Memoirs of a Veteran Part 7

Braswell, saying, My friend, I can't accept your proposition to be an extra burden to you in your already impoverished condition. He said, What are you going to do? I said, The next time you hear from me I will be in a position to make a support, or I will be a dead c.o.c.k in the pit.

I am going to leave this morning. I left for Sandersville, where I met many friends. While there I heard of some of the boys having picked up an abandoned Confederate wagon. There were about fifteen that claimed a share in it. The next day I went to Milledgeville and stopped this side at Mr. Stroters, who had run a distillery during the war. I said, Mr.

Stroter have you any whiskey on hand? He said, Yes, one barrel, I had it buried. Can I get about five gallons? He said, Yes. What will you take for it? Five dollars a gallon, in Yankee money, the Confederate money is no good now. I said, I'll take five gallons if you have a keg to put it in. I have no money of the description you want, but I will leave you my horse in bond.

Early in the morning I proceeded on my way to Macon, carrying the five gallon keg of whiskey on my shoulder. The journey was a long one, thirty-two miles, with a burden and it being summer time was no small undertaking. I arrived however, in East Macon the following day. I entered the woods in search of a clay root where I could hide away my burden. I found a large tree that was blown down, leaving a big hole, where I placed my keg and covered it with leaves. I marked the place so as to find it when wanted. I also carried a canteen full of liquor under my coat, and walked towards Macon. On the way I met a Federal in deep study. I pa.s.sed him a step or two, then stopped and said, Say! He turned, saying, you speak to me? I said, Yes, would you like to have a drink? He said, Yes, the best in the world. I tell you how you can get this canteen full. If you bring me out a mule this side the sentinel I will give you this canteen full. He remarked, You'll wait yonder until I return. I waited over an hour, when I saw him come on a small mule. The exchange was quickly effected, and I rode back to Milledgeville and left the mule at Stroters. After eating a hearty meal I returned on foot to Macon, I repeated the same tactics, brought back three mules and sold over one hundred drinks at $1.00 a drink, paid Stroter my debt and returned to Washington County, left my stock with my friend B. S. Jordan to tend his crop, who at that time had a negro plowing an old steer. I said, Ben, Work your crop, for I do not know how long you can keep them.

I returned to Sandersville in quest of the boys who claimed the captured Confederate wagon, and to purchase it. They agreed if I would bring each a wool hat from Savannah on my return I could have the wagon, which I agreed to. Major Irwin gave me an old set of gears and I was ready to carry freight from Sandersville and Washington County to Savannah for a living, for let it be known that Sherman in his vandalism tore up the Central railroad all the way from Macon to Savannah, Ga., and for eight months after the surrender I continued wagoning hauling freight back and forth, taking the weather as it came, rain or shine, cold or warm.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

My first journey as wagoner to Savannah was a successful one. There was still some cotton through the country that escaped the Sherman depredators. Mr. W. G. Brown let me have two bales. Mr. Pinkus Happ let me have one. My tariff was $5.00 per 100 pounds, and the same returning.

I took the Davisboro road from Sandersville, having only two mules. .h.i.tched to the wagon. I had sent word to Mr. Jordan to meet me with my horse and mule still in his possession. The road was heavy for it was a rainy season and to make it lighter pulling I concluded to have a four mule team. So we put the harness on the horse and mule and hitched them in the lead. About that time a negro I knew, named Perry, came up and made himself useful. I said, Perry, what are you doing? Nothing, Ma.r.s.e Ike. How would you like to wagon for me at $15.00 a month and rations?

Very well, said he. Well, jump in the saddle, I am on my way to Savannah. It was about four o'clock p. m. Perry took hold of the line and cracked his whip, when the horse, whose other qualities, except a saddle horse I did not know, commenced to kick in a spirited manner, so as to skin his legs with the trace chains in which he became entangled, I had to unhitch him. Mr. John Salter was present and saw the whole proceeding. I remarked, Well. I am sorry for that for I had expected to have a four horse team, and now can have only a spike team. Salter said, Hermann, what will you take for this horse? You say he is a good saddle horse? I never straddled a better one. What will you give me? He said he had no money but had two bales of cotton under his gin house and I could have it for the horse. How far do you live from here? Two miles only.

All right, the horse is yours. Perry, let us go and get the cotton. Mr.

