... - „ ^ * ,0^ ^^ «^' -c.,,^^ O. * ^ ., o ;. -^ cv^' ^^. V '^- * . .c,' \\^ ..-j: .^ .V -^o^ ^^ "^ c^ - '-^ ^^^'^ %^^ >>" ^■^" cS-^. v^^ "'^^ a\-^' ^./^. ':??^''. .^' %. ^^' . .0 o. \'' xs 4^ ,.' .. > " ^''^ <3 » \^ ' - ^ ^0 0^ > •^^. .-^ 'ue. After the weariness of a day's mai-ch many would cast themselves full length on the ground, w^et or dry, for rest, and Avould often make themselves sick thereby. The oil cloth (rubber blanket) was very important, not onl}^ as a protection COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. 181 ag-ainst the rain when we were marching, but by putting it under us at night it pro- tected us against the moisture of the ground, which was a prolific cause of sickness. Our mess, in making our pallet, when without a tent, would have an oil cloth or two next to the ground, on which we would spread our blankets, the top spread also being an oil cloth. It was a rare thing that I ever lay on the ground if it was at all damp without my oil cloth under me if I had one, though there were times, on some of the hard marches, that T was witiiout one, and so had to drop down on the uaked ground for rest. I do not recall that the government fur- nished us oil cloths to any extent, but we had to supply ourselves with them as we did with guns, in a large measure, b}' capturing them from llie Yankees. They were taken in va- rious ways from the enemy: sometimes by capturing their quartermaster stores, some- times by gathering them up after the Yan- kees were routed and had thrown them away on the battlefield, and quite a number were taken from prisoners and off dead Yankees. 182 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. I never took but one off a dead Yankee, and that one did me no good, although it seemed to be a new and excellent one. It was at the battle of Peach Tree Creek, after we had driven the enemy from before us, and were passing over their dead. In my way was one of them who had on him an oil cloth, which was rolled up lengthways and fastened on his body with the belt of his cartridge box after it was passed over his shoulder and across his chest before and behind. Quickly stoop- ing down and cutting the belt, I jerked tlie oil cloth loose from the dead man, and went on, not taking time to examine it until the battle was over, when I found that a Kebel's bullet had gone through the roll, making- many holes in the cloth, when spread out, be- fore it did its deadly work. CHAPTER X. On the March — Tn Camp — Foraging — Sam and the Geese — Prices of Things in General. BUILDING camp fires when on the march we stopped for the night was a stirring procedure, especially if the weather was cold or rainy ; and indeed we had to have fires for cooking purposes, however pleasant the weather might be. If there were fences near, and no other wood at hand, rails became our fuel; and there w^as generally a rush for them, that those nearest the encampment might be gathered up first to prevent carry- ing them a greater distance. And if we stopped where we could get wood otherwise, that which could be easiest got was hurried- ly procured first, carrying our fuel always at such times on our shoulders. It was ever with great regret to us all that we were put to the necessity of burning fence rails at times, (183) 184: COXFEDEKATE ]^:CIIOES. thus destroying the property of our own friends; but we often camped without tents, even in very bad, cold weather, when to have done witliout fires would have produced much suffering and sickness, and rails were our only chance to have fires. We were hindered much in getting wood by not having a sufficient supply of good axes. The government undertook to furnish all that were needed, and had them hauled in the wagons for our use, but they were used by so many that were not careful with them that the supply was reduced very rap- idly by losses and being damaged in one way or another, and those that we managed to keep for use became so dull as to be almost useless except for splitting purposes, and were too few in number to meet the demand. "We bad no grindstones among our army stores, and so the only chance to sharpen our axes when they became dull was to go to the house of some citizen who could ac- commodate us. Those of us who could buy began to supply ourselves with axes when- ever we could, and get the wagoners to take CONFEDEliATE ECHOES. 185 care of them for us when we were not regu- larly in camp. Buying an ax was often a right difficult thing to do, partly because of their scarcity after the war had gone on some time, and parth^ because they sometimes cost more than we were able to pay for them. I noted in my diary that on February 2, 186»S, while we were in camp near Jackson, Miss., I went into that town to buy an ax. The price was $15, and that being more money than I had, I did not, of course, pur- chase it. On my way back to camp I bought one that had been in use a good while from an old negro man for $6. The price of axes went far beyond what it was then before the final catastrophe of 1865. Everything be- came more and more costly as the war went on, until nothing scarcely that a private sol- dier wanted besides what the government furnished could be bought by him, his w^ages being about the only thing that continued low. I remember to have received a pair of " Yankee boots," as we called them, Febru- ary 15, 1863, which were procured through the lines for me by Uncle Calvin Goodloe, 181) CONFEDEIIATK ECHOES. and brought to me by Joe Thompson, a mem- ber of our regiment, who had been at home on furlough. I noted in my diary that they jame in the nick of time, and that such boots were selling within our lines for $65. What they were worth afterward I cannot recall. .\t the Gate City Hotel, in Atlanta, a cup of coffee without sugar came to be worth $5, a bed for one night .fl5, and full meals $20 each. When we started on a march it was seldom that w^e knew v/here we were going; or rath- er the object of the movement was not usu- ally made known to us — the company officers and the privates. In how much the com- manding general connnunicated his designs to the field officers 1 took not the pains to inquire. It was our business to obey orders, to march, to camp, to do fatigue duty, to fight, or what not, as we were ordered by those in whose commands ^ye were, and it was not w^orth our while to concern ourselves or be inquisitive as to what the meaning of our movements was; still we interested our- selves very much to find out all that we CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. 187 could as to where we were going when we were put ou the march, and the significance of all our movements. Being free men in the highest sense, and fighting for our own independence, it was impossible that we be not concerned to knoAV all that might possi- bly be found out about every campaign with which we were connected, and yet we knew full well that for the generals to have com- municated their plans to us would have been almost equivalent to have told them to the enemy; for there were many who would have been so free to speak of these matters that some Yankee emissary or spy, near at hand, would have soon learned all that we knew. It was wonderful that the spirit of subor- dination to army authorities pervaded our soldiery to the extent that it did, for the freest people in the world in the days of the "' Old South " were the citizens of our South- land, the material which constituted our vol- unteer armies. Insubordination cropped out now and then on some hard march which seemed to have no important end, or in doing 188 COA'FEDEliATE ECHOES. some heavy work which was not needful, or wiien having: to fi£,"ht under disadvantages which might be obviated; but taking the war througliout, we were too intent on beating the Yankees back to aliow^ such things to hinder us in our purpose to gain, if possible, our independence. The conduct of the cam- paigns and their results determined, in our minds, the competency or incompetency of those who directed them, and we were more or less encouraged or discouraged thereby, but the one common sentiment of bitter ha- tred for the ever encroaching foe dominated us all and determined our minds to resist them under wdiatever circumstances we might be placed. Camp life, when we were encamped for any length of time, was sometimes somewhat monotonous, but there were almost always duties of one kind and another to be per- formed, which, though not particularly at- tractive, were valuable to us for exercise and to prevent tediousness. The inevitable drill had to be gone through with every day that the weather would permit, and this was kept CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 189 np to the very close of the war. Time and again we were carried through the various evolutions of military tactics, and frequently drilled in the manual of arms, with a sham battle fought now and then. There were also fatigue duties that were required to be done, such as cleaning otF the encampment, digging sinks, handling army stores, fortify- ing, etc. These were done by reliefs, some men v/orking awhile and then others taking their places while they rested. Guards must also be on dut}^ day and night, and espeeial- 1}^ at night, and there must be details of men from day to day for that purpose. After the various camp duties had all been duly attended to, there was still a good deal of time left to us to be employed in such way as we might like, provided we violated no military order; and herein the differences of temperaments, etc., among the soldiers were seen, as in all other conditions in which they were placed. Some enjoyed one kind of rec- reation and some another, while there were some who cared not to do anything but loll idly about the encampment. Gaming of dif- 190 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. ferent kinds, and sometimes gambling with cards and chucherluch boxes, was resorted to by a good many; there was, however, but little gambling carried on in the Thirty-fifth Alabama Regiment that 1 ever knew of. Aiany there were who, caring for their reli- gious interests and the spiritual well-being of their comrades, gave much attention to meetings for those purposes. Of the reli- gious work in the army I propose to speak specially and separately after awhile. For myself I found my recreation in the interim of military duties mainly in religious labors, reading, and writing to the loved ones at home, and other relations. I always kept a long letter on hand to my wife, when I had time to write one, so that I could send it whenever a possible opportunity for doing so presented itself. I loved the game of chess very much, which I had learned when a stu- dent in Virginia at B. F. Minor's pi-epara- tory school to the University of Virginia, and while at Grenada, Miss., a part of the winter of 1862-63, our chaplain (Rev. Rob- ert A. AYilson) and T played it a good deal. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 101 \Ye both, however, came simultaneously to the conclusion one night while we were play- ing, that, though there was possibly no harm in the game itself, still we were consuming time that could be better employed, and so we gave it up altogether. To be sure the liociiil intercourse among the soldiers, aside from any other form ol' recreation, was a very agreeable manner of spending our time. Members of different messes would visit each other in an informal way, and we would often cluster about iu camp, as we fell in with each other by accident or otherwise, and talk over the uftairs of the day. Ours was not a hired soldiery in the re- motest sense, as the Yankee army was in a large measure, but it was a citizen sol- diery, made up of the very best type of citi- zenship and accustomed to tlie best phases of social life, so that our mingling togetlier in the camp was the intercourse of intelligent and cultured manhood, altogether capable of the highest appreciation of those things which affected the interests of the army, the people, and the country at large. ^Fany in- 192 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. deed were the pleasant moments in which we dwelt together in this way^ and which both served to draw ns nearer together and to counteract the longings for home, which might otherwise oppress us. There v^as no scarcity of subjects for conversation, of course, as the whole country, so to speak, was in arms, and there was no movement in any department of the Confederate or Yan- kee armies but that was of interest to us. Through the secular pai)ers — the Me7nj)Ms Aj^jjeal particularly, whose printing presses went from place to place in the South for safety from the Yankees — we kept well up with what was transpiring in every direction, and with the rumors, I may also say, which were ever floating in the air only to vanish into nothing. The multitude and variety of these flying rumors, called " grapevine dis- patches," cannot be numbered. As a rule they were in our favor, though now and then they w^ere not. The fact is, our soldiers and citizens were intensely hopeful of success al- most throughout the entire war, and we were ever ready to enlarge upon whatever pleas- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 193 ant tidings for a long while that came to our ears, and at once stamp out as false whatever had a discouraging aspect. Our camp employment consisted, in a measure, also in supplementing our army ra- tions by supplies purchased from citizens in the country surrounding our encampment, even at remote distances from it, and in reaping all the benefit that we could from our culinary department. We could gener- ally get permission, a few at a time, to "go foraging," as we called our visits to the country for purchasing such things — vege- tables, fowls, etc. — as the government could not supply us with to any extent, or we could send our cooks, always negroes, at any time that we pleased. A great many messes — most of them, I judge — preferred to do their own cooking, mainly I suppose because of the expense of hiring cooks. At Canton, Miss., the winter of 1863-64, where we were longer in camp than at any other place, our mess had a negro cook who did our foraging. His name was Sam, and he was the property of Scip Cross, one of the soldiers, from 13 194 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. whom we hired him. He was a good cook, and as a forager he was eminently success- fnl; albeit, he was more attentive to the wants of the mess and of himself than he was to the interests of the citizens whose prem- ises he visited. He reported one day that he had fonnd a flock of geese which he conld get at the low price of thirty cents apiece if we were willing to eat them. Of course we wanted them, and furnished him the money from day to clay to get one until the flock, T presume, was consumed, or until the supply, at least, was exhausted. We ate them with very great relish, and they were so fat that we tried up lai-d from them, of a delightful quality at that, to shorten our corn bread and biscuit. Sam, who was always good-natured, was unusually merry while the goose busi- ness was going on; and I could notice a jol- ly twinkle of his eyes, now and then, as he would cut them around at one of my mess- mates — Pike Cockrill, my brother-in-law. He had communicated his secret to Pike, and bound him over to keep it strictly from me until the geese were all gone, and we had CONFEDEPvATE ECHOES. 195 left Canton, fearing that T, who was at the head of the mess, would make matters un- pleasant for him. The fact was that he was taking the geese on the sly, and selling them to the mess at peace prices. He did not call that stealing, however, for he claimed that if he did not get them some one else would; moreover, he declared that he tried to buy the geese, but that the owner put a higher price on them than he thought ought to be asked. The army negro, as we had him among us, I will here say, gave every evidence of being pleased with the life that he then lived. We only kept him as a servant, in which capaci- ty he was well satisfied to abide; and he performed the duties that we put upon him with a decided relish. Of course he was al- ways in the rear when a fight was on hand, and his big mouth would smile to its utmost capacity whenever we whipped the Yankees. On the march he usually went along Avith the wagon trains, and always rendered important service if any of the wagons were disabled or otherwise obstructed in their movements. 196 co:n^fedeiiate echoes. When upon going into camp in cold weath- er it was understood that we would remain some length of time, many of the messes would set to work at once to improve their quarters, though there were others who seemed indifferent to comforts of any kind, and were content with such accommodations as the government furnished. The field offi- cers were usually supplied with wall tents, in which they could use cots and stools, and walk about in with little inconvenience, but the companies had the "A" tents when they had tents of any kind, except that in a few cases and for a short while there were round conical tents. The "A" tent was nothing- more than the roof of a tent stretched over a pole and pinned to the ground, the only standing room in it being under the pole. One end was closed, and at the other end the door of the tent, aud by building a fire just outside the open end, and pinning back the lower corners of the door, so to speak, it was made very comfortable within as we lay on our ground pallets. In order to make such tents more roomy and high enough to CONrEDERATE ECHOES. 197 stand up in without inconvenience, we would sometimes build pens of poles several feet high, and then stretching the tents above them as roofs. The cracks in these pens we would diiiib with mud or stop with moss or straw. We would also build small stick- and-mud chimneys to these structures, which served for warming and cooking purposes, a much better arrangement, especially in bad weather, than having to warm and cook by fires without the tent. AYe constructed our bunks above ground with forks and poles or slabs, upon which we would place straw or moss to spread our blankets on, and arranged such seats as best we could. Having thus improved our temporary abiding' places, we were ready to engage in housekeeping Avith a merry relish. Many thought it worth their while to take this much pains to make them- selves comfortable without the assurance that they would get the benefit of their im- provement longer than a week, it really be- ing a pleasant pastime to them to do such w^ork. We remained longer in winter quarters 198 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. near Canton, Miss., the winter of 1863-64 than at any other place, and there many of lis built cabins out and out, using split logs for the walls, there being a great many small straight red oak trees at hand, and covering them with boards which we also made from timber that was convenient to the encamp- ment. To these cabins we built pretty good chimneys of the stick-and-mud kind, and in them we arranged our sleeping bunks, one above the other like the berths in steamboats. There w^as a great deal of long moss on the trees in that section, and this we used for stopping the cracks in our cabins and spread- ing on our rude bunks to make them as soft as possible. Such was the kind of cabin that the mess to which I then belonged built and occupied. There were others that were sim- ilarly or better constructed, but some of the soldiers made themselves only very indiffer- ent shanties, while others remained in the tents w^hich they had; the encampment therefore presented a strikingly variegated aspect, and was really an interesting scene to look upon, albeit we were not sufficient- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 199 ly poetical in those days to give attention to scenery. When not on duty we were kept quite close in our quarters by severely cold or rainy weather, and then it wa^ tiuit we en- joyed in an especial manner the improve- ments that we had made, those of us who had taken the pains to make any. I call to mind how those of us who used tobacco relished our pipes when thus confined to our camp tenements by inclement weather. I have long been opposed to the use of the '' weed" in any way, but in those days I esteemed such indulgence next to a necessity, and an inexpressible delight. January 20, 1863, while in camp at Grenada, Miss., I wrote in my diary, expecting thereafter to make it more full: " Here I must insert an essay when I ha.ve leisure on the luxury of the pipe in camp in cold weather." This was while we were having some very cold, disagreeable weather. We had a great deal of rain while in camp on Big Black in February, 1863, and in ni}^ diary of the 13th of that month occurs this utterance: "O the luxury of a 200 CONEEDEKATE ECHOES. pipe ill camp! Would that the Muses would inspire me to write a poetical essay on that subject! " It is too late for such a perform- ance as that now, were I ever so poetical, which I am not, there being no poetry to me in the pipe in these times of peace. Several of us liad joined in a smoke together that day, and at the conclusion of it resolutions were passed requesting whoever could to write of the value of the pipe under such circumstances, but none of us felt competent to do the sub- ject justice. My recollection is that most of the soldiers with whom I was thrown from time to time both chewed and smoked tobacco as a con- stant habit, whether in camp or on the march, but one of them, not of our immediate command, whom I met in iS^orth Alabama in the winter of 1864, gave me this hint on the tobacco habit, wdiich I here record as a Reb- el relic : Tobacco is a noxious weed. Davy Crockett sowed the seed. It robs your pocket aud soils your clothes, And makes a chimney of your nose. