be spared, and Lieutenant Hines of south-
west Georgia called for two of these to be the first
with him to mount the works and draw the enemy's
fire. John Lindsay, of Columbus, Ga., and another
whose name I forget, promptly responded to the call.
The plan was for those who were to remain in the
fort to load their guns and be ready to shoot any blue
coat who arose from the cover to his feet ; the three
men were to draw the fire of the enemy and the other
eight of the charging party were to mount the works
and assail the enemy who were lying in the bush.
The plan was carried out perfectly. It seems to me,
I can now see Hines and Lindsay, both redheaded
and both small, as they leaped into the air from the
works. Some of the Federals at once rose to their
feet, and all who were loaded fired, but our men shot
down every man who had arisen, and the balance of
the eleven volunteers at once leaped over the works,
I being one of the number. I never knew what took
place for the next few minutes any more than if I
had not been at the scene of action. I had no know-
ledge of what I did, or of what others did, until I
found myself sometime afterwards about 100 to 150
yards from the fort. To say that I was excited would
convey a very faint idea if the state of my mind. I
was entirely absorbed, delirous. It was victory or
death, and, had the latter come to me then, I would

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 117

not have known it, should not have felt it. Our
task was not so hard as it would seem. When men
who compose a charging column once lie down, scat-
tered behind a convenient cover, it is almost impos-
sible to get them to act in concert, and especially hard
to get them to rise up in the face of a withering fire.
The first who rise are shot down, the rest do not at-
tempt it. Lying on the grounds, scattered, unable
to load their guns, except slowly and with difficulty,
they interposed little obstacles to the madmen who
rushed among them. The first thing I remember af-
ter leaving the works I was about 150 yards from the
fort, standing with one foot on a pine log, the other
on the ground. My Enfield rifle was clubbed and
raised high in the air. Four living and some dead
federals were behind the log and the victory was
won, on that part of the line and the fight was over
for the time.

We captured 287 prisoners who were unhurt, be-
sides the wounded, and there were many corpses on
the ground, some sadly mangled by Charlie's solid
twelve pound shot.

I remember that I ordered the four men to the
rear and made others go into the fort, when, all at
once, I thought of my brother, and this was my first
opportunity for getting funds. At my feet, lying
prone on his face, was a dead man. Corporal Char-
lie's solid shot had hit the back of his head as he
lay on the ground, and left only his face and the front
of his skull. I turned him over, got out a new pock-
etbook and a new red silk handkerchief, then looked
around for more, I found two other dead men, hasti-
ly relieved them of their pocketbooks, and began to
look for more, when lo! I found that my Confeder-

118 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ates had been engaged in the same work and there
were no more bodies to search. I gathered five mus-
kets, took them back to the little fort and loaded
them all for the patient gentlemen who were stand-
ing at the far edge of the fields observing all these
proceedings. They had stopped their cannonading
when we began to send prisoners into the fort for
fear of killing their own men. I then inspected my
booty. Two of the pocketbooks belonged to owners
as poor as I, for there was not a cent in them. But
the other, the first find, had in it $49 in greenbacks
ard 96 cents in United States postage stamps. I was
rich. I had found money to send to the prisoner if
I could only live through this battle. I also found a
note in the pocketbook requesting some dear comrade
of John W. House to notify his mother and sister at
Wheeling, W. Va., of his death. I was not a comrade,
but I wrote by flag of truce telling them that John
died bravely in front of the enemy.

This was the first, last and only time I ever search-
ed the pockets of a dead man. Before and after that
time, whilst on scouts and in battle, I found much
plunder. At one time a pearl handled dagger, at an-
other a wagon load of delicacies, among them bottles
of Otard brandy and barrels of loaf sugar; at an-
other I took fifty-two letters from girls to one Asa
Frear from the knapsack of the said Asa, and in the
lull of the battle the boys read them aloud, much to
their edification.

After this we had rest for a time on our part of
the line, but away off to the left at Fort Gilmer, on
the same line, there was warm work going on, and
far in our rear we could hear the sounds of battle,

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 119

where Kautz with his cavalry was trying to force
the innermost defenses of the city, and Pemberton
of Vicksburg fame? with department clerks and old
men, was pounding away with 100 pound shells at
a skirmish line.

Meanwhile some Texans and reserve artillery had
come to our assistance and as we had all the captur-
ed rifles loaded up, we felt anxious to try another
bout with our friends, the enemy, who were still
in plain view in front and in great numbers.

About 5 o'clock in the evening we saw a stir in
their lines and a gallant regiment, the forty-fifth
Pennsylvania, I think, marched to the front of their
lines and were apparently addressed by some officer,
after which they directed their steps towards our
little fort. The regiment appeared to number about
450 men, and as we had about 150 besides artillery
and the advantage of good breastworks, it was a
clear case of suicide on their part, and more than
one of our men expressed sorrow that these men were
sent on such forlorn hope. Expecting the artillery
and ten rifle men, our force was ordered to reserve
its fire until the enemy reached a ditch about 200
yards in front. They came on gallantly closing up
the gaps made in their ranks by the shells and bul-
lets, and preserving their line as if on parade until
they reached the ditch, when a terrible fire was open-
ed on them. They made a rush forward, but the hail
of bullets was too much for human nature to stand.
Some escaped back to their lines, but they were few,
perhaps not more than thirty, the rest were killed,
wounded or captured, and we held the fort, which
was named "Second Georgia," after the writer's reg-
iment, until the fall of Richmond.

120 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

It is fitting that I should relate how I disposed of
my booty. I mailed to my brother three $5 bills sep-
arately in letters and shipped a box of tobacco, ad-
dressed to the lone prisoner. Alas! the rules re-
quired the letters to be unsealed, and some thief,
Federal or Confederate "sacked" the letters of the
money, and the tobacco never reached its destina-
tion. When the surrender came at Appomattox, I
had of my booty left one paper 10 cents in green-
back, and that I gave to a federal soldier for some
soap.

My brother pale and haggard, his spirit utterly
broken by want, confinement and cruel treatment,
was released January 1865 on parole.

John Lindsay, who received a furlough signed by
the immortal Lee, for gallantry at Chickamauga, was
killed at Columbus, Ga.

Of the other gallant spirits who participated in
the dangers and joys of that day's fray, I recall Col.
W. S. Shepard, Capt. Thomas Chaffin, William An-
derson, ("Prince") James DuBose, "sex" of the Col-
umbus guards, and Henry Bussey, John Simmons,

Dave Moreland, Shepherd, of other companies

in the second Georgia. It was their lot to illustrate
on that day southern heroism and prove that gun-
powder had not driven courage out of the world.

THE SECOND MANASSAS

A slight wound received at Malvern Hill on the
1st of July, 1862, and a severe spell of sickness, had
given me a furlough at home, where everybody
showered attention on the soldier. Returning to
Virginia on the 24th of August, I left the cars at

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 121

Culpepper Court House and set out to join my com-
mand, then marching to the Rappahannock. The
road was full of marching battalions, artillery and
wagon trains, and it was difficult to pass through
them while in motion. When halted for rest the men
would stretch themselves out on each side of the
road, and the poor stragglers who had to run the
gauntlet of the fire of wit from the long lines of sol-
diers, is not apt to forget it. If, as was the case
with the writer, he had on clean clothes, he became
the subject of unmerciful raillery. At every step
he was greeted with "Come out of them clothes; I
know you are in them; I see your feet stickin' out."
"Look at the conscript." Then some persistent fel-
low would say "Left, Left," as if drilling an awk-
ward squad to keep step, and just as I would get out
of the sound of his voice another would take it up.
Every old soldier who was at all sensitive, knows
what a trial of patience he had to undergo in pass-
ing troops on the march. No one had wit sharp
enough to parry the thousand volleys with which he
was assailed. Fighting was out of the question, so
a kind of a meek, subdued and injured air was the
universal refuge on such occasions.

I overtook my regiment at Jeffersonton, and some
shelling was going on across the river. We march-
ed further northward and camped for the night.
Our rations the next few days were composed of
roasting ears without salt, varied with a little beef,
and on one or two days a slender bit of badly cured
bacon. I saw George Abercrombie eat thirteen
roasting ears at one meal, and then he dryly remark-
ed, "D — n a Government that won't furnish fodder."

But a few days before I had been in bed, and fair

122 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

hands had prepared for me all sorts of delicacies,
and put flowers on my pillow. The change of diet
was rather sudden, not to say startling.

Stonewall Jackson had gone around to Pope's
rear, and after a day or two we followed, fording
the river and marching through the peaceful valley
and the quiet town of Salem towards Thorough-
fare Gap. This Gap is a natural curiosity. The
mountain range has the appearance of having been
pulled by a giant hand into two parts, separated by
a little space, just sufficiently wide for a little
creek, a country road and a railroad to pass side by
side through the range. Tomb's brigade was in
front that day, and we had gotten well into the de-
file, when the bullets began to sing through our
ranks and some men fell. We had no idea of danger
until then. Withdrawing to the edge of the pass we
commenced to clamber up the mountain and soon
gained the top, but the front of the pass was occu-
pied by artillery, which shelled us till after night
fall. Some troops were sent around by another
pass and when day returned the blue coats were
gone and we resumed our march, Hood's Texas
brigade in front. After awhile we could see, far up
against the blue sky, the white smoke of bursting
shells, though we could not hear their sound, which
told of the heavy fight Jackson was making against
the whole of Pope's army. We quickened our steps
as the story ran down the lines, of the danger our
comrades were in. We passed Gainesville, and filed
into line of battle on each side of the pike by ten
o'clock in the morning. We were made to face to-
wards the east; as we afterwards learned to inter-
cept Fitz John Porter, who was afterwards con-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 123

demned to die because he did not walk over Long-
street's corps that day.

Volunteers for the skirmish line were called for,
and Ferguson and myself were accepted from the
Columbus Guards. We were placed in a field near
a house, and far enough from the brow of the hill
overlooking the old Manassas battle ground to pre-
vent any view of the fight, which raged all day and
far into the night. By the cheering in the shrill
tones, we knew so well, we could tell that our com-
rades were victorious in the charge and repulse. We
lay in line that night and until 4 p. m. next day, with-
out even a sight of the momentous conflict going on
within half a mile of us.

About 4 p. m. Col. Rosser ordered a battery of the
famous Washington Artillery to the brow of the
hill in front, and some of the pieces were planted
within a few yards of a farm house, Compton's, the
doors of which had been closed all the time. At the
word of command the six guns were discharged,
shaking the earth with their roar, and all at once,
the basement door was thrown open, and a poor
woman with two babies in her arms, followed by a
nurse and several small children rushed out, shriek-
ing as if they were about to be murdered. Fergu-
son and I threw down our guns and rushed to them
and taking an armful of children apiece bore them
off to a place of safety. The poor woman was
frightened nearly to death, and doubtless thought
her end had come. Later in the night I saw her
attending to the wounded, and she had the oppor-
tunity to repay the little kindness I had shown her,
by attending to my own hurt.

We were ordered to advance, a rail fence lay in
our way, and at the word of command, a soldier at

124 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

each corner gave a push and it went down as if by
magic. As we reached the brow of the hill the
whole scene, the panorama of battle, lay before us
in the valley, shrouded only by the canopy of smoke.

For the first time I saw artillery charge. Two
pieces would be driven at a furious gallop to a knoll,
unlimber and fire, while two others would gallop
past them to another eminence, and commence fir-
ing, when the first couple would — like well-trained
dogs — rush past them to get a position. Thus alter-
nating, this artillery kept ahead of us, although we
were in a run, and actually drove the enemy some
distance before we could overtake them.

Our line of advance carried us to the right of the
Chinn house, down a little ravine with a hill to our
left and a piece of scattering woods to our right.
The site of the Henry House, where Bee and Bar-
tow fell in 1861, was about one mile in front. On
the hill was a New York brigade, which had just
come up in splendid line as a reinforcement as our
line exhausted by the long run, halted and com-
menced firing. I had fired my sixth round, at the
blue line on the hill, about 80 yards distant, and I
was capping my old smooth bore musket, when I
received a minnie bullet through the lower edge of
my right hand. I did not feel any pain, but my arm
was completely benumbed I was a little in front of
my company, and walked back to them. I remem-
ber now that I was completely bewildered, and had
no idea what to do. I was an useless machine of
no further value in that fight. Tom Beasley, cousin
of Augusta Jane Evans, the authoress, was sergeant
of the little corps, generally carrying an old cavalry
sabre as a walking stick. He came to me, and amid
the shower of bullets untied a handkerchief conven-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 125

iently fastened about my neck, and with it, tied my
hand, which was bleeding profusely. Tom was as
cool and deliberate as if he was far from danger,
and told me to lie down in a little depression near by.
This soon filled up with wounded men and proving to
be a very unsafe place, I went across the ravine, and
lay down in a little gulley, where a dead Confederate
made a sort of breastwork for me. I heard several
bullets strike my fortification; men came running
over me in rapid flight, and I could hear it said that
our men were giving way. Never having been in
the rear before I was not aware that this demorali-
zation was common in the rear of a line of battle,
so I took to flight with the rest. It took a long run to
get out of the reach of bursting shells and bullets. I
met General Toombs and staff in a gallop, their
horses covered with foam. He had been under ar-
rest, but obtained permission to join his brigade. I
raised my hat and he stopped long enough to inquire
the whereabouts of his brigade.

Finally, I arrived at a place where I could rest in
comparative safety, and I turned to view the battle.
The roar of artillery, the incessant discharge of
small arms, the shout of the combatants were ex-
citing enough, but the smoke hung over the lines so
that little could be seen. Finally, about sundown,
Lee ordered his last reserves. It was a Georgia bri-
gade advancing gallantly through the level field on
our extreme right, and a Federal brigade was sent
to meet them. The sun shone brightly on the long
lines of steel, and the foemen advanced with quick
steps towards each other, as if they were brothers
eager to embrace. All at once, they stopped, the
blue line got in the first volley. Some of the gray
fell, some ran to the rear. I wondered if they would

126 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

all follow. Staggered for a moment, they returned
the volley, and with a shout rushed forward into the
canopy of smoke, and I saw no more of the battle,
though I watched with anxious eyes till nightfall.
Streams of wounded, ambulances, staff officers, men
hurrying to and fro, were plentiful. The firing and
the shouts of our men grew more distant and I knew
we had won the day.

A sense of lonliness came over me. I was a broken
wheel, a useless machine, with no companions and
no food. I wandered to the place from which we
started to charge, and there it was darkness and
more lonely. Beyond I saw the glimmer of a light,
and there I found the lady whom we had assisted.
She bound up my hand, gave me water to drink and
a kind word. I made my way back to the Chinn
House, and lay down in the east portico. The house
and yard were full of dead and wounded men, but
fatigue, hunger and wretchedness were soon forgot-
ten in welcome sleep. During the night a wounded
captain was brought and laid down beside me, but
when morning came he was a corpse.

A cold rain was falling, the surgeons were still
busy amputating limbs, and the piles of legs and
arms attested their patient work during the night.
The sight was not calculated to cheer me. The smell
of warm blood, in my exhausted condition, was too
much for me, and for once I nearly fainted, but I
went out into the cold rain and walked among the
numerous dead, who covered the fields around.

After a while, out of sheer loneliness and wretch-
edness, I approached a group of wounded federals
and sitting on the ground in the rain, we talked over
the events of the day before. One of them, a captain
from Pennsylvania, whose name I regret that I have

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 127

forgotten, had the air and manner of a courteous
gentleman. We soon became friends. His ankle was
shattered, but he had hands, coffee and rations. I
brought wood and water; he made a fire and some
very good coffee. He shared the contents of his
haversack with me, and under the influence of a good
meal our spirits revived. He pressed me to visit him
or call on him for any favor, and as good friends
we parted, he in an ambulance train under flag of
truce for Washington, and I for a weary walk to
Culpepper, a hospital experience, and a sixty days
furlough. I trust that the courteous Pennsylvanian,
at once my enemy, host and friend, yet lives in pros-
perity.

I have thus detailed what I actually saw of the
second battle of Manassas, not because it is thrilling
or interesting, but to show how little of a battle is
actually seen by one man.

Between thirty and forty thousand men were kill-
ed, wounded or captured, and many pieces of artil-
lery and thousands of small arms were taken, yet I
only saw a small part of it. The line of battle ex-
tended over several miles, the woods, hills and smoke
prevented any extended observation.

SANDER'S BRIGADE

AT THE CRATER.

After Grant met the bloody repulse at Cold Har-
bor early in June, 1864, he moved to the left and,
crossing the James river on pontoons, suddenly
threw a large part of his army against Petersburg.
Gen. Lee having to move by a longer line and across

128 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

two bridges, was unable to meet the federals with
anything like equal numbers and there was a terri-
ble struggle to save Petersburg on the 17th and 18th
days of June. Hood's old division, commanded at
that time by Gen. Fields, to which the writer be-
longed, arrived at the front line during the night of
the 18th of June, and took position behind the line
which had fought all day, and when light dawned we
found that we were in close range of the enemy and
without works, in an open field. With bayonets for
picks and tin cups for spades we speedily threw up
earthworks, which afterwards formed part of the fa-
mous line of defense.

Just to our left, and east of the city, was a slight
elevation, and here the lines were only about a hun-
dred yards apart, and firing was incessant. Men
would load and fire for two hours in the night, wake
up the relief and lie down in the trenches. The re-
lief would often stand with one foot on each side of
the head of a sleeping comrade and fire until re-
lieved. Burnsides' corps faced us at this point, and
he reported that without a battle in about a month he
lost 1,150 men, mostly killed.

The colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment, composed
mostly of miners, suggested a mine to blow up our
works, and obtained the consent of the commander.
A tunnel about five feet square and 110 yards long
was run from their lines to a point under our works,
and then under our works on each side with cham-
bers cut in the earth. In these chambers was placed
powder, 8,000 pounds, and the tunnel filled with
sand bags to confine the force of the powder. Our
engineers had discovered that the enemy was tun-
neling, and had sunk a shaft at that point but not
deep enough to reach the tunnel.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 129

Meantime Grant made preparations to make the
blow effective. He crossed the James river to Deep
Bottom, near Malvern Hill, with a large force, and
this caused Gen. Lee to carry five of the eight di-
visions which composed his army and one brigade
over to the north side of the James to meet the dem-
onstration. Grant recrossed the James at night, and
had his whole army massed to take advantage of
the whole explosion of the mine, whilst less than
three-eights of the Confederates were opposed to
him.

The federals had eighty-one heavy guns and mor-
tars, besides many pieces of light artillery, bearing
on the point to be assaulted; their infantry, includ-
ing a division of negroes of 4,500 men, were massed
in covered ways ready to spring upon the thin line
in front as soon as the explosion took place. This was
ordered at 3 :30 a. m. on the 30th of July, 1864, but
the fuse was defective and was relighted after the
lapse of half an hour, and at 5 :45 there was a vast
upheaval of earth, resulting in a crater about thirty
feet deep, fifty feet wide and 200 long. Many of our
men, one a colonel, were buried under the masses of
clay, and their bodies still remain there.

The forward division of the army poured over the
intervening space into the crater and the adjoining
works. It had better be explained here that our
works were formidable. First, there was an earth-
work six feet high, with a broad trench behind it. At
intervals banks of earth call traverses were thrown
up perpendicular to these works to prevent an en-
filade fire. Then there was a covered way some fifty
feet in the rear, which was a broad ditch with the
e.rth thrown up on the side next to the enemy, and

130 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

intended to cover re-enforcements — those bringing
in ammunition and rations — as well as for carrying
out the dead and wounded. Besides these there were
numerous cross ditches, sinks, etc., which cut up the
ground.

The enemy took possession of these works and the
crater on each side for a distance of more than 100
yards, and, once in them, the works afforded secur-
ity against any attack by our men except a direct
charge into them and mortar shells.

We had no second line and only a few mortars
manned by less than fifty men were between the
enemy and Petersburg. They had nothing to do but
move forwad to the crest of the hill and Petersburg
was within their grasp. But the severe losses of the
past month by this division from our sharp-shooters,
and the recollection that it was not easy to win any-
thing from the Army of Northern Virginia, as well
as the want of competent leaders, caused the enemy
to stop in the crater and adjoining works, and at-
tempt to wrest more of our line on each side of the
crater from our troops. Here the fighting was very
severe. Each traverse formed a little fort, and was
defended with desperation. Behind one all the de-
fenders had been killed but three and one of these
took his position kneeling whilst the other two loaded
guns for him, and as fast as an enemy would try to
pass around the end of the traverse he was shot, until
twenty-six men fell. The ground between the works
of the enemy and ours in rear of the crater to the
crest, was swept by a rain of fire.

Burnside, who was in command of the attacking
force, from his safe position, ordered in more troops,
who rushed forward into the space already crowded
by men sheltering themselves from the pitiless bul-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 131

lets and mortar shells. Finally the colored troops —
4500 strong — were ordered to charge. It is said
they had been plied with liquor to enthuse them; but
the delay caused by the failure of the fuse at first
caused their inspiration to cool ; but they rushed to
the crater with loud cries of "Give the d — d rebels
no quarter!" Their officers tried to get them to
charge the crest behind the crater, and, in the court
of inquiry held by order of the federal secretary,
some of the officers testified that they advanced
200 yards past the crater towards Petersburg, but
were repulsed.

Some of Sanders' brigade now living in Birming-
ham say that when they charged over this very
ground later in the day, there were no dead or
wounded visible on this portion of the field, so it is
quite probable that these officers were mistaken.

Repeated orders were sent to the division com-
manders of the Federal troops to advance; but the
reply was that the other troops were in front, and
the scene of action so crowded that no more troops
could find lodgment there. In fact, from all accounts
some 12,000 or 15,000 men were already packed into
a space about the size of a block in one of our cities,
and our mortar shells exploding in the midst of
such masses produced frightful confusion and death.

