In and Out of Rebel Prisons Part 9

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.

CHAPTER XVII.

AT MAJOR CARTERS--MY SWOLLEN LIMBS GIVE ME AN EXCUSE TO CUT OFF THE CONVERSATION--REV. MR. BURCH GIVES US A HEARTY WELCOME AND A GOOD BREAKFAST--Pa.s.sING A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER--RECAPTURED--ECCENTRIC BUT LOYAL TOM HUBBARD--TAKEN BACK TO FORT EMORY.

Having partaken of a good hearty supper, we were given a room, and, for the first time in many months, I enjoyed the luxury of a good feather bed.

Oh, how gratefully my poor tired limbs revelled in its downy recesses. It seemed almost too bad, to soil those snowy sheets with our dusty and travel stained clothing. Weary and tired as we were however, we soon forgot all our troubles, and were revelling in sweet dreams of home and loved ones.

We were awake bright and early next morning, and hastily dressing, we quietly left the house before any of the other inmates were awake.

This was Monday, the eighteenth day of our tramp, and we had pa.s.sed through South Carolina and Georgia, and were near the extreme north-west corner of North Carolina.

We walked about two miles, when we came to the house of the Rev. Mr.

Burch. He had been milking and was just going to the house with a pail of milk when we came up and asked if we could get some breakfast there. He gave us a hearty welcome to such fare as they could give us, and invited us into the house. We soon discovered that he was a strong Union man, and, although we did not reveal ourselves to him as Yankees, I believe he at least mistrusted we were. We learned from him that the Union forces had been at Murphy, and when we got across the river from there we would be in Tennessee, where we would be safe, as our forces held the ground there. We had told him that we did not intend to go back into the army, but intended to get inside the Union lines and stay there.

I being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, gave him some signs of that order, which he thought was a clumsily given Masonic sign, and, as he belonged to that fraternity, he tried to test me in the signs of that society. I told him I was not a Mason, but was an Odd Fellow, and he could trust me just as freely as though we both belonged to the same order. He said: "I do trust you, and believe you are all right, but when we express Union sentiments in this section of the country, you know, we do so with a halter around our necks. I have already said and done enough to hang me if it were known to the rebel authorities, and I know they would resort to any trick to trap me into saying or doing something that would convict me of treason to the Confederacy. But I will trust you, though I place my life in your hands by so doing, for G.o.d and my own conscience tell me that I am doing right."

He then gave us explicit directions about getting across the river, near Murphy, which was about twenty miles further. He said it would not do to cross the bridge at that place, as it was guarded night and day; but we could probably find boats above there that we could use in crossing. After breakfast he walked with us a short distance, and bidding us an affectionate good-bye and G.o.d speed, he turned back and we pursued our way.

About three miles further on we pa.s.sed the little hamlet of Fort Emory, where I noticed a Confederate officer sitting on the stoop of the only store in the village. Pa.s.sing by with a nod and a good morning, we were soon out of sight, and as we felt a little uneasy after this, we walked as rapidly as it was possible in my enfeebled condition.

The country through which we were pa.s.sing now was mostly woods and spa.r.s.ely settled. In fact, I think we did not pa.s.s but two or three houses in the next ten miles. At that distance from Fort Emory we came to a large house that looked as though it belonged to a well-to-do planter, and seeing the owner out near the road we stopped and asked if we could get some supper. We had as yet said nothing about paying, and he put on a long face when he told us that he had nothing cooked in the house. He was a miserly looking old seed, and thinking a little money might tempt him, I said that we were not particular what it was, but would pay him for any kind of a "snack," if he could manage to give us something that would stay our stomachs until we got to Murphy.

Mr. Harshaw--for that was his name--thought he might find something if we would wait awhile, till he could go into the house. While we were yet talking two mounted, armed men, came suddenly around a bend in the road, and galloped down to where we were standing, each with a drawn pistol, and a carbine slung over his shoulder. d.i.c.k Hanc.o.c.k the Sergeant, asked, to what command do you belong? 32d Georgia I answered. Where are you going?

To Murphy to see my sister; giving him a ficticious name. Let me see your pa.s.s said he. I felt in my pocket and said, by golly Alban I left those pa.s.ses in my haversack at Maj. Carters; and then turning to the Sergeant, I explained that we staid at the Major's last night, and as we intended to go back to-morrow or the next day, we thought we would leave the haversack which was pretty heavy, and our pa.s.ses were in the haversack.

You can consider yourselves under arrest, said the Sergeant; and told his companion, Tom Hubbard, to dismount and search us. Tom was a very excitable person, and had a habit of spitting about sixty times a minute.