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 201 "We always undertook, when in camp for any length of time, to get up the best meals that we could, but when kept in our homely abodes by bad weather we took special pains to prepare something very nice to eat, if we had been so fortunate as ta get in any good "forage." We occasionally had sugar; and would make sweet cakes, pies, etc., when we had the other articles necessarj' for making such things. These we ate in the midst of comments and merriment, and would some- times send a portion to the field officers. I recall an unusually bad day at Jackson, Miss., February 4, 1863, and a pleasant inci- dent in connection with it. That day it com- menced sleeting just after breakfast, which was soon followed by a pouring rain, which lasted till bedtime. Our mess, at the head of which then was Lieut. Martin, was occu- pying a pole pen with a tent cloth stretched over it, into the side of which we had made a fireplace. We had the good luck to have in store some dried peaches, and H. E. Kel- logg, a member of our mess, tried his skill in making peach pies, which indeed were very 202 OOJS-b^EDEllATE ECHOES. fine. "We selected the nicest-looking one of the pies and sent it around to Col. Goodwin, then commanding our regiment. On a slip of paper accompanying the pie was written : " Compliments of Lieut. Martin and mess." A written reply came back from Col. Good- win in these words: "Lieut. Martin and mess will please accept a soldier's gratitude." Our encampment on Big Black was great- ly saddened the morning of February 18, 1863, by a shocking accident which occurred. Some men in Company C cut down a tree in a street of the camp while it was raining, and most of the men w ere in their tents. Feai'- ing when it began to fall that it would strike one of the tents, they hallooed to the men in it to run out; and one of them (Hamilton, of the same company) jumped into the street just in time for the tree to strike him and kill him. He was mashed to death into the soft ground by the large limbs of the tree in a most horrid manner. There were a number of accidents that oc- curred, from first to last, on the march and in camp, resulting in the death or maim- co:n'federate echoes. 20:^ ing of soldiers; and in all such cases vre were more shocked than when our comrades fell in battle. When on the battlefield we were in the midst of carnage, and so w^ere i3repared for whatever might befall any with whom we fought; but when off the field we were not expecting sudden calamities to overtake them to the destruction of life or loss of limb. CHAPTER XI. The Army Ox — The Army Louse. DURIls^G much of the war — most of it, I suppose — we had the ahiiost constant companionship of the ai-my ox and the army louse, upon both of which I prepared reports for the John L McEwen Bivouac, in 1891, and those reports I shall here incorporate into this record, that war may be seen also in the light which they present. The Army Ox. It was not necessary to be a herdsman nor a butcher nor a commissary, during- the war in which we were engaged for freedom from Yankee rule, to learn that oxen and Confed- erate soldiers Vvcre closely identified willi each other, and that but for the abiding presence of the oxen the Confederate in arms would have often fared much worse than he did. Every soldier knew that. The (£01) COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. 205 oxen are therefore worthy of our most aftec- tionate remembrance; nor do we think that we belittle the functions of the Historical Committee, nor the dignity of the Bivouac, by reporting on the army ox. Whatever, indeed, was connected with the expedition of ours to rid our Southland of Yankee in- vaders is of perpetual interest, we take it. Unfortunately for us, be it said, the Yankee soldier came to stay; but fortunately for us, the army ox also came to stay. There were seasons, especially in the ear- lier period of the struggle, when richer diet than the typical army ox, and more abun- dant, was provided; but it, like other sub- lunary things, soon passed away. ^N^or need we to have repined, as so many did, because of this revolution of rations, for, after all, we were gainers in health and strength and en- durance by the change. It might have been a physiological necessit}^ that Moses kept his Israelites from swine and put them on beef ad infinitum; and so Jeff Davis might have reasoned that his Confederates could whip more Y^^ankees and do more running with 206 COISTFEDEKATE ECHOES. beef rations than they could on hog flesh. 'Naj, it was dire necessity which drove us to fall back on beef rations, just as necessity, alias Yankees, compelled ns to fall back from position to position until we fell a prey to Lincoln's hired legions. "Come up and di*aw your beef!" Thus yelled the fifth sergeant fi'om day to da}^, and to this day the delectable sound still rings in our ears, though more than a quarter of a century has passed since we last heard it. "Come up and draw your beef!" It mat- tered not how much or how little, how good or how bad, how it was as to quality or quantity, it was nevertheless drawn, and some mirth-provoking response was always made by some soldier to the call of the com- pany commissary. Indeed, if there ever was a condition of things that existed in our arm}^, however straitened it might have been, when there was not some soldier ready with a humorous remark, my memory is at fault. In the dreariest of bivouacs, undei- the sorest of privations, on the hardest of marches, and even in the lulls of battle, the ludicrous COISTFEDERATE ECHOES. 207 would pop out of some one, not necessarily a wag, and often to the unspeakable relief of his comrades who were enduring next to intolerable tension. Blessings upon the head of the old Reb who could give us something to laugh at when our agonies would have al- most overcome us without it! Call him a wag, if you will, but he Vv'as an army bene- factor for all that, and will always be re- membered most lovingly by his old compan- ions in suffering and peril. Blessings upon him! But did I say Ave always drew the beef, whether it was good or whether it was bad? Not always. Once at least the beef was blue and slimy and sticky, not aifording the slightest hint that there was even marrow in the bones of the ox that furnished it, not to speak of kidney fat. We were near Ed- wards Depot, in Mississippi, about fifteen miles east of Vicksburg. and it was Febru- ary 14, 1863, when we w ent back this one time on beef, not blaming the ox, however, for what the butcher and chief commissary did. Insubordination is no })art of a good soldier. 208 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. but here onr contracted abdomens drove us to it, in a measure. It proved to be the proper course for us, for the beef immediate- ly improved to the extent that it was possi- ble for us to eat it. And, after all, how could v.e much blame the butcher and the commissary? We were doing a good deal of campaigning at that tiuie, with but little to feed our cattle on, so that every day found them weaker and poorer. Some could stand marching and starving better than others, and so they must be kept on foot as long as possible. But what was to be done with those which, from Vveariness and hunger, could go no farther? Why, eat them, of course. And it was said, and the saying obtained general credence, that as we stopped to camp after a day's march, a fence rail was laid across the road in front of the beeves, and that those were slaughtered for our next day's rations that could not step over the rail. Be it remembered that in those halcyon days we generally prepared oui* beef for eat- ing by jerking it; and Ijeing thus prepared, the difference was not so marked between COJiTFEDEEATE ECHOES. 209 good and bad beef as it would have been if prepared some other way. The jerking process may have been interesting to most of ns when we first had to resort to it, but it became decidedly monotonous to us before we were through with it. It was done by holding the meat to the fire, having first "strung" it on a ramrod or stick, and turn- ing it around from time to time until it was toasted through, more or less. The ration of beef for the day we cut into three pieces before we jerked it, to answer for our three meals, and that with three small corn "dodg- ers " made the ration in full for the day. It could have all been easily eaten at one sit- ting without any sense of heaviness on the stomach, but it was for the entire day, and so we went through three motions to con- sume it. Some, however, would cook and eat their day's ration at one time, and then make the best shift they could the remainder of the day for something else to eat. To be sure it was not always beef and corn dodg- ers, as above remarked, but such was our diet much of the time, and especiallj^ when 210 COISTPEDERATE ECHOES. we were in motion; and it Vv^as oftener that we fared much worse than this than that we fared better. Some of the soldiers were wont to say that they never wanted to see another ox after the war ended, but "more beef and better beef" was what others longed for when they should come to command the situation. To the latter class I belonged, and so remain to this day. G-ive me heef. Passing over into Georgia, a " bull meet- ing " comes to mind that was held in our en- campment at sundown September 27, 1864:, the day after President Davis reviewed the arniv. while we were Ivlnsr a few miles from. Palmetto Station, just before entering upon Hood's famous " Tennessee Campaign." Here we w^ere shut in by a chain of sentinels to pre- vent us from " foraging," and our rations were so slight as to furnish no check to our hun- ger. A fine herd of beeves had been collect- ed, we understood, but it was presumed that Hood was savino- them for the long- march that was before us. The cattle, it is known, wei'e traveled along with the army from day to day, when it was in motion. It was re- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 211 ally a very distressing condition of things, as we were more and more hunger-bitten each succeeding day, and by degrees the spirit of mntin}^ crept in among the men. They made complaints to the proper author- ities, but to no purpose, until finally notices of a " bull meeting " were stuck on the trees throughout the encampment, to be held at sundown, the place of gathering to be des- ignated by '' bellowing." At the appointed time bellowing began near division head- quarters, and grew louder and louder as the crowd increased. When the bellowing ceased, the crowd having congregated, speaking began on the subject of short ra- tions v.iien it was possible for the army to be better provisioned. Among the speakers was S P , a lawyer in my company, six feet five inches high. This speaker and the occasion were well suited. He loved to eat, and we accused him of never having had a good filling since his enlistment in the army. Abdominally he was not large "in the girth," but he was unusually long. That evening he was exceedingly hungry. Xo 212 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. platform bad been erected for the speakers, and this particular speaker was lifted up on the limb of a tree by several soldiers when he was called on to epeak. He certainly "loomed." At the close of the meeting no- tice was given that unless larger rations were furnished by the commissary right away, the men would provide themselves with beef from the army pens. The beef, plus cornfield peas, came through the prop- er channel, and the day following S P , being full (peas will swell), enter- tained the encampment, division headquar- ters and all, with a magnificent speech, aglow with patriotism, subordination, chivalry, etc. While the flesh of the ox was a success (let us admit) as army diet, his hide, un- tanned, at least, was a failure as foot cover- ing, called at the time " moccasins." This was tested while on the march northward through Georgia on our way to Tennessee. The night of October 11, 1861:, we camped some twelve miles northeast of Rome. Just after we had eaten our supper and jerked our beef for the next day, orders came for CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 213 all the shoe makers to report at army head- quarters. The presumption was that thej would be sent to the rear to make shoes for the soldiers, many of v.hom were barefooted and many poorly shod; and never before was it known that the shoe maker's trade was so largely represented in the army. And those that were not shoe makers that night seemed to regret that they had not learned the trade. "Anything for a change " was the idea which sometimes pervaded the ranks; and so shoe making just then was thought to be much better than marching, with those who professed to be qualified for such Vv'ork. But late in the night came the shoe makers back to their respective com- panies in droves, disgusted with themselves and with Gen. Hood and with ox hides. In- stead of going to the rear to make shoes out of leather, as the order was very naturally interpreted to mean, they were required to make rawhide moccasins that night in camp, and report back to their commands for duty at daybreak the next morning. The return- ing ones vowed, when they learned the real 214 CO^^TFEDERATE ECHOES. meaning of the order, that they knew noth- ing about making moccasins, and further- more that tliey had never before lieard of such things. That we enjoyed their dis- comfiture when they returned from their shoe-making expedition need not be stated. But some of the slioe makers — how many I could never learn — toughed it out and made moccasins of the hides of the beeves that were slaughtered that day. They were made with the flesh sides out and the hair next to tlie bare feet of the soldiers wdio wore them. Before being put on the feet they looked like hideous pouches of some kind, but no man could have conjectured for what purpose they were made. However, there was much bragging on them the next day by those to whom they had been issued. But the next night and day following it i-ained, rained, rained, and alas for the moc- casins and the men who wore them! Just such shapes as those moccasins assumed, and such positions as they occupied on the feet, as the men went trudging along through the mud and water, can never be told; nor COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. 215 can any imagination, however refined, jnstly depict them. The pioneer corps were ahead of us putting poles and rails across the nu- merous little branches that the rain had made, for us to walk over on; ami whenever a moccasin-footed soldier vrould step on one of these poles or rails into the branch the moccasin would instantly conduct him. Lu- dicrous remarks and ludicrous scenes with- out number characterized that day's march, which were as cordial to us in our weariness, and long before night the moccasins and theii' wearers forever parted company. It is due to the army ox, however, to say that it was a great injustice to him to work up his untanned hide in this way; and that if prop- er measures had been taken with it in ad- vance the soldiers could have been well and comfortably shod, and the reputation of tlie army ox would not have suffered amoi^g" those to whose support and cheer he so faithfully and constantly contributed. But more reflection, indeed, was cast upon Hood than upon the ox for the moccasin under- taking and the moccasin failure. 21 G COKJe-EDElLATi: ECHOES. Precious with the Confederate soldier is the memory of the army ox. The Army Louse. The army louse, or grayback, was an army appendage of which honorable mention need not particularly be made, as in the case of the Confederate ox, but which fidelity to the facts of army life demands that record, at least, be made. Where he came from when the war broke out, and where he went when it closed, is not in the scope of this committeeman's knowledge. The grayback was never here until Lincoln's soldiers came, and the easy presumption is that they Ijrought him along with them, and turned him loose on us. But why they carried him back with them after the war was over is a puzzle, since the pests generally which they brought with tliem remained. Did not the Yankees bring the chicken cholera, and the hog cholera, and women-in-breeches, and various other pests and plagues? and are the}^ not all still here? And yet when the Yankees marched back home the graybacks CONrEDEIlATE ECHOES. 217 did likewise. But the solution of problems is not one of the functions of an historical committee, which has only to gather and re- cord facts. The fact, then, is that there were no gray backs in the Southern Confed- eracy until the tramp of Yankee soldiery was heard in our land; and that is about all that we know about their origin. May we never see their like again ! For size, the army louse was a success, he being, auiong the rest of the tribe to which he is supposed to belong, when he had reached his majority, as the elephant is to the quadriqjedal beasts of a majestic sort among which he roams in the jungles of Af- rica. As to locomotion he seemed not to be brisk, but moved from place to place with leisurely dignity, always, however, coming to time in locating himself in such quarters as suited his comfort and convenience. He was a quiet, easy bloodsucker, and so took up his lodging where his business would be convenient to him. Unlike the flea and the seed tick and the chigoe, he did not mean to worry you when his suction pump for blood 218 CO]!JFEDEllATE ECHOES. was put in operation; raid really he would sometimes be nearly through with the per- formance before you knew he had begun, and then you would only experience a .slight local warmth and itching sensation, making it a veritable luxury to scratch. Any soldier would at any time have traded oft' a flea or a chigoe for a grayback. I can vividly re- call an occasion when our command, in stop- ping to rest where there were very many rotten logs, were liberally supplied with chigoes from the logs, upon which they seat- ed themselves; and there was a universal de- sire to trade oft* chigoes for graybacks, some of the soldiers oftering as many as ten chig- oes for one grayback, if the other \mvty Avould catch the chigoes. My first palpable personal experience v/ith the grayback was Monday morning, April 27, 18G3. From what 1 then perceived, it w^as obvious that they were old settlers in my clothing; but they had made their set- tlement, and carried on their incursions so adroitly and tenderly as to make me suspect that the itching sensation I had been experi- COXFLDEKATE ECHOES. 