ATLANTA
HOOD STRIKES
General John B. Hood had the reputation of being a fighting man, and
wishing to show Jeff Davis what a "bully" fighter he was, lights in on
the Yankees on Peachtree creek. But that was "I give a dare" affair.
General William B. Bate's division gained their works, but did not long
hold them.
Our division, now commanded by General John C. Brown, was supporting
Bate's division; our regiment supporting the Hundred and Fifty-fourth
Tennessee, which was pretty badly cut to pieces, and I remember how mad
they seemed to be, because they had to fall back.
Hood thought he would strike while the iron was hot, and while it could
be hammered into shape, and make the Yankees believe that it was the
powerful arm of old Joe that was wielding the sledge.
But he was like the fellow who took a piece of iron to the shop,
intending to make him an ax. After working for some time and failing,
he concluded he would make him a wedge, and, failing in this, said,
"I'll make a skeow." So he heats the iron red-hot and drops it into the
slack-tub, and it went s-k-e-o-w, bubble, bubble, s-k-e-o-w, bust.
KILLING A YANKEE SCOUT
On the night of the 20th, the Yankees were on Peachtree creek, advancing
toward Atlanta. I was a videt that night, on the outpost of the army.
I could plainly hear the moving of their army, even the talking and
laughing of the Federal soldiers. I was standing in an old sedge field.
About midnight everything quieted down. I was alone in the darkness,
left to watch while the army slept. The pale moon was on the wane,
a little yellow arc, emitting but a dim light, and the clouds were lazily
passing over it, while the stars seemed trying to wink and sparkle and
make night beautiful. I thought of God, of heaven, of home, and I
thought of Jennie--her whom I had ever loved, and who had given me her
troth in all of her maiden purity, to be my darling bride so soon as the
war was over. I thought of the scenes of my childhood, my school-boy
days. I thought of the time when I left peace and home, for war and
privations. I had Jennie's picture in my pocket Bible, alongside of a
braid of her beautiful hair. And I thought of how good, how pure,
and how beautiful was the woman, who, if I lived, would share my hopes
and struggles, my happiness as well as troubles, and who would be my
darling bride, and happiness would ever be mine. An owl had lit on an
old tree near me and began to "hoo, hoo, hoo are you," and his mate would
answer back from the lugubrious depths of the Chattahoochee swamps.
A shivering owl also sat on the limb of a tree and kept up its dismal
wailings. And ever now and then I could hear the tingle, tingle, tingle
of a cow bell in the distance, and the shrill cry of the whip-poor-will.
The shivering owl and whip-poor-will seemed to be in a sort of talk,
and the jack-o'-lanterns seemed to be playing spirits--when, hush! what
is that? listen! It might have been two o'clock, and I saw, or thought I
saw, the dim outlines of a Yankee soldier, lying on the ground not more
than ten steps from where I stood. I tried to imagine it was a stump
or hallucination of the imagination. I looked at it again. The more I
looked the more it assumed the outlines of a man. Something glistens in
his eyes. Am I mistaken? Tut, tut, it's nothing but a stump; you are
getting demoralized. What! it seems to be getting closer. There are two
tiny specks that shine like the eyes of a cat in the dark. Look here,
thought I, you are getting nervous. Well, I can stand this doubt and
agony no longer; I am going to fire at that object anyhow, let come what
will. I raised my gun, placed it to my shoulder, took deliberate aim,
and fired, and waugh-weouw, the most unearthly scream I ever heard,
greeted my ears. I broke and run to a tree nearby, and had just squatted
behind it, when zip, zip, two balls from our picket post struck the tree
in two inches of my head. I hallooed to our picket not to fire that
it was "me," the videt. I went back, and says I, "Who fired those two
shots?" Two fellows spoke up and said that they did it. No sooner was
it spoken, than I was on them like a duck on a june-bug, _pugnis et
calcibus_. We "fout and fit, and gouged and bit," right there in that
picket post. I have the marks on my face and forehead where one of them
struck me with a Yankee zinc canteen, filled with water. I do not know
which whipped. My friends told me that I whipped both of them, and I
suppose their friends told them that they had whipped me. All I know is,
they both run, and I was bloody from head to foot, from where I had been
cut in the forehead and face by the canteens. This all happened one dark
night in the month of July, 1864, in the rifle pit in front of Atlanta.
When day broke the next morning, I went forward to where I had shot at
the "boogaboo" of the night before, and right there I found a dead Yankee
soldier, fully accoutered for any emergency, his eyes wide open. I
looked at him, and I said, "Old fellow, I am sorry for you; didn't know
it was you, or I would have been worse scared than I was. You are
dressed mighty fine, old fellow, but I don't want anything you have got,
but your haversack." It was a nice haversack, made of chamois skin.
I kept it until the end of the war, and when we surrendered at Greensboro,
N. C., I had it on. But the other soldiers who were with me, went
through him and found twelve dollars in greenback, a piece of tobacco,
a gun-wiper and gun-stopper and wrench, a looking-glass and pocket-comb,
and various and sundry other articles. I came across that dead Yankee
two days afterwards, and he was as naked as the day he came into the
world, and was as black as a negro, and was as big as a skinned horse.
He had mortified. I recollect of saying, "Ugh, ugh," and of my hat being
lifted off my head, by my hair, which stood up like the quills of the
fretful porcupine. He scared me worse when dead than when living.
AN OLD CITIZEN
But after the little unpleasant episode in the rifle pit, I went back and
took my stand. When nearly day, I saw the bright and beautiful star in
the east rise above the tree tops, and the gray fog from off the river
begun to rise, and every now and then could hear a far off chicken crow.
While I was looking toward the Yankee line, I saw a man riding leisurely
along on horseback, and singing a sort of humdrum tune. I took him to be
some old citizen. He rode on down the road toward me, and when he had
approached, "Who goes there?" He immediately answered, "A friend."
I thought that I recognized the voice in the darkness--and said I,
"Who are you?" He spoke up, and gave me his name. Then, said I,
"Advance, friend, but you are my prisoner." He rode on toward me,
and I soon saw that it was Mr. Mumford Smith, the old sheriff of Maury
county. I was very glad to see him, and as soon as the relief guard came,
I went back to camp with him. I do not remember of ever in my life being
more glad to see any person. He had brought a letter from home, from my
father, and some Confederate old issue bonds, which I was mighty glad
to get, and also a letter from "the gal I left behind me," enclosing a
rosebud and two apple blossoms, resting on an arbor vita leaf, and this
on a little piece of white paper, and on this was written a motto (which
I will have to tell for the young folks), "Receive me, such as I am;
would that I were of more use for your sake. Jennie." Now, that was
the bouquet part. I would not like to tell you what was in that letter,
but I read that letter over five hundred times, and remember it today.
I think I can repeat the poetry _verbatim et literatim_, and will do so,
gentle reader, if you don't laugh at me. I'm married now, and only
write from memory, and never in my life have I read it in book or paper,
and only in that letter--
"I love you, O, how dearly,
Words too faintly but express;
This heart beats too sincerely,
E'er in life to love you less;
No, my fancy never ranges,
Hopes like mine, can never soar;
If the love I cherish, changes,
'Twill only be to love you more."
Now, fair and gentle reader, this was the poetry, and you see for
yourself that there was no "shenanigan" in that letter; and if a fellow
"went back" on that sort of a letter, he would strike his "mammy."
