One fine morning my Captain told me to report to Col. Brackett. I walked
up to regimental headquarters. The Colonel was writing when I stepped
into the tent; he looked up and said, "Be seated for a moment." He soon
got through with his writing, folded it up, put it in a large envelope
and handed it to me, saying, "Sergeant, have you a good horse?" Now, my
reader, excuse me if I was proud of my horse for there was not one in
the regiment that could outrun or outjump mine. "Well," said the
Colonel, "you may need just such a horse before you get back to camp. I
want you to take this dispatch to Gen. Curtis, some thirty miles from
here, and wait his orders." Anything of this kind just suited me, for I
was fond of adventure. I went to headquarters and handed my dispatch to
Gen. Curtis; as he tore open the envelope he told me to stop a moment to
see what it said. After he had read the contents, he looked me over from
head to foot and finally asked, "What regiment do you belong to?" "I
belong to the Ninth Ill. Cavalry, Co. I." "What is your name?" "William
N. Tyler." "Well, I think you are the very man I want. I have a dispatch
to send to Colonel Wyman, who is acting brigadier-general at Little
Rock, Ark., one hundred and fifty miles south. Now the road is infested
with rebels; are you willing to undertake it?" "Yes, sir," said I.
"Well," said the Colonel, "report to me in the morning and I will give
you instructions and dispatches." Gen. Curtis was a fatherly old man,
but very strict. He was all of six feet high, gray eyes and hair. He was
good to his men and did all he could to keep them in good health and
well clothed, but would punish severely if any were caught foraging on
their own hook. He gave me orders to report to a cavalry regiment and
they would find me quarters for the night. Early the next morning I was
on hand but had to wait until almost noon before the General was ready
for me. He handed me three large envelopes and said, "Now, Sergeant, I
want you to take these dispatches to Col. Wyman at Little Rock, and wait
his orders. If you get in close quarters with the rebels and are in
danger of being captured, be sure to destroy the dispatches. Whatever
you do, don't let the rebs get them. My orderly will go across the river
with you, and the Captain out on picket post will instruct you when to
start and what road to take." While the General was giving me my orders
all the officers had their eyes bent on me, so you may be sure I was
glad when the General gave the final order.
The orderly and myself mounted our horses and rode down to the river.
There was a pontoon bridge out for about two hundred yards, and the
balance of the river was crossed by a ferry boat--what they called a
rope ferry. It was run by means of a rope fastened from one shore to the
other. The men on the boat would draw it by the rope from one side to
the other. Just two days before I got there they were crossing with some
artillery and horses, and as they were in the center of the river the
horses got frightened and became uncontrollable, capsizing the boat and
drowning nine men and a number of horses. We got safely across and
commenced to climb the mountain on the other side. Finally we reached
the top and oh! what a sight met our eyes; we could see for miles around
to the north, but to the south it was all hills and mountains. My road
lay directly south, so it proved a pretty rough one. When we got to the
top of the mountain and looked down on White river, I could not see how
it was possible for our horses to haul the artillery up the mountain.
It looked to me that a horse had all he could do to climb it without
pulling anything. The picket post was on the summit of the mountain. The
orderly that came with me took the Captain to one side and had quite a
long talk in an undertone and finally came back to me, reached out his
hand and bade me good-bye and told me not to let the rebs get me. Then
he went back again. The Captain of the guard came up and told me to
dismount. After giving my horse to a man, I went to where the guards
were sitting around the fire. Some were cooking and some were telling
stories. One tall fellow was telling about being kept in irons for four
days. He looked up and saw me standing back a little and told me to come
to the fire. "Stranger, the wind blows mighty cold up here on the
mountain." I walked up and sat down, drank some coffee and ate hard tack
and bacon, so had as good a dinner as if I had been in my own camp.
"So they have had you in irons four days?" "Yes, you see the old General
is mighty strict about our foraging, but the other day we got out of
corn and it is very scarce around here, so we got orders for a few to go
out at a time and scour the country for corn.
"Our sergeant took ten of us and we started out; rode two days and was
just on the point of coming in with our corn when we met an old darkey
who told us to follow an old blind road and we would find a farm house
down there where there was plenty of corn. We went and found it just as
he said, but only having one wagon it did not take long for us to fill
it; then we looked around for something good to eat. I got one ham and a
pig, which I put in a gunny sack and threw across my horse and started
for camp. Well, my pig kept kicking and I cut a hole in the sack so he
could breathe; then he put his nose through the hole so he could take a
view of the surrounding country; after that he was quiet.
"We got into Batesville all right and just as we were passing Gen.
Curtis' headquarters my captain looked up and saw us coming. 'Hello,
boys! where did you get your corn?' Of course that brought us to a halt.
The captain looked around and saw me with my sack. 'John, what have you
got in your sack?' 'Corn, sir,' said I, and just then that infernal pig
stuck his nose through the hole and squealed; now, you bet that fixed
me."
Just then the captain of the guard came up, told me to go with him and
took me out to one side. "Now," said he, "I want to give you your
directions." So he gave me very plain directions about the route, so I
felt very confident that I would not have any trouble. "Now, you had
better lie down and get all the rest you can. I will see that you are
wakened up in proper time, and see that you are provided with rations,
for you know it won't do for you to stop at houses for food."
I lay down, rolled up in my blanket with my feet to the fire and was
soon sound asleep, and did not wake up till the captain of the guard
gave me a good shake. "It is twelve o'clock, get up and have a cup of
coffee." I got up at once and rolled up my blanket and was soon ready to
start. The same darkey that took care of my horse was sent along to
guide me. The boys that were awake all had something to say and the
captain's last words were, "Take care of yourself, my boy."
