BACK INTO WALHALLA--WE RUN INTO A REBEL PICKET IN THE DARK AND ARE TAKEN
IN--A LITTLE JUDICIOUS LIEING SECURES OUR RELEASE--OVERTAKING SOME WAGONS
GOING FROM MARKET--CHATTING WITH A COMPANY OF REBEL CAVALRY.
Starting out again at dark, we walked on rapidly for about five miles,
when we came to some covered wagons beside the road, and just after
passing them, I said to Alban, "I believe this is Walhalla again." He
thought it impossible; so said I, "we won't go far before we come to a
carpenter shop, with a bench outside." Sure enough, we soon came to the
carpenter shop that I had noticed as we passed hastily through the town
that morning. Turning about we walked back, and soon found how we had made
the mistake in the darkness. Near where these wagons were camped, there
was a fork in the road; we had taken the right hand fork in the morning,
and turned into the woods to the left of the road. The road we had found
at night, was the other branch of the fork and turning to the left again,
we had walked directly back to where we started from in the morning. It
was now nine o'clock, and again taking the right hand road, we started
back towards Tunnel Hill.
There were mile boards on this road, that told the distance, and as we had
been told it was six miles to Tunnel Hill, we walked along briskly for
nearly four miles, when all of a sudden there rang out clear and distinct
that well known challenge: "Halt! Who comes there?"
The voice was not five rods ahead, and through the darkness we could
discern the outline of the sentry, and just beyond a dim fire of dying
embers.
"Soldiers!" was the prompt reply to the challenge by Captain Alban. "Have
you got any showance?" (pass.) "Yes, sir," he answered. "Well, come in and
let's see it." Alban was about twenty yards ahead of me, and as I had not
yet spoken, I thought perhaps I might not have been seen, and as he
approached the sentry, I crouched down, preparatory to sliding into the
woods. But the guard saw me, and asked if that was another soldier behind,
and upon being answered in the affirmative, told me to come in too. I said
I didn't think he would allow us both to approach at once; that we never
would at the front allow but one to approach at a time.
"Oh, we've got force enough to take care of both of youans," said he. So
we walked in, and he took us up to the smoldering fire, where six or eight
others were sitting and lying around, and speaking to some one whom he
called Dock, told him to get up and look at our "showance." While Dock was
crawling out, pulling on his boots, and rubbing his eyes, the guard asked
what command we belonged to. We told them that we belonged to the 32d
Georgia. (This was the regiment that was guarding Yankee prisoners at
Columbia.) That we were stationed at Columbia, guarding Yankee prisoners;
that we had just come to Walhalla by the train, and thought we would walk
as far as Tunnel Hill, and stay there all night, and see the Captain,
(giving his name,) who was an old friend of mine, that I had not seen
since the war broke out, and I wanted to have a visit with him. That we
were going to Towns County, Georgia, where my sister (giving a ficticious
name), who was Alban's wife, lived; that I had a sick furlough for thirty
days, and Alban had a pass for ten days, to go and see his wife. We
mentioned two or three names that had been furnished us by Mr. Addis, and
asked if they knew them.
By the time "Dock" was ready to examine our papers, we had got them
thoroughly interested in us, and had so thoroughly impressed upon them the
belief that we were all right, and then I showed them my legs which were
so terribly inflamed, and told them that I was suffering from inflammatory
rheumatism,--which was the nearest the truth of anything that I had yet
told them--and groaned over the excruciating pain I was suffering. When I
had fully impressed them with the truthfulness of my story, I took from
my pocket an enlistment paper that I had, and produced it as my furlough.
I told them that I bought that overcoat of a Yankee for five plugs of
tobacco, and got the pants for two plugs; that you could buy any thing of
those Yankee prisoners for tobacco; They would sell the shirt off their
back for tobacco. Finally "Dock" took my furlough, and as it was raining
hard, and the fire would not burn, he got down on his knees beside it, and
would blow up a little blaze, and try to make out the papers; but could
only see that it was a printed and written document of some kind. At the
same time I was groaning over my suffering legs, and rubbing them, and
wishing I was at the captain's quarters, where I could rest and care for
them. After "Dock" had tried in vain for sometime to make out my furlough,
I said it was too bad to keep me there in the rain where I was sure to
take cold in my legs; that the Captain could examine the papers in the
morning, and see that they were all right. So he finally said, well I
reckon you are all right, you can go ahead. If you want to go to Clayton
it is the nearest way to take the left fork, but if you want to go to
Tunnel Hill take the right. We passed on a few yards to the forks, and not
wishing to let them see how anxious we were to get away, we stopped and
discussed the question whether we would go on to Tunnel Hill, or turn
towards Clayton.
