Book._ G)pgM\N? COFYRIGiiT DEPOSm SCOUTS, SPIES and HEROES OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR HOW THEY LIVED, FOUGHT and DIED for the UNION INCLUDING Thrilling Adventures, Daring Deeds, Heroic Exploits, Excit- ing Experiences, Wonderful Escapes of Spies, Scouts and Detectives; with Anecdotes, Watch- words, Battle Cries, and Humorous and Pathetic Incidents of the War EMBRACING TRUE STORIES OF DARING, COURAGE and SELF-SACRIFICE BY CAPTAIN POWERS HAZELTON -wc--^: . ••^- Superbly Embellished with Many Thrilling and Very Attractive Illustrations. I\ ATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. NO. 241 American Street, PHILA^DELPHIA,. PA, PRKFACE. This book, friendly reader, was not created; like Topsy, "it growed." The author or compiler, whichever term you may choose to give him, had for four years past been a not uninter- ested observer of the great struggle, which it had been his duty elsewhere to chronicle. In his researches into the causes and events of the war, its fearful battles, its alternations of light and shadow, its changes of policy, and its final and glorious triumpha, he had had abundant occasion to notice those personal achieve- menta, those noble sacrifices, and that fearless devotion to the national cause which have so greatly distinguished this conflict In the pages of a history of the war, such narratives and incidents could find no place; vet it seemea unjust to the great Bouls who had laid every thing upon their country's altar, with oat a murmur or a sigh, that their glorious sacrifices snould Dot be held in grateful remembrance; and it was fix>m the desire to do some justice to their memory, that at an eany day the writer commenced, at first for his own private read ing merely, the collection of narratives and incidents of per sonal adventure and sacrifice in the war. Some of these were found in print, in books, periodicals, and newspapers; others were preserved in the annals or reports of charitable institu- tions, like the Saoitary and Christian Commissions ; a few had trmn<\ reoord frcmi a poet's pen, and a considerable number 7 8 PREFACE. tbongh matters of oral tradition, had never appeared in print but were gleaned from the narrations of the parties themselves, or their friends. The garnering of these was a worfe of great delight to the writer, and as time passed on he felt desirona that others should share the pleasure he bad enjoyed, in the perusal oi the heroic deeds of his countrymen and country- women ; and bo the book grew into such form and symmetry as it now possesses. In the hands of the American public ne leaves it, with the conviction that they will De lenient to any &ults they may observe in it, and will appreciate his nonest ftnd pains-taking endeavor to oresent to them a record of some of tne personal adventures and incidents of the war. CONTENTS. A Nameless Spy .... A Female Scout and Spy Adventures of Harry Newcomer . Amusing Instance of Rebel Desertion Acre of Fire, The .... Bible Smith Corporal Pike, Scout and Ranger . Capturing a I,ocomotive . Cavalry Fight at Brandy Station, The Destruction of "Albemarle," The . Daring Scout and Spy, A Fighting Parson, A . General Palmer and the Hog Hetty McEwen Irish Sentinel, The . Keller or Killdare . Moore and Blue One of Logan's Men Pauline Cushman . Prayer of the Wicked, The Passage of Port Hudson Batteries, The Running the Batteries at Vicksburg Scouting in East Tennessee . Three Soldiers Captured by a Boy with Wrong Side of the Curve, The Zagonyi's Charge .... a Cofifee-Pot PAGE . 26 . 66 , 73 , 130 , 256 165 34 191 241 249 142 140 155 253 72 131 11 255 100 33 224 235 157 190 ' 204 210 MOORE AND BLUE, THE KANSAS SCOUTS. The border ruffian warfare, which had been waged for several years in Kansas and Western Missouri, before the rebellion, was admirably calculated to train up num- bers of daring, adventurous spirits, to whom life would be altogether too tame, unless there were dangers to face, foes to outwit, and hazards to run. Among these, few have led lives of more extraordinary danger and lawless adventure, and at the same time made interestr ing by a more firm and enduring friendship, than the two young scouts whose history we sketch from the annals of the Army of the ( umberland. In 1856, two young men— Frank M. Blue, formerly of Michigan, but now from Illinois, and Henry W. Moore, of Brooklyn, N. Y., met in Leavenworth City, Kansas, whither they had come for the purpose of pre- empting land in that territory. Taking a fancy for each other, they set out for the interior in company. At Ossawatamie they met John Brown, joined him in scoutmg after border ruffians, and participated in the fight at Hickory Point, where Brown, his son, and 11 12 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. twenty-seven men, routed forty of them strongly p eted in a blacksmith's shop, by backing up against it a load of hay, and burning them out. Leaving Brown, they next went to Jennison's camp at Mound City, which was made in such a shape as to resemble a group of hay-stacks. While here, they, in company with eight others, crossed the Missouri river, surprised the town of Rushville, capturing thirty border ruffians and a number of the citizens, broke their guns, and carried away their horses, money, watches, etc. Afterward they joined the Utah Expedition, under General A. S. John ston, and with it went through to Salt Lake City Leaving there on their own responsibility, the fame of the Mexican silver mines attracted them to Peubla, where they remained four months, in company with a mixed crowd of miners, Lidians, and Mexican peons. Having accumulated a considerable amount of silver, the spirit of adventure led them to Santa Fe, where, some of the party getting themselves into a difficulty, a hasty flight northward became necessary. Procuring a Mexican boro (jackass), and loading him with a few crackei"S and their personal effects, they set out for Fort Union, one hundred miles distant. Here they procured a mule, and crossed over to Bent's Fort, where they joined the Kiowa Expedition, under Major Sedgwick. Returning from this, they proceeded to Camp Floyd, and thence across Kiowa Pass to Pike's Peak, where they "jumped" a claim, and went to mining. Here they spent the sununer, and in the fall hired to Joe Doyle, a Mexican trader and ranchero, to go down the Waifoma river and oversee his peons and take charge ^f his herds. Remaiiing all winter on his ranch, they NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 13 went again next spring to Leavenworth, and hired as riders to the California Overland Express Company, in which business they remained until the outbreak of the rebellion. With the prospect of active service, they could ndv stand idly by and see others engaged, and accordingly^ recruited ten men, with whom they jouied Captain WilUam Cleaveland's independent company for the de- fence of the Kansas border. Their first exploit was a dash into De Kalb, Missouri, where they captured twelve or fourteen prisoners and forty horses and mules. A large party, however, pursued them, overtook and cap- tured them at Atkinson's ferry, carried them to St. Joseph, and lodged them in jail. The good people of St. Joseph were very anxious to have them tried and sent to the penitentiary at once ; but there was no court in session, and the only recourse was to lock them up in the jail, where they did not remain long. The guard was made drunk with drugged whiskey, the negro cook was bribed with a twenty dollar gold piece to steal the keys from the jailer, the door was unlocked at mid- night, and the whole party walked out just ten days after they had been incarcerated. One John Seelover, a friend, had a skiff near at hand to cross them over the nver, and a conveyance on the other side to take them to Atchison the same night. The next uight, nothing daunted by their recent jail experience, the same party crossed in a flat boat to Missouri, captured from the rebel farmers horses enough to mount themselves, and returned again, after giving the people thereabouts a good scare. The evening following, a negro came to their head- quarters at Pardee, eight miles from Atehison, and said 14 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. that his rebel master, John Wells by name, and living twelve miles south of St. Joseph, was to leave the next morning for Price's army with two wagon loads of goods and a coffin full of arms. The company started over immediately, the negro acting as guide. The rebel was found, and so were the goods, consisting of bacon, Hour, sugar, coffee, tobacco, whiskey, powder, and lead, but no arms. Demand was made for the latter, but the pris- oner denied having any. A lariat was then thrown over his neck, and drawn tight for a few minutes, when he disclosed their place of concealment — a newly-made grave, with head and footboard — in which were found twenty stands of arms of all kinds^ and a box of pistols, all of which were taken to Fort Leavenworth, and turned over to the United States Government. Many other expeditions were made, until Cleaveland and his band were known and feared all over that country. On one of these, it was ascertained that Major Hart, of Price's army, was at his home, fifteen miles from Weston, with ten men. The company immedi- ately set forth to capture them, a woman — Mrs. Chandler — acting as guide. The Major, his men, and the stock on his farm were taken and carried to Geary City, Kansas, where the stock was just put away and twelve men left as a guard over the prisoners, when forty Mis- Bourians rode up and demanded their surrender. Chand ler, who stood in the porch, said they would never sur- render — when he was shot dead, eleven bullets being found in his body. His wife and the remainder fired from the house, and picked them off so fast, that they were compelled to retire to Fort Leavenworth, eight miles distant, ^i hence they brought up a company of the NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 16 First Missouri Cavalry, under Captain Fuller, to their assistance, and finally succeeded in capturing the Uttle garrison. They were taken to the fort, and, no one appearing against them, were speedily released by Major Prince, of the U. S. Regulars, commanding the post. Not long after this, Moore, Blue, William Tuff, of Bal- timore, and Cleaveland, dashed into Kansas City, and levied a contribution of some thirty-three hundred dollars in coin upon two secession bankers who had rebel flags flying at their windows. They were pursued, but made their escape, divided the money equally, and all four went to Chicago to spend it, which they did most liberally ; and in June, 1861, returned to Leavenworth. Here Moore and Blue, who had become fast friends, separated ; the latter going into Missouri on several jay- hawking expeditions, and the former acting as guide to Greneral Sturgis, and participating in the battles of Dug Spring and Wilson Creek. Moore relates many interest- ing adventures which befell him while thus engaged, of which, one is here given as an illustration of his shrewd- ness and foresight. Having been sent by General Lyon to ascertain about certain guerillas that were lurking about the country, he dressed himself in butternut uni form, and set out. Thinking, however, that he might be captured on the trip, he determined to avail himself of a trick he had somewhere read of; which was, to take a large minie ball, cut the top off, hollow it out, and then take the other part and make of it a screw to fit on again, thus forming a kind of little box. He then took a piece of parchment paper, and writing on it, in a peculiar hand, a commission in the secret service of the Confederate at»ny, and signing to it the -^.ame of General 16 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. Price, enclosed it in the bullet, screwed it up, and started on again. He had gone but a little way when, sure enough, he fell into the hands of Sy Gordon's guerilla band, who proposed hanging him at once. Gordon told him he had orders to hang all such suspicious characters as he was, and that he should do it. Moore replied that he had very little to say, b>at he wished he would do him the favor to take that bullet to Gene^'al Price after he had hung him. Gordon seemed much amused at so trifling a request, and said to his prisoner that he must be either crazy or a fool. When informed that there was more about the bullet than he had any idea of, he insisted that he should be shown what it was; but Moore refused, saying that he was sworn to say nothing about it. Gordon was nonplussed for a while, but, ex amining the bullet very closely, soon saw the trick, un screwed the top, and took out and read the contents. Turning to Moore, he told him he was " all right," and furnished him with a better horse than he then had, on which he at once started back. On arriving at camp, he related his adventure, whereupon a body of cavalry was sent out in pursuit, and the next day succeeded in capturing a number of the band. Late in the fall, Moore and Blue again met in Leaven- worth, and both went toward Springfield as guides and spies for Lane and Sturgis's commands. On Christmas day, both were sent by General Steele into Price's camp, whither they went, and returned on January 3d, 1862. Four miles from Warsaw, they found Christmas was being celebrated by a ball, at which many rebel oflBcers were present. Li company with some rebel teamsters, they devised a plan to scare these ofl&cers off, and seoure NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 17 to themselves the field and the girls, by rushing up tc the house and shouting, at the top of their voices, " The Feds are coming ! the Feds are coming !" The plan worked admirably : the officers rushed away in hot haste — one even falling into the well — and our plotters were left in full possession of the premises. Coming back to Sedalia, they were engaged by Colonel Weir a* guides. Going ahead one day to select a camping ground, they came to a house where was a man very hospitably inclined, asking them to stop, put up their horses and feed them with com, of which he had plenty. Repre- senting that they had been pressed into the service, but were in heart with the rebels, their entertainer grew confidential, and told them something about himself — that he acted as a spy, carried despatches wrapped in « cigar, etc. The information thus obtained from him, contributed to the capture, by General Pope, at Black- water, of thirteen hundred rebels, with all their equip- ments. They accompanied General Pope on his expedi- tion to Warrensburg, where he captured Colonel Parke's rebel force ; and then returned to Kansas, where they jayhawked for a month or two. Going again to Mi» Bouri, they learned that Quantrell's guerilla band was in the vicinity of Independence. With eleven comrades, chey went there, captured the town, quartered themselves in the court house, and badly frightened the people, who thought, of course, that they were only the advance- guard of a larger body behind. Quantrell soon came into the place with forty-five men, and demanded their surrender. This was refused, and a skirmish commenced, the occupants of the court house firing out of the doors and windows, and finally succeeded in dispersing the 8 18 NABBATIYES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. besiegers, who went oflffor reinforcements. The thirteen now thought it best to retire, which they did, skirmish- iug for one and a half miles to a stone fence, when the guerillas mounted. The jayhawkers now ensconced themselves behind the fence. Holding their position until dusk, they then scattered, having killed five and wounded seven of the guerillas. Pursuit was made by the latter; but the darkness enabled them to escape, and they soon put an effectual end to it by cutting the telegraph wire, and stretching it across the road firom fence to fence. The twain now joined Grenerals Curtis and Sigel as couriers, and made several dangerous trips between the army and RoUa, carrying despatches each way, on one of which Blue was taken prisoner and held as such for six weeks. Both accompanied General Curtis in his terrible march through Arkansas to Helena, and met with many stirring adventures by the way. One day while they were riding in company with Newton Blue, a brother of Frank and also a scout, they came suddenly upon five rebels in a lane, with whom they stopped and talked for some time, representing themselves as Southern men. The rebels soon heard a bugle behind them, how- ever, and, suspecting all was not right, made a charge upon our scouts, who killed three of them and captured their horses, the remaining two falling into the hands of the Federal advance. At Helena they engaged in buying cotton for the speculators, and in one of their excur- sions were captured by the guerillas. Pretending to be rebels, they joined a portion of Jeff Thompson's gang, and, remaining with them eleven days, obtained much information concerning him. Having had enough oi NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIYES. 19 guerilla life, they planned an escape, in this wise. An old negro, of whom they knew, was just going into Helena with a load of cotton for sale. By him they sent word to General Steele of an arrangement which had been made to rob him on his return of the proceeds of the cotton. The message was carried and delivered faithfully, and on his way back the negro was robbed, as proposed, of his eleven hundred dollars in greenbacks, which were found hidden away in his boots ; but just as the thirty-one guerillas were dividing the spoils, the second battalion of the first Missouri Cavalry came up and captured the whole party, all of whom were subse- quently sent to St. Louis as prisoners. From Helena Moore and Blue next went to Columbia, and then to Corinth, where they detected and arrested two counterfeiters, making a great haul of counterfeit St. Louis city treasury warrants and gold dollars, both of which were well executed. Accompanying Colonel Truesdail's police force to Louisville, they there played the rebel, and hunted out Palmer and Estes, who burned the ammunition steamers at Columbus and were after- ward sent to Camp Chase. With our army they came on to Nashville, and afterward ran as mail messengers — a very dangerous service. Getting on the track of a band of guerillas between Bowling Gieen and Nash- ville, they piloted a cavalry force to the neighborhood, and captured a considerable number, who were brought to Nashville and were properly dealt with. They neii made a successful spy trip to Murfreesboro, going by way of Lavergne and crossing at Sanders' Ferry. Dr. Goodwin, of the rebel army, whom they had fallen in with on the way, vouched for them, and they passed 20 NABRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. the pickets into the towD readily enough. Once in, they made the circuit of the town and camps, obtaining all the information they could, and then began to think of getting back. It was arranged that Moore should gp to Chattanooga for further observation, while Blue would return to Nashville and report what they had already «een and heard. With this understanding, both went at once to the provost-marshal's office for passes. At that time Captain Williams was provost-marshal, whom they found somewhat crabbed and chary of words. Making known their wants, they were saluted in this manner : — " Want a pass to Chattanooga, do you? Lots of people in that fix. What d'ye want to go there for ?" " We want to join Jack Jones's cavalry company," replied Moore, at a venture, who had heard of such a company. " If that's all you want, you needn't go to Chatta- Qooga for it. Jones and his company are here now." This was a new and not pleasing phase of afiairs ; and, to add to their difficulty. Captain Brenton called Jones in at once, and told him here were two men who wished to join his company, and he'd better have them swoni in right away. Fairly caught in their own trap, thei'6 was no escape, and, trusting the future to good luck, they yielded to their fate, and were sworn in. Three days afterward, they with three others were detailed to duty on the second picket line, and determined to take advantage of this opportunity and make their escape. Some distance from their station was a house where whiskey could be obtained at exorbitant prices; and Bdoore and Blue proposed tc their companions that if NARRATIYES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AXD DETECTIVES. 21 they would go and get the whiskey they would pay for it, and guard the post during their absence. This waa agreed to ; and the whiskey seekers were hardly out of sight when our two scouts rode off in hot haste to the outer pickets, two guards being on duty in the road, the remainder of the pickets being near by at their fire, and their horses tied close at hand. They were accosted by the guard with the usual — *'Halt ! who comes there ?" *' Friends, with the countersign !" was the answer. " Dismount; advance, one, and give the countersign,** was now the order. Our scouts had foreseen this, and planned accordingly. Hence, they rode up briskly to the pickets ; and while they pulled and tugged upon the bridle reins to hold in their fiery steeds, the spurs upon their heels were doing equally good service in urging the animals forward, and they could not be stopped until abreast of the pickets and nearly touching their opposing muskets. Moore then leaned forward, without dismounting, as if t© give the password, and suddenly jerked to one side the bayonet and loaded gun of the nearest guard, while with his other hand he shot him dead with his pistol, sud- denly drawn from his holster. The ball penetrated the forehead, the guard falling over backward, his mouth wide opened. Blue at the same time drew a pistol and shot the other guard dead in his tracks, and away they flew down the road, and were speedily lost in the dark- ness and distance. The rest of the rebel pickets did nol pursue them, but our scouts could hear them shout after them long and loudly, "Oh, you infernal Yankees!" etc., etc. The scouts soon tock toth^ woods, travelling 22 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. all night in the direction of Nashville, and meeting witb no further adventure until soon after sunrise, when one of them espied a moving object in their front, at a con- siderable distance. A second glance revealed it to be a '^butternut," with gun in hand, who at that instant glided behind a tree and took deliberate aim at them. Our scouts, who were also in butternut, were not taken aback. Keeping on at an easy horse walk, and appa- rently noticing no one, one of them begins to sing, in a. brisk, cheery voice, a verse of the " Dixie" song, TOding — " In a Southern land I'll take my stand, And live and die in Dixie," etc. As they neared the butternut, he was observed to lower his gun and emerge from behind the tree. When abreast, he accosted the twain :— " Halloo, boys ! which way ?" *' All right ! — taking a little scout this morning," was the answer. The " butternut," who was a rebel scout or guerilla, «vas now near them, unsuspecting, and inclined to be in- (][uisitive and sociable, his gun over his shoulder. But our men were in haste, and had a vivid remembrance of chat previous moment when he had drawn a bead on ihem, in such a cold-blooded manner, from behind the tree. One of them draws his revolver as quick as thought and shoots him dead ; and again they ride forward briskly for a while, and eventually reach the Federal lines neai Nashville in safety, but through dangers to be feared upon every hand, from behind each tree, or rock, or bush — as they were traversing debatable land, between two great contending armies, and known to be swarming NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 28 with scouts, spies, and troops, and especially rebel gu^ rillas or " partisan rangers." Acting as secret policemen and detectives, they now assisted in developing several important cases, a full mention of which would fill many pages of this work. Occasionally they varied their daily routine by acting as guides to cavalry expeditions, in which they rendered efficient service. One of their adventures in Nashvillfi \8 worth relating. After the battle of Stone River large numbers of rebel prisoners were sent to the city and allowed their parole, whereupon the wealthy secessionists of the place seized every opportunity to feed, clothe, and encourage them. One day, as Moore and Blue were walking down High street in the dress of Confederate prisoners, they were invited into an elegant residence and were kindly enter- tained by Miss Hamilton, one of the reigning belles of Nashville. Conversation naturally ensued concerning the relative merits and demerits of the North and South, in the course of which Miss Hamilton said she had done every thmg in her power to aid the Southern cause. She had sent letters of encouragement, she said, and also a Southern flag, through the lines. She told them of an old Irishwoman who was in the habit of carrying out goods in a market wagon which had a false bottom. She said, too, that Governor Andy Johnson once had her brought before him and gave her a severe lecturing, but she soon talked him over, and persuaded him into giving her a pass to go two miles out of the city to see her auni, and that when once beyond the lines she went to the rebel army at Murfreesboro. She further said that a Mrs. Montgomery, who lived two miles out on the Frani 24 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. lin pike, had taken out more goods than anybody else in Nashville. When she went to Murfreesboro she took out with her letters, and had given to Southern soldiers coming into Nashville large quantities of cloth ing, and finally demonstrated her good will by presenting Moore with a fine pair of pants and other clothing and a pair of new boots. In return for these acts of kindness, Colonel Truesdail sent her the following letter of thanks : — " Offioi Chi» Abmt Policb, January 10, 1863. "Miss Hamilton, High Street: — "Dear Miss : — Please accept my grateful acknowledg- ment for your kindness — during the arrival of a large number of Confederate prisoners in the city from the battle of Stone River, and their stay here — in calling mto your beautiful residence one of my secret police, and for the kind and benevolent treatment you extended to him. Also for the new suit of clothes and the cav- alry boots given him, the valuable information of your labors in the Confederate cause furnished to him, and the knowledge aflforded me of your persevering energy as a spy and smuggler. I shall endeavor to profit by it, and may have occasion to send another officer to you. " Respectfully, "William Truesdail, " Chief Army Police/* After this they accompanied a cavalry police expedi- tion for the purpose of capturing Captains Young and Scruggs — the leaders of a band of guerillas on White's Creek, who were a terror to the whole country. They were at the house of an old man named McNeil, which was surrounded and a demand made for Young and Scruggs. There being some sixty troops to back the de- mand, the old man did not dare to deny their presence NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 26 and, without deigning any reply, turned at once, went into the house, and bolted the door. This slight bar- rier was speedily broken down, and the crowd rushed in. Search was made everywhere — down-stairs and up, under beds, in chimneys, and under the floor ; but neither Young nor Scruggs was found. As a last resort, they went to the girl's bedroom ; and there — in bed be- tween two full-grown young women — the valiant Young was found snugly hidden away. He was unceremoni- ously dragged out, and Scruggs, in the meanwhile, having been found in a hay-loft, both were taken to Nashville, and thrown into the penitentiary at that place, awaiting their trial. After their return to Nashville, Moore and Blue were constantly engaged for a number of months in the in vestigation of numerous minor cases of smuggling and fraud, and succeeded in making Nashville too hot a place for the swarms of rebel emissaries who had so long made it their headquarters. < >i — II > At the outbreak of the war, in 1861, a Southern mer chant wrote to a large firm in New York, requesting a list of the names of those who supported and sympar thized with the "movement against the South." The New Yorker replied by sending, through Adams & Co.'s Express, a copy of the " City Directory 1" 26 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. A NAMELESS SPY. General Garfield relates, in the annals of the Army of the Cumberland, a thrilling and interesting narrative of a nameless Union spy (nameless, because, at that time to have given his real name, would have brought down upon him and his family the bitter vengeance of the in- fluential rebels of Kentucky and Tennessee), who, as he states, went into and came out from Bragg's army at Murfreesboro three times during the week of battles at Stone river — ^who even dined at the table of Bragg and of his other generals — who brought us correct information as to the force and position of the rebel army, and o£ the boasts of its head officers. This spy was the first to assure us positively that Bragg would fight at Stone river, telling us of that general's boast, that "he would whip Rosecrans back to Nashville if it cost ten thousand men." For the four days* service thus rendered by our Bpy he was paid five thousand dollars by order of our general, and the author saw the money passed to him. In 1862 there lived in the State of Kentucky a Union man, with his wife and children. He was a friend of the Union, and an anti-slavery man u]3on principle. After the rebellion broke out, and when the " Southern heart" had become fired, this man, living in a strong pro-slavery region, and surrounded by opulent slaveholders — his own family connections and those of his wife being also wealthy and bitter secessionists — very prudently held his peace, feeling his utter inability to stem the tide of the rebellion in his section. This reticence, together with his known Southern birth and relations, enabled him to NARBATIYES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AOT> DETECTIVES. 27 pass unsuspected, and almost unobserved, at a time when Breckinridge, Marshall, Preston, and Buckner, and other ardent politicians of Kentucky chose the re- bellion as their portion, and endeavored to carry with them the State amidst a blaze of excitement. Thus, without tacit admissions or any direct action upon his part, the gentleman of whom we write was classed by the people of his section as a secessionist. Circumstances occurred during that year by which this person was brought into contact with a Federal com- mander in Kentucky, General Nelson. Their meeting and acquaintance was accidental. Mutual Union senti- ments begat personal sympathy and friendship. Nelson wished a certain service performed in the rebel territory and he persuaded the citizen to undertake it — which the latter finally did as a matter of duty, we are assured, rather than of gain, for he made no charge for the ser- vice after its speedy and successful performance. Soon after, a similar work was necessary ; and again was the citizen importuned, and he again consented, but did not consider himself as a professional spy. During this or a similar trip, and while at Chatta- nooga, our man heard of the sudden death of General Nelson. He was now at a loss what to do. Finally he determined to return and report his business to Major-General Rosecrans, who had assumed command of the Federal army. Thus resolved, he proceeded to finish his mission. After ascertaining the position of military affairs at Chattanooga, he came to Murfreesboro, where Bragg's army was then collecting. Staying here several days, he was urged by his Southern army friends to act as their spy in Kentucky. The better to conceal 28 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. hi8 own feelings and position, he consented to do so, and he left General Bragg's headquarters to go to that State by way of Nashville, feigning important business, and from thence to go to his home, passing by and through Rosecrans' army as it lay stretched out between Nash- ville and Louisville. The nameless man now makes his way to the Federal Headquarters, seeks a private interview with General Rosecrans, and states his case fiilly as we have just re- lated. Here was something remarkable, surely — a spy in the confidence of the commanders of two great oppo- sing armies ! Our general took much pains to satisfy himself of the honesty and soundness of the stranger. He was pleased with the man's candid manner, and his story bore an air of consistency and truth. Yet, he was a Southerner, surrounded by rebellious influences, and enjoyed Bragg's confidence ; and what guarantee could be given that he was a Union man at heart ? None ; and General Rosecrans, in great perplexity, held councU with his Chief of Police, and requested the latter to " dig up " the case to its very root. This was done ; but in what manner we need not specially state. Satisfied that it would do to trust the spy, to a certain extent at least, he was now sent on his way to perform his mission for Bragg. At all events, that scheming general so sup* posed when our man's report was made at the rebel headquarters a few days afterward. His information was very acceptable to Bragg ; but we strongly question its value to rebeldom, as the spy reported only what he was told by that old fox Colonel TruesdaU. Perhaps the reader will inquire, how can we answer foi the report thus made to Bragg ? it may have been NAEBATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 29 more true and valuable than we supposed. Well, there is force in the query. We are fallen upon strange tunes, when honesty, virtue, and patriotism are at heavy dis- count in rebeldom, and the Indian's idea of the unceiv tainty of white men is by no means a myth. However, we were then quite confident of the worthlessness of the report of our spy to Bragg, because he hxxd rmtUng eUe to tell hun. For five days did our spy keep himself locked in a private room in the police building at Nash- ville. His meals were carried to him by a trusty ser- vant. His door was " shadowed " constantly by our best detectives, and so were his steps if he ventured upon the street for a few moments after dark. It was cold and bleak winter weather, and he toasted himself before his comfortable fire, read books and papers, and conferred often with the Chief of Police and his assistant, afford- mg them, strangers as they were to that region of country, a fund of valuable information respecting the rebels of Kentucky and Tennessee. He was a man of fine address and good intellectual attainments. When our man concluded it was about time for his return to Bragg's army, he was politely escorted by our mounted police to a proper point beyond our lines, and by a route where he would see nothing of our forces. The reader will now appreciate the groimds of our confidence, we doubt not, in the worthlessness of at least one of Gen- eral Braxton Bragg's spy reports. In due time this nameless gentleman again enters our lines, and is escorted in by our pickets to the general commanding, to whom he reports in person concerning all that is transpiring in Bragg's army at Murfreesboro, wd then he resumes his pleasant private quarters at the 30 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. army police building. How little could the rebel Gren- eral Zollicoflfer have thought, or have imagined as the wildest dream, while building his elegant house in High street, Nashville, that its gorgeous rooms should ever be devoted to such purposes ! After a brief stay, another trip was made by our man to Bragg's headquarters, we using the same precautions as previously. In fact, our spy desired and even demanded, such attention at the hands of the Chief of Police. Said he — "I am a stranger to you all. I can give you no guarantee whatever of my good faith. It is alike due to you and to myself that I be allowed no opportunities for deceiving you." The report he carried to Bragg on his second trip de- lighted the latter. His officers talked with our man freely, and after staying at JViuiiieesboro two or three days, and riding and walking all about in the most inno cent and unconcerned manner, he was again sent back to Nashville to " fool that slow Dutchman, Eosecrans," as one of the rebel officers remarked. Of the import- ance of the report now brought to the " slow Dutchman** we need not state further than that it contributed its due weight to a decision fraught with tremendous conse- quences to the army and to the country. Marching orders were soon after issued for the advance of the Army of the Cumberland upon Murfreesboro. Now commenced a period of excessive labor and peril for the nameless spy. General Rosecrans and Bragg each wanted instant and constant information as the armies approached. The minutiae of this man's work for four or five days we need not stop to relate it is easily imagined. Within that time he entered the rebel NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 31 lines and returned three times. He gave the outline of Bragg's line of battle, a close estimate of his force, an accurate account of his artillery and his earthworks, the movements of the rebel wagon and railroad trains, etc., etc. He was very earnest in assuring Rosecrans th&t Bragg -jitended to give severe battle with superior numbers. This information proved true in all essentials, and its value to the country was inestimable. We had other spies piercing the rebel lines at this time, but they did not enjoy the facilities possessed by the nameless one. Almost with anguish did he exclaim against himself, in the presence of the author, for the severe manner in which he was deceiving the rebel general and involving the lives of his thousands of brave but deluded followers. After the first great battle the work of such a spy is ended, or, rather, it ceases when the shock of arms comes on. Thenceforth the armies are moved upon the instant, as circumstances may require. Our man, who, during the four days, had been almost incessantly in the saddle, or with his ears and eyes painfully observant while iir the camps, took leave of our army upon the battle field, and retired to a place of rest. One incident occurred, during his last visit to Bragg, which is worthy of mention. That general took alarm in consequence of his report, and at once started a special messenger to General John H. Morgan — who was then absent with his cavalry in Kentucky to de- stroy Rosecrans' railroad communications (in which Morgan succeeded) — to return instantly with his com- mand by forced marches to Murfreesboro. That same night ou m DETECTIVES. 