Salter led the way where the cotton was. We loaded the same and drove that night to the Fleming place and camped. The trip was uneventful. We made the journey to Savannah in four days. There was a firm of cotton factors named Bothwell and Whitehead doing business in the City, and they were my objective point. However, before arriving into the city, about thirty miles this side, I met men wanting to buy my cotton. They offered me from fifteen to fifty cents per pound. I did not know what the value was; I knew that before the war started it brought about eight cents. However, I drove up to the firms office on Bay street. I saw Mr.

Bothwell; after the usual greeting I said, What is cotton selling at?

It brought .62 this a. m., but I think I can get more than that if it is good cotton. To make matters short I got .65 per pound and the two bales Salter let me have for my horse weighed 600 pounds a bale, netting me $720.00. I bought me another mule and now I was again fully equipped and made the voyage regularly every week. I took a partner, as the business was more than I could attend to by myself; his name was Solomon Witz. He would engage freight during my absence, and we sometimes made the trip together. The country was forever in a state of excitement. New edicts appeared from time to time from Washington, D. C., Congress promulgated laws to suit their motives, and notwithstanding the agreement between General Lee and General Grant at Appomattox that the men should return, build up their waste places and not again to take up arms until properly exchanged and they should not be molested as long as they should attend to their daily avocations, Congress established what was then known as the Freedmen's Bureau, seemingly for the protection of the negroes, as if they needed any, as their devotion to their master and their behavior at home while every white man able to bear arms was at the front fighting for their homes and firesides, leaving their families in the hands of their slaves whose devotion was exemplary, was not that a sufficient guarantee of the relationship between slaves and masters? The attachment was of the tenderest kind and a white man would have freely offered his life for the protection of his servants; but that condition did not suit our adversaries. Although we thought the war was over, it was not over and more terrible things awaited the Southern people. Emissaries of every description, like vultures, surnamed carpet baggers, for all they possessed could be enclosed into a hand bag, overran this country to fatten on the remnants left. School mams of the far East, of very questionable reputation, opened what were called schools, presumably to teach the negroes how to read and write, but rather to inculcate into their minds all sorts of deviltry, embittering their feelings against their former owners and life long friends, urging them to migrate for unless they did they would still be considered as bondsmen and bondswomen, thus breaking up the kind relation existing between the white man and the negro. And all this under the protection of the Freedmen's Bureau backed up by a garrison of Federals stationed in every town and city throughout the Southern States. In fact the South was made to feel the heels of the despots. Military Governors were appointed. All those who bore arms or aided or abetted in the cause of the South were disfranchised, the negro was enfranchised and allowed the ballot, with a military despot at the helm and negroes and carpet baggers, and a few renegades such as can be found in any country, as legislators. The ship of state soon run into shallow waters and was pounded to pieces on the reeves of bankruptcy. Taxes were such that property owners could not meet them and they had the misfortune to see their lifelong earnings sacrificed under so called legal process, of the hammer, for a mere song. These were the actual conditions in the days of the so called reconstruction. Bottom rail on top, was the slogan of those savage hordes. Forty acres and a mule, and to every freedman, Government rations, was the prelude of legislation. Men who took up arms in defense of their sacred rights could not be expected to endure such a state of affairs forever, the women and children must be protected. The garrisons were gradually withdrawn; the carpet baggers remained and ruled; negroes formed themselves into clubs and organizations under their leadership, when as an avalanche all over the Southern states appeared the K. K. K.'s, called the Ku Klux Klan, or the Boys Who Had Died at Mana.s.sas, who have come back to regulate matters. Terror struck into the ranks of the guilty and of the would be organizers and the country soon resumed its normal state, Governors fled and Legislators took to the bush. But I am deviating from my subject.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

On the following trip to Savannah I met G. W. Kelley and Dr. G. L.

Mason, on the same errand, viz. hauling cotton to market. After having disposed of the same we reloaded our teams in merchandise, which was easily disposed of, as the country was in need of everything that could add to the comfort or even necessities of the people. The country being in the condition it was, we were glad to travel together for company's sake. So in the evening we left and camped about twelve miles out of the city. As a rule one of the party ought to have been on guard, but such was not the case that night. About midnight I awoke and found two of my mules gone. I noted also that the line with which they were attached had been cut with a sharp knife. Following the tracks they led back into the city. So I left my partner at Savannah on the lookout while I went my way back to Sandersville, minus two mules. I managed to buy two more mules to fill out my team. I had to take what was offered to me, at any price, my partner, after remaining several days at Savannah, recognized one of the mules in charge of a negro. He called for the police and had the negro arrested. There being no legal judge, the case was carried before a captain of one of the military companies stationed there. The negro proved by a confederate that this mule was in his possession long before my partner claimed it was stolen, thus setting up an alibi, without proving as to where he got her from. My partner failed to get the mule and had to pay about $8.00 costs for his trouble, which was all the cash he had with him. Later the firm received a bill for $5.00 more cost but I paid no attention to it and never heard of it any more.