And then the letter wound up with "May God shield and protect you,
and prepare you for whatever is in store for you, is the sincere prayer
of Jennie." You may be sure that I felt good and happy, indeed.
MY FRIENDS
Reader mine, in writing these rapid and imperfect recollections, I find
that should I attempt to write up all the details that I would not only
weary you, but that these memoirs would soon become monotonous and
uninteresting. I have written only of what I saw. Many little acts of
kindness shown me by ladies and old citizens, I have omitted. I remember
going to an old citizen's house, and he and the old lady were making
clay pipes. I recollect how they would mold the pipes and put them
in a red-hot stove to burn hard. Their kindness to me will never be
forgotten. The first time that I went there they seemed very glad to see
me, and told me that I looked exactly like their son who was in the army.
I asked them what regiment he belonged to. After a moment's silence the
old lady, her voice trembling as she spoke, said the Fourteenth Georgia,
and then she began to cry. Then the old man said, "Yes, we have a son
in the army. He went to Virginia the first year of the war, and we have
never heard of him since. These wars are terrible, sir. The last time
that we heard of him, he went with Stonewall Jackson away up in the
mountains of West Virginia, toward Romney, and I did hear that while
standing picket at a little place called Hampshire Crossing, on a little
stream called St. John's Run, he and eleven others froze to death.
We have never heard of him since." He got up and began walking up and
down the room, his hands crossed behind his back. I buckled on my
knapsack to go back to camp, and I shook hands with the two good old
people, and they told me good-bye, and both said, "God bless you, God
bless you." I said the same to them, and said, "I pray God to reward you,
and bring your son safe home again." When I got back to camp I found
cannon and caissons moving, and I knew and felt that General Hood was
going to strike the enemy again. Preparations were going on, but
everything seemed to be out of order and system. Men were cursing,
and seemed to be dissatisfied and unhappy, but the army was moving.
A BODY WITHOUT LIMBS--AN ARMY WITHOUT CAVALRY
Forrest's cavalry had been sent to Mississippi; Wheeler's cavalry had
been sent to North Carolina and East Tennessee. Hood had sent off both
of his "arms"--for cavalry was always called the most powerful "arm"
of the service. The infantry were the feet, and the artillery the body.
Now, Hood himself had no legs, and but one arm, and that one in a sling.
The most terrible and disastrous blow that the South ever received was
when Hon. Jefferson Davis placed General Hood in command of the Army of
Tennessee. I saw, I will say, thousands of men cry like babies--regular,
old-fashioned boohoo, boohoo, boohoo.
Now, Hood sent off all his cavalry right in the face of a powerful army,
by order and at the suggestion of Jeff Davis, and was using his cannon as
"feelers." O, God! Ye gods! I get sick at heart even at this late day
when I think of it.
I remember the morning that General Wheeler's cavalry filed by our
brigade, and of their telling us, "Good-bye, boys, good-bye, boys."
The First Tennessee Cavalry and Ninth Battalion were both made up in
Maury county. I saw John J. Stephenson, my friend and step-brother,
and David F. Watkins my own dear brother, and Arch Lipscomb, Joe Fussell,
Captain Kinzer, Jack Gordon, George Martin, Major Dobbins, Colonel Lewis,
Captain Galloway, Aaron and Sims Latta, Major J. H. Akin, S. H. Armstrong,
Albert Dobbins, Alex Dobbins, Jim Cochran, Rafe Grisham, Captain Jim Polk,
and many others with whom I was acquainted. They all said, "Good-bye,
Sam, good-bye, Sam." I cried. I remember stopping the whole command
and begging them to please not leave us; that if they did, Atlanta, and
perhaps Hood's whole army, would surrender in a few days; but they told
me, as near as I can now remember, "We regret to leave you, but we
have to obey orders." The most ignorant private in the whole army saw
everything that we had been fighting for for four years just scattered
like chaff to the winds. All the Generals resigned, and those who did
not resign were promoted; colonels were made brigadier-generals, captains
were made colonels, and the private soldier, well, he deserted, don't you
see? The private soldiers of the Army of Tennessee looked upon Hood as
an over-rated general, but Jeff Davis did not.
BATTLE OF JULY 22, 1864
Cannon balls, at long range, were falling into the city of Atlanta.
Details of citizens put out the fires as they would occur from the
burning shells. We could see the smoke rise and hear the shells pass
away over our heads as they went on toward the doomed city.
One morning Cheatham's corps marched out and through the city, we knew
not whither, but we soon learned that we were going to make a flank
movement. After marching four or five miles, we "about faced" and
marched back again to within two hundred yards of the place from whence
we started. It was a "flank movement," you see, and had to be counted
that way anyhow. Well, now as we had made the flank movement, we had to
storm and take the Federal lines, because we had made a flank movement,
you see. When one army makes a flank movement it is courtesy on the part
of the other army to recognize the flank movement, and to change his
base. Why, sir, if you don't recognize a flank movement, you ain't a
graduate of West Point. Hood was a graduate of West Point, and so
was Sherman. But unfortunately there was Mynheer Dutchman commanding
(McPherson had gone to dinner) the corps that had been flanked, and he
couldn't speak English worth a cent. He, no doubt, had on board mein
lager beer, so goot as vat never vas. I sweitzer, mein Got, you bet.
Bang, bang, bang, goes our skirmish line advancing to the attack.
Hans, vat fer ish dot shooting mit mein left wing? Ish dot der Repels,
Hans?
THE ATTACK
The plan of battle, as conceived and put into action by General Cleburne,
was one of the boldest conceptions, and, at the same time, one of the
most hazardous that ever occurred in our army during the war, but it only
required nerve and pluck to carry it out, and General Cleburne was equal
to the occasion. The Yankees had fortified on two ranges of hills,
leaving a gap in their breastworks in the valley entirely unfortified and
unprotected. They felt that they could enfilade the valley between the
two lines so that no troop would or could attack at this weak point.
This valley was covered with a dense undergrowth of trees and bushes.
General Walker, of Georgia, was ordered to attack on the extreme right,
which he did nobly and gallantly, giving his life for his country while
leading his men, charging their breastworks. He was killed on the very
top of their works. In the meantime General Cleburne's division was
marching by the right flank in solid column, the same as if they were
marching along the road, right up this valley, and thus passing between
the Yankee lines and cutting them in two, when the command by the left
flank was given, which would throw them into line of battle. By this
maneuver, Cleburne's men were right upon their flank, and enfilading
their lines, while they were expecting an attack in their front. It was
the finest piece of generalship and the most successful of the war.
Shineral Mynheer Dutchman says, "Hans, mein Got! mein Got! vare ish
Shineral Mackferson, eh? Mein Got, mein Got! I shust pelieve dot der
Repel ish cooming. Hans, go cotch der filly colt. Now, Hans, I vants
to see vedder der filly colt mid stand fire. You get on der filly colt,
und I vill get pehind der house, und ven you shust coome galloping py,
I vill say 'B-o-o-h,' und if der filly colt don't shump, den I vill know
dot der filly colt mid stand fire." Hans says, "Pap, being as you have
to ride her in the battle, you get on her, and let me say booh." Well,
Shineral Mynheer gets on the colt, and Hans gets behind the house,
and as the general comes galloping by, Hans had got an umbrella, and on
seeing his father approach, suddenly opens the umbrella, and hallowing
at the top of his voice b-o-o-h! _b-o-o-h!_ B-O-O-H! The filly makes a
sudden jump and ker-flop comes down Mynheer. He jumps up and says, "Hans,
I alvays knowed dot you vas a vool. You make too pig a booh; vy, you
said booh loud enuff to scare der ole horse. Hans, go pring out der ole
horse. Der tam Repel vill be here pefore Mackferson gits pack from der
dinner time. I shust peleve dot der Repel ish flanking, und dem tam fool
curnells of mein ish not got sense enuff to know ven Sheneral Hood is
flanking. Hans, bring out der old horse, I vant to find out vedder
Mackferson ish got pack from der dinner time or not."