55 as to lead the rebels, who could see him, to believe that he was pointing them out to his friends. Firing again, he shouted " hurrah, boys, we'll surround them !" and the rebels fled in the greatest terror, the negroes shuf fling along after them. As soon as they were gone he crossed the pass to the opposite ridge, and followed the top of the ridge the remainder of that day and Dight, and till nine o'clock the following morning, when he was startled by hearing the sound of horses' feet behind him, stopping a moment and listening, he ascertained that there were about a dozen of them. He attempted to elude their observation by running out upon a spur which branched oflf from the main mountain, but the timber was open and they caught sight of him and im- mediately pursued. The mountain was steep, but they gained upon him, and although at first he seemed likely to escape, he soon came to the top of a clifi" about three hundred feet high ; turning to the right a few hundred yards, he again found a place where he could descend for some distance, but was then stopped by another cliff, which projected out like a shelf. Below the right-hand end of this cliffy a huge hickory tree was growing, and its shaggy top just reared itself above the shelf on which he stood, the trunk being about eight feet from the edge of the cliff. There was no time to lose, for already he could hear his pursuers clattering over the rocks above him ; so running to the edge of the cliff and looking over the giddy height, he slung his rifle across his back and leaping out headforemost, with all his strength, succeeded in grasp- ing the body of the tree with his arms and holding, although the weight of his accoutrements almost jerked aim off. Sli('uig rapidly down the tree he landed on 66 NAKBATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AUD DETECTIVES. another bench of the mountain, from which, though with torn clothing and his hands, arms, and breast bleeding profusely from wounds received from the rough bark of the tree, he made his way down into the bottom of a deep ravine, and neither saw nor heard any thing more of his pursuers. Following the ravine to the base of the mountain he was an involuntary witness to the patriotic devotion of a loyal Tennessee family, the husband and father of which had been obliged to conceal himself for months to escape the rebel conscription, and his devoted wife had brought him food until such time as he could join the Union army. Continuing his search for the steamboats, he came upon the home of "Bob White," on Walden Ridge. White was a thorough Unionist and the leader of a body of thirty to sixty Union Tennesseans, bush wackers, who were the terror of the rebel cavalry in that region. He was welcomed by White's family and remained with them one night, though the rebel cavalry came to the house in search of him, and White's men also called him up, fearing he might be a spy. After stirring up the rebels at one or two points, and again finding shelter for two or three nights among the perse- cuted East Tennessee Unionists, attending one of their religious meetings where every man was armed, and the services were conducted, like those of the Covenanters three hundred years ago, after night and in the conceal- ment of the forest, lest their enemies should come upon them. In the battle of Chickamauga, as well as in tie marches and skirmishes which preceded it, Corpoia/ Pike was actively employed as a scout, and was much NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES 57 of the time in imminent peril, while he rendered excel- lent service to the Union army. Leaving the Union army at Chattanooga, he next set out with General Crook's cavalry in pursuit of Wheeler's rebel cavalry, which had been attempting to break up the Union lines of communication with Nashville, where he had his share In some of the most desperate cavalry fighting of the war, being on two occasions the target of the enemy's rifles, and once of their artillery. Having arrived at Brownsboro, General Crook sent him with an important despatch from General Grant to General Sherman, whose location was not definitely known, though he was supposed to be not far from Corinth. The journey was a p 3rilou8 one and the chances of success, to say the least, small ; but the brave fellow did not hesitate for a moment, and taking a canoe at Whitesburg, opposite Huntsville, he descended the Tennessee river for more than a hundred miles, every mile of which was picketed by the enemy, ran the perilous rapids of the Muscle Shoals, forty miles in length, alone, and after being pur- sued and fired at by the rebels repeatedly landed near Tus cumbia, where he found Union troops, and was sent by special train to luka, where General Sherman was, but immediately on delivering the despatch he sunk down exhausted and fainting from intense fatigue. General Sherman, who is ever chary of his praise, so fully ap- preciated the daring and skill of this achievement, that he gave the corporal a testimonial in which he spoke of him in the highest terms. Returning to Chattanooga, he took part in the great battles of November 23-25. In a subsequent scouting expedition at the beginning of 1864, they found that 9 certain rebel. Colonel W. C. 68 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCJOUTS, AND DETECTIVES Walker, who had commanded a brigade at Cumberland Gap, had returned to his home in Cherokee county, N. C, with plenary conscripting powers, and was endeavor- ing to force every Union man in the region into the rebel army, committing, at the same time, great out- rages on the families of the Unionists. Pike and his companions resolved to take this villain prisoner and convey him to Chattanooga. Pike's party consisted of ten scouts and a few citizens, and on New Year's night they went to Walker's house, surrounded it, and called on him to surrender. He demanded who they were, and being told that they were Yankee soldiers, and that if he gave himself up he should be treated like a gentle- man, and be regarded as a prisoner of war, he refused with an oath ; and Pike then informed him that resist • ance would be useless, that his house was surrounded, and that they would take him, dead or alive. He answered, '* I will surrender when I please." Pike and ~is scouts, knowing that he had a body-guard constantly about him, now resolved to storm the house, and broke in the doors, front and rear. Walker retreated to au inner room, and still refused to surrender, making a stand with the evident intention of selling his life aa dearly as possible. ' The doors of this room also having been broken in. Pike aimed at him with his pistol, again demanding his surrender ; but he raised his Sharp's car- bine to shoot Pike. Seeing, however, that the latter had the advantage of him, he replied, after a moment's hesitation, " Yes, boys, I'll surrender," and partly turned to lay his carbine on the bed, when his wife caught Pike's arm, and with a sudden jerk destroyed his aim. Walker aow wheeled instantly , caught up his gun, and again LIVES OF SPIES. SCX)UTS, AND DETECTIVES. 59 raised it to shoot Pike, but delayed for an instant, his daughter being between them, and Pike called to his men to shoot, as he saw Walker was determined to kill him, and Jack Cook, of the 37th Indiana, fired, and killed him instantly. By this time. Walker's body- guard were heard in another part of the house, and the daring scouts instantly attacked and captured them, without firing a shot, and took them all but two to Charleston, Tenn. After some months spent in scout- ing, and the destruction of rebel property, under the direction of General Custer, Colonel Miller, and General Logan, Pike and a brother scout, Charles A. Gray, were sent by direction of General Thomas to Augusta, Ga., to endeavor to destroy the great bridge over the Savan- nah river, and, if possible, also the immense powder- mill which supplied most of the powder for the rebel armies. Having obtained their outfit at Nashville, they set out on their perilous undertaking, going by way ol Chattanooga and Rocky Faced Ridge. The great cam- paigns of Sherman and Grant had now commenced, and it was of the greatest importance to prevent the two rebel generals Johnston and Lee from sending troops or supplies to each other. The destruction of the rail road bridge at Augusta would materially derange theii communications, and once destroyed, it could not be repaired for months. Having taken part in the battle of Rocky Faced Ridge, the two scouts proceeded thenoe to the Charleston turnpike, and thence went on foot, over the region which Pike had traversed the preceding win- ter, and where Colonel Walker had been killed, and found the rebels still in terror over that event ; scaled the B^ le Ridge on the 20 h of May, and descending He (JO NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCXDUTS, ANB DETECTIVES. eastern slope, came to the head waters of the Tallulah river, remarkable for its numerous cataracts. They followed this stream to its junction with the Chattooga, the two forming the Tugalo, one of the two affluents ol the Savannah river. Procuring a canoe, they floated down this stream, which had numerous rapids, and thence entered the Savannah, which above Augusta is a very rapid and rocky stream. They reached Ham- burg, opposite Augusta, on the 3d of June, 1864, and concealed themselves where they could overlook both cities ; but to their surprise and annoyance, they found that there were great numbers of Union prisoners there (twelve or fifteen hundred), on their way to Anderson- vill3, and a large body of rebel troops guarding them, and that it would be utterly impossible for them to make any effort to accomplish their object, and nearly so to make their escape. The latter was all they could attempt, and during the night they got off and attempted to retrace their steps. They stole a couple of horses and rode them rapidly till morning, but were then overtaken and compelled to give up the horses, though their real character and objects were not suspected. Starting off, then, on foot, they made the best of their way toward the northwest, but two hours later they heard the baying of the bloodhounds, and knew that they were pursued. They made every effort to break the trail, passing through swamps and streams, doubling in their tracks, etc., etc., but all to no purpose. The pack of hounds was thirty-six in number, and just after nightfall their loud baying showed that they were close upon them; and in the midst of a dense thicket, the two men were compelled to stand at bay NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVE& 61 and fight with the savage brutes, and the equally savage men who had used the dogs to hunt them down. On came the hounds through the thick undergrowth, making the deep forest echo with their savage baying, until, witk a sudden bound, the leading dog was upon the fugitives, his eyes glaring, and his mouth foaming. For an instant he paused, as he saw them through the gloom, and the next he made a spring directly at Gray's face. He was large and snow-white, and this made him the better target, and as he sprang Pike turned upon him and fired, and he fell dead in an instant But at that mo- ment the whole pack rushed upon them, and they could only distinguish them by their glaring eyes in the dark- ness, but they aimed at those, and killed one moie and wounded four others, with nine shots, when the men came up, forcing their horses through the brush, cursing and swearing like madmen. When they had approa< hed within about a hundred yards, the two scouts ordi red them to halt, saying, that if they did not stop, tney would fire on them. " Who are you ?" demanded one of the men. " Yankee soldiers," answered Pike. " What are you doing in our country ?" " We are here by order of our general." " How many are there of you ?" " Two." "Are you up a tree ?" "No ! we are not the sort of men to take to trees !" Then moving toward them. Pike said : " There are but two of us, but we are well armed, and can do you n great deal of damage if you drive us to it. We know that you h wf a strong force after us, for we have seen 62 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. you two or three times to-day ; we know that resistance on our part would only result in useless bloodshed ; still it is our privilege to sell our lives at as dear a price as we can make you pay ; but we don't want to hurt you, nor do we want you to hurt us ; and therefore, if you will agree to treat us as prisoners of war, we will surren- der without a fight, because we see that one would be useless." " You will soon be made to surrender on our terms," replied the rebels. " Then approach us at your peril," answered Pike, " for we shall shoot as long as we can crook a finger." Resolute as this reply was, they were in fact helpless; their ammunition exhausted, and the four or five charges in their pistols had all been tried on the dogs, but had failed to go off* from the foulness of the weapons. While this parley had been going on, another large party had come up, and the two were disputing among themselves. Presently they hailed the two scouts plea- santly, " Halloo, Yank." " Halloo yourself," was the answer. " K you will surrender, we will treat you as prisoners of war, and there shall not one hair of your head be touched/' said the commander of the party. " All right," answered the scouts, " on these conditions, and no others, you can have our arms. Let two men 3ome over and take our weapons," they asked. The rebels consented, but demanded that they should fire them in the air first. The scouts could not do this, be- ;ause the attempt would show how helpless they were, out they objected on the ground that it evinced a lack of confidence in their honor. The rebel commander then ordered them to stand still and they would come NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 63 to chem. They did so, and when completely surrounded, gave up their arms, Gray joking with them freely. No sooner were the arms delivered, than a part of the rebels changed their manner, and began to abuse them, a man by the name of Chamberlain, a renegade from Massachusetts, who it seemed owned the bloodhounds, swearing that if they had shot one of the dogs ne would Kill them. They now set out on their return toward Augusta, or rather toward Edgefield, S. C, and stopped at the house of a Mr. Series, who treated them kmdly, and endeavored to pacify the drunken crowd who were taking them along, as did his wife ; but his two daugh- ters went among the gang, and begged them to hang the two Yankees. "Don't let them live, men! don't let them live !" they said, and by their urgency they had soon " fired the Southern heart" up nearly to the point of murder. Mr. Series exerted himself to the utmost, however, to quiet them, and they finally were allowed their supper, and moved ojQf to the house of Lieut. Col. Talbot, one of their captors. Here they were allowed an hour or two sleep, and on awakening in the morning, found that the party who had captured them had all left, and that they were in the hands of party of drunken militia, who did not regard themselves as bound in any respect by the stipulations of their cap- tors These brutes roused them up, tied them very securely, and then marched them to the woods near by, and made preparations to hang them. They began with Pike, and having their rope ready, asked him if he had any confession to make? "No," was his reply ' T have nothing to confess t«.> you 54 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIYES. " Do you desire to pray ?" they asked. " No," was his reply again. " I am ready to die, and don't fear death." " Have you nothing to say ?" they asked, astonished at his coolness. " Yes," he replied, " I have something to say that may interest you." " Out with it then," said one. He then told them very coolly that they were United States soldiers, acting in the discharge of their duties, and that they, as citizens, had no right to interrupt them; that the general under whose orders they (the scouts> were acting would retaliate promptly if a hair of theii heads were injured, and their sons in the Confederate army might be the men on whom the retaliation would fall. He told them farther, that he and Gray belonged to different regiments, and that if they were hung, their regiments, which were sure to come thither, would bum every dollar's worth of property they possessed, and hang every man concerned in the transaction. " If," he continued, " you are prepared to abide these conse- quences, I am." The ringleaders now withdrew for a short time, for consultation, leaving the two scouts under a guard. After a little they returned, took them back to Talbot's house, and untied them, and Mrs. Talbot gave them a bountiful breakfast. Talbot himself was a villain; he had attempted the preceding night to murder them, after giving his pledge that not a hair of their heads should be touched, and had only failed because his gun would not go o^. He and Chamberlain now promised to take them to Edgefield, and as they had ^pl ^i« Hj^^i L^ik^ ^K-^ mm:F -«V-.:i.a«?lB-«fe*^^8aiB*iSg«S:«fcT ---"m:^i ■i>^^g3fca«M«»^ NARRATITES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 66 been forewarned that a crowd had assembled on the lower road to murder them, they asked to be taken by the upper route, and their captors finally consented. Arriving at Edgefield, the provost-marshal, who desired to have them murdered by a mob, refused to receive them from the militia, but a rebel lieutenant who was there, overruled him and ordered them to be put in the jail, subject to the orders of the military authorities at Augusta. Here, they were examined very closely, and questioned carefully, separately ; but as they had buried all their bridge-burning fixtures before leaving Hamburg, and had agreed upon the statements they were to make, there was no such thing as entangling them. On the 9th of June, they were taken to Augusta. Here, they were confined on the smallest possible allowance of food, for fifty-seven days, when they were removed under a strong guard to Charleston, where they were put in the tower of the jail and kept five months under fire from the Union batteries. Vigorous efforts were made to pr^r cure their exchange, by the highest officers of the Union army, but in vain. When General Sherman's march through the Carolinas compelled the evacuation of Charleston, they were removed to Columbia, and when that was threatened, they were sent to Winnsboro on foot, with the intention of taking them to Salisbury, North Carolina, but on the way both escaped, Gray getting away first, and Pike the next night, February 18th, 1865, and after wandering about for two days, the latter found his way into the Union lines, where Gray had preceded him. He was most cordially received and fitted out in con- nection with Kilpatrick's command, and when General 6 66 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. Sherman reached Cheraw, was sent to carry despatch ee to Wilmington which was then occupied by the Union troops under Generals Schofield and Terry. The journey was a perilous one, as he descended Cape Feai river from the mouth of Rockfish creek, a distance of more than a hundred miles, in an open boat ; and the whole shore of the river was lined with rebel troops. Having reached Wilmington in safety and delivered his despatches, he was immediately requested to carry de- spatches also to Newbern and Kinston, where he found General Schofield. Three hours after the delivery of these, General Schofield entrusted him with a despatch for General Sherman w^hich he wished taken across the country. He started immediately, and after a long and somewhat dangerous tramp (for he could only go on foot in safety), he reached the general near Faison's depot. After the battle of Bentonville he applied for and re- ceived his discharge, having been in the service seven months over the time for which he had enlisted, and on the Ist of April, 1865, was mustered out at Columbus. It would be hard, we think, to find in the history of any war, an instance of a scout or spy who had encountered more dangers, hardships, and risks, or surmounted them more gallantly than Corporal James Pike. A FEMALE SCOUT AND SPY. During the war, a very considerable number of women nave entered the secret service of the commanders of the Union armies, and perhaps quite as many, or more, have been employed by the rebel generals in obtaining NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DLTECTIVES. 67 information of the situation and purposes of the Union troops. The adventures of many of these, for obviou« reasons, have not as yet been made pubhc, and some of them may perhaps never be recorded. Among them have been a number of actresses, whose profession has given them extraordinary facilities for this service, and whose intense loyalty has caused them to run fearful risks to render it service. Of some of these we shall have occasion to speak by-and-by. One of the moat adroit and successful of these was not an actress, nor a native of the United States. Miss S. E. E. Edmonds, better known, perhaps, as " The Nurse and Spy," is a native of the province of New Brunswick, and having an earnest desire to acquire a superior education, with a view to becoming a foreign missionary, and possessing besides an energetic and independent disposition, came to the United States, we beUeve, in 1859 or 1860, and for a time acted as a canvasser for some books published in Hartford, Conn. When the war broke out, she at once resolved to devote herself to the work of nursing the sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals, and went to Washington for that purpose. After spending eight or nine months in this duty, she learned that one of the spies in General McClellan's service had been captured by the rebels in Richmond, and executed, and that it was necessary that his place should be filled. Miss Edmonds was daring and resolute, capable of en- during an extraordinary amount of fatigue, an accom- plished equestrienne, and a capital shot, and possessed of quick and ready perceptions, and great intelligence, while her powers of impersonation were unrivalled She applied for the position, and was accepted after a fi8 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. very thorough examination. Her first disguise was that of a negro boy. Passing safely through the Union lines, and past the rebel pickets, she entered the suburbs of Yorktown, and met with some negroes v/ho were car- rying out supplies to the pickets. Mingling with these, the pretended contraband soon attracted the attention of a young rebel officer, who demanded, " Who do you belong to, and why are you not at work ?" '^ I doesn't b'long to nobody, massa ; I'se free, and allers was ; I'se gwyne to Richmond to work," was the reply. The offi- cer, apparently astonished that a free negro should aver his freedom, ordered him immediately set to work wheel- ing gravel up a parapet about eight feet high, for strengthening the works, and ordered that he should receive twenty lashes if he did not do his work well. The work was very severe, even for a strong and robust man, and though the negroes comprising the gang helped what they could, yet before night the hands of the pseudo-contraband were blistered from the wrists to the tips of the fingers, and she was completely exhausted. After resting a little, however, she made an inspection of the fortifications, sketched them, ascertained the num- ber, size, and position of the guns, carefully concealing her notes between the soles of her contraband shoes. Securing the services of a young negro to take her place the next day on the parapet, she entered upon the easier service of carrying water to a brigade stationed near the rebel headquarters. Here she obtained some important information in regard to the numbers and intentions of the rebels, and defected a rebel spy, who, under the guise of a peddler, had often visited the Union head- quarters, and who had caused the death of one of NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 69 McClellan's sta^ officers, a friend of Miss Edmunds At night, going out to the picket lines, the pretended contraband wa^ entrusted with a fine rifle, and put upon picket duty. Availing herself of the opportunity, she now escaped to the Union lines, bringing her rifle a. a trophy, and soon after reported it headquarters Her next expedition was under the guise of an old Irish woman, engaged in peddling cakes, etc., among the rebel soldiers. This was soon after McClellan had reached the banks of the Chickahominy. Losing her way m the Chickahominy swamps, she suflfered from a violent attack of fever and ague, and for two days lay m the swamp without food or shelter, her stock of food having been spoiled in crossing the Chickahominy On the third day she was roused by heavy firing, and crawhng in the direction whence it proceeded, came soon to an opening and a small frame house, which had been deserted by its inhabitants, but in which she found a dying rebel officer. She ransacked the house for arti- cles of food, and succeeded in finding a httle meal and some l^a, and soon prepared a tolerable meal for the dymg soldier, who had been some days without food and also something to stay her own hunger. Being unable, from exhaustion, to go upon her mission, and hndmg that the poor man had but a few hours to live she cared for him a* tenderly a^ she could, and befoi^ he died, he gave her his wat«h and papers, with direct faons to deliver them U> Major McKee, of General Ewell's staff, and expressed his gratitude to her for her kindness. After bis death, she rested for a short time, and then gathenng from the house what supplies she could, to 70 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. make up an outfit for her assumed character, she wended her way to the rebel camp, five or six miles distant, and having ascertained what she could of the position and intentions of the rebels, and the location of the batteries they had concealed along the route of the approach of the Union army, she sought Major McKee, but was obliged to wait till five P. M. before she could see him. He was very much afiected at the intelligence of Captain Hall's death, and offered to reward her, but she would accept no reward. He then requested her to guide a detachment of his men to the place where the captain had died. As she was really unable to walk that dis- tance, at her request he furnished her with a horse to ride. The lone house was on debatable ground, and there was reason to fear that the Union troops might fall upon them while engaged in this humane work; but they reached the place in safety and found the body, and the commander of the detachment requesting her to ride down the road and see if there were any Yankees in sight, she complied with his request very willingly, and became so much interested in her search that she did not draw rein till she arrived in the Union camp, when she reported her discoveries, and prevented the army from falling into the traps set for them. The horse thus taken from the enemy, though spirited, proved a vicious brute, and with its teeth and heels came near costing her her life. At the battle of Fair Oaks, she acted as orderly to General Kearny, and twice swam the Chick- ahominy to hurry forward reinforcements for the sorely pressed Union troops. In the retreat across the Penin- sula, she was again repeatedly under fire, while serving as orderly or on detached duty with the wounded; and NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVKS. 71 under the assumed name of Frank Thompson took part in most of the battles of that famous retreat. During the last few days of Pope's campaign, she was sent three times into the enemy's camp, and under different dis- guises ; once as a negress ; and again, in other characters, she penetrated to their headquarters, and brought away, not only information of their intended movements, but valuable orders and papers. After the battle of Antietam, when following Lee back to the Rapidan, while on detached service, a body of cavalry with whom Miss Edmonds was travelling, were attacked by guerillas and her horse killed under her, and she herself seriously injured and robbed. Union troops soon came up, however, and defeated the guerillas and'restored her money. In the battle of Fred- ericksburg, under her assumed name of Frank Thomp- son, she acted as aid-de-camp to General Hancock, and was under fire during the whole period. After General Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac, she went to the Western army, overtaking at Louisville the Ninth Army Corps, to which she had been for some time attached. Here she was not long in resuming her former voca- tion as a spy, and having aided in the capture of some rebel prisoners, she donned the butternut garb, and as a Kentuckian, sympathizing with the rebels, wandered into their camp, but was presently pounced upon by a rebel cavalry captain and conscripted into service ; but having to go into action before taking the oath, the con- script managed to get upon the Union side, and wounded severely, though not mortally, the rebel captain who had attempted to secure her services. As the duty of a 72 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. spy after this was likely to be extra hazardous, the commanding general detailed Miss Edmonds to detec- tive duty in Louisville, and with great skill and taot she managed to detect and secure the capture of several rebel spies then in the city. She next visited Vicksburg, and after serving some time in the hospitals there as a Durse, was compelled by broken health to leave the army for a time. The Irish Sentinel. — A son of the Green Isle, a new member of Colonel Gillem's Middle Tennessee regiment, while stationed at Nashville recently, was detailed on guard duty on a prominent street of that city. It was his first experience at guard-mounting, and he strutted along his beat apparently with a full appreciation of the dignity and importance of his position. As a citizen approached, he shouted — " Halt ! Who comes there ?" "A citizen," was the response. "Advance, citizen, and give the countersign." " I haven't the countersign ; and, if I had, the de- mand for it at this time and place is something very strange and unusual," rejoined the citizen. "An, by the howly Moses, ye don't pass this way at all till ye say Bunker Hill," was Pat's reply. The citizen, appreciating the "situation," advanced and cautiously whispered in his ear the necessary words. " Right ! Pass on." And the wide awake sentinel msumed his beat. NARRAHTES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 73 ADVENTURES OF HARRY NEWCOMER A SOOUT AND SPY IN THX ABMY OF THX OUMBBBLAND. Among the many spies and detectives employed by the conmianders of the Union armies, in procuring informa- tion concerning the condition, purposes, and position of the enemy, or the evil deeds of rebel sjnnpathizers, none perhaps, has passed through more interesting adventures, than he whose name appears at the head of this sketch. We have compiled from the poUce record oi the "An- nals of the Army of the Cumberland," the following history of some of his adventures and escapes. Harry Newcomer is a native of Pennsylvania, and was bom in Lancaster county, in March, 1829. He was bom and brought up in a hotel, and was employed as a bar tender in his boyhood. At the age of fourteen, his mother died, and his father broke up housekeeping, and Boon afterward he was apprenticed to a miller in Ohio. After serving out his time, he continued for some years in the business, until his brother-in-law was elected sheriff of Ashland county, Ohio, when he was appointed one of his deputies. In 1857, he removed to Cleveland, and was employed by United States Marshal Jabez Fitch, as a detective officer. He retained this situation for about three years, and was successful in ferreting out and bringing to punishment a number of noted cases of crime, especially of counterfeiters. At that time the authorities had ascertained that a large business was done in the manufacture and sale of counterfeit money in Geauga county, Ohio, but all attempts to obtain any positive evidence to fasten the guilt upon the suspected 74 NAKRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. parties had failed. Newcomer had already acquired a high reputation as a shrewd and successful detective, and it was determined to set him at work upon the case. He was instructed to make the acquaintance of an old blacksmith, named Jesse Bowen, who cultivated also a small farm in the vicinity of Burton Square in that county. Bowen was notoriously a lawless, bad man, and had been for many years engaged in all manner of frauds and crimes, but had managed to escape detection and punishment. He was now seventy-eight years of age, a friendless, unsocial old villain, whose house was shunned by all who cared for their reputation or candor. Newcomer introduced himself to him as William H. Hall, an extensive manufacturer and dealer in counter^ feit money. He had with him, as evidence of his be- longing to the fraternity, considerable amounts of coun- terfeit bills on various banks, with which he had been abundantly supplied. After two or three interviews, by that sort of fascination with which he is so eminently endowed, he succeeded in winning completely the old man's confidence, and learned from him the names of all those who were connected with the gang of counter feiters. He did more than this. Won by the apparent cordiality of Newcomer, who assisted him on his little farm, he unearthed his machinery and engaged with him in the manufacture of bogus coin, gave him the pass-word, and introduced him to all the members of the gang, with whom he was presently on the best of terms. In an excess of communicativeness, Bowen one day called young Newcomer into an orcnard and revealed to him, in confidence, that he and his brother had, in early Ufe, murdered their brother-in-law, in Vermont, and that NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTITES. 7fc they had only been saved from the gallows, by a man being found who bore a remarkably strong resemblance to the murdered man, and who was induced to swear that he was the man supposed to be killed. This was the celebrated Corbin case so often referred to, in criminal trials. Having finally implicated the entire gang of counter- feiters, and acquired a thorough knowledge of their haunts and residences, Newcomer plead that urgent business called him away, and repairing to Cleveland, reported progress to the United States Marshal, and officers were sent, and the whole number arrested, tried, -onvicted, and sent to the penitentiary. In 1860, he removed to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was soon employed in the detection and ai- rest of a noted counterfeiter, named Charles Coventiy, a man of gigantic strength, and the terror of the whole region. This was accomphshed with his usual adroitr ness, and the desperate villain trapped, tried, convicted, and sent to prison for five years. In about a year, he had succeeded in detecting and bringing to justice sixty- eight criminals, counterfeiters, burglars, horse thieves, and villains of all sort. In 1861, his extraordinary suc^ cess having excited the jealousy of the other detectives of Pittsburg, he removed to Chicago, but finding no em- ployment which suited him, he enlisted as a non-com- missioned officer in the Eleventh Indiana Battery. With this battery he served throughout Buell's campaign to Nashville and Shiloh, to Corinth and Huntsville, Ala- bama, when the old love of adventure coming upon him, he began to act as a scout on his own account, reporting, when any thing of ii terest came to his knowledge, to 76 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. Colonel, afterward General Harker, of the Sixty-fifth Ohio Volunteers, who then commanded the brigade to which he was attached. The colonel, pleased with his skill and adroitness, gave him passes and encouraged him to continue to make these scouting expeditions as he had opportunity. Frequently he would go down to the Tennessee river in sight of the rebel pickets ; and one night he conclu- ded to cross the river and get a nearer view of them. Striking the stream at a point three miles from Steven- eon, he built a raft of rails and paddled himself across. Crawling up the bank through the bush, he came close upon the pickets, seven in number, without being ob- served. After watching their movements awhile, and finding nothing of particular interest, he returned safely as he went. Soon afterward, a negro told him of an island in the Tennessee river, some ten miles below Ste- venson, on which a company of guerilla cavalry were in the habit of rendezvousing every night. This opened a large field of operations for our scout, and he deter- mined to visit the island forthwith. One afternooon, borrowing a suit of butternut from a negro at Stevenson, he set forth in that direction. The butternut clothes were carried under his saddle until he was fairly outside of our lines, when he exchanged his own for them and went on in the character of a genuine native. Reach- ing the river opposite the island after dark, he again constructed a raft of rails, fastening them together this time with grape-vines, and shoved across the narrow channel to the island, landing in a dense canebrake. Carefully feeling his way through this, he came soon to * com-crib, around which twenty-five or thirty horses NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 77 were feeding. It was now ten o'clock, and quite dark, but clear and starlight. Examining the crib, the en- trance was discovered about half-way up, and our ad- venturer at once clambered up and put his head and shoulders through. Careful listening revealed the pres- ence of sleepers within. Putting his hand down to see how far it was to them, it came in contact with the body of a man. Wishing to know in what direction he was lying, he felt along carefully and came upon a pis- tol in his belt. Working at this, he soon drew it out, and, finding it a good Colt's revolver, put it into his pocket and got down again. Exploring around, he came to a com patch and a cabin near by, in which there seemed, from the noise within, to be a family or two of negroes. Crossing to the south or rebel side of the island, he found that the stream was much narrower there than on the other side, and that close to the shore a number of boats and scows, in which the band crossed and recrossed, were tied. It was now time to think about getting home, and he circled around the crib and cabin to reach the place where he had left his raft. When he came in sight of it, there was also to be seen a human form standing by the water's edge and appar- ently regarding the raft with no little astonishment. In the uncertain light, it was impossible to tell whether it was man or woman, white or black ; and there was nothing to do but wait until it disappeared. Crouching down amid the canes, he soon saw it turn and begin to climb the bank directly toward him ; as a precautionary measure he took out the pistol and cocked it, though he could not see or feel whether it was loaded or not. The person proved to be a negro, and passed by, unconscious 7S NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. of the presence of any one so near, soliloquizing to him- self thus : — " Mighty quare boat dat ar ; 'spec's some of Masser John's work." This danger having passed, our self-appointed spy descended, and re-embarked on his raft. Lest any one should see him, he lay flat upon it, paddling with extended arms, the whole presenting very much the appearance of a floating mass of drift wood. By the time he reached the opposite shore his butter- nut suit was pretty thoroughly soaked, but without stopping to dry it, he mounted his horse, which he found straying about the woods, rode on to Stevenson, and reported to Colonel Harker. An expedition for the cap- ture of this band — afterward ascertained to be Captain Rountree's company — was just about starting, when or ders were received to evacuate the place and fall back to Nashville with the remainder of Buell's army. The battery went no farther backward than Nashville, remaining there during the famous investment of the city and until the Army of the Cumberland again reached it. Meanwhile, Newcomer was occasionally employed by General Negley as a detective ; but most of the time was spent with his command. Early in December the police and scout system was fully organ- ized and in successful operation. Our former scout, thinking that he could serve the Government to better advantage in the business with which he was so familiar, made application to Colonel Truesdail for employment as a scout and spy. The colonel, pleased with his appearance and conversation, at once made an engagement with him, and procured his detail for that special service. Having previously made the acquaintance of one Cale Harrison, a livery-stable-keeper, he now called on him, and, ex- NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETEC7TYES 79 hibitmg a forged certificate of discharge, told hi ji that he was oij ijis way to the rebel army. Harrison, of course, was highly pleased to hear it, and gave him some valuable hints and information for his guidance in the matter. There wa-. h ■ >;aid, a man living on the Charlotte pike, by the name of Spence, whose son wae an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Polk, and who would undoubtedly assist him in getting south and give him a letter of introduction to his son. In this event the road would be clear, and no difficulty need be apprehended in making the trip. Thus directed, he set forth from Nashville on a scout »outh, with saddle-bags well filled with fine-tooth combs, needles, pins, thread, etc., and carrying two fine navy revolvers. Going directly to Spence's, he introduced himself, said he had called by recommendation of Harrison, made known his business, and asked for a letter to his son, on General Polk's staff. Spence re- ceived him cordially, but would not furnish him with the desired letter. He referred him, however, to J Wesley Ratclifie, li^ing about one mile from Franklin, on the Lewisburg pike, as a person likely to render him very material 4if gray cloth, staff-buttons, etc. A.8 may be imagined, no time was lost in starting, and NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 97 gtill less in getting into Nashville, where he arrived in due season to save the fleet. A force was at once sent out on the Hillsboro pike to cut off the retreat of the rebels, and another on the Charlotte pike to attack them directly. The latter force succeeded in striking their rear-guard, and threw them into confusion, when thej hastily fled across the Harpeth river, which was at the time very high. Our forces, being principally infantry, could not cross in pursuit, but the troops on the Hills- boro pike succeeded in killing, wounding, and capturing considerable numbers of them. They were thoroughly scattered, however, and the fleet was saved — which was the main object of the expedition. General Rosecrans had now been in Murfreesboro several days, and Colonel Truesdail immediately on his arrival sent the scout to that place. Here he made a full report, and, having received instructions for another trip, returned to Nashville the next day to make ready for it. The only item of interest on this trip was that at Eagleville he met Wheeler's command, by many oi whom, and by the general himself, he was well and favorably known. Here Wheeler employed him as a secret agent, and gave him a permanent pass, which he still retains. Borrowing from one of his officers one hundred dollars in Tennessee money, the general gave it to him, and instructed him to buy with it certain arti- cles which he mentioned — among which were gray clotb and staff buttons, always in demand for uniforms. Stopping at Ratcliffe's on his return, he showed him the pass, and related the circumstances of getting it, at which the former wa.s highly gratified — " as," said he, " you'll have no more troubh now, Harry." 