As soon as troops could be moved from our right —
a distance of nearly two miles — they were brought
up to supply the places of those killed by the explo-
sion and to retake our works. Every foot of the
ground over which the charge was made was swept
by an incessant fire. Nearly 100 pieces of artillery
and thousands of rifles were hurling missies of death
every instant.

132 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Mahone's and Wright's brigades were brought up,
and after heavy loss, succeeded in retaking our lines
up to within forty yards of the crater on our left.
Then Sanders' Alabama brigade, about 1500 strong,
was brought up through the covered way and filed
into the field about 300 yards in rear of the crater,
where a small depression sheltered them as they lay
prone upon the ground. Mahone went along the line
and told the men not to fire a shot until they got
to the enemy. Sanders' brigade was composed of the
Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Fourteenth Ala-
bama regiments, all of whom had seen service on
many a well contested field. These men lay under
the burning July sun, with shells and bullets flying
over them for nearly two hours, when, at the word of
command they rose and moved off in quick time, in
perfect line toward the crater. When within about
fifty yards of the enemy a terrible volley was poured
into their line, and the devoted Alabamians trailed
their arms and broke into a double quick. Before
the federals could reload our men plunged into the
crowded mass and the work of death began anew,
but now with bayonet and clubbed guns.

The scene is said to have been indescribable. In
places our mortar shells had exploded in the crowded
mass of men, tearing them in pieces. In the hot sun-
shine the odor arising from the blood and mangled
remains was horrible. One man, the son of a promi-
ment judge, leaped into the crater striking a Federal
to the ground as he jumped on him. Quickly recover-
ing, he plunged his bayonet through the prostrate
man with such force that it penetrated a plank, and
when the gun was withdrawn the bayonet remained,
pinioning the man down as a boy pins a fly to the

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 133

wall. As the Confederate withdrew his gun a Federal
fired at him and the ball shattered his left arm near
the shoulder. Swinging his gun with his remianing
arm he brought it down on the head of the federal,
crushing his skull. The wounded man then escaped,
living long to tell the tale.

Adjutant Fonville of the Fourteenth Alabama was
shot while surrounded by enemies, but Captain Ter-
rell of Dadeville at once slew the man who killed him.
It would be vain to even attempt to relate the one
hundredth part of the personal conflicts which en-
sued when 1500 men threw themselves into the midst
of the several thousand enemies, packed like sardines
in the crater and ditches which formed our works.
Death was everywhere and men fought like demons.
Our men had heard the cry of the negroes to give no
quarter, the broiling sun, the smoke, the smell of
powder and blood, and the desperation born of the
resolve to conquer or die brought on a delirium which
all soldiers have felt. As it is said that the work of
slaughter went on long after the resistance had
ceased, and stopped only after Mahone had exerted
himself for a long time to stay the hands of his in-
furiated men.

A federal soldier visiting the scene long after-
wards, relates that he, with five white and fourteen
negro comrades, had crowded into a bomb-proof for
shelter. Knowing that the Confederates had heard
the cry of "No quarter" from the negroes and fear-
ing that the whites, too, would be slaughtered, they
deliberately resolved to kill all their black comrades
so as to get an opportunity to surrender, and they
carried their resolution into effect.

The land on which the crater is situated was own-
ed by Griffith, and is now owned by his son, who was

134 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

13 years of age at the time of the battle. He pulled
the lanyards for two mortars in rear of the crater
for two hours during the battle. And when the mor-
tar ceased firing he went to the edge of the crest and
witnessed the charge of Mahone's, Wright's and fin-
ally of Sanders' brigade. He says the soldier boys of
the volunteer companies drilling in the streets did
not make a better line or move with more precision
than did Sanders' brigade when they marched into
the jaws of death on that eventful day. Griffith
went to the crater on August 1, when the dead were
being buried under flag of truce, and, with the vivid
recollection of a boy, he can tell many things forgot-
ten by the men who took part in the same.

He says in some places men were piled up like
cordwood, tumbled into a heap at least six deep.
The blood had been mixed by the feet of the strug-
gling men with the clay, until the mud so formed
was ankle deep.

The total loss of the Federals as reported by Gen-
eral Meade on that day was 4400; and, when it is
considered that most of these losses were in a space
not much larger than one of our city blocks, and
that space cut by the ditches and banks of earth,
one can readily imagine what a scene of carnage and
bloodshed, when so many men besides 1800 of our
own were lost.

The crater is now enclosed with a fence, and a
growth of pines and cedar has sprung up as if to
cover the awful scene. The works on each side have
been leveled — done, it is said, to obtain the lead found
in them — and the field is now cultivated. The same
spring to which we resorted at night continues to
flow with cool, pure water, so grateful to us during
the weary months of the siege.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 135

The writer served in the trenches over a month
about 100 yards to the right of the crater, but his
command was ordered to the north of the James one
day before the battle, and he did not participate in
it. This narrative is compiled partly from accounts
given by others, and partly from the records of a
court of inquiry held by the Federal authorities,
which rested much of the blame of their failure on
General Burnside and some of his subordinate com-
manders. Had a Jackson, Gordon or Mahone com-
manded on their side with Grant's whole army pres-
ent, and five-eights of General Lee's absent, with the
advantage of the surprise and the loss occasioned by
the explosion, the siege of Petersburg would have
terminated on that day.

The writer has urged some of the participants to
put on record the part taken by Sanders' brigade;
and this is written as a tribute to the gallant Ala-
bamians who on that memorable day made a rec-
ord of valor and devotion which should be commem-
orated by a monument. Some of the survivors yet
live in our midst, and a visit to the crater and a de-
scription by an eye witness will gratify and prove a
reward to anyone who believes that heroism yet lives
in the world.

When night closed on the dreadful scene and other
troops came to relieve the remnant of the commands
who retook our works, it is said to have been inex-
pressibly sad. Our Virginia regiment went into the
battle with ninety-seven men. At roll call that night
only seven answered to their names, and none were
prisoners. Ninety were dead or wounded. At the
roll call of the Sixty-fourth Georgia of Wright's bri-
gade, the major of the regiment would answer to the

136 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

names of those who had been killed "dead on the
field of honor." He burst into tears but with broken
voice he continued the responses. Sanders' brigade
did not suffer so heavily as some of the others who
charged earlier in the day.

CHICAMAUGA

After Lee's army had recoiled from the rock-bound
heights of Gettysburg, and, cumbered with its
wounded, had slowly made its way to the swollen
Potomac, to find that its pontoons had been destroy-
ed, we turned to hold the cautious enemy at bay at
Falling Waters, whilst means for crossing the river
could be procured. We lay watching the foe, while
houses were being torn down to procure plank to
make the bridge, and finally our rear-guard ap-
proached the river under the fire of shell and minnie
bullets. A brass band had been stationed on the hill
overlooking the Virginia end of the bridge, and I can
recall distinctly that, mingled with the whiz of the
bullets and the roar of artillery came the burst of
music from the band as it gaily discoursed, "Ain't
you mighty glad you've come out of the Wilderness?"
I have had a sort of affection for the air ever since.
After that, we had little trouble from our pursuers,
and we went into camp behind the Rappahannock,
near Chancellorsville battle ground, where we re-
mained until September, resting and recruiting our
wasted columns, with the returning comrades who
had been only slightly wounded. Camp duties were
light, and especial pains were taken to feed us well.

I remember well that we took special pride in a
dinner our mess gave one day, in which the principal
dish was a pot of forty-two apple dumplings, served

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 137

with sauce made of butter, sugar, and apple brandy.
It was a red letter day for us, and the fortunate
guests were looked upon as pampered epicures. The
sutler's stores supplied playing cards, books of all
kinds began to circulate, and we took our ease under
the shade of the forest, played whist and euchre or
read Macaria, Les Miserables, or Scott's novels, or
slept, or dreamed away existence, not knowing what
hour might call us to face danger again.

Suddenly we received orders to prepare four day's
rations, and be ready to march at a moment's notice,
no one knew whither, but we all knew that the ene-
my in front was making no demonstration, and that
Bragg had been manoeuvred out of Chattanooga, and
a battle was imminent in Georgia. We soon ascer-
tained that two of Longstreet's divisions were order-
ed to reinforce Bragg's army in Georgia, and em-
barking on the cars, we made our way towards the
South. As usual the men were as gay as school-
boys at play. We made a stop at Raleigh, N. C.,
where Holden published a paper which was very
abusive of President Davis and the Confederate Gov-
ernment. That night his office was attacked, and his
printing outfit completely destroyed by some sol-
diers, led by some North Carolinians. During the
battle of Chickamauga a comrade handed
me some type, which he said came out of Holden's
office. I was asleep at the time or perhaps I would
have figured in the business? for we had little re-
spect for those who fired into our rear, while we
were at the front.

The trains moved slowly in those days but we
finally arrived at Augusta, Ga., sometime in the
night. There was a direct road to Atlanta, and I
had taken my place on the floor of a freight car and

138 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

was fast asleep when Lucius Johnson, son of him
who afterwards became Provisional Governor of
Georgia, aroused me and informed me that the Cal-
umbus guards had permission to go by Columbus
on twenty-four hours furlough. It was nearly 200
miles further, we had no money to pay our passage,
that particular spot on the plank floor of the car
seemed to be very soft and inviting to me in my half
slumbers, and I protested against going, but Lucius
dragged me out by the foot and we took the train for
Columbus, via Macon, and had comfortable seats in
a passenger coach. After daylight we began to dis-
cuss ways and means for making the trip. I had
two dollars in Confederate money, and was the larg-
est capitalist in the company, by odds. When the
conductor came around the first men of the company
of whom he demanded fare, replied, pointing to their
Enfield rifles, "I paid my fare at Gettysburg," and
the poor bewildered man had to content himself with
the answer. Somehow it got ahead of us by wire
that the Columbus Guards, which was a crack com-
pany in the days of peace, was on the train, and
after a little, at every station, the people shoved good
things through the windows of the cars to us, with-
out money and without price. Figs, water-melons,
cakes, pies, apples, everything one could desire, were
thrust on us in profusion. Such a day of hilarity,
feasting and enjoyment I never saw. At Macon we
were invited to supper at Brown's Hotel, the best in
the place, but several of us could not accept the invi-
tation because we were full already. Arriving at
Columbus late at night, I continued my journey on
the Opelika road, to my home, eight miles out, where
I lay down on the piazza of an old store and slept

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 139

two hours, rather than disturb my relatives. A
leave of absence for twenty-four hours ! Can you re-,
alize it? A whole day among loving kin and friends,
well dressed, clean and neat, no drums, no orders,
no bullets, shells, death or bloodshed, nothing but
kind words, feasting peace and pleasure. It is said
if there is no cross, there is no crown ; and one must
endure hardships of a soldier's life to feel to their
depths the pleasure of a furlough of one day. How
it pictured on memory now, a green spot in the
dreary waste!

Promptly on time I took the train the succeeding
night and arrived at Atlanta, where, during a deten-
tion of a few hours, I took the opportunity to visit,
for a short hour, Mrs. Mary E. Bryan, the authoress,
an own cousin, who was residing with her father
whose name was Rogers. This was the only time I
ever saw her. Here, too, I met for the last time,
W .D. Kyle, a Tennessean, who had left his home
near Clarksville, to join our company, and with
whom, after a year of friendship, I had an unfor-
tunate misunderstanding. We made friends, spent
a pleasant hour together. I took the train for fate-
ful Chickamauga, and as I stepped off the cars the
sharp reports of the rifles of the distant pickets
greeted my ears, reminding me in no gentle way,
that my day of pleasure was past.

I found many of my comrades on the ground,
many others had not yet arrived. We had all been
anxious to come down and help our comrades of
Bragg's army win a battle. In most of the con-
flicts in Virginia, we had routed the enemy and we
were consequently inspired with the belief that we
were irresistable when we met the foe on open

140 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ground. On our way down we had boasted that we
would show these Western Yankees how they could
be beaten. We did show them, but alas! it took the
blood of three-fourths of our men to teach them the
lesson. As usual, the sound of the picket firing and
occasional roar of cannon had a sobering effect on
us, and the look of grim determination which always
precedes the battle, settled on every countenance.

After marching and counter-marching in the
woods in a very perplexing way, about 4 P. M. of
Saturday, the 19th day of September, 1863, we were
ordered forward till we came to a place where our
line of battle had been hotly engaged, and for a long
way could be seen the still forms of the dead Confed-
erates, clad in their rusty grey uniforms. They
were almost in line.

"E'en as they fell in files they lay,
Like mowers grass at close of day."

In Virginia, where the country is mostly open,
we had been used to the sudden charge, a volley, a
shout, a rush forward and one side or the other gave
way, often to return to the charge, but these West-
ern armies seemed to fight a square stand up duel,
to which we were not accustomed.

On the inanimate forms the bright September sun
was shining through the trees, and we halted right
among them for a time, while the shells and bullets
of the enemy, as yet unseen, were tearing over our
heads and through our ranks. This situation is al-
ways trying to the soldier, so that it was a positive
relief when we were ordered forward and the minnie
mullets began to thicken as we approached a thicket

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 141

of young pines and scrub oaks intermingled with
large trees.

Just here Gen. Robinson, Polly we called him,
commanding Hood's Texas brigade, rode past our
front and said something to the men, which I did
not understand, but a shout was raised and we broke
into a double quick step. I learned afterwards that
at this moment the command was given to "right
oblique," but I did not hear it, and went straight
forward into the thicket. There is always an in-
terval of space between regiments, and being on the
left side of the Second Georgia, the movement caus-
ed me to advance alone, although I did not observe
it at the time, owing to the excitement and my being
fleet of foot. We had grown careless about bayonets
and I had none, but was running along parting the
bushes with my left hand and carrying my Enfield
rifle in my right. All at once, as I attempted to pass
around an oak tree in my front I found myself face
to face with a heavy-set heavily bearded Federal who
was on his knees at the root of the tree, in the act
of putting a cap on his gun. It was a mutual sur-
prise, for I had no idea any of the foe were so near,
and his astonishment caused him to open an other-
wise large mouth very wide. I cannot say he ut-
tered any sound, if he did I did not hear it. I was
greatly astonished, remembering my absent bayonet,
it seemed a hundred thoughts flashed over me in the
brief instant of time I looked into the face of my foe,
who was not over the length of a musket from me.
In less time than it takes to tell it I fired from my
hip without raising my gun to my shoulders. I had
frequently killed game that way, and struck the man
in the waist. He threw up his hands and fell over

142 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

backwards. Late in the day when the fortunes of
bettle carried me past the same place in hurried re-
treat, I saw his motionless form in the place where
he fell. As we fought the Eighth Kansas Regiment
at this point, he must have belonged to that regi-
ment.

I knelt behind a large stump and hastily reloaded
my gun, wondering all the time why my comrades
did not come up. Just as I finished loading I saw
two federals behind a tree, not over five paces to
the left, who fired on the Seventeenth Georgia, and
I heard one of our men groan as he sank to the earth.
He was not five paces from the man who shot him,
but the thick growth prevented seeing very far. I
fired at one of the men behind the tree and he sank
to the ground. Reloading, I passed through the
thicket into more open woods, and by this time the
whole line was up with me, and a scene of indescriba-
ble confusion ensued. The federals were jumping up
from every sort of cover, trees, logs, stumps and
clumps of bushes, and taking to flight. We would
call them to surrender. Some would turn their
heads and curse and few surrendered. As one of
us would get his rifle loaded he would fire at the back
of a fleeing Federal, and a little, but distinctly mark-
ed cloud of dust would fly out of the dark background
of the blue coat and down would go the unfortunate
enemy. I suppose every old soldier has seen this
cloud of dust fly from the stricken enemy. They
had no time to reload their empty guns, and our men
continued the slaughter without danger to them-
selves. This was just north of Viniard's house.

To our left was a field in which the enemy had
posted themselves behind a hillside ditch, grown up

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 143

with briers and bushes, and our men found it diffi-
cult to dislodge them. So that when our part of the
line followed up the foe in front of us, we got in the
rear of the Federals in the field, and when they gave
way and became panic stricken, in crowds, rushing
past us, we stood in the corners of the fence in safety
and fired into the fugitives until the slaughter was
sickening. The field was blue with the uniforms of
the dead and wounded, and I have never seen more
dead in the same space anywhere. I think our mode
of fighting and the charge right into their lines was
a surprise to them. I know that few surrendered.

We took a dismounted cannon at the edge of the
LaFayette and Chattanooga road, and our lines,
which had been much disordered, were somewhat
reformed, and we started to advance across the field
in the direction of the enemy. But some batteries
in the woods, about four hundred yards distant,
opened on us with cannister so fiercely that the line
halted and the men sought such shelter as they could.
The cannister fairly rained down on us. It was very
dry, the dust in the road was deep, and every shot
sent up a little cloud so that one could see danger of
crossing the road. I got between two of the dead
horses attached to the captured canon, and using
them as a breastwork, fired across the field at the
enemy. After a while I was struck in the side, and
the blow gave me intense agony. I thought I could
feel the track of the ball through me and I groaned
and rolled over with the pain. Captain Newell of
Co. K. called to me to go to the rear, but I felt un-
able to walk. After a while I concluded to examine
the hurt, and found an ounce ball twisted up in my
flannel shirt just above the waistband. From de-

144 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

spair I was elevated to a fighting humor, all in less
than a half minute. The enemy reinforced, com-
menced to advance on us, and the storm of cannister
had killed or disabled many of our men and demor-
alized the line to such an extent that it gave way and
made its way to the point from which we started to
charge. I did not go so far, but while they were
forming again, rallying it is called, I sat down be-
tween them and the enemy opened a knapsack, and
examined its contents. After I rested sufficiently,
I went to the line and we charged over the same
ground running the enemy to the shelter of their
cannon, but the same hail of cannister met us at the
road, and another counter charge compelled us to re-
tire as before. It was now nearly dark, and it was
hard to rally our disheartened men. Gen. Hood, with
his arm in a sling, came along and talked to us.
Again the order came to charge ; again a few of us
went to the road, again to recoil before the same re-
lentless storm of lead. Perhaps not more than twen-
ty of the Second Georgia participated in this last
charge, and we lost a gallant fellow — John Seay, of
the Stewart Grays. In the gloom of the gathering
darkness, sullen and dispirited we again formed our
lines, and prepared to receive an attack ; but the en-
emy had been too heavily stricken. Three men were
put under my charge ; we were taken out to a tree in
front of the lines, and there, among the dead and
wounded, I was ordered to hold that post and keep
awake all night, and guard our sleeping comrades
I told my men to go to sleep while I took the first
watch. In the gloomy forest it was perfectly dark^
the outcries and groans of the wounded were the on-
ly sounds to be heard, and the recollection of that

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 145

gruesome vigil, like a picture draped in mourning,
or a funeral pall, lives yet on memory's page. The
enemy sent out men to bear off their wounded, and
they came quite near us, so that I could distinguish
their words as they spoke to their suffering men.
Our orders were to fire on everything in front, but
I disobeyed, because it would have been unnecessary,
inhuman and disturbing to our men.

We were relieved at sunrise next morning, and,
on our return to the lines, found many of our com-
rades who had overstayed their one day's furlough
trebly sad; in that, during their absence without
leave, a battle had taken place, many comrades had
passed over the river, and somehow the story had
gone to the rear that Bennings brigade had not act-
ed well in the battle. One of these belated comrades
was Lieut. Patterson. The story was, that he was
deeply in love with one of the fair belles of Colum-
bus, and finding that she was visiting friends at a
distance, he went thither, pressed his suit, met a re-
fusal, and lost a day from his place. We went off
to a tree and had a long conversation. He was deep-
ly chagrined, and told me repeatedly that he would
have preferred to have died that fateful Saturday
than to have been absent. He was pale, his lips
compressed, and he assured me that he had a fixed
presentiment that death would come to him that day.
I tried to rally him, but without avail. Before the
day was over a bullet pierced his brain and he never
spoke again. Witty, talented, refined and educated,
his death made a gap in our ranks never to be filled.

After a time we were moved to the right and
found we were to be the second line in this day's
fight, usually an easy place according to our Virgin-

146 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ia experience, but alas! it was not so here. There
was the usual shelling and picket firing until about
11 a. m. and about the time the good people at home
were in their churches praying for us, we moved to
the front. After crossing the road, the brigade in
front of us received a terrible volley of shot and
shell, and turned and fled. We did our best to stop
them. Jim DuBose put his bayonet to the breast of
a big Colonel, and swore at him vigorously, but they
ran through our lines. At once the command was
given "Steady, men! forward!" We hastily formed
and pressed forward. In a moment we were greeted
with another volley which staggered us and sent
many a brave fellow to his long home. Down the
slope about one hundred and twenty yards distant,
we saw six cannons and a long line of infantry, tre-
ble our numbers, behind breastworks made of logs.
None but veterans would have stood a moment. As
it was, I saw the faces around me pale, but raising
a shout we charged down the slope, firing as we ran.
For some reason, after covering about half the dis-
tance, the men halted and commenced a regular
stand up duel. This was a great error, and many a
brave fellow was thereby sacrificed. We silenced
the cannon, and I could see the bluecoats beginning
to run from the works. The artillerists would run
back, take hold of the wheels of their cannon and
try to pull them away. Above the roar some confed-
erate would cry out, "Shoot that d — d fellow at that
cannon!" A dozen shots would be heard and down
he would go. This happened several times. When
about twenty paces from the battery, John Lindsay
left our lines, ran to the guns and picked up the bat-
tery's flag, returning waving it over his head, and

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 147

shouting in triumph. He came directly to me, and
I can yet see the fierce joy in his eyes. The artiller-
ists kept trying to drag off their guns till we got
among them, and from this position we could enfil-
ade the works, which soon caused the bluecoats to
leave them. A few of us passed through the works
into the woods beyond, but our numbers were by this
time sadly reduced, and heavy reinforcements to the
enemy came up in forty paces of me. Capt. Chaffin
and I got behind the same little postoak tree, and, be-
ing farthest in advance, we received especial atten-
tion from the enemy. The minnie bullets rained on
the tree and flew around us. Chaffin had the seams
of his pants cut on both sides just below the pockets.
Whilst loading I happened to see Col. Shepherd, who
was a little in our rear, receive a wound, fall, get up
and run to the rear. Most of our regiment, then a
mere handful, followed him. I told Chaffin to look
around him, which he did, and very cooly said, "Why,
Houghton, I believe they have all gone." I insisted
on going too, and we started on a run. I think five
hundred shots were fired at us as we ran, I saw the
ground torn up just as I was putting my foot down
to the place several times. I got to a large post oak
tree and stopped to watch what the enemy would
do. They came on in great crowds and mounted on
their cannon, waving their hats and huzzaing. Some
of them wanted to make stump speeches. From my
good tree I got several shots into the crowd, but in
a few minutes I saw Kershaw's South Carolina bri-
gade coming like a storm. They gave the crowd at
the cannon one volley, they tumultously fled, and the
guns were left to us without further struggle. I was
told that our command went near half a mile before
they rallied, and if the enemy had followed us, in-

148 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

stead of stopping to glorify over recapturing their
own guns, they would have met with little opposi-
tion.