219 enciiig from time to time was but the effect of a slight ''humor in the blood," or only the product of weariness and dirt. I had slept in a covered bridge near Enterprise, Miss., the night before wdth a number of our regiment, to protect us against rain, and all night 1 was troubled with unusual heat of the surface at large, and an inordinate pro- pensity to scratch. Before breakfast I went up the river a short distance above the bridge for a bath, and to cool off my fever- ish skin. Having made the necessary prep- arations to go into the river, it occurred to me to examine the inside of my under gar- ments, and upon turning them inside out 1 found them literally specked with graybacks. To the inevitable I most reluctantly sur- rendered; and from that day to this I have held that no soldier is to be accredited with perfect fidelity to all his duties who did not have the companionship, in liberal measure, of the grayback. The habitation, by preference, of the gray- back, was the inner seams of the garments next the skin, whether they were drawers or 220 COA'FEDEilATB ECHOES. pants, shirts or jackets; for sometimes the veteran of the stars and bars could afford no nndergarmentSj his only "^Tearing apparel be- ing breeches and jacket, wearing them there- fore, of course, next to his skin. To be sure the graj back would not stay in the seams all the time; for he must needs live by foraging, and so would travel about over the body and limbs of the one who carried him, in quest of a tender place in the skin into which to introduce his suction pump. He often had the honorable title of " Body Guard" bestowed upon him, so vigilant was he in his attentions to the person of the soldier, over which he quietly and v/atchfully glided. Capturing gray backs, when one was so cruel as to do so, was a careful and system- atic i)rocedure. This was the only meth- od by which the soldier could get rid of them to any extent, for boiling water is no exterminator of them, as many witnesses who have tried it most emphatically declare. It is said of the flea that " when 3^ou put your finger on him he is not there," but of the gray back it may be said that when you COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 221 put your finger on him he is there; so that capturing them was an easy undertaking, not to say an interesting pastime rather tlian otherwise. When embarking seriously in an expedition against graybacks the soldier would take his seat on a log some distance from camp, and proceed about as follows: First he removes his jacket and carefully in- spects it within and without, and then liangs it on a bush in the sun. This sunning proc- ess is to allure any grayback from his hiding place, by its genial warmth, that may have been overlooked. The shoes are then taken ofi* and thoroughly jarred,* with the c^-im side downward, and put to one side. The socks are removed, one at a time, slowly and cau- tiously, with the eyes intently fixed on every interstice within and without; they are then well shaken, and hung in the sun, wrong side out. ]!^ext the pants are slipped off easily, and the outside care fullj^ examined; then, by degrees, the inside of each leg is turned out, until the pants, as a whole, are turned, while with increasing eagerness the wearer exam- ines every seam and wrinkle. This garment 222 COlS^FEDEllATE ECHOES. is also hung in the sun, inside out. IS'ow for the shirt. A like inspection and sunning is undergone with that, while the soldier is no less watchful, but much more busy than he had heretofore been. It was a kind of skir- mish before this, but now the battle is joined, so far as the soldier is concerned, with death- dealing vigor, and scores of gray backs are slain, togetlicr ^^ illi those in embryo, for within the shirt many nits are found. Last- ly the draW'Crs come oft' as the pants did, and are likewise inspected and hung in the sun. The removal of these is done with greater care and closer inspection, if possible, than was the case heretofore with the other gar- ment, and the graybacks and nits that are popped between the nails of the thumbs need not be guessed at. A corporeal inspection is then undergone, a bunch of pennyroyal is I'ubbed on tlie surface, if any is at hand, and the soldier puts on his clothes again. He dresses slowly, carefully reinspecting each garment before putting it on; and then goes, whistling " Dixie," back to camp. Just when the grayback got into the Con- COXFEDE31ATE ECHOES. 223 federate camp the army statisticians have not shown, but an exploit similar to the one just described, though not so elaborate, was not enacted in my sight until the opening of the summei" of 1862. As to the general contour of the grayback, the number of his legs, the mechanism of the proboscis which he employed as a suction pump, the dimensions of his posterior de- partment, and the capacity of his blood res- ervoir ni}^ memory does not serve me suffi- ciently to state, more than to sa}^ what has already been said: that the grayback was, as a louse, an undisputed success. And novr it is due the author of this report to say that he is not writing for the mere amusement of the Bivouac, but to put on record, in as pleasant a way as he can, what is necessary to a full statement and under- standing of army life, and to show, in part, through what humiliation we had to pass in contending for our inalienable rights. To do full duty in the ranks, especially in the infantry, it was simply impossible for us to be altogether free fi'om dirt and vei-rnin, with 22i COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. the best of pains that we could take. To be sure there were some soldiers who were not as careful of cleanliness, in person and cloth- ing, as they might have been; and yet, when we consider that there were thousands, after awhile, who were without a change of gar- ments, and remember that we constantly marched through dust and mud, or were transported in dirty cars, and slept almost constantly on the ground, the utter futility of their undertaking to be free from dirt and vermin, in any effectual sense, is but too ob- vious. With all the Avashing that could be done (and we were frequently where we could scarcely get a sufficient supply of drinking- water) and all the care that could otherwise be taken of garments and person, there was the barest possibility oftentimes of an ap- j^roach to cleanliness. As to those who were not as careful as they might have been in such matters, it can nevertheless be said of them that they were often foremost in the fight, and ready for all kinds of fatigue duty. Some soldiers seemed to give themselves over to a don't-care manner of life in these and CON^FEDEKATE ECHOES. 225 other matters, and were only careful to do what they could to beat the Yankees. Hon- ored be their memories! Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray! In Dixie's Land we'll take our stand, To lib and die for Dixie. Away, away, away down South in Dixie; Away, away, away down South in Dixie. 15 CHAPTER XIT. Slaughter in War — Yankee Enlistments and Ours Compared — Motives of Each — Various Other Mat- ters. THE chief significance of war is the whole- sale slaughter of man by man, as army is arrayed against army, with weapons of de- struction in hand and in use against each othei- with the utmost vigor on the field of battle; and here it is that all army move- ments and strategems of commanders, in the main, converge. x\n enemy is sometimes de- feated without a battle being fought, by adroit stratagem, one army getting such ad- vantage of another -as to render it powerless foi- resistance; but the rule is to fight, and to do so with all fury, that the slain nuiy be as multitudinous as possible. The greater the number that fall in battle on one side the more gratifying it is to the other. It cer- tainly was so with us during the war in which we were engaged, and it is not yet an unpleas- (226) CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 227 I ant recollection that we killed in battle more Yankees by far than the aggregate of our armies amounted to, besides wounding thrice as many more; so that it takes millions on top of millions of dollars annually of govern- ment money to pension those that our bul- lets struck, but did not kill. Whenever a battle was fought the num- ber of the slain Vfas the first information sought; and if a great many had fallen on either side, the tidings thrilled the other side with delight all over the land, both in the army and among the citizens. Possibh' we loved to hear of Yankees being killed in great numbers more than we ought to have done, but they took great pains to incur our hate and compel us to rejoice in their de- struction. We were interested, to be sure, in the numbers of wounded and prisoners, but the best results to us of a battle was when the greatest number of Yankees " bit the dust," as we were wont to speak. The Yankees were the same way toward us, of course, their vindictive hate for Southerners inciting them to kill as many of us as they 228 COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. could; nor did they confine their murderous operations to the battlefield, but many help- less citizens were persecuted and imprisoned and killed by them and their conscienceless emissaries. What martyrdom of Southern citizens was suffered at the hands of our in- veterate haters who wore tlie blue can never be told. War against the South with them meant war against unarmed men and help- less women as well as against oiu' armed sol- diery. They hated us all and our institutions with a perfect hatred. Going into battle was always to me a try- ing ordeal, nor can I say that T liked it any better after it was fully joined. There is no scene through which man is called to pass that is comparable to those which character- ize the field of battle. It exhibits the might- iest possible tumult of rage among men, a very pandemonium on earth. The close and constant thunderous outbursts of artillery, and explosions of shells thrown from it into the ranks of men, the interminable flash and rattle of musketry, and the whistling, whiz- zino- tones of the missiles of death whicli issue CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 229 momentarily from it; the long, loud yells of irate men striving with their best manhood for the mastery, and nerving each other to tlie utmost feats of valor; opposing lines of soldiery rushing recklessly against each other until the earth seems to moan and shudder under their feet; the constantly toppling to the ground of the slain and wounded men — this much and more attaches to the surging billows of discordant men as they come to- gether in the battle's front. The yell raised by our men as they advanced against the Yankees was, and is, known as the " Rebel yell," and was as loud and prolonged as the " sound of many waters." Xo such noise of human voices was ever heard on earth before. It was the voice of hope and ^'alor combined, and was a perpetual inspiration to our lines while the conflict raged, helping us in the achievement of manj^, many victories. Xo such sound could emanate from the throats of the Yankees, who fought not as freemen, but as hirelino-s. 'O While such scenes as these were beinof en- o acted in the front bv those who bore the 230 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. brunt of the battle, close beliiiid were the in- firmary corps, with litters In hand and gath- ering up and bearing off to the field hospital in the rear the wounded as they fell, that the surgeons might give them such immediate and sufficient attention as was possible undei- the circumstances. And there, of all other places belonging to warfare, is where battle horrors reach their climax, the touches of sympathy for tlie suffering are most keenly felt, and the bitterest of hate is contracted for those who thus disabled our comrades. And here I will pause to say that it was most difficult oftentimes to tell how a wound wonld result, and to tell of an incident that occurred in connection vrith a Avounded sol- dier when we were in lino in front of Atlanta. As soon as the field hospital was estab- lished and the litter bearers began bringing in the wounded, the surgeons would give the first attention to those in most danger of dy- ing, if they had any hope of saving them, and those considered as not being dangerously w^ounded would be attended to last. Of course where there were more wounded than COXFEDEPtATE ECHOES. 231 the surgeons could look after carefully and proniptly, some were left unserved until it was too late to do them any good, who might have been saved from dying if attended to at once. It came to be a notable fact that a very slight wound, remote from any vita] organ, often proved fatal, and that a most severe wound, which seemed to make recovery impossible, would get well. In every conceivable way, I might say, were men wounded by shot and shell from the en- emy; and many died of their wounds who it seemed ought to have recovei-ed, while many recovered whose wounds seemed inev- itably fatal. Of the incident to which I alluded I will now speak. July 22, 180-t, the day that Har- dee's corps whipped the Yankee's in the aft- ernoon on our right, our division was in the trenches in front of Atlanta, and so constant- ly under fire from the enemy, who, however, were not disposed to move against us, that we were in danger of being shot if we ex- posed ourselves but for a moment. Yan- kee shells were also passing over our heads 232 CONFEDERATE ECHOED. into Atlanta, though frequently they would burst above us, sending many of their frag- ments down among us. Just over a bare hill to our rear were some surgeons and a portion of our infirmary corps, with arrangements pro- vided to care for and protect any that might be wounded on the main line. Lieut. James II., of the Thirty-fifth Alabama Regiment, at that time, as I now recall, a supernumerary officer, on account of the consolidation of the remnant of his company with another, was that day with those beyond the hill, ly- ing on the ground not far from our surgeon's quarters. Sometime in the forenoon a mes- senger came hurriedly from him to me, bear- ing the information that he was mortally wounded and in a dying condition, and the request that I go instantly to him and pray for him. The request was promptly complied with, though the danger was very great of be- ing struck by a shot from the enemy's guns in passing to and fro over the untimbered hill. I took with me Li cuts. B. M. Faris and A. F. Evans, my ever faithful coworkers in the reli- gious meetings in our command, and who felt COISTFEDERATE ECHOES. 28:) the same interest in Lieut. H. then that I did. While lying down a bombshell had burst over him, and sent one of its large rugged fragments down through his right side just under his ribs, opening a great gash into the cavity, and severely wounding his liver. The sur- geon, having examined the wound, had told him that he could do nothing for him, and that he could live but a short while. He felt that he was not prepared for death and the judgment, and wanted to make such preparation as he could, with oiu* assistance, the few moments that he had to live. He Avas in great disti-ess of mind and anguish of soul, as he contemplated and spoke of his lost spiritual condition. He declared that he could easily bear his wound and the thought of going so soon into eternity if he was onl}^ at peace with God. He expressed great fears that, having sinned so long, his case was now as hopeless in a religious sense as it was certain that he would soon be dead; and he reproached himself bitterly for not having given his heart and life to God before he came to the extremity he was then 234 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. in. With regrets and grief he was absolute- ly overwhehned, and was fast yielding to de- spair. The gloominess in his case exceeded any experience of the kind that ever came under my observationc By prayer and song and counsel Faris and Evans and I eagerly and tearfully did all that we conld to help him to Jesus the short while that we could remain with him. We knew not at what moment the enemy would advance upon our lines, an event that was hourly and hopefully looked for, and so wc must I'eturn to our regiment as quickly as we could. A pause thus in the midst of " war's alarms" to encourage a dy- ing comrade to trust for salvation in the compassionate Saviour of fallen humanity, who would not that any should perish, but that all should come unto him and live, was to Faris and Evans and me most touching and profitable, and we rejoiced in the opportunity that we had to do him all the good that we could. Wehadoften talked with and prayed for mourners in our religious meetings in camp, but we were never before so situated that we could rendei- such assistance to one supposed ( UXFKDEJiATE ECHOES. ZOO to be in a dying condition. We thought we saw some indication of liope come to him be- fore we left him. As we were in the act of retiirnino- to the front the thoim-ht occurred to me to make a close examination of hi.s wound, and I did so. My impression was that it woukl kill him very soon, but that there vras a possibility of his recovery if he could get the attention that he needed, and I candidly told him what 1 thought of his case. "O no," said he, "I cannot get well under any circumstances with this great hole in my side, but if the good Lord will but spare my life now he shall have every moment of my service hereafter." Such was the pledge he made voluntarily to God as he in almost ut- ter hopelessness confronted eternity. After we left him he was quietly borne away to the hospital, and to the unutterable astonishment of most of those who saw his wound, in course of time recovered. Did he give his heart and life then to God, in keep- ing with the vow that he made in the day of his calamity? I have never seen him since the day that he was wounded, but I have oft- 23() CONFEDEliATE ECHOES. ten heard from others since his recovery, and since the war ended, that his vow was for- gotten when the danger period passed. Alas! how often is it thus that man forgets the pledges that he makes to God when death is imminent, after there is no longer any spe- cial feai' of dying! lietnrning to the battle scenes and expe- riences, I have mentioned that going into battle was always a fearful thing to me, and that it was none the less so while it contin- ued to i*age. Life was always dear to mc, while abont death — physical death — there ever hnng a clond of gloom. My peace was made with God before the war was begnn, and was maintained throughout it, and hope, even in the day of battle, was ever to me as " an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead- fast, and which entered into that within the vail," but the shock of battle and the immi- nent peril in which it involved me brought to my mind apprehensions of being slain and the thought of separation from my family which were altogether uncomfortable. What- ever might have been the case with any oth- CONFEDEPvATE ECHOES. 287 ers, it is a fact in mine that the sternest demands of duty impelled me to take up arms against Lincoln's invaders. 