7 98 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. At Nashville, he succeeded, of course with the permis eion of the Union authorities, in filling General Wheeler's order, and charged with such information as General Mitchell and Colonel Truesdail saw fit to impart, he took another trip to the rebel lines, Wheeler was at this time at Franklin, quartered in the court house. The goods and information were delivered, much to the grat- ification of the rebel general, who forthwith instructed him to return to Nashville for more information and late Northern papers. He was by this time so well known, and so highly esteemed by the rebels, that the cashier of the Franklin branch of the Planter's bank of Tennessee, entrusted to him the accounts and valuable papers of the branch bank to carry to the parent insti- tution at Nashville. This duty he performed faithfully. On his way, he stopped at the house of one Prior Smith, a violent rebel, and extensive negro dealer. He was cordially received by Smith, who tried to interest him in the business of running off negro children from Nash- ville, to be sold south. Newcomer declined entering upon it ; but Smith insisted, and gave him a letter of introduction to his " right bower," in Nashville, who proved to be a Dr. Hudson, a man of wealth, who pro- fessed to be a Union man, but had long been considered suspicious. The Chief of Police, Colonel Truesdail, de- sired him now to spend some time in Nashville in devel- oping the case of Dr. Hudson, but he deemed it necessary first, to return to Wheeler, and received permission to do so. At Franklin, he found that Wheeler had gone on to ShelbyA'ille, and stopping with his friend RatclifFe, the two wrote out the information he had received, and sealed »t up with the papers n large (rebel) government envel- NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 99 opes, and forwarded by carrier to Wheeler. Having spent the night with Ratcliffe, he returned the next morning, and immediately entered upon the work of following up the Hudson case. Delivering Prior Smith's letter of intro- duction, he very soon gained the full confidence of Dr. Hud- son and his wife, and found them ready to do any thing to further and aid the rebel cause. Dr. Hudson was ver} wealthy, and possessed an elegant residence in Nashville, with every comfort and convenience to be desired, exten- sive iron-works near Harpeth Shoals, and a tract of three thousand acres, attached together, with a large amount of other property. He had taken the oath of allegiance, and furnished milk to several of the hos.pitals as a cover for his plans for furnishing arms, ammunition, medicines equipments, etc., to the rebel armies ; aided rebel pris- oners to escape, kidnapped negroes, and sold them south; aided and stimulated the burning of Union warehouses, transports, etc., etc. In all these iniquitous transactions his wife assisted to the best of her ability, and the two were in communication with all the principal rebels in Louis- ville and south of the Union lines. In all these opera- tions. Newcomer soon succeeded in making him commit himself before other detectives, whom he had introduced as ofiicers of Ashby's cavalry, paroled rebel prisoners, Wheeler's spies, etc., etc., and when the proof was com- plete, caused the arrest of Dr. and Mrs. Hudson, and several of their accomplices. On examination, there were found at his house large quantities of contraband goods, including numerous pistols (revolvers), muskets, rifles, ballets, and shot, domestic and woollen goods, morphine and quinine, of the latter, ninety-nine ounces. Ai*«r imprisonment and trial, the Dr. and his wife were 100 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. seul south beyond the lines, and their property contii* cated. Newcomer was subsequently employed in ferreting out otner cases of a similar character, of which there were great numbers in Louisville and Nashville. In one of these he detected one Trainer, a wagon master in the Union army, and his wife, who were engaged in render- ing all possible aid and comfort to the rebels, by smug- gling supplies, and placing the trains of the Union arm^ in dangerous positions, and caused their arrest, as well as that of several of their accomplices. From these adroit smugglers was taken about five thousand fivt hundred dollars' worth of quinine, morphine, and opium, and in consequence of the discoveries made, two drug stores, a wholesale and a retail store, were seized with their contents, to the value of about seventy -five thou- sand dollars more. Through his efibrts, and those of other detectives ii. the employ of the army police, the extensive smuggling which had been carried on by rebel emissaries in Nash- ville and Louisville was rendered so dangerous that most of it was abandoned. PAULINE CUSHMAN, THB OELBBEATED UNION SPY AND SCOUT OF THE AEMY OF THlI CUMBERLAND. Among the wild and dashing exploits which hav^e sig- nalized the recent war — rivalling in heroic and dramatic interest the most famous achievements of the earlier days of chivalry — few are more striking or picturesque thar the simple narrative of facts which we are about to relate. NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 101 Miss Pauline Cushman, or '' Major" Cushman, as she is, by right, most generally called, was born in the city of New Orleans, on the 10th day of June, 1833, her father being a Spaniard, a native of Madrid, and a pros- perous merchant of the Crescent city, and her mother a French woman of excellent social position and attain- ments. In course of time, her father met with losses which followed one another in rapid succession, and unable to stay the tide of adversity, after a brave but unavailing struggle, he abandoned his enterprises in New Orleans, and removed with his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan. This town was at that time little more than a frontier settlement, and opening an establishment for the purposes of trade with the neighboring Indians, he soon found himself in active and successful business. Pauline, meanwhile, the only girl in a family of six brothers, had arrived at the age of ten years, and was growing in beauty and intelligence. The circumstances which surrounded her domestic life, however, somewhat clouded the joy of the young girl's earlier years. Her father's rigid nature and strong passions ill matched with her mother's gentle and retiring temperament, and she was therefore sometimes compelled to witness scenes of domestic discord, which made home far less desirable than it should have been. Fortunately, however, hei natural inclinations led her mostly to indulge in out-door sports, and she was thus enabled to disperse in the sun shine of forgetfulness the oppressive gloom which too frequently clouded their little home circle. And, more than that, amid the plains, the varied scenes of frontier life, and the wild compan ms that surrounded her in her new western home, she insensibly laid the founda- 102 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. tion of that physical strength and beauty, and that courageous spirit, which has since distinguished her every action. In her father's store, little Pauline became acquainted with the most noted " braves" of the neighboring Indian tribes, and by her kindly attentions to their wants, and her many innocent, childish ways, completely gained their confidence and good-will, as was manifested by the poetic appellation, " Laughing Breeze," which they bestowed upon her. As time passed, she grew up as straight as an arrow, and beautiful as a prairie rose. None could use the rifle more dexterously than she ; none could excel her — whether coursing the broad plains, mounted on the back of a half-tamed steed, without saddle or bridle, or stemming the fierce moun- tain currents in her light canoe — while few among the dusky natives of the region could wing an arrow with greater certainty than this pale-faced maiden. But gradually civihzation in his westward march reached and revolutionized the frontier town where she dwelt. And with the novelties and luxuries, the inventions and improvements, which came from the far eastern cities — from New York, Philadelphia, etc. — came also wonder- ful reports of the fascinations and delights of life to be found there. Exaggerated by distance, and by her own bright imagination, which pictured all things couleur de rose, these glowing descriptions awakened in Pauline's breast the most intense desire to see and participate in their realities. And, ere long, we find her in New York, waiting for an opportunity to take her first step in the reed life of which, on the far off" prairies, she had so often dreamed. The opportunity was nearer than she thought, for soon she fell ir with Mr. Thomas Placide, managej NARRATIYES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 103 of the New Orleans '' Varieties," who, struck by hei handsome face and figure, at once proposed that she should enter into an engagement with him, and appear at his theatre. She accepted the proposition, and, in due time, made her debut upon the boards of the " Varie- ties," inspiring in the hearts of the impressible people of New Orleans an admiration which partook of the nature of a furor. Gifted with rare natural gifts of mind and body, she soon became widely known as one of the first of American actresses. It was not, however, until the spring of March, 1863, that Miss Cushman exchanged the role of the actress for the real acting of a noble and patriot woman, risking her life in solemn and terrible earnestness for her country's good. She was, at that time, playing at Mozart Hall, or " Wood's Theatre," in Louisville, Ky., then the head- quarters of the rebel sympathizers of the southwest; and, although under Union rule, these gentry had be- come so emboldened, from long continued success, as to almost set the Federal authorities at defiance. At the house where Miss Cushman boarded, she was unavoida- bly thrown into the company of many of these disloya persons; and among her acquaintances she numbered two paroled rebel officers. Colonel Spear, and Captain J. H. Blincoe, whom, apart from all political considera- tions, she had admitted to a certain degree of friendship. She was at that time acting the part of Plutella, in the " Seven Sisters," and every one who has seen this widely popular play, will remember that Plutella has to assume, during the course of the piece, many characters — at one time a dashing Zouave officer, at another, a fine gentle man of fashion, and in this last character is supposed to 104 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIYES. drink wine with a friend. One afternoon, while receiv- ing a call from these two rebel officers, and talking over the play, they suddenly proposed to her to ''drink a Southern toast in the evening, and see what effect it will have upon the audience." In surprise, she ex- claimed, " But I should be locked up in jail, if I were to attempt any thing of that kind." They, however, scouted the idea, and finally offered her three hundred dollars in greenbacks, if she would do it. Stifling her indignation at the base proposal, she pretended to assent, and asked merely for a little time to think it over. The gentle- men left to prepare matters for the expected surprise ; but no sooner were they fairly out of sight, than with cheeks burning and eyes flashing, the actress pro- ceeded to the office of Colonel Moore, the United States Provost^Marshal, with whom she had a slight acquaint- ance, and to whom she related the whole affair. He quietly and kindly heard her story, and then, thanking her for her confidence, coolly advised her to carry out the programme of her rebel advisers, and drink the toast, as proposed, at the theatre that evening. Her amazement at this may be better imagined than de- scribed ; but the colonel finally overcame her scruples, giving her to understand that she could render her coun- try a true service by following his advice, and promising that he would himself be present at the theatre. "Fear not," he said; " it is for a deeper reason than you think, that I beg you to do this thing. Good may come of it, to your country, that you know not of." To the view of her duty, as thus presented, she patriotically yielded her assent, and returned to her lodgings to prepare for the new role which she was to act, and to get ready foi NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 105 the momentous event of the evening. It was enough for her to know that good to her country was to flow from her apparently treasonable act, and that some de- sign, of which she was yet unconscious, was concealed beneath it. The afternoon was well improved by her rebel friends in publishing abroad in the " secesh" circles of the city, that something rich was to come off that evening at the theatre. It seemed to our heroine thai the afternoon would never wear away ; and yet, as the hour approached, her heart beat fast at the thought ^hat the momentous moment was hastening on. At last the hour arrived for her to set out to the theatre. No sooner had she stepped within the building, than she saw that it was literally packed. Not even standing room wafe to be had for love or money. Every rebel sympathizer in town had heard of it, and all were there. The time approached for the play to begin. The musicians in the orchestra tuned their big fiddles in their usual myste- rious manner. Ushers began to call out the numbers ol seats, and to slam the doors in their wonted style. The " call-boy" flew here and there, and at last, in obedience to the prompter's bell, the curtain began to rise, discov- ering Mr. Pluto at breakfast, within the shades of Hades. There was, however, a veritable Pluto to burst upon them, that they wot not of. This was coming. In the meantime, the jokes and mirth of the ^' Seven Sisters" were more than ordinarily relished. It may have been that those in the secret were so dehghted at the pros pect of seeing the Federal authorities thus wantonly in- sulted, that they greeted every thing with rapture, and that this became contagious among the good Union people of the house, who ^f course, were ignorant of the 106 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. joke. At length the critical moment arrived, and aa- rancing in her theatrical costume to the foot lights, our heroine, goblet iii nand, gave, in a clear, ringing voice, the following ^oast : " HEEB's to JEFF. DAVIS AND THE SOUTHERN OONFEDERAOT MAI THE SOUTH ALWAYS MAINTAIN HER HONOR AND HER RIQHTB I" Miss Cushman had prepared herself for a fearful out- break of popular opinion, but for a moment even the hearts of the audience seemed to stop beating. Then, however, it burst forth, and such a scene followed as beggars description. The good Union portion of the audience had set, at first, spell-bound and horrified by the fearful treason thus outspoken, while the " secesh " were frozen with the audacity of the act, though con- scious that it was to occur. But then came the mingled storm of applause and condemnation. Fierce and tu- multuous it raged, until it seemed as though it would never stop. Nor was the scene behind the scenes less intense. The manager, rushing up to our heroine, de- manded, in his most tragic tone, " what she meant by such conduct ;" while the rest of the professional gentle- men and ladies avoided her as though she had suddenly been stricken with some fearfully contagious disease. The brave girl, however, had her cue, and boldly avowed that she "wasn't afraid of the whole Yankee crew, and would do it again." In short, she carried out her part so well, that no one doubted for a moment that she was a most virulent secessionist. Before she had left the theatre, the guards arrived to arrest her ; but — out of respect to Mr. Wood, the proprietor of the theatre — they were deterred from actually executing their errand. NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 107 and it was arranged that she should report at head- quarters at ten o'clock the next mornuig. There she was welcomed in the private office in the kindest man- ner, and earnestly thanked by Colonel Moore, and his superior, General Boyle, for the capital manner in which she had carried out the pseudo-tTesLSonsible plan. She was now enlightened as to the design of the United States officers, who informed her that she must enter the secret service of the government. They also advised her to moderate her " secesh " proclivities in public, as if she had received a severe reprimand from General Boyle ; but, in private, to abuse the government, and say all the harm she could about it ; by which means she would in- spire confidence among the disaffected, and would be of incalculable use to the national cause. Promising a ready and strict compliance with these requests, she re- turned to her lodgings, where she found a note awaiting her from the management of the theatre, discharging her from her engagement there. Thrown afresh, as it were, upon the world. Miss Cush- man now found herself in a most peculiar and embarrass- ing position. Shunned by her former friends as bearing the brand of disloyalty — slighted — jeered at — flung by the force of her own act upon the sympathies and com- panionship of a cowardly crew of rebel sympathizers, from whose treason her very nature revolted, her situa- tion was one of peculiar hardship and disagreeableness. She was sustained, however, by the thought that she was sacrificing her own prospects and feelings for her country's good. The work before her was full of dan- ger, excitement, and importance. Louisville, at thin time, was ur_dermined by disloyal sentiments and trea- i08 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS. AND DETECTIVES. soiiable plots. Every expedient that human and disloyal ingenuity could devise to annoy and harass the loyal Union people of that section, or to cripple the power and operations of the government, was resorted to with malignant delight — even by wealthy and well known citizens of Louisville. Many of these plots Miss Cushman was the means of bringing to light and to punishment ; and, in so doing, had to assume various disguises, mingling with every class of people, from the cui^throats of the low groggeries to the best circles of " secesh " society. Her most dangerous service, how- ever, was scouting in search of guerillas, to accomplish which, she was frequently compelled to don male attire and to remain in the saddle all night ; and many and varied were the strange adventures which she met with. But her coolness, her energy, and patriotism carried her successfully through these experiences, and God's special providence seemed always to be with her. The most important service, however, which she rendered her country while in Louisville, was the detection of her landlady in the act of mixing up poison in the coffee of a number of sick and wounded Union soldiers, who had been quartered upon her. She managed to play th<= " sympathizer " until she had gained a full knowledge of the plan, and then secretly informed the United States authorities, by whom the poor soldiers were re- moved in time from the fate which awaited them, and the fiend-woman was treated to her deserved punish- ment. At another time, personating the somewhat notorious George N. Sanders, purporting to have just returned from Europe with highl; important despatches, con- NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 109 cerning the recognition of the Confederacy, etc., and also a certain Captain Denver, alias Conklin, Miss Cushman most successfully ''gammoned" some of the leading seces- sionists of Louisville, especially a Mrs. Ford, and placed a very effectual embargo on a large amount of quinine, morphine, and other medicines, which were in transit to the rebel army. In course of time, Mr. J. R. Allen, of the new thea- tre of Nashville, Tenn., arrived at Louisville, engaged in looking up a good company of actors, and meeting with Mr. Wood of the Louisville theatre, was recom- mended to secure Miss Cushman. " She is a good look- ing woman, and an accomplished actress, but she will talk 'secesh.' If you can only keep her out of the provost-marshal's hands, you will make a good thing, for she will be popular at once," said Mr. Wood. So the proposition was made to Pauline, and, after advising with the military authorities, under whose guidance she was acting, she determined to accept it. Of course, in order to maintain her assumed part, the authorities had to refuse her a " pass," and her only way, therefore, to get out of Louisville, was to '' run the blockade." Proceeding, at the appointed time, to the cars, she got a '' secesh" gentleman, going to Nashville, to attend to her trunk ; then she requested leave of the guard, at the door of the car, to speak to a friend inside, "only for one minute." Her woman's face prevailed, he let her pass, and she took pains to stay within the car. When the officer c)f the guard came around to inspect the passes, she had a " made up story" all ready, at the same time showing her order from Mr. Allen to report herself im- naediately at his theatre. He hesitated, but her pleasing 110 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. face and a few womanly tears carried the point, and out heroine was soon on her way to Nashville, at that time the base of operations of the glorious Army of the Southwest. On her arrival at Nashville, she met with a warm recep- tion from '^Secessia," who were brimful of congratulate' one at her escape from the Federal power at Louisville, and of exultation at her having got away from that place with- out even securing a "pass" or taking the oath of allegiance. In her character of actress she soon became exceedingly popular, but her stay at the theatre was a short one : for, on her return from rehearsal one day, she found a summons from Colonel Truesdail, the chief of the army police of Nashville. On entering his office, she was re- ceived by him politely but distantly, as due to a stranger ; but, no sooner had he dismissed his clerks, than his whole manner changed to one of cordiality. After com plimenting her for her previous important services to the country, he informed her that he had selected her for a duty that would not only require the greatest discretion, constancy, and quickness of perception which she could command, but which was one of extraordinary peril — an undertaking which might end in glory, or in an igno- minious death by the bullet, or by the rope ! At these words she involuntarily shrank back, but yet she an- swered in a firm tone : '^ Colonel Truesdail, hundreds, aye, thousands of our Doble soldiers, each one of greater service to our country than my poor self, have gladly given up their lives in her cause. Should I hesitate to do as much ? No ; I will do all that a woman should do, and all that a man lare do, for my country and the Union 1" NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. Ill Charmed with the noble heroism which breathed in these words, the colonel proceeded to reveal the service for which she was to be detailed, and to give her the necessary instructions. The duty which was required of her, was to secretly visit the rebel General Bragg's headquarters, an enterprise at that time of the greatest im- portance, and one upon which the whole fate of the Union cause seemed to depend. First, she was to be sent out of the lines, in company with many other rebel women who were being sent South, in obedience to a late order of General Mitchell. To this very natural reason, she added another, i. e., that she had a brother, A. A. Cush- man, who was a colonel somewhere in the rebel army, and a professed anxiety to find him afforded a very clever ostensible reason for her travelling from headquar- ters to headquarters, and from place to place through the South. She was then instructed to make no con- fidants; not to talk too much; to make the same answers to all parties, and never to deviate from the story, when once framed. The search for her brothei was to be the free and confessed object of her travelf* and under this pretence she was to visit the rebej armies at Columbia, Shelbyville, Wartrace, TuUahoma, and Manchester. She was to make no direct m- quiries of officers or others concerning the strength of the Confederate forces, movements, suppUes, etc., but, in accepting the offers to ride and other attentions which her personal attractions would probably secure her from officers, she was to keep her eyes open, and note every thing of importance which she might see. In the hospitals, she was to make such observations as she could, concerning the medical and hospital supplies, the L12 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. number of sick and wounded soldiers, etc. But she wag especially advised not, on any account, to make any memorandum or tracings of any kind ; only keeping a brief memoranda of the houses at which she stopped, amount of bill, and date, which being so customary as uot to excite suspicion, would yet serve to refresh the memory on certain points. The Oath of Fidelity to the United States was then solemnly administered to Miss Cushman ; the gallant colonel presented to her a hand- some " six-shooter," and on a glorious May morning, under the pretended surveillance of an officer, she was conveyed beyond the lines as a disloyal woman. Arrived at a point some three miles distant from Nash- ville, out of sight of any human habitation, the carriage stopped, and Miss Cushman found awaiting her a fine bay horse, fully csiparisoned, which she mounted, and bidding farewell to her military escort, she galloped gayly down the Hardin pike, followed by the good wishes of the few who knew her real character and purpose. The close of her first day's journey brought her to the Big Harpeth river, the bridge across which had been so injured by the rebels that it was impossible for any one to cross it, and in following a side path which seemed to lead to a ford. Miss Cushman came upon a nice looking dwelling house, where she stopped to inquire about the road. From the inmates she found that it would be im- possible to cross at present, at least without help ; and accordingly, the sympathies of the woman of the house having been fully enlisted by the story of the cruel treat- ment received by Miss Cushman from the Federal •luthorities of Nashville, she was alloweij' ^o spend the NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 113 night there. In the morning, her host, Milam by name, who carried on a considerable business in smuggling goods and supplies out of Nashville for the benefit of his rebel friends across the river, purchased her horse and equipments, giving her confederate funds therefore and hired her a buggy and driver under whose care she set forth in the direction of Columbia. Through dreary woods and terrible roads and a drenching rain the} pursued their way, finally arriving at her destination, where she was, fortunately for her strength, compelled to wait, for three days, the re-opening of the railroad to Shelbyville, which had been destroyed by the Union troops. While here, she met with much sympathy from the rebels, to whom she appeared in the character of an abused woman, seeking for her brother, an officer in the* army ; and she also had to pass the scrutiny of more experienced judges — officers, and others high in official rank. But she bore the test, and in turn made the most suspicious her most useful tools. Columbia proved a rich field to our heroine, who made many friends and accumulated much valuable acquaintance while there. Soon she went to Shelbyville, from whence she found, much to her annoyance, that Bragg had removed his headquarters — and where she could not ascertain. But, ever alive to any opportunity that oflfered of doing good to her country, she acquired some valuable information which more than compensated her for the frustration of her original object in visiting Shelbyville. It chanced that she learned that at the same hotel table where she dined there sat a young officer of engineers, who was engaged in drawing important plans for the rebel gov- ernment. She immediately conceived the plan of 8 114 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. obtaining these plans, at whatever risk to herself, and to get back to the Federal lines, which she thought could be easily effected, and in time to be of the utmost service to her country. As an excuse for wishing to re- turn to the Federal lines, she would represent that having been hurriedly sent out of Nashville by the Federal officers, she had been compelled to leave all her theatrical wardrobe behind her in her flight, and now she was desirous of recovering it, so that she might be able to accept some engagement at some of the theatres throughout the country, and earn enough money to en- able her to pursue her journey in search of her brother. Luckily, as if to further her plans, about this time, she received the offer of an engagement from the manager of the Richmond theatre, which of course tallied exactly with her scheme. Her next move was to get acquainted with the young engineer officer, which was soon effected by a letter of safeguard given her by one of her Shelby- ville friends. Major Boone ; and soon, with her pretty woman's ways, she had won his entire confidence so completely, tiiat he even offered to give her letters of introduction to General Bragg. Calling upon him at his office, she was warmly welcomed, and finally excu- sing himself whilst he retired to an adjoining room to write the promised letters of introduction. Miss Cush- man found herself alone in the room with the much coveted plans and drawings. In the few moments which elapsed during his absence from the room, she contrived to slip the plans into her bosom, and when he returned, she received from him the letters and left him as unsus pecting and as pleasant as ever — unconscious of his loss. Shortly after she left Shelbyville on her way to NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 116 Nashville; and, during a short halt, at a pla<;e called Wartrace, she undertook a scouting enterprise with the view of communicating valuable information to some of the roving bands of Union cavalry, who were almost daily engaged in skirmishing with the rebel cavalry. In carrying out this plan, her first requisite was, of course, a man's suit of clothes, and to get these she now set her wits to work. At the same hotel where she was stopping was a young man of about seventeen years ot age, whose clothes she thought would just fit her, but how to get them was the question. With only the knowledge that he slept in the upper story of the house, but provokingly ignorant of which room he occu' pied, she resolved to ''scout" around in the dark, and, " hit or miss," make a desperate attempt to secure the clothes. So after a series of adventures in the dark, which succeeded only in arousing nearly all the inmates of the several rooms on the corridor, our discomfited heroine, beating a hasty retreat from the discovery which now seemed inevitable, desperately tried the handle of a small door near at hand. To her great joy it yielded, and slipping hastily in, she found herself in a low, poorly' furnished chamber-in which lay sleeping the very man whose clothes she had been seeking. Luckily, the up- roar in the hall had not awakened him, and waiting tiU all wa^ quiet again, she grabbed the clothes and sped silently to her own room. Hastily dressing herself in the stolen suit, she crept softly down-stairs, past the sleeping negro boy in the hall, out to the stables, and there she speedily saddled one of the best horses which she could find, and pushed her way out of ihe town 116 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. Into the woods ?he rode, and finally, when some three miles out of Wartrace, came suddenly upon a guerilla encampment, and was busily engaged in playing the eavesdropper to their camp-fire conversation when she unluckily stepped upon a brittle branch which snapped under her feet. Instantly they took the alarm, and she scarcely had time to mount her horse before they were m full chase after her. Gradually they gained upon her, when suddenly she found herself approaching, at full speed, a precipitous rock, at the foot of which meandered a small stream. It was impossible to check the head- long speed of her horse, and her pursuers were close upon her ; so, shutting her eyes, and striking the spurs deep into the animals flanks, she plunged down the mountain side. Her pursuers did not dare to follow, but standing at the top of the bluff, contented themselves with wing- ing their pistol bullets after her. Suddenly, just as she hoped that she was fairly escaped, one of her pursuers discovered a bridle path, and the chase recommenced. Pushmg hastily into the woods which lined the creek, she endeavored to regain the road to Wartrace, for she was now threatened with two dilemmas ; if daylight overtook her before she could get back to the hotel, her theft of the clothes and horse would be discovered ; and if taken by her pursuers she would inevitably be taken to Wartrace, it being the nearest town. On she rode, at full speed, until she found herself gaining upcn the rebel riders, and suddenly came upon a wounded Union cavalryman, scarce able to sit upon his horse, from the effects of a wound received while scouting, a few hours before. She at first mistook him for a " reb," but ascertaining the truth, a plan of escape flashed through NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 117 her brain, and she quickly revealed to him her sex and name, and asked his aid. The brave fellow had heard of the - Woman scout of the Cumberland," and faint and wounded as he was, gladly and bravelv offered to carry out her plan at the risk of his hfe. firing her pistol into the air, she instructed the soldier to sly to the pursuing party, who would inevitably be drawn thither by the report, that he had been met and shot by a "reb." She told him that he could not expect, from his wcunds, to escape capture, and advised him to stir himself around so as to make his wound bleed afresh He obeyed, and let himself fall off his horse, while Miss Cushman gave the animal a sharp blow which sent him flymg down the road. When the rebel horsemen galloped up to the spot, they found the soldier lying at the foot of a tree, bleeding freely, and in a state of unconscious- ness from his sudden fall, while over him bent our hem- me, pistol in hand. To their surprised and hurried query who she was, she promptly replied: " I am a farmer's son, over near Wartrace, and I surrender to you • but I have shot your best fellow, here, and only wish I had shot more of ye." To their astonished looks and questions as to what he meant, she replied in the same bitter vein ; " I mean just what I say. I am only sorry that I didn't kill more of you darned Yankees, that comes down yhere and runs all our niggers off'" Com- pletely misled by her skilful acting, the rebels now saw that the boy had mistaken them for Yankees ; and on questioning the Yankee soldier, who was gradually re- novering from his faintness, the brave fellow, true to mstructions, designated the "farmer's boy," as the ne •^ho had si ot him, " because h. was a Yankee." It now 118 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. became evident to the " rebs " that each party had mistaken the other for " Yanks ;" but for further precau- tion, Pauline was ordered to accompany them, and the wounded soldier was placed on a horse, and the party took up their march to Wartrace. This was a programme 'lot at all agreeable to her, and as they rode along through the darkness of the forest, she conceived the id^'. of creating a " scare," hoping to avail herself of the cou fusion to get jff and make her escape to Wartrace before daylight should make it too late to escape detection as a thief So as they were passing through a narrow gorge of the road, thickly overshadowed by tall forest trees, — a nice place for an ambush — she managed to fall behind the party and become hidden by a bend in the road. Then taking out her revolver, she fired five shots in rapid succession. As she expected, her rebel companions were startled. Supposing themselves ambushed by Fed- eral cavalry, fear lent a thousand terrors to their minds, and their imaginations gave new echoes to the reports of the pistol. Away they went, pell-mell, and laughing heartily at the success of her " scare," Miss Cushman rapidly galloped to Wartrace, where she luckily succeed- ed in comfortably housing her steed and in returning the borrowed clothes, without detection — and, in due time, answered the summons of the breakfast bell, as rosy and fresh-faced, and as innocent in look and manner, as if the night had been spent comfortably in her bed. After several stirring adventures at Tullahoma, where she made a short stay, she returned to Columbia, where ehe remained awhile, engaged in picking up all the in- formation which it was possible to secure. Here, too, she met Ler friends (and lovers too, if truth were spoken), NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 119 Major Boone, and Captain P. A. Blackman, rebel quarter- master, the latter of whom urged her to adopt man's apparel and join the Confederate army, with the promise of a position as his aide-de-camp, and the rank of lieu- tenant. This flattering proposition was accepted — the enamored captain forthwith ordered a complete rebel officer's uniform, and it was agreed that so soon as she should return from her proposed trip to Nashville, she phould accompany him as aide. Meanwhile, she was not slow to accept every invitation from him to ride over the neighboring country, thereby gaining that complete knowledge of camps, fortifications, and the paraphernalia of war, which was deemed essential to the new officer. It may here be noticed that Miss Cushman now departed from the strict instructions which she had received from her military superiors, not to make drawings, plans, etc., of fortifications ; and at Shelbyville and Tullahoma she made careful and accurate drawings, which she concealed between the inner and outer soles of her boot. This dereliction of duty, though intended for the best, proved the ultimate cause of the troubles and miseries which afterward befell her. On her return to the house at the crossing of the Big Harpeth river, in company with the same man who had brought her over before, he in- duced her to cross the bridge on foot, saying that the ford was impassable, owing to late rains. She did so, and instead of following by another ford, he incontinentlj disappeared, leaving her with but a small moiety of her baggage, some distance from her destination, and the night rapidly approaching. Indeed it was quite dark when she reached Milam's house, where she had spent th(» night and soli her horse before going to Columbia. 