We were supporting General Cleburne's division. Our division (Cheatham's)
was commanded by General John C. Brown. Cleburne's division advanced to
the attack. I was marching by the side of a soldier by the name of James
Galbreath, and a conscript from the Mt. Pleasant country. I never heard
a man pray and "go on" so before in my life. It actually made me feel
sorry for the poor fellow. Every time that our line would stop for a few
minutes, he would get down on his knees and clasp his hands and commence
praying. He kept saying, "O, my poor wife and children! God have mercy
on my poor wife and children! God pity me and have mercy on my soul!"
Says I, "Galbreath, what are you making a fool of yourself that way for?
If you are going to be killed, why you are as ready now as you ever will
be, and you are making everybody feel bad; quit that nonsense." He quit,
but kept mumbling to himself, "God have mercy! God have mercy!"
Cleburne had reached the Yankee breastworks; the firing had been and was
then terrific. The earth jarred, and shook, and trembled, at the shock
of battle as the two armies met. Charge men! And I saw the Confederate
flag side by side with the Federal flag. A courier dashed up and said,
"General Cleburne has captured their works--advance and attack upon his
immediate left. Attention, forward!" A discharge of cannon, and a ball
tore through our ranks. I heard Galbreath yell out, "O, God, have mercy
on my poor soul." The ball had cut his body nearly in two. Poor fellow,
he had gone to his reward.
We advanced to the attack on Cleburne's immediate left. Cleburne himself
was leading us in person, so that we would not fire upon his men, who
were then inside the Yankee line. His sword was drawn. I heard him say,
"Follow me, boys." He ran forward, and amid the blazing fires of the
Yankee guns was soon on top of the enemy's works. He had on a bob-tail
Confederate coat, which looked as if it had been cut out of a scrimp
pattern. (You see I remember the little things). We were but a few
paces behind, following close upon him, and soon had captured their line
of works. We were firing at the flying foe--astraddle of their lines of
battle. This would naturally throw us in front, and Cleburne's corps
supporting us. The Yankee lines seemed routed. We followed in hot
pursuit; but from their main line of entrenchment--which was diagonal to
those that we had just captured, and also on which they had built forts
and erected batteries--was their artillery, raking us fore and aft.
We passed over a hill and down into a valley being under the muzzles of
this rampart of death. We had been charging and running, and had stopped
to catch our breath right under their reserve and main line of battle.
When General George Maney said, "Soldiers, you are ordered to go forward
and charge that battery. When you start upon the charge I want you to go,
as it were, upon the wings of the wind. Shoot down and bayonet the
cannoneers, and take their guns at all hazards." Old Pat Cleburne
thought he had better put in a word to his soldiers. He says, "You hear
what General Maney says, boys. If they don't take it, by the eternal God,
you have got to take it!" I heard an Irishman of the "bloody Tinth,"
and a "darn good regiment, be jabbers," speak up, and say, "Faith,
gineral, we'll take up a collection and buy you a batthery, be Jasus."
About this time our regiment had re-formed, and had got their breath,
and the order was given to charge, and take their guns even at the point
of the bayonet. We rushed forward up the steep hill sides, the seething
fires from ten thousand muskets and small arms, and forty pieces of
cannon hurled right into our very faces, scorching and burning our
clothes, and hands, and faces from their rapid discharges, and piling the
ground with our dead and wounded almost in heaps. It seemed that the hot
flames of hell were turned loose in all their fury, while the demons of
damnation were laughing in the flames, like seething serpents hissing
out their rage. We gave one long, loud cheer, and commenced the charge.
As we approached their lines, like a mighty inundation of the river
Acheron in the infernal regions, Confederate and Federal meet. Officers
with drawn swords meet officers with drawn swords, and man to man meets
man to man with bayonets and loaded guns. The continued roar of battle
sounded like unbottled thunder. Blood covered the ground, and the dense
smoke filled our eyes, and ears, and faces. The groans of the wounded
and dying rose above the thunder of battle. But being heavily supported
by Cleburne's division, and by General L. E. Polk's brigade, headed
and led by General Cleburne in person, and followed by the First and
Twenty-seventh up the blazing crest, the Federal lines waver, and
break and fly, leaving us in possession of their breastworks, and the
battlefield, and I do not know how many pieces of artillery, prisoners
and small arms.
Here is where Major Allen, Lieutenant Joe Carney, Captain Joe Carthell,
and many other good and brave spirits gave their lives for the cause of
their country. They lie today, weltering in their own life's blood.
It was one of the bloody battles that characterized that stormy epoch,
and it was the 22nd of July, and one of the hottest days I ever felt.
General George Maney led us in the heat of battle, and no general of the
war acted with more gallantry and bravery during the whole war than did
General George Maney on this occasion.
The victory was complete. Large quantities of provisions and army
stores were captured. The Federals had abandoned their entire line of
breastworks, and had changed their base. They were fortifying upon our
left, about five miles off from their original position. The battlefield
was covered with their dead and wounded soldiers. I have never seen so
many battle-flags left indiscriminately upon any battlefield. I ran over
twenty in the charge, and could have picked them up everywhere; did pick
up one, and was promoted to fourth corporal for gallantry in picking up
a flag on the battlefield.
On the final charge that was made, I was shot in the ankle and heel of my
foot. I crawled into their abandoned ditch, which then seemed full and
running over with our wounded soldiers. I dodged behind the embankment
to get out of the raking fire that was ripping through the bushes,
and tearing up the ground. Here I felt safe. The firing raged in front;
we could hear the shout of the charge and the clash of battle. While I
was sitting here, a cannon ball came tearing down the works, cutting a
soldier's head off, spattering his brains all over my face and bosom,
and mangling and tearing four or five others to shreds. As a wounded
horse was being led off, a cannon ball struck him, and he was literally
ripped open, falling in the very place I had just moved from.
I saw an ambulance coming from toward the Yankee line, at full gallop,
saw them stop at a certain place, hastily put a dead man in the ambulance,
and gallop back toward the Yankee lines. I did not know the meaning of
this maneuver until after the battle, when I learned that it was General
McPherson's dead body.
We had lost many a good and noble soldier. The casualties on our side
were frightful. Generals, colonels, captains, lieutenants, sergeants,
corporals and privates were piled indiscriminately everywhere. Cannon,
caissons, and dead horses were piled pell-mell. It was the picture of a
real battlefield. Blood had gathered in pools, and in some instances had
made streams of blood. 'Twas a picture of carnage and death.
AM PROMOTED
"Why, hello, corporal, where did you get those two yellow stripes from on
your arm?"
"Why, sir, I have been promoted for gallantry on the battlefield, by
picking up an orphan flag, that had been run over by a thousand fellows,
and when I picked it up I did so because I thought it was pretty, and I
wanted to have me a shirt made out of it."
"I could have picked up forty, had I known that," said Sloan.
"So could I, but I knew that the stragglers would pick them up."