Under the advice of their instructors, the blacks were going and coming.

The road to Savannah was traveled by them at night as well as by day.

Most of them were making for the cities. Savannah was the goal for those in this section. One evening on my way I stopped my team within eighteen miles this side of the City. Mr. Guerry, who was a fairly well to do farmer for those days and conditions, near to whose domicile I camped, buying some corn and fodder from him to feed my team, also such provisions for myself as he had for sale. At break of day we had left on our weary journey; on my return a day or so afterwards I pa.s.sed his premises and to keep from walking I had bought me an extra mule. As I rode up I noticed Mr. Guerry and three of his sons in a pen, ready to kill hogs. It was on a Friday, in the month of December, 1865. It was a clear, beautiful, cold day. I greeted them, Good morning, gentlemen, this is a beautiful day to kill hogs. Without noticing my greeting, one of them said, "This is the fellow," when the old fellow picked up his gun from the fence corner and raising the same exclaimed, "You are the d----d fellow that took off our cook." I was completely taken by surprise, and the first word I spoke I said, "You lie", and I jumped off my mule and drew my pistol. My neighbors say they saw her follow your wagon the day after you camped here the night before. I said, In fact we caught up with a negro woman about two miles from here carrying a large bundle on her head, and she asked my driver if she could put her inc.u.mbrance on the wagon. I said, No, my mules have all they can pull, and are jaded already. In fact that was all the words that pa.s.sed between her and me and up to about 10 o'clock a. m. she was either walking in front or behind the team, carrying her luggage. I did not know where she came from nor where she was going. I supposed she was on her way to Savannah, like the rest of them. I guess you see them pa.s.s here daily. He said, some of my neighbors told me they saw her behind your wagon. Just at that moment Messrs. L. D. Newsome and Seaborn Newsome and Alex Brown drove up, hauling cotton to Savannah. I was glad to see them. h.e.l.lo boys, you of Washington County come in good time.

Here are some fellows accusing me of stealing their negro cook. They said at once, Oh, no! You got hold of the wrong fellow. We know him, he comes from our county and would not do such a thing. He is a Confederate soldier and fought all through the war. Then I said, Mr. Guerry, let us reason together. You have always treated me clever when I pa.s.sed here. I have never entered your yard. I always paid you for what you sold to me.

The negroes are free and they are thought to migrate. I had no rights to stop the woman on her journey, but had I known that she was your servant I would have talked to her and advised her to go back where she belongs.

Mr. Guerry seemed to regret his hasty words and begged my pardon, and insisted on all of us, to go into the house for refreshments. We finally shook hands and parted good friends.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

A rainy season soon set in; the streams were overflowing, and the road became bad and hard, to travel. On arriving at the Ogeechee river at Summertown I found that it had deborted its banks and was at least a quarter of a mile wide. I struck camp, waiting for the water to recede.

The following day Geo. W. Kelley drove in sight. He also had a load of five bales of cotton and he struck camp. But it continued to rain and the river instead of receding became wider and deeper. The cotton market was declining rapidly and we were anxious to reach the market. I suggested to Mr. Kelley that I would take the tallest of the mules and sound the width of the current. The mule walked in the water up to the banks, neck deep, when he began to swim, I guided him when again he struck foothold. I rode to the end of the water, in parts only breast deep. I retraced my steps and reported my investigation. We held counsel together and concluded that by using prolongs we could hitch the eight mules to one wagon and while the rear mules would be in mid stream the front ones would be on terra firma and pull the team across. We sent to Mr. Coleman who lived close by, for ropes. We cut saplings, laid them on top of each wagon, fastened the ends tight to the wagon body so as to prevent the current from washing off any of the cotton while the wagon would be submerged in midstream during the crossing. Our plan proved to be a successful one, and thus we forded the Ogeechee river without the least accident. We repeated the same tactics for the remaining wagon. We reached Savannah in due time, sold the cotton and bought merchandise for other parties, and I received pay going and coming. On returning I concluded to cross the river by the upper route, at Jenkins Ferry, to avoid recrossing the river as per previous method. We struck camp at dark close to the river bank. I told Perry to feed and water the team while I would examine the ferry flat. Presently Mr. Stetson from Milledgeville, drove up and also struck camp. I considered the flat a very shabby and a dangerous affair to cross on with a heavy load and so reported, but Mr. Stetson thought it all right. The following morning at break of day the ferryman was on hand as per arrangements that evening.