120 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. Mrs. Milam, who had before been so cordial, was now evidently suspicious, and our heroine's comfort was not increased by her interview with the husband on the following morning. He informed her that her trunks which she had left at Nashville, had been seized by Colonel Truesdail, whereupon she made a great show of pretended indignation, declaring that she would go to Nashville, " if she had to walk all the way," and get them back ; and offering to buy back her horse. Un- fortunately, her host, who had made her a confidant of his treasonable plans and acts when she was his guest on the occasion of her going to Columbia, as he thought, permanently, was suspicious of her sudden return, and by no means inclined to injure his own prospects, by helping her to return to Nashville, where, if false to her assumed character, he knew she would '' post " the au- thorities concerning him. He therefore communicated with the nearest rebel scout post, and ere long she was placed under arrest, and transferred to Anderson's Mill, where she was disarmed and examined by the ofiicer in charge. Finding that she had no '' pass," she was held as a prisoner of war, until her case could be reported to and acted upon by General Bragg. Moreover, she was not allowed to return to the house at Big Harpeth where she had left a satchel containing her rebel uniform and several articles of pressing use and value. Fortunately she had come across her horse on the road to Anderson's Mill, at the house of one De Moss, and claiming him at once, had taken possession of him, and as night closed in, she found herself again on the road, still a prisoner. About noon the next day, her guide stopped with hei for refreshment at the house of a well-known physician, NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 121 and while there, a large body of Confederate cavalry passed, under command of the famous General Morgan. His attention being called to Miss Cushman, he detailed her guard to another special duty, and took her under his own care and watch, and she enjoyed his gallant attentions until they reached Hillsboro, where she wa-^ handed over to another scout to be taken to General Forrest's headquarters. During the long ride which ensued she concocted another nice little scheme foi escape. Knowing that General Rosecrans was much dreaded by the rebels in that part of the country, who haidly knew where they might next expect an attack from him, she knew that if she could raise the cry, '' Old Rosy is coming," a gen- eral " skedaddle " would ensue, instanter. She felt sure, also, that she was not regarded as a very important political prisoner, and would probably be dropped imme- diately by her guards, in order to effect their own escape. Her horse, she noticed, stood still saddled in a small outhouse, and the storm which raged with much fury, was favorable to her project. Watching her oppor- tunity, therefore, she made friends with an aged negro man about the place, and gave him a ten dollar green- back if he would, at a proper time of night, run up the road a piece, and then back again, shouting as loud as he could, 'Hhe Yankees are coming!" Tho old ne- gro entered heartily into the plan, and carried it out successfully At the darkest hour of the stormy night, the whole "negro quarters" poured into the house where the guards and their prisoner were sleeping, and " the Yanks ! the Yanks am a-coming !" resounded from a do7,en thoroughly frightened throats. Sauve qui pent, 122 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. was the word, the rebels fled incontinently, and oui heroine, flinging herself upon her horse, sped away on tbe road to Franklin. She had provided herself, some- tiow, with a pistol belonging to a wounded rebel soldier in a house where she had stopped; and pushing her way fearlessly along she reached and passed, with peculiar adroitness, five rebel pickets, but was finally foiled and obliged to turn back before the unswervable honesty of the last picket on the road, who would not allow her to pass him without the proper document. At a house near the road, where death had bereaved the family of an infant child, the tired girl found a refuge and shelter from storm and fatigue. She was awakened from her sound slumbers the next morning by the unwelcome appearance of four of the rebel scouts from whom she had escaped the night before, and who had tracked her all the way from Hillsboro. Although she pretended to be glad to see them and ex- plained her separation from them as the result of her fears of the '' Yanks," they were neither gulled nor mollified, but gruffly ordered her to accompany them back, without even taking the breakfast which her kind hostess pressed upon them. And soon she was in the saddle, and proceeding on her journey, under the care of her scouts, who evinced more than usual watchfulness ver her. She was first taken to General Morgan, who received her with his wonted courteousness, and he ac- companied her to General Forrest's headquarters. That celebrated chief, after a trying examination, sent her, under guard, to General Bragg. On arriving at Shelby- ville, she was shown at once to the general's headquar- U^rs. which were in the heart of the camp. On entering NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 123 the was met by a small sized man, with small, dark gray eyes, iron gray hair and whiskers, and bronzed face. This was General Bragg. His manner was stern, but gentlemanly, and after glancing over the papers handed to him by her guide, he began : " Of what country are you a native. Miss Cushman ?" he asked, waving her to a chair with his hand. " I am an American, sir ; but of French and Spanish parentage," she answered. " And you were born where ?" he asked. '' In the city of New Orleans." " Hum !" ejaculated the general, doubtingly. " How comes it, then, that — that your pronunciation has the Yankee twang ?" " It comes, probably, from the fact that I am, profe& sionally, an actress," she answered promptly, '* and as I am in the habit of playing Yankee characters very fre- quently, it may be that I've caught the " twang " by it, and show it in my ordinary conversation, as well as on the stage." *'Hum!" growled the general again. "But what brought you down South ?" " I was not brought, sir ; I was sent," answered Pau- line, proudly. " By whom, may I ask. Miss Cushman ?" " By the Federal Colonel, Truesdail." "And why were you sent f" inquired Bragg, with a ely look of incredulity. " Because I gave warm utterance to my Southern feelings, and refused to take their oath of allegiance," replied our heroine, pretending to shed tears, " and a pretty way I'm paic" for it, too ' 124 NAREATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. '^ Why wouldn't you take the oath ?" persisted Bragg, apparently untouched by her youth and beauty in tears " I had declared that I wouldn't take it, and I meant to stick to my word !" replied Pauline, stoutly. The general studied the expression of her counte- nance for a moment, and then continued. " What was the main charge that the Federals made against you ?" '' I had publicly drank to the success of the South and our Confederacy. It was on the stage of the Louis- ville theatre, and I did it at the request of two paroled Confederate officers, who, if they were now here, would tell you the same thing," and our heroine related the whole occurence of the toast, etc. '' Well, what happened then?" remarked the general. " I was at once discharged from the theatre, and went to Nashville, where I got a fresh engagement, only to be sent away in turn ; for Colonel Truesdail, the chief of the Federal army police, getting wind of my Southern sen- timents, and hearing of my drinking the toast wishing success to the South, immediately ordered me to leave the Federal jurisdiction, and wouldn't even allow me to take my trunk or theatrical wardrobe with me." The perfect coherence of her story, and her appa- rently calm and truthful manner was not without its effect upon the general, who after a brief pause, during which he carefully scrutinized her, resumed in a more kindly tone : " Miss Cushman, this statement of yours may be all correct, but still I should like to have you give some vomitive proof of your loyalty to our cause ; for, as it stLnds, I must say it appears, at best, very doubtful." NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 125 •General," replied Pauline, pointedly, '^ I have been seized and bi-ought hither to meet charges laid against me, I presume ; but assuredly not to investigate and de- cide my own case. You cannot be expected to believe my statement; therefore, all I can say is, to produce your charges and the evidence, and when the examiner tion is over, I think that my loyalty to the South will shine with as bright and steady a lustre as does your own. After that, if you still doubt me, or if one sus- picion still lingers in your mind, give me a place near you in battle, and you will see that Pauline Cushman will fight as bravely and faithfully as any man in youi army." Half amused, and half convinced by this speech, the old soldier continued his searching examination, striving in every way to entrap and confuse her, and to elicit from her all the information which he could concerning the plans, movements, and operations of the Federal commanders. She, on the contrary, assumed an inno- cent appearance of ignorance on these points, although careful to speak the truth in whatever she did say. It was a keen contest of wit, and finally the general ter- minated the interview by saying, '' As for yourself. Miss Cushman, I have to tell you plainly, that there are very serious charges against you, and I must give you int<> the custody of our provost>marshal-general. Colonel McKinstry, who is, however, a very just and humane man, and who will treat you kindly. Your subsequent fate will depend entirely upon the result of our inves- tigation." " Colonel McKinstry is, then, precisely the man I de- sire to see for thro igh him will the proofs of my guilt. li56 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. leissness of these charges appear," rejoined Miss Cush man, boldly, " and if they are proved false, how then, general ?" '' You will be acquitted with honor," replied he. " How, though, if I am found guilty ?" "You know the penalty inflicted upon convicted i»pies. If found guilty, you will be hanged," replied the general, dryly. Leaving Bragg, she was taken before Colonel McKins- try and there subjected to another strict examination, in which she was interrogated concerning the manner in which she became possessed of the Confederate uniform found among her effects when captured. To this she answered frankly, although, to her annoyance, it caused the instant issue of an order for the arrest of the gallant captain who had procured it for her. But, finally, the colonel produced from his desk the plans, maps, and doc- uments which she had abstracted from the rebel engi- neer's table at Columbus, together with the sketches and memoranda that she had made, of various fortifications at Tullahoma, Shelbyville, Spring Hill, etc. Staggered almost to faintness by the sight of these tell-tale docu- ments which she had placed in the soles of her gaiters, and which had been purloined from her satchel, left in the hurried flight from Hillsboro, she yet assumed a light demeanor and admitted that she made the sketches. She stoutly asserted, however, with a laugh, that they were mere fancy sketches, " gotten up with the idea of stuffing the Yankees when she should find herself among them, so that she should be permitted to recover her theatrical wardrobe." The colonel, although surprised at her consummate and audacious acting, was too old a NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 127 bird to be caught iti that way, and remanded her to custody. She was taken to the house of a Mr. Morgan, near Duck river, where she was carefully guarded in a room fitted up as a dungeon, with barred windows and doubly fastened doors. Hers was now a truly distressing and apparently hopeless case. Under the long protracted suspense as to her ultimate fate, added to the great privations and fatigues which she had previously gone through, she fell seriously ill ; and the discomforts of her situation— sick and helpless, surrounded by foes and strangers— can hardly be described by tongue or pen. Long, weary days she lay thus, at the very verge of death— the court-martial which had been appointed to investigate her case had not yet been able to agree upon a verdict, and imagination added its horrors to the dread reality of her situation. Ten days thus passed, with the dread of death in its most ignominious form, hanging, like the sword of Damocles, ever above her head. Finally, Captain Pedden brought to her the unwelcome news which he tenderly broke to her, that she had been found Guilty and that she was condemned to be hanged as a SPY. The situation of our heroine, mental and physical, was now deplorable in the extreme. Condemned to death upon the gallows, surrounded by foes, with her fate unknown, even to her friends, hers was indeed a position to shake the hearts of the strongest and firmest. Yet there was a small ray of hope that illumined the darkness of this dismal prospect, and that was that, as she was still confined to her bed by the deepest physical prostration, the rebels would scar ely drag her from there to tbf gallows; and there was a slight chance that. 128 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. during the brief respite thus afforded, some change of the military situation might yet afford relief to her. She well knew that Shelbyville, where she then was, was the objective point of the Union army of the Southwest, and they might reach there in time to save her from her horrid fate. Yet the chances which were thus suggested, were too slight to encourage our heroine, who had made up her mind heroically to meet her fate; and she met her fearful situation with an angelic courage and sweet- ness which won the love of the few friends whom she had drawn to her during her imprisonment. Slowly and surely the Union army advanced on its glorious career, and soon Miss Cushman's guards and the Confederate army generally, began to show evident signs of evacuating Shelbyville. Finally it was decided by a council of war to retreat, and what a thrill of mingled hope and joy ran through Miss Cushman's veins as her friends announced to her that she would have to be left behind, as she was too weak to be moved. Before leav- ing the town, however, she was removed to a more com- fortable house, and left in the hands of an excellent physician, who was Union at heart. At length it was rumoied that a large body of Federals was just outside the town : then followed the battle of Shelbyville, and ere long the streets of that town echoed to the tread of the Union army and the peal of its bugles. It was a moment of supremest joy and ecstacy to the wan and feeble girl, who felt new life surging through every vein, and springing from her bed, she staggered to the oper window, despite the remonstrances of her kind hostess A.8 the blessed certainty came upon her, that the Union la^ once more waved ov* r the town, and that she wa* NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 12!> »^A the fictitious strength which excitement had lent her gave way to weakness, and she sank to the floor, over- come by joy and happiness. Ere the close of that happy day, Generals Granger and Mitchell called upon her and expressed the liveliest interest in her situation ; the brave soldiers heard of the noble woman whom they had thus opportunely saved from a terrible death, and, on every hand, she received the most tender and convincing tokens of the general esteem in which she was held. At eleven o'clock the next morning, in the general's own ambulance, well stocked with all the comforts and necessaries which the generosity and courtesy of her new friends could suggest, she left ShelbyviUe m rmite to Murfreesboro. There a day and a night's rest enabled her to take the cars to Nashville ; and under the care of an officer of General Granger's staff, who had himself done her the honor of attending her thus far, she begati her return journey to that city. On her arrival thero, she was waited upon by the most distinguish^ generals of the army, and by others less prominent— all of whom, however, were united in treating her with a delicate and even affectionate courtesy, which left her no comfort to be desired but the boon of absolute health. As a deserved and appropriate acknowledgment of the great serviced which this brave girl had rendered the Union cause, she was, through the efforts of Generals Granger and Gai^ field, honored with the commission and rank of a major of cavalry, with full and special permission to wear the equipment and insignia of her new rank. The ^.adies of Nashville, hearing of her promotion, and deeply sensible of the honor thus conferred upon one of their own sex, prepared a costlv riding-habit, trimmed in miUtary style! / iSO NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. with dainty shoulder-straps, and presented the dress ti. the gallant major with all the customary honors. Amusing Instance of Rebel Desertion. — After the recent advance of our army upon Bragg at Tullahoma, And his retreat, the Pioneer Brigade pushed on to Elk river to repair a bridge. While one of its men, a private, was bathing in the river, five of Bragg's soldiers, guns in hand, came to the bank and took aim at the swimmer, one of them shouting : "Come in here, you Yank, out of the wet!" The Federal was quite sure that he was " done for," and at once obeyed the order. After dressing himself, he was thus accosted : " You surrender, our prisoner, do you ?" " Yes ; of course I do." ' That's kind. Now we'll surrender to you !" And •he five stacked arms before him, their spokesman Adding — •• We've done with 'em, and have said to old Bragg, • good-by !' Secesh is played out. Now you surround us and take us into your camp." This was done accordingly, and is but one of hundreds ol instances of wholesale desertion coming to the know- ledge of our officers during two months- -July and August — in Lower Tennessee. NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DEThCT[VES. 131 KELLER OR KILLDARE. ONI OF THE SCOUTS OF THE AEMY OF THE CUMBL,Ri*AND. Keller, or as he was usually called in the Army .>( the Cumberland, Killdare, was of German, and per haps Jewish extraction, and during the first eighieen months of the war had been concerned with Besthoff, and three Jews by the names of Friedenburg, in smuggling goods into rebeldom, but being arrested in connection with them, it appeared that he had not been as guilty as the others, and that what he had done had been rather to support his family than from a desire to aid the rebels. He was therefore released, and being offered an appointment as scout in the Union service, he accepted it and was of great service to the Union cause. In March 1863, he left Nashville on horseback, with a small stock of goods, not exceeding one hundred dol- lars in value, with the intention of making his way intolice office and inquired for Judge Brien, an em- ployee of the office. The two, it seems, were old ac- quaintances, and for some time maintained a friendly conversation in the presence of Colonel Truesdail. The visitor, whose name was Stewart, having taken his leave, Brien remarked to the Colonel : " There is a young man who can do us a great deal of good." " Do you know him?" said the colonel. '' Very well. He talks right." The result was that Stewart and Colonel Truesdail 80on afterward had a private conversation in reference to the matter. Stewart stated that he lived about two miles from the city upon his plantation, that he was intimate with many prominent secessionists, was regarded as a good Southern man, and could go any- where within the lines of the Confederacy. The col- onel replied that he was in want of just such a man, and that he could be the means of accomplishing great good. It was an office, however, of vast responsibility, and, if he should be employed, he would be required to take a very stringent and solemn oath, which was read to him. To all this Stewart assented, and took the oath, only stipulating that he should never be mentioned as having any connection with the pohce office. He was consequently employed, and told to go to work at once. For a time all seemed well enough. One or two minor cases of smuggling were developed by him. He subse- quently reported that he had become acquainted with the cashier of the Plantos' Bank, and a Mrs. Bradford, NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 139 who lived five miles from the city, and made herself very busy in carrying letters, in which she was aided by Cantrell, the cashier. He was also in the habit of meeting large numbers of secessionists, among whom was Archy Cheatham. He also was a member of a club or association which met every Saturday, to devise ways and means for aiding the rebellion, and at which Mrs. Bradford and Cantrell were constant attendants. One day he reported that Mrs. Bradford was just going to carry out what was ostensibly a barrel of flour, but really a barrel of contraband goods covered over with flour at each end. And so it went on from week to week. Somebody was just going to do something, but never did \t, or was never detected ; and, despite the many fair promises of Stewart, the results of his labors were not deemed satisfactory. On the night that Killdare came in from his last trip, Stewart was at the office. Something was evidently wrong, and Stewart soon left. To some natural inquirie?" of the colonel, Killdare answered, excitedly : ''Somebody has nearly ruined me, colonel!" " How is that, and who can it be ?" " Well, I am sure that it is a man by the name of Stewart and Archy Cheatham who have done the mis- chief Cheatham has been out in the country some fourteen miles, and there he met Lieutenant Johnston, whom he told that I was disloyal to the Confederacy, and one of your spies. The result was that I was arrested, and came near — altogether too near hanginjj for comfort. Johnson telegraphed to Van Dorn that he had 'aught me, but I got away ; and to make a long 140 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. storj short, I have been arrested and have escaped three times." This opened the colonel's eyes somewhat, and inqui- ries were at once set on foot, which disclosed the fact that Stewart was a rebel of the deepest dye, and had been " playing off" all the time. It was found that he had not only informed Cheatham of Killdare's business and position, but had himself been out in the country some fourteen miles, and had told the neighbors that Killdare had gone south in Truesdail's employ. He told the same thing to two guerillas whom he met, and even taunted Killdare's children by saying that he knew where their father had gone. The colonel, for once, had been thoroughly deceived by appearances ; but it was the first and last time. After a month or six weeks' search, Stewart was found and committed to the peniten- tiary; and before he leaves that institution it is by no means improbable that he will have ample time and opportunity to conclude that his operations, though sharp and skilful, were not of the most profitable character. A Fighting Parson. — Colonel Granville Moody, of the Seventy-fourth Ohio, is a famous Methodist preacher from Cincinnati. He is something over fifty, six feet and two or three inches, of imposing presence, with a fine, genial face and prodigious vocal range. The reverend colonel, who proved himself a fighting parson of the first water, was hit four times at the battle of Murfreesboro, and will carry the marks of battle when he goes back to the altar. His benevolence justifies his military flock NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS. AND DETECTIVES. 141 in the indulgence of sly humor at his expense ; but he never permits them to disturb his equanimity. Several battle anecdotes of him are well authenticated. Not long ago, General Negley merrily accused hun of using heterodox expletives in the ardor of conflict. "Is it a fact, colonel," inquired the general, "that you told the boys to ^ give'em hell' ?" '■^ How ?" replied the colonel, reproachfully : " that's some more of the boys' mischief. I told them to give the rebels '■ Hail Columbia ;' and they have perverted my language." The parson, however, had a sly twinkle in the corner f)f his eye, which left his hearers in considerable doubt. Our Western circuit preachers are known as stentors Where others are emphatic, they roar in the fervor of exhortation, especially when they come in with their huge "Amen." This fact must be borne in mind to appreciate the story. The colonel's mind was saturated with piety and fight. He had already had one bout with the rebels, and given them "Hail Columbia." They were renewing the attack. The colonel braced himself for the shock. Seeing his line in fine order, he thought he would exhort them briefly. The rebels were coming swiftly. Glancing first at the foe, then at the lads, he said, quietly, " Now, my boys, fight for your country and your God," and, raising his voice to thunder-tones, he exclaimed, in the same breath, " Aim low !" Says one of his gallant fellows, " I thought for an instant it was a frenzied ejaculation from the profoundest depths of the ' Amen corner.' " Any day now you may hear the lads of the Seventy-fourth roaring, " Fight for your country and your God — aim low !" ii'2 J4ARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. A DARING SCOUT AND SPY. Among the Union men and officers in our armies^ none have been more earnest in their patriotism, or more ready to do and dare every thing for the Union cause, than some of the citizens and natives of Southern States. To be a Union man in the Southern Atlantic or Gulf States, meant, unless the man's social position was of the very highest, to be a martyr ; to be robbed, persecuted, stripped of all the comforts of life, deprived of a home, and often to be conscripted, imprisoned, shot, hung, or to suffer a thousand deaths in the tortures and indignities inflicted on his helpless family. Yet, with all this before them, many Southern men dared to be true to their allegiance to the National Government, and to enter its service. As was to be expected, these men proved the most serviceable and fearless of the Union scouts and spies. Their familiarity with the country was of great service to them, and the remembrance oi the wrongs they had endured fired them with an energy and zeal, and a desire to punish the foe, which rendered them invaluable. Among the men of this class who have rendered most efficient service to the national cause, was a young Georgian, born of Scotch parents, near Augusta, Georgia, in the year 1832. His real name was concealed, in consequence of the peril which would have accrued to his relatives, had it been known ; but he was known to some extent in the Union army as John Morford. A blacksmith by trade, he early engaged in railrDad work, and at the opening of the war was master mechanic upon one of the Southern railroads. NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 143 He was a decided Union man, and made no secret of his opinions, and was in consequence discharged from his situation, and not allowed employment upon any other railroad. Morgan's cavalry was also sent to his farm, and stripped it; and when he applied to the guerilla leader for pay for the property thus taken, he was told he should have it if he would only prove his loyalty to the South. As he would not do this, Morgan cursed and abused him, threatened to have him shot, and tinally sent him under arrest to one Major Peyton. The major endeavored, but without any success, to convince him that the cause of the South was right; but Morford proving firm to his Union sentiments, he began to threaten him, declaring that he should be hung within two weeks. Morford coolly replied that he was sorry for that, as he should have preferred to live a little longer, but if it must be so, he couldn't help it. Find- ing him unterrified, Peyton cooled down, and finally told him that if he would give a bond of one thousand dollars, as security for his good behavior, and take the oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy, he would release him and protect his property. After some hesi- tation — no other plan of escape occurring to him — Mor- ford assented, and took the required oath, upon the back of which Peyton wrote, '* If you violate this, I will hang you." With this safeguard, Morfoid returned to his farm and lived a quiet life. Buying a span of horses, he devoted himself to the cultivation of his land, seeing as few per- sons as he could, and talking with none. His house had previously been the headquarters of the Union men, but was now deserted by them ; and its owner endeavored 144 NARRATITES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND D^fECTIVES. to live up to the letter of the obligation he had taken. For a short time all went well enough ; but one day a squad of cavalry came with a special written order from Major Peyton to take his two horses, which they did. This was too much for human nature; and Morford, perceiving that no faith could be placed in the assur- ances of those in command, determined to be revenged upon them and their cause. His house again became a secret rendezvous for Unionists ; and by trusty agents he managed to send regular and valuable information to General Buell — then in command in Tennessee. At length, however, in May, 1862, he was betrayed by one in whom he had placed confidence, and arrested upon the charge of sending information to General Crittenden, at Battle Creek. He indignantly deiiied the charge, and declared that he could easily prove himself inno- cent if released for that purpose. After three days' con- finement, this was assented to ; and Morford, knowing full well that he could not do what he had promised, made a hasty retreat and fled to the mountains, whence, some days afterward, he emerged, and went to McMinn- ville, at which place General Nelson was then in com- mand. Here he remained until the rebel force left that vicinity, when he again went home, and lived undis- turbed upon his farm until Bragg returned with his army. The presence in the neighborhood of so many officers cognizant of his former arrest and escape ren- dered flight a second time necessary. He now went to the camp of General Donelson, with whom he had some acquaintance, and soon became very friendly there — acting the while in the double capacity of beef contractor NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. U5 for the rebel army, and spy for General Crittenden. Leaving General Donelson after some months' stay, although earnestly requested to remain longer, Morford next found his way to Nashville, where he made numer- ous expeditions as a spy for General Negley. Buell was at Louisville, and Nashville was then the Federal out- post. Morford travelled about very readily upon passes given him by General Donelson, making several trips to Murfreesboro, and one to Cumberland Gap. Upon his return from the latter, he was arrested near Lebanon, Tennessee, about one o'clock at night, by a party of four soldiers upon picket duty at that point Halting him, the following conversation occurred : '' Where do you live ?" " Near Stewart's Ferry, between here and Nashville.** " Where have you been, and what for?" " Up to see my brother, to get from him some jeans cloth and socks for another brother in the Confederate army." " How does it happen you are not in the army your- self? That looks rather suspicious." *^0h, I live too near the Federal lines to be conscripted.** " Well, we'll have to send you to Murfreesboro. 1 reckon you're all right ; but those are our orders, and we can't go behind them." To this Morford readily consented, saying he had no objection; and the party sat down by the fire and talked in a friendly manner for some time. Morford soon re- membered that he had a bottle of brandy with him, and generously treated the crowd. Further conversation was followed by a second drink, and soon by a third. One of the party now proposed to exchange his Rosinant- 10 146 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. ish mare for a fine horse which Morford rode. Thtj latter was not inclined to trade ; but objection was use- less, and he finally yielded, receiving seventy-five dollars in Confederate money and the mare. The trade pleased the soldier, and a present of a pair of socks still further enhanced his pleasure. His companions were also simi- larly favored, and testified their appreciation of the gift by endeavoring to purchase the balance of Morford's stock. He would not sell, however, as he wished to send them to his brother at Richmond, by a person who had given public notice that he was soon going there. A. fourth drink made all supremely happy : at which juncture their prisoner asked permission to go to a friend's house, only a quarter of a mile off, and stay Qutil morning, when he would go with them to Murfrees- boro. His friend of the horse-trade, now very mellow, thought he need not go to Murfreesboro at all, and said he would see what the others said about it. Finally it was concluded that he was " right," and might; where- upon he mounted the skeleton mare and rode rejoicingly into Nashville. On his next trip southward he was arrested by Colonel John T. Morgan, just as he came out of the Federal lines, and, as his only resort, joined Forrest's command, and was furnished with a horse and gun. The next day Forrest made a speech to his men, and told them that they were now going to capture Nashville. The column immediately began its march, and Morford, by some means, managed to have himself placed in the advance. Two miles below Lavergne a halt for the night waa made ; but Morford's horse was unruly, and could not be stopped, carrying its rider ahead and out of sight, ll NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND OETECTIVES. 