1 fought from principle, and subjected myself to all the dangers of warfare rather than be a will- ing bond servant of the bloodthirsty and law- less tyrant that we believed Abraham Lin- coln to be. Such was the prompting, no doubt, of the great body of soldiers who fought on the side of the South, but in the hour of battle they went forward with a va- riety of impulses and emotions. There were some with whom the sense of danger was so oppressive that they had to be literally pushed along as we advanced upon the ene- my, lieing overcome by a dread of death, which to them was very humiliating; patriots they were, nevertheless, and often fought like tigers when the battle was fully joined. There were those who moved steadily on- ward from the opening to the close of the engagement, who, though fully recognizing their danger almost every moment, were held in their places by a sense of self-respect, preferring rather to die on the front line than 238 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. dishonor themselves by evading duty of so important a kind — the highest dnty of the soldier. Some despised Yankees with such a perfect hatred, and had such a relish for shoot- ing them, tliat they seemed to regard the bat- tlefield as but a grand opportunity for slaugh- tering them, seeming actually to forget tliat they themselves were also being sliot nt. Some were constitutionally intrepid, and had every appearance of being sti'angers to fear, however furious and bloody the battle might rage about them. The spirit of patriotism and principle possessed otliers, and support- ed them throughout all the phases of the field of carnage. It soon came to be a notable fact that the fighting men at home, common- ly known as " bullies," made the poorest show of courage on the battlefield, and that those who shrank from personal combat at home fought most heroically amidst the storm of bullets in war. There were those among us, not a great many, whose valor was chiefly instigated by a desire for promotion, and who often rushed heedlessly and recklessly into danger in or- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 230 der to attract attention and come into repute as being extraordinarily courageons. To what extent their ambitious longings wevc gratified I have no means of knowing, but there is reason to believe that some who were thus actuated to expose their lives unneces- sarily who would not have been killed iC they had not undertaken to outdo their com- rades in the mere exhibitions of gallantry, and placed themselves in exposed positions when there was no need for them to have done so. A lieutenant in the Thirty-fifth Alabama Regiment had this morbid longing for promotion, and was wont to say that he intended to secure promotion for gallantry on the field or be slain in the undertaking. He was indeed a gallant young officer, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of patriot- ism and chivalry, but he would throw him- self forward, and out of his proper place in the line, as though to urge on his men, when no such demonstration Avas in demand, and finally fell in the battle of Franklin, without having reached the high goal of his ambition. Surely battle is horrible to contemplate. 240 COi^rEDERATE ECHOES. and the wonder is that men in any consider- able nnmbers can become nerved for such rag-ing conflict and remorseless butchery. With all the patriotism, ambition, courage, or what not, that men may possess, it is doubtless a fact tliat most of them shudder from apprehensions of being slain as they move forward into this terrible arena of car- nage. Some commanders bethought them- selves of what might be called the universal dread of the hoi-rors of the battlefield, and took advantage of it in throwing their col- umns with the utmost precipitancy and fury against the enemy. Such was unquestiona- bly the policy of Gen. N. B. Forrest, our most renowned and most successful cavalry chief- tain, whenever he struck the Yankees. ]^f ot long after the close of the war, while he was having built a portion of the eastern section of the Memphis and Little Rock railroad, I traveled with him on a Memphis and St. Francis River steamboat from Memphis to Madison, a few miles from where his con- struction camp was, and had a number of in- teresting convorsntious with him about his CONFKDEKATE ECHOES. 241 modes of warfare. I asked him, among va- rious other questions, how it was that he liad such unitbrm success in beating the Yan- kees, notwithstanding he fought continually against such great odds. He said he con- sidered that men, as a rule, regarded with horror and consternation the field of battle, and that his aim was at the first onset to make it appear as shocking to the enemy as he possibly could, by throwing his entire force against them at once in the fiercest and most warlike manner possible. He would thus overawe and demoralize the Yankees at the very start, and then by a constant repe- tition of blows, with unabated fury, to pre- vent them from recovering from their con- sternation, he would soon have them within his power — killing, capturing, and driving them with but little difficulty. Many of our soldiers were not Christians, but there were the fewest number of them, if any, who were willing to give any exhibi- tions of wickedness during the fight, or to have with them any evidences of dissipation. If they had whisky in their canteens, it would 16 242 coxI'^ederatp: echoes. be poured out or left in the rear; and if they had cards in their pockets, they would be thrown away. They may not have often read the Bibles their mothers and fathers and sisters gave them when tliey enlisted in the army, but when an engagement was immi- nent these blessed books were slipped into the breast pockets of their jackets, often re- placing decks of cards, which they carried on the march and played v^^ith in camp. If they should be slain in the fight, it was then- preference to have God's word in their keep- ing ^^hen they fell, rather than that they should be found dead with cards in their pos- session. And quite often did the Bible be- come a life preserver to the soldier that had it in his pocket; the bullet striking that, and being arrested or glancing off, whicli would otherwise have buried itself in his body. It was exceedingly seldom that the com- mand to which I belonged fouglit ])ehind breastworks, but we built miles and miles of them in the expectation of being attacked by the Yankees in them, and it was remarka- l)le with what fj'.cilitv some of our soldiers COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 243 could do this kind of work. We would dig long trenches to get into, throwing the dirt on the side next the enemy, using also rails and other timber against which to mound the dirt when it was so that we could. These were often exceedingly important for protec- tection against the shots of the enemy, though the battle be not fully joined, and had to be made very hin'ricdly; and it was then particularly that the competency of some of our men for such work was dis- played. These were not noted for timidity in battle particularly, but they were some- what famous for finding and making hiding places from bullets. I see before me a tall, athletic man of my company who belonged to this class carrying a cart load of rails on Ills shoulders and back to make a quick pro- tection against Yankee bullets. The dig- ging we did with spades and shovels fur- nished by the government, and with these our specially safety - seeking men could '^ bury " themselves out of reac'h of immedi- ate danger with astonishing rapidity. Other soldiers there were who seemed to have no 244 CONFEDEllATE ECHOES. talent or energy or care for the work of fortifying, and would only go at it like some citizens work roads, because they were or- dered to do so. After all our trench digging and fortifying otherwise, we had mainly to do our fighting on the open field, or assault the Yankees in their fortifications. Had they been as read} to move against us as we were to advance upon them, our hastily constructed breast- works would not have deterred them to the extent that they did, with their outnumber- ing foi-ces, from bringing on the attack. It was nothing to their credit that they were constantly shying around us in our slight earthworks; nor that they were four years in doing, with their vast armies and resources, what they set about to do witli one stroke. There is certainly no room for boasting to the enemies of the South for what the} achieved, with their nearly 3,000,000 of men to our 600,000. The poisoning of some of our soldiers by Grant's doctors or druggists may as well be mentioned in this connection. He captured CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 245 JacksoH, Miss., in Miiy, 18G3, and some of the drnggists there procured a lot of quinine for us from liis medical department before he left, which was in a very short while after the capture. AVhen we got back to Jackson alter he left there we procured for the sick of our command some of the quinine, which was heavily mixed with morphine. This note of May 23, 18G3, while we were at Jack- son, was made at the llnio in ray diary : " llec. Thompson, of our regiment, and several other men in our brigade are poisoned by taking quinine which was left in the drug stores here by the Yankees, and which contains a large amount of morphine. Two have al- ready died, and Ilec. looks like he cannot possibly live. It is horrible to think that any human beings will adopt siicli a mode of war- fare. That, combined with the purposes of our enemies, otherwise made manifest, con- stitutes them the most barbarous and wick- ed people on the face of the earth." It was understood that arsenic was also found in some of the quinine which others of our sur- geons got hold of. CHAPTER XIII. Vicksburg — Some Big Shooting — In Charge of Sick Camp — Baton Rouge Fight — Corinth Fight, Etc. THE line and extent of the movements of that portion of the Confederate army with which the Thirty-fifth Alabama Regiment was connected have alread}^ been Inirriedly indicated, without pausing at each of the sev- eral stages of our various campaigns to note everything that transpired in connection with our movements. A number of relics of oiu- war experience, observation, etc., have been gathered up here and there as we went along, that seemed worthy of preservation. I now wish to drop back on our track again, and gather u]> others that I have purposely left till this time. After the evacuation of Corinth, May 29, 1862, the first important stage that we reached, so far as we knew, was Vicksburg. (246) (JOXFEDERATE ECHOES. 247 ITere tlic command icmaincd from the time of its aj rival, the night of June 28, nntil July 27. The place selected for our encampment was two miles back from Yicksburg, in a beautiful cove, covered over with a dense carpeting of Bermuda grays, upon which we loved to loll and sleep whenever we were in camp. OjI. Robertson, then commanding our regiment, had his tent stretched under an enormous cotton wood tree, which, wlien the sun was in a certain position, would shade almost our entire encampment. The boughs were very large and long, and some of them, Ave were told, served as a gallows upon which a number of John A. Murrell's murdering and thieving gang were hung in other days. Vicksburg was then being bombarded ever and anon by the Yankee gunboats on the Mississippi River, and our business was to picket the river above and below the city, but principally above. Our encampment was out of reach of their shells, but most of our time we were on the river, and in easy range of them. We had licaAy batteries planted at 248 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. Vicl^sburg, and sometimes our picket post was between them and the enemy's gunboats, the huge shells from both ways passing over lis, and sometimes bursting above us. The falling to the ground of the fragments of these exploded shells made a most hideous noise as they rushed down through the at- mosphere and beat their way into the ground about us. AVhenever the Yankees would de- tect our whereabouts they would be sure to treat us to a shelling. This we had to en- dure without any chance, with our small arms, to return the compliment, or else to take another position unknown to them. It is a most uncomfortable experience, that of enduring a cannonading without any chance to move against the battery; and this was what was meant by being at Vicksburg when we were there, so far as military opera- tions were concerned. It was also a place of flux and mosquitoes. A great many of our soldiers had the flux, which was generally very severe, and a con- siderable number of them died with it. "When on picket, the mosquitoes were as in- C O N F E i > K U A r !•: E C HOES. 249 tolerable as it is possible for them to be. We could not have fires in the daytime to smoke them off, lest the enemy would see the smoke, and thus learn our position, nor at night lest they would see the light; and so, having located us, begin to shell us. A few got pieces of mosquito bar to put over their faces and hands, but there was but little of that material to be found. We could light them off in a measure when we were awake and on duty, but when we were off duty, and an opportunity afforded us to sleep, then it was that they became our diligent and invet- erate tormentors. They were not so bad back at camp, and there we could smoke them off with our fires, but the greater por- tion of the time we were out on picket. Our gunboat "Arkansas " came out of the Yazoo River, where it had been constructed, into the Mississippi, and down through the enemy's fleet to Vicksburg, Tuesday, July 15. The Yankee commodore, knowing that it was coming, put his boats in position to sink or capture it, as he supposed; but he was sorry enough before the job was over 250 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. with that he had engaged in any such under- taking, for two of his boats, we learned, were sunk in the conflict and others badly disabled by the "Arkansas," while the rest of the fleet sought safety in flight. We were not in a position to see the conflict, though it was no great distance from us, but the sound of this naval battle of one Confederate against many (about twenty, we heard) Yankee boats was exceedingly interesting to listen to, the thun- der of the heavy guns exceeding any artil- lery firing that we had heard up to that time; and as soon as we learned the result of the engagement we persuaded ourselves that the cannonading was musical in a most charming sense. The "Arkansas" suft'ered but little, and landed foi- slight repairs at our picket post. It was a strange-looking water monster, appar- ently made out of railroad iron, and most of it beneath the edge of the water. While ly- ing here, the second day after its arrival, the Yankee fleet began a fierce bombardment of it and us, which lasted some time; until, in- deed, the "Arkansas " got up steam and start- CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. 251 cd lip the river, when the Yankees immediate- ly ceased firing and hurried away with their lleet to safer waters. It was an amusing- scene to look upon, it having been enacted in full view of us. Tliose Yankees were not yet ready for another encounter Nvith the "Ar- kansas." And they were very skittish and watchful of their safety the rest of the time that we were there. A very serious accident occurred in the regiment while on picket July 23. A Yan- kee bombshell had fallen, without bursting, near Company G, the fuse having gone out. Jt was a very large mortar shell. Several of the men of tliat company got hold of it, and undertook to empty it, which they thought they did. Strangely enough, to be sure, they then put fire into the shell, which produced an explosion, by which one of the men was killed and several others wounded. July 24, we move our camp to '' four-mile ])ridge," south of AHcksburg, on the Warren- ton road. Here we were in a beautiful grass meadow, but were without our tents, and ex- posed to the heaviest dev/s I ever saw. We 252 (,'ONFEDEUATE ECHOES. only remained here a short while, however. A sick camp was temporarily established here, and put in my charge for the time being. About 12 o'clock, July 26, two ladies in a ba- rouche drove up near the encampment with some provisions for the sick. Attached to the large basket containing the provisions was a card upon which was inscribed the name of " Miss Mollie DeFrance." It de- volved upon me to meet the ladies, take the basket in hand, and thank Miss DeFrance for it. It seemed to me that it had been an age since I had been in the company of ladies, and it really embai'rassed me no little to un- dertake to express to them our gratitude for their thoughtful generosity. A nicer pre- pared and more ample supply of delicacies I have never seen in one basket, and they came at the most appropriate time possible. They were divided out with much care among the sick soldiers, and refreshed both their bodies and s])irits very much. As I remember, Miss DeFrance furnished the provisions, and had the other young lady, whose name I cannot recall, to come along with her as company. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 253 Both were quite intelligent and modest, and thoroughly Southern in sentiment. The for- mer I mention in my diary as the "curly- haired Rebel," her hair being arranged in very tasty ringlets. That was July 26, 1862. We cannot but hope that only good fortune has befallen this fair benefactress of those sick soldiers, and her companion, all these years since then. Breckenridge's Division, to which the Thir- ty-fifth Alabama Regiment still belonged, was sent from Yicksburs: to Baton Romire to whip some Yankees at that place, which it did very effectually August 5. The full purpose of that movement and what was gained by that victory were only conjec- tural to those of no higher rank than I was. By very hard fighting in this battle the Thir- ty-fifth Alabama saved the gallant Third and Seventh Kentucky Regiments from being flanked by the enemy, and ever after there was a specially strong attachment between our regiment and the Kentuckians of our brigade. But all the regiments of our brigade were strongly attached to each other, and 254 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. there was perfect mntnal confidence among them wlienever they moved together in line of battle against the enemy. Other movements and events than those heretofore mentioned need not be noted from hei-e on until after the battle of Corinth, Oc- tober 3, 4. The evening of the last day of the fight, our brigade, Gen, Kust command- ing, dropped back eight miles and camped for the night. The next day, Sanday, Octo- ber 5, and until late at night, we were har- assed by the Yimlvces, who seemed bent on cntting off our retreat or cnptnring onr wagon trains. It v.as tlie first liurried retreat that we had 3et been subjected to, and a day of ex- cessive weariness to us. It was at times a kind of running fight, but the Yankees ac- complished nothing that they undertook. Gen, Price, in front, gave them a setback at Tuscumbia Creek, where they wei-e trying to intercept us, and also at Hatchie River, farther on. We hurried forward to reenforce him at both these places, but the Yankees re- tired before we could reach him. Gen. Bowen was in the rear on the march, and succeeded COI^FEDERATE ECHOES. 255 in ambushing the pursuing Yankees and cut- ting them badly to pieces. The probability is that they intended heading us ofl' at oue of the bridges across the above - named streams, and then crush us with their main army, which, having been largelj^ reenforced two days (or nights rather) previous, was then very much larger than ours, and follow- ing close upon our heels. Our commanders were determined not to risk a general en- gagement if they could avoid it, but managed to do the Yankees no little hurt before the day was over and they had called off their war dogs. There were, however, various re- ports Monda}^ and Tuesday of the approach- es of the enemy, and as we neared Ripley, a town on our route, we formed in line of battle for a fight, but no " blue coats " were to be seen. Our retreat continued to be rapid un- til lYednesda}', and we at last concluded that Van Dorn was managing things badly. In my diary of Tuesday I said : " We are of the opin- ion that Van Dorn is running us very unnec- essarily, and that if even the Yankees are trying to overtake us, which we doubt, we 256 COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. ciiu ^\hip them." Wednesday we made a pushing march of over twenty miles, and camped on the Holly Springs road within eighteen miles of that place. This day v/e were almost destitute of rations, and our pro- vision wagons did not come up at night, so that we were indeed in a very bad fix for something to eat. It was the time of the year for sweet potatoes, and Col. Kobertson sent out a detail of men to procure some of them from the citizens. AYe got in a good supply, and having roasted and eaten them, we lay down on our pallets for the night with full stomachs, the first time we had had a fdling of anything for several days. We had a hab- it of giving names to our camping places gen- erally, and having remained here an4 eaten potatoes until 4 o'clock the next evening, we called this place " Camp Potato." Friday we went into Holly Springs through mud and rain, arriving there a short while be- fore dark, and taking quarters in the arsenal, where a number of large fires had already been built for ns to warm and dry by, for it was a very cold rnin which had fallen upon CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. 