Reader mine, the above dialogue is true in every particular. As long
as I was in action, fighting for my country, there was no chance for
promotion, but as soon as I fell out of ranks and picked up a forsaken
and deserted flag, I was promoted for it. I felt "sorter" cheap when
complimented for gallantry, and the high honor of fourth corporal was
conferred upon me. I felt that those brave and noble fellows who had
kept on in the charge were more entitled to the honor than I was, for
when the ball struck me on the ankle and heel, I did not go any further.
And had I only known that picking up flags entitled me to promotion and
that every flag picked up would raise me one notch higher, I would have
quit fighting and gone to picking up flags, and by that means I would
have soon been President of the Confederate States of America. But
honors now begin to cluster around my brow. This is the laurel and
ivy that is entwined around the noble brows of victorious and renowned
generals. I honestly earned the exalted honor of fourth corporal by
picking up a Yankee battle-flag on the 22nd day of July, at Atlanta.
28TH OF JULY AT ATLANTA
Another battle was fought by Generals Stephen D. Lee and Stewart's corps,
on the 28th day of July. I was not in it, neither was our corps, but
from what I afterwards learned, the Yankees got the best of the
engagement. But our troops continued fortifying Atlanta. No other
battles were ever fought at this place.
I VISIT MONTGOMERY
Our wounded were being sent back to Montgomery. My name was put on the
wounded list. We were placed in a box-car, and whirling down to West
Point, where we changed cars for Montgomery. The cars drew up at the
depot at Montgomery, and we were directed to go to the hospital. When we
got off the cars, little huckster stands were everywhere--apples, oranges,
peaches, watermelons, everything. I know that I never saw a greater
display of eatables in my whole life. I was particularly attracted
toward an old lady's stand; she had bread, fish, and hard boiled eggs.
The eggs were what I was hungry for. Says I:
"Madam, how do you sell your eggs?"
"Two for a dollar," she said.
"How much is your fish worth?"
"A piece of bread and a piece of fish for a dollar."
"Well, madam, put out your fish and eggs." The fish were hot and done to
a crisp--actually frying in my mouth, crackling and singing as I bit off
a bite. It was good, I tell you. The eggs were a little over half done.
I soon demolished both, and it was only an appetizer. I invested a
couple of dollars more, and thought that maybe I could make out till
supper time. As I turned around, a smiling, one-legged man asked me if I
wouldn't like to have a drink. Now, if there was anything that I wanted
at that time, it was a drink.
"How do you sell it?" says I.
"A dollar a drink," said he.
"Pour me out a drink."
It was a tin cap-box. I thought that I knew the old fellow, and he kept
looking at me as if he knew me. Finally, he said to me:
"It seems that I ought to know you."
I told him that I reckon he did, as I had been there.
"Ain't your name Sam?" said he.
"That is what my mother called me."
Well, after shaking hands, it suddenly flashed upon me who the old
fellow was. I knew him well. He told me that he belonged to Captain
Ed. O'Neil's company, Second Tennessee Regiment, General William
B. Bate's corps, and that his leg had been shot off at the first battle
of Manassas, and at that time he was selling cheap whisky and tobacco for
a living at Montgomery, Alabama. I tossed off a cap-box full and paid
him a dollar. It staggered me, and I said:
"That is raw whisky."
"Yes," said he, "all my cooked whisky is out."
"If this is not quite cooked, it is as hot as fire anyhow, and burns like
red-hot lava, and the whole dose seems to have got lodged in my windpipe."
I might have tasted it, but don't think that I did. All I can remember
now, is a dim recollection of a nasty, greasy, burning something going
down my throat and chest, and smelling, as I remember at this day,
like a decoction of red-pepper tea, flavored with coal oil, turpentine
and tobacco juice.
THE HOSPITAL
I went to the hospital that evening, saw it, and was satisfied with
hospital life. I did not wish to be called a hospital rat. I had no
idea of taking stock and making my headquarters at this place.
Everything seemed clean and nice enough, but the smell! Ye gods!
I stayed there for supper. The bill of fare was a thin slice of light
bread and a plate of soup, already dished out and placed at every plate.
I ate it, but it only made me hungry. At nine o'clock I had to go to bed,
and all the lights were put out. Every man had a little bunk to himself.
I do not know whether I slept or not, but I have a dim recollection of
"sawing gourds," and jumping up several times to keep some poor wretch
from strangling. He was only snoring. I heard rats filing away at night,
and thought that burglars were trying to get in; my dreams were not
pleasant, if I went to sleep at all. I had not slept off of the ground
or in a house in three years. It was something new to me, and I could
not sleep, for the room was so dark that had I got up I could not have
found my way out. I laid there, I do not know how long, but I heard a
rooster crow, and a dim twilight began to glimmer in the room, and even
footsteps were audible in the rooms below. I got sleepy then, and went
off in a doze. I had a beautiful dream--dreamed that I was in heaven,
or rather, that a pair of stairs with richly carved balusters and wings,
and golden steps overlaid with silk and golden-colored carpeting came
down from heaven to my room; and two beautiful damsels kept peeping,
and laughing, and making faces at me from the first platform of these
steps; and every now and then they would bring out their golden harps,
and sing me a sweet and happy song. Others were constantly passing,
but always going the same way. They looked like so many schoolgirls,
all dressed in shining garments. Two or three times the two beautiful
girls would go up the stairs and return, bringing fruits and vegetables
that shined like pure gold. I knew that I never had seen two more
beautiful beings on earth. The steps began to lengthen out, and seemed
to be all around me; they seemed to shine a halo of glory all about.
The two ladies came closer, and closer, passing around, having a
beautiful wreath of flowers in each hand, and gracefully throwing them
backward and forward as they laughed and danced around me. Finally
one stopped and knelt down over me and whispered something in my ear.
I threw up my arms to clasp the beautiful vision to my bosom, when I felt
my arm grabbed, and "D--n ye, I wish you would keep your d--n arm off
my wound, ye hurt me," came from the soldier in the next bunk. The sun
was shining full in my face. I got up and went down to breakfast. The
bill of fare was much better for breakfast than it had been for supper;
in fact it was what is called a "jarvis" breakfast. After breakfast,
I took a ramble around the city. It was a nice place, and merchandise
and other business was being carried on as if there was no war. Hotels
were doing a thriving business; steamboats were at the wharf, whistling
and playing their calliopes. I remember the one I heard was playing
"Away Down on the Sewanee River." To me it seemed that everybody was
smiling, and happy, and prosperous.
THE CAPITOL
I went to the capitol, and it is a fine building, overlooking the city.
When I got there, I acted just like everybody that ever visited a fine
building--they wanted to go on top and look at the landscape. That is
what they all say. Now, I always wanted to go on top, but I never yet
thought of landscape. What I always wanted to see, was how far I could
look, and that is about all that any of them wants. It's mighty nice
to go up on a high place with your sweetheart, and hear her say, "La!
ain't it b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l," "Now, now, please don't go there," and how
you walk up pretty close to the edge and spit over, to show what a brave
man you are. It's "bully," I tell you. Well, I wanted to go to the top
of the capitol--I went; wanted to go up in the cupola. Now, there was
an iron ladder running up across an empty space, and you could see two
hundred feet below from this cupola or dome on top. The ladder was about
ten feet long, spanning the dome. It was very easy to go up, because
I was looking up all the time, and I was soon on top of the building.
I saw how far I could see, and saw the Alabama river, winding and turning
until it seemed no larger than a silver thread. Well, I am very poor
at describing and going into ecstacies over fancies. I want some abler
pen to describe the scene. I was not thinking about the scene or the
landscape--I was thinking how I was going to get down that ladder again.