I was left on the field, the only "unhurt" Confed-
erate in sight. I refilled my cartridge box from those
of the dead, got a canteen of good cool water off a
federal, and walked around looking into the calm
peaceful faces of my comrades, who an hour before
had been full of life and heroism. In an hour or so
my regiment was led back and were surprised to find
me alive. Many more incidents happened that day,
but their narration would swell this paper too much
The Second Georgia carried two hundred men into
the battle and only 42 answered to their names after
it was over. Many of the absent were only slightly
wounded, owing to the fact that the fight was mostly
among the trees.

I forgot to mention that I was struck by a glanc-
ing shot Sunday morning, but it caused no incon-
venience.

While at winter quarters below Richmond in Feb-
ruary, 1865, about dusk one evening, Adjutant Redd
walked into my hut and handed me a paper. It was
signed by the immortal Lee granting me a furlough
for thirty days, by reason, so said the paper, of "gal-
lant conduct at Chickamauga." John Lindsay also
received one at the same time for conduct in the
same battle.

Unfortunately I lost the paper, else it would be
prized beyond compute.

I ought to mention that someone informed me that
we were an hour and ten minutes taking the battery,
with never a minute of intermission from the storm
of battle. The trees, bushes and little twigs were all

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 149

cut and barked by the bullets, even those the size of
a pipe stem were barked sometimes in two or three
places.

The commander of the battery captured had tied
his horse by a long halter to a little bush between
his guns. It was a magnificent black, with a bright
red saddle blanket, so that the horse was a conspic-
uous central figure, as he reared and pranced round,
trying to break loose. After a time, whether a bul-
let cut the halter or the horse broke it I never knew,
he broke away and followed his flying masters.

I have visited Chickamauga three times since the
war. The scene of Saturdays fierce contest is near
Viniards, and rough stone monuments mark the far-
thest advance of the 2d, 15th, 17th and 20th Georgia
regiments, and just opposite stands the handsome
monument to the Eighth Kansas, on which is record-
ed that it went into action that day with 409 men and
lost 217. About one mile north from Viniard's is
the scene of Sunday's fighting and the beautiful
Georgia State monument stands near, overlooking
the stones erected to the regiments of Bennings bri-
gade and some cannon representing the Indiana bat-
tery captured by us.

The post oak which sheltered me after our repulse
was cut down for the bullets imbedded in it. Bro-
therton of our brigade, who was reared on the field
told me that in cutting timber to make rails after
the war, he found from 150 to 400 bullets in the low-
er lengths of each tree. Of course, in making the
park the undergrowth has all been cleared away.
The post oak which sheltered Capt. Chaffin and my-
self after we passed through the battery is still
standing. The battle field is so well laid off and

150 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

impartially marked that every participant can find
his position without trouble.

AN EPISODE OF THE FINAL ACT
OF THE GREAT DRAMA OF THE CIVIL WAR.

From the fall of Richmond, April 1st, till the dull
gray dawn of the 9th, we had fought by day and
marched by night, hungry, weary, foot-sore, and
ragged all the time. We (of Gen. Hood's old divis-
ion) had composed the rear guard of the army dur-
ing the night of the 8th and at break of day we filed
from the muddy road into an old field and lay down
on the wet ground to rest and gather a little strength
for the conflict we felt sure was to come. There filed
past us Ewell's old division, gaunt and spectre like
in the murkey morning mist, the wreck of that splen-
did corps which had chased Banks, Fremont and
Shields from the Valley, and made Pope, Burnside
and Hooker loose their high commands. Alas, what
a change! Its brigades had dwindled to mere com-
panies; its tattered regimental flags upheld by hag-
gard, famished men, were so near together that it
seemed only the color guards had been left to make
that last sad review. Truly, coming events had al-
ready cast their shadows before. The shadows we
saw, the coming events we did not see, for how
could those men of war believe that there was any-
thing but battle in front of us.

I heard Gen. Lee direct Gen. Benning to send
scouts to the rear over the route of our night march
and by the time the courier reached me with the or-
der, I had buckled on for the last time the familiar
armor, and selecting two soldiers, we retraced our

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 151

steps through the woods and far into the fields be-
yond. Soon we saw the blue coated cavalry coming.
Sending my comrades, who were unused to scouting
to the rear, and sheltered by a pine thicket, I await-
ed the approach of the foe. A major rode in advance
and I came near adding his name to the pension list
before I saw he had a white handkerchief on a
switch. He gave me a letter addressed to Gen. Lee,
which I delivered to the nearest General for trans-
mission by mounted courier, and returning to the
rear, I found the Federal infantry forming in plain
view of our men, who had orders not to fire. We
could not understand it, and I hastened to my com-
mander with the information. Shortly the news
came along the line that Lee had surrendered. Like
a scar burned by fiercest flame, that scene is imprint-
ed on my memory. Gray haired veterans wept aloud
or wrung their hands in agony. Some broke their
swords and rifles ; some cursed the day of their birth ;
others laughed hysterically, like men gone mad from
sudden frenzy. We were surrendering to men who
fled before us at Manassas, Fredericksburg and
Chancellorsville.

Among these men was Sheridan, whose di-
vision at Chickamauga, had melted before us in the
wildest panic. We had killed, wounded and cap-
tured more of that army than our own numbered
since the campaign opened in May, 1864, and what
mattered it if they were now seven to one, recruit-
ed with bounty loving foreigners. But it was done.
Gen. Lee had said so. I told my comrades I should
desert and go to Johnson's army, and going to Col-
onel Latrobe, Longstreet's Chief of Staff, I told him
I intended to desert. I remember I wondered then,

152 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

that he did not order me to be shot, but he refused
to tell me the best way to get out, saying that his
parole forbade that; I insisted that he tell me where
the fewest Yankees were, and he finally waved his
riding switch towards the Southeast.

By wading down a mill stream fringed with wil-
lows, which screened me from observation, I passed
the enemy's lines, but in the evening, while pass-
ing through a large field, which I could not avoid
a foraging party of Michigan cavalry captured me.
and carried me to their commander, Gen. Custer
who, among other questions, asked me what I
would do now, if I had my way. 'Tut powder un-
der both armies and blow them to perdition!"

was the reply. "Said he, "If you have not enough
of fighting I have a man here who will give you
enough!" and he called out, "Tom! Tom! when there
arose a Michigan trooper who seemed to be at least
seven feet high. I said to Gen. Custer : "As I am
very tired, I will take a seat while you make game
of a prisoner," and took a seat on a pile of wood
prepared for his evening fire. He immediately or-
dered me sent to the provost guard who shared with
me the Virginia ham and coffee — all they had. Two
days later I was permitted to return to my com-
rades, received my parole and started moneyless,
ragged, and without rations, on the tramp to Ala-
bama.

My company, the Columbus Guards, entered ser-
vice on 16th April, 1861, with 114 names on its
rolls. Thirteen, of whom only eight bore arms, sur-
rendered at Appomattox.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 153

After Appomattox
By W. R. HOUGHTON.

Forty years ago, on a bright sunny Sunday, the
remnant of the wan, haggard and starving legions
that had followed Lee, surrendered at Appomattox.
These returned to the places that had been home,
many to find houses burned, cattle and horses stolen,
fences destroyed — all without money and without
means to keep the wolf of starvation from the door.
Later returned those who had been kept in prison,
some from Fort Delaware, near the City of Brother-
ly Love, where, by an order of the war department,
only one-fourth rations were issued to them, and
they had watched noble fellows die of starvation in
a land teeming with plenty, rather than take the
oath of allegiance.

So dire was the need in some regions that the re-
turned soldier often saw his children crying for
bread. One gallant man in Virginia was in such
straits that the faithful old colored butler went to
him and told his former master to sell him to get
means to live on. When told that he was free, and
that no one could be held in slavery, he replied, that
he would work for his new master and never claim
his freedom.

Another, of Bibb County, Alabama, now of this
city, used the belt of the sword he had captured from
a Federal Captain at Petersburg, to piece out the
harness of a plow mule.

It is hard now to realize the extreme poverty of
the land. The noble people of Baltimore sent thous-
ands of bushels of corn as a gift to the suffering

154 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

people, but they could not supply all, and the wreck-
ed railroads could not reach the more remote re-
gions.

We were a subjugated people, and, so far as the
majority of the ruling party can make it, we are
yet ruled as a subjugated people, and no region of
similar size in the civilized world has been worse
misgoverned than the South. In 1860 there were
only 225,000 free negroes residing in the North,
whilst there were 355,000 residing in the slave-hold-
ing section. In the greed of power, in order to hold
the whites in subjugation so as to exploit the South-
ern States for the vile carpetbagger, and worse seal-
awag, the ruling party deprived a large element of
whites of their votes, and made voters of millions
of Africans. Then, finding that the unconquerable
spirit of race supremacy would not yield to social
equality, the same party attempted to pass force bills
which in varying forms is yet a favorite scheme to
preserve party power and the colored voter, the
bloody shirt, the wrongs of the negro, fancied or
real, are yet used by the ruling party to retain
power.

But the chickens are going home to roost, and
there are now 1,750,000 negroes residing in the
North. For a time their votes held the balance of
power in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. But for their
votes West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware would
be swept from the grasp of the ruling party.

For forty years, the same length of time the chil-
dren of Israel were kept wandering in the wilder-
ness, the emancipated colored man has been culti-
vated, enlightened and made a citizen. Out of its
dire poverty the South has paid taxes to educate the

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 155

negro in the common schools, without any aid from
other sources. Northern philanthropists have given
aid to colleges for negroes, but not one colored per-
son in 5000 is reached or affected by these schools.
Every Southern man, however poor, has paid a
thousand fold more in proportion to his means to-
wards educating the negro in the common schools
than Mr. Roosevelt or any other of the dominant
party, unless it be those who have property in the
South. What thanks do we get? What reward
have we?

The consciousness of duty done may be reward
for some, but in the face of the continual nagging,
the ever running sore, the contention that we are
unjust and the enormous hypocricy of the accusa-
tions made against the South, the average man
wants a change. The Northern people are so much
wiser than we, so much more religious and patient,
it is but fair that they take the negro to their sec-
tion and keep him for the next forty years. He hao
so many more advantages there that it should be
very attractive to him. The Philadelphia papers
say that he can vote four times a day in that city
and get paid every time. Some time he can marry
whites. He can ride on the street car in the same
seat with whites, eat at the hotels and sometimes
break into society.

Let them go North at the rate of half a million
a year. Encourage them to go. There need be no
fear that our lands will lie untilled. A few years
ago there was a cry of want of labor in the black
belt, because many negroes had gone elsewhere, but
now lands in that section are higher priced and more
in demand than at any time since the war. The nat-

156 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ural growth of our population will offset the decrease
of the negro, and it is better that our young men
stay in the homes of their birth than to go west, and
better to have them here than the negro, or foreign
immigrants. The North has had charge of the negro
politically for forty years at long range, and it is
but fair to them to take charge of his morals, educa-
tion and civilization at close range.

MANASSAS IN 1903

Taking the early train at Washington, I found it
crowded with Southerners, mostly people who go to
their old homes to spend Sunday. The land from
Washington to Manassas along the railroad is gen-
erally very poor, and there are few evidences of
thrift, but farther south in Fanquier, Culpepper and
Orange, the lands are very valuable, and when a
forced sale occurs frequently bring from $75 to $200
per acre. The farmers are doing well and the old
homesteads are still in the hands of the descendents
of men who fought with Washington and Lee. I was
informed that many of these farmers were graduates
from the leading universities, principally that of Vir-
ginia and that the charm of old Virginia society still
holds sway.

From Manassas it is seven miles to the battle
ground. The whole country, including the fields of
both battles is fenced in with substantial wire and
post, and the land, being poor, is mostly used for
grazing. The farm houses, which compare favorably
with the better residences on the Highlands are gen-
erally situated one-fourth or half a mile from the
roads with an avenue flanked by old cedars in front.
After a time, we saw in the woods near the road a

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 157

board inscribed, "Gen. Kirby Smith was wounded
near here," and another told that Gen. 0. B. Wilcox
was also wounded near that point. Where the cele-
brated Henry House stood is now a two-story house,
and on the gate is a board from which one learns
that fifty cents admission is charged. Further down
our road, which was the Sudley Ford road, crossed
the pike which figured so extensively in both battles
leading across the stone bridge over Bull Run, past
Centerville to Alexandria. The stone house has been
greatly improved by new mortar and a metal roof
portico in front makes it appear to great advantage.

PINE THICKET IS GONE.

The pine thicket which sheltered the Eighth Geor-
gia in its vain attempt to stay the flank movement
of McDowell in the first battle has disappeared, but
on the ridge opposite is where Bee and Bartow fell
and a little further off is the place where Stonewall
Jackson acquired the name now and forever historic.
At the intersection of the roads were some people
talking. The brothers of a Mrs. Browne had come
from Florida to view the ground and on horseback
was W. L. B. Wheeler, whose eighty-four years had
been spent on his farm near this spot. Our regi-
ment spent part of the winter of '61-2 on the land
of Preston Smith adjoining his farm. He remem-
bered and called by name several of the officers and
privates of my regiment, among them Colonel Sem-
mes, afterwards brigadier; Lieutenant Holmes, af-
terwards colonel, and Henry Milsap of Burke coun-
ty, Ga. He had been compelled to go as a witness to
the court martial of Fitz John Porter, whose divis-
ion had been formed through his yard in the second

158 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

battle, and who was condemned to death for alleged
refusal to obey Pope's celebrated 4 p. m. order to
attack Johnson's right flank, when Longstreet had
superior numbers in the way.

When I tried to describe the place where I was
wounded, he told me that owing to wire fences it
would be hard to get there, and like the hospitable
Virginian took it for granted I was to take dinner
with him. He had started to Sudley church, but talk
detained him until the people returning from church
came past us, and we drove southward on the pike,
now a wretched road, as the rocks have scattered in
all direction. Groveton is just one and one-eighth
miles from the stone house, and here another private
road intersects. On the way is a neat substantial
iron-fenced cemetery, the inscription on the gate be
ing, "Confederate dead, 1861-1862." There is only
one grave marked in the inclosure. It was that of
" James J. Palmer, S. C, killed Aug. 30, 1862." There
are over five hundred buried in the cemetery, and
the cost was borne by an association of the Daugh-
ters of the Confederacy.

GROVETON.

Groveton has but two dwellings — one a new cot-
tage, the other the old house at which Longstreet took
his breakfast the day of the battle in 1862.
A woman was killed and a child wounded in
the house that day. The buildings yet bear marks
of cannon and rifle shot. The people of the house
had just been to Sudley church, and, with the Meth-
odist preacher, were at dinner. On my inquiry if I
and the boy driver could get dinner, I received from
the hostess the usual Virginia invitation, "Certainly,

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 159

sit right down." There was an abundance of chick-
en apple sauce, etc., but when I came to pay the
bill I was mortified to meet her refusal to take any-
thing from a Confederate, but I compromised by
leaving something for the Confederate cemetery. The
name of my hostess was Mrs. M. E. Dogan, born at
Sudley Ford, where McDowell crossed in '61 on his
flank movement, and moving to Groveton after the
war. She owned the surrounding land, including the
old railroad cut behind which Jackson's men fought
for three days in '62. On her land some Northern-
ers had erected a monument inscribed, "To the pa-
trotic dead who fought here," but somebody has
carved "Confederate" before the word "dead." Giv-
ing me particular directions as to wire fences and
gates, I left the good woman — so typical of the splen-
did Virginia hospitality, the remembrance of which
yet warms the hearts of men who fought with Lee.

After a time, with much opening of gates, I came
to the spot where I was wounded in August, '62.
There was the little branch flowing over stones, the
hills, the bottom, the gulley where I lay after my
hand was tied up, and in the distance the crest over
which Toombs' brigade and the Washington artillery
charged. All was correct but the Chinn house where
I lay in the portico. Through another gate I went
there, and the clever Virginian informed me that the
house had been burned since the war, and the hand-
some new house faced in a different direction. I
found the well which had been filled, and knew my
bearings perfectly then. When we came near the
field from Manassas Gap in the morning, our bri-
gade was thrown out to oppose Fitz John Porter,
and with the skirmishers I lay in an apple orchard
beyond the crest overlooking the battlefield, for

160 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

about twenty-seven hours. Rosser brought up his
battery near the house, and about 4 p. m. of the last
day opened on the enemy near three-fourths of a
mile distant. Out of the house came a pale woman
carrying an infant screaming as if the day of judg-
ment had come. Behind her came a succession of
children from two to fourteen years, all screaming.
Ferguson and I, throwing down our guns, took up
some infants and ran to the rear with them. The
poor woman bandaged my hand that night, but I
can find no trace of her now. The house was after-
wards burned.

CHARGED POPE'S LEFT.

From this we charged Pope's left, and Rosser kept
two of his guns constantly in front of us till we
struck a New York Brigade near the Chinn house.
My brigade, after I was wounded chased the enemy
nearly a mile to the Henry house until dark, over
much the same ground that Kirby Smith traversed
when he so opportunely appeared in the battle of
July, 1861. Of course there has been some clearing
done in places, in others the trees have grown much
in 41 years, but the stone house, the pike, Young's
branch, the hills and the valleys are but little altered.
The wire fences make it difficult to get about except
on roads. There is an effort being made to have the
government convert the grounds into a national park,
but since the northern army suffered two defeats on
that field, the ruling party does not seem to care so
much for monuments there as at Gettysburg where
for the first time Lee's army was barely prevented
from obtaining victory. It is not strange that they
love the frowning heights of Culp's Hill, Round Top

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 161

and the boulders of Devil's Den, which saved the
northern army from defeat, better than the plains
of Manassas where nature opposed no obstacle in
its favor. The postoffice near the battlefield is
named Wellington, a station on the Manassas Gap
R. R., which now runs to Harrisonburg.

There are no monuments beside those mentioned
on the field. The little marble column erected to
Bartow, where he fell, near the Henry House, disap-
peared piece-meal from the attacks of the relic
hunters before the second battle was fought.

In a few years none will be left to point out the
positions of regiments in the respective battles. The
Fifteenth Alabama occupied the old railroad and so
severely were they pressed that clubbed guns and
rocks were freely used by both sides. The federal
color bearers waved their flags over the heads of
our men and in one place broke through the line. Ask
any of that regiment and they will tell you of the
shouts that went up when Longstreet's cannon told
that help had come to save Jackson's men from the
overwhelming numbers which Pope had thrown
against them for three days. An eye witness tells me
that he was present when Longstreet, from the hills
nears Groveton, saw three lines of battle march
against Jackson, and ordered up the artillery, telling
them to fire into the rear line. My informant climbed
a persimmon tree and saw the line waver and break,
for it was an enfilade fire, which no troops can re-
sist Then came the order to fire into the second line,
which broke and fled. The first line met such a
fire from the front that it soon followed the others.

162 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

TURNING POINT.

Mr. Wheeler also saw the turning point of the bat-
tle, when we got there just in time to keep Jackson
from being overwhelmed. From our position we
could not see the fight, but far into the night we
heard the yells of the Texans as they drove the Zou-
aves and the red jackets and caps of the latter made
the field look like a garden of flowers the next day.
I rode to Manassas in a day coach with some whole-
souled Virginia gentleman, who could and did tell
me things — what crops they made, how they bought
and fattened cattle for the Baltimore market, of their
bird dogs, blooded cows and horses, of their daily
life, and through it all was that immense pride in
old Virginia, the pride that makes and keeps them
gentlemen of the old school.

The contractors who are double-tracking the
Southern from Washington to Orange have about
2,500 negroes from Birmingham and Montgomery in
their employ, and in places work night shifts by elec-
tric lights.

The Virginians say that our Alabama darkies are
hard cases, who fight with razors, get drunk, shoot
craps, and cut up in a surprising way. One went to
a farmer whose home is on the battlefield of Brandy
Station and wanted work. When he asked what he
could do on a farm, he said he could pick cotton, al-
though there was none in a hundred miles. I as-
sured them that the contractors usually got the riff
raff from the cities, and we hope they would send
them to their bosom friends in Boston.

The sublime superiority in wisdom and morals of
some of these negro pholists prevents them seeing

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 163

that their ill-timed and unwise efforts to destroy
racial feeling hurt the negro. About 1872-3 negroes
became so wrought up by the "God and Morality"
teachers, that they became unbearably insolent.

In Hayneville, the young buck negroes would lock
arms and refuse to give up the sidewalk to whites
meeting them. A gentleman of this city, then living
in Montgomery, tells me that escorting his sister to
church "on Sunday, he was compelled to carry a pis-
tol in his hand. Four or five buck negroes would
lock arms across the sidewalk, and make white ladies
and their escorts take the gutter.