257 US. Upon the builders of those fires we showered many blessings. Our retreat from the " Mouth of Tippah," Miss., was an occasion which impressed it- self very forcibly upon us, as one of special weariness and disagreeableness. A battle was thought to be imminent several days be- fore we left there, owing to certain demon- strations of the enemy and the instructions that we received from time to time from our commanders. We left there Sunday, No- vember 30, 1862, at 8 o'clock at night. Just before leaving we were ordered to build up our camp fires, making them larger than usual. The object of this was to deceive the enemy as to our plans, making them believe, "if so be," that we had no thought of retir- ing from our position. We were not sus- pecting any such movement, but rather that preparations for a fight were being made, and were amazed when Col. Goodwin told the company officers to be very careful to keep the men in ranks; that we were on a retreat. We wondered why this was, and concluded that the enemy were in much greater force 17 258 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. than we were, or that we hud been outgen- eraled by them, the hitter opinion being the prevailing one among the soldiers. We had gone but a short distance from camp when it commenced raining in torrents, and continued to do so far into the night. The moon was nearly full, and made light enough through the clouds to enable us to see the general outline of the command and the route o\er which we marched, but we could not see the bad places in the road, which, it seemed to us, wei'e legion. We were constantly stepping into holes, wagon ruts perhaps, and stumbling against one an- other, or falling down in the mud and water. Early in the night we had to wade a deep, muddy creek, which had been much swollen by the heavy rain, and which really present- ed a very frightful appearance. The moon went down just before day, and not till then did our night march end. We then built up fence rail fires, there being no other chance for fire, and took a short nap on the wet ground, which was a very sweet rest to us. ,As to keeping the men in ranks on such {i CO>.' FEDERATE ECHOES. 259 march as that, it was altogether out of* the question. They could not but fall out, and pick their own way to get along with any degree of facility. After our brief rest we resumed our march and went nine miles below Oxford on the Coffeeville road, hi my diary I say: "Last night and to-day is the severest march we have ever had." I say furtheimorc: "Now 1 know that rest is sweet." The general sal- utation of the men to each other next day was: "How many times did you fall down last night? " The frequency with which they fell, and the manner in which they staggered along and tumbled down through the night was a source of merry conversation and jest- ing among the men, which supported us no little on our marcli during the day. Onward we went, without particular hurry, halting more or less each day and camping every night, until we reached Grenada Sun- day, December 7. We formed into line of bat- tle several times on the route^ with the expec- tation of engaging the enemy; and we were required to keep our men in ranks from day 260 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. to day, so that we could be ready for battle in a moment at any time. On December 3 Gen. Lovell notified our immediate command that we might be ordered some distance back to check the advance of the Yankees, which did not become necessary, however, and that day Gen. Price beat them back in the vicin- ity of Colfeeville, capturing- six pieces of their artillery. lYe went regularly into camp near Grenada December 8, 1862, and remained there till January 31, 1863, when we went to Jackson, from wiiich place we started on our fall campaign September 11, 1862. AYe went from Tangipahoa to Jackson August 28, and on the next day I noted in my diai'v: "Arrangments are being made while at this place to clothe and pay the sol- diers, preliminary, as is believed, to a gen- eral northern movement." Such was the im- pression that got out among the soldiers, and when we left there September 11 we went northward, but our operations did not extend beyond ]S"orthern Mississippi, except that one day we chased the Yankees to Bolivar, Tenn., and at Grenada we rounded up. CONKKDERATE ECHOES. 261 As has heretofore been stated, we were at Port Hudson, La., from March 3 to April 5, 1863. This place, on the Mississippi River, was strongly fortified, and commanded the mouth of Red River, out of which our sup- plies were largely brought. As our batteries at yicksburg were keeping the enemy's gun- boats above there, so were our batteries at this place keeping them below here, so that we had control of the river between these two points, thought to be of considerable ad- vantage to us. The Yankees were anxious to command the whole river, all of which they had except this portion of it, and there was I'eason to believe that they were arranging to move in force against Port Hudson when we were ordered there to reen force the troops already there. Yankee Gen. Banks was collecting a large land force at Baton Rouge, l)elow here, to cooperate with the naval force, which was being constantly strengthened, and our business was to withstand the land force when it came. As we approached Amite River, February 27, on our way to Port Hudson, the tedium 262 COXFEDEIIATE ECHOES. of the march was much relieved by a wading frolic that we had across n broad slough, much swollen b}'' the heavy rains of the day before, just before reaching the river bridge. The water was too deep for the wagons to pass through without coming high up in their beds; and the men were ordered to take out of the wagons, and carry over on their shoulders, such things as would be damaged by getting wet. Back and forth they yell- ingly went from bank to bank of the slough, until the wagons were sufficiently unloaded to pass over; a number of men, however, thoughtlessly carrying over first their pots and ovens, which were really needed in the wagon beds to keep them from floating, and which of course would not be damaged by water, instead of their bedding, clothing, etc. This performance of theirs caused much merriment among their wading comrades, and so made the labor less tiresome to them. Then came the fun of getting the wagons over, which were then for the first time being- pulled by oxen; and fun it was, as soldiers went on either side of them to keep their COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 203 heads in the right direction, and of the wag- ons to keep the beds from floating off, pro- pelling the unwilling teams forward into the deep water, which they must needs swim in part, until they had crossed them to the other bank. Such "gee-haws" and " wo-comes " never rang out on that atmosphere before, and no alternative was left to those oxen but to go forward, however incomprehensible to them may have been the commands of the numerous and boisterous teamsters. The oxen may not have enjoyed this procedure, but the men did; and onward we took our march with more elastic step because of its occurrence. During our stay at Port Hudson the Yan- kees made their biggest eftbrt to capture it Saturday night, ^larch 14, the bombardment from their navy beginning about 11 o'clock. The Third Kentucky and Thirty-fifth Ala- bama Regiments were formed in line of battle, one to support the other alternately as necessity required, some distance in front of the fortifications, to hold in check and harass the approaching land force under 264 COKEEDEJIATE ECHOES. Gen. Banks until the time came for ns to fall back to our places in the trenches. Tlie co-operative plans of the Yankees did not work well for several reasons, one of which was that Banks did not come to time to ac- complish his part of the joint undertaking. I say in my diary of that day: "The en- emy's land force are said to be close at hand, and it is thought that there will certainly be a general fight to-morrow." Possibly Banks was waiting for daylight to come, and until the fleet did what it was to do, but failed in the undertaking. To the Confederates the occasion was a most interesting and memo- rable one, though the enemy's shot and shell fell thickly about us for some time. It was the purpose of the Yankee Commodore to overcome our batteries with those on his boats, so that he could pass a portion of his fleet by them and above Port Hudson, so as to gain an important advantage of us. With this undertaking accomplished, he could co- operate beautifully with Banks when the day broke. It was the heaviest artillery thunder that CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 265 we ever heard, transcending by far the naval engagement between the "Arkansas " and the Yankee fleet above Yicksburg. Being as much exposed to it as we were made it de- cidedly terrific, though our admiration of its grandeur raised us above the fear of danger. We could track the shells by their burning fuses, and the atmosphere was crowded with them, going to and fro, and flying high and low. A ghire of light would accompany ev- ery shell explosion, many of which often oc- curred at the same time, and in every con- ceivable position these explosions occurred. Frequently the shell would not explode until it had sunk itself deep down in the soft, sandy earth; then out of the ground would come its boom and blaze, as though it had been shot from below. In attempting to pass our bat- teries one of their boats was captured and one was set on fire. The latter floated back down the river, afl'ording us a degree of de- lightful entertainment, until day began to dawn, which cannot be told. It had on it a magazine and many piles of shells, and of course the men on it forsook it as soon as 2i66 COXl^EDElJATE ECHOED. they could. The light of the fire was plainly Been as the current carried the burning boat leisurely downstream, and when it reached one of the piles of shells the light and thun- der of the combined explosions would excite our unmeasured admiration. The length of time bctAveen these explosions was exactly enough to keep up and enhance more and more our interest in the charming pyrotechnic pro- cedure. It effectually cleared the river of all other Yankee boats, which, under a full head of steam, sought safety in precipitate flight. The whole performance looked as though the Yankees had gotten up an entertainment for us of the most pleasing character, and were doing their utmost to make it as much so as possible. Finally, the fire reached the magazine on the boat, and produced an ex- plosion which made the gi-ound tremble where we were, and gave us almost the light of noon- day just as day was on the eve of breaking. Then the curtain dropped, and that charming- nocturnal naval entertainment came to a close. What became of Yankee Doodle Banks, with his cooperating land force? Tn my di- . CON"FE]>ERATE ECIIOKS. 267 ary of Tuesday following this record is made: " Gen. Eiist, commanding our brigade, sent for his regimental commanders to-day to go with him down on the Baton Kouge road, over wliich Banks came and went, and they went within eleven miles of that place. ( -ol. Good- win, of our regiment, says the Yankees had a real Bull Kun stampede. They thought their burning boat, as it floated down stream, was our fleet in pursuit of theirs. They also heard that Stonewall Jackson was at Tangi- pahoa with sixty thousand troops, with which to reenforce us. The whole Yankee army had started up here with everything needful for a big fight. Consternation took hold of them, and they made a most precipitate re- treat back to Baton Kouge, destroying many ambulances and wagons in their haste lest they fall into our hands, as they feared, and tearing up the bridges behind them to retard our supposed pursuit of them. The road w^as strewn with numberless fragments of broken army vehicles of various sorts and sizes, to- gether with many knapsacks, blankets, and guns that had been throwni down to facilitate 268 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. speed. Such was the farce being enacted by Banks while we wxre wondering why he was so slow to press upon our lines with his devouring hosts. Madam Rumor, the only female who went along with our army, came to our camj) March 25, as was her daily wont, and in- formed us that Abe Lincoln, the King of Xortherndom, having become disgusted with the feebleness of Banks and his army as war- riors, had signified his intention to remove the entire Yankee force from Baton Rouge, and replace it by 15,000 Yankee women, with which to take Port Hudson. Mrs. Ru- mor did not tell us who would lead these feminine warriors, of masculine persuasions, against us, but the presumption was that Old Abe purposed commanding them in per- son, for the gratification that he would expe- rience in making Banks feel as diminutive as possible for not being able to do with a large army of men what he could do with a com- paratively small army of women. There were plenty of female hyenas in hu- man form north of the Ohio River in those cox FEDERATE ECHOES. 269 days, as we all believed, whose hatred for the South was more than Satanic, if possible, and doubtless Lincoln could have gathered to- gether his 15,000 of them in a moment or two after notice was given that he wanted them for militai'j service in Louisiana. That they would also have exploded the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson, in one way or an- other, we stood not in doubt at the time. The evening after the bombardment, as we started out to camp, which was then in a magnolia forest, there began to fall a tre- mendous rain, which soon came down upon us like a waterspout, and presently the " heavenly artillery " began all about us in such rapid and terrific valleys " as to put to shame " as I say in my diary, '' the bombard- ment of last night." The wind was very strong also, breaking to pieces the magnolia trees in every direction and blowing one down now and then, causing us to feel that we were in a very insecure position, though out of range of Yankee bullets. We gener- ally looked for a ''thunder storm" after a heavy battle, especially when there was 270 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. much artillery firing, but this was the most complete success in that line that we had at any time. Quite a number of Yankee deserters came into our lines at Port Hudson during our stay there, and gave as their excuse for leaving their army that they would not sa- lute negro officers. They said they loved the Union as well as ever, but that they did not enlist in the interest of negroes. They were out and out against negro equality, and much more so against negro supremacy. There were doubtless many such soldiers in the ]!^orthern army, so far as their feelings toward the negroes were concerned, and who, though they woidd not desert, regretted that they had ever enlisted. The Yankee authorities expected to strengthen their armies very greatly by arm- ing our negroes against us; but, although they enlisted a large number into their serv- ice, they proved to be very poor fighters, and became a source of weakness rather than of strength. The whole negro population would have been aruied aiul turned loose upon th§ C02^^FEDERATE ECHOES. 271 unarmed citizens and women of the Southern Confederacy, if the negroes had been willing to rise up against them, and the Yankees could have had an opportunity of supplying them with arms. Such was the disposition of our enemies toward our Southland, as was made evident in too many ways to leave a doubt of it in the mind of any intelligent Southerner; and it was doubtless expected by them that Lincoln's emancipation procla- mation would be the occasion of a general negro insurrection, and the wholesale butch- ery of unprotected Southern whites. While at Port Hudson our sugar rations were unusually large, we being in, or adja- cent to, a sugar-j3roducing region. We had more, indeed, than we could well use for eat- ing purposes. To get as much benefit of it as we could, having made so-called coffee out of one thing and another for a long time, we finally made coftee out of sugar. It was ex- tremely seldom that genuine coffee was seen in the South anywhere at that time, and the housekeepers in every direction had fallen upon various expedients to furnish themselves 272 COISTFEDEIIATE ECHOES. with coftee substitutes, which went by tlie name of coffee. Parched rye, ground and boiled, came into more general use than any other substitute. Parched wheat was also used a good deal, and had a much more pleasant odor than the rye " coffee " had. Sweet potato " coffee " came into use aftei- the others did, and became quite popular. They were cut up into little pieces about the size of a grain of corn and dried in the sun. These pieces were then parched and ground, and otherwise prepared as coffee is. This was a very pleasant beverage, and had rath- er more the appearance of good coffee than the others did. In the army we made our coffee out of parched meal mainly. At Port Hudson we tried parched sugar, which was the best of all substitutes that I had ever seen; the color and odor and flavor resem- bling coffee in a surprising manner. Of course we dropped this substitute Avhen we left the sugar region. CHAPTER XIY. Baker's Creek Fight, Etc. — Other Movements of the Army — ^Twenty-seveDth and Thirty-fifth Ala- bama Regiments Recruit — Off for Georgia. WE did not know what was contemplated by our chief commanders when we were marched away from Port Hudson April 5, 1863; but the next time we felt the Yan- kees on the field was at the battle of Ba- ker's Creek, Miss., the 16th of the next month. When we did not have positive in- formation as to where we were going, and the object of our movement, when we were ordered away from a place we would do a great deal of conjecturing on the subject, and dig up, one way and another, a good many facts upon which to base our conclu- sions. Sometimes we would hit upon the plans of the generals, and sometimes we would miss them, but we would be sure to develop a campaign of some sort in our minds, IS (273) 274 co:^;^^EDERATE echoes. and I think we oftener hit than missed, as T now recall, what was aimed at by our com- manders. "We also had a way of passing judgment upon, to us, unsatisfactory move- ments, and crediting oin-selves right often with better generalship than those under whose orders we were acting. And to this day I am clearly of the belief that there were privates not a few in our ami}' who could have done better as leaders than some who, at times, were in the lead; albeit, as a rule, our officers were the best that the world ever jjroduced. After we had entered upon the march from Port Hudson we soon learned that we Avere going as far, at least, as Jackson, Miss., but we attached no particular importance to that fact, as that place was gener- ally on our way to somewhere else; the important question with us was, Where will we go when we get to Jackson? Somehow, r cannot now remember, the impression got into our minds that we were on our way to Tennessee; and suie enough that was where we were ooinof. As has been heretofore CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 275 stated, we were ordered back when we reached Chattanooga, and were soon at Jack- son and in the Big BUick region again. The battle of Baker's Creek was fought very soon after the first visit of the Yankees to Jackson. Grant had managed to get his army on the east side of the Mississippi Riv- er below Yicksburg, and made his way to Jackson with but little difficulty, only being slightly hindered by a comparatively very small force, under Gen. Bo wen, at one point on his march. It seemed that Gen. Pember- ton, then in command of that department, could not divine what Grant's designs were, and so did not undertake to intercept him on his way to Jackson. I presume that Grant had then no particular lai" use for Jackson, only for the enhancement of his own greatness, the liallelujali effect it would certainly produce in the military and civil domains of Abe Lincoln, and the possi- bly dejiressing im])ression it would make upon our armies and the people" of the South generally. In some ears it v/ould sound like a very big thing for a Yankee army to occu- 276 COXFEOEKATE ECHOES. py the capital of the great secession state of Mississippi, and home of the President of the Southern Confederacy. ^' The backbone of the rebellion is now broken," would be the ringing" proclamation that would be made throughout the whole extent of Lincolndom, and the recruiting of the Northern armies would set in afresh, that the spoils might not all be gathered up before the}^, the new re- cruits, could get a grab at our possessions. Having marched into Jackson, Grant then set his face toward Yicksburg, and at Ba- ker's Creek we disputed his way as best we could with an insufficient force of three di- visions under Pemberton; the division com- manders being Stephenson, Bowen, and Lo- ring. After a pretty much all day fight, of greater or less severity, and more or less gen- eral from time to time, we Avere ordered late in the evening to fall back in the direction of Yicksburg. Among those who fell that day was Adju- tant George Hubbard, of our regiment, a very particular friend of mine. He was shot through the head and borne by the littei- COXFEDEPtATE ECHOES. 