He first took a large Morocco pocketbook that I carried in the breast pocket of my coat, and looking over the papers, came across my recruiting authorization paper, which I had received from the Governor, authorizing me to recruit volunteers, for the service of the United States. Tom read this aloud, spitting between each sentence. He read along until he came to the clause above spoken of, when he stopped suddenly and said: "You are a Yankee officer, by thunder!" I laughed and said: "Well, a Yankee could not guess better than that."

"Well, you are, by jingo."

"Well, who said I wasn't?"

Tom got terribly excited, and spit faster than ever, as he said: "Well, by thunder, you are a Yankee."

I should have laughed if he had been going to shoot me, and I did laugh heartily at his excitement. This made him more excited still, and by the time he had finished reading the paper, he was so excited that I could easily have disarmed him, but the Sergeant sat there, with his pistol ready to shoot if we made any attempt to get away.

I then told them that we were Yankee officers, and that we had for six months suffered the horrors of prison life, that we had escaped from Columbia, and had walked three hundred miles to gain our liberty, and pulling up my pants I showed them my legs, which were swollen to three times their natural size, and very much inflamed, and asked if, after having tramped so far with such a pair of legs, I was not ent.i.tled to my liberty. The tears started into Tom's eyes, his mouth twitched convulsively, he spit with fearful rapidity, and he finally said in a choking voice, "By thunder, I am sorry I ever saw you."

If I had my way I would let you go, but if we did old Harshaw, who is a bitter Confederate, would report us and we would be shot. And Tom meant what he said; for as will appear further on, he was a Union man at heart.

But the Sergeant was unmoved by our distress, and was only too proud to think he had captured two Yankee officers, to contemplate letting us go; so he ordered us to walk between them back to Fort Emory, ten miles. No Sergeant, I said, I am your prisoner, only because my legs gave out; and I shall never walk back. If you want me to go back to Fort Emory, you will have to carry me, for if I could have walked you would not have seen me.

He insisted that I start on, but I told him plainly that I would not walk a step, that I had just about as leave he would shoot me right there as to take me back into prison.

Tom finally said, d.i.c.k, you take him up behind you, and I will take this big fellow up behind me, and we will get along much faster. To this proposition the Sergeant consented, and we both mounted and started back.

If I could have had a chance to have said a dozen words to Alban before starting, without their seeing us, we would not have gone far; but the Sergeant and I rode ahead, followed by Tom and Alban, and if I had made a move to disarm my man, Tom would have been just in a position to have helped him. I was on the alert, thinking that perhaps Alban would pinion Tom's arms from behind, and give me a signal to do the same for the Sergeant, which I could have easily done.

If I had only known what was going on behind me that night, this narrative would have a different termination. But I did not know Tom Hubbard then, nor did I know how strongly he was attached to the old flag. I learned all this afterwards, and learned to appreciate him, for a true-hearted, loyal man, whose fidelity could always be relied upon, and whose sympathetic nature was as tender as a woman's. The circ.u.mstances which surrounded him, compelled him to a.s.sume an allegiance to the Confederacy that his loyal soul revolted at. And there is no man North or South that I would give more to see to-day than this same eccentric TOM HUBBARD.

CHAPTER XVIII.

IN PRISON AGAIN.

We arrived at the house of CAPTAIN SANDERSON about ten o'clock that night, and were treated by him like gentlemen. Late as it was, after placing us in an out-house, in which was a weaver's loom, he brought us a good lunch, and gave us every possible privilege he could.

We were strictly guarded, but were made to feel our captivity as little as possible.

We were allowed to go down to a stream near the house the next day, and wash our clothes, which we had worn nearly a month, and the captain, in every way, treated us more like guests than prisoners.

Captain Sanderson was in command of a company of home guards, and had never seen active service. He was a well-to-do farmer, and most of his command were his neighbor's sons, who, like himself, did not care to go into the regular service, and most of them were strongly tinctured with Union sentiments. I don't think he was a very bitter Confederate himself.

The next afternoon, after having washed and dried our clothes and took a good bath in the stream near by, we were started under guard for FRANKLIN.

We walked about three miles, when we stopped at the house of a Union man named Johnson, and whose son had joined Captain Sanderson's company of home guards to save conscription, and who was detailed as one of our guard.

They filled our haversacks with choice fruit, and Captain Lyons, of the 1st Georgia Regiment, whom we met there, loaned me a horse to ride. Our guard the first day was Lieutenant R. N. Leatherwood, Sergeant d.i.c.k Hanc.o.c.k, and D. J. Johnson. We found by talking to Mr. Johnson that he was a Union man, and that Captain Lyons, who had so kindly loaned me his horse, was one also, but they dare not show it. We only went three miles the first afternoon, and the next morning Tom Hubbard overtook us, leading a mule for me to ride, as I had only borrowed Captain Lyons's horse for the first afternoon. Tom Hubbard soon found an opportunity to tell me, that his brother and a Captain Tidwell were going to try to a.s.sist us to escape. This Captain Tidwell was in command of another company of home guards, and we had not gone far on this second day of our march, before he met us as if by chance, and we halted, and after chatting a few minutes, Tom asked him to ride along with us.