I would come to that iron ladder and peep over, and think if I fell,
how far would I have to fall. The more I thought about going down that
ladder, the more I didn't feel like going down. Well, I felt that I had
rather die than go down that ladder. I'm honest in this. I felt like
jumping off and committing suicide rather than go down that ladder.
I crossed right over the frightful chasm, but when forbearance ceased to
be a virtue, I tremblingly put my foot on the first rung, then grabbed
the top of the two projections. There I remained, I don't know how long,
but after awhile I reached down with one foot and touched the next rung.
After getting that foot firmly placed, I ventured to risk the other foot.
It was thus for several backward steps, until I come to see down--away
down, down, down below me--and my head got giddy. The world seemed to be
turning round and round. A fellow at the bottom hallooed, "Look up! look
up, mister! look up!" I was not a foot from the upper floor. As soon as
I looked at the floor, everything got steady. I kept my eyes fixed on
the top of the building, and soon made the landing on _terra firma_.
I have never liked high places since. I never could bear to go upstairs
in a house. I went to the capitol at Nashville, last winter, and
McAndrews wanted me to go up in the cupola with him. He went, and paid a
quarter for the privilege. I stayed, and--well, if I could estimate its
value by dollars--I would say two hundred and fifty million dollars is
what I made by staying down.
AM ARRESTED
The next day, while the ferryboat was crossing the river, I asked the
ferryman to let me ride over. I was halted by a soldier who "knowed"
his business.
"Your pass, sir!"
"Well, I have no pass!"
"Well, sir, I will have to arrest you, and take you before the provost
marshal."
"Very well, sir; I will go with you to the provost or anywhere else."
I appear before the provost marshal.
"What command do you belong to, sir?"
"Well, sir, I belong to Company H, First Tennessee Regiment. I am a
wounded man sent to the hospital."
"Well, sir, that's too thin; why did you not get a pass?"
"I did not think one was required."
"Give me your name, sir."
I gave my name.
"Sergeant, take this name to the hospital and ask if such name is
registered on their books."
I told him that I knew it was not. The sergeant returns and reports no
such name, when he remarks:
"You have to go to the guard-house."
Says I, "Colonel (I knew his rank was that of captain), if you send me
to the guard-house, you will do me a great wrong. Here is where I was
wounded." I pulled off my shoe and began to unbandage.
"Well, sir, I don't want to look at your foot, and I have no patience
with you. Take him to the guard-house."
Turning back I said, "Sir, aye, aye, you are clothed with a little brief
authority, and appear to be presuming pretty heavy on that authority; but,
sir"--well I have forgotten what I did say. The sergeant took me by the
arm, and said, "Come, come, sir, I have my orders."
As I was going up the street, I met Captain Dave Buckner, and told him
all the circumstances of my arrest as briefly as I could. He said,
"Sergeant, bring him back with me to the provost marshal's office."
They were as mad as wet hens. Their faces were burning, and I could see
their jugular veins go thump, thump, thump. I do not know what Captain
Buckner said to them, all I heard were the words "otherwise insulted me."
But I was liberated, and was glad of it.
THOSE GIRLS
I then went back to the river, and gave a fellow two dollars to "row me
over the ferry." I was in no particular hurry, and limped along at my
leisure until about nightfall, when I came to a nice, cosy-looking farm
house, and asked to stay all night. I was made very welcome, indeed.
There were two very pretty girls here, and I could have "loved either
were 'tother dear charmer away." But I fell in love with both of them,
and thereby overdid the thing. This was by a dim fire-light. The next
day was Sunday, and we all went to church in the country. We went in an
old rockaway carriage. I remember that the preacher used the words, "O,
God," nineteen times in his prayer. I had made up my mind which one of
the girls I would marry. Now, don't get mad, fair reader mine. I was
all gallantry and smiles, and when we arrived at home, I jumped out and
took hold the hand of my fair charmer to help her out. She put her foot
out, and--well, I came very near telling--she tramped on a cat. The cat
squalled.
THE TALISMAN
But then, you know, reader, that I was engaged to Jennie and I had a
talisman in my pocket Bible, in the way of a love letter, against the
charms of other beautiful and interesting young ladies. Uncle Jimmie
Rieves had been to Maury county, and, on returning to Atlanta, found out
that I was wounded and in the hospital at Montgomery, and brought the
letter to me; and, as I am married now, I don't mind telling you what
was in the letter, if you won't laugh at me. You see, Jennie was my
sweetheart, and here is my sweetheart's letter:
My Dear Sam.:--I write to tell you that I love you yet, and you alone;
and day by day I love you more, and pray, every night and morning for
your safe return home again. My greatest grief is that we heard you were
wounded and in the hospital, and I cannot be with you to nurse you.
We heard of the death of many noble and brave men at Atlanta; and the
death of Captain Carthell, Cousin Mary's husband. It was sent by Captain
January; he belonged to the Twelfth Tennessee, of which Colonel Watkins
was lieutenant-colonel.
The weather is very beautiful here, and the flowers in the garden are in
full bloom, and the apples are getting ripe. I have gathered a small
bouquet, which I will put in the letter; I also send by Uncle Jimmie a
tobacco bag, and a watch-guard, made out of horse hair, and a woolen hood,
knit with my own hands, with love and best respects.
We heard that you had captured a flag at Atlanta, and was promoted for it
to corporal. Is that some high office? I know you will be a general yet,
because I always hear of your being in every battle, and always the
foremost man in the attack. Sam, please take care of yourself for my
sake, and don't let the Yankees kill you. Well, good-bye, darling,
I will ever pray for God's richest and choicest blessings upon you.
Be sure and write a long, long letter--I don't care how long, to your
loving and sincere
JENNIE.
THE BRAVE CAPTAIN
When I got back to the Alabama river, opposite Montgomery, the ferryboat
was on the other shore. A steamboat had just pulled out of its moorings
and crossed over to where I was, and began to take on wood. I went on
board, and told the captain, who was a clever and good man, that I would
like to take a trip with him to Mobile and back, and that I was a wounded
soldier from the hospital. He told me, "All right, come along, and I
will foot expenses."
It was about sunset, but along the line of the distant horizon we could
see the dark and heavy clouds begin to boil up in thick and ominous
columns. The lightning was darting to and fro like lurid sheets of fire,
and the storm seemed to be gathering; we could hear the storm king in his
chariot in the clouds, rumbling as he came, but a dead lull was seen and
felt in the air and in nature; everything was in a holy hush, except the
hoarse belchings of the engines, the sizzing and frying of the boilers,
and the work of the machinery on the lower deck. At last the storm burst
upon us in all its fury; it was a tornado and the women and children
began to scream and pray--the mate to curse and swear. I was standing by
the captain on the main upper deck, as he was trying to direct the pilot
how to steer the boat through that awful storm, when we heard the alarm
bell ring out, and the hoarse cry of "Fire! fire! fire!" Men were
running toward the fire with buckets, and the hose began throwing water
on the flames. Men, women, and children were jumping in the water,
and the captain used every effort to quiet the panic, and to land his
boat with its passengers, but the storm and fire were too much, and down
the vessel sank to rise no more. Many had been saved in the lifeboat,
and many were drowned. I jumped overboard, and the last thing I saw was
the noble and brave captain still ringing the bell, as the vessel went
down. He went down amid the flames to fill a watery grave. The water
was full of struggling and dying people for miles. I did not go to
Mobile.