147 is needless to say that this obstinacy was not overcome until Nashville was reached, nor that, when Forrest came the next day, General Negley was amply prepared for him. At this time Nashville was invested. Buell was known to be advancing toward the city, but no scouts had been able to go to or come from him. A handsome reward was offered to any one who would carry a despatch safely through to Bowling Green, and Morford undertook to do it. Putting the document under the lining of his boot, he started for Gallatin, where he arrived . afely. For some hours he sauntered around the place, lounged in and out of bar rooms, made friends with the rebel soldiers, and toward evening purchased a small bag of corn meal, a bottle of whiskey, a pound or two of salt, and some smaller articles, which he threw across his shoulder and started up the Louisville road, with hat on one side, hair in admirable disorder, and, ap^)arently, gloriously drunk. The pickets jested at and made sport of him, but permitted him to pass. The meal, etc., was car- ried six miles, when he suddenly became sober, dropped it, and hastened on to Bowling Green, and there met General Rosecrans, who had just arrived. His information was very valuable. Here he remained until the army came up and passed on, and then set out on his return on foot, as he had come. He supposed that our forces had gone by way of Gallatin, but when near that place learned that it was still in possession of the rebels, and so stopped for the night in a shanty between Morgan's pickets, on the north side, and Woolford's (Union), on the south side. During the night the two had a fight, which finally centered around the shanty, and resulted in drivino Morford to the woods. In two or three hours he came 148 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. back for his clothes, and found that the contending parties had disappeared, and that the railroad tunnels had been filled with wood and fired. Hastily gathering his effects together, he made his way to Tyree Springs, and thence to Nashville. For a short time he acted as a detective of the army police at Nashville, assuming the character of a rebel soldier, and living in the families of prominent secession- ists. In this work he was very successful ; but it had too little of danger and adventure, and he returned again to scooting, making several trips southward, sometimes without trouble, but once or twice being arrested and escaping as best he could. In these expeditions he visited McMinnville, Murfreesboro, Altamont, on the Cumberland mountains, Bridgeport, Chattanooga, and other places of smaller note. He travelled usually in the guise of a smuggler, actually obtaining orders for goods from prominent rebels, and sometimes the money in advance, filling them in Nashville, and delivering the articles upon his next trip. Just before the battle of Stone river, he received a large order to be filled for the rebel hospitals; went to Nashville, procured the medicine, and returned to McMinnville, where he delivered some of it. Thence he travelled to Brady ville, and thence to Murfreesboro, arriving there just as the battle began. Presenting some of the surgeons with a supply of mor- phine, he assisted them in attending the wounded for a day or two, and then went to a hospital tent in the woods near the railroad, where he also remained one day and part of another. The fight was now getting hot, and, fearful that somebody would recognize him, he \eh Murfreesboro on Friday, and went to McMinnville NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 149 fle had been there but little more than an hour, having barely time to put up his horse and step into a house near by to see some wounded men, when two soldiers arrived in search of him. Their description of him was perfect; but he escaped by being out of sight — the friend with whom he was supposed to be, declaring, though closely questioned, that he had not seen and knew nothing of him. In a few minutes pickets were thrown out around the town, and it was two days before he could get away. Obtaining a pass to Chattanooga at last, only through the influence of a lady acquaintance, with it he passed the guards ; but when once out of sight, turned off from the Chattanooga road and made his way safely to Nashville. General Rosecrans was now in possession of MurfreeS' boro, and thither Morford proceeded with some smuggler's goods, with a view to another trip. The necessary per- mission was readily obtained, and he set out for Wood- bury. Leaving his wagon outside the rebel lines, he proceeded on foot to McMinnville, arriving there on the 19th of January 1863, and finding General John H Morgan, to whom he represented himself as a former resident in the vicinity of Woodbury ; his family, how- ever, had moved away, and he would like permission to take his wagon and bring away the household goods. This was granted, and the wagon brought to McMinn- ville, whence Morford went to Chattanooga, representing himself along the road as a fugitive from the Yankees. Near Chattanooga he began selling his goods to Union ists and rebels alike, at enormous prices, and soon closed them out at a profit of from four hundred to five hund •ed dollars. At Chattanooga he remained a few 150 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. days, obtained all the information he could, and returned to Murfreesboro without trouble. His next and last trip is the most interesting and daring of all his adventures. Making a few days' stay in Murfreesboro, he went to McMinnville, and remained there several days, during which time he burned Hickory Creek bridge, and sent a report of it to General Rosecrans. This he managed with so much secrecy and skill as to escape all suspicion of complicity in the work, mingling freely with the citizens and talking the matter over in all its phases. From McMinnville Morford proceeded to Chattanooga, and remained there nearly a week, when he learned that three of our scouts were imprisoned in the Hamilton county jail, at Harrison, Tennessee, and were to be shot on the first Friday in May. Determined to attempt their rescue, he sent a Union man to the town to ascertain who was jailer, what the number of the guards, how they were placed, and inquire into the condition of things in general about the jail. Upon receipt of his report, Morford gathered about him nine Union men, on the night of Tuesday, April 21, 1863, and started for Harrison. Before reaching the place, however, they heard rumors that the guard had been greatly strengthened ; and, fearful that it would prove too powerful for them, the party retreated to the mountains on the north side of the Tennessee river, where they remained concealed until Thursday night. On Wednesday night the same man who had previously gone to (he town was again sent to reconnoitre the position. Thursday morning he returned and said that the story of a strong guard was all false : there were but two in addition to the jailer NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 151 Morford's part} was now reduced to six, including himself; but he resolved to make the attempt that night. Late in the afternoon all went down to the river and loitered around until dark, when they procured boats and crossed to the opposite bank. Taking the Chattanooga and Harrison road, they entered the town, looked around at leisure, saw no soldiers nor any thing unusual, and proceeded toward the jail. Approaching quite near, they threw themselves upon the ground and sur- veyed the premises carefully. The jail was surrounded by a high board fence, in which were two gates. Morford's plan of operations was quickly arranged. Making a prisoner of one ol his own men, he entered the enclosure, posting a sentinel at each gate. Once inside, a light was visible in the jail, and Morford marched confidently up to the door and rapped. The jailer thrust his head out of a window and asked what was wanted. He was told, " Here is a prisoner to put in the jail." Apparently satisfied, the jailer soon opened the door and admitted the twain into the entry. In a moment, however, he became alarmed, and hastily ex- claiming, " Hold on !" stepped out. For ten minutes Morford waited patiently for his return, supposing, of course, that he could not escape from the yard, both gates being guarded. Not making his appearance, it was found that the pickets had allowed him to pass them. This rather alarming fact made haste necessary, and Morford, returning to the jail, said he must put his prisoner in immediately, and demanded the keys forthwith. The women declared in positive terms that they hadn't them, and did not know where they were. One of the guards was discovered in bed 152 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, S(X)UTS, AND DETECTIVES. and told to get the keys. Proving rather noisy and saucy, he was reminded that he might get his head taken oflf if he were not quiet — which intimation effectually silenced him. Morford again demanded the keys, and the women, somewhat frightened, gave him the key to the outside door. Unlocking it, and lighting up the place with candles, he found himself in a room around the sides of which was ranged a line of wrought- iron cages. In one of these were five persons, four white and one negro. Carrying out the character he had assumed of a rebel soldier in charge of a prisoner, Morford talked harshly enough to the caged men, and threatened to hang them at once, at which they were very naturally alarmed, and began to beg for mercy. For a third time the keys to the inner room, in which the scouts were, were demanded, and a third time the women denied having them. An axe was then ordered to be brought, but there was none about the place : so said they. Morford saw that they were trifling with him, and determined to stop it. Snatching one of the jailer's boys standing near by the collar, and draw- ing his sabre, he told him he would cut his head off if he did not bring him an axe in two minutes. This had the desired effect, and the axe was forthcoming. Morford now began cutting away at the lock, when he was startled by hearing the word " halt !" at the gate. Of his five men two were at the gates, two were inside as a guard, and one was holding the light. Ready for a fight he went out to see what was the matter. The sentinel reporting that he had halted an armed man outside, Morford walked out to l^m and demanded : " What are you doing here with that gun ?" NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 153 " Miss Laura said you were breaking down the jail, and I want to see McAllister, the jailer. Where is he ?" was the reply. " Well, suppose I am breaking down the jail : what are you going to do about it ?" " I am going to stop it if I can." " What's your name ?" " Lowry Johnson." By this time Morford had grasped the muzzle of the gun, and told him to let go. Instead of complying, Johnson tried to pull it away ; but a blow upon the neck from Morford's sabre soon made him drop it. Morford now began to search him for other weapons, but before he had concluded the operation Johnson broke away, leaving a part of his clothing in Morford's hands. The latter drew his revolver and pursued, firing five shots at him, sometimes at a distance of only six or eight paces. A cry, as of pain, showed that he was struck, but he managed to reach the hotel (kept by his brother), and, bursting in the door, which was fastened, escaped into the house. Morford followed, but too late. Johnson's brother now came out and rang the bell in front, which gathered a crowd about the door ; but Morford, not at all daunted, told them that if they wanted to guard the jail they had better be about it quick, as he was going to burn it and the town in the bargain. This so fright- ened them that no further demonstration was made, and Morford returned to the jail unmolested. There he and his men made so much shouting and hurrahing as to frighten the people of the town beyond measure ; and many lights from upper story windows were extin- guished, and the streets were deserted. 154 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. A half hour's work was necessary to break off the out- side lock — a splendid burglar-proof one. Morford now discovered that the door was double, and tiiat the inner one was made still more secure by being barred with three heavy log chains. These were cut in two with the axe ; but the strong lock of the door still remained. He again demanded the key, and told the women if it was not produced he would murder the whole of them. The rebel guard, Lew. Luttrell by name, was still in bed. Rising up, he said that the key was not there. Morford now ordered Luttrell to get out of bed, in a tone so authoritative that that individual deemed it advisable tc comply. Scarcely was he out, however, before Morford struck at him ^ith his sabre ; but he was too far off, and the blow fell upon one of the children, drawing some blood. This frightened the women, and, concluding that he was about to put his threat in execution and would murder them surely enough, they produced the key without further words. No time was lost in unlock- ing the door and releasing the inmates of the room. Procuring their clothes for them, and arming one with Johnson's gun, the whole party left the jail and hurried oward the river. Among the released prisoners was a "ebel with a wooden leg, the original having been shot ff at Manassas. He persisted in accompanying the 'thers, and was only induced to go back by the mtima- tion that " dead men tell no tales." Crossing the river in the boats, they were moved to another place at some distance, to preclude the possibil- ity of being tracked and followed. All now hid them- selves among the mountains, and the same Union man was again sent to Harrison, this time to see how severely NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 155 Johnson was wounded. He returned in a day or two, and reported that he had a severe sabre cut on the shoulder, a bullet through the muscle of his right arm, and two slight wounds in one of his hands. Morford and his men remained in the mountains until all search for the prisoners was over, then went to the Cumberland mountains, where they remained one day and a portion of another, and then proceeded in the direction of McMinnville. Hiding themselves in the woods neai this place during the day, seeing but not seen, they travelled that night to within eleven miles of Woodbury, when they struck across the road from McMiuiiville to Woodbury. Near Logan's Plains they were fired on by a body of rebel cavalry, but, though some forty shots were fired, no one of the ten was harmed, Morford hav- ing one bullet hole in his coat. The cavalry, however, pursued them across the barrens, surrounded them, and supposed themselves sure of their game : but Morford and his companions scattered and hid away, not one being captured or found. Night coming on, the cavalry gave up the chase, and went on to Woodbury, where they threw out pickets, not doubting that they would pick up the objects of their search during the night. Morford, however, was informed of this fact by a citizen, and, in consequence, lay concealed all the next day, making his way safely to Murfreesboro, with all of his company, the day after. General Palmer and the Hog. — Early one morning in 1862, while at Farmington, near Corinth, Mississippi, as Brigadier- (now Major-) General Palmer was riding 156 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. along his lines to inspect some breastworks that had been thrown up during the previous night, he came suddenly upon some of the boys of Company I, Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, who had just shot a two-hundred-pound hog, and were engaged in the interesting process of skinning it. The soldiers were startled ; their chief looked astonished and sorrowful. " Ah ! a body — a corpse. Some poor fellow gone to his last home. "Well, he must be buried with military honors. Sergeant, call the officer of the guard." The officer was speedily at hand, and received orders to have a grave dug and the body buried forthwith. The grave was soon prepared, and then the company were mustered. Pall-bearers placed the body of the dead upon a stretcher. The order was given to march, and, with reversed arms and funeral tread, the solemn procession of sixty men followed the body to the grave. Not a word passed nor a muscle of the face stirred while the last rites of sepulture were being performed. The ceremony over, the general and his staff waved theii adieux, and were soon lost in the distance. The philosophy of the soldier is usually equal to the emergency. He has read and pondered. He new painfully realizes that flesh is as grass, and that life is but a shadow. But he thinks of the resurrection^ and his gloom passes away. So with the philosophic boys of Company I, Twenty-seventh Illinois. Ere their general was fairly seated at his own breakfast-table, there was a raising of the dead, and savory pork steaks were frying in many a camp pan. NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 157 SCOUTING IN EAST TENNESSEE. Edmund Kirke (Mr. J. R Gilmore), who has ex- plored extensively the regions desolated by the war, thus narrates one )f the adventures of a Union East Tennessean, who had been acting as a scout for General Rosecrans, in his little volume " Down in Tennessee :" I was dreaming of home, and of certain flaxen-haired juveniles who are accustomed to call me "Mister Papa," when a heavy hand was laid on my shoulder, and a gruff voice said : " Doan't want ter 'sturb yer, stranger, but thar haiut nary nother sittin'-place in the whole kear." I drew in my extremities, and he seated himself before me. He was a spare, muscular man of about forty, a little above the medium height, with thick, sandy hair and beard, and a full, clear, gray eye. There was nothing about him to attract particular attention except his clothing, but that was so out of all keeping with the place and the occasion, that I opened my eyes to their fullest extent, and scanned him from head to foot. He wore the gray uniform of a secession officer, and in the breast of his coat, right over his heart, was a round hole, scorched at the edges, and darkly stained with blood ! Over his shoulder was slung a large army revolver, and at his side, in a leathern sheath, hung a weapon that seemed a sort of cross between a bowie» knife and a butcher's cleaver. On his head, surmounted by a black plume, was a moose-colored slouched hat. 1 08 NARRATIVES OF SriES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. and falling from beneath it, and tied under his chin, was a white cotton handkerchief stiffly saturated with blood ! Nine motley-clad natives, all heavily armed, had entered with him and taken the vacant s(?ats around me, and at first view I was inclined to believe that in my sleep the train had gone over to the enemy and left me in the hands of the Philistines. I was, however quickly reassured, for, boking about, I discovered the Union guard and my fellow-travellers all in their pre- vious places, and as unconcerned as if no unusual thing had happened. Still, it seemed singular that no officer had the new-comer in charge ; and more singular that any one in the uniform he wore should be allowed to carry arms so freely about him. After awhile, having gleaned all the knowledge of him that my eyes could obtain, I said in a pleasant tone : '' Well, my friend, you appear to take things rather coolly." " Oh, yes, sir ! I orter. I've been mighty hard put, but I reckon I'm good fur a nother pull now.'* " Where are you from ?" '^ Fentress county, nigh outer Jim town (Jamestown). ['m scoutin' it fur Burnside — runnin' boys inter camp ; but these fellers wanted ter jine Gunnel Brownlow — the old parson's son — down ter Triune. We put plumb fur Nashville, but bed ter turn norard, case the brush down thar ar thick with rebs. They'd like ter a hed us." "Oh, then you wear that uniform as a disguise on scouting expeditions ?" " No, sir ; I never hed sech a rig on afore. I allers shows the true flag, an' thar haint no risk, 'case, ye see, the whole deestrict down thar ar Union folks, an' ary NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. one on 'em would house'n me ef all Buckner's army wufe at my heels. But this time they run me powerful close, an' I hed to show the secesh rags." As he said this, he looked down on his clean, unworn suit of coarse gray with ineffable contempt , '' And how could you manage to live with such a hole there ?" I asked, pointing to the bullet rent in his coat '' Oh ! I warn't inside of 'em just then, though I war- rant me he war a likely feller thet war. I ortent ter a done hit — but I hed ter. This war he ;" and taking from his side pocket a small miniature, he handed it to me. It was a plain circlet of gold, attached to a piece of blue ribbon. One side of the rim was slightly clipped, as if it had been grazed by the passing ball, and the upper portion of the ivory was darkly stained with blood; but enough of it was unobscured to show me the features of a young man, with dark, flowing hair, and a full, frank, manly face. With a feeling akin to horror I was handing the picture back to the scout, when, in low, stammering tones, he said to me : " 'Tother side, sir ! Luk at 'tother side." I turned it over, and saw the portrait of a young woman, scarcely more than seventeen. She had a clear, transparent skin, regular, oval features, full, swimming, black eyes, and what must have been dark, wavy, brown hair, but changed then to a deep auburn by the red stains that tinged the upper part of the picture. With intense loathing, I turned almost fiercely on the scout, and exclaimed : " And you killed that man ?" " Yes, sir, God forgiv me — I done hit. But I couldn't holp hit. He hed me down — he'd cut me thar," turning up his sleeve, and displaying a deep wound on his arm; 160 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. " an' thar !" removing the bandage, and showing a long gash back of his ear. " His arm wus riz ter strike agin — ^in another minhit he'd hev cluv my brain. I seed hit, sir, an' I fired ! God forgiv me, I fired ! I wouldn't a done hit ef I'd a knowed thet," and he locked down on the face of the sweet young girl, and the moisture came into his eyes : " I'd hev shot 'im somewhar but yere — somewhar but yereT and laying his hand over the rent in his coat, he groaned as if he felt the wound. With that blood-stained miniature in my hand, and listening to the broken words of that ignorant scout, I realized the horrible barbarity of war. After a pause of some minutes, he resumed the con- versation. " They killed one on our boys, sir." "Did they! How was it?" " Wal, sir, ye see they b'long round the Big Fork, in Scott county; and bein's I war down thar, an' they know'd I war a runnin' recruits over the mountins ter Bumside, they telled me they wanted me ter holp 'em git 'long with the young cunnel. They'd ruther a no- tion ter him — an' he ar a feller thet haint grow'd every- whar — 'sides all the folks down thar swar by the old parson." " Well, they ought to, for he's a trump," I remarked, good-humoredly, to set the native more at his ease. " Ye kin bet high on thet ; he haint nothin' else," he »''^T)lied, leaning forward and regarding me with a pleased, kindly expression. " Every un down my way used tei take his paper; thet an' the Bible war all they ever seed, an' they reckoned one war 'bout so good as 'tother. Wall, the boys thort I could git 'em through — an' bein'e NARRATIYES OF SPIES ".COUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 161 it made no odds to me whar they jined, so long as they did jine, I greed ter du hit. We put out ten days, yisterday — twelve on 'em, an' me — an' struck plumb for Nashville. We lay close daytimes, 'case, though every hous'n ar Union, the kentry is swarmin' with Buckner's men, an' we know'd they'd let slide on us jest so soon as they could draw a bead. We got 'long right smart till we fotched the Roaring river, nigh onter Livingston We'd 'quired, an' hedn't heerd uv ary rebs bein' round ; so, foolhardy like, thet evenin' we tuk ter the road 'fore hit war clar dark. We hedn't gone more'n a mile till we come slap onter 'b@ut eighty secesh calvary. We skedaddled fur the timber, powerful sudden ; but they war over the fence an' on us 'fore we got well under cover. 'Bout thirty on 'em slid thar nags, an' come at us in the brush. I seed twarn't no use runnin' ; so 1 yelled out : ' Stand yer ground, boys, an' sell yer lives jest so high as ye kin !' Wall, we went at hit ter close quarters — hand ter hand, an' fut ter fut — an' ye'd better b'lieve thar war some tall fightin' thar fur 'bout ten minhits. Our boys fit like fien's — thet little chunk uv A feller thar," pointing to a slim, pale-faced youth, not more than seventeen, " laid out three on 'em. I'd done up two myself, when the cap'n come onter me — but, Tve telled ye 'bout him ;" and drawing a long breath, he put the miniature back in his pocket. After a short pause, he continued : " When they seed the cap'n war done fur, they fell back a piece — them as war left on 'em — ter the edge uv the timber, an' hollered fur tuthers ter come on. Thet guv us time ter load up — we'd fit arter the fust fire wuth knives — an' we blazed i iter 'em. Jest as we done 11 1(52 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES hit, I heer'd some more calvary comin' up the road, an' T war jest tellin' the boys we'd hev ter make tracks, when the new fellers sprung the fence, an' come plumb at the secesh on a dead run. Thar warn't only thirty on 'em, yit the rebs didn't so much as make a stand, but skedaddled as ef old Rosey himself hed been arter 'em.*' "And who were the new comers?" '^ Some on Tinker Beaty's men. They'd heerd the firin' nigh two mile oflf, an' come up, suspicionin' how things wus." " But, are there Union bands there ? I thought East Tennessee was overrun with rebel troops." " Wall, hit ar ; but thar's a small chance uv Union goorillas in Fentress an' Overton county. They hide in the mountins, an' light down on the rebs, now an' then, like death on a sick parson. Thar is places in them deestricts thet a hundred men kin hold agin ten thousand They know 'em all, 'case they wus raised thar, an' they know every bridle path through the woods, so it's well nigh unpossible ter kotch 'em. I reckon thar's a hundred on 'em, all mounted, an' bein' as they haint no tents, nor wagins, nor camp fixin's, they git round mighty spry. Thar scouts is allers on the move, an' wharever thar's a showin', they pounce down on the rebs, cuttin' 'em ter pieces. Thet's the how they git powder an' pro- visions. They never trouble peaceable folk, an' haint no sort o' 'spense ter guverment ; but they does a heap uv damage ter the secesh." " Well, they did you a ' powerful' good turn." " They did thet ; but we lost one on our boys. He war only sixteen — brother ter thet felbr thar," pointing *o a young man sitting opposite. ' They hung his VARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 163 fkther, an' now — they's killed him," and he drew a deep sigh. " Why did they hang his father ?" "Wall, ye see, they kunscripted him — he war over age, but they don't mind thet — an' he desarted, meanin' ter git ter the Union lines. They kotched him in the woods, an' hung him light up ter a tree. " '' Was only one of your men hurt ?" "Yes, two on 'em wus wounded too bad ter come wuth as. The calvary toted 'em off ter the mountins, an' I reckon they'll jine 'em when they gits round. But we left elevin uv the rebs dead on the ground." '* Did your men kill so many ? The cavalry had a hand in that, I suppose ?" " Yes, they killed two — thet's all. They couldn't gii at 'em, they run so. We done the rest." " You must have fought like tigers. How many were wounded ?" " Nary one; what wan't dead the boys finished." "You don't mean to say that ymr men killed the wounded after the fight ?" " I reckon they did — some four on 'em." " My friend, that's nothing but murder I had hoped the rebels did all of that work." " Wall, they does — anuff on hit ; an' I never could bring my mind ter think it war right oi human : but 1 fi'pose thet's case I never hed a father hung, or a sister ravig'd, or a old mother shot down in bar bed. Them things, you knows, makes a difference." "And have any of your men suffered in such ways?** " In sech ways ? Thar haint one on 'em but kin tell you things 'ud turn yer ' lood ter ice D^e see thet fel- 1.64 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. ler thar ?" pointing to a thin, sallow faced man, two seacH in our rear. " Not two months gone, some twenty reba come ter his house while he war layin' out in the woods, an' toted his wife — as young an' purty a 'oman as yer own sister — oflf 'bout a mile, an' thar tuk thar will uv her — all on 'em ! She made out ter crawl home, but it killed har. He warn't wuth har when she died, an' hit wus well he warn't, fur he'd hev gone clean crazy ef he hed been. He's mor'n half thet now — crazy fur blood ! An' kin ye blame him ? Kin ye 'spect a man thet's hed sech things done ter him ter show quarter ? 'Taint in natur' ter do hit. All these boys hes hed jest sich, an' things like hit ; an' they go in ter kill or be kilt. They doan't ax no marcy, an' they doan't show none. Nigh twenty thousand on 'em is in Bumside*s an' old Rosey's army, an' ye kin ax them if they doan't fight like devils. The iron has entered thar souls, sir. They feel they's doin* God sarvice — an' they is — when they does fur a secesh. An' when this war ar over — ef it ever ar over — thar'll be sech a reckonin' wuth the rebs uv East Tennessee as creation never know'd on afore. Thar wont be one on 'em left this side uv hell !" This was said with a vehemence that startled me. His eyes actually blazed, and every line on his seamed face quivered with passion. To change the subject, I asked : " And what did you do after the fight ?" " Not knowin' what moight happen, we swapped does with sech uv the rebs as hed gray 'uns, an' put North — plumb fur the mountins. Nigh outer Meigsville we come outer a Union man, who holped us ter cut some timber an' make a raft — fur we 'lowed the secesh would track us wuth houns, an' ter throw 'em ofi" the scent we NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 165 bed ter take ter the water. We got inter Obey's Fork, an' floated down ter the Cumberland ; hidin' in the bushes in the daytime, an' floatin' at night. We got nigh outer Carthage, an' knowin' the river wan't safe no longer, left hit an' struck 'cross fir the railroad. Thet kentry ar full uv rebs, but hevin' the secesh does ou, we made out ter git 'nuff ter eat till we got yere." BIBLE SMITH, THE EAST TENNESSEE SCOUT AND SPY. No troops in the Union service were more thoroughly patriotic than the Union men of East Tennessee. Mostly of Scotch Irish stock, and often imbued with the most profound and earnest religious sentiment, they united the earnest puritanism of Cromwell's Ironsides to the skill, tact, and daring of the pioneers of the border. These qualities, added to their thorough knowledge of the coun- try, and its inhabitants, and a sort of free masonry which prevailed among the hunted and persecuted Union men of the region made them invaluable as scouts and spies. Among them all none perhaps acquired more renown or accomplished more for the benefit of the Union armies of the Cumberland and the Ohio, in their great work of putting down the rebellion, than William Jehosaphat Smith, better known throughout East Tennessee as Bible Smith from his Scriptural middle name. Smith was one of the middle class of farmers of that mountain region ; and had had very little education ; his wife, who, as was 166 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. often the case with the class to which she belonged, wdo of somewhat higher social position than her husband, and better educated, had taught him to read. He was a man of very strong affections, and was deeply attached to his wife, whom he regarded as almost a superior being. Next to her his most ardent love was bestowed on the flag of his country. For it and the cause it represented he would dare any thing and every thing. Mr. J. R. Gilmore (" Edmund Kirke") gives an admirable history of Smith's experiences in connection with the war and as a scout, from which we quote the following: Seated after dinner on the piazza of the hospitable Southern lady, Bible told me his story. He had been stripped of all his property, his wife and children had been driven from their home, his house had been burned to the ground, and he himself hunted through the woods like a wild beast, because he had re- mained true to what he called democratic principles — " free schools, free speech, free thought, and free a'r fur all o' God's critters." The world went well with him till the breaking out of the rebellion. That event found him the owner of fifteen likely negroes, a fine plantation of nine hundred and thirty acres, and a comfortable frame dwelling and out-buildings. His elder daughter had married a young farmer of the district, and his younger — little Sally, whom I remembered as a rosy-cheeked, meek-eyed, wee thing of only seven years — had grown up a woman. In the spring of 1861, when there were no Union troops south of the Ohio, and the secession fever was raging furiously all over his county he organized one NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. l67 hundred and six of his neighbors into a company of Home Guards, and was elected their captain. They were pledged to resist all attacks on the person or prop- erty of any of their number, and met frequently in the woods in the vicinity of their homes. This organization secured Bible safety and free expression of opinion till long after Tennessee went out of the Union. In fact, he felt so secure that, in 1862— a year after the Stat* seceded— under the protection of his band of Hom€ Guards, he inaugurated and carried through a celebratior of the fourth of July at Richmond, Tennessee, under the very guns of a rebel regiment then forming in the town. An act of so much temerity naturally attracted the attention of the Confederate authorities, and not long afterward he was roused from his bed one morning, before daybreak, by three hundred armed men, who told him that ho was a prisoner, and that all his property waa confiscated to the Government. They at once enforced the " confiscation act;" "and this," he said, taking from his wallet a piece of soiled paper, " ar' whot I hed ter 'tribute ter the dingnation consarn. It'r Sally's own handwrite, an' I knows ye loikes har, so ye kin hev it, fur it'll nuver be uv no manner uv account ter me." The schedule is now before me, and I copy it verbatim: ''14 men and wimmin" (Jake eluded the soldiers and escaped to the woods), "1600 barrils com, 130 sheeps, 700 bushls wheat, 440 barley, 100 rye, 27 mules, 5 oow' brutes, 105 head hogs, 17 horses and mars, and all they cud tote beside." ''Wall, they tied me hand an' fut," he continued, "an' toted me off ter the Military Commission sittin' tei Chattanooga. I kncw'd whot thet meant— a short l68 l^ARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. prayer, a long rope, an' a break-down danced on the top o' nothin'. Better men nur me hed gone thet way ter the Kingdom — sevin on 'em wuthin a month — but I de- tarmined I wouldn't go ef I could holp it ; not thet I 'jected ter the journey, only ter goin' afore uv Sally. Ye Bees, I hedn't been nigh so good a man as I'd orter be, an' I reckoned Sally — who, ye knows, ar the best 'ooman thet uver lived — I reckoned she, ef she got thar a leetle afore o' me, could sort o' put in a good word wuth the Lord, an' git Him ter shot His eyes ter a heap o' my doin's ; an' sides, I should, I know'd, feel a mighty strange loike up thar without har. Wall, I detarrained not ter go, so thet night, as we war camped out on the ground, I slid the coil, stole a nag, an' moseyed off. Howsumuver, I hedn't got more'n a hun'red rods, 'fore the dumed Secesh yered me, an' the bullets fell round me thicker'n tar in January. They hit the boss, winged me a trifle, an' in less nur ten minnits, hed me tighter'n uver. They swore a streak uv blue brimstun', an' said they'd string me up ter onst, but I telled 'em they wouldn't, 'case I know'd I war a gwine ter live ter holp do thet ar' same turn fur Jeff. Davis. Wall, I s'pose my impudence hed suthin' ter do wuth it, fur they didn't hang me — ye mought know thet, Mr. , fur, ye sees, I hes a good neck fur stretchin' yit. '' Wall we got ter Chattanooga jest arter noon. The Commission they hed too many on hand thet day ter 'tend ter my case, an' the jail wus chock-heapin', so they put me inter a tent under guard uv a hull Georgy regi- ment. Things luck'd 'mazin' squally, an' much as I de- tarmined ter be a man, my heart went clean down inter mv boots whenuver I thort uv Sally. I nuver felt so, NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 169 afore or sence, fur then I hedn't got used ter luckin' at the gallus uvery day. " Wall, / didn't know whot ter do, but thinkin' the Lord did, I kneeled down an' prayed right smart. I telled Him I hedn't no face ter meet Him afore I'd a done suthin' fur the kentry, an' thet Sally's heart would be clean broke ef I went afore har, but, howsumuver, I said, He know'd best, an* ef it war His will, I hed jest nothin' ter say agin it. Thet's all I said, but I said it over an' over, a heap o' times, an it war right dark when I got off uv my knees. The Lord yered me, thet's sar- tin, 'case I hedn't mor'n got up fore a dirty grey-back, drunker'n a member uv Congress, staggered inter the tent. I recken he thort he war ter home, fur he drap ped down outer the ground an' went ter sleep, wuthout 80 much as axin' ef I was willin*. " Then it come inter my head, all ter onst, whot ter do. Ye sees, the critters hed tied me hand an' fut, in' teddered me wuth a coil ter one o' the tent stakes, so I couldn't move only jest so fur ; but the Lord He made the drunken feller lop down jest inside uv reachin'. Wall, when I war shore he war dead asleep, I rolled over thar, drawed out the bowie-knife in his belt wuth my teeth, an' sawed off my wristlets in no time. Ye kin reckon it didn't take long ter undo the 'tother coils, an' to 'propriate his weapons, tie 'im hand an' fut loike I war, strip off his coat, put mine outer 'im, swap hats, an' pull the one I guv him down outer his eyes loike as ef he never wanted to see the sun agin. When I'd a done thet, I stopped ter breathe, an' luckin' up I seed a light a comin'. I 'spicioned it war ter 'xamine arter me, BO I slunk down inter a come- o' the tent, jest aside 170 Narratives of spies, scouts, and detectives. the door. They wus a leftenant, an' three privite, makin' the rounds, an' the light showed me nigh onter a army uv sentinels all about thar. Thet warn't no way encouragin', but sez 1 ter myself : * Bible,' sez I, ^ be cool an' outdacious, an' ye'll git out o' this, yit;' so, when the leftenant luck'd in, an' sayin' : *A11 right,' put out agin, I riz up, an' jined the fellers as wus a follerin' on him. I kept in the sh adder, an' they, supposin' I war one on 'em, tuck no kind uv notice uv me. We*d luck'd arter three or four pore prisoners loike I war, when I thort I'd better be a moseyin', so I drapped ahind, an' arter a while dodged out beyont the second line o' pickets. I'd got nigh onter a patch uv woods half a mile off, when all ter oust a feller sprung up frum a clump uv bushes, yelled, ^ Halt,' an' pinted his musket stret at me. I mought hev eended 'im, but I reckoned others wus nigh, an' sides, I nuver takes humin life ef I kin holp it ; so I sez ter 'im ; * Why, Lord bless me, cumrad', I didn't seed ye.' ' I s'pose ye didn't. Whot is ye doin' yere ?' sez he. * Only pursuin' a jug o' blue ruin I'se out thar hid under a log,' sez I. ' Ye knows it'r agin rule to tote it inside, but a feller must licker.' * Wall, licker up ter-morrer,' sez ha ' We's got 'ticklar orders ter let no 'un out ter-night. Blast the orders,' sez I. ' Ye'd loike a swig yerself.' * Wall, I would,' sez he. ' WuU you go snacks ?' ' Yas,' sez I ; ' an' guv ye chock-heapin measure, for I must hev some o' thet afore mornin'.' " Thet brung him, an' I piked off for the ruin. (It warn't thar, ye knows — I nuver totch the dingnation stuff.) Ye'd better b'lieve the grass didn't grow under my feet when onst I got inter the woods. I plumbed NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 171 my coorse by the stars, an' made ten right smart miles in no time. Then it come inter my head thet I'd a forgot all ab^ut the Lord, so I kneeled down right thar, m' thanked Him. I telled Him I seed His hand jest •so plain as ef it war daytime, an' thet, as shore as my name war Bible, I'd foller His lead in futur' — an' I'se tried ter, uver sense. " I'd got to be right well tuckered out by thet time — the 'citement, ye see, hed holt me up, but I'd no sooner gone to pray in' fore my knees guv out all ter onst — so, I put fur a piece uv timber, lay down under a tree, an' went ter sleep. I must hev slept mighty sound, fur, long 'bout mornin', some'un hed ter shuck me awful hard, an' turn me clar over, 'fore it woked me. I got up. 'Twar nigh so light as day, though 'twarn't sun-up Yit I luck'd all around an' didn't see a soul ! Now, what d'ye s'pose it war that woked me ?" " Your own imagination, I reckon. You were dream- ing, and in your dream you thought some one shook you," I replied. " No ; 'twarn't thet. I nuver dreams. It war the Lord ! An' He done it 'case I'd prayed ter' im. I'se nuver gone ter sleep, or woke up, sense, wuthout pray in' ter Him, an' though I'se been in a heap uv wuss fixes nur thet, He's got me out uv all on *em, jest 'case I does pray ter Him." I did not dispute him. Who that reads the New Testament as Bible reads it — like a little child — can dispute him. In a moment he went on with his story "Wall, I luck'd all round, an' seed nuthin', but 1 yefred — not a mile off — the hounds a bayin' away loike A young thundergust They wus arter me, an' thet 172 NARRAtlVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. wus the why the Good Lord woked me. I luck'd at the Volver I'd stole from the sodger, seed it war all right, an' then dumb a tree. 