As matters now stood, I was determined not to return to my Company until
I was entirely recovered to my usual health. So I reported to Dr. Green
in charge of the Floyd House Hospital for treatment. He asked me what
was the matter with me; I told him I did not know. He stripped me and
made a thorough examination, and when he got through he said, "You have
an enlargement of the heart, and ought not to be exposed." He prescribed
for me, and I reported to him daily until my furlough had expired. I
felt a great deal better and was about ready to return to my command,
but Dr. Green advised me not to do it yet awhile. I said, "My furlough
is out;" He said, "That does not make any difference, you are under my
charge for the present." In the meantime Major Roland was removed as
Commander of the Post at Macon and Col. Aiken was appointed in his
stead. While in the Hospital I made myself useful, and Dr. Green
appointed me General Ward-Master. My duties were to look over the entire
wards and see that those under me did their duty, and that all inmates
were properly attended to. One good morning Sergt. Haywood Ainsworth
came to me, saying, "Ike I have in my possession a letter for the
Commander of the Post, Col. Aiken, from Capt. Evan P. Howell; he is
giving you the devil; he sent me after you. If you go with me to the
command I will not deliver it." I said, "Haywood, do you know what he
writes in that letter?" "No, not exactly, but it is very severe." "I'd
like to see what he says." "Have you seen Col. Aiken; does he know you?"
No. "I will tell you what we will do; you give me the letter and I will
deliver it myself; you can see that I do it, he will not know me from
you, as he does not know either of us." Ainsworth laughed and says,
"Well as you say." So we both marched up to the Provost Marshal's
office. Col. Aiken was sitting in a chair at his desk. I walked up to
him, gave him the military salute, handed him the letter and took my
position behind his chair, looking over his shoulder as he read the
letter. Capt. Howell did not at all times write a very legible hand for
one not used to his writing; hence I being used to it, got through
before the Colonel did, I took a little step to my left and rear,
awaiting Col. Aiken's orders. "Sergeant, where is the man?" asked he.
"He is in the Floyd house hospital, in charge of Dr. Green." "Is he
sick." "I suppose so." "Then he is under proper authority, I can do
nothing in this case, as it stands. You go and see Dr. Green and ask him
if Hermann is well enough to be discharged and go to camp. If so and he
refuses to go, come to me and I will give the necessary assistance
required." I thanked him, saying, "Col. I do not think there will be any
necessity for me to trouble you further," and Haywood and myself left,
laughing all the way. Sergt. Ainsworth then said, Well Ike, you are a
good one, I know you won't give me away. I said, You surely do not think
that of me. Oh no! I have all confidence in you. Well, what are you
going to do? I will go back with you; I shall face the gentleman and
tell him what I think of him. What was in the letter, what did he say?
He stated in the letter that I was a very desperate character; that I
left in time of battle; that he had used all his efforts to get me back
to my command, and had failed. To please give Sergt. Ainsworth all
necessary assistance to accomplish that object. Continuing, I said,
Haywood, you like to go home; so do I. Suppose we go to Washington
county for a few days, say until Friday. You living in town put a notice
in the paper, stating that you will return to our camp which is now at
Dalton, and will take pleasure in forwarding anything that may be sent
to the boys from their friends and families. Sergt. Ainsworth said, That
is a good idea. I said, Well I will meet you at Tennille Friday on the
night train. But before we go, I must have the approval of Dr. Green,
under whose charge I now am; so we went to see Dr. Green: I stated to
him that I would like to return to my command. He said, You are not well
enough to do camp duty. I said, Well, under circumstances as they are, I
am willing to take my chances. I stated to him the facts as they were,
in the presence of Sergt. Ainsworth, who coincided to everything I said.