The result was, that a number of foolish negroes
lost their lives, and the trouble subsided. When Mc-
Kinley appointed negro postmasters in little villages
in Georgia and South Carolina, where little girls and
women had to come in contact with thick-lipped Af-
ricans, some other negroes lost their lives. The ne-
gro, Indian and Chinaman always get the hot end of
the poker in conflicts with the Caucasian.

When pyramids, and such are the races of men,
come in collision, their bases first meet, and it is in
the lower strata, the foundation stones, where the
prejudice, if you call it such, is strongest. Half the
Indian wars were caused by unruly whites, and most
negro riots originate with the unruly classes of both
races, although the negro is inspired by the teachings
of men near the top of the white pyramid to claim
more than nature, education or position give them.
The new crusade will cause some more foolish ne-
groes to lose their lives and the wheels of progress
will move along in their destined way, and the Con-
federate and his posterity will cling to the faith that
this country ought to be ruled by the white man.
Northerners who live among us, and who are not

164 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

here for politics, are of the same opinion, only that
they out-Herod Herod and are less patient than
we, with the brother in black.

There is one feature of soldier life which has both
a sad and ludicous side. I refer to straggling. Even
in the best disciplined armies, well fed and clad, there
are men who will slip out into the woods or darkness,
cut across the country and forage for buttermilk and
dainties as well as substantials. Although we had
rear guards, provost guards, and all the machinery,
one can well believe that the soldiers who were sel-
dom well fed or clad would with the best intentions
and under lax discipline, leave the ranks and hunt
for food. They seemed to know by instinct the by
ways and nigh cuts, and on the march from some
high hill, we could see streams of them going to the
houses, never afraid of dogs, for the latter seemed
awed into submission, and always approaching the
back door like a tramp for that was the nearest way
to the pantry or kitchen. Usually they got all the
cold victuals and buttermilk about the hous^, some-
times a ham, live fowls, apple butter or honey, but
after Virginia had been harried by both armies, new
plans had to be invented to coax food from those pa-
triotic and splendid Virginia women. Generally the
straggler wanted something for his "sick captain,"
and for a long time that was a winning dodge. Some-
times when there were no eatables in the house the
straggler would accomodatingly wait all night, as-
sured that the family would borrow a meal some-
where, perhaps from hidden stores. Whilst we lay
famishing for days in Maryland with the unfavor-
able Potomac at our backs, the boys would take their
ramrods and probe into the gardens and discover
cans of preserves, apple butter, and other good things

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 165

buried against the coming of such visitors. It is a
wonder, that with so much straggling, our comman-
ders could count their forces for battle, but on the
first sound of cannon the noble army of stragglers
would hasten their steps, and inquire for the where-
abouts of their respective commands, and go in to
dare and to die. As we lay the third day on a knob
under a heavy fire from Little Round Top at Gettys-
burg, the enemy's cavalry charged around our right
into the wheat field in our rear. With shouts and
waving of sabers which flashed in the July sun, they
came on gallantly. We gathered and loaded all the
scattered guns left around us by dead friends or foes,
and prepared to fight front and rear. The captain
of an Augusta (Ga.) battery charged down on the
cavalry with his guns pouring in rounds of cannis-
ter. Then the nobility of the straggler shone forth.
From every rock? and shade and brush, and out of
the wheat, could be seen little puffs of smoke, where
the straggler, angry that mere cavalry disturbed his
repose, was pouring in his fire. The federal com-
mander, Colonel whose commission as briga-
dier general came next day, was shot down by a
straggler, and when two of them tried to take him,
he wounded one with his pistol, and was killed by
the other. The Fourth Alabama was faced about,
went to the edge of the field, gave the federals one
volley, and the survivors fled. The whole was as dis-
tinctly seen by us as the actors on the stage of the
theater, and honors seemed to be equally divided
among the artillery, the Fourth Alabama, and the
stragglers, as every one of the latter I saw was run-
ning towards the enemy and firing as fast as he could
load.

166 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Two of the fraternity tried all their powers of per-
suasion on an obdurate old woman, but could get no
eatables, positively, she had not a thing eevn for her
own people. Finally one of them asked to be allow-
ed to make some rock soup which aroused her curi-
osity, and permission was given. A few small rocks
were nicely washed, put into a kettle of water, and
set on the fire. When nearly boiling they asked for
a pinch of salt, which the old lady gave them, then
they wanted just a little lard or butter and it was
furnished. After the mixture was stirred awhile,
they wanted a little flour or meat with which addi-
tion they had a tolerable dish of "rock soup" to the
great surprise of the good woman. Of course all of
us occasionally shared in the results of these forag-
ing expeditions, even though procured for "my sick
captain." If one is very hungry his conscience does
not discriminate so nicely as does that of the well-
fed preacher. It is the cold truth too, to say that
many times the owner was not consulted about the
disposition of his property, and if a straggler came
in with a piece of fat hog still warm and the hair on
it, he would say in explaining, that the hog tried to
"bite" him, and wear a very meek expression, as if
it had been painful for him to strike in self defense.
A fish hook baited with a grain of corn, and proper-
ly attached to a line thrown into a farm yard, often
caused a very unwilling fowl to follow a very inno-
cent-looking straggler off to camp, and suffering
cows were often relieved of their milk by sympathet-
ic soldiers who longed for home comforts. I saw one
milked into a canteen, no other vessel being in reach.

I never tried straggling but three times. Down in
the edge of Dismal Swamp, N. C, Joe Bathune and I

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 167

went to a country house, were invited all dirty and
unkempt into the parlor, and presently a most charm-
ing woman, dressed in silk, with manners which
would have graced a queen, came in, and we were
greatly abashed to tell her that we wanted dinner,
and Joe had to do the talking. We were treated to
an elegant dinner, but I have never recovered from
the self abasement I felt on that occasion. She was
a graduate of Salem college, and performed beauti-
fully at the piano, as Joe said, and his father was the
owner of Blind Tom. Another time I set out, walked
miles, failed to get any food, returned to find the
command gone, and hunger, fatigue and heat nearly
overcame me before I caught up, and we had to go
twenty-five miles further without food or halt. I
slept walking that night, that is for an instant or
two, maybe longer. I lost consciousness as we made
our weary way, and again I would have stolen bread
if there had been bread to steal. This completed my
personal experiences in straggling.

From accounts it seems that discipline among the
cavalry that served in North Alabama was lax, and
tales of the "buttermilk rangers" were common
enough. There is no doubt but that the efficiency
of our armies was greatly lessened by straggling,
but when one remembers the scant rations, the won-
der is that more of it was not done.

But the most unfortunate, and sometimes very se-
rious evil arose in the moment of victory. During an
attack on the enemy when they would be flying in
haste, some of our men would stop to gather the
spoils, in the way of eatables, clothing, blankets,
canteens, etc., and thus time would give for the ene-
my to form or bring up reinforcements.

168 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Early's attack on Sheridan's army at Fisher's Hill,
October 19, 1864, was a complete success. The sleep-
ing enemy were aroused and fled in dismay, but the
cooks were preparing the morning meal, and the
smell of the hot coffe and fried bacon was too much
for the famished heroes, and they stopped to plunder.
Commands, curses, entreaties availed not to get close
pursuit, thus giving time for the routed foe to form
another line and Sheridan to come from Winches-
ter. The victory was turned into defeat, and Early
lost not only the captured cannon, but most of his
men. It is said that afterwards, whilst on the march,
some of his hungry men shouted at him, "Rations!"
and his reply was, "Fisher Hill, G-d d-m you." Af-
ter Appomatox, I asked of a citizen at the little vil-
lage of Rocky Mount, Va., directions to go to Geor-
gia, and he pointed out a man dressed in citizens
clothes heavily bearded, with a slouch hat sitting on
the steps of a closed law office. He took a
pencil and gave me a way bill of the prin-
cipal roads, ferries and towns on the way

When I thanked him, he raised his head, and I
saw the eyes of the magnificently brave Early, Lee's
trusted Lieutenant. I thought of Marius sitting
„amid the ruins of Carthage.

Rocky Mount was Early's home. With the aid of
Iris directions, I made my way along the eastern slope
of the Blue Ridge, sustained by the aid of poor, but
worthy people, who had little to give except corn
bread, buttermilk, and occasionally fried eschalots,
all of which I like yet, perhaps because country bred,
perhaps because of gratitude. Bill Young of the
Seventeenth Georgia was my companion, and we
crossed the Yadkin, the Congaree and the Catawaba,
tramping till nightfall, resting on oilcloths captured

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 169

in by-gone fights, by little camp-fires, to be off at
early dawn, tramping again until some house was
found to give an homely and scant breakfast. In or-
der to reach Spartanburg, S. C, we must go over for-
ty-four miles in one day. About sundown Young
went to a house near the road and brought back a
canteen and a quart cup filled with buttermilk. I
took a sip or two, and against my protest he emptied
the cup and before we had gone a quarter of a mile
he showed the same symptoms as a foundered horse.
I assisted him to the next house, a painted one, too,
and the good Samaritans doctored Young, put us,
against our protests, in a feather bed, and before day
we were off in time to catch the first train over the
fragment of a railroad Sherman had partially de-
stroyed, but which, although pointed to Charleston,
carried us nearer home and gave Young a chance to
recover from "foundering," as I shall always contend
it was. Traveling part of the day, we walked across
to strike another fragment of railroad which took us
to Abbeville, from which we walked forty-two miles
to Washington, Ga. On the way we met trains of
wagons drawn by Confederate mules, fat and sleek.
We should have taken a pair or a dozen then and
there, but the sense of discipline was still strong and
we left them to be surrendered.

Young left me to go to his Georgia home, and I
have never heard of him since, whilst I went on to
Alabama to meet relatives, friends, reconstruction,
carpet-baggers, and had not a dollar in the world.

But I never will forget the kindness of those home-
spun people along that road, who divided their food
with us. There is not one of Lee's army today who
will not give all praise to the noble, generous hos-
pitable Virginians who shared their all with the hun-

170 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

gry soldier. I never entered a private house in Rich-
mond, nor knew a citizen, but sick comrades told
such tales of their pitying kindness, their whole-
souled hospitality, that we loved the town, and may-
be loved it more because the yankees hated it so
much. If love was shown by toil and sweat and
blood, then, indeed, you may know we loved Rich-
mond on the James. More than half the hurts I
got were within sight or sound of cannon of the be-
sieged city. The remembrance of that long tramp
when six hundred miles away from home, without a
dollar, without food, ragged and dirty, I found chari-
ty among the poverty stricken people, makes my
heart warm towards the forlorn tramp who says he
is hungry. In many years law practice of a varied
sort, I have never cried in the court house but twice,
and one of the times was when, without fee, I was
making an appeal for a forlorn tramp, convicted by
an over-righteous justice because he asked for
bread. Telling the court that I, too had once beg-
ged for bread, I looked up and the tears were cours-
ing down the cheeks of the old judge, and the speak-
er lost his voice in sobs. The tramp got free, even
the negro constable who guarded him, contributing
his mite to feed and send him on his way.

When, in 1864, we heard that Sheridan was burn-
ing all the mills in the valley and shooting the milch
cows, the only hope for sustenance for innocent
babes, there were deep curses from men who had
been hospitably treated by these people, and a darker
page might have been added to history had the brute
who boasted that "a crow must carry his rations if
he flew over the valley,' fallen into the hands of our
indignant men. Doubtless he was seeking revenge

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 171

fcr that day at Chickamauga, when his division ran
in wild flight, throwing away their guns and knap-
sacks. He was on the winning side, hated the south,
got promoted, and praise in books written then, but
a hundred years hence history will give him his just
deserts.

As the war progressed, every able bodied man be-
tween the ages of 16 and 50 was required to do mili-
tary service, so that our ranks contained men of
every kind, profession and calling. One man too old
for conscripton came as a substitute for a comrade
who wanted to be transferred to cavalry, as also did
another, Martin Etter by name, from Rogersville,
Tenn. These two old men thrown with a set of young-
sters, already inured to hard campaigning, had to
endure a lot of chaffing and ridicule, but they were
the most patient men I ever "saw, and certainly made
faithful soldiers.

They would get up early in the morning and build
good fires, fetch water and have everything ready
for the young men who slept late to get up and cook
breakfast for they always insisted on the veterans
doing the cooking, but they would wait on us and help
all they could, and were just as kind and faithful as
we would let them be. Now and then one of the
youngsters would overstep the bounds in his deviltry,
and the old men would give him a tongue lashing
which would put a quietus on us for a while. One of
them was the most deliberate man in battle I ever
saw. He would load and cap his gun in his own
way, and then take a most deliberate aim, just as if
drawing a bead on a squirrel and fire away.

One was hurt in the tumult of the last day at Pe-
tersburg, the other surrendered at Appomattox, and
I never heard of either since. God rest their souls,

172 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

for they were brave, kindly and patient, and made
few complaints, but their old bones could not rest
well on the hard ground, and many a time have they
got up in the silent watches of the cold night and re-
plenished the fires which kept their "unruly boys"
as they called us, from freezing.

CARTRIDGE BOX FOR PILLOW.

We generally slept in our clothes, taking off our
shoes with a cartridge box for a pillow. If we had
time we would cut off little cedar or pine twigs and
spread them on the ground to make our pallets soft-
er and lay with our feet to the fire. But our negro
attendants, so long as we had them, reversed this
position. They invariably slept with their heads to
the fire, a blanket, if they had any, wrapped about
their heads and shoulders, and feet out in the cold,
sometimes in the snow, away from the fire.

We used to discuss the matter, but I never heard
a satisfactory reason why the negro with a thicker
skull and larger feet than the white man, should put
his head next to the fire. Perhaps he is built that
way and cannot help it.

These colored men were great foragers and
brought in many eatables, but on hot days, whilst
water was difficult to obtain on the march, they
would often bring cool water to us in their canteens.
If you go to reunions you will frequently see some
of these faithful men, wearing Confederate badges,
marching with their old masters and proud of the
attention shown them. Whilst every able bodied
man was in the army the colored man guarded his
master's home, wife and children and raised crops
to feed them and the army.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 173

When Wilson's raid passed through Lowndes coun-
ty, some of his followers hung a colored man to whom
the jewelry had been entrusted for safe keeping, and
his life was taken by thieving murderers because he
was faithful to his trust. For many years the only
marble tombstone over a colored man in the country
marked his grave as a testimonial from his master,
Capt. William May, to his fidelity. Another buried
all the family watches and jewelry in a plum or-
chard, and after the raid passed restored them to his
mistress. For many years and many a time his mas-
ter or I would have to go and carry some little dainty,
and inquire how Frank Streety was when sick. There
was no use to suggest that a servant might be sent ;
the mistress of the house would not have any but a
white messenger, no matter how weary he might be.

TORTURED OLD MAN.

The same raiders went to the farm of John Bragg,
brother of the general, a circuit judge, old and non-
combatant. They hung him till he was breathless
three times in the effort to make him reveal where
his hoard of gold was concealed. He had none, but
each time, with returning breath, the old man cursed
the robbers with all the bitterness he could command.
They left him, taking a meal bag full of his silver
plate, and divided it in Grandma Mary McCall's yard.
She went out and witnessed the division, and recog-
nized the silver off which she had dined many a time.

A party under the leadership of a commissioned
officer, left Montgomery and went to Wetumpka,
seeking Howell Rose, reputed to have a great store
of gold. In fact he had entrusted $15,000 to each

174 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

of two neighbors, keeping a like amount, and each
hoard was buried.

They siezed him at night in his own house, hung
and otherwise maltreated him, but remaining obdur-
ate, they stripped him, burnt splinters of pine till
the ends were fiery coals and bored holes in his flesh
with the live coals.

Failing to gain the desired information they left
him more dead than alive, and whilst passing
through a ravine on their return some crippled and
furloughed soldiers waylaid them and mortally
wounded the officer. A force was sent from Mont-
gomery to revenge this outrage on union soldiers, but
the commander happened to be a man and not a thief,
and visited the dying robber in the warehouse where
the citizens had removed him, and told him that he
was a disgrace to the uniform he wore. Faithful
slaves had given warning and enabled the cripples to
avenge this outrage.

I have before me a copy of a letter, dated Febru-
ary 25, 1865, by Lieut. Thomas I. Myers, to his wife
in Boston, in which he says he has about a quart of
jewelry, some No. 1 diamonds, pins and rings among
them, "for you and the girls," and tells how the offi-
cers dressed in citizens clothes when on their expe-
ditions of robbery, and tells further how the "d — d
niggers" preferred to stay at home.

THE CONTRAST.

Now when we were in the enemy's country in
Pennsylvania, there were the strictest orders against
any tresspassing on private property. One man had
locked his pump handle, but the butt of a musket
smashed the lock and we got water. The women

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 175

lined the main street of Greencastle as we marched
through, and waived their union flags and said a
good many things, but the boys chaffed at them and
had them all laughing. One buxom miss had a flag
pinned on her bosom ,and a grizzled Texan called out
to her to take it off, "Foi," said he, "we always
take breastworks with the flag on them." The roar
of laughter and shouts ran far down the line, and
when we of the next brigade passed, the girl was
still laughing, pretty and defiant.

I climbed a great cherry laden tree and was help-
ing myself, when two women came out and talked
and gesticulated violently, but as they spoke in Dutch
I knew not if I was getting curses or blessings, but
the probabilities were strongly against the latter.

One veteran tells me that whilst in a cherry tree
a woman came out and pelted him with rocks until he
fled for safety. Those cherries were tempting.

One day whilst camped near Chambersburg a very
dirty looking boy soldier came along with a skeleton
hoop skirt on. Not many of this generation ever saw
one, but your grandmother will describe it. Some
soldier gave me a white straw hat, but as we charged
through the wheat field against Little Round Top, it
was too conspicuous, and I sailed it far up in the air.

Our mess came out of the enemy's country with i
porcelain lined preserving kettle, which boiled our
beef through Virginia Chickamauga, East Tennes-
see and Virginia again until the surrender. Doubt-
less General Lee's order was disobeyed, but this is
all the sacking or robbery I saw done, and such a
thing as maltreating a citizen or insulting a woman
would have been resented in no mild way by our own
men. It was not even thought of. Bad men we had,
but such a thing as systematic robbery of jewelry

176 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

could not have been done, any more than the old vet-
erans would now engage in it.

ACCEPTED THE RESULTS.

Our people accepted the results of the war, the
freedom of the negro, he could not help, and they had
no animosity towards him. On the contrary there
was the best of feeling for the industrious blacks.
But soon for vile purposes, vile men instilled into the
guillible creature that he must have "forty acres and
a mule" and soon planters in the black belt woke up
to find their farms staked off by their former slaves
Then came political equality, a constitution forced on
Alabama despite the fact that General Meade, com-
mander of the military district, reported that it was
defeated. How few of the young men know that
hundreds of affidavits were made that the negroes
of south Lowndes could not cross the icy waters of
historic Big Swamp in order to vote at the five days'
election, and congress, in the mad passion of the
hour, declared the new constitution the law. The in-
stigators of those affidavits mostly lived and died
miserably, but they held high carnival for a time.
Between the vile men who thrived on negro cred-
ulity and good, but mistaken men, who made ill-timed
and unwise attempts to force social equality on the
south, there was caused much friction in places and
at times between the races, which could have been
avoided if matters had been allowed to take their
natural course.

I think the southern people were disposed to over-
look the robbery and vandalism committed by North-
ern soldiers, knowing that there were such men as
McClellan, Rosecrans, Meade, Buell and Grant, who

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 177

neither practiced nor protected such conduct, but
they have not forgotten nor forgiven the efforts to
pass force bills and enforce social equality with the
emancipated race by the worshippers of John Brown.

Twenty years ago I took the Independent, which
prides itself on its breadth of view and cultured phil-
osophy. For an unmanly fling at Jeff Davis I stop-
ped the paper, though the editor in a note, said he re-
gretted the matter. Last year I subscribed for the
paper again, and in the second number was a brutal
thrust at my people because we did not sit in the
street cars and in church with the negroes.

Perhaps we should not be incensed at these little
things, but, as Senator Vance once said in reply to a
taunt from a negro lover in the senate, "Mr. Pres-
ident, the gentleman says we ought not to notice such
small things, but I have been more troubled in my
life by fleas than by elephants."

PART OF HISTORY.

Perhaps these things are not strictly in line with
recollections of camp life, but they form part of the
history of the Confederate soldier, whose struggles
for the supremacy of his race, will shine resplendent
in history, when the recollection of his valor on
bloody fields will be forgotten and the monuments to
his foes shall have crumbled into dust. England
sought to dishonor the decaying bones of Cromwell,
her greatest son, but time, which sets all things
even has seen a monument erected to his memory.
The feuds and wars which originated in the British
Isles before the days of Julius Caesar, were happily
concluded when a Scottish king inherited and sat
on the throne of England, but the traditions of bar-

178 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

barious deeds, such as the massacre of Glencoe, yet
live in the hearts of the people on the border land,
and the fame of Flora Macdonald's devotion to
Charles the Pretender, shines with a purer light than
that of the bloody Duke of Cumberland. The name
of the Duke of Alva is still used as a bogy to frighten
Dutch children, and as the synonym of monster, but
the heroism of the people who cut their dykes and
caused the ocean to overwhelm their land before
they would surrender their religion and their liberty,
is yet the admiration of the world.

So, too, the grey haired Confederate confidently
believes that Father Time, the great leveler, and
Truth, though she moves with leaden feet, will pro-
claim the infamy of the men who would degrade
themselves and their race by miscegenation and
throw a halo of a glorified light on the memory of
men who proudly upheld their race through years of
misrule, oppression, hate and villification.