'Bout so quick as it takes ter tell it, the hounds — two 'maizin' fine critters, wuth a hun'red an' fifty apiece — wus on me. I run my eye 'long the pistol-barr'l, an' let drive. It tuck jest two shots ter kill 'em. I know'd the Secesh wus a follerin the dogs, so ye'd better b'lieve I made purty tall racin' time till I got ter the eend uv the timber. " Just at night I run agin some darkies, who guv me suthin ter eat, an' nothin' more happen'd 'fore the next night, when I come in sight o' home. I got ter the edge uv the woods, on the hill jest ahind uv my barn, 'bout a hour by sun ; but I darn't go down, fur, ye knows, the house stood in a clarin', an' some uv the varmints mought be a watchin' fur me. I lay thar till it war thick dark, an' then I crept ter the r'ar door. I listened ; an' whot d'ye 'spose I yered? Sally a prayin' — an' prayin' fur me, so 'arnest an' so tender loike, thet I set down on the door step, an' cried loike a child — I did." Here the rough, strong man bent down his head and wept again. The moisture filled my own eyes as he continued : " She telled the Lord how much I war ter har ; how she'd a loved me uver sense she'd a fust seed me ; how 'fore har father, or mother, or even the chillen, she loved me ; how she'd tried ter make me love Him ; how she know'd thet, way down in my heart, I did love Him, though I didn't say so, 'case men doan't speak out 'bout sech things loike wimmin does. An' she telled Him how she hed tried ter do His will ; tried ter be one on His raal chillen ; an' she telled Him He bed promised NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 173 not ter lay enter His chillen no more'n they could b'ar, an' she couldn't b'ar ter hev me hung up as ef I war a traitor : thet she could part wuth me if it war best ; thet she could see me die, an' not weep a tear, ef I could only die loike a man, wuth a musket in my hand, a doin suthin' for my kentry. Then she prayed Him ter send me back ter har fur jest one day, so she mought ax me once more ter love Him — an' she know'd I would love Him ef she axed me agin — an' she said ef He'd only do thet, she'd — much as she loved me — she'd send me away, an' guv me all up ter Him an' the kentry fur uver! " I couldn't stand no more, so I opened the door, drapped outer my knees, tuck har inter my arms, lay my head on har shoulder, an' sobbed out : * The Lord hes yered ye, Sally ! I wull love Him ! I wuU be worthy of sech love as y's guv'n me, Sally !' " He paused for a moment, and covered bis face with his hands. When he spoke again there was a softness and tenderness in his tone that I never heard in the voice of but one other man. '' Sense thet minnit this yerth hes been another yerth ter me; an' though I'se lost uverythin'; though I hes no home ; though night arter night I sleeps out in the cold an' the wet, a scoutin' ; though my wife an' chillen is scattered ; though nigh uvery day I'se in danger uv the gallus ; though I'se been roped ter a tree ter die loike a dog ; though a thousand bullets hes yelled death in my yeres ; though I'se seed my only boy shot down afore my vury eyes, an' I not able ter speak ter him, ter guv him a mossel uv comfort, or ter yere his last word, I'se hed Buthin allers yere (laying his hand on his heart) thet 174 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. hes holt me up, an' made me luck death in the face a» of I loved it An ef ye hain't got thet, Mr. , no matter whot else ye's got, no matter whot money, or larnin', or friends, ye's pore — porer nur I ar!" I made no reply, and after a short silence he resumed his story. *' Jake — that war my boy — ye remember him, ye hed him on yer knee — he war eighteen an' a man grow'd then : wall, Jake an' me made up our minds ter pike fur the Union lines ter onst. Sally war all night a cookin' fur us, an' we a gittin' the arms an' fixin's a ready — we hed lots o' them b'longin' ter the Guards, hid away in a panel uv the wall — an' the next day, meanin' ter start jest arter sunset, we laid down fur (Some sleepin'. Nigh onter dark, Black Jake, who war a watchin', come rushin' inter the house, sayin the secesh wus a comin'. Thar wus only twenty on 'em, he said, an' one wus drunk an' didn't count fur nuthin', 80, we detarmined ter meet 'em. We tuck our stands nigh the door, each on us men — Black Jake, the boy, an' me — wuth a Derringer in his pocket, two 'vol vers in his belt, an' a Bowie-knife in the breast uv his waistcoat, an' the wimrain wuth a 'volver in each hand, an' waited fur 'em. Half a dozen on 'em went round ter the r'ar, an' the rest come at the front door, yellin' out: *' ' We doan't want ter 'sturb ye. Miss Smith (they's chivulry, ye knows), but we reckons yer husban' ai yere, an' we must sarch the house. We hes orders ter take him.' " I opened the door stret off, an' steppin' down onter the piazzer — Black Jake an' the boy ter my back, an' the wimmin' ter the winder — I sez ter 'em : NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 175 "*Wall, Fse yere. Take me efye kin!' "They wus fourteen on 'em thar, uvery man wuth a musket, but they darn't lift a leg! They wus cowards. It'r nuthin but a good cause, Mr. , thet guvs a man courage — makes him luck death in the face as ef he loved it. '' Wall, they begun ter parley. 'We doan't want ter shed no blood,' said the leftenant. 'but we's orders ter take ye, Mister Smith, an' ye'd better go wuth us, peace- able loike.' "'I shan't go wuth ye peaceable loike, nur no other how,' sez I; 'fur ye's a pack o' howlin thieves an' traitors as no decent man 'ud be seed in company uv. Ye dis- graces the green yerth ye walks on, an' ef ye doan't git off uv my sheer uv it in less nur no time, I'll send ye — though it'r agin my principles ter take humin life — whar ye'll git yer desarts, sartin.' " Then the leftenant he begun ter parley agin, but 1 pinted my 'volver at him, an' telled him he'd better be a moseyin' sudden. Sayin' he'd 'port ter his cunnel, he done it. "We know'd a hun'red on 'em 'ud be thar in no time, so, soon as they wus out o' sight, the boy an' me, leavin' Black Jake ter luck arter the wimmin, struck a stret line fur the timber. We hedn't got mor'n four mile — ter the top uv the tall summit ter the ra'r uv Richmond — afore, luckin' back, we seed my house an' bams all a blazin'I The Heaven-defy in' villuns bed come back — shot Jake down in cold blood, druv my wife an' darter out o' doors, an' burnt all I hed ter the ground ! We seed the fire, but not knowiu whot else hed happin'd, an' noi bein' able ter do nothin', we piked on inter the woods 176 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. " We traviled all thet night through the timber, an' jest at sundown uv the next day come ter a clarin'. We wus mighty tired, but 'twouldn't do ter sleep thar, fur the trees wus nigh a rod asunder ; so we luck'd round, an' on t'other side uv the road, not half a mile off, seed 'bout a acre uv laurel bush — ^ye knows whot them is, some on 'em so thick a dog kam't git through 'em. Jake war tireder nur I war, an' he said ter me, ' Dad,' sez he : ' let us git under kiver ter oust. I feels loike I couldn't Btand up no longer.' It wus foolhardy loike, fur the sun wam't clar down, but I couldn't b'ar ter see the boy so, an', agin my judgment, we went down the road ter the laurels. We lay thar till momin', an' slep' so sound thet I reckon ef forty yerthquakes hed shuck the yerth, they wouldn't hev woked us. Soon as sun-up, Jake riz, an' went ter the edge uv the thicket ter rekonnoitter. He hedn't stood thar five minutes — ^right in plain sight, an' not more'n two hun'red rods frum me — afore I yered a shot, an' seed the pore boy throw up his arms, an' fall ter the ground. In less nur no time fifty Secesh wus on him. I war springin' up ter go ter him, when suthin' tuck me by the shoulder, belt me back, an' said ter me : ' Ye karn't do nothin' fur him. Leave 'im ter the Lord. Save yerself fur the kentry.' It went agin natur,' but it 'peared the Lord's voice, so I crouched down agin *mong the bushes. I nuver know'd whot it war thet saved me till nigh a y'ar arterwuds. Then I tuck thet leftenant pris'ner — I could hev shot him, but I guv him his life ter repent in, an' he done it : he's a decent man now, b'longin' ter Gunnel Johnson's rigiment. Wall, I tuck him, an' he said ter me : "I wus aside uv thet pore boy when he war dyin'. He turned his eyes outer me NARRATIVES OF SPIEli, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 171 jest as he war goin', an' he said : ' Ye kam't kotch him. He's out o' the bush ! Ha ! ha !' He said thet, and died. Ter save me, died wuth a lie on his lips ! Does ye b'lieve the Lord laid that agin him, Mr. ?" " No, no ! I am sure not. It was a noble action.** '* It 'pears so ter me, but it war loike the boy. He war allers furgettin' himself, an' thinkin' uv other folk He war all — all the pride uv my life — him an' Sally — but it pleased the Lord ter tuck him afore me — but only fur a time— only fur a time — 'fore long I shill hev him agin — agin — up thar — up thar !" His emotion choked his utterance for awhile. When he resumed, he said : "At the eend uv a fortn't, trav'lin' by night an' sleepin' by day, an' livin' on the darkies when my fixin's guv out, I got inter the Union lines 'bove Nashville.*' " And what became of your wife and daughter ?" 1 asked. " Lettle Sally went ter har sister. My wife w^alked eighty miles ter har father's. He's one on yer quality folk, an' a durned old secesh, but he's got humin natur' in him, an' Sally's safe thar. I'se seed har twice ter his house. The old 'un he's know'd on't, but he hain't nuver said a word." Bible'? scouting adventures would fill a volume, and read more like a romance of the middle ages than a matter-of-fact history of the present time. On one occasion, when about five miles outside of our lines, he came, late at night, upon a party of rebel officers, making merry at the house of a wealthy secessionist Riding coolly up to the mounted orderly on guard before the door-way, he pinioned his arms, thrust a haudker- 178 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. chief into his mouth, and led him quietly out of hearing Then bidding him dismount, and tying him to a tree, he removed the impromptu gag, and levelling a revolver at his head, said to him : " Now, tell me, ye rebel villun, whot whiskey-kags wus ye a watchin' thar ? Speak truth, or I'll guv ye free passage ter a hot kentry." " Nine ossifers," said the trembling vebel ; a cunnel, two majors, a sargeon, two cap'ns, an' the rest lef- tenants." " Whar's thar weapons ?" " Thar swords is in the hall-way. None on 'em hain't pistols 'cept the sargeon — he mought hev a 'volver." " What nigs is they round ?" " Nary one, I reckon, more'n a old man thar (point ing to the kitchen building) an' the gals in the house." " Wall, I'll let ye go fur this, ef ye's telled the truth. Ef ye hain't, ye'd better be a sayin' yer prayers ter onst, fur the Lord wont yere ye on the t'other side uv Jurdan." Fastening his horse in " the timber," and creeping up to the house, he then reconnoitered the kitchen prem- ises. The old man — a stout, stalwart negro of about fifty — sat dozing in the corner, and his wife, a young mulatto woman, was cooking wild-fowl over the fire. Opening the door, and placing his finger on his Ups to enjoin silence, Bible beckoned to the woman. She .mme to him, and looking her full in the eye for a moment, he said to her : ''I kin trust ye. Wud ye 'an yer old 'un loike ter git out o' the claws uv these durned seceeh ?" NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 179 '^Yas, yas, massa," she replied, ''we wud. We's Union ! We'd loike ter git 'way, massa !" Then awakening her husband, Bible said to him : '* Uncle, wud yer risk yer life fur yer freedom ?" " Ef dar's a chance, massa, a right smart chance. Dis dark'y tinks a heap ob his life, he does, massa. It 'm 'bout all him got." "Yas, yas, I know; but ye shill hev freedom. I'll see ye ter the Free States, ef ye'll holp tuck them secesh osaifers." " Holp tuck dem, massa ! Why, dar's a dozen on 'em ; dey'd chaw ye up in no time," exclaimed the astonished African. " No, thar hain't a dozen on 'em ; thar's only nine ; but — ^ye's a coward," replied the scout. " No, I hain't no coward, massa ; but I loikes a chance, massa, a right smart chance." Bible soon convinced the negro that he would have a "right smart chance," and he consented to make the hazardous strike for his freedom. Entering the house, he returned in a few moments to the scout, confirming the sentinel's report : the weapons were reposing quietly in the hall, near the doorway, and the officers, very much the worse for liquor, were carousing with his mas- ter in the dining-room. Selecting three of the best horses from the stables, Bible directed the yellow woman to lead them into the road, and to bring his own from where it was fastened in the woods. Then, with his sooty ally, the scout ent^ired the mansion. Removing the arms from the hall, he walked boldly into the dining-room. " Gentlemen," he said, pointing his pistols— one in each hand — at thf 180 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. rebel officers, " ye is my pris'ners. Surrender yer shootr in' irons, or ye's dade men." " Who are you ?" exclaimed one of them, as they aU sprang to their feet. '* Cunnel Smith, uv the Fust Tennessee Nigger Ee^- ment — one old black man an' a yaller 'ooman,*' coolly replied the scout. "Go to ," shouted the surgeon, quickly drawing his revolver, and discharging it directly at Bible's face. The ball grazed his head, cut off a lock of hair just above his ear, and lodged in the wall at his back. The report was still sounding through the apartment, when the sur- geon uttered a wild cry, sprang a few feet in the air, and fell lifeless to the floor ! The negro had shot him. " Come, gentlemen, none o' thet," said Bible, as coolly as if nothing had happened, " guv me the shootin' iron, an' surrender, or we'll sot the rest on ye ter his wuck — rakin' coals fur the devil's funnace — in less nur a min- nit." Without more hesitation the rebel colonel handed the Bcout the fallen man's pistol, and then all, followed by the scout and the negro, marched quietly out of the front door. The mulatto woman, holding the horses, was standing in the highway. " Hitch the nags, my purty gal," said the scout, " an' git a coil. An' ye, gentlemen, sot down, an' say nothin' — 'cept it mought be yer prayers ; but them, I reckon, ye hain't larned yit." The negress soon returned with the rope, and while Bible and her husband covered them with their revolvers, she tied t':e arms of the prostrate chivalry. When this was done, the scout affixed a long rope to the waist of NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 18i the officer on either flank of the column, and, taking on€ in his own band, and giving the other to the i.o/rro, cried out • " Sogers uv the Fust Tennessee ! Mount !" The regiment bounded into the saddle, and in that plight — the planter and the eight captive officers march- ing on before, the self-appointed '^ cunnel" and his chief officer bringing up the rear, and the rest of his command — the yellow woman — astraddle of a horse between them, they entered the Union lines. On another occasion, hunted down by several compar nies of rebel cavalry, Bible took refuge in a grove of laurel bushes. Among the bushes was a hollow tree in which he had once or twice slept on previous expedi- tions. It had been overthrown by a tornado, and the soil still clung, in huge boulders, to its upturned roots. Creeping into this tree, he closed the small opening with earth, and boring a hole through the trunk with his Bowie-knife to admit air, and give him a look-out on his pursuers, he lay there without food for three days and nights. The rebels saw him enter the grove, and at once surrounded it, so that escape was impossible. A party then beat the bushes, and after examining every square yard of the ground, came and sat upon the hollow tree. Listening, he heard them recount some of his exploits, and assert very positively, that he had sold himself to that notorious dealer in human chattels — the devil — who, they thought, had given him power to make himself invisible at will. " An' bein' thet's so, cumrades," very logically remarked one of the number. *'^doan't it nat'rally foUer thet the devil ar' on the Union 182 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. side, an' moughtent we 'bout so wall guv it up fur a dade beat 'ter oust !" When the rebel array retreated from Murfreesborr), its advance column came suddenly upon the scout as he was eating his breakfast in an " oak opening" near the highway. There was no chance of escape or conceal- ment, for the "opening" was covered with immense trees standing fifteen and twenty feet apart, with only a fehort grass growing between them. Bible was dis- guised in an immense mass of red hair and beard, and wore a tattered suit of the coarse homespun of the dis- trict. Knowing he would certainly be discovered, he assumed a vacant, rustic look, and, rising from the ground, gazed stupidly at the soldiery. " I say, green one, what are you doing thar?" shouted the ofiicer at the head of the column. " I'se loss my cow-brutes, cunnel," replied the scout ^ *' two right loikely hefiers ; 'un on 'em speckle all over, 'cept the tail, an' thet white'n yer fkce. Ye hain't seed 'em no whar 'long the road, nohow, hes ye ?" '' No, I hain't seed 'em, no whar, nohow," rejoined the ojQBcer. '* Come, step into the ranks ; we need jusi such fellows as you are. Why the devil haven't they conscripted you before. Step into the ranks, I say," he repeated, as Bible, not seeming to comprehend his meaning, remained standing in his previous position. The second command having no more effect on him than the first, the oflBcer directed a couple of soldiers to take Bible between them, and to fall in at the rear of tlie column. It was not till he was fairly in the road that the scout seemed to awaken to the reality of hip •londition. NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AffD DETECTIVES. 183 ' Why, why, ye hain't a gwine to tuck me 'long o' ye !" he exclaimed, frantically appealing to the ** cunnel." " Ye hain't a gwine ter tuck me 'long o' ye! Ye karn't mean thet !" " We do mean that, and you just keep quiet, or, hke St. Paul, you'll fight against the pricks," said the officer, alluding perhaps to the bayonets which the two soldiers had unslung and were holding ready to apply to Bible's flanks. " Why, ye karn't mean thet ! ye karn't mean thet, cunnel !" again piteously cried the scout, " Wh — wh — whot'll become on the old 'ooman — whot'll become on the cow-brutes ?" *' D — n the old woman and the cow-brutes," shouted the officer, riding forward and leaving the new recruit to his fate. And thus Bible marched to the Tullahoma, and thus he enlisted in the second regiment of Alabama Infantry. He remained a fortnight at Tullahoma, and while there obtained a correct idea of the number and dispo- sition of the enemies' forces, and brought away with him, in his head, an accurate map of the rebel fortificar tions. Desertions being frequent, the picket lines had been doubled, and when he was ready to leave, it had become next to impossible to penetrate them. But he was equal to the emergency, and hit upon a bold expe- dient which proved successful. Restrictions had been laid by the commanding genert^ on the importation of whiskey, and the use of that article, which is a sort of necessity to the Southern " native," had been prohibited within the lines of the army — except on the eve of battle Then the cold water 184 NARRATIVES OP SPIES, SCJOUTS, AND ilETECTIVES. generals, themselves, dealt it out — mixed with gun- powder — ^to every man in the ranks. The regulations concerning it were rigidly enforced in all the divisions except Hardee's. That general — ^to whose corps Bible belonged — ^who has, notoriously, a weakness for " spirits" and negro women, winked at the indulgence of his men in those luxuries, when it did not interfere with theiir strict observance of " Hardee's Tactics." Knowing his proclivities, Bible, one evening just after sunset, took a tin "jug" under his arm, and sauntered past the general's tent. " I say," shouted Hardee, catching sight of the long firm of the scout, "where are you going with that big cajiteen ?" " Ter git some bustr-head, giniral. Ye knows we kam't live wuthout thet," replied Bible, with affected simplicity. " Perhaps you kam't : don't you know it's against regulations. I'll string you up, and give you fifty." " Oh, no ! ye woan't do thet, I knows, giniral, fur ye's a feller feelin' for we pore sogers," said Bible. " We kam't live wuthout a leetle ruin; wuthout a leetle, nohow, giniral !" " Where do you expect to get it ?" asked the general. "Ter Squire Pursley's," said the scout, naming a planter living a few miles outside of the lines. " He's got some on the tallest old rye ye uver seed. I knows him. An' he's the biggest brandy, too, an' the purtiest nigger gal (rolling his tongue in his mouth and smacking his lips) thar is anywhar round. She's whiter'n ye is, giniral, an' the snuggest piece uv house fumitur' as uver wus grow'd." NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 185 " And how do you expect to pas« the pickets ?" asked the standard authority on " Tactics." *' I reckon' this wull brung 'em," answered Bible, tap ping his canteen significantly. " Well, it wont," replied the general, laughing ; " but I'll give you something that will. And here, take this canteen and get me some of that ' big brandy,' and teQ the squire I'll be over there one of these days." The general gave Bible a pass, another canteen, and five dollars of Confederate scrip, to effectually " raise the spirits ;" and then the scout, saying, " Ye kin reckon on gittin' sich brandy, giniral, as wull sot ye up so high ye'll nuver come down agin,'* walked leisurely out of the rebel lines. Once, while scouting near McMinnville, Bible was captured by a small party of Forrest's cavalry. One of the Confederates knew him, and he was told he must die. Throwing a rope over the limb of a tree, they adjusted it about his neck, and the rebel ofiicer, taking out his watch, said to him : " You can have five minutes to say your prayers." "I thanks ye, cap'n," said Bible; "fur thet shows ye's got a spark uv humin feelin' in ye ; an' ef ye'll jest pile a lettle light 'ood on ter thet spark, it mought be it 'ud blaze up an' make ye a better man nur ye is, or kin be, whiles ye's a fightin' agin' yer kentry. As ter prajan*^ .^.ap'n, I doan't need no time fur thet; fur I'se allers a prayin', not wuth words — but silent, deep, down yere" — placing his hand on his heart — "whar I'se allers a sayin' *OuR Father!' Our Father, cap'n; ymii^n &» wull as mine ! An' doan't ye 'spose He's luckin down on ye now sorry, grieved ter His vury heart thet ye, 186 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. His chile, thet His own Son died a wus death nur this fur, should be a doin' whot ye is? — not a hangin' uv me; I hain't no complaint ter make o' thet, fur it'r His wull, or ye wouldn't be a doin' on it — but sorry thet ye's lifted yer hand agin' yer kentry, agin truth, an' right, an' the vury liberty ye talks so much about. Prayin'! T'se allers a prayin', cap'n ; allers been a prayin' uver sense Sally said ter me : * Pray, Bible, fur it'r the only way yt kin come nigh ter Him : it'r the only way ye kin know, fur shore, thet ye's His raal chile.' An' I does know Fse his chile, 'case I loves ter pray; an' I'll pray fur ye, cap'n — ye needs it more nur me. It woan't do ye no hurt, an' it mought do ye some good, fur the Lord promises ter y ere His chillen, an' He has yered me, over an' over agin." The five minutes had elapsed, but the Confederate officer still stood with his watch in his hand. At last, turning suddenly away, he said to his men : "Take off the rope! Take him to the general. He may do what he likes with him. I'll be d — d if I'll hang him." Before they reached Forrest's headquarters at McMinn- ville, they were set upon by a squad of Union cavalry, who rescued the prisoner, captured a half dozen of the privates, and gave the captain a mortal wound in the side. Bible laid him upon the grass, and, taking hip head tenderly in his lap, prayed for him. As the captain turned 'lis eyes to take a last look at the setting sun, he placed the scout's hand against his heart, and saying: " I'm going now — I feel at peace — I owe it to you — God bless you for it, may (jOD forever bless you," he nttered a low moan and died. While the rebel forces lay encamped around Chatta NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. 187 oooga, Bible made them a protessional visit. For two days, from the top of Lookout Mountam, he looked down on their fortifications. With the works fully mapped in his mind, so that, in his rude way, he could sketch them upon paper, he started, just at nightfall of a murky, stormy day, to make his way northward. Arriving at the house of a pretended friend, he took supper, and retired to sleep in a small room on the ground floor. It was not far from eleven o' clock, and raining and blow- ing violently, when a light rap came at his window. He got up — he always slept in his clothes, with his armt about him — and applying his ear to the glass, heard a low voice say : "Ye is betrayed. Come out ter onst. They'll be yere in a hour." He lifted the sash, and, springing lightly into the yard, saw — as well as the night would permit — a young octoroon woman standing unprotected in the storm, thinly clad, and drenched from head to foot. Leading him out into the darkness, she said to him : "This man's son war at master's house not a hour back. He's telled on ye ter git the reward! They's 'spectin' the cavalry uvery minnit. Hark ! I yere's 'em now!" While she yet spoke he heard the heavy tramp of horsemen along the highway. Placing her hand in his, the woman fled hurriedly to the woods. When they had gone about a mile, she paused, and said to him : " I karn't go no furder. I must git home or they 11 'spect suthin'. When they find ye's gone, the cavalry '11 make fur the landin'. Ye must go up the river, an 'bout two mile frum yere ye'U find a yawl. It'r chained. t88 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIVES. but ye kin break thet. Doan't cross over — a hull i-egi- ment is 'camped on t'other side — ^put up the river so fur as 3 6 kin." With a mutual " God bless ye," they parted. Bible made his way to the river, and narrowly inspected its banks, but no boat was to be seen ! He had spent two hours in the search, when he came to a bend in the stream which gave him an uninterrupted view of it for miles below. All along the river the air was alive with torches hurrying to and fro. He knew his pursuers would soon be upon him, and ejaculating a short prayer, in which he re« minded the Lord that the information he carried in his head was of "no oncommon vallu, orter be got ter the giniral ter onst, an' wouldn't be uv no yerthly use" if he were hanged just then, he crept down to the water. Entangled in the underbrush just above him was a large log, the estray property of some up-country sawyer. Dropping himself into the water, he made his way to the log, and, laying down on it at full length, paddled out into the river. When he had reached the middle of the stream, he let himself drift down with the current, and in a short time was among his pursuers. A thou- sand torches blazing on either bank lit up the narrow river with a lurid glare, and made the smallest object on its surface distinctly visible. Knowing that if he kept his position he would certainly be seen, Bible rolled oflF into the water, turned over on his back, and, keeping one hand upon the log, floated along beside it. When he came opposite to the landing, he heard one cavalry- man say to another : " See ! thar's a log ; moughtent the dumed critter be on thet r NARRATIVES OF SRES, SCOUTS, AND DETECTIYES. 189 " No," replied the o ler ; " thar's nothin' on it. Yei eyes is no better 'n mc s." " Wall, I'll guv it a lot, anyhow," rejoined the first, and fired his carbine. The bullet glanced from the log, and struck the water a few feet from the scout. The one shot attracted others, and for a few minutes the balls fell thickly around him, but he escaped unhurt ! The God to whom he had prayed shielded him, and brought him safely out of the hands of his enemies. In six days, after unparalleled hardships, he reached the Union lines. A few days before I left Murfreesboro, Bible staited on another trip into the enemies' lines to establish a chain of spy stations up to Bragg's headquarters. He succeeded in the perilous enterprise, and, when I last heard of him, was pursuing his usual avocation, doing really more service to the country than many a star- shouldered gentleman who is talked of now in the news- papers, and may be read of centuries hence in history. If I have outlined his character distinctly, the reader has perceived that he is brave, simple-hearted, outspoken, hospitable, enterprising, industiious, loyal to liberty, earnest in his convictions — though ignorantly confound- ing names with things — a good husband and father, with a quiet humor which flavors character as Worcestei sauce flavors a good dinner, a practical wisdom which " trusts in the Lord, but keeps its powder dry,'* some talent for bragging, and that intensity of nature and dis- position to magnify every thing (illustrated in his storied and conversation) which leads the Southerner to do noth- ing by halves, to throw his whole soul into whatever he undertakes, to be, like Jeremiah's figs, " if good, very good : if bad, not fit to feed the pigs." Though morally 190 NARRATIVES OF SPIES, SCOUT?, AND DETECTIVES. and intellectually superior to the lass of " poor Southern whites," he is still a good repi ientative of the class. They nearly all possess the san traits that he does, and differ from him only in deg e, not in kind. That is saying little against them, 1 r one might travel a whole summer' 5 day in our Northern cities, and not meet many men who, in all that makes true manhood, are his equals. Three Soldiers Captured by a Boy with a Cofpee- PoT. — An amusing instance of the value of a ready wit and presence of mind occurred during the advance of the Second Corps of Federal troops, near Hatcher's Run A joung lad in the Fourteenth Connecticut regiment, going with a coffee-pot to get water from the stream, suddenly found himself surrounded by three of the enem^. With all the fierceness of voice the little fellow could muster, he commanded them to throw down their arms and surrender. Supposing that the brave youth had companions near to enforce his command, they complied, when he seized one of their muskets and marched them into camp in great triumph. This story was related in his camp as the capture of ihree Oohnnies with a coffee- pot. THE GREAT RAILROAD CHASE. The most remarkable and thrilling railroad adventure that ever occurred on the American continent, was that which happened to the twenty-two members of an ex- pedition sent out by the Union General 0. M. Mitchel, to destroy the communication on the Georgia State Rail- road, between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The expedi- tion itself, in the daring of its conception, possessed the wildness of a romance, and which, had it been success- ful, would have suddenly and completely changed the whole aspect of the war in the South and Southwest. It was as sublime in the results aimed at, as it was dar- ing in execution ; for it would have given full possession of all East Tennessee to the Union forces, which, movin" then on Lynchburg, would have had the valley of Vir- ginia at their mercy, and could have attacked StonewaU Jackson in the rear. In addition to this advantage, they would have held the railroad to Charlottesville and Orange Court House, as well as the Southside railroad leading to Petersburg and Richmond; and thus, by uniting with McClellan's army, could have attacked the rebel General Joe Johnston's army, front and llank. driven him from Virginia, and flanked Beauregard (191) 192 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. This admirable cmnp ^etat, the sagacity and importanci of which challenged even the warmest admiration of the Confederates themselves, as being "the deepest laid scheme, and on the grandest scale, that ever emanated from the brains of any number of Yankees combined,** was planned and set on foot in April, 1862, by Mr. J. J. Andrews, a citizen of Kentucky, who had been pre- viously engaged in the secret service of the United States Government. The plan of operations which he proposed was to reach a point on the State road, where they could seize a locomotive and train of cars, and then dash back in the direction of Chattanooga, cutting the telegraph wires and burning the bridges behind them as they went, until they reached theii own lines. The party consisted of twenty-four men, who, with the ex- ception of its leader, Mr. Andrews, and another citizen of Kentucky, William Campbell by name — who volun teered as substitute for a soldier — were selected from different companies of the Second, Twenty-first, and Twenty-third Ohio regiments, with particular reference to their known courage and discretion. These brave men were informed that the movement was to be a secret one, and doubtless comprehended something of its perils ; but Mr. Andrews and one other alone seem to have known any thing of its precise direction and object. They all, how- ever, cheerfully and voluntarily engaged in it; and before starting, Andrews divided among them seven hundred dollars of Confederate scrip, informed them that they were now venturing upon important and dangerous duty, and threatened to shoot on the spot the first man that got drunk or flinched in the least. They then made their way through the lines in parties of two and three, DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. in citizens' dress, and carrying only side arms, to Chatta- nooga, the point of rendezvous agreed upon, where twenty-two out of the twenty-four arrived safely. Here they took passage, without attracting attention, for Marietta, which place they reached at twelve o'clock on the night of the 11th of April. The next mornings be- fore daylight, they took the cars and went back od the same road to a place called Big Shanty, a regular stop- ping-place for refreshments, and where, within forty or fifty yards of the road, some twenty thousand Confeder ate troops were encamped, it being a general rendezvous for recruits and the organization of regiments. The train upon which the conspirators were, contained, also, a number of soldiers, as well as citizens, together with a quantity of provisions, and an iron safe containing a large amount of Confederate money, designed for the payment of the rebel troops at Corinth, Mississippi- Here, for the first time, they knew the nature of their duty, which was to destroy the track and bridges from Big Shanty, to and beyond Chattanoog^i, or as far as Bridgeport, Tennessee. This section of the road is built over innumerable creeks and rivers; and as General Mitchel had already cut oflf all communication from Corinth, by holding Huntsville, Alabama, the destruc- tion of bridges which they were expected to effect, would have completely prevented rebel reinforcements and commissary stores from reaching Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. At Big Shanty, therefore, the train stopped for break fast, and passengers, conductor, engineer, and " hands," all went into the saloon, and were soon engaged in en- joying their matutin*il meal. The conspirators were 13 194 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN proiript to seize the golden moment of opportunity now offered to them. Leaving the cars, they quietly and naturally grouped together in squads of three and four, taking station with apparent carelessness on each side of the train. Andrews stationing himself at the coupling pin of the third car. A number of their party were engineers, and thoroughly understood the business in hand. One of these engineers was at his post, and found every thing right. All hands then quickly mounted the cars, although the guard was within three feet of them ; the word was given, Andrews drew the coupling pin and cried, " All right !" The engineer opened the valve and put on all steam, and the train, now consist- ing of three box cars and the engine, moved quietly but swiftly off — leaving rebel conductor, engineer, passen- gers, spectators, and the soldiers in the camp near by, all lost in amazement, and dumbfounded at the strange, startling, and daring act. And now commenced the most exciting railroad race and chase, which it has ever fallen to the pen of historian to describe. They soon lost sight of the lights at Big Shanty station, and at the first curve the train was stopped just long enough to allow one of the party to climb the telegraph pole and cut the wires. Starting again, they pushed along — making stops here and there to tear up the track, and taking with them on the cars a few of the rails thus re- moved. But unforseen difficulty now began to meet them. According to the schedule of the road, of which Mr. Andrews had possessed himself, they should have met but a single train on that day, whereas they met three, two of which were er gaged on extraordinary ser- vice, and they were compelled to switch off and let them DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 195 pass. At the first station where this happened, the engineer of the road made his appearance, and was about to step on the engine, when Andrews told him he could not come on board, as this was an extra train running through to Corinth, and that his party were engaged to run it, and in support of his assertion the iron safe was »hown. This apparently satisfied the engineer, and after taking in wood and water, the train again started. A second time they were compelled to switch ofi", and in order to get the switch-keys, Andrews, who knew the road well, went into the station and took them from the office. This caused considerable excitement, which he partly quieted by stating that the train contained gun- powder for Beauregard, at Corinth. About an hour was lost in waiting to allow these trains to pass, which, of course, enabled their pursuers to press closely after them. But they pushed on as rapidly as possible, removing rails, throwing out obstructions along the track, and cutting the telegraph lines from time to time — attaining, when in motion, a speed of sixty miles per hour — but they could not regain the time which they had lost. Reaching a bridge about twenty miles south of Dalton, Georgia, they set fire to one of their cars, piled on wood, and left it on the bridge, to which they thus hoped to set fire. Now, let us return to the rebel engineer, conductor, and passengers, thus unceremoniously left at Big Shanty, by the amazing and sudden disappearance of the engine and part of the train. The party who had thus stolen the march upon them, had evidently done so at that time and place, wi'h the presumption that pursuit could not be made by an ngine short of Kingston, some thirty 196 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. miles above Big Shanty ; and that, by cutting the tele graph wires as they proceeded, they should gain at leaat three or four hours' start oT any pursuit which could be made. This was a legitimate and reasonable conclusion, and but for the energy and quick judgment of Mr. Fuller, ihe conductor, and Mr. Cain, the engineer of the stolen train, and of Mr. Anthony Murphy, foreman of the Wood Department of the State road, who accidentally happened on the train that morning, the plans of Mr, Andrews and his party would have resulted as origin- ally contemplated, and with crushing disaster to the rebel cause. But these three determined men, without a moment's delay, put out after the flying train on foot, amidst shouts of laughter from the crowd, who, though lost in amazement at the unexpected and daring act, could not repress their merriment at seeing three men starting on foot after a train which had just whirled away from before their eyes, under the highest power of steam. But Messrs. Fuller, Cain, and Murphy, nowise daunted by the disparity of motive power, put on all their speed and ran along the track for three miles, until they came up with some track raisers who had a small truck car, which is shoved along by men so employed on railroads, on which to carry their tools. Truck and men were at once " impressed," and they took it by turns of two at a time to run behind the truck and push it along all up-grades and level portions of the road, and let it drive at will on all the down- grades. Reaching the spot where the runaways had cut the telegraph wires and torn up the track, they found themselves suddenly tumbled out, pell-mell, truck and men, upc i the side of the road. Finding, however, that DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 197 '* nobody was hurt oii our side," the plucky " rebs " put the truck again on the track, left some hands to repair the road, and with all the power of determined will and muscle, they pushed on to Etowah station, some thirty miles above. Here, the first thing that met their sight was the " Yonah," an old coal engine, one of the first ever used on the State road, standing already '' fired up." This venerable locomotive was immediately turned upon the track, and like an old racer at the tap of the drum, pricked up her ears and made fine time to Kings- ton. There they found themselves but twenty minutes behind the runaway train ; and leaving the "Yonah" to blow ofi; they mounted the engine of the Rine Branch road, which was ready fired up, and waiting for the arrival of the passenger train nearly due. Here a num- ber of persons volunteered for the chase, taking such arms as they could lay their hands on at the moment, and with the fresh engine they started for Adamsville. But a little before reaching that place they found the train at a standstill, in consequence of the destruction of a portion of the