277 bearers from the field just as wc vrei'c about to change our position for the last time be- fore retiring'. They continued to bear him along, dividing themselves into two reliefs^, in the hope of getting his remains where they could be shipped to his family in Korth Alabama; but soon night came on as the re- treating march continued, with the enemy pressing close upon us; and the litter bearers, becoming too much fatigued to carry their precious burden farther, laid the lifeless form of George Hubbard in a hole which the torn- up roots of a fallen tree had made, just as he had fallen in battle, and pulled the dirt over him with their hands and knives and sticks. This I learned from John ITudgins, one of the litter bearers and a member of my com- pany. Did ever a soldier have a more hon- orable burial? It was understood among us just before the battle was begun that Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had arrived at Canton with two di- visions of the Army of Tennessee, and that he had sent a courier through the previous night to Pemberton wath instructions not 2T8 roXFEDEEATE ECHOES. to make a fight with Grant with his inade- quate force, and to join armies as quickly as possible with him at Canton. It w^as also understood that the division commanders, and especially Gen. Loring, urged Gen. Pcmber- ton to give lieod to Gen. Johnston's instruc- tions, but that Pemberton " took the bit be- tween his teeth," and determined to make the fight upon his own judgment and at all hazards. To have drawn off his army just then from Grant's front, in keeping with Johnston's plans, would have been to have given away Vicksburg, to be sure; but fol- lowing his own counsels, he gave away on the 4th of Jul}^ following both Yicksburg and his army, Loring's Division excepted. Loring, having determined not to regard Pemberton's order to fall back to Big Black bridge and Yicksburg, determined when the Baker's Creek fight was over to take his di- vision to Jackson, if i)ossible, and report to Johnston, who was not far above there and near Canton. We had been on our feet pretty much all day, and had made a very rapid movement for some distance from right COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 270 to left on the line but a short while before the day was lost, and so were very weary when night came on; but, for all that, we begun our march to Jackson as night came on, and continued in motion until nearly 6 o-'clock the next evening, resting only a moment or two at a time, with unusually long intervals between the rests. It was very severe on us — being thirty-six consecutive hours on our feet — but the movement was necessary for our safety. The enemy harassed us for a time, and tried to head us off, but failed to do us any hurt. On such a march as this was there were always many stragglers, as we called them — men who dropped out of the ranks to rest, and so fell behind the moving- col umn. In one instance the Yankee cav- alry rushed upon our rear, doubtless to throw the column into confusion that they might overcome us, but our stragglers threw them- selves into line of battle and beat them at their own game, killing several and taking a number of prisoners. Loring said he had the best stragglers in the world, and that he wanted no better rear guard than the^^ were. 280 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. After the first day of our march we had no further trouble with the Yankees. When starting- on this retreat we were taken across fields and through the woods in a southeastern direction, aiming for Crystal Springs, below Jackson, taking this circuit- ous route because there w^as no direct way open to us. We carried our artillery as far as w^e could; but when darkness had fully come on, and we w^ere marching through roadless woods, it had to be left. The wag- ons were with the rest of Pemberton's army, and were soon shut up in Vicksburg, to be- come the property of Grant before long. To be without our wagons was to be with- out our supplies of every sort, excejDt what we ourselves carried; but in our case at this time we were unusually destitute, having thrown pretty much all of our luggage in the wagons in anticipation of the fight, many of the men putting their coats and jackets in the wagons also. Besides the guns and car- tridge boxes, with only the cartridges that were left over after the fight, the men had nothing but their haversacks, which con- COXFEDEllATE ECHOES. 281 tained but a small remnant of their rations for the day of the fight, and then* canteens. In a very little while every crumb of our pro- visions was consumed, and there was no chance to supply ourselves with anything from the surrounding country until the danger line of our march had been passed; and after that it required much time for the commissary to hunt up supplies of food and issue it out in rations. We necessarily did long fasting, but the men were not demoral- ized in any sense; for they had all confidence in the leadership of Gen. Loring, to whom they were also very strongly attached. When we began to gather in supplies we were put to some trouble about cooking them, especially the bread, as our cooking utensils, such as they were, were in our wag- ons. In making our meal into dough, with water and salt, our mess used hickory bark as a tray, but some of the men used their hats. Of course we either had to make " ash cakes," or spread the dough on a piece of bark, or plank when it could be got, and hold it to the fire until it was baked. 282 coinFKdeeate e(;hoes. We reached Jackson sliortl}'' after noon May 20, and marched on through to our camp, five miles above there on the Canton road. As we marched along the street, ])uckets of water were brought us by the cit- izens, who also handed us large quantities of the best qualit}' of chewing tobacco. The Yankees, ever faithful to their spite- ful and unscrupulous methods of warfare, had destroyed much property by fire and other- >vise, and insulted the citizens of Jackson without stint. The Jacksonians never loved Kebel soldiers so well before, as they did aft- er the}^ had had some experience with blue- coated Yankees. From the time that Loring's Division re- ])()rted to Johnston after the battle of Baker's Creek until the fall of A^icksburg it was un- derstood among the rank and iile of our com- mand, as has alread}- been indicated, that our movements in the Big Black region had ref- erence to the release, if possible, of Gen. Pemberton from the web which Grant was gradually weaving about hi in in the Vicks- burg trap. Quickly following the surrender cox KKJ^i. KATE ECHOES. 28)5 of Pciiibertoii were the battles and skirmish- es at Jackson, and then the quiet retreat of our army along- the line of the Soutliern rail- road as far as Morton. In winter quarters at Canton next, and from there to DemopoHs, Ala., from which point the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-fifth Alabama Regiments were sent to ^^orth Alabama on a recruiting expe- dition before becoming incorporated into the Army of Tennessee, under Gen. Johnston, in Georgia. These two regiments were raised in the section of the State to which they were ordered, and gathered up quite a number of recruits before leaving there f )r Georgia. During the time that we were on this re- cruiting expedition in North Alabama there occurred a military incident, in which we were " party of the first part," and some Yan- kees "party of the second part," and which was exceedingly pleasing to us, though alto- gether uncomfortable to them. We got in- forniation, while in the vicinity of Tuscum- bia, that some Yankees were camping on INIr. Jack Peters's premises, north of the Ten- nessee River, and not a great way from the 281 CONiEDEEATE ECHOES. river, though I forget the exact distance, and Cols. Jackson and Ives determined to bag them, if they could, with the portions of their regiments that were then in camp, less than 100 men. Jackson commanded the Twenty-sev- enth and Ives the Thirty-iifth Regiment, and the former was senior colonel. The evening of AjDril 12, 1861, we marched to Tuscumbia Landing, opposite an island in the river, and at sundown we began crossing in two ferryboats, one of which was small and indifferent, over to the island. The boats then had to go around to the other side of the island, and take us to the north bank of the river, and it took them till midnight to do so. They were so long in going around that we feared some accident had befallen them, and that our ex- pedition would explode in its incipiency; in- deed, having seen some rockets go up from where we supposed the Yankee pickets w^ere, we became afraid that our movement was known to them, and that they were signaling their main force to cut us off. Finally, how- ever, we were over the river, and after climb- ing up a high, steep, rugged bluff bank, we CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 285 went as quietly as we could across the open fields to where Mr. Peters lived, and in whose barn lot the Yankees were camped. A short distance from where they were, we formed in line of battle, and rushed upon them, captur- ing them with the utmost ease, only two or three rounds being fired, occasioned by the Yankee sentinel shooting off his gun. They were on their pallets in the lot, except some that were in the barn and in the family resi- dence, and their horses were haltered in the fence corners, stables, etc. It was but the work of a moment, and we had the whole " lay out " bulked together, and under guard. It was Company G, of the IS^inth Ohio Cavalry, and known as the "White Horse Company," all the men being mounted on white or gray horses. It was a decidedly healthjMooking lot of Yankees and horses. There were also some very good beef cattle and mules along. It was nearly day when we made this cap- ture, and it was very important for our safe- ty that we get to the south side of the river again as soon as possible. This we did with- out molestation from the enemy from any oth- 286 COXFEDEHATE ECHOES. er quarter, carrying with us a good supply of Yankees, horses, mules, cattle, guns, sa- bers, saddles, etc. I relieved the bugler of his bugle, which is still kept in the family as an army relic. A fine carbine and accouter- ments and pair of spurs I also took, but have since lost. It seemed that in our hurry to get back across the river we were about to go away without the captain, when Col. Ives learned that he and or.e or two other officers were qnarteied in the family residence. Taking a small guard with him. Col. Ives, lantern in hand, rushed into the room where they were, finding them still asleep, notwithstanding what had just transpired in the barn lot. He aroused them from their slumbers and dreams of conquest and Rebel scalps to the wakeful consciousness of the fact that they were in the gentle grasp of chivalrous vSouth- rons. The captain made the Masonic sign of distress, thinking that his life was in imme- diate peril. Col. Ives answered him that he was in no danger of personal violence, but that his presence was needed instanter with- in the Rebel lines. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 287 While in Korth Alabama, quite a number of ns who Avere members of the Bnford Lodge of Masons, for which a special army dispensation had been granted, took the Chapter and several side degrees at Court- land, where the Chapter was of which Mr. Baker was High Priest. We regarded this as a rare opportunity of advancing in Mason- ry, and Mr. Bakei-, a very thorough Mason, in assisting us in our preparation for the sever- al degrees, which liad to be taken in unusual- ly quick succession, as we were not long in Courtland. Besides taking the Chapter de- grees myself, I also took the following side degrees, conferred by Mr. Baker: Monitor, Knight of Constantine and Holy Virgin. These last were taken April 19. The Chap- ter degrees — Mark Master, Past ISIaster, Most Excellent INfaster, and Royal Arch — were ta- ken April 21 and 22. We enjoyed our army Masonry very much, and frequently had meetings of our Lodge. Capt. Martin was our Worshipful Master, and could conduct the work of the Lodge as well as any one I ever saw. We could alwavs 288 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. get the use of a Masonic Hall when we were camped near where one v/as, and the local members took special delight in meeting with us; the war, however, had scattered most of the Lodge members. It was a very frequent occurrence with wounded soldiers on both sides, who were Masons, to give the signal of distress, and doubtless it often secured help when it could not have been otherwise obtained. Yankees and Rebels were on common ground when they met as Masons. Of the Yankees, we learned that a great many of them joined the ^fasons upon their enlistment in the army, for the protection and attention it might af- ford them when taken prisoners by us, or when left wounded on the battlefield after their line had been driven back. If there were Southern soldiers who were thus moved to become Masons, it never came to my knowledge. Before leaving ^N'orth Alabama for Geor- gia a short leave of absence was granted to these regiments to visit their homes, which were near at hand, and procure a much-need- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 289 ed supply of clothing, shoes, etc. This would have been done when we first reached there but for the threatening- attitude of the Yankees beyond the Tennessee River from us, which made it necessary for us to keep together, and be ready for whatever move- ment might become necessary, to fight or to retire. It looked indeed for awhile as if we were going to have a considerable interview with the Yankees, and Col. Jackson received orders from military headquarters to gather up and take command of all the soldiers in jSTorth Alabama for that purpose, but we had no collision with them, except that we rescued the " White Horse Cavalry " at Peters's barn from the arms of Morpheus into our own em- brace. They hindered us, however, in the ready accomplishment of our purposes of re- cruiting and furnishing the regiments; so that when we reached Georgia active hostil- ities had already set in there, and our main army had fallen back from Dalton. To the military events that transpired in our command after our incorporation into the Army of Tennessee I have already briefly 19 290 CONFEDEEATE ECHOES. alluded. On the Kennesaw line, June 20, 1864, the Twenty-seventh, Thirty-fifth, and Forty-ninth Alabama Regiments were con- solidated into one, on account of the losses that had been sustained in each of these, and I was assigned to duty in ComiJanies C and G, consolidated, of the Thirty-fifth Alabama. Whatever fell to these noble men, in their turn to do, on the field or elsewhere, they did with all promptness and zest; and they were always looked to by the commanding gener- als to bring up their part of the line with as much confidence as they did to any other troops; nor were these expectations ever dis- a23pointed. Our northward movement through Geor- gia and into Xorth Alabama after the evacu- ation of Atlanta was characterized by a num- ber of interesting incidents, a few of which I will name. There wei-e quite a number of Yankee garrisons captured by our troops, and among them the one at Dalton, comj^osed mostl}^ of negro soldiers, about one thousand in num- ber, who had been recently armed and reen- CONFEDERATE ECHOE:?. 291 forced by the Yankees. Of course they were commanded by white officers. These negroes declared with great earnestness and feeling when captured that the Yankees forced them into service, and when our troops charged them in their fortifications they of- fered no resistance whatever. They were bnt too glad to surrender to Southern sol- diers, and thus be relieved of Yankee domi- nation, of which they had already had too much. They turned their guns over to us as quickly as they could, eagerly calling our attention to the fact that they wei-e perfect- ly clean inside, as evidence that they had not been fired oflP. And indeed there was the complete absence of the smut of burnt pow- der in their new and beautiful Springfield rifles. Only one negro's gun had been fired oflP, which was accidental and did no harm. In what we supposed was a feint on Deca- tur, Ala., October 26-28, our regiment suf- fered a great deal. As we approached this place, which was strongly fortified, our reg- iment was the advance guard of the army, and Companies B and D the advance guard of 292 CON^FEDEKATE ECHOES. the regiment. These two companies waded Flint River early on the morning of October 26, after we had had a dark, rainy, muddy before-day march, and stood picket beyond it nntil the pontoons could be put down for the balance of the troops to pass over, and then we were thrown forward to skirmish with the Yankees. They were cavalry and they soon came to view, but scarcely offered us any resistance. By a little strategem we drew them into an ambush which we had formed, and would have effectually ruined them had not about half our guns failed to fire from having been rained on so mnch after they were loaded. As it was, a number of saddles were emptied, and the coat tails of the Yankess not shot spread straight out be- hind them, as they beat about the hastiest retreat that I had ever witnessed. The scene was actually ludicrous, and we could not but yell them on with hearty bursts of laughter, albeit we felt disappointed that we had not brought down the last one of them. At this juncture our entire regiment was formed into a skirmish line for the brigade. COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 293 and approaching \'ery close to the fortifica- tioiiB around Decatur, we were ordered to lie down and await further orders. A battery of our field artiller}^ was planted in our im- mediate rear, and a duel engaged in with the Yankee heavy guns until night set in, there being no little sprinkling of musketry in the meanwhile. Our position was an exceedingly exposed one, and Ave suffered the loss, in killed and wounded, of some of our best men. In my diary I make special mention of" Yv^ill- iam Pettus, of my company, as brave a boy as ever fought for freedom," who had his leg fractured by a musket ball; and of "poor Marion Harlan, a Christian man and gallant soldier of Company C," who was instantly killed while in a recumbent position by a solid cannon shot entering his shoulder and passing lengthwise through his body. Other casualties occurred at other times and in other commands, though not generally of a very serious nature for war times, until we drew off from Decatur, October 29, and went to Tuscumbia to make arrangements for crossing the Tennessee River, and going forward to Nashville. CHAPTER XY. My First Furlough. THROUGHOUT the war, when the sit- uation of our army favored it, a system of furloiighing the soldiers was to a limited extent employed by the military anthori- ties, whereby a few men at a time and in turn, from the several companies or regi- ments, were permitted to visit their homes now and then for a brief period. These furloughs were usually for ten, twenty, or thirty days, and sometimes longer, accord- ing as the homes of the men were near to or remote from the army, it being designed that there should be equality among them as to the number of days they could actual]}^ be with their families, aside from the length of time required on the route going and coming. It was necessarily more difficult for a soldier to procure a furlough on some oc- casions than on others, owing to the great- (294) KEY. AXD MUS. A. T. (^UODI.OE. May 8. lOOo. CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. 