From constant life in the open air, for after the
first year we seldom had tents, we grew to be weath-
er wise. When we got ready to march in the early
morning, if the fog was rising, we did not tie our
blankets, but threw them loosely over our shoulders,
confident that we should need their protection from
rain before eleven o'clock. If, however, the fog waa
falling to the earth, each blanket was rolled up, the
ends tied together, and it was worn horse-collar fash-
ion over the shoulder. The men pulled their socks
over the bottoms of the legs of their pantaloons to
fend off the mud, and thus equipped, long lines of
men might be seen on the march. Some of the mon-
uments capped with a life sized Confederate, show an
exact representation of the soldier thus arrayed.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 179

If the rain came whilst on the march, the blanket
was folded near the middle, a string or strap passed
through and tied about the neck and the owner was
kept dry to his knees. I do not think that I was com-
pletely drenched with rain half a dozen times during
the war, and I did not own an umbrella for years
afterwards as it seemed an useless sort of encum-
brance, but civilization has in that sort rather con-
taminated me, and I sometimes carry one, though I
feel like apologizing for it on slight provocation.

IN VIRGINIA.

In 1861, whilst discipline was strict, and the tents
had to be pitched in exact line, the position of one
mess at Acquia Creek, fell in a gully, and the boys
filled up to a level the space with fresh earth. One
night there came a heavy storm of rain, and a good-
sized stream washed away the earth and tent, and
the boys had to run to other tents for shelter. Shoes,
articles of clothing, cartridges, boxes, belts, etc., were
scattered in the pathway of the torrent for a long dis-
tance, and after this experience, no amount of orders
could make the men risk themselves in such position,
and tents became a thing of the past.

As we lay on our blankets we had fine opportunity
to study the brilliant stars above us, and some of the
men of superior attainments, would talk by the hour
about the different constellations and the mythologi-
cal fables with which the ancients surrounded those
groups. One evening just after dusk, as we march-
ed along the base of the Blue Ridge in the beautiful
valley of Virginia, the newly risen full moon was
obscured by an eclipse. It came so suddenly and the
gloom was so pronounced, that a feeling of awe stole

180 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

over the men, and they became silent. We had not
heard that an eclipse was due, and were inspired by
some of the mystery and awe which savages feel
when Heaven suddenly shuts out its light from man.
There were many fine bands in both armies. At
Fredericksburg, the armies were on each side of the
river, and at night the thousands of camp-fires were
plainly visible. A federal band would play "Yankee
Doodle," "HairColumbia," and other tunes, and in
the frosty air every note was distinct and clear. Then
one of our bands from a hilltop would discourse
"Dixie," "Maryland," "Bonnie Blue Flag," each side
applauding its music with ringing shouts. Then one
side or the other would give "Annie Laurie," "Home,
Sweet Home," and friend and foe alike joined in the
applause to music and sentiments shared by all. It
frequently happened that we heard these contests
between bands of the opposing sides. General Grant
to his honor be it said, ordered that no bands play at
Appomattox, and there was very little or no shout-
ing by the foe. The Second Georgia had one of the
best bands in our army, and it frequently drew im-
mense crowds to our evening parades. Sometimes
the band would go to General Benning's camp-fire
and give him a serenade, for the brave old man was
deservedly popular. He would smoke his pipe and
look in the fire while they played beautiful airs, until
they were about ready to depart, when he would say :
"Now, give us 'The Gal I Left Behind Me,' " and he
would keep time with a vigorous patting of his foot
whilst his favorite was being played, a distinction
given no other air. The tune is over four hundred
years old, but I wonder why this generation neglects
what was so popular once, and in which there seems
to be real music, to dally with "rag-time," coon songs,

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 181

and opera airs that nobody understands. But infant
boys smoke cigarettes now, and infant girls drink
wine and beer at suppers in public places, and, of
course, music, like all things else, has changed.

Old Rock, as the boys loved to call General Ben-
ning, had been on the Supreme court bench of Geor-
gia, was a wealthy planter, brave in battle, but had
a good many oddities. Among them, he was very
plain of speech, and would talk back in kind with
compound interest to any of his men. He was lead-
ing us toward Fort Sanders at Knoxville, and as we
marched by the left flank, my position was next to
him as we came to a little branch flowing over the
rocks. He halted the brigade, knelt down and drank
deeply of the stream. As he arose, I called his at-
tention to a dead horse which had fallen into and
damned up the little stream just above, the water
making its way through the fragments. He looked
over his glasses at the object, wiped his mouth with
the braid sleeve of his coat, and said : "I don't care
a d — n, it was as good a drink of water as I ever had
in my life. Forward, march." He was ever kind to
his men, and on one occasion, took in person my ap-
plication for furlough to General Longstreet, saying
that one had been refused to him, but he would try
for me, and he succeeded. After Appomattox he re-
mained with his men as they made their way slowly
to Georgia, and now there is a camp named in his
honor in Columbus.

AT MALVERN HILL.

Our colonel, E. M. Butt of Buenna Vista, was
blinded by a shell at Malvern Hill; Lieutenant- Col-
onel Harris was killed at Gettysburg, and Lieuten-

182 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ant-Colonel W. S. Shepherd commanded the regiment
a great part of the time. He was, and is yet a bache-
lor, with plenty of this world's goods, and all the
qualities that go to make a fine man, but rather re-
served. In the campaign below Suffolk in '63, we
were marching incessantly in the rain, and our fires
at night were of pine wood, so that our uniforms
and faces were colored with the soot most of the time.
But some days we would go into camp early, and
from far and near the people would come in carriages
and on horseback to see the parade, and hear our
splendid band. Colonel S., overcoming his timidity,
stepped forward to assist a beautiful belle from her
horse, but a company cook, a fine-looking fellow with
clean clothes, pushed in front of him, and the gal-
lant colonel had to retire in confusion. Some of the
boys were mean enough to get close to the cook, who
was an ignorant backwoodsman, and hear his dis-
course, which with sufficient exaggerations, was re-
tailed about camp for many a day, but I never saw
the colonel try to be gallant again, except in battle.
One captain in the regiment, from Ducktown, was
said never to have worn a pair of shoes until he en-
tered service. He was handsome and brave, and got
a bullet through his calf when helping me to remove
a wounded man from the burning Poe house at
Chickamauga. Ex-Governor Candler and his father
were both in our regiment. The latter had a great
soul, with the most kindly manners. The boys used
to say that on taking his company out to the daily
drill, he would say, "Gentlemen of the Banks County
Guards, will you drill up the road or down the road
today?" I had a fistcuff in ranks as we were form-
ing for dress parade one evning, but Sergeant Allen

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 183

separated us. After returning to our quarters, Cap-
tain Roswell Ellis made the company a speech, say-
ing how mortified he was that gentlemen of the Col-
umbus Guards should fight, and this was all the pun-
ishment we got. John Lindsay was put in the guard
house for refusing to cut wood for the colonel, and
in five minutes a hundred bayonets were fixed and
guns loaded to go and get him out. The officers were
greatly distressed, but to our relief John came up
smiling, and there never was another Second Geor-
gian called on to perform such service.

These incidents, and hundreds of others that
might be given, will show what sort of discipline
prevailed in much of the southern army. The offi-
cers recognized the fact that sometimes one company
contained two dozen men, each the equal in wealth,
education and social position to any general in either
army. One Alabama regiment had one company con-
taining twenty-two privates, each worth over a mil-
lion dollars. These men might not submit quietly to
punishment for slight infraction of discipline, they
did get hungry, dirty and ragged, but when called
on to march or charge double their numbers, they
did it, inspired by sentimentas of duty and patriot-
ism, superior to any military discipline.

THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO.

This is April 1, and I recall the incidents of thir-
ty-eight years ago. On the last of March, Grant had
sought to march around our flank at Hatchers Run,
about forty miles from our left. A part of Grades'
gallant brigade formed part of the force which at-
tacked the enemy, and took three lines of works. On
the second line fell Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel S.

184 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Troy, shot through the lungs, to be captured, carried
to Washington, nursed to health by Sisters of Mercy,
and live long as one of the leading lawyers of Ala-
bama. Captain R. F. Manley of this city, then took
command, and fell on the third line, struck on the
head by a rail, against which a shell exploded. Cap-
tured, he went to prison, where he read in the Rich-
mond papers, his obituary, though he says it was
grossly exaggerated, and that struggle as he may,
he cannot live up to the good things said about him.
Grant brought up fresh troops and overwhelmed
their line, and we were hastily called from the ex-
treme left.

Leaving the miserable mud-daubed earthen floor
huts, where for months we had not one-third enough
to eat, with ragged clothing and scant blankets, we
marched to Richmond in the dead of night, and on
the hills at Rocketts we could see the long trains of
fire following the shells which were being fired into
ill-fated Petersburg. Detained for some cause on
the train at the bridge over the James, we reached
Petersburg just before day, and at once marched out
to its western borders, where the spiteful sound of
picket firing and an occasional cannon shot crackled
in the misty dawn and told us that the enemy had
broken our lines. Ordered to the front, I went on
till I came to an avenue bordered by low hedges, lead-
ing to a fine residence and in this I met General Lee
alone on Traveller, head bowed on breast, and the
Federal sharpshooters popping away at him, and
some unsupported cannoneers he had just left. I
begged him to dismount as he was so conspicuous,
but he only looked at me and did not reply. I had
never seen him with such a look on his face. Going
to the cannon, I could see long lines of infantry ex-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 185

tending for miles in the open, and hurrying back I
reported that our little brigade of eight hundred men
could not halt their progress. My regiment lay be-
hind the crest of a hill, and fought the advance, while
the others cut down a bridge behind us. The sharp-
shooters took cover in front, and there was a sav-
age, spiteful fight, until we heard the bridge fall,
when we retreated, wading the chilly stream.

As we ascended the opposite hill in a laughing
mood because of our escape, a bullet fired from the
dormer window of a house struck the end of my mid-
dle finger, and the agony was like mashing your nail
with a hammer. The nail came off, and that which
replaced it, was never so good, as the first, and this
day it requires a little attention, so I have with me
a reminder of the tumult of that day. A. P. Hill,
the only name mentioned by Lee and Jackson, as
their senses wandered in their dying moments, was
killed on that day, and in the distance we saw line
after line, about 10,000 in all, charge a fort held by
230 of a Mississippi regiment, who, after their am-
unition gave out, fought with rocks, bayonets and
clubbed guns, and only thirty unhurt men were cap-
tured. We lost some good men. Shepherd of Com-
pany E, Ballard of Company G, and others, but held
the town till nightfall and commenced our fateful
retreat to Appomattox.

VARIETY OF MEN.

There were men of every sort in our command.
Lieutenant Potter was an Englishman, and a splen-
did fellow, but a bullet through his head at Malvern
Hill put an end to a promising career. We had sev-
eral of Northern birth with us, and they were faith-

186 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

ful and excellent soldiers. William Anderson was
born of Quaker parents within twenty miles of Get-
tysburg. Of unfailing good humor, amiable and
somewhat of a wag, he was a favorite. He was such
a fop in dress, and had such fine manners, that the
boys dubbed him "Prince of Wales," after the pres-
ent King of England, who had visited this country
just prior to the war. But he got to be as dirty and
ragged as any of us, although he never complained.

At Yorktown, after we had been relieved from du-
ty in the trenches and were supposedly out of dan
ger? Prince was doing some sewing when a bullet
struck him on the thigh. We ran to his aid, and
gathered around him. His eyes always large were
magnified and he had seized his leg with both hands
pressing tightly to stop the flow of blood. With much
difficulty we forced his hands away and found the
spent ball had only made a blue spot. He was the
first man in the company to get a wound, and it was
his last, for he surrendered at Appomattox and lived
long to enjoy life. The fortunes of war made him
my comrade in the winter of '64-65, and we shared
the same blankets.

He discovered that he had the seven years itch,
which was not pleasant for me, but I never took it.
On some one's advice he got a citizen to show him
the root of a poke stalk, dug it up, chopped it into
small pieces, boiled them in the camp kettle, and
bathed himself in the decoction. He had used nearly
a peck and it was very strong. In a few minutes he
was in terrible agony, and whelks or great swellings
as large as one's arm appeared all over him. The
surgeon was sent for, and soon relieved him, but
the itch was cured. Returning from a lonely scouc
about midnight I found him lying in the middle of

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 187

the hut stark naked, but feeling good as one who had
just missed death. God rest the soul of Prince, and
those other faithful Northerners who toiled, starved,
fought and bled with the people among whom they
had cast their lot. One of them served in the Sixth
Alabama, was wounded and captured at Sharpsburg,
was offered the chance to go to his home to remain
without taking the oath, but he was exchanged, serv-
ed through the war, and is yet one of the most useful
men in the state as professor of mathematics at Au-
burn. Otis D. Smith has more friends among the
young men than any one I know, and in an acquaint-
ance of over forty years, I have never heard an un-
kind word or criticism concerning him.

Another, Baine of Lowndes, a powerful and popu-
lar lawyer, fell at the head of the Third Alabama be-
fore Richmond. There were great numbers of
Northern men who shared our dangers, privations,
defeat and reconstruction.

HEBREW SOLDIERS.

Then we had a few Hebrews in our company for
awhile. Maj. R. J. Moses, of Columbus, Ga., was
our brigade commissary and none was more faithful.
On one occasion, he rode ahead of the troops, seized
a little country water mill and sat up all night grind-
ing corn so that we might get a hoecake in the morn-
ing. He was too useful for a brigade, and was made
assistant commissary general of the Confederacy.
His nephews served with us for awhile. On the re-
treat from Yorktown the enemy tried to cut us off
with transports and gunboats, and we marched al-
most incessantly for thirty-six hours. Moultree
Moses was unused to hardships, his feet blistered

188 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

and the proud fellow cried with the agony and the
fear that he would be missing when the fight came
on. Judah P. Benjamin, our secretary of stat had
not a superior in America. He became queen's coun-
sel in England, and wrote a text book that is author-
ity on two continents. Many of them served faith-
fully all through the war and through the more try-
ing times of reconstruction. After the war, when
plantations were ravaged, stock and farm imple-
ments gone and no credit, it is said that a Jew first
established the system of giving credit on a mort-
gage on the crop ( to be grown, which enabled the
poverty stricken Confederates to carry on their farm
ing operations. It was the only source of credit in
those days, and now forms part of our system of
laws, though like other good things it has been badly
abused. It is said that the plan of mortgaging the
crops yet to be planted and grown came from Rus-
sia.

Two veteran Jews lived in Hayneville, and had
many friends. One of them whilst suffering from
rheumatism, was attacked by a youngster one day
while sitting in front of his place of business. The
son of a gentile veteran sprang to his rescue, and
seizing the man by the throat, with his fist pounded
the aggressor's head against the side of the house so
vigorously that it was like beating tattoo on a drum.
A son of the other Jew unfortunately, and by acci-
dent killed a negro in an altercation almost in my
presence. I shall never forget how when I assured
the old father that no jury would convict his son, he
said whilst the tears streamed down his face, "Oh,
Billy, but there is blood guilt on my son." When
the trial came on, almost every veteran in Lowndes

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 189

county was on the ground working or offering to
work for their old comrade, and the jury did not stay
out twenty minutes before acquitting the boy.

PROFESSIONALS.

There were some professional gamblers in the reg-
iment, but as they could not hoodoo the bullets nor
turn jack from th£ bottom with shells and cannon
balls, they mostly got out of the war on one pre-
text or another. In the tumult of a charge and tem-
porary retreat, it was very tempting and very easy
to keep one's position lying behind a rock or log
which sheltered one from bullets, and then as the
enemy made the counter charge, surrender and go
off to a safe prison. These men, to a great extent,
occupied the same position in camp as at home, a
kind of Ishmaelite, a social outcast, and I cannot
remember one who lived a useful life after the war
or lived long.

I remember one, a very smart fellow, who got
discharged upon some pretext about the time that
bullets and shells became familiar to us, but he was
again pressed into service and fought at Olustee,
Fla. The next time I saw him, he embraced me with
fervor, and commenced telling me almost in shouts
of his experience in battle. He said he did not know
he could stand bullets and believed he was a d — d
coward, but he got into the fight before he knew it,
and the enemy commenced to run and he ran shout-
ing and firing after them. Said he, "Billy, it was
great. I found I was a hero. I wouldn't take any-
thing for that battle." His joy was like that of a
boy when he first swims or rides his pony.

190 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

I have before me a packet of letters written to his
mother, wife and sisters by Phillip A. J. Harris, who
has a son in this city proud of his father's record
He belonged to the famous Tenth Alabama and was
from St. Clair county. The letters are dated from
July, 1861, to the summer of 1864, and surely there
is enough of the pathetic in them to touch the heart
of any one. He writes that he is glad he went to
the war, and never-makes a complaint of an officer
or man or of hard fare or dangers. After some of
the fearful battles, he writes that some of his com-
rades, who were neighbors at home, have been kill-
ed, others wounded, but he never writes of the poetry
or war, of the dashing charge, the booming cannon,
but gives a simple narrative of events as if they
were every day affairs.

In one he advised that a boy relative, ambitious
to go to the war, be advised to stay at home and raise
crops for the women and children. He frequently
gives advice about farming operations and from
camp near Orange courthouse in March 1864, tells
his wife to be sure and plant a good crop of peas for,
said he, they are selling at $80 per bushel. He fre-
quently sent money home by f urloughed soldiers, and
wrote that he would send some cotton cards by ex-
press to Rome, Gav the nearest express office. Think
of it, the nearest express office a hundred miles
away! He mentions "Jabe" Curry and Captain
Caldwell. The last letter is from his brother and the
saddest of all. It tells how the faithful man died in
the hospital at Lynchburg, either from fever or from
the effects of a wound received in the Wilderness,
which caused the surgeons to resect or take out about
three inches of the bone of his arm.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 191

He was rational to the end, and his last words were
of the wife and children. Like four-fifths of the
Confederate Army, he was not a slave owner, per-
haps none of his relatives were, but he belonged to
the sturdy liberty-loving Anglo-Saxon stock who
wrested Magna Carta from King John at Runny-
mede, under Cromwell crushed the tyranny of an-
other English king, won King's Mountain and the
Cow Peas against another, and for four years battled
against gunboats, odds six to one, starvation and
devastation, impelled by the same love of liberty.
Some able men say that the next war will be along
the line between labor and capital, but if it comes
and if liberty be crushed, its last vestiges will be
found along the Appalachian ranges in communities
like St. Clair Co., where at court, one can hear the
sheriff calling jurors and witnesses all day long and
never a name among them not familiar in the Brit-
ish isles. The last census showed that one county in
Alabama having over 30,000 population had only one
foreign born citizen in its bounds, and the United
States now has that one in a penitentiary for med-
dling with a colored man's pension.

ROBBERIES.

Former mention has been made of the robebry of
women and children by the viler class of Northern
invaders, since which I have seen the statement of
a son of Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, who was one
of the cadet corps of the Virginia Military institute,
which took a battery from veterans at Newmarket.
After the war he discovered that a valuable painting
which had been stolen from his father's house at
Norfolk was adorning the mansion of a union gen-

192 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

eral, who refused to give it up. The young man
went to the acting secretary of war, himself a gen-
eral who wrote a note to the possessor of the
picture intimating the position he was in. The pic-
ture was restored and sold for $1500 which was all
the family had for support, so dreadfully had they
been robbed. But the "quart of jewelry," the thous-
ands of rings, plate, watches and money, could not
be recovered. When we read of the ship load of loot
that came from the sacking of Pekin, and was stop-
ped until duty was paid; of the fourteen diamond
ring cases which went to the Supreme court of the
United States, because they were imported from the
Phillippines ; of the sacred vessels taken from the
churches, of the "water cure" torture, those of us
who recall the days of 61-65 read between the lines
that there has been looting in the Phillipines. It is
inevitable in war that bad men have the opportunity
to rob, but it is not calculated to win the respect of
the islanders any more than that of the Southerners

But note the difference. Occasionally there is a
court martial in the Phillipines on charges of bru-
tality, and though no one is ever convicted, still an
occasional newspaper sets up a cry against the evils
done to unoffending natives and Senator Hoar sheds
tears for them. BuL no one ever heard of a court mar-
tial or a cry of sympathy for the barbaraties prac-
ticed against whites in the south during the war.
Some of the federal officers who were gentlemen,
tried to protect people by placing guards at their
houses, but so profound was the hatred towards the
Southerner that he got no sympathy, he was white.

This leads me to speak of the feeling now preval-
ent in both sections. In common with the Confeder-
ates, I have been a law-abiding citizen, and would go

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 193

as far as the most vile South hater in the North to
defend the country against foreign aggression. In
everything that goes to make a loyal citizen, we are
their equals, and in regard to respecting their preju-
dices, in not forcing negro equality on them in pro-
tecting them from Chinese immigration, and in not
trying to loot the treasury by false and fraudulent
pension claims, we can certainly compare favorably
with them.

SOUTH HATERS.

Some of the creatures hate the South so much that
they are constantly ready to put the worst construc-
tion on any event that happens in this section. As
has been said, their souls are so infinitesimally small
that if enclosed in the shell of a mustard seed, they
would roam for endless ages without meeting the
confines. I know it is fashionable for those Confed-
erates who have been as government officials, draw-
ing large salaries for a long time, to talk about the
disappearance of prejudice, reconciliation and peace
The politicians, newspaper reporters and some
others, talk along the same line, all apparently en-
gaged in trying to force the course of history.

The larger newspapers and magazines in the
North are leaving off their prating and pursuing a
policy of letting us alone, which is the true way to
bring about reconciliation, but it is not long since
they all in heated campaigns advised their readers to
"vote as they shot during the war," and even now the
little country papers that we seldom see in this sec-
tion, will cry the slogan, "vote as you shot" and any
man who does not know that such feelings actuate

194 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

great masses of people in that section, is lacking in
observation. It is not claimed that we are so free of
prejudices that we are angelic, but our people are
deeply grounded in the doctrine of state's rights, and
believe that in everything not controlled by the gen-
eral government, we ought to let other people man-
age their domestic concerns, and they should let us
do the same. Apropos of our prejudices, if you call
them such, when Smithson, who was doing a thriv-
ing law practice in this city was preparing to remove
to a Northern city, he was asked by a brother lawyer
why he was leaving. He answered in a tone almost
pathetic, "Because a man has got to be a Democrat
or a nigger in Alabama." So long as hatred, vindic-
tiveness and prejudices govern and bind together
one section, the other will instinctively join hands
in self-defense.