He had a canteen of applejack, and invited all hands to take a drink. This we all did, though Captain Alban and I drank very sparingly. The canteen was pa.s.sed quite often, and though we all seemed jolly, I noticed that it held out pretty well, and concluded that they were all trying to get the rest drunk, without getting drunk themselves. What we wanted was, to get enough of this apple brandy down Lieutenant Leatherwood and Sergeant d.i.c.k Hanc.o.c.k, to affect them, and then make a break; but it did not work. They pretended to drink, but were as wary as ever, and were evidently onto our little game.

We were a noisy crowd that pa.s.sed along that road through the woods that day, we sung, shouted, laughed and swaggered, but that canteen still held out. Finally as we were pa.s.sing a spur of the Nantahala mountains, we saw some mules feeding upon the mountain to our left and rear, and as all were mounted except Captain Alban, it was suggested that the Lieutenant and Sergeant try to catch one of the mules for him, so we could get along a little faster.

The Sergeant gave Captain Tidwell his revolver, to guard us while he was gone, and they started up the mountain in pursuit of the mules. When they had got half way up, Captain Tidwell told us to run into the woods and up a ravine that separated the two spurs, and he would fire his revolver towards us, to make believe he was trying to shoot us, but would be careful not to hit either of us. We had never seen him until an hour previous, and of course did not know but this was only a dodge to give him an excuse for shooting a Yankee, but we took the risk, and started into the woods.

He shouted halt! halt!! and fired three shots in quick succession; the bullets sounded uncomfortably near our heads, but we kept on. My legs were stiff and cramped from riding, and I made very poor headway. I threw off my overcoat and haversack to lighten me, but it seemed as though I was in a nightmare; and though I strained every nerve to make the utmost speed, I seemed to be moving at a snail pace. Alban, who had been walking, and was strong and robust, outstripped me and was gaining at every step. I was perspiring at every pore, and my breath was short and hot, but still I did not seem to get ahead much. I was just thinking I would soon be out of sight, when I heard Lieutenant Leatherwood's voice close behind me, saying, hold on Lieutenant, I don't want to shoot you; and looking over my shoulder, saw him within five rods of me, with his revolver pointed at my head.

Seeing that any further effort at flight would only result in my getting the contents of that revolver, and not hankering after anything of that kind, as I was near enough dead already, I stopped and went quietly back, Alban, who was five or six rods ahead of me, doing likewise.

One of the bullets from Captain Tidwell's revolver had struck a rock near me, and a piece of the bullet hit me just under my right eye, thus saving his reputation as a marksman, and giving color to his intentions to shoot me.

As we slowly made our way back to the road, I picked up my traps that I had discarded in my flight, and laughingly told the boys that I only came back because it was so much more pleasant to ride than go on foot. d.i.c.k Hanc.o.c.k, the Sergeant, however, did not seem to relish the joke, and, demanding his revolver of Captain Tidwell, said he would shoot the d--d Yankees anyhow.

Captain Tidwell told him that he wouldn't shoot any one who was a prisoner, that if there was any shooting going on, he would have a hand in. d.i.c.k swaggered considerable, but I finally told him that if he really wanted to shoot some one, he had better go to the front, where he would find lots of it to do. Said I, (for I was then satisfied that in case of a row the chances were in our favor) "I want you to understand now, that while I am a prisoner in your hands, I shall make every effort to escape; and it is your duty to keep me if you can, and if you shoot me while I am trying to get away, you will only be doing your duty; but while I am a secure prisoner, you have no more right to murder me than you have to murder anyone else."

You must watch me closely, for I give you fair warning, that I shall escape if I can. This talk seemed to exasperate him more than ever, and regaining his revolver, he swore that he would shoot the d--d Yankee any way. Said I, "d.i.c.k, if Captain Tidwell will let me take his revolver, I will step out here and shoot with you for a while, and see who is the best shot; for I had about as soon die here, as to be a prisoner much longer."

Lieutenant Leatherwood finally ordered him to put up his pistol or he would put him under arrest. He then subsided, but was grouty all the balance of the day. That evening we came to a school house in the woods, and concluded to stay there all night.

Gathering up some dry wood we soon had a roaring fire going in the large open fire place, and as we had been supplied with two days rations we ate our supper, and then lighting our pipes, enjoyed ourselves just as though we all belonged to the same army. I got even d.i.c.k Hanc.o.c.k in good humor, by telling stories, and with Captain Alban, who was a good singer, treating them to the "Red, White and Blue," the "Star Spangled Banner,"

and "Rally 'Round the Flag."

When we came to the line, "And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best," they fairly made the woods ring with applause.