Stetson and his men hurried up so as to get across first and thus gain time. My man Perry also hurried faster than was his wont to do, for he was usually slow in his movements, when I cautioned him to take his time and go slow and let the other wagon cross first. It was well that I did so, for the flat went down nearly midstream, and if the front mules had not had foot hold in time the whole business would have drowned.

Stetson's damage in merchandise was considerable. He was loaded with salt, cutlery and general merchandise. When I saw that no personal damage was done I bid them good bye to take another route by a twenty mile detour, via. Louisville, and crossed the river at Fenn's Bridge.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

The Central road was being rebuilt from Savannah and we met the trains at its terminals, thus shortening the distance of our journeys. The train had reached Guyton, thirty miles this side of Savannah and was advancing daily until completed to Macon. It was early in the spring when I met the train at station No. 6, a flat country. It had rained nearly daily for a week; the roads were slushy, I had on a heavy load; we had traveled the whole day long until dark. It was hard to find a dry k.n.o.b to camp on, until finally we came to a little elevation. I said Perry we are going to stop here. He guided the team into the woods a few paces and unhitched, while I was looking for a few lightwood knots to build up a fire. Everything was wet and it was hard to kindle up a blaze. When suddenly there arrived on the scene an ambulance pulled by a team of four splendid mules and thirteen Federal soldiers alighted. They took the grounds on the opposite side of the road. I thought to myself, Now I am into it. Perry was on his knees, fanning up the damp pine straw, when one of those fellows called, Heigho, you black fellow, come here. I said to Perry in an undertone, Attend to your business. When the same fellow called again, h.e.l.lo you negro, I told you to come here, did you hear me? accompanying his remarks with the coa.r.s.est words. Perry answered, My boss told me to tend to my business. D----n you and your boss, too, was his reply. As he had completed the sentence, I being close by the side of my wagon, reached up and took my Spencer in hand, bringing it from a trail to a support. I stepped to the center of the road, saying, D----n you some too. This is not the first time I have met some of you at odds, and I am ready for the fray, if it has to be.

Everything was quiet, not a word was uttered. I still remained standing in the road, watching any move they might make, when one of them spoke, saying, Will you let me come to you? He spoke in a very conciliatory tone. I said, Yes, one at a time. He came to me unarmed, and said, Let us have no trouble; don't pay any attention to that fellow, he is drinking. There is plenty of room here for all of us, without any friction. I said, Well, if your friend is drunk, take care of him. I am able to take care of myself. He returned to his camp and I to mine. I heard him say to his comrades, That fellow won't do to fool with. By that time Perry had succeeded in having a rousing fire and we went to work on the culinary department. Our meals were simple, a little fried meat and corn bread and water from out of a ditch. Presently one of the Federals hollered over, "Say, Johnnie, don't you want some coffee?" I answered, "No, it has been so long since I tasted any I have forgotten how it tastes." He said, We have a plenty and you are welcome to it if you will have it. I said I have no way to make coffee if I had any. So one of them came over with some parched coffee and offered it to me. I declined it, for I had no mill to grind it, nor any vessel to stew it in. They insisted, bringing over all of the paraphernalia for the brewing of coffee and I must admit that it was enjoyed by Perry, as well as myself, it being the first that had pa.s.sed my lips in four years.

After our meal was completed they came over, one after another and sat around the fire. The conversation became general and I found them to be very congenial company. One brought me a whole haversack full of green coffee, saying, Have it, we have a sack of over a hundred pounds. I thanked them saying, This is quite a treat. And what seemed to be a disagreeable affair in its incipiency terminated most agreeably. It having become late I suggested that we take a night cap and retire. I pa.s.sed around the jug and each returned to his respective quarters.