PRESIDENT DAVIS.

When surrender came President Davis lost much
of his personal popularity. His obstinacy in contin-
uing General Bragg in command of the Western
army after so many reverses, in keeping Pemberton
in favor, in holding Richmond against the advice of
General Lee until it was too late to effect a success-
ful retreat; his failure to have provisions forwarded
by trains, otherwise filled with their useless govern-
ment archives, combined with other minor matters
has caused him to be severely censured in the South,
and the feeling properly left alone or managed,
would have resulted in the effacement of many pas-
sions aroused by the war. Then when a powerful
government with a million armed men, and not an

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 195

armed foe, put iron manacles on a sick old man con-
fined in the stone casemate of an impregnable fort-
ress, every true son of the South felt the cowardly
insult to be directed at himself, and felt as if he too
was manacled and degraded in the person of his rep-
resentative.

Then the victors demanded blood, and hung Wirz
because of alleged cruelty to Andersonville prison-
ers who received the same rations as their captors,
and whose want of medicine was the result of the
failure of their government to accept our offer to
allow medicines and surgeons to be sent them. It
was long afterwards before it was shown by the
records at Washington in possession of the victors,
that whilst but 12 per cent of Northern soldiers in
our hands died in prison, 16 per cent of Southern
soldiers died in Northern prisons, in a land teeming
with abundance. There are many living witnesses
my own brother among them, to the barbarities,
starvation and cruelties practiced on prisoners in the
North, generally it is true by the home guards who
had never seen a battle, but it was done and the
South had to submit quietly to seeing an innocent
man hanged on a false charge. If these things in-
dicated a wish for reconciliation, it was of the kind
practiced by Indians, who turned over helpless cap-
tives to their women to be tortured with fire.

MILITARY DICTATORSHIP.

When the thirst for blood could not be assuaged
by reason of a Supreme court, a more refined spe-
cies of torture was devised, and civil government in
the South abolished, and military dictatorship

196 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

substituted in its place. Again it was found that not
all the generals would consent to be brutes, and then
came negro political equality, which was as degrad-
ing to the oppressor as to the oppressed. Then came
so-called elections in which almost all the intelligence
of the South was studiously disfranchised and the
days of reconstruction and the carpet baggers
brought bankruptcy to states, municipalities and in-
dividuals. The robbers of the war time, got in their
work in those days by issuing state and county
bonds, and it was seen that the so-called philanthro-
phy which gave the negro race its vote, was reward-
ed in cash by the negro voting bond issues for his
charitable friends whose charity was directed to rob-
bing a helpless people, always provided they and not
the negro got the proceeds of the robbery. These
kindly attempts at reconciliation were kept up for
several years, and only stopped because there was
nothing more to steal from impoverished states.

Then we have sustained numberless attempts to
have "force bills" designed to provide social equali-
ty, but be it said in his honor that great Pennsylvan-
ian, Randall, prevented this extreme of cruelty,
which never an Arab, Roman or Indian dreamed of
as a method of tortue. It was the refinement of
cruelty, the climax of torture, the invention of small
souls rendered desperate by their failure to invent
other methods of making life horrible to the people
they had robbed of everything save honor. The Su-
preme court of the United States, placed as it is
above the methods of the low politician, its members
secure for life in their position, and in the cold, clear
light of law, with the knowledge that history and
time will adjudge their opinions, have wisely thwart-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 197

ed the attempts of these malcontents to interfere
with social and domestic relations, but what do we
think of them as lovers of peace and humanity?

THE LILY WHITES.

Lately an attempt has been made to purge one
party in Alabama of some of its objectionable fea-
tures, but the whole power of the administration
entirely sectional in its make up, has been used to
crush the effort and the "lily whites" are set back,
at least for one election, perhaps for a generation.
The Confederate is not whining about it. The so-
called native Republicans used the darkey as long
as it was profitable, and cast him off when they saw
they could perhaps get additions and make their
party respectable without him. But the old veteran
wonders where the "reconciliation and peace" so
much talked about by the shallow fellows come in,
and sees that in order for Roosevelt to win, he must
bow to the vultures of his own section, who would
rather fatten on the carrion of hate, than see recon-
ciliation in fact, for their occupation would be gone
if the latter took place.

The Romans tolerated the religions and prejudices
of all the conquered nations of the world, and their
gods found an honored place in the Pantheon. When
the Jews rebelled because the eagles, the symbols of
conquest, were placed in the holy temple at Jerusa-
lem, they were withdrawn, and it was death for a
Roman to enter the sacred precincts. Caesar, Alex-
ander and Napoleon, not only tolerated but respect-
ed the traditions of people whom they conquered. Of
late, conquering England gave the defeated Boers

198 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

terms which astonished the world by their liberality,
and it is reserved to one section of the United States
to maintain the most liberal, not to say barbarous
views towards people of their own race. These views
are committed to writing, not as an apology, nor as
a defense, for the Confederate needs neither the one
nor the other, but the prevalent beliefs of a people
are facts, and by their results are moulded into his-
tory.

SCORNS THE IDEA.

The northerner among us not for politics scorns
the idea of social equality with any people not de-
serving it, nor does he want his taxes assessed, or
his rights decided by jurors or judges, only two or
three generations removed from Congo, but the man
in the far North who "votes as he shot" in his pro-
found ignorance and venom, hates us because we act
like the decent northerners settled among us, whose
children play with ours, who neighbor with us, and
share our joys and sorrows. Our attitude is: "At-
tend to your own domestic concerns, and we will do
the same and let yours alone." We pray that our
sins be forgiven, whilst they give thanks that they
are not as we publicans. I have not set my foot be-
yond the line of Dixie land, because I deem the com-
pany of my people good enough for me, and if I
should stray beyond and hear the besainted vultures
casting slurs upon my people, as happens to some of
my friends who seek pleasure or business among
them, I must needs take it or resent it, so I stay at
home and enjoy myself among my own people.

In 1860 I traveled by private conveyance through
a part of Georgia, Florida and South Alabama. One

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 199

Saturday I was in one of the towns in an Alabama
county, now the center of thrift, education and pros-
perity. There was an old fashioned square or plaza
with the court house in the center, and clustered
around the square were lawyer's offices, stores and
barrooms, or groceries as they were then denomi-
nated.

In the evening two young men got to quarreling
and cursing each other vigorously, and a crowd,
among whom were the sheriff and various county
officers, surrounded them. The young men stripped
to their waists, apparently did everything imagin
able to bring on the fight. They shook their fists in
each other's faces and used shocking profanity;
boasted of what each could do to the other, until in
my innocence, I fully expected to see one or both
killed. Finally one of them said to the other : "Your
granddaddy was a d — d Tory in the Revolutionary
war." The other replied: "And your granddaddy
plead the baby act (infancy) in South Carolina, and
d — n you, I can prove it." This was the straw that
broke the camel's back, and they begun fighting so
furiously that both were soon covered with blood.
The crowd stood and watched until the combatants
were out of breath, and then separated them. No
weapons except nature's own were used, and it seem-
ed to be a matter of course for the fight to go on.
and nobody was arrested. The incident is recalled
in order to show that old memories are likely to re-
tain a strong hold on people, and further show what
changes have taken place. To be called the descend-
ant of a Tory was a great insult, just as our grand
children will be insulted by being told that their an-
cestors were rebels or unionists.

200 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

Again it was an insult to be told that one's an-
cestors had plead infancy to avoid a debt. Now our
young men fight, or more frequently do murder with
pistols, and too many will not only plead infancy, but
claim exemptions to avoid the payment of honest
debts. Prior to 1860 a respectable young man could
get a loan of money to start business on his plain
note, and I contracted debts of hundreds of dollars
before I was 18 years of age, but I never heard of
any one trying to avoid payment. What a happy
thing it would be if with our street railways, elec-
tric lights, imigration and fine imported manners
we could have preserved some of the old-fashioned
ways of paying debts, without waive notes and mort-
gages, and fighting with fists instead of with pis-
tols.

In the humble cottages, as well as the stately man-
sions of the black belt, the mistress of the house or
her daughters, who never traveled farther than the
nearest market town, always rise when a visitor
leaves the room, and one with the graciousness of
a princess, follows him to the door ; but the fashion-
able girl, who got her manners in "Nu Yok," shakes
hands as if her arm was a pump handle, and lets
her guest find his hat, overcoat, and his way out the
front door as best he can. Now we hear of scandals,
lawsuits for breach of promise and seductions, when
such things used to be treated with a shot gun or
silence.

If an editor was not very careful in mentioning
the name of a lady in his paper, there was a pros-
pect of a horsewhipping for him, but now every ar-
rival is chronicled as the "most lovely and accom-
plished" until all are on a dead level in the social

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 201

columns. Even the shape, color and material of the
"gowns" are set forth, on all occasions, forgetful
that in the show windows are finer dresses, less
paint, and better rounded shoulders on the smirking
wax figures. Many of these things are the result of
the demoralization following the war. When the
Normans conquered England, it was the conquered
who impressed their manners, customs, language and
laws on the victors, but in the cities of the south
what is worst in the manners of the victors is be-
ing adopted and what is good is not copied. But in
the country the changes are not so apparent and the
stock that sturdily withstood the Norman will long
preserve the traditions of the old South in its re-
spect for women, and its love for home, of simple,
honest life, and its hospitality to the strange guest.
I have traveled much in the country, and it is an in-
variable rule that the weary stranger is asked to go
and see his horse fed, and if the master did not go
he at once fell in the estimation of his host. Many
a time have I on taking my departure, and asking
for my bill, had for reply, "All I charge you, stran-
ger, is the next time you come this way you must
stop with us again." If one came to a broken down
vehicle, or wagon stalled in a mud hole, and did not
stop and offer to assist the unfortunate countryman,
he was liable to be thought of as a meanly disposed
person.

Whilst journeying from one court to another, with
my silk hat and store clothes on, I have dismounted,
and in the mud with a fence rail, assisted in prizing
wagons out of the mire, and whilst the country men
were not effusive in their gratitude, their looks and
manners indicated that they thought that I was a
fellow whom they could tie to, and my heart warms

202 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

yet at the recollection of the manly way some of
these farmers accepted the trifling help I gave them.

CLOSE TO NATURE.

If you want to get close to nature, and nature's
God, go to the country and dwell amid the forests
by the placid streams and among the plain folks. If
you want to see artificial men and women, go into
society in the city, but in the blessed little children
in both city and country, in the ragged newsboy and
the borefoot plowboy, you get close to nature. Fash-
ion has not currupted the tots. Blessings on them!
They do not know North or South, and do not revile
us because we are Southerners and white, which is
a crime in the eyes of many saints who dwell toward
the north pole. They may roll their R's and say they
were born in the nor-r-th, but they are as near angels
as humanity can be, and if they make their home
with us till they are grown, they will be our steady
friends and always white to the core. They at least
will never help to make Alabama a Hayti or St. Do-
mingo, nor forget that the mongrel — the cross be-
tween the races — inherits all the vices and few or
none of the virtues of either. Boston can more easi-
ly and surely help the colored man by sending five
thousand of her learned fanatics to live for one year
in the black belt of Alabama than by the proposed
plan of taking the same number of colored people
to a state whose population is 42 per cent foreign
born, with no sort of sympathy for the negro.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 203

HOW ONE FEELS UNDER FIRE.

I have often been asked how one felt in a fight
and if one did not have feelings of great fear. From
my own experience, as well as the observation of
others, I believe that the man whose flesh did not
rebel when his spirit held him in the range of dead-
ly missies, whilst not fighting himself, was insane.
Thus when sustaining a fierce cannonade to which
we could not reply, or whilst charging batteries,
breast works or lines of infantry at a double quick,
when we could not return the fire, the flesh indeed
was weak, and one could see from the pale counten-
ances and compressed lips of his comrades that the
perfectly natural feeling, common to all animals, of
the fear of wounds and pain, and which cannot be
helped, was the lot of even the bravest soldier. But
once in the thick of the fight, when we were giving
as well as taking blows, when the fierce wrestle for
some gun or coveted point was on, and the blood was
hot with the shouts of comrades ringing in one's
ears, all fear departed and a fierce joy possessed the
whole being of the soldier. He became absorbed,
delirious and often totally oblivious to sense of dan-
ger. This the Latins called "the joy of battle," and
it expressed the idea as nearly as possible.

The great majority of men have the courage to
make good soldiers, and it was rather the exception
that a man behaved badly under fire. In one com-
pany of the Second Georgia were three brothers,
whose name I will not call, for they are now thrifty,
well to do and respected citizens of Alabama. Two
of them had always been quiet boys, and made ex-
cellent soldiers, but the elder had been before the

204 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

war a notorious fighter. He had whipped every
fighting man in his neighborhood, and if he heard
of another twenty miles distant he would hunt him
up and provoke a fight, so that he was notorious as
a bully in his section. This was before the day of
pistol "toting," and there was seldom any malice
between the bullies, but this brother made a poor
soldier, and shirked every battle until late in 1863.
On the French Broad in Tennessee, as the lines were
forming to charge an ugly hill from which the bul-
lets came in a spiteful way, his captain requested
that two men might be sent from my company to
him, and John Hicks and I went and received orders
to place ourselves behind this man, and if he started
to run to shoot him. As the line moved forward he
looked over his shoulder at us and evidently under-
stood matters, but he went with the line into what
proved to be a very small fight, as the enemy fled
before we got a chance to punish them.

When I was shot in the hand at second Manas-
sas, Tom Geasley tied it up with my handkerchief,
and told me to get into a little gully just in the rear
of the line. From a hill at short range a New York
brigade was pouring bullets like hail on us, and hav-
ing nothing to do but look on they seemed to me as
thick as rain drops in a shower. The depression soon
filled up with men, and a staff came along rousing
the men and imploring them to get up and fight.
Severel showed him they were wounded. I held up
my bloody hand, and he came to the next who was
not hurt. Said he, "My God ! What will the men do
if the officers run out of the fight!" and shook the
man by the shoulders. The officer turned up his
pitiable pale face and said: "I — I can't — can't
fight." This was the only battle in which I was in

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 205

the rear of the fighting line, and all the missies seem-
ed to be aimed at me, and the sight of the wounded
men running to the rear was demoralizing to such an
extent that I would prefer a front place, where one
could occupy himself in scaring the other fellow. It
relieves the situation mightily when you can give
blow for blow, and know the other fellow is just as
badly scared as you are.

LEARNING TO FIGHT.

From scarlet fever and all the ills attendant on
infancy, I was a weakly youth, and never engaged in
wrestling or other sports which gave strength to the
boy, and Job's comforters often prophesied that I
could not live six months in camp. I had never had
even a fisticuff at school, and it was a source of great
anxiety to me to know whether I could stand the
strain of a battle. It must be confessed that I had
serious doubts as to whether such a weakling could
face the belching cannon and the fearful din of mus-
ketry. Two great grandfathers were in the revo-
lutionary war and on the right side. My father
and his only brother had volunteered for the In-
dian war, and from certain scraps of family history,
which had not been carefully concealed, I knew that
some of my ancestors had not always declined per-
sonal combat, and I wondered if I was to prove de-
generate. Our company was one of the best drilled
in the South, but the raw recruits like myself, had
to be licked into shape, and I was long in the awk-
ward squad, where my failure to learn the details
of drill and especially to "catch step" caused a good
deal of amusement, and naturally subjected me to
ridicule. I was so sensitive about it that I finally

206 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

decided — and what a fool I was — that I must fight
somebody, and when the next remark was made
about me I squared myself before the great big fel-
low and demanded an apology, expecting to get a
good beating, but to my great relief he apologized
in the most gentlemanly manner. It had the effect
of stopping the ridicule, but I still did not know if
I would fight. Some months afterwards George A —
suddenly provoked me into striking him, and almost
before I knew it I was in a fisticuff, and to my great
astonishment I stood up to it until the officers sep-
arated us. Afterwards I was under fire from gun-
boats, pickets, in the trenches at Yorktown, at Sev-
en Pines, and in the beginning of the battles around
Richmond, but always under such circumstances
that I did not see anything to run from, and any-
body else that tried to run, so I began to believe that
I could stand fire as well as the average man, and you
can rest well assured it was a great comfort. Fin-
ally came the supreme test at Malvern Hill, when
sick and with a surgeon's certificate in my pocket,
our long line, under the sultry sun, advanced through
an open field against seventy cannon supported by
thousands of infantry, armed with long range rifles
against our smooth bore muskets. We passed some
of our cannons dismounted, the wheels town to pieces
and littered with shreds of human flesh, stepping
over the mangled bodies of the cannoneers. I re-
member that I felt gratified to keep my pace in the
front rank as we went onward up the long slope
through that hell of fire. Getting close to the ene-
my, who were concealed by the smoke we moved by
the left flank, crossing over a fence, and there lay
down and were told not to fire, an order. which I
disobeyed, as I could plainly see as the guns blew

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 207

away the smoke the blue artilleries, and I did not
want to be murdered in cold blood. Directly I rais-
ed up, looked around and found my comrades gone,
except the noble Porter who was shot through the
head, and going to the rear I met Lucius Johnson,
who did not know what had becomee of the regi-
ment, which for want of leadership in our generals,
had refused to lie still and be killed for nothing. In
a piece of thicket just to the rear was a South Car-
olina major calling on the men to rally, and, ad-
miring his pluck, I stopped with him, as did Hucks,
another of my company. He got together forty-
seven men and led us up the hill which 10,000 had
tried in vain to take. We went about as far as the
main line had gone and our game cock major ordered
us to lie down, at which I was surprised, for he
seemed willing to attack alone the whole Yankee
army. The cannons still belched forth their whirl-
winds, and about dusk one struck me on the thigh,
which was blue and black for weeks. Some of Jack-
son's troops came to "our support in the night, but
the enemy retreated, and the next morning with a
musket for a crutch and desperately sick, I search-
ed for my command. Feeble as I was I could not re-
sist the feeling of intense satisfaction arising from
the knowledge that I had gone as far to the front as
anybody else, and that I had remained all night
close to the enemy. In fact I considered it a set-
tled question that I could do my part in a battle,
but up to that time I had not known it for a fact.

A furlough, home comforts and doctoring pre-
pared me for second Manassas, where we were bet-
ter led, and my regiment acquitted itself with cred-
it. Led the same way at Malvern Hill we would

208 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

have taken the position. These are the honest con-
fessions of a boy who did not know whether he
could fight or not until he was tried in the fire. If
the young men of the present generation were called
on to endure the same experience — which God for-
bid— they would not, disgrace their ancestors, but
the topers, the cigarette smokers and the gamblers
would play out of the game, just as they fall by the
wayside in their battles of banking, rail-roading,
merchandising, law, farming, and medicine ,and
just as they did in 61-65. But one baptism of fire
did not make a hero and in '63, '64 and '65 as the
shells and bullets began to fly around us, the flesh
felt the same tremblings and aversions to the dan-
ger. You have all seen a frightened horse, and how
senseless he is, but a man or a lot of men in a panic
have less reason than a runaway horse, and I have
laughed and grown mad by turns at men who were
flinching from the searching shells and bullets. I
saw Jim DuBose, who weighed about one hundred
pounds, at Chickamauga, put his bayonet to the
breast of a fleeing colonel twice his weight and curse
him soundly, and yet the same Jim, whilst on a lone-
ly vidette post on the Darbytown road, fired at a
covey of partridges made restive in the bushes by
the intense cold. My brigade had proven themselves
veterans on many a bloody field, had resisted odds
of ten to one at Sharpsburg and Richmond, had ta-
ken breast works and batteries from odds, yet as we
were marching one starlit night outside our lines
through the thick woods to flank the enemy, a little
muddy stream, crossed only by a foot log, delayed
our march, and passing it I suddenly found that
every man had taken to the woods like scared quails.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 209

A scout could not do likewise, however strong the
temptation, so I advanced until I hailed a bulky
form in the road and found a mounted boy courier,
who had panicked veterans by inquiring in a loud
voice, "Whose command is that?" Of such stuff
are mortals made. With my son, in 1897, I drove
over the same road — curious to recall the feelings
of that sombre scene. Three miles from our line
and less than two hundred yards from a strong cav-
alry post of the enemy, I was in a little road, cross-
ing a marsh, when at a sudden turn I met a little
woman in a blue shawl, and the momentary ter-
ror I felt is yet fresh in my recollection. At another
place where we had fought three times, and the
arms and the legs of the dead had been uncovered
by the winter rains, and whence alone I had taken
prisoners, I was standing waiting for daylight, so
as to observe the hostile camps, when I saw gliding
towards me, now stopping, now moving, a grey ob-
ject too small for a horse, but to my ditsurbed imag-
ination, quite large. My heart came to my throat
several times and I turned my gun on the object,
but the recollection of the ridicule I would get if I
shot anything but an enemy made me wait till I
discovered — an 'opossum. It is but a step from the
sublime to the ridiculous, even in war times, and
the man whose heroism you praise today may look
like a scarecrow tomorrow.

The braggart and bully of peace times is likely
to prove a coward in battle, and the quiet man who
turns pale when angry, will lead in the daring
charge. Alone, and miles from my own people, I
have been ordered to surrender, and escaped by
fleetness, and I have many times narrowly missed

210 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

death, or capture, and it would be idle to say that
one did not feel fear and no old soldier would be-
lieve it.

INCIDENTS OF RECONSTRUCTION ERA.

I propose to relate some of the small thefts, on
a large scale, done in Alabama by the Agents of the
party which swayed the government from 1860.