road by the Yankee runaways. This was vexatious, but it did not discourage Fuller and Murphy, who left the engine and once more put out o7i foot, alone. After two miles running, they met the down freight train from Adamsville — reversed and ran it backward to that place, switched off the cars on side track, and with the engine made fine time to Calhoun, where they met the regular down passenger train. Here they made a momentary halt, took on board a number of well armed volunteers, a company of track hands to repair the track as they went along, and a telegraph operator, and continued the chase. A short 198 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. distance above Calhoun they saw, for the first time, the runaway train ahead of them. The " Yanks," supposing themselves now well out of danger, were quietly oiling the engine, taking up track, etc., but finding themselves discovered, they mounted and sped away, throwing out upon the track, as they fled, the heavy cross-ties with which they had provided themselves ; which was done by breaking out the end of the hindmost box car, and pitching them out. The rails which they had last taken up they now carried off with them, but their rebel pursuers, on coming to where the rails were torn up, stopped, tore up the rails behind them and laid them down, without fastening, before the engine, which ran over them cautiously but safely ; and then carefully throwing off from the track the cross-ties which had been thrown there to impede their progress, pushed on after the fugitives. Now the race became terrible in its- intensity. " Nip and tuck " the two trains swept with fearful speed past Resaca, Tilton, and on through Dalton, where the rebel train stopped to put off the tele- graph operator, with instructions to telegraph to Chatta- nooga to have them stopped there, in case he should fail to overhaul them. On and on, fast and still faster the rebel train pressed with hot speed, sometimes in sight, as much to prevent their cutting the wires be- fore the message could be sent, as to catch them. The daring Yankees indeed stopped just opposite, and very near to the encampment of a rebel regiment, and cut the wires, but the operator who had been dropped at Dalton had^^ the message tJirough about two minutes before. They also again tore up the track, cut down a telegraph pole, and placed the two ends of it under the cross-ties. DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 19 1) and the middle over the rail on the track. Their pnr- Buers, however, got over this impediment in the same manner they did before — taking up rails behind and laying them down before. Once over this, they shot through the great tunnel at Tunnel Hill, only Jive minutes hehind the adventurous " Feds," who, finding themselves closely pressed, uncoupled two of the box- cars from their engine, hoping to impede the progress of their pursuers. Quick-witted Fuller, however, hastily coupled them to the front of his engine, and pushed them ahead of him to the first turn-out, where he switched them off out of his way, and dashed ahead. As they passed Ringgold, the runaways began to show signs of "• giving out." They were out of wood, water, and oil ; their rapid running and inattention to the engine had melted all the brass from its journals ; and they had no time for repair, so rapid was the pursuit. Nearer and nearer panted the iron steed behind them, until, when it was within four hundred yards of them, seeing that their only safety was in flight, they jumped from the engine, scattering in the tliicket, each for himself And now their troubles commenced. The whole country immediately swarmed with armed pursuers. Unac- quainted with the country, they lost their way, were hunted down by mounted men and bloodhounds, and finally were all captured. Their plan had failed from causes which reflected neither upon the genius by which it w^as planned, nor upon the intrepidity and discretion of those engaged in it, but from a combination of unfore- seen circumstances. It was a plan which the rebels themselves declared to have been " entirely practicable on almost any day for the last year," but they did not 200 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. expect to meet two " extraordinary" or special trains on the road ; they did not expect that any men would be so apparently foolhardy as to attempt their pursuit on foot; and they did not expect that their pursuers would find any such " God-send" as the old coal engine, " Yonah," standing on the track, ready fired up. Their calculations on every other point were admitted by their enemies, and those best acquainted with the road and its arrangements, to have been " dead certainties," which would have met with perfect success. It might have been hoped that the signal bravery of such an exploit would have commanded the respect of their captors, and mitigated in some degree the resent- ment which such an attempt excited. But it was not so. The twenty-two captives, when secured, were thrust into the negro jail at Chattanooga. There they occu- pied a single room, half under ground, and but thirteen feet square, so that there was not space enough for them all to lie down together, and a part of them were, in consequence, obliged to sleep sitting and leaning against the walls. The only entrance to this vile room was through a trap door in the ceiling, through which, twice a day, their scanty meals were lowered in a bucket ; and they had no other light or ventilation than that which came through two small, triple grated win- dows. They were covered with swarming vermin, and the oppressiveness of the heat obliged them to strip themselves entirely naked. Added to this, they were all handcuffed, and fastened to each other in companies of twos and threes, by trail chains, secured with padlocks around their necks. Their food, doled out to them DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 201 twice a day, consisted of a little flour moistened with water, and baked in the form of bread, together with spoiled pickled beef And, as their pockets had been rifled of whatever money they contained at the time of their capture, they were utterly without the means to pro cure any better supplies from outside. Shortly after their capture, Jacob Parrot, an orphan boy, aged twenty years, belonging to the Thirty-third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, was taken by a Confederate oflBcer and four soldiers, who stripped him, bent him over a stone, and while two pistols were held to his head, a lieutenant in rebel uniform inflicted, with a raw hide, over a bun- dled lashes on his bare back. This was done in the presence of an infuriated crowd, who clamored for his death, and actually brought a rope with which to hang him. The object of this prolonged scourging was to force from him (the youngest of the the party) a confes- sion as to the objects of the expedition and the names of his comrades, especially that of the engineer who had run the train. Three times, in the course of this horri- ble flogging, it was suspended, and young Parrot was asked if he would confess; but, steadily and firmly, with unswerving fidelity to the trusts of friendship and the inspirations of patriotism, he refused all disclosures, and it was not until his tormenters were weary of their cruel labor, that they abandoned the attempt. While thus imprisoned at Chattanooga, their leader, Mr. Andrews, was tried, condemned, and executed as a spy, at Atlanta, on the 7th of June. The remainder, although strong and healthy when they entered this prison, at the end of three weeks, when they were re- quired to leave it, were so exhausted by their confine- 202 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. ment and treatment, as scarcely to be able to walk. Finally, twelve of their number were transferred to the prison at Knoxville, Tenn., and there seven of them were tried by court-martial as spies. Their trial, of course, was summary, and although permitted to be present, they were not allowed to hear either the argu- ment of their own counsel or of the judge-advocate. Their counsel, however, afterward visited them in prison, and read to them his argument, which was, in substance, that the fact of their being dressed in citizens' clothes was no more than what had been authorized in similar cases by the Confederate Government itself; that the object of the expedition was a purely military one, and as such lawful, according to the rules of war ; and that not having lingered about or visited any of the camps, obtaining or seeking information, they could not rightly be considered as spies. This just and unanswerable presentation of the case, appears to have produced a favorable impression, and the whole party soon after were removed to Atlanta, Ga., under the impression that those who had been tried had been acquitted. But, on the 18th of June, after their arrival at Atlanta, their prison door was opened, and, without warning, the death- sentence was read to the seven who had been tried at Knoxville, and who, little dreaming of their hapless fate, were even then engaged in whiling away the time by playing euchre. No time for preparation was allowed — they were bid to say farewell to their comrades, and •* be quick about it" — then were tied, carried out, and hung. One of their number, too ill to walk, was pinioned like the rest, and dragged off in this condition ♦» the scaffold ; while two, whose weight broke the ropes DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 203 which suspended them, were denied another hour's respite for prayer. One of their number, Alfred Wilson, of the Twenty-first Ohio, did not hesitate, while stand ing under the gallows, to make a brief, manly, and patriotic address to the scowling mob who surrounded him. The remaining prisoners, now reduced to fourteen, were kept closely confined under special guard, in the Atlanta jail, until October, when, overhearing a conver- sation among their guards, they became convinced that they were to be hung, as their companions had been. This led them to devise a way of escape, which they carried out on the evening of the next day, by seizing the jailor when he opened the door to carry away the bucket in which their supper had been brought. Seizing and disarming the guards, eight of the fugitives were soon beyond pursuit. Of these, six, after long and pain- ful wanderings, succeeded in reaching the Union lines. Of the other two, nothing has ever been heard. The remaining six of the fourteen were recaptured and con- fined in the barracks until December, when they were removed to Richmond, where they were confined in Castle Thunder. There they shivered through the winter, without fire, thinly clad, and with but two small blankets, which they had saved with their clothes, to cover the whole party. So they remained until the early part of March, 1863, when they were exchanged; and thus, at the end of eleven months, terminated their pitiless sufierings and persecutions in the South — perse- cutions begun and continued amid indignities and suffer- ings on their part, and atrocities on the part of their captors, which illustrate, more fully than pen or wordi? liUl DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. can ever express, the diabolical spirit of the rebellion, against which they and thousands of our brave Union soldiers have fought and suffered in every part of the South. The railroad lines along the border were the scenes of some startling adventures and narrow escapes, during the war. The following, very graphically told by a former engineer, has the merit also of truthfulness : THE WRONG SIDE OF THE CURVE. AN EX-ENQINEER'S STORY. " Among the many incidents that during the late rebellion were connected with that great national artery, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, is one that I will relate. " In the fall of 1861, having been detained by business in the town of Cumberland, Maryland, I was at last about to start for Wheeling, when I learned by a de- spatch that the road was occupied below Harper's Ferry by a force of rebels, and therefore no train would pass. " This proved to be true in reference to ordinary trains, but a * special,' with which was the Hon. Mr. Pierpont, and a few other notabilities, had passed before the rebels cut the track, and was therefore approaching. On inquiry, I found that the engineer of the coming trair^ had been one of my old chums, ere I had discarded engine-driving for more profitable business. My friend Joe M was a cool, bold, skilful engineer, and as generous as reckless of danger. DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 206 " As I expected, I no sooner saw him and stated mj wish to go up the road, than he swore that, special oi no special, I should ride with him, if for nothing but to see the ' fast time" his engine, " Wildfire," would make. *' As we dashed rapidly along and were passing through Black Oak Bottom, a couple of ill-looking fellows in citizen's dress fired at the engineer, but doing no damage, merely provoked a laugh of derision from him for their want of marksmanship. On arriving at Oakland, Mary- land, we were disagreeably surprised by receiving a telegram, informing us that a party of rebels were mak- ing extraordinary haste to reach the railway at a point many miles ahead of us. Also they seemed to know who the special contained, and would therefore use all endeavors to capture or kill us. " There was but one car behind the engine, and in it was briefly discussed the question of go or stay, while Joe was having the tender refilled with wood and water " Mr. Pierpont's business was too urgent to admit oi any possible delay ; two or three others concluded to risk the trip, and I — well, if it's not too egotistical to say so — I had run risks on railways too often to back out because there was danger ahead, while the rest concluded to stay and trust to luck for the opportunity of getting away. " Just as we were about to start, the fireman making a misstep on the ' running board,' fell and struck the ground with such force as to break his arm. Joe hur- riedly picked the poor fellow up, but time was precious just then, so leaving him to the care of the gentlemen who had accompanied us, he started directly toward me, asking me to come and ' run ' for him, as, having no fire*nan, he would have more than he could do. T told 206 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. him, however, to consider me his fireman for the rest oi the trip, as he was best acquainted with the road ; so without any more ado, I doffed my coat, we jumped on, and away we went, past hamlets, through wildernesses of stunted bushes, up grade and down hill, at a speed rarely equalled. Our light train made firing an easy task for me, and I had frequent leisure to scan the beautiful ranges of the Alleghanies along which we skirted. Joe was sitting, as was usual with him, with his left hand on the throttle lever, and his body half out of the side window of the 'cab,' that he might the better scan the track ahead. "A few miles south of the famous Cheat river bridge, is a deep mountain gorge, with precipitous, rocky sides. "It is shaped like an hour-glass, wide at each end, but tapering each way toward the middle. The track runs for quite a distance along one side of the gorge, makes a, very abrupt turn to cross the chasm, a very deep one, in a straight line, and then, still curving in- wardly, follows the gorge in a line nearly parallel with the track on the opposite side, for three fourths of a mile. '' We were pitching along with that peculiar rocking, bounding motion, so different from the jar of ordinary fast speed. As we swept to the top of a grade, around the side of a hill that commanded a view of the gorge — Joe and I both on the lookout — we saw, at a moment's glance, enough to make us concentrate our thinking faculties, and act in a hurry, whatever was best to be done. " There, on the straight track, just at the near edge .:)f the gorge, a lot of men, in gray uniform, were hastily DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 207 piling up some old ties, logs, etc., while at the point where the curve was sharpest — before reaching the gorge — were several more, tugging furiously at a rail, one end of which seemed to baffle them, as they pulled it outward. We were within a mile of them when we discovered them, and as each noticed them, the shout came simultaneously from both of us, ' The wrong side of the curve !' The ignorant fools were pulling out the inside rail, instead of the outside. In the latter case, nothing could have saved us from running oflf the track, and probably into the gorge. Our single brakesman, seeing the danger — I suppose from habit — was commenc- ing to tighten the brake, but at a look from Joe I sig- nalled 'off brakes,' Joe, meanwhile, opening the throttle to its widest extent, as we dashed down the grade at a positively frightful velocity. "As we neared them, a party of them huddled to- gether near the track. T seized a large stick of wood, intending, if possible, to hurt 'somebody.' We were going altogether too swut to fear their taking aim at us; and for that matter, I suppose they considered our de- struction such a certainty that firing at us would be needless. I was poising the big stick of wood, guessing at the rate of speed — I've had some practice throwing parcels from trains in motion — when Joe suddenly pulled the whistle-rope. The hoarse shriek seemed to startle them for an instant ; they huddled closer together, and I tossed the stick outward and downward. I had barely time to see it crash through the group with the force of a thunderbolt, when, with a jarring plunge, the wheels on one side struck the naked ties. That part of the trouble we had feared but little, as the impetus of 208 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. the engine was almost sure to make it mount the track again. On the track again, but a few rods ahead of us, was the formidable barricade, and beyond that the yawn- ing chasm. Joe was standing up now, with eyes blaz- ing, still holding the throttle wide open, as he braced himself for the shock. I had grasped the brake rod of the tender the instant I threw the piece of wood. Crash — my hold didn't avail me, as I was pitched head over heels against the fire-box, and laid flat on my back on the footboard or floor of the engine. "Joe was as suddenly jerked half around, his back striking the little door in front of where he had stood, breaking the door and shivering the glass to atoms. Bui we were through ; how, we couldn't tell, except that we were still on the track, and thundering over the gorge. Joe's spirits rose with the occasion. Extricating himself almost as suddenly as he had been deposited in the little glass door, he jerked a tin flask from his pocket, sprung on top of the tender, and from thence to the roof of the cab. Steadying himself for a moment, with his face toward the rebels, he shouted, ^good-by,' made them a low bow, and took a drink, perfectly regardless of the white puffs of smoke, as one after another discharged their pieces at him ; as he afterward explained, *the en- gine made too much noise for him to hear the bullets, and they didn't seem to be hitting anybody.' " After having, in spite of sore bones, performed a jig, which he had extemporized for that occasion for the ex- press edification of the ' rebs,' Joe descended from hie perch and deUberately shutting off steam, stopped. " W<^ were still in sight of them, though at a tolerably ^afe distance, and now saw a group of them standing DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 209 aear several men who had been wounded, perhaps some killed, by that ' irrepressible' stick of wood, " Our damages were a few bruises each, but no serious hurts. Our engine suffered the loss of the pilot, or cow- catcher, and head light j the front of the smoke-box was stove in, besides sundry dents and bruises on the brass casings of the cylinders ; but for running purposes wa.*^ absolutely uninjured. The rebels having piled the logs squarely across the top of the track, the point of the cow-catcher had gone under them, and though broken by the shock, had raised them sufficiently to keep them from under the wheels, while the engine dashed them right and left into the gorge. " The rebels, seeing us stop, started in pursuit ; but as we found nothing serious to impede our further progress, and, as in their case, ' distance lent enchantment to the view,' we were off again in high spirits, and without further adventure worth recounting, arrived safely at our destination. " Poor Joe, after being shot at so often as to have acquired a sovereign contempt for rebel bullets, was shot dead about a year ago, while running a government engine near Chattai>X)ga" 14 210 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. ZAGONYI'S CHARGE. The charge of Fremont's Body-Guard and the Prairie Scouts of Major Frank White, upon the rebel garrison in Springfield, Missouri, under the leadership of Major Charles Zagonyi, is justly regarded as one of the most daring and gallant achievements of the wai. Charles Zagonyi was a Hungarian refugee who, like 80 many of his countrymen, had fled to this country after the suppression of the revolution in his native country by the iron hand of the Russian Czar. His daring character brought the young ofl&cer to the notice of the invincible General Bem, by whom he was placed in command of a troop of picked cavalry for extraordinary service. His story, after that hour, up to the date of his capture by the enemy, was one of unparalleled daring. His last act was to charge upon a heavy artillery force. Over one half of his men were killed and the rest made prisoners, but not until after the enemy had suffered terribly. He was then confined in an Austrian dungeon, and finally released, at the end of two years, to go into exile in America. Fremont drew around him a large number of such re- fugees from European tyranny, and found in them men of great value, in all departments of the service. Zagonjri enlisted three hundred carefully chosen men, who, as a '' Body-Guard," served as pioneers and scouts in Fremont's advance. The exploit at Springfield was only one of many similar services for which they were designated by Fremont; but, the suspension of his com- mand in Missouri broke up the Guard, and Zagonyi with- DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 211 drew from the service until his leader should again be given a command. The Guard was mounted, and was armed with German sabres and revolvers — the first company only having carbines. The horses were all bay in color, and were chosen with special reference to speed and endurance. The expedition to Springfield was planned, as it after- ward appeared, upon false information. Instead of Springfield being held by a small force, it was in posse8^ sion of twelve hundred infantry and four hundred cavalry. Major Frank White had been ordered by General Sigel to make a reconnoissance toward Springfield — the Union army then being at Camp Haskell, south of the Pomme de Terre river, thirty-four miles from Warsaw and fifty- one from Springfield. The major had just come in with his dashihg " Prairie Scouts," one hundred and fifty-four strong, from their gallant dash into Lexington ; and the order to strike out for the reconnoissance found them jaded from over service. The major, however, put out, and was far on his way when, on the 24th (of October), he was joined by Zagonyi, who assumed command of the expedition, by order of Fremont. Zagonyi had with him one half of his Guard, provided with only one ration. The march to Springfield was to be forced, in order that the enemy should be surprised and the place secured before rebel reinforcements could reach it. The com bined Scouts and Guard marched all Thursday (October 24th) night ; briefly rested Friday morning, then pushed on and were before Springfield at three p. m. on the 25th — the fifty-one miles having been accomplished in eigh- teen hours. Eight miles from Springfield five mounted rebels were 212 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. caught ; a sixth escaped and gave the alarm to the forces in the town, whose strength, Zagonyi learned from a Union farmer, was fully two thousand strong. Nothing was left but a retreat or bold dash. Zagonyi did not hesitate. His men responded to his own spirit fully, and were eager for the adventure, let it result as it would. Major White was so ill from overwork that, at Zagonyi's entreaty, he remauied at a farm-house for a brief rest. The Union farmer offered to pilot the Body- Guard around to the Mount Vernon approach on the West — thus hoping to effect a surprise in that direction, as the enemy was, doubtless, aligned to receive the as- sault on the Boliver road, on the North. Of this detour White knew nothing, and after his rest he pushed on with his guard of five men and a lieutenant, to overtakt* his troops. He travelled up to the very outskirts of the town, and yet did not come up to his men. Supposing them in possession of the pla>?e, he kept on and soon found himself in a rebel camp — a prisoner. He wiis immediately surrounded by a crew of savages, who at once resolved to have his life. Captain Wroton, a rebel officer, only saved the Federal officer and his men from murder by swearing to protect them with his life. The blood thirsty wretches were only kept at bay by the constant presence of Wroton. The particulars of the charge aie given by Major Dorsheimer in his admirable papers on Fremont's Cam- paign, in the Atlantic Monthly : The foe were advised of the intended attack. When Major White was brought int) their camp, they were preparing to defend their positiiin. As appears from the DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 212 confession of prisoners, they had twenty-two hundred men, of whom four hundred were cavah'y, the rest being infantry, armed with shot guns, American rifles, and revolvers. Twelve hundred of their foot were posted along the edge of the wood upon the crest of the hill. The cavalry was stationed upon the extreme left, on top of a spur of the hill, and in front of a patch of timber Sharpshooters were concealed behind the trees close to the fence alongside the lane, and a small number in some underbrush near the foot of the hill. Another detachment guarded their train, holding possession of the county fair ground, which was surrounded by a high board fence. This position was unassailable by cavalry from the road, the only point of attack being down the lane on the right ; and the enemy were so disposed as to com- mand this approach perfectly. The lane was a blind one, being closed, after passing the brook, by fences and ploughed land : it was in fact a cul-de-sac. If the in- fantry should stand, nothing could save the rash assail- ants. There are horsemen sufficient to sweep the little band before them as helplessly as the withered forest- leaves in the grasp of the autumn winds ; there are dead- ly marksmen lying behind the trees upon the heights and lurking in the long grass upon the lowlands; while a long line of foot stand upon the summit of the slope, who, only stepping a few paces back into the forest, may defy the boldest riders. Yet, down this narrow lane, lead- ing into the very jaws of death, came the three hundred. On the prairie, at the edge of the woodland in which he knew his wily foe lay hidden, Zagonyi halted his ".ommand. He spurred ••Jong the line. "With eager 214 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. glance he scanned each horse and rider. To his officers he gave the simple order, " Follow me ! do as I do !" and then, drawing up in front of his men, with a voice tremulous and shrill with emotion, he spoke: " Fellow-soldiers, comrades, brothers ! This is jour first battle. For our three hundred, the enemy are two thousand. If any of you are sick, or tired by the long march, or if any think that the number is too great, now is the time to turn back." He paused — no one was sick or tired. '' We must not retreat. Our honor, the honor of our general and our country, tell us to go on. I will lead you. We have been called holiday soldiers for the pavements of St. Louis ; to day we will show that we are soldiers for the battle. Your watchword shall be — ' The Union and Fremont f Draw sabre ! By the right flank — quick trot — march !' Bright swords flashed in the sunshine, a passionate «hout burst from every lip, and with one accord, the trot passing into a gallop, the compact column swept on in its deadly purpose. Most of them were boys. A few weeks before they had left their homes. Those who were cool enough to note it say that ruddy cheeks grew pale, and fiery eyes were dimmed with tears. Who shall tell what thoughts, what visions of peaceful cottages nestling among the groves of Kentucky, or shining upon the banks of the Ohio and the Illinois — what sad recollections of tearful farewells, of tender, loving faces, filled their minds during those fearful moments of suspense ? No word was spoken. With lips compressed, firmly clenching their sword-hilts, with quick tramp of hoofs and clang of steel, honor leading »uid glory awaiting t^em, the young soldiers flew for- DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 215 ward, each brave rider and each straining steed mem- bers of one huge creature, enormous, terrible, irresifi- tible. " ♦ Twere worth ten years of peaceful life, One glance at their array." They pass the fair ground. They are at the comer of the lane where the wood begins. It runs close to the fence on their left for a hundred yards, and beyond it they see white tents gleaming. They are half way past the forest, when, sharp and loud, a volley of musketry bursts upon the head of the column ; horses stagger, riders reel and fall, but the troop presses for- ward undismayed. The farther comer of the wood is reached, and Zagonyi beholds the terrible array. Amazed, he involuntarily checks his horse. The rebels are not surprised. There to his left they stand crown- ing the height, foot and horse ready to engulph him, if he shall be rash enough to go on. The road he is fol- lowing declines rapidly. There is but one thing to do — run the gauntlet, gain the cover of the hill, and charge up the steep. These thoughts pass quicker than they can be told. He waves his sabre over his head, and shouting, " Forward ! follow me ! quick trot ! gallop !" he dashes headlong down the stony road. The first company, and most of the second follow. From the left a thousand muzzles belch forth a hissing flood of bullets ; the poor fellows clutch wildly at the air and fall from their saddles, and maddened horses throw themselves against the fences. Their speed is not for an instant checked ; farther down the hill they fly, like wasps driven by the leaden storm. Sharp volleys pnuT 216 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. out of the underbrush at the left, clearing wide gaps through their ranks. They leap the brook, take down the fence, and draw up under shelter of the hill. Zagonyi looks around him, and to his horror sees that only a fourth of his men are with him. He cries, " They do not come — we are lost !" and frantically waves his sabre. He has not long to wait. The delay of the rest of the Guard was not from hesitation. When Captain Foley reached the lower corner of the wood and saw the enemy's lines, he thought a flank attack might be ad- vantageously made. He ordered some men to dismount and take down the fence. This was done under a severe fire. Several men fell, and he found the woods so dense that it could not be penetrated. Looking down the hill, he saw the flash of Zagonyi's sabre, and at once gave the order, " Forward !" At the same time, Lieutenant Kennedy, a stalwart Kentuckian, shouted, "Come on, boys ! remember Old Kentucky!" and the third company of the Guard — fire on every side of them — from behind trees, from under the fences — with thun- dering strides and loud cheers — poured down the slope and rushed to the side of Zagonyi. They have lost seventy dead and wounded men, and the carcasses of horses are strewn along the lane. Kennedy is wounded in the arm, and lies upon the stones, his faithful charger standing motionless beside him. Lieutenant Goflf received a wound in the thigh ; he kept his seat, and cried out, *'The devils have hit me, but I will give it to them yet !" The remnant of the Guard are now in the field under the hill, and from the shape of the ground the rebel fire DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 217 sweeps with the roar of a whirlwind over their heads. Here we will leave them for a moment, and trace the fortunes of the Prairie Scouts. When Foley brought his troop to a halt, Captair Fairbanks, at the head of the first company of Scouts, was at the point where the first volley of musketry had been received. The narrow lane was crowded by a dense mass of struggling horses, and filled with tlie tumult of battle. Captain Fairbanks says, and he is corroborated by several of his men who were near, that at this moment an officer of the Guard rode up to him and said, " They are flying ; take your men down that lane and cut off" their retreat" — pointing to the lane at the left. Captain Fairbanks was not able to identify the person who gave this order. It certainly did not come from Zagonyi, who was several hundred yards farther on. Captain Fairbanks executed the order, fol- lowed by the second company of Prairie Scouts, under Captain Kehoe. When this movement was made. Cap- tain Naughton, with the Third Irish dragoons, had not reached the corner of the lane. He came up at a gallop, and was about to follow Fairbanks, when he saw a Guardsman, who pointed in the direction in which Zagonyi had gone. He took this for an order, and obeyed it. When he reached the gap in the fence, fuade by Foley, not seeing any thing of the Guard, he supposed they had passed through at that place, and gallantly attempted to follow. Thirteen men fell in a few minutes. He was shot in the arm and dismounted. Lieutenant Connolly spurred into the underbrush, and received two balls through the lungs and one in the left shoulder. The dragoons, at the outset not more 218 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. than fifty strong, were broken, and, dispirited by the loss of their ofiicers, retired. A sergeant rallied a few and brought them up to the gap again, and they were again driven back. Five of the boldest passed down the hill, joined Zagonyi, and were conspicuous for their valor during the rest of the day. Fairbanks and Kehoe, having gained the rear and left of the enemy's position, made two or three assaults upon detached parties of the foe, but did not join in the main attack. I now return to the Guard. It is forming under the shelter of the hill. In front, with a gentle incli- nation, rises a grassy slope, broken by occasional tree- stumps. A line of fire upon the summit marks the position of the rebel infantry, and nearer and on the top of a lower eminence to the right stand their horse. Up to this time no Guardsman has struck a blow, but blue coats and bay horses lie thick along the bloody lane. Their time has come. Lieutenant Maythenyi with thirty men is ordered to attack the cavalry. With sables flashing over their heads, the little band of heroes spring toward their tremendous foe. Right upon the centre they charge. The dense mass opens, the blue coats force their way in, and the whole rebel squad- ron scatter in disgraceful flight through the cornfields in the rear. The boys follow them sabering the fugitives. Days after, the enemy's horses lay thick among the un- cut corn. Zagonyi holds his main body until Maythenyi disap- pears in the cloud of rebel cavalry ; then his voice rises through the air : " In open order — charge !" The line opens out to give play to their sword-arm. Steeds respond to the ardor of their riders, and quick as thought, DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 219 with thrilling cheers, the noble hearts rush into the leaden torrent which pours down the incline. With un- abated fire the gallant fellows press through. Their fierce onset is not even checked. The foe do not wait for them — they waver, break, and fly. The Guards- men spur into the midst of the rout, and their fast- falling swords work a terrible revenge. Some of the boldest of the Southrons retreat into the woods, and continue a murderous fire from behind trees and thickets. Seven Guard horses fall upon a space not more than twenty feet square. As his steed sinks under him, one of the officers is caught around the shoulders by a grape- vine, and hangs dangling in the air until he is cut down by his friends. The rebel foot are flying in furious haste from the field. Some take refuge in the fair ground, some hurry into the cornfields, but the greater part run along the edge of the wood, swarm over the fence into the road, and hasten to the village. The Guardsmen follow. Zagonyi leads them. Over the loudest roar of battle rings his clarion voice — " Come on, Old Kentuck ! I'm with you !" And the flash of his sword-blade tells his men where to go. As he approaches a barn, a man steps from behind a door and lowers his rifle ; but before it has reached a level, Z agony i's sabre-point descends upon his head, and his life-blood leaps to the very top of the huge barn-door. The conflict now raged through the village — in the public square, and along the streets. Up and down the Guards ride in squads of three or four, and wherever they see a gro ip of the enemy, charge upon and 220 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. scatter them. It is hand to hand. No one but has a share in the fray. There was at least one soldier in the Southern ranks. A young officer, superbly mounted, charges alone upon a large body of the Guard. He passes through the line unscathed, killing one man. He wheels, charges back, and again breaks through, killing another man. A third time he rushes upon the Federal line, a score of sabre-points confront him, a cloud of bullets fly around him, but he pushes on until he reaches Zagonyi — he presses his pistol so close to the major's side, that he feels it, and draws convulsively back, the bullet passes through the front of Zagonyi's coat, who at the instant runs the daring rebel through the body ; he falls, and the men, thinking their commander hurt, kill him with a dozen wounds. "He was a brave man," said Zagonyi afterward, " and I did wish to make him prisoner." Meanwhile it has grown dark. The foe have left the village, and the battle has ceased. The assembly is sounded, and the Guard gathers in the Plaza. Not more than eighty mounted men appear: the rest are killed, wounded, or unhorsed. At this time one of the most characteristic incidents of the afiair took place. Just before the charge, Zagonyi directed one of his buglers, a Frenchman, to sound a signal. The bugler did not seem to pay any attention to the order, but darted off with Lieutenant Maythenyi. A few moments afterward he was observed in another part of the field vigorously pursuing the flying infantry. His active form was always seen in the thickest of the fight. When the line was formed in the Plaza, Zagonyi noticed the DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 22 J bugler, and approaching him, said : " In the midst of battle you disobeyed my order. You are unworthy to be a member of the Guard. I dismiss you." The bugler showed his bugle to his indignant commander — the mouth-piece of the instrument was shot away. He said : ^' The mouth was shoot off. I could not bugle viz mon bugle, and so I bugle viz mon pistol and sabre." It is unnecessary to add, the brave Frenchman was not dismissed. I must nol forget to mention Sergeant Hunter, of the Kentucky company. His soldierly figure never failed to attract the eye in the ranks of the Guard. He had served in the regular cavalry, and the Body-Guard had profited greatly from his skill as a drill master. He lost three horses in the fight. As soon as one was killed, he caught