However I slept, as the saying is, with one eye open. Early in the morning we fed the mules, rekindled the fire, drank a warm cup of coffee and ate a bite or so. We harnessed two of our mules, two of which in the lead were of small size, when one of the Federals proposed to swap mules. I said, Your mules are worth a great deal more than mine, and I have no money to pay boot. We don't want any money said another, we want you to have the best team on the road, by swapping your two lead mules for those tall black ones of ours you will have a real fine team. They then said they were on their way to Augusta to report to the quartermaster there, that they had receipted for four mules and a sack of coffee to be delivered to the quartermaster in Augusta. The mules in their possession were not branded as government mules but were picked up and a mule is a mule, so we deliver the number of heads is all that is required. To tell the truth I feared a trap, but while I was talking with one of them the others changed the lead mules for two of theirs and off they drove in a lope, singing, Old John Brown Lies Buried in the Ground, etc. We trudged along, Perry and I elated over our good luck, when Perry said, Well Ma.r.s.e Ike, your standing up to them made them your friends.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

I had rented the store house from Mr. Billy Smith where he and Slade had done business before the war, in Sandersville, and opened up business in heavy and family groceries. In the meantime my team was making the trip between Sandersville and the Central terminal, which had not considerably advanced, owing to the demoralized condition of labor. So I concluded at this particular time it would accelerate matters by hauling a load of merchandise with my team; hence I drove through all the way to Savannah. While there, on pa.s.sing Congress street, I met an old friend named Abe Einstein, of the firm of Einstein and Erkman, wholesale drygoods merchants. He was speaking to one Mr. Cohen from New York, who had just arrived by steamer with a cargo of drygoods. He wanted to locate in Augusta, but owing to the Federals having torn up that branch of the railroad at Millen the Augusta trains run no further than Waynesboro. Hence he was trying to fill in the gap with teams. Mr.

Einstein told him that I had a splendid team and that I would be a good man for him to employ. So he asked me if I would haul a load for him. I replied I would if he would pay me enough for it. He said, How much can you pull at a load? I said, My mules can pull all that the wagon can hold up. What do you ask? Four hundred dollars. Whiz, I did not want to buy your team, I only wanted to hire it. I said to him, Well, that is my price. I said, You fellows up North tore up the road, you ought to be able to pay for such accommodations as you can get. He studied over the situation a little. Turning to Mr. Einstein, Do you know this man; can I rely on him? Mr. Einstein replied, Perfectly reliable, I stand sponsor.

He said, I tell you what I'll do, I'll pay you down $200.00 and Mr.

Einstein will pay you $200.00 when you return. Mr. Einstein agreed to it, so I said, That is satisfactory, I shall deliver so many boxes as you put on to the agent, take his receipt for the same and Mr. Einstein will pay me $200.00 due. I had, to my regret, had to discharge my teamster Perry, owing to the neglect of duty, and engaged another named Bill Flagg. He was an old conscientious negro, very religiously inclined. We loaded our team and followed instructions. On arrival at Waynesboro, I never had been there before, so I inquired for the depot and found an improvised little house beside the railroad track and a man claiming to be the railroad agent. I have a load of goods here for Augusta. Put them in the car, said he. I said, count the boxes and make me out a receipt. He said all right. After my business with the agent was concluded, I asked him to show me the Louisville route, which he pointed out to me, with several explanations as to the right and left intervening roads. Waynesboro was at that time, as it is now, the county site of Burke county, a town of about 1000 inhabitants. It has greatly improved since and is quite a prosperous city of some importance now.

Before we got out of the incorporation a detachment of Federal troops surrounded my team and ordered my driver to dismount. I was a few paces behind my wagon and I hurried to the front. One of the soldiers had hold of my mules' bridle and ordered my driver to dismount. I said to my man, If you dismount I will kill you; you sit where you are, you are under my orders. I ordered the trooper to let go my mule. He turned loose the bridle, but held his position with others in front of the team. The commotion brought together the balance of the garrison and some citizens. I remarked right here, I'll sell out; you shall not deprive me of the means to make an honest living. So the Captain remarked, We are ordered to take up all Confederate property. I said, I have no objection for you to take up Confederate property, but this is my individual property and your action is highway robbery, which I do not propose to submit to. There is a way to prove those things; I am a citizen of Sandersville and have been wagoning for a living. There is a garrison of troops in my town and if this is Confederate property they have had a chance to confiscate it long ago. He said, What is your name?