Then I remarked, Doctor, you have been very kind to me, and done me lots
of good, for which I am very grateful, but I can't rest under such
imputation; I intend to straighten matters out. So he said, Well, if I
can do anything for you or be any service to you, let me know what it is
and I will be glad to do it. I said, All I want is for you to give me a
statement under what condition I placed myself under your care, and the
date of my admittance and discharge, and your opinion as to my present
condition for active service. He said he would do that, he would make a
statement and have it ready in an hour. In the meantime Sergt. Ainsworth
and myself took a stroll through the city. I told my relatives and
friends good bye. We returned to the hospital, they were all sorry I
left them. Doctor Green gave me the papers I required, I put them in my
pocket unopened. He said, If there is anything else you need, let me
know. I thanked him very kindly, and we left for Washington county.
Sergt. Ainsworth said to me, Dr. Green seems to think a great deal of
you; he seems to be a perfect gentleman. I said, Yes, everybody who
comes in contact with him likes him; he is a very conscientious Doctor
and is very attentive to his business. Friday night I took the train at
Davisboro; I had about a dozen boxes for the boys in camp, under my
charge at Tennille. Sergt. Ainsworth met me with as many more boxes, and
we travelled to Dalton; it took us two nights and a day to get there. It
was Sunday morning early, when we reached camp. The boys were all glad
to see us, we delivered our trust and there was plenty of good things to
eat in camp, in consequence of our forethought. During my absence from
camp Dr. Stewart was transferred and Dr. Beauchamp took his place. I had
never seen him before, so I at once reported to him, gave him my papers
from Dr. Green and he at once relieved me from active duty. Then I
stated to him why I had returned to camp, and the feud that existed
between Capt. Howell and myself, and what he had done and said. So I was
determined to face the worst. I walked about that day among the boys in
camp, all of whom were my friends; if I had an enemy in camp outside of
Capt. Howell, I did not know it. About four o'clock p. m. I bethought
myself since I was not arrested after the awful charges having been made
against me, I had probably better report my presence, although every one
in camp, Captain included, knew I was there. So I just met Sergt. Hines,
being very intimate with him, I said, Bill, you want to have some fun?
Come with me, I am going to report at headquarters; since all that
hullabaloo I am still unmolested. The officers quarters were about one
hundred yards up on a ridge from where the pieces were parked. Capt.
Howell was sitting in front of his tent. I gave him the salute, saying,
Well, here I am. He answered, I thought I never would see you again. I
said probably you would not, if it had not been for some d----d lies
written to Col. Aiken, Provost Marshal at Macon. Who wrote them? Capt.
Evan P. Howell, Comdg. Battery. If you think that I am afraid of powder
and ball, try me ten steps. Do you mean it as a challenge? You are an
officer; I am a private; it is for you to construe it as you see fit.
I'll have you court-martialed and shot. I dare you to do it. In the
meantime Sergt. Hines was swinging to my jacket and we withdrew. So
Hines said, If I had known that you would get mad that way I would not
have come with you. So I remarked, I wanted you to come and be a
witness, as to what should pass between him and me. A half hour later
Sergt. Hines came to me, saying, Ike, you are on duty tonight. By whose
orders? Capt. Howell's. I said, It is not a rule to put a man on guard
duty who had passed two nights in succession without sleep, he might
fall asleep on his post. However, I did not come here to do duty, I
merely came to see what punishment Capt. Howell would inflict on me, as
he stated that I deserted; and again, I am relieved from duty by Dr.
Beauchamp. Sergt. Hines made his report. I saw Capt. Howell hastily walk
over to Dr. Beauchamp's quarters and expostulated with him as to my
ability of doing duty, thus impugning the Doctor's capacity as a
physician, he who after a thorough examination having passed on my
condition; I heard Dr. Beauchamp speaking in a loud voice: "Capt.
Howell, if you would attend to your duty as faithfully as I do mine you
would get along better with your men." Howell replied that he would
have me examined by a Board of Physicians. That's all right, that is
exactly what Hermann asked me to have done and I have already set him
down to meet the Board at Dalton on next Wednesday. In the meantime Dr.
Beauchamp treated me and I reported to him daily, when able to be up; if
not he came to my quarters.
[Illustration: "I am a private--if you make a move I'll put daylight
through you."]