295 er or less importance for the men to be at their places for military service. It of course would not do to permit them to leave their posts of duty in the midst of a vigorous and important campaign, or on the eve of a battle, but there were times when hostilities were not very active, and when nothing would be lost to the efficien- cy of the army by the absence of a few men at a time, and for a short while. To procure a furlough, except when it was given by merely drawing for it under certain orders, as was sometimes the case, a very systematic procedure was neces- sary. Such military regulations as this, which involved a great deal of form, we were accustomed to call '' red tape " of the West Point variety. Some soldiers were very harsh in their criticisms of this fea- ture of army management, but they were such generally as were averse to disciplin- ary restraints in any particular. Applica- tion for furlough in due form had to be made in writing, and, when by an inferior officer or private, put into the hands of 296 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the captain of the company to which he belonged. This officer would indorse the application over his own official signature, and forward it to the colonel commanding the regiment, who in like manner would indorse it and send it to the brigade com- mander; and thus onward and upward it would go, passing from one commanding officer to the next one above him until it reached the headquarters of the ranking general of the particular army with which the applicant was connected. Having been passed on in an upward direction by this process until it reached its final destina- tion, the application was returned to the applicant through the same channel of com- munication, inversely, along which it had been carried up, thus conforming to the venerable mandate that " what goes up must come down." If it came back to the anxious soldier duly approved, his heart was made most happy thereby ; but if disapproved, the disappointment was often very depress- ing. Many of those applications for furloughs CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 297 were curious productions, and some of them were very pathetic. In them the soldiers would take much pains, and with studied ef- fort, to show the commanding general pre- cisely why they ought to go home for a season, and often plead their cases from the standpoint of their family necessities in a most touching manner. A short time in the army seemed a long time, and so they would sometimes base their application upon the length of time they had been from home. I asked a leave of absence at the expiration of the first six months that I was in service, and it seemed to me then that I had been a soldier the most of my life. ^NTot to have seen my wife and two living children in six months was a tremendous self-sacrifice, thought I; and surely that fact made known to the commanding officers would move them to sufi:er me to go home for a short while! It was occasionally the case, when a fur- lough proper could not be obtained, that some of the men could have an opportuni- ty of making their way home by being de- 298 CON^PEDERATE ECHOES. tailed to collect up clothing for the com- mand in the section of country from which they enlisted. Usually they Avould make application to be thus detailed, and in the way that they would for furlough; so that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. And it was not always the case in making such application that they were moved to do so by a desire altogether to procure clothing for their comrades and themselves, but their home longings were the main incentive that prompted them to do so. Just before leaving camp to go home on furlough, those who were thus favored would gather up all the letters written by their comrades to their home folks that they would likely have an opportunity of delivering; and when they returned to the army at the expiration af their leave of absence they would bring back with them letters and such other things as they could to the sol- diers in camp, from their loved ones at home. And what treasures those letters and other things were! In this way conimunica- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 299 tion was kept up to a considerable extent between some sections of the country and the army. Although it was not ahvays probable that soldiers having furloughs could reach their homes (especially those from the border States, largely occupied after a time by the Yankees), still a permit to go home seemed to them to open the way to get there, however difficult and dangerous the effort to do so might be. The soldier bethought himself that his life was one of continued expo- sure to death anyway, and so he felt that he had as soon take risks in going to see those whom he loved better than life as in any oth- er way, and go he would oftentimes when it seemed Avell-nigh certain that he would be captured or shot by the enemy in the under- taking. Many were, indeed, first and last, in one way and another, lost to the army who undertook to go to their homes through the Yankee lines. Some were captured and sent to prison, some w^ere killed, and some w ere so headed off by the Yankees that it seemed impossible to them for them to re- oOO CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. port again to their commands, and they remained at home permanently. This disposition of the Southern soldiers to take any risk to get home is not sur- prising when we remember how intensely attached to home and the loved ones there was our citizen soldiery. Indeed, there is no country in this wide world where home endearments are so tender or so strong as in our own Southland; and to be away from our own precious and helpless ones as war- riors in their defense, and in ours, intensified the longing to be with them to an incalcu- lable extent. And especially was this the case when our homes and loved ones were in sections of the country overrun by the Yan- kees; for then to our ardent longings merely to see them was added the most painful solic- itude possible for their well-being and safety. Many of our soldiers also, let me say, were poor, and left their families with but little means of support when they joined the army. They had promises, it may be, from their neighbors in better circumstances that their families would be cared for in their ab- COXFEDEltATE ECHOES. 301 sence, but the war lasted longer than was expected, and was so waged by our adversa- ries as to impoverish Southerners generally; and so many poor families were left without help after a while in the way of supplies, so far as their neighbors were concerned. The soldiers themselves would send home all that they could of their wages when it was possi- ble to do so, but that was a small amount at most, and in a currency that was deprecia- ting continually. In such a state of things as this, of course the soldier availed himself of every opportunity that presented itself, that he might see after the welfare of those dependent upon him. Being then a married man myself, I have been writing with reference to such, mainly; but the heart of the " soldier boy " looked homeward also, and especially if he had a widowed mother and sisters dependent upon him for a livelihood, and he, too, procured a furlough when the opportunity was afforded him to do so — not to speak of the boy who was pining to see his sweetheart back yon- der. /„., 302 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. From first to last, as the weary war went on, a great many soldiers, both married and single, were privileged to visit their homes a time or two, and these visits were very comforting to their loved ones and to them- selves; and yet, upon returning to their com- mands, many soldiers would express regret that they had gone home, as it made them feel, they would say, so much worse after they got back to the army than they did be- fore they went home. The comparative number of those who procured furloughs and those who did not I have no means of know- ing, but tliere were doubtless very many who did not visit their homes during the entire war. The longings of some of our soldiers to visit their families and homes grew upon them until they develoj)ed into an intolerable ag- ony of grief; and actually degenerated finally into a form of malady, from which not a few died. So opj^ressive and uncontrollable to them was the gloom of homesickness, or "nostalgia," as called by the army surgeons, that the very throbbiugs of the heart were CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 303 overcome thereby and death ensued. These soldiers loved their homes no better than their comrades did; but they lacked the disposition to accept the situation as it was, and to overcome the inner promptings of depression and heartache. There was man- ifestly with them the lack of the spirit of genuine manhood; and so they got not much sympathy from their more determined fel- low-soldiers, who believed that we ought to brave it out in any privation and danger, and keep ourselves on our feet to the last limit of possible endurance, for the sake of the sacred cause in the defense of which we had taken up arms. And yet, how could it be otherwise than excruciatingly depressing to those soldiers, for instance, whose fami- lies were in want, while they themselves were prevented from going to see after their welfare by the pressure of military duties in the face of a most formidable invading and bloodthirsty foe? These were not the only men, however, whose anxieties to get home became a tor- ture to them; there were numbers of others 304: CONFEDERATE ECHOES. who could be spared from home very well, considering the necessities of self-defense that were upon us, who simply could not endure the thought of being from home al- ways, the war, to them, seeming as though it would never end. Twice during my term of service I had the 023portunity of visiting my family for a short while. The first time, while I had to be very careful a part of the way home to avoid Yankee pickets and scouts, I made the round trip with but little trouble for war times, but my second visit was made with much risk and difficulty. A few items of personal experience gathered from these two expeditions, so to speak, coupled with such observations as were suggested by them, may serve the purpose of bringing to view certain important as- pects of the war, which can perhajos best be presented from the standpoint of a Con- federate soldier on furlough. While our army was in camp on Cold "Water Creek, not far from Holly Springs, Miss., October 15, 1862, Lieut. Rather co:n^federate echoes. 305 and I received an order from Gen. Rust, then commanding our brigade, to go to Xorth Alabama for clothing for the regi- ment. We had made application to be de- tailed for that purpose, as there was just then no other way to get leave of absence; and we had in mind a visit to our families, as well as a desire to procure clothing for our- selves and others. We were allowed an ab- sence of thirty days, and we both returned to the command before our time was quite out. Early on the morning after receiving the , order we went to Holly Springs from our camp in a wagon. Here we expected to find a conveyance of some kind across to the Mo- bile and Ohio railroad, but in this we were disappointed; we learned, however, that by going down on the freight train to Oxford that evening we could get a stage the next morning to Okolona, and this we did. Ow- ing to the number of passengers registered ahead of us, it was with much difficulty that we could get permission from the proprietor and the other passengers to crowd ourselves 20 306 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. into the stage, which was a very indifferent old hack — a " shackly shebang," as one of the passengers dubbed it. A mule and a gray mare of venerable appearance, with Aveary and hungry looks, were the team. We reached Pontotoc at supper time, and left the next morning at three o'clock, arriving at Okolona, on the M. & O. R. R., after six liours' drive, Saturday, October 18. We had not traveled far after leaving Pontotoc so early in the morning until we became quite cold, and, coming to a camp iire on the roadside, the stage stopped for the passengers to warm. A gentleman had camped here for the night with some negroes (slaves) whom he was moving from Critten- tlen County, Arkansas, to some point in Middle Alabama to get them out of reach of Lincoln's Yankees. This was, in those days, called "running the negroes," and was frequently done by those owning slaves for security against the Yankees. So also would men " run " their horses and other stock when Yankees were about, to hide them from these hideous upcountry thieves. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 307 It SO happened that this gentleman who was moving his negroes to a place of safety, as he supposed, lived near my mother-in-law, who had moved from ^orth Alabama to Ar- kansas just before the war, and acquainted me with the sad fact that she had recently died. I never knew her superior as a wom- an of intelligence, refinement, and conse- cration to the service of God. 1 loved her with a perfect devotion, and the sudden and unexpected information of her death grieved me immeasurably. And, added to this, the thought of carrying such distress- ing news to my wife saddened me all the more. To me it seemed providential that we stopped at the fire before day that morn- ing to warm. At Okolona Lieut. Rather and I had the good fortune to form the acquaintance of Dr. Thompson, a most excellent gentleman and resident of that place, who had two horses in his keeping which he was anxious to send to a relative of his, Mr. Lawrence Thompson, in [N'orth Alabama. The horses bad been run from the Yankees, Providing 308 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. ourselves with saddles and bridles, Lieut. Kather and I were soon on them and jour- neying sweetly homeward. jSTo horses ever rode so well as these did on that trip, from Saturday afternoon to Monday night. Arriving at Frankfort, Ala., Lieut. Rather and I separated, he going to Tuscumbia, and I to Uncle Calvin Goodloe's, thirteen miles west of Tuscumbia, with whom I had left my family, reaching his house at eight o'clock that night— October 20, 1862. This was the first time I had seen the *' Yalley," in which was Uncle Calvin's homcj after it was overrun by Yankee soldiers. They had come in from the direction of Corinth, and passed on eastward toward Tuscumbia, Courtland, etc., going as far, I think, as Huntsville. As was their custom, they despoiled that mag- nificent region of country, peopled with the highest type of citizenship, and put a blight of poveity on the very soil, as it has ever seemed to me. jSTightfall was fast coming on as I neared the long, gradual descent of the mountain road that I had been traveling for some time CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 309 into the Valley, about opposite Barton's Station, on the Memphis and Charleston rail- road; but the sky was clear, and a big, red moon gave me the comfortable assurance that it was ready to light up my way as day- light disappeared. It also enabled me to overlook the Valley for many miles as I was riding down the mountain road into it. A melancholy haziness hung over it every- where; and as I entered it and rode on to Un- cle Calvin's, amidst desolation, a gloominess of a most depressing nature possessed me, relieved only by the thought that I would presently embrace my precious wife and children. About a mile before I started down the mountain slope, as I now recall, I passed the chalybeate springs which had been improved before the war by a number of Valley peo- ple (Uncle Calvin being one of the number) as a summer resort for their families. In the summer of 1855 I came from St. Fran- cis County, Ark., where I had been living some eighteen months, to visit my Alabama relatives, and spent much of my time at these 310 COIs"rEDEEATE ECHOES. springs. An event of the supremest moment to me, as related to my subsequent course of life, transpired while I was there. Miss Sallie Louise Cockrill was there I And she w^as my loftiest ideal of the perfection of womanhood! Over and over again I tried to tell her of my admiration for her — to tell her that I loved her, indeed — but my courage would fail me, and fail me, and fail me. Moreover, when I would frame in my mind a love speech for her ears, I would forget it at the opportune moment to speak it. I made frequent vows to myself to address her on a specified occasion or at a set time, but a loss of breath would prevent me from fulfilling my vows. Talk about fighting Yankees! that was fun compared to the struggle I w'as then engaged in within myself in order to accomplisii what I so ardently desired. I grew desperate finally, as the time was near- ing for me to leave the springs, and on the evening of August 11, 1855, at fifteen min- utes before seven o'clock, unchoked myself enough by the force of a mighty purpose to give her a clumsy hint that I thought she COXrEDERATE ECHOES. 