I answered, I. Hermann, Sandersville, Washington County, is my home. He pretended to make a note of it and told me to drive on. I was glad to have gotten out of that sc.r.a.pe. On reaching home Flagg came to me, saying, Boss, I have to quit you. What is the matter, Bill? said I, have I not always treated you right. Oh yes, but I am afraid of you. How so Bill? I am afraid some day you might get mad with me and kill me: Any man that can stand before a whole company of Yankees like you and keep them from taking his team, is a dangerous man. You must get you another man. I said, all right, Bill. When Perry heard that Bill Flagg had left my employment he came to me, asking to be re-instated and promising to be more attentive to his duties. So I took him back and he remained with me for several years.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

The railroad track had advanced considerably, and in the Fall of the year, 1866, had reached Bartow, No. 11. My partner for some time had taken charge of the team while I attended to the store. Once he came home badly bunged up and a knife cut on his cheek. I said, What has happened? He said he had some difficulty with the Agent and they double teamed on him. So I remarked, Well, you can send Perry without you going. I wrote to the agent asking him to deliver to the bearer, Perry, a load of my merchandise then in his possession, to check off the same and send me a list. We had at that time two car loads on the track for the firm. When Perry returned he failed to bring the list, his wagon being loaded with corn and every sack ripped more or less. I said, How come you to accept merchandise in that condition. He answered, the sacks were allright when I took them out of the car, it was after they were loaded one of them fellows, a white man named Smith, run around the wagon and cut the sacks and I spilled lots of corn. I picked up some of it and put in that sack, indicating a sack full. I said, Do you know the man; would you recognize him again if you were to meet him? Oh yes, Ma.r.s.e Ike. Sat.u.r.day morning I took charge of the team and my partner remained at the store. I took dinner and fed my mules at my friends' Mr.

B. G. Smith, to whom I stated the facts as told to me. He said, be careful, don't be too hasty. I said, Right is right and I don't want anything but my rights, and those I am going to have before I return.

We arrived at our destination about four o'clock p. m. The Sherman contingency had burned the warehouse as they did all the others along their march. Consequently the railroad Company used pa.s.senger cars on the side track to transact their office work, while freight cars served as a warehouse until discharged of their contents. As I entered the office car a young man met me. I remarked, Are you the agent? He said, No, Mr. Mims is at Parson Johnson's house. What is your name? My name is Smith. Then you are the scoundrel that mutilated my goods, and I advanced. He run out of the door and slammed it to with such force that he shattered the gla.s.s panel into fragments. When I came out to where Perry was, he said, That's the fellow that cut the sacks, there he goes.

Well Perry build a little fire by the side of this car for here we will camp until some one returns to deliver us the freight. The sun had set below the horizon and it had begun to get night, when Mr. Tom Wells, an acquaintance of mine, approached me. He was an employee of the railroad company also. Well Ike, old fellow, how are you getting along? All right Tom, how are you? I am all right. What brought you here, said he? I said business, I have goods here if I can find an agent to deliver them. I heard you came here for a difficulty, said he. I remarked, It seems I am already in a difficulty, I can't get any one to deliver me my goods.

Well, I will tell you, Mr. Mims is a perfect gentleman. I am glad to hear it. Do you know him? No, I have never seen him, but up to now I can't have the same opinion of him that you have. I have not been treated right and I came here for justice. He said, Well, let me tell you; there are about forty employees here, hands and all, and they will all stick to him, right or wrong. I said, I came here to see Mr. Mims and I intend to stay here until I do see him, if it takes me a week.

Well Ike, if you promise me that you will not raise a difficulty I will go after him and introduce you to each other. I said, Tom, there are other ways to settle a difficulty without fighting if men want to do right. Well I will go for him; I know Mr. Mims is going to do what is right, and you too. Mr. Mims came presently, and a whole gang following him. I said, Mr. Mims, it seems you and my partner had a difficulty. I do not know the cause and I do not care to know. He said you fellows double teamed on him and he got worsted in the fight. To avoid a recurrence of the difficulty I sent my driver to you and a note. You ignored my note and sent me a load of corn with all the sacks ripped open, more or less, with a knife in the hands of one of your employees.