We started. "Now," said the darkey, "no use your trying to ride in dis
darkness, for de limbs of de trees brush you off from dat horse, sure."
So I followed close to the darkey. It was just a narrow bridle path with
blackberry bushes interlaced across it and branches of trees hung down
so that I had some difficulty in getting my horse along. Said I: "This
path has not been traveled for years." "Hush, you must keep as still as
you can, for we are not a great way from dem rebel guards." That was the
first I knew of getting around rebel guards, so you may be sure after
that I went along as still as possible. On we went over fallen limbs,
hour after hour, till it was broad daylight. My clothes were covered
with burs from head to foot, so I got the darkey to scrape them off with
a knife and came out on the main road. "Now, mister, I is gone wid you
as far as I can go; so you must follow dis main road straight south.
Good-bye, sir, hope you will get through all right."
I led my horse out in the middle of the road, examined my carbine and
revolver and found them all loaded and in good order. I mounted and
turned south and jogged along slowly so as to keep my horse fresh, so if
I had to I could make a good run. Over hills and lofty mountains I went
all the forenoon and not a Johnnie did I see. I went back from the road
about half a mile right in the heavy timber at noon, and made a cup of
coffee and fed my horse with the only feed of corn I had with me. Went
back on the road and on we went until dark. I had traveled all day and
not a living thing had I seen except now and then a squirrel or rabbit.
I was now looking for a place to camp. Finally I came to an old blind
road that led off in the timber; after following this road for about two
miles, I was just thinking about going in the brush and camping for the
night, when all at once I saw a light ahead. The first thought was that
there was a rebel camp. I took my horse out in the thick brush and tied
him to a small tree, and crawled on all fours till I got up close to the
light, and found it to be a small cabin. The clay from between the logs
had fallen out and there was a bright fire burning in the fireplace, and
it was the light of the fire shining through the cracks. I looked
through and saw a large fleshy negro woman sitting in front of the fire
smoking a corn-cob pipe and humming over some camp melody. I stepped up
to the open door and said, "Good evening, aunty." I thought for a fact
she would jump out of her skin.
"For de Lord sake, honey, how you scare me; who is you?"
"Aunty, are there any white folks close around here?"
"No, honey, no one lives close; no one lives here except me and my old
man and he's gone out to catch a possum."
"Then there are no soldiers that come here?"
"No honey, der been no soldier here since de war begun."
"Well, aunty," said I, "can I stay here to-night?"
"Course you can."
"Have you got any corn for my horse?"
"Course we have; we'uns got a cow and we always keep fodder and corn
both."
I went back, got my horse and put him in an old shanty back of the house
and gave him a good feed of corn and fodder. When I went in after taking
care of my horse old aunty was bustling around getting supper. Just then
the old man stepped in. He had an old flint-lock gun in one hand and in
the other he had a possum, sure enough. The negro was all of six feet in
height and was just the opposite of aunty. He looked as if the wind
would blow him away. His gun was as long as himself and looked as if it
had been made in the year of one, it was so battered up. The stock had
been broken many times and tied up with strings, and the old darkey
looked about the same as his gun. No shoes on his feet, and oh! such
feet it hasn't been my lot to see for many a day. His ankle was right in
the middle of his foot. When he saw me I do not think I ever saw anyone
more astonished than he was then. His eyes looked like two peeled
onions. He commenced to open his mouth and the more he looked the wider
it opened. "Well, uncle," said I, "what do you think of me?" "Well,"
said he, shutting his mouth, "I don't know." I thought we were in the
same boat as far as that was concerned. Old aunty walked up to him,
snatched the possum out of his hand, gave him a smart box on the ear and
said: "Ain't you got no manners? standin' der wid yer mouf open as wide
as a barn door! You don't know nuffin; you make me awful 'shamed. Now,
you go and sit down dere and don't open dat big mouf of yours till
supper. Does ye heah?" I think he heard, for let me tell you, when she
opened her mouth you would think there was a cyclone coming.
It did not take aunty long to take the skin off that possum and clean
it. She soon had it in the skillet with sweet potatoes.
Old aunty passed close to me and saw my saber. "Oh," said she, "what's
dat?" I told her that the right name for it was saber, but most of the
boys called it a cheese knife. "For de Lawd sake, is dat what you cut
cheese wid?" I explained its use to her, after which she asked me if I
was a Yankee soldier. I answered in the affirmative. "Now, is dat so? My
old marster told me that you'ns had horns." Now, it may be that the
reader will think this overdrawn, but let me say that most any of my
comrades will corroborate my statement when I say that not only did the
negroes think that the Yankees had horns, but there were a great many
white folks who would tell us the same thing. I remember on one of our
foraging trips we came up to a very nice farm house, and an old lady
came out and said, "Are you'ns Yankees? why, I thought they had horns."
After old aunty got her curiosity satisfied she stepped to the door and
got two large ears of corn and walked up to the fireplace and threw them
into the fire.
"What are you doing that for?" I asked.
"I is goin' to make coffee out of dat corn. Don't you like coffee?"
"Yes, but I have better coffee than that."
"Good Lord! has you got store coffee?"
"Yes." So I went out to my saddle-bags and brought in a large drawing of
coffee. The negroes were highly delighted to get some coffee, and so was
I to get as good a supper as I got that night. Reader, if you ever want
a good meal go south and let some old black aunty cook you some sweet
potatoes and possum together.
The next morning, after I had my breakfast, I went and got all the
coffee I had except one drawing, and gave it to the old woman. I asked
her how they came to be living away out there alone.
"Well, I tell you: my old man is the rail-splitter, and my old master
sent us to split rails, and dat is all we does."