There is, as every one knows, a law regulating thM
recording of deeds and mortgages, and the fee for
such services in 1868 was twenty cents per hundred
words. The probate judge certified on the back of
the instrument that it was recorded in a certain book
on a certain day. The scoundrels in office, by the
grace of the negro, charged in addition, fifty cents
for the certificate, and this continued until we turn-
ed the thieves out in 1876, when, with a different set
of men, it was decided in the case of Wood vs. Till-
man, that the charge was illegal. The case is report-
ed in 58 Ala. Page 578.

When one considers that in some counties thous-
ands of such papers were recorded each year, it is
easy to see that the amount stolen from the people in
eight years was nearly a million dollars by this meth-
od. Then, after bankrupting the people, so they
could not pay their taxes, their lands were advertised
and sold by the tax collector. If a man owned a
section of land, which is composed of sixteen forty-
acre tracts, they would advertise each forty separ-
ately; charge a dollar for levying and a dollar for
selling besides the printer's fee; so that the owner
had to pay thirty-two dollars, instead of two. Some
who owned several thousands acres of land were
treated in this manner. The papers had to print

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 211

extras to hold the advertisements, and sometimes
half the land in the county was sold for taxes. This
state of things existed until 1874, when the case of
Gachet vs. McCall, 50 Ala. 307, was decided, and
another particular form of theft was abolished. The
price of marriage license was two dollars, but one
official had some printed with pictures, and "only
three dollars, my friend" got to be famous.

A. G. S. RAILROAD.

There was a law passed by the legislature of 1868,
composed mainly of negroes, carpet bag thieves, and
adventurers, giving endorsement of the state to the
amount of $16,000 per mile of railroad built. The
A. G. S. railroad, then, under another name was be-
ing built and $580,000 of bonds were endorsed for
thirty-six and one-fourths miles of the road in ex-
cess of its length, and which had no existence, a
clear steal ; but, by a decision of our Supreme court,
composed of democrats, the holders of these bonds
being innocent, were protected, and we have been
paying interest on them ever since. The case is
found in 64 Ala. Page 127. Counties were author-
ized to issue bonds in aid of railroads on a vote of
citizens, and it is related that on election day at
Opelika, the trains were crowded with negroes. A
free barbecue was given, and the colored brother
nobly voted bonds to his carpet bag friend. Five
counties of the state were in this manner made bank-
rupt, and for a long time under special laws were
known as "strangulated" counties. It were impossi-
ble in the space of a newspaper article to enumerate
the ingenious devices of these unprincipled repre-

212 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

sentatives of the "God and morality party" for rob-
bing a helpless people.

The law then allowed officials, administrators, and
guardians to give security on their bonds, residing
anywhere in the state. These places were filled in
almost every instance, by the worst of men. I have
seen in the Commissioners' court of Lowndes, a
very thick-lipped, coal-black negro, and a white man
whom the United States government had put in the
penitentiary for a year, levying the taxes for the
county. Out of a jury of twelve, nine were negroes
trying another negro for the murder of a town mar-
shal, and, of course, the defendant was acquitted.
There are unsatisfied decrees for thousands of dol-
lars in the Probate courts of the black belt, in fa-
vor of widows and orphans, against administrators
and guardians who were insolvent as were their
bondsmen.

John Hardy, of Selma, was a bondsman for many
of these creatures, and he was reputed to be rich,
but his case in 68 Ala. 303, shows that after being
imprisoned for a time he proved to be insolvent
One of the elect taught public school, but he planted
and cultivated a crop of cotton with his colored schol-
ars.

IN HAYNEVILLE.

To overawe the whites and inspire the blacks, a
national guard was organized and I have seen Tom
Armstrong march 1,200 armed with guns, pistols,
sabres and clubs, mostly the latter, into the little
town of Hayneville, where only about forty white
men lived, but their double-barrels loaded with buck-
shot were behind every door, and when the white

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 213

leaders of the colored mob had broken the head out
of a barrel of whiskey, in the street, and the elect
became boisterous, their leaders were told that if one
drop of blood was shed, we would fire on them and
not on their poor tools. There was a very quick de-
parture of the guard, and I have never seen it parad-
ed since. There was a rumor that in the woods, near
Gordonsville, a night meeting of the guard would
be held. Five or six mischievous boys without arms,
on horseback, charged them, and the shouting and
tramp of horses dispersed the patriots, never to as-
semble again.

No country in the North would have tolerated this
state of affairs a week, and it may be asked why the
Confederates submitted. We knew that if we had
acted just as any respectable Northern community
would act, the party in power would send troops and
do like Sheridan in the valley — burn some houses
and mills, starve a few white women and babies, and
imprison the most respectable men they could find,
whether innocent or guilty. Some of the best men
of Sumpter were dragged in chains to Mobile, and I
have seen a detachment of soldiers sent twenty miles
to camp in sight of an election being held, so fearful
were the saints that we might elect a decent man.
A Confederate possessed of over $20,000, had to get
a pardon to prevent confiscation, and the fees charg-
ed which were to the receiver mere bribes, were
enormous. John P. Streety, whose shoes the official
skunk was not worthy to untie, applied for his to him
for pardon, and the low-born, without speaking to
him, turned to his secretary and said, "Give him the
papers when he pays you $50." Busteed, disgracing
the office of the district judge of the United States,
was accused of every crime except those involving

214 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

manliness. He took high ground, and refused to al-
low lawyers to address persons in his court, as Gen-
eral Morgan, Governor Watts, Colonel Troy, etc..
because they were titles of the "rebellion," but law-
yers have a way of taking care of themselves, and
the wit of Sam Rice and the contemptous treatment
accorded him finally compelled respect. Fern Wood
in open court, told Kiel, another vile creature on
the bench as judge in Eufaula, that he was a dis-
grace to humanity, to the bar, to the bench, con-
temptible and cowardly, and when the trembling
creature ordered the sheriff to arrest Wood, there
were fifty men ready to resist, and the judge re-
signed.

Sometimes they fell out with each other, as the
case in 54 Ala., Page 393, will show, and one Re-
publican governor tried to hold over after his de-
feat, but a judge of his own party, who hated him
adjourned court and traveled in haste to Montgom-
ery to issue a warrant which ousted him, and jus-
tice was done through motives inspired by malice.
No, we are not against the government, but we de-
spise the politicians who refuse to allow their party
to be respectable in the South, and if this hasty
view of less than one-tenth of the enormities prac-
ticed by it, here given, is not enough to create
and keep a "solid South," there are a few things,
such as attempts to pass force bills, taunts, appoint-
ment of black officials to positions where they come
in contact with women and children, and the like
which would band together a people less proud and
brave. But the Confederates, even if under parole,
got some fun and little revenges out of the infamous
crew.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 215

After the Constitution of 1868 was fastened on
Alabama by fraud, the officials pretendedly elected
at the same time took their seats. By reason of the
disfranchisement of numbers of its best citizens the
negroes in Butler county had chosen one Gardner as
probate judge. He was a very superior sort of per-
son, who talked down at a rebel as a very inferior
sort of man, but was very affable toward his colored
equal who voted for him.

FEARLESS YOUNG MEN.

There were a number of boys who were too young
to go into war, and consequently were not under
parole, but who had grown to be strong young men,
without fear of the devil or his imps, as they con-
ceived Gardner to be. The latter, with some of his
associates, had a public speaking at Greenville, and
the boys, Frank Gafford of this city among them,
hung around on the outskirts, and when some par-
ticularly objectionable fling was made at the whites,
a loud voice would cry out, "That's a d — d lie No.
1," and when another came, "That's a d — d lie No.
2," and so on. At a meeting in the court house at
night one of the speakers, addressing the colored
men, said, "You have as much right as any man
to write a note to one of the young white ladies,
asking for her company to church." The boys at
once ran to Dan Dunklin's store, filled their pockets
with eggs, and returning, bombarded the speaker
and his associates, and the colored audience, which
immediately stampeded. A few pistol shots into
the air hastened their departure. Of course the
affair was published North as a Southern outrage,
and when the elder men of the town got hold of it

216 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

there would have been a lynching, only the speaker
fled town in haste.

If one could realize how, under the promise of
"forty acres and a mule" unlimited license, and the
hope of associating with white girls as their beaux,
the inflammable state of the negro mind, he might
appreciate the result of such teachings, for such
speeches made on that night and others like it all
over the land, and the teachings of vile newspapers,
viler politicians and yet viler preachers, saints at
long range, inspired the negro to commit that pe-
culiar crime which brings, and always will bring
death, North or South. The negro would have been
benefitted if that speaker and all like him had been
put to death at once. The boys formed a club for
deposing Gardner and drew lots, the first falling to
Bill Payne, who, the next Monday, walked into Gard-
ener's office and with one blow of his fists knocked
him senseless and walked out, not a word being said.
The next Monday, Jim Brunson did the same thing
in the same way, and it went around the club every
Monday, until it came Payne's turn again. He put
on a pair of huge spurs, dragged Gardener to the
court house door, mounting on his back and spur-
ring him vigorously, rode him to the door of a bar-
room. Calling up a colored man, he compelled him
to hold his unwilling steed whilst the rider went in
and took a drink, then coming out, he rode him back
to his office with many a dig of the spur.

Gardner resigned.
The prosecutions in the United States court against
the boys were dismissed, and Butler county has
never had a carpet bag probate judge since, nor has
a negro been lynched for the peculiar crime. We
paroled Confederates enjoyed the affair immensely.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 217

At Rutledge, three of the elect advertised public
speaking, and a committee of white men demanded
a division of time, which, after some objections.,
was granted. Of course the elect had the opening
speech, at the close of which our speaker got up,
every colored man left the house, which so enraged
the whites that they ran a skirmish line around the
square, and with fence rails, sticks and brush, drove
every darkey up stairs to hear a decent man speak
Up to a few years ago only one white man in Cren-
shaw county ever voted the negro ticket. He was
half witted and the Hard-Shell Baptists turned him
out of the church for this disobedience to what they
conceived to be divine law.

Our grandchildren may read in some histories
about the "solid South," "the long haired barbari-
ans," and a few other choice epithets applied by so-
called gentlemen to their ancestors, but the facts
here narrated will go in the history of reconstruc-
tion now being written by a Virginian, and future
generations will take pride in the fact that instead of
a race of mongrels, the purest stock from the Brit-
ish Isles yet dominates their native states.

I have refrained from relating many events and
giving names, because of the pain it might inflict on
some innocent kin, and on others who have suffer-
ed from being in bad company yet living, but I have
lived to see most of the actors in that carnival of
crime live and die miserably.

GETTYSBURG IN 1903

. Ever since those fateful days in July, 1863, I have
wondered, not that Hoods' division did not take Lit-
tle Round Top, but that we succeeding in going as

218 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

far as we did go, I spent three days of last week on
the ground, and it is still a mystery to me that we
wrested cannon and precipitous heights from even
a skirmish line.

I went this time in a palace car, and with an ac-
cident policy, but the travel is more wearisome with
people who ride in cars where even the tots are
offish in their demeanor, and the grown folks seem
to expect deference because they occupy seats ob-
tainable by extra cash. In the smoker the flavor of
conversation is apt to be coarse, and no one but the
brakeman could point out King's mountain, where
was fought the battle which is said to have been the
turning point of the revolutionary war. If you want
to remain ignorant of the country through which
you travel, ride in a Pullman. Passing South and
West of Appomattox we came to Lynchburg, of
which Sut Lovengood said that when Providence fin-
ished and painted it, it was turned on its side to
dry and left in that position. There in the early
days of the war from every parlor window floated
the strains of "Maryland, My Maryland," delighting
the ears of the wounded soldiers, but the town has
grown far to the south now.

CHARLOTTESVILLE.

The people in the car could only talk but my
friend, the rear brakeman, could tell me things. So
I rode a hundred miles with him on the rear plat-
form, and in the waning daylight and soft moon-
light he pointed out Charlottesville, the cupola of
the university. Orange, Rapidan, Culpepper, Bran-
dy, Rappahannock, Catlett's, Bristow, Manassas.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 219

Bull Run and Fairfax, names familiar to the surviv-
ors of Lee's veterans. What a throng of crowding
recollections rushed on me as I recalled the tramps
through mud and snow or under the blazing sun past
these places in the happy days long gone, with the
gay and gallant spirits, the brave and jolly com-
rades whose familiar faces rose before me, and
whose souls communed with mine till the brakeman
wondered at my silence.

Those marches were less tiresome than the car
journey, and the simple meal of bacon and hard tack
cross legged on the ground were more enjoyable than
the feast off silver, china and cut glass in the din-
ing car, for did we then not have youth and hope
and freedom?

Taking the first train out of Washington we cross-
ed the Monocacy, where Early wrestled with Lew
Wallace for the brigade, then Keedysville, the near-
est railroad point to Sharpsburg. We crossed the
Antietam three miles above the battleground and
came to Hagerstown, where the colored driver who
transferred me to the other depot had served
through the war as servant to one of Rosser's cav-
alry officers, and the only occupant of the carriage
besides myself was a very old lady who on being in-
formed that I was a rebel, snapped out vigorously
"I am a rebel to the bone. I saw fighting in front
of my house." The dinner at the hotel was good ex-
cept the beef, which reminded me of some of the
camp beef we used to have. I saw no corn bread
on the trip until on the return I reached Mount Airy,
Ga. Our Southern negroes must be a failure in the
North, since they have not learned their friends the
value of hoecake.

220 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

A GOODLY SIGHT.

It is a goodly sight to see that land with small but
fertile farms, the waving corn, stacks of wheat,
clover and the burdened apple trees, some of them
resembling in the distance giant rose bushes. Some
twenty miles this side of Gettysburg are two sum-
mer resorts, Beauna Vista and Pen Mar and crowds
of pretty girls, all bare headed, thronged the sta-
tions. Arriving at Gettysburg about 3 :30 I took the
trolley for Little Round Top, arriving there about
the same time we charged on July 2, 1863. I recog-
nized the precipitous rocks over Devil's Den and as
soon as I came in sight and got off the car to walk
the rest of the day. A gain I stood on the spot where
I stood over forty years ago. Above us then, quite
twenty feet, on the edge of the rock stood a line of
blue coated United States regulars firing straight
down at our line which had become broken in pass-
ing over and around the huge boulders which barred
our way. Here fell the gallant Muse and Lieu-
tenant Mays of my company, shot through the top
of the head by the almost vertical fire. Muse fell
to his left, striking my feet. The government ave-
nue passes directly over the spot where they fell,
and just beyond is an iron sign with the words "Dev-
il's Den" on it.

One tradition says that the hunters always lost
their game in this confused mass of rock and another
that the whistling of the wind in the ravine caused
the superstitious early German settlers to give the
suggestive appellation to the fearsome place. Under
the cliff a spring of not very good wa-
ter has been excavated in the rock. I easily
found among the rocks the cleft up which I

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 221

climbed during the battle. Then I had to throw my
rifle forward and by aid of the rocks on either side
pull up and repeat the operation. Now, without a
gun, and no enemy in front, I found it difficult to
go up the same rugged pathway, and again I had
to cling to the rocks to get up. On this rugged spur
are four cannon, representing the artillery in the
battle and we took and carried away three guns —
being the only captured artillery of that day's fight
carried off by our army.

To the left the spur is more accessible, but bould-
ers from the size of a cow to an omnibus are scat-
tered all over its southern face, and again I won-
dered how the left of Bennings' brigade — some of
Laws and the Texas could have driven away even a
skirmish line and taken those guns. All the Second
Georgia could do was to employ the men on the
precipice over our heads. We remained on this
spur all July 3 under fire from Little Round Top,
which three regiments of Law's and and two of the
Texas tried in vain to take and no wonder. I fired
that day many times at an officer in a white shirt
serving the cannon. Many of my comrades also did
and on that spot is a monument to a general and a
lieutenant of artillery.

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN.

I climbed not without great exertion to the top
of the mountain, which is as steep as Red mountain
near Twentieth street in Birmingham, quite as tall
with out-cropping ledges of stones and boul-
ders scattered all over it. Gen. Warren saw
the glint of Hoods' bayonets as we marched to
form the charge, and without orders carried a bri-

222 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

gs.de to the top just fifteen, some say ten minutes
before the Alabamians reached the foot of the hill.
A skirmish line could have held the place, so in-
accessable is it. The line of battle of the union forces
was about five miles long in the general shape of a
huge fish hook. Gulps is at the point of the hook
and Little Round Top at the end where the line is
tied. The village of Gettysburg is below the bend
of the hook and was in our lines which ran along
High Street, which then formed the eastern boun-
dary of the village, and the cemetery is on very
high ground, and gives the name to the ridge, which
is almost inaccessable except where Pickett charged.
In many places are the earth and stone breast works
which sheltered the union forces who seemed to need
no shelter on those rock bound heights.

Our line was distant about one mile on Seminary
Ridge, so called from a Lutheran seminary yet there,
and was about six miles long. The enemy having
inside line could and did reinforce from any part of
the line across to threatened points. Pickett charg-
ed one mile and a quarter in an open field and whilst
his men covered this distance reserves were brought
up to meet him.

There are over five hundred monuments on the
field besides markers and government tablets; some
of them are costly, some quaint and artistic. Several
in granite represent the sharpshooter lying behind
a pile of rocks taking aim. One in white marble is
a perfect representation of a tent with a canteen
hanging on the end of the ridge pole. Many of the
monuments are based on huge boulders, and some of
them are fashioned out of the boulders. At the
bloody angle is an altar, approached by granite
steps. On its top in bronze is an open book four

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 223

feet across inscribed at the top, "High Water Mark
of the Rebellion." This point is thick with monu-
ments and only one, that of Gen. Armistead, is Con-
federate. In fact, that and one to the Second Mary-
land are the only two monuments to Confederates
on the field.

TABLETS OF BRIGADES.

There is an avenue running- along the respective
lines of battle and iron tablets inform the visitors
as to the brigades, regiments and batteries occupy-
ing the position before the battle commenced. There
are many cannon posted at points actually occupied
by batteries during the battle. I walked from the
town along the union line over Culp's Hill to Spang-
ler's spring, from which both sides got water, now
beautifully enclosed by the government, and return-
ed by Confederate avenue. My valuable guide could
rattle off like a phonograph, his account of each
scene, but I stopped him with the statement that I
knew more than he did, but the carriage stopped at
each tablet whilst I read the inscription but when I
got again to Devil's Den the fascination overcame
me, and I dismissed the carriage.

To appreciate the scene, to breathe again the spir-
it one must walk over boulders where no vehicle
can go, and I wandered on foot from monument to
tablet until darkness. The squirrels play round Dev-
il's Den and I disturbed many young rabbits in the
deep grass over which golden rod and many autumn
flowers cast their sunshine. In the mouth of one
cannon a bird had built her nest. In one respect
the field is not satisfactory. Whilst a mile over yon-
der the tablets tell you where each Confederate reg-
iment formed its line of battle, when you get into

224 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

the union line and find that in places it was driven
back a quarter or half of a mile, and monuments of
union regiments are thick and tell of fearful losses,
there is no way to inform the visitor who inflicted
these losses, or what command overcame rocks,
heights and soldiers. There is one notable excep-
tion, one monument says Barksdale's brigade drove
them 300 yards when they rallied and with rein-
forcements recovered the lost ground.

Another monument tells that its colonel was kill-
ed with a bayonet on that spot, trying to recapture
his flag, but does not inform us what command took
the flag.

Owing to want of knowledge of the ground three
of Law's and two of the Texas regiments fought with
Benning's brigade, separating them from the rest of
their command. Wofford's brigade nearly cut the
enemies line and gave name to the Valley of Death,
but there is nothing to inform the visitor who broke
the lines, who captured the guns, who scaled the
rocks and heights. True there are ponderous maps
in town that tell you some things, but not one visitor
in a thousand cares for or remembers the maps. He
wants to see for himself on the ground. When the
Confederates are dead and their grandchildren visit
the field, none will know where his ancestors fought.
He can go a mile away and see where he started to
charge and that is all.

BETTER AT CHICKAMAUGA.

It is better at Chickamauga where the tablets will
tell you who fought there. Near Viniards the Eighth
Kansas monument states that regiment lost 217 out
of 409 and just in front the monument of the Sec-

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 225

ond Georgia shows who fought at that particular
point and just in front of the guns and tablets show-
ing the capture of an Indian battery on Sunday are
the rough stones showing the Second Georgia was
there in the fight. A Virginian told me of an inci-
dent which illustrates the point. As the guest of a
Maryland friend he was inspecting the bloody angle
where Armistead fell and heard a guide reeling off
in metalic tones his speech about the things done by
Meade and various regiments to a party of Boston
people. When his breath gave out there was silence
for a time and the Virginia veteran said, "Guide,
it seems to me I have heard that a man named Gen-
eral Lee was here with some friends about that time
but you forgot to tell that." There were smiles and
laughter in the crowd and an old Boston lady came
up to the Confederate and told him that he was the
first one she ever saw, made him partake of an ele-
gant lunch with plenty of champagne. He carried
away more than twenty visiting cards and pockets
full of fine cigars. This illustrates what you see at
Gettysburg. The guide books, the guide, the monu-
ments tell what the union people did in '63 but not
a word of who made them glorious and brave. One
can see from the broken and scattered lines of monu-
ments that those battle lines were bent and broken
in places by somebody, the monuments tell of reg-
iments that lost one quarter, one third, or one half
their numbers. Somebody bent or broke the lines
on those frowning precipices, somebody overcame
those immense boulders, somebody killed and wound-
ed the defenders, but who did it? The monuments
and tablets do not tell you. Go to the tablets on
Seminary Ridge a mile away and they only tell you

226 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

who were there, not who on diverging lines routed
the foe from almost inaccessable bluffs and hills.

AT DEVIL'S DEN.