I berated my man for accepting goods in that condition and he stated to me how all of it was done. I am now here to see what can be done about it. I have never done you any injury to be treated in that manner. He said, Mr. Hermann, I am sorry it happened. I will see that it will not be done again. I said, Have you discharged the fellow who did it? He answered, No, not yet. I said, Well, I demand that it be done now. And what about the damage I sustained. He remarked that the road would run to Tennille by next Wednesday, a distance of 25 miles, and he would forward my two car loads of freight free of charge from Bartow to Tennille. I said that was satisfactory. I wanted to load my wagon; he said, we do not deliver goods at night. I answered that if he had been at his post of duty on my arrival I would have had plenty of time to load and be on my way back, and I wished to load up at once for the morrow being Sunday I did not want to be on the road. He delivered the merchandise and Perry and I pa.s.sed Sunday with my friend B. G. Smith, who was glad matters pa.s.sed off as they did. Monday morning we took an early start and by twelve o'clock I was at home. That was my last trip as a wagoner, but not as a soldier, as the sequel will show.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

When the commanding officers of the Confederate army surrendered and stacked arms the rank and file expected that the terms of the cartel promulgated and agreed upon would be carried out to the letter. The men laid down their arms in good faith, feeling as General R. E. Lee remarked in his farewell address to them, that under present unequal condition it would only be a waste of precious lives to continue the struggle. The following were the terms of the agreement entered into between General Grant and General Lee: The officers and men to return to their homes and remain there until exchanged and not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force in their respective states.

But the fellows who directed the ship of state and who were invisible on the firing line became invincible, when the South lay prostrated. The first order was from Secretary Staunton, for the arrest of our commanding officers. This order, however, was resented by General Grant as contrary to the cartel and should not be executed. This caused a rupture between the two and the order was finally rescinded. The next step was to disperse all State authority and appoint a military Governor. General Wilson acted in that capacity in Georgia. The same year, 1865, negroes were proclaimed free and military garrisons established in every town, city or village throughout the South. Under the superintendence of those militaries the Freedmen's Bureau was established, forcing negroes to migrate from one place to another, thus breaking up the good relationship still existing between Masters and servants. The bureau was seemingly gotten up for the protection of the blacks, as if they needed any protection, they to whom we owed so much for their good behavior during the time when every available man able to bear arms was at the front, leaving their families in charge of the negroes. The grat.i.tude of our people was or ought to have been sufficient guarantee in that line. Such harmonious condition did not suit the powers that be, there was venom in their heart for revenge, and punitive measures were concocted. Never were captives bound tighter than the people of the South. Is it a wonder that the men of the South became desperate and used desperate remedies to oust more desperate diseases?

The carpet baggers made their exit. The negroes' mind had been prejudiced under the auspices of those vultures. They were forced into societies, one of which was the Rising Sun. Some called it The Rising Sons. G.o.d only knows what ultimate result they expected to obtain. Drums and fifes were heard in every direction at night times. The woods were full of rumors that the negroes are rising. Men in towns made ready for emergencies, every one on his own hook; no organization for defense, in case harsher measures should be needed. When the author of this sketch took up the idea of a reunion of his comrades and inserted a call in the county's weekly, calling on the members of Howell's Battery for a social reunion, their wives and children, when other veterans suggested why not make it a reunion for all the veterans of the County. I was only too glad for the suggestion and changed the call to include all veterans of the county, and on the day specified there was the greatest reunion Washington County ever had. It was estimated that eight thousand people partic.i.p.ated. There were over one hundred carca.s.ses besides thousands of baskets filled to overflow with eatables and delicacies. The object of the meeting was stated to form an artillery company as a nucleus or rallying head and to meet organization with organization not as a measure of aggression but as a protection. The author was elected Captain. Under his supervision he built an armory and eventually the State furnished him with two pieces of artillery. The day he received the guns he had a salute fired. The boys in the rural districts had not forgotten the sound of artillery and the town was filled with enthusiasm. Some of the negro leaders called on me to know what all that means, I told them it was to teach their misguided people that we can play at the same game and if they don't stop beating their drums and blowing fifes in the night time when honest people are at rest I would sh.e.l.l the woods. This admonition had a splendid effect and the people of Washington have lived in peace ever since. The author resigned his commission in the year 1881, when Honorable Alex Stephens was Governor of Georgia. And Washington County has the honor of having inaugurated the first reunion of Confederate veterans. The citizens of Washington County and Howell's Battery presented the author with a gold headed ebony cane, beautifully carved, as a memorial and their regard for him as a citizen and a soldier. Being taken by surprise I had to submit to the caning.

The South pa.s.sed seemingly through the chamber of horrors of the Spanish Inquisition and punishments administered by degrees. First robbing the owners of their slaves, of their justly acquired property, after they, (the North), received from the Southern farmer its full equivalent in U.