another from the rebels : the third horse taken by him in this way he rode into St. Louis. The sergeant slew five men. " I wont speak of those I shot," said he — ''another may have hit them; but those I touched with my sabre I am sure of, because ] felt them." At the beginning of the charge, he came to the extreme right, and took position next to Zagonyi, whom he followed closely through the battle. The major see- ing him, said : '* Why are you here. Sergeant Hunter? Your place is with your company on the left." " I kind o' wanted to be in the front,*' was the answer. " What could I say to such a man ?" exclaimed, Zagonyi, speaking of the matter afterward. There was hardlj' a hore^ or rider among the sur 222 DARING ENTERPRISES OP OFPICERS AND MEN. vivois that did not bring awaj some mark of the fray, r saw one animal with no less than seven wounds — none of them serious. Scabbards were bent, clothes and caps pierced, pistols injured. I saw one pistol from which the sight had been cut as neatly as it could have been done by machinery. A piece of board a few inches long was cut from a fence on the field, in which there were thirty-one shot holes. It was now nine o'clock. The wounded had beeo carried to the hospital. The dismounted troopers were placed in charge of them — in the double capacity of nurses and guards. Zagonyi expected the foe to return every minute. It seemed like madness to try and hold the town with his small force, exhausted by the long march and desperate fight. He therefore left Springfield, and retired before morning twenty-five miles on the Bolivar road. Captain Fairbanks did not see his commander after leaving the column in the lane, at the commencement of the engagement. About dusk he repaired to the prairie, tind remained there within a mile of the village until midnight, when he followed Zagonyi, rejoining him in the morning. I will now return to Major White. During the con- flict upon the hill., he was in the forest near the front of the rebel line Here his horse was shot under him. Captain Wroton kept careful watch over him. When the flight began he hurried White away, and, accom- panied by a squad of eleven men, took him ten miles into the country. They stopped at a farm-house for the night. White discovered that their host was a Union noian. His paro e having expired, he took advantage oi DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 223 the momentary absence of his captor to speak to the farmer, telling him who he was, and asking him to send for assistance. The countryman mounted his son upon his swiftest horse, and sent him for succor. The party lay down by the fire, White being placed in the midst. The rebels were soon asleep, but there was no sleep foi the major. He listened anxiously for the footsteps of his rescuers. After long weary hours, he heard the tramp of horses. He arose, and walking on tiptoe, cau- tiously stepping over his sleeping guard, he reached the door and silently unfastened it. The Union men rushed into the room and took the astonished Wroton and his followers prisoners. At daybreak White rode into Spring field at the head of his captives and a motley band of Home Guards. He found the Federals still in possession of the place. As the officer of highest rank, he took command. His garrison consisted of twenty-four men. He stationed twenty-two of them as pickets in the out- skirts of the village, and held the other two as a reserve. At noon the enemy sent a flag of truce, and asked per- mission to bury their dead. Major White received the flag with proper ceremony, but said that General Sigel was in command and the request would have to be re- ferred to him. Sigel was then forty miles away. In a short time a written communication purporting to com? from General Sigel arrived, saying that the rebels migh» send a party under certain restrictions to bury their dead : White drew in some of his pickets, stationed them about the field, and under their surveillance the Southern dead were buried. The loss of the enemy, as reported by some of their working party, was one hundred and sixteen killed 224 DARING ENTERPRISES OP OFFICERS AND MEN. The number of wounded could not be ascertained. Aftei the conflict had drifted away from the hill-side, some of the foe had returned to the field, taken away their woun- ded and robbed our dead. The loss of the Guard wag fifty-three out of one hundred and forty-eight actually engaged, twelve men having been left by Zagonyi in charge of his train. The Prairie Scouts reported a loss of thirty -one out of one hundred and thirty : half of these belonged to the Irish Dragoons. In a neighboring field an Irishman was found stark and stiff, still cling- ing to the hilt of his sword, which was thrust through the body of a rebel who lay beside him. Within a few feet a second rebel lav shot through the head. THE PASSAGE OF THE PORT HUDSON BATTERIES The rebels had blockaded the Mississippi from the beginning of the war with their batteries. In the pro- gress of the war Farragut had captured the batteries below New Orleans, and above as far as Prophet's Island, just below Port Hudson, and Foote, Davis, and Porter had made a conquest of the batteries above Vicksburg, leaving only the Vicksburg, Warrenton, and Port Hudson batteries — a distance of two hundred aiid thirty-two miles by the river. Of these, the batteries at Port Hudson were, with the exception of those at Vicksburg, the most formidable on the river. The bluff, rising forty feet above the level of the nver, wa? covered with forts for a distance of nearly DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 225 four miles, constructiid upon the most scientific princi- ples of modern military art, and armed with the most approved and heaviest ordnance which England, seeking the ruin of the republic, could furnish the rebels. The river, just at the bend, suddenly narrows, and the cur- rent, striking upon the west bank, is thrown across, running with great velocity, and carrying the channel almost directly under the base of the precipitous cliflfs, Any vessel attempting the passage would be compelled to run the gauntlet of a plunging fire from batteries which commanded the range for several miles Above and below. It was proposed, in order that the fleet might be able to co-operate with General Grant in the siege of Vicks- burg, to attack Port Hudson, and, under the fire of the bombardment, to attempt to force a passage by several of our gunboats up the river. To Rear-Admiral Farragut, already renowned for his naval victory at Forts St, Philip and Jackson, was assigned the work of attacking and passing this formid- able river fortress. The fleet consisted of the flag-ship •' Hartford," a fine sloop-of-war, carrying twenty-six guns; the " Richmond," a vessel of the same class and armament ; the side-wheel steamship " Mississippi," with twenty-two eight and nine inch guns ; the " Monongar hela," a smaller steam sloop-of-war, with sixteen heavy guns; and the gunboats '' Kineo," "Albatross," " Sachem," and " Genesee," each carrying three columbiads, and two rifled thirty-two pounders, togethei with six mortar boats, intended to assist in the bombardment, but not to attempt the passage of the batteries. On the morning of the 14th of April, the squadron 16 226 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN having ascended the river from New Orleans, anchored off Prophet's Island, and the mortar boats took their position, and early in the afternoon commenced a vigorous bombardment of the rebel works. At half-past nine o'clock in the evening, a red light from the flag- ship signaled the ships and gunboats to weigh anchor. The "Hartford" led, the "Albatross" being lashed on her starboard side ; the " Richmond" followed, having the "Genesee" lashed to her; next came the "Monon- gahela" and the " Kineo," while the " Mississippi" and the " Sachem" brought up the rear. The mortar boats, from their sheltered anchorage, were prepared to renew their bombardment with marked effect so soon as it should be necessary. Signal lights were flashing along the rebel batteries, showing that they were awake to the movements of the Union squadron. Soon the gleam of a fire kindled by the rebels was seen, which blazed higher and more bril- liant till its flashes illumined the whole river opposite the batteries with the light of day. This immense bon- fire was directly in front of the most formidable of the fortifications, and every vessel ascending the stream would be compelled to pass in the full blaze of its light, exposed to the concentrated fire of the heaviest ord- nance. Still it was hoped, notwithstanding the desper- ate nature of the enterprise, that a few at least of the vessels of the squadron would be able to effect a passage. v Silently in the darkness the boats steamed along, until a rebel field-piece, buried in the foliage of the shore, opened fire upon the "Hartford." The challenge thus given was promptly accepted, and a broadside DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 227 volley was returned upon the unseen foe. The rebel batteries, protected by strong redoubts, extended, as we have mentioned, with small intervening spaces, a dis- tance of nearly four miles, often rising in tier above tier on the ascending bluff. Battery after battery immedi- ately opened its fire ; the hill-sides seemed peopled with demons hurling their thunderbolts, while the earth trembled beneath the incessant and terrific explosions. And now the mortar boats uttered their awful roar, add- ing to the inconceivable sublimity of the scene. An eye-witness thus describes the appearance of the mam- moth shells rising and descending in their majestic curve : " Never shall I forget the sight that then mot my astonished vision. Shooting upward, at an angle of forty-five degrees, with the rapidity of lightning, small globes of golden flame were seen sailing through the pure ether — not a steady, unfading flame, but coruscat- ing like the fitful gleam of a fire-fly, now visible and anon invisible. Like a flying star of the sixth magni- tude the terrible missile — a thirteen-inch shell — nears its zenith, up and still up, higher and higher. Its flight now becomes much slower, till, on reaching its utmost altitude, its centrifugal force becoming counteracted by the earth's attraction, it describes a parabolic curve, and down, down it comes, bursting, it may be, ere it reaches terra firma, but probably alighting in the rebel works ere it explodes, where it scatters death and destruction around." The air was breathing gently from the east, and dense volumes of billowy smoke hung over the river, drifting Blowly across in clouds which the eye could not pene- 228 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. trate, and adding greatly to the gloom and sublimit}^ of the scene. It strains a ship too much to fire all the guns simultaneously. The broadsides were, conse- quently, generally discharged by commencing with the forward gun, and firing each one in its turn in the mosi rapid manner possible — as fast as the ticking of a clock. The effect of this bombardment, from ship and shore, as described by all who witnessed it, was grand and terrific in the extreme. From the innumerable batteries, very skilfully manned, shot and shell fell upon the ships like hail. Piercing the awful roar, which filled the air as with the voice of ten thousand thunders, was heard the demoniac shrieks of the shells, as if all the demons of the pit had broken loose, and were revelling in hideous rage through the darkness and the storm. In the midst of this scene of terror, conflagration, and death,- as the ships were struggling through the fire against the swift current of the Mississippi, there was heard from the deck of the '' Richmond," coming up from the dark, rushing stream, the cry of a drowning man. " Help ! oh, help !" The unhappy sufferer had evidently fallen from the " Hartford," which was in advance. In such an hour there could not be even an attempt made to rescue him. Again and again the agonizing cry pierced the air, the voice growing fainter and fainter as the victim floated away in the distance, until he sank beneath the turbid waves. The whole arena of action, on the land and on the water, was soon enveloped in a sulphurous canopy of smoke, pierced incessantly by the vivid flashes of the guns. The vessels could no longer discern each other ()r the hostile batt ^ries on the shore It became very DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 229 iifficult to know how to steer; and as in the impenetrar ble gloom the only object at which they could aim was the flash of the guns, tht danger became imminent that they might fire into each other. This gave the rebels great advantage • for with their stationary guns trained upon the river, though they fired into dense darkness, they could hardly fire amiss. Occasionally a gust of wind would sweep away the smoke, slightly reveal- ing the scene in the light of the great bonfire on the bluff. Again the black, stifling canopy would settle down, and all was Egyptian darkness. At one time, just as the " Richmond" was prepared to pour a deadly fire into a supposed battery, whose flash the gunners had just perceived, Lieutenant Terry shouted out, " Hold on, you are firing into the ' Hart^ ford !' " Another quarter of a minute and they would have been pouring a destructive broadside into the flag- ship which could scarcely have failed to sink her. A shell from a rebel battery entered the starboard port of the '' Richmond," and burst with a terrific ex- plosion directly under the gun. One fragment splin- tered the gun-carriage. Another made a deep indenta- tion in the gun itself. Two other fragments struck the unfortunate boatswain's mate, cutting off" both legs at the knee, and one arm at the elbow. He soon died, with his last breath saying, " Don't give up the ship, lads !" The whole ship reeled under the concussion a* if tossed by an earthquake. The river at Port Hudson, as we have mentioned, makes a majestic curve. Rebel cannon were planted along the concave brow of the crescent-shaped bluffs of the eastern ahore, while beneath the bluflf, near the water's edge, 230 DARING ENTERPRISEJ. OF OFFICERS AND MEN. there was another series of what were ca,lled water bat teries lining the bank. As the ships entered this curve, following the channel which swept close to the eastern shore, they were, one after the other, exposed to the most terrible enfilading fire from all the batteries follow- ing the line,of the curve. This was the most desperate point of the conflict ; for here it was almost literally fighting muzzle to muzzle. The rebels discharged an incessant cross-fire of grape and canister, to which the heroic squadron replied with double-shotted guns. Never did ships pass a more fiery ordeal. Lieutenant-Commander Cummings, the executive offi- cer of the " Richmond," was standing with his speaking- trumpet in his hand cheering the men, with Captain Alden by his side, when there was a simultaneous flash and roar, and a storm of shot came crashing through the bulwarks from a rebel battery, which they could almost touch with their ramrods. Both of the officers fell as if struck by lightning. The captain was simply knocked down by the windage, and escaped unharmed. The speaking-trumpet in Commander Cummings' hand was battered flat, and his left leg was torn off just below the knee. As he fell heavily upon the deck, in his gushing blood, he exclaimed: " Put a tourniquet on my leg, boys. Send my letters to my wife. Tell her that I fell in doing my duty !" As they took him below, and into the surgeon's room, already filled with the wounded, he looked around upon the unfortunate group, and said: " K there are any here hurt worse than I am let them he attended to first." DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. ^3 J His shattered limb was immediately amputated 3ood after, as he lay upon his couch, exhausted by the operar tion and faint from the loss of blood, he heard the noise of the escape of steam as a rebel shot penetrated the boiler. Inquiring the cause, and learning that the ship had become disabled, he exclaimed with fervor : " I would willingly give my other leg if we could but pass those batteries !" A few days after this Christian hero died of his wound. Just above the batteries were several rebel gunboats. They did not venture into the melee, but anxiously watched the fight, until, apprehensive that some of our ships might pass, they put on all r e&m. and ran up the river as fast as their web feet ce Jd carry them. But now denser and blacker grew the dark billows of smoke. It seemed impossible, if the s1.4RING ENTERPRISES OP OFPICERS AND MEN. 243 toward the left, and with a yell we were on them. We were only two hundred and eighty strong, and in front of us was White's Battalion of five hundred. No mat- ter for that. Wyndham and Broderick were leading, and they were not accustomed to count odds. "As we dashed fiercely into them, sabre in hand, they broke like a wave on the bows of a ship, and over and through them we rode, sabreing as we went. We could not stop to take prisoners, for there in front of us was the Twelfth Virginia, six hundred men, riding down to support White. By Jove, sir, that was a charge ! They came up splendidly, looking steadier than we did our- selves after the shock of the first charge. I do not know whether Wyndham was still with us, or if he had gone to another regiment; but there was Broderick, looking full of fight, his blue eyes in a blaze, and his sabre clenched, riding well in front. At them we went igain, and some of them this time met us fairly. I saw Broderick's sabre go through a man, and the rebel gave a convulsive leap out of his saddle, falling senseless to the ground. It seemed but an instant before the rebels were scattered in every direction, trying now and then to rally in small parties, but never daring to await our approach. " Now, there were the guns plain before us, the drivers yelling at their horses, and trying to limber up. We caught one gun before they could move it, and were dashing after the others, when I heard Broderick shout- ing in a stormy voice. I tell you, it was a startling sight The fragments of White's Battalion had gathered to- get^ier toward the left of the field, and were charging in our rear. The First Maryland was there, and Broderick 244 OARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. was Bhouting at them in what their colonel considered a ' very ungentlemanly manner,' to move forward to the charge. At the same time two fresh regiments, the Eleventh Virginia, and anot.ier, were coming down on our front. Instead of dashing at White's men, the First Maryland wavered and broke, and then we were charged at the same time in front and rear. We had to let the guns go, and gather together as well as possi- ble to cut ourselves out. Gallantly our fellows met the attack. We were broken, of course, by the mere weight of the attacking force, but, breaking them up too, the whole field was covered with small squads of fight- ing men. I saw Broderick ride in with a cheer, and open a way for the men. His horse went down in the melee ; but little Wood, the bugler of Company G, sprang down, and gave him his animal, setting off" him- self to catch another. A rebel rode at the bugler, and succeeded in getting away his arms before help came. As Wood still went after a horse another fellow rode at him. " The boy happened at that moment to see a carbine, where it had been dropped after firing. He picked up the empty weapon, aimed it at the horseman, made him dismount, give up his arms, and start for the rear Then he went in again. Lucas, Hobensack, Brooks, and Beekman, charged with twelve men into White's Battalion. Fighting hand to hand, they cut their wa;> through, but left nine of the men on the ground behind them. Hughes was left almost alone in a crowd, but brought himself and the men with him safe through. Major Shelmire was seen last lying across the dead body of a rebel cavalryman None of us thought any thing DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 245 of two to one odds, as long as we had a chance to ride at them. It was only when we got so entangled that we had to fight hand to hand that their numbers told heavily. It was in such a place that I lost sight of Broderick. The troop horse that he was riding was not strong enough to ride through a knot of men, so that he had to fight them. He struck one so heavily that he was stunned by the blow, but his horse was still in the way; swerving to one side, he escaped a blow from another, and, warding off the thrust of a third, man- aged to take him with his point across the forehead ; just as he did so, however, his sabre, getting tangled with the rebel's, was jerked from his hand. "He always carried a pistol in his boot. Pulling that out, he fired into the crowd, and put spurs to his horse. The bullet hit a horse in front of him, which fell. His own charger rose at it, but stumbled, and as it did, Broderick himself fell, from a shot fired within arms' length of him and a sabre stroke upon his side. " I saw all this as a man sees things at such times, and am not positive even that it all occurred as 1 thought I saw it ; for I was in the midst of confusion, and only caught things around by passing glimpses. You see I was myself having as much as I could do The crowd with whom Broderick was engaged was a little distance from me ; and I had just wheeled to ride up to his help when two fellows put at me. The first one fired at me and missed. Before he could again cock his revolver I succeeded in closing with him. My sabre took him just in the neck, and must have cut the jugu- lar. The olood gusaed out in a black looking stream ; 246 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. he gave a horrible yell, and fell over the side of his horse, which galloped away. Then I gathered up my reins, spurred my horse, and went at the other one. I was riding that old black horse that used to belong to the signal sergeant, and it was in fine condition. As I drove in the spurs it gave a leap high in the air. That plunge saved my life. The rebel had a steady aim at me ; but the ball went through the black horse's brain. His feet never touched ground again. With a terrible convulsive contraction of all his muscles the black turned over in the air, and fell on his head and side stone dead, pitching me twenty feet. I lighted on my pistol, the butt forcing itself far into my side ; my sabre sprung out of my hand, and I lay, with arms and legs all abroad, stretched out like a dead man. Everybody had something else to do than to attend to me, and there I lay where I had fallen. " It seemed to me to have been an age before I began painfully to come to myself; but it could not have been many minutes. Every nerve was shaking ; there was a terrible pain in my head, and a numbness through my side which was even worse. Fighting was still going on around me, and my first impulse was to get hold of my sword. I crawled to it and sank down as I grasped it once more. That was only for a moment; for a rebel soldier seeing me move, rode at me. The pres- ence of danger roused me, and I managed to get to my horse, behind which I sank, resting my pistol on the saddle, and so contriving to get an aim. As soon as the man saw that, he turned oflf without attacking me. I was now able to stand and walk ; so, holding my pistol in one hand a d my sabre in the other, T made my way DABING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 24? across the fields to where our battery was posted, scaring some with my pistol, and shooting others. Nobody managed to hit me through the whole fight. When 1 got up to the battery I found Wood there. He sang out to me to wait, and he would get me a horse. One of the men, who had just taken one, was going past, so Wood stopped him and got it for me. " Just at that moment White's Battalion and some other troops came charging at the battery. The squad- ron of the First Maryland, who were supporting it, met the charge well as far as their numbers went ; but were, of course, flanked on both sides by the heavy odds. All of our men who were free came swarming up the hill, and the cavalry were fighting over and around the guns. In spite of the confusion, and even while their comrades at the same piece were being sabred, the men at that battery kept to their duty. They did not even look up or around, but kept up their fire with unwavering steadiness. There was one rebel, on a splendid horse, who sabred three gunners while I was chasing him. He wheeled in and out, would dart away, and then come sweeping back and cut down another man in a manner that seemed almost supernatural. We at last succeeded in driving him away, but we could not catch or shoot him, and he got off" without a scratch, " In the meantime the fight was going on elsewhere. Kilpatrick's Brigade charged on our right. The Second New York did not behave as well as it has sometimes done since, and the loss of it weakened us a great deal The Tenth New York, though, went in well, and the First Main 3 did splendidly, as it always does. In spite of their superior numbers (Stuart had a day or two 248 DARING ENTERPRISES OF OFFICERS AND MEN. before reviewed thirty thousand cavalry at Culpeppei, according to the accounts of rebel officers), we beat them heavily, and would have routed them completely if Duffie's Brigade had come ^p. He, however, was engaged with two or three hundred men on the left ; the aide-de-camp sent to him with orders was wounded and taken prisoner, and he is not the sort of man to ftnd out the critical point in a fight of his own accord. " So now, they bringing up still more reserves, and a whole division of theirs coming on the field, we began tx) fall back. We had used them up so severely that they could not press us very close, except in the neigh- borhood of where the Second New York charged. There some of our men had as much as they could do to get out, and the battery had to leave three of its guns. We formed in the woods between a quarter and half a mile of the field, another regiment moved back to cover the left of Buford, who was in retreat toward Beverly Ford Hart and Wynkoop tried hard to cover the guns that were lost, but they had too few men, and so had to leave them. The rebels were terribly punished. By their own confession they lost three times as many as we did. In our regiment almost every soldier must have settled his man. Sergeant Craig, of Company K, I believe, killed three. Slate, of the same company, also went above the average. But we lost terribly Sixty enlisted men of the First Jersey were killed, wounded, or missing. Colonel Wyndham was wounded, but kept his saddle ; Lieutenant-Colonel Broderick and Major Shelmire were killed ; Lieutenant Brooks was wounded; Captain Sawyer and Lieutenant Crocker were taken prisoners ; and I, as "^^ou see, have had to come in at last and refit." DEEDS OF HEBOIC COURAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. 249 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE "ALBEMARLE." The rebel iron-clad ram, the "Albemarle," whose con- test with and discomfiture by the " Sassacus," in May, 1864, has been previously described in this volume, and which had become a formidable obstruction to the occu- pation of the North Carolina sounds by the Union forces, finally met her fate in October of the same year. During the previous summer. Lieutenant W. B. Cushing, commanding the " Monticello," one of the sixteen ves- sels engaged in watching the " ram," conceived the plan of destroying their antagonist by means of a torpedo. Upon submitting the plan to Rear-Admiral Lee and the Na^'y Department, he was detached from his vessel, and seni, to New York to provide the articles necessar}^ for his purpose, and these preparations having been at last completed, he returned again to the scene of action. His plan was to affix his newly-contrived torpedo appa- ratus to one of the picket launches — little steamers not larger than a seventy-four's launch, but fitted with a compact engine, and designed to relieve the seamen of the fatigue of pulling about at night on the naval picket line — and of which half a dozen had been then recently built under the superintendence of Captain Hoggs, of " Varuna" fame. Under Lieutenant Cush- mg's supervision, picket launch No. 1 was supplied with the torpedo — which was carried in a basket, fixed to a long arm, which could be propelled, at the impor- tant, moment, from the vessel in such a manner as to reach the side of the vessel to be destroyed, there to b*' 250 DEEDS OF HEBOIG COURAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. fastened, and exploded at the will of those in the to^ pedo boat, without serions risk to themselves. Having prepared his boat, he selected thirteen men, six of whom were officers, to assist him in the undertaking. His first attempt to reach the "Albemarle" failed, as his boat got aground, and was only with difficulty released. On the following night, however, he again set out upon his perilous duty, determined and destined, this time, to succeed. Moving cautiously, with muffled oars, up the narrow Roanoke, he skilfully eluded the observation of the numerous forts and pickets with which that river was lined, and passing within twenty yards of a picket vessel, without detection, he soon found himself abreast of the town of Plymouth. The night was very dark and stormy, and having thus cleared the pickets, the launch crossed to the other side of the river opposite the town, and sweep- ing round, came down upon the "Albemarle" from up the stream. The " ram" was moored near a wharf, and by the light of a large camp fire on the shore, Gushing saw a large force of infantry, and also discerned that the " ram" was protected by a boom of pine logs, which ex- tended about twenty feet from her. The watch on the "Albemarle" knew nothing of his approach till he was close upon them, when they hailed, "What boat is that?" and were answered, "the ^Albemarle's' boat;" and the same instant the launch struck, " bows on," against the boom of logs, crashing them in about ten feet, and running its bows upon them. She was imme- diately greeted with a heavy and incessant infantry fire fix)m the shore, while the ports of the "Albemarle" were apened, and a gun trained upon the daring party. Cashing promptly replied wit i a dose of canister, but DEEDS OP HEROIC GOUfiAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. 251 the gallant yomg fellow had enough for one man to manage. He had a line attached to his engineer's leg, to pull in lieu of bell signals ; another line to detach the torpedo, and another to explode it, besides this, he managed the boom which was to place the torpedo under the vessel, and fired the howitzer with his own hand. But he coolly placed the torpedo in its place and ex- ploded it. At the same moment he was struck on the right wrist with a musket ball, and a shell from tl^ "Albemarle" went crashing through the launch. The whole afiair was but the work of a few minutes. Each man had now to save himself as best he might. Gushing threw oflf his coat and shoes, and leaping into the water, struck out for the opposite shore, but the cries of one of his drovming men attracting the enemy's fire, he turned down the stream. The water was exceed- ingly cold, and his heavy clothing rendered it very dif- ficult for him to keep afloat, and after about an hour's swimming he went ashore, and fell exhausted upon the bank. On coming to his senses, he found himself near a sentry and two officers, who were discussing the affair, and heard them say that Gushing was dead. Thinking that he had better increase the distance between the rebels and himself, he managed to shore himself along on his back, by working with his heels against the ground, until he reached a place of concealment. After dark, he proceeded through the swamp for some distance, lacerating his feet and hands with the briara and oyster shells. He next day met an old negro whom he thought he could trust. The negro was jBrightened at Cushing's wild appearance, and tremblingly asked who he was. " I am a Yankee," replied Gushing, " and 1 252 DEEDS OP HEROIC COURAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. am one of the men who blew up the ^Albemarle.' " My golly, massa !" said the negro, " ley kill you if dey catch you. You dead gone sure." Gushing asked him if he could trust him to go into the town and bring him back the news. The negro assented, and Gushing gave him all the money he had, and sent him off. He then climbed up a tree and opened his jack-knife, the only weapon he had, and prepared for any attack which might be made. After a time the negro came back, and to Gushing's joy, reported the "Albemarle" sunk and the people leaving the town. Gushing then went further down the river, and found a boat on the opposite bank belonging to a picket guard. He once more plunged into the chilly river, and detached the boat, but, not daring to get into it, let it drift down the river, keeping himself concealed. At last, thinking he was far enough away to elude observation, he got into the boat, and paddled for eight hours, until he reached the squadron. After hailing them, he fell into the bottom of the boat, utterly exhausted by hunger, cold, fatigue, and excitement, to :he surprise of the people in the squadron, who were somewhat distrustful of him when he first hailed, think- ing him a rebel who was trying some trick. Nothing, indeed, but an overruling Providence and an iron will ever saved Gushing from death. He saw two of his men drown, who were stronger than he, and said of himself, that when he paddled his little boat, his arms and his will were the only living parts of his organ- ization. One man of the party returned on the " Valley Gity,** DEEDS OP HEROIC COURAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE 253 having been picked up after he had travelled across the country, and been in the swamps nearly two days. But one or two were wounded, and the larger part were captured by the rebels, being unable to extricate themselves from their perilous position among the logs of the boom, under the guns of the " ram." The '* Albe- marle" had one of her bows stove in by the explosion of the torpedo, and sank at her moorings within a few moments, without loss of life to her crew. Her fate opened the river to the Union forces, who quickly occu- pied Plymouth — the North Carolina sounds were again cleared from rebel craft, and the large fleet of vessels, which had been occupied in watching the iron-clad, were released from that arduous duty. Lieutenant Curbing, to whose intrepidity and skill the country is indebted for these results, was engaged in thirty-five fights during the war, and, exhausted as he was after this gallant expl )it, made the journey to his home in Western New York^ near Dunkirk, to vote, being one of those who belie\e8 that ballots are as important as bullets, in the oresei vation of the National life and liberties. HETTY McEWEN AN INCIDENT OF THE OOOUPATION OF NASHVniLE BY LUCY HAMILTON HOOPER. O Hetty McEwenI Hetty McEwen? What were the angry rebels doing, That autumn day, in Nashville town ? They looked aloft wi*ih oath and frown. 254 DEEDS OF HEBOIG COURAGE AND SELF-SACKIFICB. And saw the Stars and Stripes wave high Against the blue of the sunny sky ; Deep was the oath, and dark the frown, And loud the shout of " Tear it down !" For over Nashville, &r and wide. Rebel banners the breeze defied. Staining heaven with crimson bars ; Only the one old " Stripes and Stars" Waved, where autumn leaves were strewing, Round the home of Hetty McEwen, Hetty McEwen watched that day Where her son on his death-bed lay ; She heard the hoarse and angry cry— The blood of " '76 " rose high. Out-flashed her eye, her cheek grew warm. Uprose her aged stately form ; Prom her window, with steadfast brow, She looked upon the crowd below. Eyes all aflame with angry fire Flashed on her in defiant ire, And once more rose the angry call, " Tear down that flag, or the house shall fail i Never a single inch quailed she, Her answer rang out firm and free : " Under the roof where that flag flies, Now my son on his death-bed lies ; Bom where that banner floated high, 'Neath its folds he shall surely die. Not for threats nor yet for suing Shall it fall," said Hetty McEwen. The loyal heart and steadfast hand Claimed respect from the traitor band ; The fiercest rebel quailed that day before that woman stem and gray. They went in silence, one by one — Left her there with her dying son. DEEDS OP HEBOIG OOUBAOE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. 255 And left the old flag floating free O'er the bravest heart in Tennessee, To wave in loyal splendor there Upon that treason-tainted air, Until the rebel rule was o'er And Nashville town was ours once more. Game the day when Fort Donelson Fell, and the rebel reign was done ; And into Nashville, Buell, then. Marched with a hundred thousand men, With waving flags and rolling drums Past the heroine's house he comes ; He checked his steed and bared his head, '' Soldiers I salute that flag," he said ; "And cheer, boys, cheer 1 — give three times three For the bravest woman in Tennessee I" One of Logan's Men. — At Fort Donelson a younj, man, attached to the Thirty-first Regiment of Dlinoie Volunteers (Colonel John A. Logan), received a musket- shot wound in the right thigh, the ball passing through the intervening flesh, and lodging in the left thigh. The boy repaired to the rear and applied to the doctor to dress his wound. He, however, manifested a peculiar reserve in the matter, requesting the doctor to keep his misfortune a secret from his comrades and officers. He then asked the surgeon if he would dress his wound at once, in order that he might be enabled to return to the fight. The surgeon told him that he was not in a con- dition to admit of his return, and that he had better go to the hospital ; but the young brave insisted upon going back, ofiering as an argument in favor of it the fact that he had fired twenty-two rounds after receiving his wound and he was confident he could fire as many more after 256 DEEDS OF HEROIC COURAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. his wound should be dressed. The surgeon found he could not prevent his returning to the field, so he attend- ed to his wants, and the young soldier went off to rejoin his comrades in their struggle, and remained, dealing out his ammunition to good account until the day was over, as if nothing had happened to him. Several days after he returned to the doctor to have his wound redressed, and continued to pay him daily visits in his leisure hours, attending to duty in the meantime. The Acre of Fire. — At the battle of luka, Captain, afterward Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur C. Ducat, then an officer of General Ord's staff, and subsequently Inspector- General of the Army of the Cumberland, seeing a divi- sion of rebels about to flank one of the Union regiments, rode up and informed Rosecrans of the danger. " Ride on and warn Stanley at once," said the general. Ad acre of fire, and showered with bullets, lay between them and the menaced troops. The officer looked at it, and said : " General, I have a wife and children." " You knew that when you came here," said the gen- eral, coolly. " ril go, sir," was the only answer. " Stay a moment. We must make sure of this," and hastily writing some despaches, the general called three <^f his orderlies. Giving a despatch to each, he said to the officer : "Now go." He started, and at intervals of about fifty yards, bearing a similar message, the order- lies followed. The officer ran the fiery gauntlet, and, his clothes pierced with bullets, and his horse reeling from a mortal wound, reached Stanley — the orderlies found their graves on that acre of fire ! ^1 ■■aMBOHBiMi l««^n^n^«w *■**»%■; Mn» #«iu«u>« ft'' iiiiiiiwi— iiwuii nti'-M^-'A. <■ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 111 llii lliiiilll 1111 »i"i''» '"''''"' "''"'''''" 013 763 820 4 %