HOW I GET BACK TO ATLANTA
When I got to Montgomery, the cars said toot, toot, and I raised the
hue and cry and followed in pursuit. Kind friends, I fear that I have
wearied you with my visit to Montgomery, but I am going back to camp now,
and will not leave it again until our banner is furled never to be again
unfurled.
I, you remember, was without a pass, and did not wish to be carried a
second time before that good, brave, and just provost marshal; and
something told me not to go to the hospital. I found out when the cars
would leave, and thought that I would get on them and go back without any
trouble. I got on the cars, but was hustled off mighty quick, because
I had no pass. A train of box-cars was about leaving for West Point,
and I took a seat on top of one of them, and was again hustled off;
but I had determined to go, and as the engine began to puff, and tug,
and pull, I slipped in between two box-cars, sitting on one part of one
and putting my feet on the other, and rode this way until I got to West
Point. The conductor discovered me, and had put me off several times
before I got to West Point, but I would jump on again as soon as the cars
started. When I got to West Point, a train of cars started off, and I
ran, trying to get on, when Captain Peebles reached out his hand and
pulled me in, and I arrived safe and sound at Atlanta.
On my way back to Atlanta, I got with Dow Akin and Billy March. Billy
March had been shot through the under jaw by a minnie ball at the octagon
house, but by proper attention and nursing, he had recovered. Conner
Akin was killed at the octagon house, and Dow wounded. When we got back
to the regiment, then stationed near a fine concrete house (where Shepard
and I would sleep every night), nearly right on our works, we found
two thirty-two-pound parrot guns stationed in our immediate front, and
throwing shells away over our heads into the city of Atlanta. We had
just begun to tell all the boys howdy, when I saw Dow Akin fall. A
fragment of shell had struck him on his backbone, and he was carried back
wounded and bleeding. We could see the smoke boil up, and it would be
nearly a minute before we would hear the report of the cannon, and then a
few moments after we would hear the scream of the shell as it went on to
Atlanta. We used to count from the time we would see the smoke boil up
until we would hear the noise, and some fellow would call out, "Look
out boys, the United States is sending iron over into the Southern
Confederacy; let's send a little lead back to the United States."
And we would blaze away with our Enfield and Whitworth guns, and every
time we would fire, we would silence those parrot guns. This kind of fun
was carried on for forty-six days.
DEATH OF TOM TUCK'S ROOSTER
Atlanta was a great place to fight chickens. I had heard much said about
cock pits and cock fights, but had never seen such a thing. Away over
the hill, outside of the range of Thomas' thirty-pound parrot guns,
with which he was trying to burn up Atlanta, the boys had fixed up a cock
pit. It was fixed exactly like a circus ring, and seats and benches were
arranged for the spectators. Well, I went to the cock fight one day.
A great many roosters were to be pitted that day, and each one was
trimmed and gaffed. A gaff is a long keen piece of steel, as sharp as
a needle, that is fitted over the spurs. Well, I looked on at the fun.
Tom Tuck's rooster was named Southern Confederacy; but this was
abbreviated to Confed., and as a pet name, they called him Fed. Well,
Fed was a trained rooster, and would "clean up" a big-foot rooster as
soon as he was put in the pit. But Tom always gave Fed every advantage.
One day a green-looking country hunk came in with a rooster that he
wanted to pit against Fed. He looked like a common rail-splitter.
The money was soon made up, and the stakes placed in proper hands.
The gaffs were fitted, the roosters were placed in the pit and held until
both were sufficiently mad to fight, when they were turned loose, and
each struck at the same time. I looked and poor Fed was dead. The other
rooster had popped both gaffs through his head. He was a dead rooster;
yea, a dead cock in the pit. Tom went and picked up his rooster, and
said, "Poor Fed, I loved you; you used to crow every morning at daylight
to wake me up. I have carried you a long time, but, alas! alas! poor Fed,
your days are numbered, and those who fight will sometimes be slain.
Now, friends, conscripts, countrymen, if you have any tears to shed,
prepare to shed them now. I will not bury Fed. The evil that roosters
do live after them, but the good is oft interred with their bones.
So let it not be with Confed. Confed left no will, but I will pick him,
and fry him, and dip my biscuit in his gravy. Poor Fed, Confed,
Confederacy, I place one hand on my heart and one on my head, regretting
that I have not another to place on my stomach, and whisper, softly
whisper, in the most doleful accents, Good-bye, farewell, a long
farewell."
"Not a laugh was heard--not even a joke--
As the dead rooster in the camp-kettle they hurried;
For Tom had lost ten dollars, and was broke,
In the cock-pit where Confed was buried.
"They cooked him slowly in the middle of the day,
As the frying-pan they were solemnly turning;
The hungry fellows looking at him as he lay,
With one side raw, the other burning.
"Some surplus feathers covered his breast,
Not in a shroud, but in a tiara they soused him;
He lay like a 'picked chicken' taking his rest,
While the Rebel boys danced and cursed around him.
"Not a few or short were the cuss words they said,
Yet, they spoke many words of sorrow;
As they steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead,
And thought 'what'll we do for chicken tomorrow?'
"Lightly they'll talk of the Southern Confed. that's gone,
And o'er his empty carcass upbraid him;
But nothing he'll reck, if they let him sleep on,
In the place where they have laid him.
"Sadly and slowly they laid him down,
From the field of fame fresh and gory;
They ate off his flesh, and threw away his bones,
And then left them alone in their glory."
When, cut, slash, bang, debang, and here comes a dash of Yankee cavalry,
right in the midst of the camp, under whip and spur, yelling like a band
of wild Comanches, and bearing right down on the few mourners around the
dead body of Confed. After making this bold dash, they about faced,
and were soon out of sight. There was no harm done, but, alas! that
cooked chicken was gone. Poor Confed! To what a sad end you have come.
Just to think, that but a few short hours ago, you was a proud rooster--
was "cock of the walk," and was considered invincible. But, alas! you
have sunk so low as to become food for Federals! _Requiescat in pace_
you can crow no more.
OLD JOE BROWN'S PETS
By way of grim jest, and a fitting burlesque to tragic scenes, or, rather,
to the thing called "glorious war," old Joe Brown, then Governor of
Georgia, sent in his militia. It was the richest picture of an army I
ever saw. It beat Forepaugh's double-ringed circus. Every one was
dressed in citizen's clothes, and the very best they had at that time.