We finally turned towards Clayton, as we had all the time intended, and
when we got out of sight and hearing of the picket post, we just lay down
and rolled and laughed. Up to the time that "Dock" told us we could go on,
we had scarcely the slightest idea that they would not detect the fraud,
and march us off under guard to headquarters. Sick and lame as I was, I
could not restrain my laughter at this adventure, for hours after.
We hurried forward however, for fear the officer of the guard might be
making his rounds, and learning of our passing the picket, follow us up to
ascertain that we were all right. About one o'clock we halted, completely
tired out with our almost incessant march of nearly forty-eight hours, in
the mud and rain, with little to eat, and as wet as we were, we lay down
in a thicket beside the road, and slept soundly until daylight. When we
awoke, we were wet through and completely chilled, and started on to try
and get warm. We soon came to a river which we were obliged to ford, the
water being nearly up to our waist, but as we were already as wet as we
could be, it did not make much difference whether we were in the water or
on dry land.
We soon came upon some teams that were camped beside the road, being on
their way back from Walhalla to Cherokee County, North Carolina. There
were two rebel soldiers acting as guard for the teams, and the owner was a
Doctor Washburn, formerly from Livingston County, N. Y., as he informed
me. They were cooking their breakfast, but did not say anything about our
taking breakfast with them. They, however, directed us to the house of a
widow, a little farther on, where we could be accommodated. We stopped
there, and she got us up a nice breakfast of corn bread, sweet potatoes
and fried mutton, and I guess she thought by the way we eat that we had
not had anything before in some days, and did not know when we would get
anything again. This widow was quite bitter towards the Confederacy on
account of her son having been conscripted, and she left alone, with no
one to work her little farm or care for her children. She was too poor to
hire the work done, and was obliged to do all that was done towards
supporting herself and children; as her son's pay scarcely amounted to
enough to keep him in tobacco, and left nothing towards the support of his
mother and a family of small children. Having eaten and paid for our
breakfast, we waited for the teams to come along, and then we concluded to
travel with them, as it would give us the appearance of being all right,
if we should meet any soldiers on the road.
We soon made ourselves at home in their company and I found Dr. Washburn a
very kind-hearted gentleman, and I think that he more than half suspected
our true characters, though he did not pretend to doubt that we were
Confederate soldiers, belonging to the 32d Georgia. He offered to loan me
all the money I needed, which, as he was a perfect stranger, seemed to me
pretty good evidence that he knew I was an escaped prisoner and wanted to
help me to get home. He inquired whether there were any prisoners at
Columbia who were from Livingston County, N. Y., which he said was his
native place; and I said I didn't know where any of them were from, except
I had heard Captain Cady say that he was from Rochester, N. Y., but I did
not know what part of the North that was. I was more than once on the
point of revealing myself to him, and now believe that had I done so, he
would have assisted me. We traveled in company with them two days, and it
was quite a help, to me especially.
The teams were so heavily loaded that I could not ride much, but on down
grades and at the different fords we came to, he asked me to get on and
rest up a little, which offer I gladly accepted, crossing the Chatuga
river on the back of one of the mules. Dr. Washburn had a Columbia paper,
which gave the particulars of Sheridan's famous fight with Early in the
Valley. When they went into camp the first night, Alban and I went into a
barn near by, and slept until morning. Having travelled until ten o'clock
and forded three streams, we were very tired and slept soundly. The next
day we started on ahead of them, but they overtook us before night; as
they halted early, however, we kept on and were overtaken by a man on
horseback who told us he lived about five miles further on, and if we got
that far, we were welcome to stay over night with him. We found his house
about dark, and he gave us a good supper and a good drink of apple-jack,
which he fished out from under the bed.
Alban would not drink any, and tried by winks and sly nudges, to keep me
from accepting a second invitation, but I didn't take the hint worth a
cent. Mr. King (for that was his name) was running an illicit distillery
near where we first met him.