At 'Devil's Den we fought the regulars. Nobody
builds a monument to them, but a tablet shows they
occupied that position and their loss was from 25
to 50 per cent of those engaged. They must have
fought well but how about the men who took can-
non from them in such a position? Not one in a
thousand among the numerous visitors will ever
know that Texans, Alabamians, and Georgians min-
gled in frightful confusion among the boulders on
Plum Run and charged those heights. It would
seem that it would gratify the survivors and advance
their glory that these monuments should recite that
Law's brigade fought here. It would enhance their
glory and gratify their pride to tell that there they
met the flower of the Southern army, but it is not
there. To me it seems that if we had attacked earlier
in the day or if Wofford had been supported at the
Valley of Death, we would have been successful. I
cannot see how there was any chance for Pickett's
and Hill's men to go one and a quarter miles in the
open under the concentrated fire of an army with
any hope of success. The great Lee saw it different-
ly then.

Gettysburg contains about 5000 people, has three
banks, water works, electric lights, a car line and
several hotels. The influx of visitors is constant
and many reunions are held there. The people
thrive on visitors who support hotels, carriages,
guides and buy souvenirs of every kind. The gov-
ernment employs many people in the care of the

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 227

grounds and extending the avenue. The park com-
missioners have their office there, among them be-
ing Major W. M Robbins, formerly of the Fourth
Alabama regiment, who sends greetings of "God
bless you" to all the old Confederates. He was very
courteous and being the only Confederate there, is
in demand for a speech at every public occasion, and
being so much in the minority probably believes like
Pope argued that "Whatever is, is right."

When we were there in '63 and for many years
afterwards we were "d — d rebels." Now at the
hotels at Devil's Den and other points when I met
excursion parties and told them I was a rebel, I was
politely corrected every time. One young lady, very
handsome and gentle, who was informed by me that
I fought at that point on the rebel side, said with an
ahem, "And you were a Confederate?" Times and
people have changed The round trip fare from
Washington is $5.40, from Baltimore, which is much
more convenient it is much less. There are 3500
union dead buried in the National cemetery and
2900 Confederate dead were removed in 1879 and
buried in Hollywood at Richmand, but numbers of
both sides are still being found in excavating for
roads.

Besides several shops and stores in which souv-
enirs are sold there are two museums containing
relics obtained from the battle field. On the main
street near the square is an old wooden pump, seem-
ingly out of place in a town having modern water-
works, but they tell you Gen. Early watered his horse
there and across the street in the museum is the old
battered pot then a watering trough. Visitors are
shown a tree in the street with a fragment of a shell
imbedded in it, and a two story house near the

228 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

square has the marks of several shells in it and it
is related that many Confederates got in the house
but a shell exploding in the upper story made them
swarm out. Charley Sturgis of this city tells about
a comrade calling to him of the eatables in a two-
story brick house, and how he found great loaves
of bread and apple butter but a shell made him leave
hastily. It must be the same house.

Farther east up Baltimore street and on the left
or Northern side is a brick house where Jennie Wade
was killed. At the time of the battle a woman with
a babe three days old was in the house and could not
be moved. The union generals gave orders that no
pickets must use the house, but two got in and fired
on our men from the cellar windows and of course
there was a return fire as our people did not know
the house was occupied by women. Jennie Wade
was behind the door of a room kneading dough and
a bullet passed through both door shutters and killed
her. Her picture adorns match boxes, and almost
everything you can think of. Her photographs are
on sale and she is made conscipuous. Her story is
told with every circumstance of grief and horror.
She was the only woman killed on Northern soil, and
I heard it and all the while deploring the accident
I thought of the thousands of delicate women and
children who were driven out of Atlanta by Sher-
man, to starve and die whilst he burnt their homes,
and of the other thousands driven out of Columbia
when he burned that city, and of the numberless
women and babes left to die of starvation by Sheri-
dan when he ravaged the valley of Virginia. They
were the wives and children of rebels and it was all
right for them to die and they got no pictures, no
sympathy. Such is the difference between mine and
thine.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 229

In this house is a museum of field relics, among
them some ancient dueling pistols, watches and
quaint weapons of all kinds. One in particular ar-
rested my attention. It was a gold chain with lock-
et attached and a ring of curious workmanship. It
represents clasped hands, and the ring could be
opened, displaying springs, but on being shut the
hands again clasped. The picture in the locket had
faded as it lay on the ground nearly forty years,
but the chain and ring are still perfect. From the
position where it was found, I suppose one of Early's
corps once wore it, but owing to the fact that there
is no way for a stranger to ascertain what particu-
lar Confederates fought at that or any other point,
the relatives of the owner of the ring may never be
found.

FIRST DAY'S FIGHT.

The first days' fight commenced some three or four
miles west of the town. For a time Hill's troops had
all they could do to drive the enemy. Gen. Reynolds
came on the field with his division, but an Arkan-
sas sharpshooter named Dunlap killed him and about
noon Early came from York to the north and the
Federals were driven in great confusion through the
town. Charley Sturgis says he fired 300 rounds that
day and had 60 rounds left as the enemy threw away
their ammunition. Late in the evening our bugles
sounded the recall whilst the enemy was fleeing in
the utmost confusion to their reserves posted near
the cemetery. The survivors still assert that they
could have taken the heights that evening, but when
one sees the numerous cannons pointing in almost
every direction on those heights which are said to

230 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

be in the exact place then occupied by them, one may
doubt it. Culp's hill is 508 feet above the plane from
which the field has been measured, which is consid-
erably taller than Red mountain or Duffey's moun-
tain at Blount Springs. It is rugged, steep and there
are outcropping ledges of rock and boulders over its
face for two miles. Hayes' Louisiana brigade
mounted these steeps, took the earth works and held
them till nearly all were slaughtered as their support
did not come up. From the angle where Pickett
charged to Little Round Top, nearly two miles, the
union line was broken at nearly every point, some-
times pushed back nearly half a mile, but we had no
reserves, no fresh troops to crush the broken line
which rallied and with reinforcements drove our
men back.

STRUGGLE OF GIANTS.

It was a struggle of giants and one cannot fail to
be impressed as was Lincoln when he made his ad-
dress in November following the battle. Even with
all the hate and fury of war time, he said that he
was proud of the Americans who charged those
heights, and no Southerner need feel otherwise when
he visits the field. It will forcibly strike every vis-
itor that there was a great mistake in not having
some monuments or tablets to show what particu-
lar command fought at particular points. All hon-
or to that brigade which placed on its monument that
it was driven by Barksdale's Mississippians 300
yards. If they were driven and they frankly state
it, they can feel that they met gallant foemen. There
were privates in those Mississippi regiments the
equals in wealth, social position and culture of any

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 231

general on either side. Instead of detracting from
the fame of their successful defense, it will add to
their pride to know that Wilcox's, Rhodes or Law's
Alabamians or the Texans or Georgians or Carolin-
ians, the very flower of Lee's army drove them from
those apparently impregnable heights, and wrestled
on that spot for victory. I have given the elevation
of Culp's hill on the left, Round Top on our right is
664 feet. Little Round Top 548; Cemetery Ridge
500, the angle where Pickett and Pender charged,
472 ; Peach orchard, 467, the hill above Devil's Den,
440 feet. Red Mountain is 400 feet above the rail-
road tracks at the depot in Birmingham, so one can
get an idea of the heights, but over half the line was
covered by ledges and boulders, rendering it impos-
sible for any troops to keep in line as they charged.

When opportunity offers I shall again visit the
field and I am sure that any of the survivors of that
conflict will enjoy a view of the heights which frown-
ed on us in 1863.

Felix McLaughlin, our tax assessor, was wound-
ed as Wilcox's brigade neared the enemy's line. He
got to a lime sink and protected from fire, watched
our men fall as they climbed the hills. He told me to
find the place and I found one among numerous
sinks, but there is no table or monument to tell
where Wilcox's men fought and part of that divis-
ion after breaking the Federal line wheeled and
fought with their backs to another part of the same
division which had wheeled in the opposite direc-
tion. I have government maps in my office but they
are not object lessons like tablets or monuments on
the spot. If the government does not allow Confed-
erate monuments where the commands fought, the
field will always be one sided history. The broken

232 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

lines of the federal monuments negatively tell that
somebody fought there, but in a few years none will
be left to tell who they were. It is passing strange
that the Federal losses in the battle were some thous-
ands greater than the Confederate. When it is re-
membered that our line charged a mile in the open,
under fire from artillery, and then had to climb hills
rugged with boulders which formed excellent pro-
tection to the defenders, and then inflicted more
damage than they suffered, it takes official reports
to convince one that such could be the result.

DEVIL'S DEN.

Near the wild gorge, Devil's Den, part of Hood's
division captured 1100 prisoners and Company H
of the Fifteenth Alabama was detailed to guard
them. The Seventh Georgia was put on our flank
to guard against the Federal cavalry, and Farns-
worth charged over them and in our rear on July 3,
with sabers flashing in the sun and with great shout-
ing they came on, but one of our batteries charged
them and the stragglers fired on them. From the
Knoll over Devil's Den we watched their destruc-
tion, but we had gathered and loaded the guns of
the dead and wounded and prepared to fight front
and rear. It is now told at Gettysburg that after
being shot from his horse Farnsworth killed him-
self. On the field that day we heard that after be-
ing wounded he killed with his pistol one of our men
who demanded his surrender, and another shot him.
His commission as brigadier came next day.

In memory yet I can see the 500 sabers flashing in
the sunlight and hear the shouts of those blue-coated
cavalrymen, as they came in our rear in the open

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 233

wheat field. There is a monument to Farnsworth,
but none to the battery which without supports
rushed its guns through the field against the charg-
ing cavalry and poured into them cannister at close
range. On the ridge beyond is a tablet, showing
that Reilly's and Bachman's batteries were opposite
and we heard that day that the battery which charg-
ed was from Augusta, Ga., commanded by a German.
I saw it from a distance, but do not know which bat-
tery did the work. Its glorious bravery merits a
tablet or a monument on the spot.

BRAVE ACTION.

The bravest thing I ever saw Benning's brigade
do occurred on the evening of the third, after Pickett
and Pender were repulsed.

We had orders to leave the hill over Devil's Den
one at a time and form in the field at its foot. Un-
der a terriffc fire from Little Round Top our men
formed, although now and then a man went down.
They told off by numbers, faced right and marched
off in perfect time and order. As we passed over
Plum Run I kneeled to get a drink of water, and
running to my place a head, one of the Fifteenth
Georgia raised his musket to brain me for running.
Our faces were so covered with powder that he did
not recognize me. This will give an idea of the spirit
of the men who charged those heights.

When Prof. Sam. L. Robinson read that there
were no monuments to tell where Confederates
fought, he wrote a poem, two stanzas of which are
here given:

234 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

"Not a monument found on the dark, bloody-
ground,
To tell of the laurels there won,
By the most gallant lads, in the steadiest squads,

That ever yet carried a gun ;
Not a monument there — on those heights — in those
vales,
To tell to our sons true battlefield tales.

"When they climbed up those hills — when they
tempted the will
Of the Gods in the struggle, may be,
Did the foe leave their post at the sight of a ghost?

Was there nothing that caused them to flee?
Will they say to the world that those brave men of
theirs
Surrendered their guns to an army of hares?"

A POST BELLUM AFFAIR

Paroled, ragged, hungry and threadbare, at Ap-
pomatox on April 12, 1865, I left the slow marching
brigade (Benning's), and with Wm. Young, of the
Seventeenth Georgia, procured direction from Gen-
eral Jubal Early, made my way, dependent for food
on the kindness of the people along the eastern slope
of the Blue Ridge to Spartanburg, S. C., where we
first journeyed over part of a broken railroad. While
alternately riding over the fragments of railroads
Sherman had not destroyed and walking, Young
parted from me to go to his Georgia home. I lost
my hat when asleep in a freight car, but for two
Confederate dollars purchased another very ancient
one, which now one would hardly pick up with a pair
of tongs.

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 235

Reaching West Point, Ga.? about sundown, April
29, I was overjoyed to meet with Lawson McKelvey,
one, of the color guards of the Twentieth Georgia.
At Gettysburg a shrapnel had burst just at the flag
destroying more than half of it, killing three or four
of the guard and wounding McKelvey in twenty-two
places, extending from his ear along his left shoul-
der and arm to the wrist. He was placed in the am-
bulance corps and did his duty faithfully to the end.
He was a gallant soldier, a faithful friend, and there
is one who wafts kindly wishes at him for "auld
lang syne."

We traveled the river road until late that night,
sleeping on the side of a rocky, hill and next morn-
ing, Sunday, reached the house of a friend, Hop
Smith, as he was familiarly known, one of the best
men and neighbors and a friend of my boyhood who
had often given me words of homespun wisdom. His
wife, yet living, was and is a benediction on all
who knew her.

While breakfast was preparing, I saw tears on
her face, and surprised at such a welcome, I inquir-
ed the reason. Then she told me how wretched she
felt at my home-coming in such clothes. I told her
I would get more when I reached my people, but
she sadly shook her head, and with many sobs told
me that my trunk containing all I had in the way of
worldly possessions had been stolen by deserters. I
made light of the matter, but not so with her.

Reaching my relatives, I met a welcome not ap-
parently affected by the apparel I wore, and learned
that when Wilson's raid, which took place in Selma
and Montgomery and scattered destruction in its
path, was expected, the neighbors made up a train of
wagons to take valuables across the Chattahoochee

236 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

into the hills of Harris county to escape robbing by
the raiders. My cousin put in a wagon my trunk
with all nyy clothes and valuables, some of their best
dresses, 400 pounds of cured bacon, then most valu-
able, and some other household effects, and a young
negro was sent in charge of the wagon, which form-
ed the rear guard of the team. After crossing Soap
Creek near its mouth, the horses balked at a hill.
Some men came out of the woods and told the negro
to go to a house near by and get help. On his re-
turn he found the wagon emptied of its contents
and no one had been able to trace the goods or the
theives, and since about three weeks had elapsed,
all hopes of finding them had been given up.

Clothes being a necessity, I went to Columbus, and
learning there, that owing to some influence a lot of
Confederate clothes had not been burned, I went to
John Mott, formerly aid to General Benning and
told him I must have two suits. He denied any
knowledge of the whereabouts of the goods, but I
told him unless he allowed me to take what I wanted
I would get my old comrades and we would break
into the building and divide the Confederate stores,
as I felt I was rightly entitled to a share. He fin-
ally led n:e into an alley, then up a stairway, across
a building down another, and finally into an open
room where there were hundreds of suits of Confed-
erate jeans, cut out and tied up ready for the ma-
kers. I selected two and my cousins with deft hands
converted them into clothes so that I was clad in
what was then an honorable uniform. But the sense
of injury on the loss of my trunk and my cousin's
property was strong, and the instinct of revenge
stronger, especially when it was suspected that some
deserters had stolen the goods. With the soldiers

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 237

a deserter was not supposed to have much more
rights than a snake.

After some days I borrowed from Sam Lowther
a derringer, the only pistol in the neighborhood, and
I think he said it was his grandfather's dueling pis-
tol, and taking some fishing tackle, clad in my worn
uniform, I made my way to the place where the
wagon was robbed, confident with my experience as
a scout, even after the lapse of three weeks I could
find traces of the missing property. Arriving after
a walk of four miles at the foot of the hill where the
robbery took place I found in the woods on the side
of the road toward the river where the dead brush
had been tramped upon, and by following it there
was a pretty fair trail to the river, distant about
400 yards, which at that point was about one-fourth
of a mile wide, with swift current broken by many
large rocks and one or two wooded islands.

A batteau half filled with water was tied to the
bank, and with a paddle I commenced baleing out
the water. While thus engaged I heard a shout, evi-
dently a signal from the Georgia side, and I could
see a man and two women in a field were making
signals. I started across the river, which had many
dangerous currents among the rocks, and had need
for all my expert skill with a paddle. On approach-
ing the Georgia shore, the persons, to my surprise,
retired from the bank some forty yards and com-
menced a conversation with me, anxiously inquiring
if the war was over, who I was etc. I told them the
war was over, that I had surrendered with General
Lee, that I belonged to a Mississippi regiment, my
name was Thompson, that my uncle, who lived near
Columbus and owned a plantation near, had sent

238 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

me out to look after some matters and I had come to
the river fishing, and hearing their signal had
brought over the boat.

They were very suspicious, but finally I got the
man tame enough to come near, and he put one foot
on the prow of the boat as it lay on the shore and
talked some minutes and saw that everything he had
on from head to foot was mine.

A girl had presented me with a cravat embroider-
ed at the ends by her own hands and the rascal had
on that. He had been to a dance the night before over
in Georgia, and had been dressing himself in my
best, just as I had done before the war. He told
me his name and I recognized him at once, as I had
known him from infancy, but he did not appear to
recognize me. I offered to carry him back in the
boat, saying it was too windy to catch fish, offered
him the rear paddle and after much talk finally got
the two buxom girls to take their places in the boat.
While making our way to the Alabama shore I made
up my mind to land the girls, draw my pistol and
compel the man to drop down the river to Smith's
landing, and then carry him prisoner to my friends.

But my plans would not work. When within an
hundred yards of the shore I saw on the bank a no-
torious deserter, whom I had known for years, with
an Enfield rifle in his hands. As soon as he saw
that there was a stranger in the boat he stooped
and glided into the thick cane and brush which lined
the bank.

Landing I gallantly helped the girls, still unsus-
picious, out of the boat, chatted a while, begged for
an obtained an invitation to the next dance, to be at
their house two days after — I had never danced a
step in my life — and bidding them good bye, walked

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 239

off whistling "Dixie," no doubt passing within a
few feet of my friend with the rifle, but never look-
ing to the right or left. Again my scouting expe-
rience served me well, for had I betrayed knowledge
of his presence, I would have been sent to the bottom
of the river and this tale left untold.

I kept step to "Dixie" till I got to the woods, and
then in a double-quick, I summoned my friends to
meet me the next morning. Some of my old friends,
some crippled soldiers ,among them Lawson McKel-
vey, met me with boats at the mouth of Soap Creek.
Four of us went to the island found evidence of a
camp, and papers from my trunk. Forming a skirm-
ish line across the island we traversed its length,
and Lawson found the bacon in an underground cel-
lar cleverly planked up and covered with driftwood.
The deserters had taken the alarm and removed the
trunk and other things and we searched the Geor-
gia shore and other islands without further results.

While searching the Alabama shore one of the
party heard a signal opposite the island. It proved
to be an old woman who lived two miles off, and who
had in hand a case knife. The party gathered about
her, and McKelvey gave it as his opinion that she
had come after some of the bacon and was signal-
ing the island, not knowing that we were after the
precious deserters. First the old men then I, tried
argument, persuasion, entreaty, threats, everything
but force, to make the old woman divulge the where-
abouts of the other missing property, but without
avail. She had come to the river to get some medical
roots for her rheumatism, and protested that she
had no knowledge of the stolen things, calling on
her Maker to witness the truth of her assertions.

240 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

She fairly outdid me in deceit, when I passed off to
her son as Thompson.

Finally, when patience was exhausted McKelvey
said to me : "You are too d — d chickenhearted about
women. Turn over the command to me, and I'll make
the old hag tell the truth."

I very gladly resigned in his favor, and he took a
rope, brought to tie prisoners or hang them as may
be, commenced to make a hangman's noose, at which
he seemed to be skillful. Everybody was silent, but
the old woman begun to eye his movements with evi-
dent curiosity. After the knot was made it did not
seem to slip according to his ideas and he sliced off
a piece of the bacon and greased the rope, at the
same time slipping it up and down on his elbow.
The old woman finally broke silence with : "Mr.
Kelvey what are you going to do with that anyhow?"
Pointing to a huge willow which bent over the deep
currents of the Chattahoochee, he replied: "I am
going to hang you to that tree till you are dead, and
then cut the rope and let the fishes eat your car-
cass."

Again, she loudly protested her innocence. He
threw the rope over a limb of the willow, jerked off
her bonnet and clapping the noose over her head
began to draw her. Of course, we all knew McKel-
vey would not hang the woman, nor would we have
permitted it, — but it looked very serious — especially
to her.

After a little he loosed the rope and asked her
for the truth, but she again protested her innocence.
This was repeated twice, the last time the rope must
have grown very tight for when it was relaxed she
confessed everything, told who got the articles, that

TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 241

they had been on the island but had been moved, she
knew not where. This last was truth.

Finally she agreed if we would not hang her or
prosecute the takers, let bygones be bygones, she
would deliver everything at a neighbor's house two
days after, which was done. The faithful McKelvey
went with me and when we returned with the recap-
tured spoils, my cousins, who were rather slender
sat on the floor around the trunk while unpacking it.
When their fine dresses came to view it was seen
that they had been cut in the back and a gore or
V-shaped piece of cloth let in so that the buxom
belles who bewitched the deserters might wear them;
the dresses being otherwise too small. The girls had
been mad up to this time and their remarks had been
most exemplary in Christian patience. But now
their patience gave way and they cried and cried
again over their wrecked finery.

My friends thought my life would not be safe in
that neighborhood, but I remained there the rest of
the year, and on one occasion met my deserter
friends at a cider pressing and saw them occasion-
ally, but I can not say we were very cordial.

After awhile came provisional government and a
proclamation of amnesty for most sins, including the
taking of the goods and the pretense of the hang-
ing and peace rested in that neighborhood.

It is gratifying to know that the deserters and
those who shared their spoils long since became good
citizens and have a respectable standing in the com-
munity as well as in the church. Most of the ac-
tors have gone "over the river," those gallant, warm-
hearted friends who stood by me even when in a
disagreeable task, but Lawson McKelvey still lives,

242 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER

a cheery, warm-hearted fellow, as of old. Maybe the
rough edge on his tongue is somewhat smoothed, but
however that is — wherever he may be — here's a
health to him, and these remembrances now serve
only to call up merriment. We are prone to forgive
the faults of thirty-seven years ago.