A few had double-barreled shotguns, but the majority had umbrellas and
walking-sticks, and nearly every one had on a duster, a flat-bosomed
"biled" shirt, and a plug hat; and, to make the thing more ridiculous,
the dwarf and the giant were marching side by side; the knock-kneed by
the side of the bow-legged; the driven-in by the side of the drawn-out;
the pale and sallow dyspeptic, who looked like Alex. Stephens, and who
seemed to have just been taken out of a chimney that smoked very badly,
and whose diet was goobers and sweet potatoes, was placed beside the
three hundred-pounder, who was dressed up to kill, and whose looks seemed
to say, "I've got a substitute in the army, and twenty negroes at home
besides--h-a-a-m, h-a-a-m." Now, that is the sort of army that old Joe
Brown had when he seceded from the Southern Confederacy, declaring that
each state was a separate sovereign government of itself; and, as old
Joe Brown was an original secessionist, he wanted to exemplify the grand
principles of secession, that had been advocated by Patrick Henry,
John Randolph, of Roanoke, and John C. Calhoun, in all of whom he was a
firm believer. I will say, however, in all due deference to the Georgia
militia and old Joe Brown's pets, that there was many a gallant and noble
fellow among them. I remember on one occasion that I was detailed to
report to a captain of the Fourth Tennessee Regiment (Colonel Farquharson,
called "Guidepost"); I have forgotten that captain's name. He was a
small-sized man, with a large, long set of black whiskers. He was the
captain, and I the corporal of the detail. We were ordered to take a
company of the Georgia militia on a scout. We went away around to our
extreme right wing, passing through Terry's mill pond, and over the old
battlefield of the 22nd, and past the place where General Walker fell,
when we came across two ladies. One of them kept going from one tree to
another, and saying: "This pine tree, that pine tree; this pine tree,
that pine tree." In answer to our inquiry, they informed us that the
young woman's husband was killed on the 22nd, and had been buried under a
pine tree, and she was nearly crazy because she could not find his dead
body. We passed on, and as soon as we came in sight of the old line of
Yankee breastworks, an unexpected volley of minnie balls was fired into
our ranks, killing this captain of the Fourth Tennessee Regiment and
killing and wounding seven or eight of the Georgia militia. I hallooed
to lay down, as soon as possible, and a perfect whizz of minnie balls
passed over, when I immediately gave the command of attention, forward,
charge and capture that squad. That Georgia militia, every man of them,
charged forward, and in a few moments we ran into a small squad of
Yankees, and captured the whole "lay out." We then carried back to camp
the dead captain and the killed and wounded militia. I had seen a great
many men killed and wounded, but some how or other these dead and wounded
men, of that day, made a more serious impression on my mind than in any
previous or subsequent battles. They were buried with all the honors of
war and I never will forget the incidents and scenes of this day as long
as I live.
WE GO AFTER STONEMAN
One morning our regiment was ordered to march, double-quick, to the depot
to take the cars for somewhere. The engine was under steam, and ready
to start for that mysterious somewhere. The whistle blew long and loud,
and away we went at break-neck speed for an hour, and drew up at a little
place by the name of Jonesboro. The Yankees had captured the town,
and were tearing up the railroad track. A regiment of Rebel infantry
and a brigade of cavalry were already in line of battle in their rear.
We jumped out of the cars and advanced to attack them in front. Our line
had just begun to open a pretty brisk fire on the Yankee cavalry, when
they broke, running right through and over the lines of the regiment of
infantry and brigade of cavalry in their rear, the men opening ranks
to get out of the way of the hoofs of their horses. It was Stoneman's
cavalry, upon its celebrated raid toward Macon and Andersonville to
liberate the Federal prisoners. We went to work like beavers, and in a
few hours the railroad track had been repaired so that we could pass.
Every few miles we would find the track torn up, but we would get out
of the cars, fix up the track, and light out again. We were charging a
brigade of cavalry with a train of cars, as it were. They would try to
stop our progress by tearing up the track, but we were crowding them a
little too strong. At last they thought it was time to quit that
foolishness, and then commenced a race between cavalry and cars for Macon,
Georgia. The cars had to run exceedingly slow and careful, fearing a
tear up or ambuscade, but at last Macon came in sight. Twenty-five or
thirty thousand Federal prisoners were confined at this place, and it was
poorly guarded and protected. We feared that Stoneman would only march
in, overpower the guards, and liberate the prisoners, and we would
have some tall fighting to do, but on arriving at Macon, we found that
Stoneman and all of his command had just surrendered to a brigade of
cavalry and the Georgia militia, and we helped march the gentlemen inside
the prison walls at Macon. They had furnished their own transportation,
paying their own way and bearing their own expenses, and instead of
liberating any prisoners, were themselves imprisoned. An extra detail
was made as guard from our regiment to take them on to Andersonville,
but I was not on this detail, so I remained until the detail returned.
Macon is a beautiful place. Business was flourishing like a green bay
tree. The people were good, kind, and clever to us. Everywhere the
hospitality of their homes was proffered us. We were regarded as their
liberators. They gave us all the good things they had--eating, drinking,
etc. We felt our consequence, I assure you, reader. We felt we were
heroes, indeed; but the benzine and other fluids became a little
promiscuous and the libations of the boys a little too heavy. They
began to get boisterous--I might say, riotous. Some of the boys got to
behaving badly, and would go into stores and places, and did many things
they ought not to have done. In fact, the whole caboodle of them ought
to have been carried to the guard-house. They were whooping, and yelling,
and firing off their guns, just for the fun of the thing. I remember of
going into a very nice family's house, and the old lady told the dog to
go out, go out, sir! and remarked rather to herself, "Go out, go out!
I wish you were killed, anyhow." John says, "Madam, do you want that dog
killed, sure enough?" She says, "Yes, I do. I do wish that he was dead."
Before I could even think or catch my breath, bang went John's gun,
and the dog was weltering in his blood right on the good lady's floor,
the top of his head entirely torn off. I confess, reader, that I came
very near jumping out of my skin, as it were, at the unexpected discharge
of the gun. And other such scenes, I reckon, were being enacted
elsewhere, but at last a detail was sent around to arrest all stragglers,
and we were soon rolling back to Atlanta.
"BELLUM LETHALE"
Well, after "jugging" Stoneman, we go back to Atlanta and occupy our same
old place near the concrete house. We found everything exactly as we had
left it, with the exception of the increased number of graybacks, which
seemed to have propagated a thousand-fold since we left, and they were
crawling about like ants, making little paths and tracks in the dirt
as they wiggled and waddled about, hunting for ye old Rebel soldier.
Sherman's two thirty-pound parrot guns were in the same position, and
every now and then a lazy-looking shell would pass over, speeding its way
on to Atlanta.
The old citizens had dug little cellars, which the soldiers called
"gopher holes," and the women and children were crowded together in these
cellars, while Sherman was trying to burn the city over their heads.
But, as I am not writing history, I refer you to any history of the war
for Sherman's war record in and around Atlanta.
As John and I started to go back, we thought we would visit the hospital.
Great God! I get sick today when I think of the agony, and suffering,
and sickening stench and odor of dead and dying; of wounds and sloughing
sores, caused by the deadly gangrene; of the groaning and wailing.
I cannot describe it. I remember, I went in the rear of the building,
and there I saw a pile of arms and legs, rotting and decomposing; and,
although I saw thousands of horrifying scenes during the war, yet today
I have no recollection in my whole life, of ever seeing anything that I
remember with more horror than that pile of legs and arms that had been
cut off our soldiers. As John and I went through the hospital, and were
looking at the poor suffering fellows, I heard a weak voice calling, "Sam,
O, Sam." I went to the poor fellow, but did not recognize him at first,
but soon found out that it was James Galbreath, the poor fellow who had
been shot nearly in two on the 22nd of July. I tried to be cheerful,
and said, "Hello, Galbreath, old fellow, I thought you were in heaven
long before this." He laughed a sort of dry, cracking laugh, and asked
me to hand him a drink of water. I handed it to him. He then began to
mumble and tell me something in a rambling and incoherent way, but all
I could catch was for me to write to his family, who were living near
Mt. Pleasant. I asked him if he was badly wounded. He only pulled down
the blanket, that was all. I get sick when I think of it. The lower
part of his body was hanging to the upper part by a shred, and all of his
entrails were lying on the cot with him, the bile and other excrements
exuding from them, and they full of maggots. I replaced the blanket as
tenderly as I could, and then said, "Galbreath, good-bye." I then kissed
him on his lips and forehead, and left. As I passed on, he kept trying
to tell me something, but I could not make out what he said, and fearing
I would cause him to exert himself too much, I left.