After we had taken two or three drinks, he became talkative, and I think
my tongue was a little loose. He did not go a cent on the Confederacy, and
thought the whole thing was about gone up; and he didn't care much how
soon it collapsed. If he was in my place, he would not go back into the
Confederate army and I told him that I did not intend to. Before we went
to bed, we were on pretty good terms with one another and the world in
general, with the exception of the Confederate government. He lived near
the bank of the Teroria river, and before breakfast we went down to the
river, and cold as it was that morning, stripped off and took a good bath.
When we went back to the house, he again fished out the demijohn from
under the bed, and we took a good one for an appetizer. Alban was fidgety
and nervous, for fear my tongue would run away with me, but I was as jolly
as a lord, and as wary as a member of Congress.
After a good breakfast, for which he would take no pay, we crossed the
Teroria river and pushed on briskly. I felt just in humor for any
adventure, and one soon presented itself.
We had not gone far when we saw a company of reb cavalry coming towards us
from ahead. We sat down on a log beside the road and waited for them to
come up, as there were no woods to slip into just there. When they came
along I saluted the Captain and asked, "Whar youans going, Captain?" "Oh,
just going up the road a piece," he answered, and passed on without
questioning us.
One of the men at the rear of the column stopped long enough to ask us
where we'uns were from, and I told him we had just come from the valley
and had had some right smart fighting with Sheridan. I then hastily
detailed the fight as I had read it in the Columbia paper. He seemed
flattered with the fact that he had talked with two old soldiers who had
been with Earley (for they were home guards), and rode briskly forward to
overtake his comrades.
We soon came to Clayton, Georgia, and the court being in session, there
was quite a crowd gathered about the court house. We were debating whether
or not it would be safe to keep the road, which led directly past the
court house, when a mounted officer, who had evidently found some
applejack somewhere, came riding down to meet us, and when he learned from
us that we belonged to the 32d Georgia, and had just come from Earley's
army, wanted the latest news. We told him that we had had a right smart
fight with Sheridan, and taken his camp, with all of the stores and a
number of pieces of artillery, but that while the boys were plundering the
camp, Sheridan had surprised us and cut us all up. Having filled him as
chock full of news as he was of applejack, we told him we were going to
Hiawassee, and asked the most direct road.
He directed us across a common, that would take us to the road leading to
Hiawassee, that would not necessitate our passing the court house, and
rode back to retail the news we had given him.
After passing Clayton two or three miles, we stopped at a farm house to
get dinner. As we sat down at the table, the host introduced us to the
sheriff of Rabun county. We chatted pleasantly with him during the meal,
but felt greatly relieved when we were once more on the road.
The next day (Sunday) we struck the Hiawassee river, and fording it, we
pushed on, and just about sundown, came to a house that seemed to promise
good fare, and, representing ourselves to be Confederate soldiers on a
furlough, asked for supper and lodging.
The gentleman, who had the appearance of a wealthy planter, hesitated, but
when I told him we wished to pay for the accommodation, he said he
reckoned they could keep us, and invited us in. The family consisted of
the planter--Major Carter--his wife, and one daughter, and a lady teacher,
who seemed to be of Northern birth. After supper the conversation
naturally turned on the war, and we discussed the situation freely, and
finding that he was a rank reb, we were, of course, in favor of a vigorous
prosecution of the war as long as there was a soldier left to fight or a
dollar in the treasury. We got on swimmingly for a time. Major Carter was
a man of intelligence, and was thoroughly posted on the situation, as well
as the position of the two armies. In fact, I began to fear that he was
too well posted to make it safe for me to attempt to tell too much of
where I had served, and it soon became convenient for my inflamed legs to
pain me so much that his good wife had one of the colored servants bring
me some warm water out on the stoop to bathe them in.
This brought the conversation, which was getting a little too deep for me,
to a close; and I asked to be shown to my room, after offering him a
ten-dollar bill to take out for our supper and lodging. I told him we
should probably wish to start before he was up and so preferred to pay
that night. The fact was, I did not wish to meet him the next morning,
after he had taken time to think over the matter, for I was quite sure his
suspicions had been partially aroused. He would have taken two dollars,
but could not change the ten, and I told him I would call on my way back
and pay him.