It was the only field hospital that I saw during the whole war, and I
have no desire to see another. Those hollow-eyed and sunken-cheeked
sufferers, shot in every conceivable part of the body; some shrieking,
and calling upon their mothers; some laughing the hard, cackling laugh
of the sufferer without hope, and some cursing like troopers, and some
writhing and groaning as their wounds were being bandaged and dressed.
I saw a man of the Twenty-seventh, who had lost his right hand, another
his leg, then another whose head was laid open, and I could see his brain
thump, and another with his under jaw shot off; in fact, wounded in every
manner possible.
Ah! reader, there is no glory for the private soldier, much less a
conscript. James Galbreath was a conscript, as was also Fain King.
Mr. King was killed at Chickamauga. He and Galbreath were conscripted
and joined Company H at the same time. Both were old men, and very poor,
with large families at home; and they were forced to go to war against
their wishes, while their wives and little children were at home without
the necessaries of life. The officers have all the glory. Glory is not
for the private soldier, such as die in the hospitals, being eat up with
the deadly gangrene, and being imperfectly waited on. Glory is for
generals, colonels, majors, captains, and lieutenants. They have all
the glory, and when the poor private wins battles by dint of sweat, hard
marches, camp and picket duty, fasting and broken bones, the officers get
the glory. The private's pay was eleven dollars per month, if he got it;
the general's pay was three hundred dollars per month, and he always got
his. I am not complaining. These things happened sixteen to twenty
years ago. Men who never fired a gun, nor killed a Yankee during the
whole war, are today the heroes of the war. Now, I tell you what I
think about it: I think that those of us who fought as private soldiers,
fought as much for glory as the general did, and those of us who stuck
it out to the last, deserve more praise than the general who resigned
because some other general was placed in command over him. A general
could resign. That was honorable. A private could not resign, nor
choose his branch of service, and if he deserted, it was death.
THE SCOUT AND DEATH OF A YANKEE LIEUTENANT
General Hood had sent off all his cavalry, and a detail was made each day
of so many men for a scout, to find out all we could about the movements
of the Yankees. Colonel George Porter, of the Sixth Tennessee, was in
command of the detail. We passed through Atlanta, and went down the
railroad for several miles, and then made a flank movement toward where
we expected to come in contact with the Yankees. When we came to a skirt
of woods, we were deployed as skirmishers. Colonel Porter ordered us
to re-prime our guns and to advance at twenty-five paces apart, being
deployed as skirmishers, and to keep under cover as much as possible.
He need not have told us this, because we had not learned war for
nothing. We would run from one tree to another, and then make a careful
reconnoiter before proceeding to another. We had begun to get a little
careless, when bang! bang! bang! It seemed that we had got into a Yankee
ambush. The firing seemed to be from all sides, and was rattling among
the leaves and bushes. It appeared as if some supernatural, infernal
battle was going on and the air was full of smoke. We had not seen the
Yankees. I ran to a tree to my right, and just as I got to it, I saw
my comrade sink to the ground, clutching at the air as he fell dead.
I kept trying to see the Yankees, so that I might shoot. I had been
looking a hundred yards ahead, when happening to look not more than ten
paces from me, I saw a big six-foot Yankee with a black feather in his
hat, aiming deliberately at me. I dropped to the ground, and at the
same moment heard the report, and my hat was knocked off in the bushes.
I remained perfectly still, and in a few minutes I saw a young Yankee
lieutenant peering through the bushes. I would rather not have killed
him, but I was afraid to fire and afraid to run, and yet I did not wish
to kill him. He was as pretty as a woman, and somehow I thought I had
met him before. Our eyes met. He stood like a statue. He gazed at me
with a kind of scared expression. I still did not want to kill him,
and am sorry today that I did, for I believe I could have captured him,
but I fired, and saw the blood spurt all over his face. He was the
prettiest youth I ever saw. When I fired, the Yankees broke and run,
and I went up to the boy I had killed, and the blood was gushing out of
his mouth. I was sorry.
ATLANTA FORSAKEN
One morning about the break of day our artillery opened along our
breastworks, scaring us almost to death, for it was the first guns that
had been fired for more than a month. We sprang to our feet and grabbed
our muskets, and ran out and asked some one what did that mean. We were
informed that they were "feeling" for the Yankees. The comment that was
made by the private soldier was simply two words, and those two words
were "O, shucks." The Yankees had gone--no one knew whither--and our
batteries were shelling the woods, feeling for them. "O, shucks."
"Hello," says Hood, "Whar in the Dickens and Tom Walker are them Yanks,
hey? Feel for them with long-range 'feelers'." A boom, boom. "Can
anybody tell me whar them Yanks are? Send out a few more 'feelers.'
The feelers in the shape of cannon balls will bring them to taw."
Boom, boom, boom.
"For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the general was lost,
For the want of a general the battle was lost."
Forrest's cavalry had been sent off somewhere. Wheeler's cavalry had
been sent away yonder in the rear of the enemy to tear up the railroad
and cut off their supplies, etc., and we had to find out the movements
of the enemy by "feeling for them" by shelling the vacant woods. The
Yankees were at that time twenty-five miles in our rear, "a hundred
thousand strong," at a place called Jonesboro. I do not know how it was
found out that they were at Jonesboro, but anyhow, the news had come and
Cheatham's corps had to go and see about it.
Stewart's corps must hold Atlanta, and Stephen D. Lee's corps must be
stretched at proper distance, so that the word could be passed backward
and forward as to how they were getting along. As yet it is impossible
to tell of the movements of the enemy, because our cannon balls had not
come back and reported any movements to us. We had always heard that
cannon balls were blind, and we did not suppose they could see to find
their way back. Well, our corps made a forced march for a day and a
night, and passed the word back that we had seen some signs of the
Yankees being in that vicinity, and thought perhaps, a small portion--
about a hundred thousand--were nigh about there somewhere. Says he,
"It's a strange thing you don't know; send out your feelers." We sent
out a few feelers and they report back very promptly that the Yankees are
here sure enough, or that is what our feelers say. Pass the word up the
line. The word is passed from mouth to mouth of Lee's skirmish line
twenty-five miles back to Atlanta. Well, if that be the case, we will
set fire to all of our army stores, spike all our cannon, and play "smash"
generally, and forsake Atlanta.
In the meantime, just hold on where you are till Stewart gets through his
job of blowing up arsenals, burning up the army stores, and spiking the
cannon, and we will send our negro boy Caesar down to the horse lot to
see if he can't catch old Nance, but she is such a fool with that young
suckling colt of hers, that it takes him almost all day to catch her,
and if the draw-bars happen to be down, she'll get in the clover patch,
and I don't think he will catch her today. But if he don't catch her,
I'll ride Balaam anyhow. He's got a mighty sore back, and needs a shoe
put on his left hind foot, and he cut his ankle with a broken shoe on
his fore foot, and has not been fed today. However, I will be along
by-and-by. Stewart, do you think you will be able to get through with
your job of blowing up by day after tomorrow, or by Saturday at twelve
o'clock? Lee, pass the word down to Cheatham, and ask him what he thinks
the Yankees are doing. Now, Kinlock, get my duster and umbrella, and
bring out Balaam.
Now, reader, that was the impression made on the private's mind at that
time.