311 would understand. But she failed to take the hint! Just then, in the midst of uncertain- ty, my courage was aroused, and I talked no longer in parables. The victory was mine! We were married the 29th of the following- November, and together we have now fought the battles of life for over fifty years. In those days of early love and courtship, my exalted estimate of her character was not exaggerated, as has long since been demon- strated, and continues to be. Xo dream then had she of what there Avas in store for her of sore and varied trials, as the wife of a Confederate soldier through years of war- fare all about us, and as an itinerant Meth- odist preacher's wife since 1868; but she has endured them all w^th unfaltering heroism, and she has constantly met all the require- ments of duty in the several relations of life which she has occupied. Nothing could have been farther from my mind then than that I would after a while be a soldier and a preacher, but so it came to pass. In the side yard at Uncle Calvin's home, a few steps from the end of his residence in 312 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. which was his family room, there was a per- fectly comfortable office building, of attract- ive appearance, and supplied with all needed furniture and other conveniences as a sitting and bed room, which was more suitable for my wife to occupy while there with her children and nurse than a room in the com- modious family residence, and it was ar- ranged for her to occupy that during her stay there. She could not have been better provided for in every particular anywhere, nor in better hands than where she was. Uncle Calvin's wife, formerly Miss Harriet Turner, of Huntsville, Ala., was her aunt. I^ever was there a more open and hospitable home than these generous relatives of ours had, and they were always like home folks to my wife and to me, both before and aft- er our marriage. In the condition that she then was (of pregnancy), together with a sorrowful heart from the death on our way there, at Athens, of our precious lit- tle Loulie and on account of my departure for the army, they were especially kindly to- ward her and interested In her welfare. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 313 Here she gave birth to her fourth child, a son, soon after my enlistment for the war. We then had two living children, our old- est and our youngest. The other two were in heaven. In the course of time my wife became the "joyful mother" of twelve children— six boys and six girls. When I reached Uncle Calvin's on the the night already mentioned, having hitched my horse, I went first, of course, to the building occupied, or supposed to be, by my wife and little boys — my treasures, of priceless value to me; "a peculiar treasure unto me above all people " — but they were not there! The thought then came into my mind that she had gone with her little ones to stay awhile with my former guard- ian. Uncle Robert Goodloe, seven miles farther on, as was contemplated by us. However, I thought it not improbable that she was sitting in Aunt Harriet's room, which was much used as a family sitting room, there being a light in it; for it was hardly yet bedtime. Quickly I put in my appearance there, to the great surprise of SM CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the family, but my treasures were not there! ^or had they gone to Uncle Robert's! They had gone home not long before, which I considered very judicious on my wife's part, under existing circumstances; but there I was, '' down in Alabam','' ^nd my wife and children away up in Tennessee, my na- tive State, with a little more than four days of horseback travel between us, considering the roundabout way I had to go after pass- ing Franklin to avoid the Yankees, who then occupied ]S'ashville. Wife wrote to me of her plans to return home before she went, but the letter did not reach me. She was moved tc do so because the Yankees seemed to be as accessible to Alabama as they were to Tennessee, and she felt that she might be able to take care of our home by being at it better than any other occupant would be likely to do. ^Ye came from home to Alabama with a few servants in a carriage and wagon, two horses to each, and she went back in the same way, Willie Goodloe going with her to Columl)ia, as far as was needful for her CONFEDEEATE ECHOES. 316 protection. Before she started Uncle Cal- vin got the information from Confederate scouts that she could reach her home with- out risk of any kind, as the route she could go was cleared of Yankees by our cavalry. She had no trouble in going through without hindrance of any kind, or any interruption whatever. One of the carriage horses, Mike, was lame when she arranged to go, and had been for a long while, on account of bad shoeing; but Uncle Calvin loaned her one of his, thinking that at some time or other, and in some way, his horse could be returned and Mike sent home. N^othing was more foreign from their thoughts than that I would soon be there to ride Mike home, and to ride his horse back. After spending the night at Uncle Cal- vin's, I took Mike in hand the next morn- ing with some degree of uncertainty as to whether he was ready for the journey that was before us. He had to be shod all around, and I attended to that matter during the forenoon. Yerv soon after dinner I mounted 316 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. him and started for home. I felt sorry for him as I rode off, for I expected to make all the haste I could to see my loved ones, and I did not want to consume any more of my leave of absence on the road than was strictly necessary; but he did not seem to get mucli weary at any time. Soon after I passed Franklin I began to describe a semi- circle to the right around Nashville, with a view to striking the N^ashville and Lebanon Turnpike at Tulip Grove, close to the Iler- mitage, and a little over a mile from home. This w^as the insecure part of the route, but the people as I passed along were glad to give me such information for my safety as they could about the location of the Yankee pickets and the movements of their scouting parties. I reached Tulip Grove, formerly the prop- erty of Andrew J. Donelson, about three o'clock in the afternoon of October 25, having spent three nights on the road. This was then the residence of J. R. Cockrill, whose wife, then living, was my wife's only sister and two years younger. She died some COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. 317 years afterwards. A more sweet-toned, lovely character than she was could not be found. Wishing- to spend a few moments with her family before going" over home, I rode up to the house and hitched my horse at the back gate. Steve, a negro house boy, was at the wood pile getting some wood for the fire in the family room, and from him I learned that my wife and children had not yet gone home, but were then in the house there. lie instantly made a rush to go in ahead of me and let my wife know that I had come, but I called him to a halt and made him stay behind me. Tic f )llowed close to me to see what was going to happen, and was the completest Fidgety Philip that I ever saw. I walked across the back porch and into the room where my wife and her sister (Mary) were sitting looking in the fire, with their backs toward the door that I entered, and neither one saying a word. Wife had sent Amanda, the servant girl, into another room for some WTiting paper to write to me, and was arranging in her mind what she would write, not knowing whether 318 CONPEDERATE ECHOES. I was dead or alive, as she had not heard from me since the bloody battle of Corinth, in which I was engaged. Granville, our firstborn, was playing on the floor, and in- tent on the playthings that were entertain- ing him. I was well into the room before T was observed, as they thought I was Aman- da coming with the writing paper or Steve with the wood that he was sent for, and did not turn their heads for a moment or two to see which one it was or who it was that had come in. All three turned their eyes upon me at once, and we had a miniature heaven in that room. Did not the angels smile with moistened eyes as they beheld the rapturous commotion that then occurred with us? Aunt Milly, the honored "Black Mammy" of our household (an " institution " peculiar to the "Old South") came bounding in from an adjacent room with a joyful heart, bring- ing our baby boy (my namesake, that I had never seen) in her loving arms for my espe- cial caresses. Others about the house, white and black, were soon in the room also to give me a smile and hand shake of welcome. COJ^^FEDERATE ECHOES. 319 In due time the greeting gave place to a family conversation, and at once, and simul- taneously, wife and Sister Mary asked: "When did you hear from mother?" Ah, me! The sad information of her death must of course be given, and then we all wept. Their father had been long dead, and now they are orphans. And so it is that in this life there is often the blending in our hearts of joy and sorrow, but after a while it will be all joy to us, we trust, in our Father's house above. We called our home Millbrook, because of the modest mill that we had on a small creek running through our land. It was a grist and saw mill, and there was water in the creek most of the time for running it. The creek was really a " spring branch " from Mr. James Carter's never-failinsr bi^: spring just across our boundary line. After a while the insufferable Yankees found that mill and branch, and established a camp there until they could use up all the building timber that I and my neighbors had. Being close to the Cumberland River, 320 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. on which the back of my land rewted, it was a very convenient location for these Lincoln warriors to carry on their trade of appropri- ating what did not belong to them. They took possession there not long after the re- turn of my family from Alabama. When we were arranging to leave Mill- brook for xllabama, we felt the need of some reliable person to occupy our residence dur- ing our absence and take the best care he could of the entire place. A Mr. Cooken- doffer, of Nashville, came well recommend- ed to me, and I turned everything over to him and his sister. He could not tell how long he would stay there, but promised to get the best occupant of the house that he could, should he find it to his interest to leave. He did leave before a great while, but not until he had found a Mr. Drake and family, of Kentucky, to occupy the house just as he had done, no charge having been made from first to last for the use of the house. Mr. Drake was still there when my wife returned from Alabama, and she there- fore stopped with her sister until he could CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 321 conveniently move to another place, which he soon secured. The third day after I reached Tulip Grove he moved his family elsewhere, and on the day following we re- entered our beloved Millbrook home with glad hearts, and with becoming gratitude to God, I trust, for bringing us safely to that day of sunshine in our souls, not forgetting that troubles and dangers of many kinds could but await us while the war went on. We made use of the few days that I could be at home in fond companionship one with another, to be sure, but also in devising measures for the safety and maintenance of my home treasures while I was away. We strengthened each other in the Lord also, as best we could, to bear up bravely under ev- ery trial that might fall to our lot. The day before I left home was Sunday, November 2, and in our home circle we made it a day of special devotion and mutu- al strengthening, preparatory mainly to the separation that was again so soon to take place, the anguish of which was already be- ing realized by us, and the great trials and 21 322 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. perils through which we were sure yet to pass in the dark days of gloom and insecu- rity which the war had thrust upon us. This soldier and his wife were not so heroic in the midst of such surroundings and experi- ences as we were then passing through as to feel a degree of self-sufficiency adequate for the dreadful necessities to which we had been driven by a remorseless despotism; our insufficiency was, indeed, most sensibly re- alized and frankly admitted. " Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth," was our heart-thrilling confes- sion, and in that hallowed Xame we con- stantly trusted for solace and support and safety — for all things, indeed, that we stood in need of. To our minds it was a distinct gracious Providence that took me home just at the time that I Avas thei-e. The entire manage- ment of home affairs for a livelihood to all on the place was soon to devolve on my wife under most trying circumstances, and she consequently felt the need of my pres- ence and counsels to forward her in the se- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 323 vere undertaking. The servants also need- ed direction from me in regard to their wel- fare in the upturned condition of the coun- try, and encouragement to be diligent in their labors and a safeguard to my family. Surely it was of the Lord that I was at home just then. One of the chief sources of pleasure and comfort to us upon our return to Millbrook was the re-establishment of our family altar under our own roof, though my stay at home could but be brief. The facts that we had been so long deprived of this blessed privi- lege, and that I would so soon return to the army, made us relish all the more our family worship. Among the most trying ordeals to which we were subjected during the war we num- ber the breaking down of our family altar by the wrathful thunderbolts hurled at us by Lincoln's invading legions. Family prayer has ever been to us a veritable boon from heaven. By it our personal piety has been enriched, and we doubt not that it has been largely instrumental in the develop- 324 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. ment of Christian cliaracter in our children, and in bringing them into the fold of our Saviour. We are confident that we will after a while be a family entire in heaven, and feel assured that this hope has come to us through the channel of our morning and even- ing family prayer, in a very large measure. As an ordinance of God it is perfectly nat- ural, relating as it does to the family, which is the first and most important divine insti- tution among men. The family first; the Church next. Wife and I held our Church membership at Dodson Chapel, a Methodist Church some three miles from Millbrook, back on the road that I traveled. It was then in Union Cir- cuit, Lebanon District. Having an ardent desire to engage in worship with the breth- ren there before leaving home, and finding an opportunity during the week to send an appointment over there for a prayer meeting Saturday night, I did so. In one way and another the war had thinned out the commu- nity of its former population considerably, but enough people were left for a good at- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 326 tendance, the old Methodist stand-bys being of the number. "We had, indeed, a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Heaven came down onr souls to greet, while glory crowned the mercy seat. And such communion of the saints as we had! That was a great place in those days, and I hope still is, for " old-time religion." Monday morning, November 3, was the time set for me to start back to the army in order to reach there before my leave of ab- sence expired; I must also make a prompt start after an early breakfast, so as to get to Franklin that night, bearing in mind that I had to go a good deal out of my way over a road in places with which I was not familiar to avoid the Yankees. Into the hands of the Lord I committed my precious wife and children, and the servants, in the faith that he would hold them in his everlasting arms of love and power, and give them the provision and protection that they would surely need, and that he alone could give. Our final adieus were tender and tearful, of course, and our parting was necessarily a trial of our 326 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. faith to an unusual extent. We promised each other that, by divine help, we would be fully and heartily resigned to the will of our Heavenly Father concerning us during our separation, and I began my horseback jour- ney back to my command in Mississippi. The people along the road, the first two days especially, seemed almost frantic on the subject of " the news," and, taking me for a Confederate scout, would hinder me no little to question me about no telling how many things of recent date about the war, which to me were unknown. They would then tell me the latest news, as they had heard it from various sources. One old gentleman below Franklin stopped me ever so long to hear him tell that England had sent over one hundred and fifty rams to help out our few wai- vessels against the Yankee navy, that forty Yankee rams had already been destroyed by them, that our independ- ence had been recognized by all foreign powers, and that the war was about over. It was my purpose upon arriving at Flor- ence not to cross the Tennessee River there COXFEDEUATE ECHOES. 327 and go by way of Tuscumbia to Uncle Cal- vin'sj but to take a nearer route, by way of Garner's Ferry, some ten or twelve miles below Florence, and cross there, taking my chances as to whether or not I Vvould find a ferryl)oat at that point. Fortunately I had reason to believe that I could cross there, though I could not feel altogether certain of it; for in those days of Yankee gunboats and contending cavalry ever and anon along the river ferryboats were often taken away or destroyed. In the hope that I would find a boat at Garner's Ferry, I turned my horse's head in that direction at Florence and rode briskly onward. But, alas! alas! when I had gone about three miles from Florence, I met a squad of Confederate cavalry moving at rapid speed and carrying the tidings to their commander that a heavy force of Yankees was close at hand, and advancing on Flor- ence. They told me that the Yankees were as thick as hops about Garner's Ferry, and that I would surely be captured if I went any farther that way. Well, sir! of coarse I went back to Florence, and crossed the 328 COXFEDEllATE ECHOES. river there, but, for the life of me, I could not think there were any Yankees in the di- rection I was going; and I learned after- wards that there were none. Sadly, be it said, we had some cavalry in that region of the " buttermilk " sort, who were mortally afraid of Yankees, and those that I met seemed to be of that kind. I asked them pointedly if they had seen any Yankees. They had not, they said, but had " reliable information " that they were there. " Reli- able information!" From Dan to Beershe- ba the country was full of that commodity then, so that almost every one was supplied with a cart load or more of it. Well, this " Buttermilk Cavalry " squad, as I felt constrained to regard them, caused me to take a much longer ride than I had contemplated, and consequently did not reach Uncle Calvin's until after supper. It was necessary for me to make this stop at Uncle Calvin's to deliver his horse to him, and to arrange for a horse to ride on to my command. I must also take a little time be- fore leaving the Valley to visit my other rel- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 329 atives, as I was in too great a hurry to do so when on my way home. Of course, as the conditions were, I could not co-operate with Lieut. Rather in pro- curing clothing for the regiment. If my wife had remained in Alabama, it is very certain that I could have gathered a good deal, as the citizens generally, who had the means, were anxious to do what they could in such matters. The Confederate govern- ment, to be sure, proposed to clothe our ar- mies, but had not the resources sufficient to adequately do so; hence the custom ob- tained of getting voluntary contributions of clothing from our people at home as oppor- tunity afforded. My brief visit to my Valley relatives was delightful in an eminent sense, and gave me much cheer in the trial through which I was passing, of leaving my family permanently, or nearly so, within the Yankee lines; for that whole region was then within their dreaded grasp. When ready to leave the Valley, Uncle Calvin loaned me a horse to ride, and T em- 330 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. ployed 'Squire Hector Atkinson, a very talk- ative and companionable old gentleman, to go with me to my command and bring the horse back. On my way there I learned to my regret that onr army had fallen back some distance, under the pressure of Lin- coln's hordes, and were in camp at " Mouth of Tippah," near Abbeville, Miss. There I found it the day before my furlough, so called, was out, and the next morning I re- ported to Gen. Rust, as the custom was, and went on duty in my phice in the company to which I belonged with more of purpose, if possible, than ever to strike with all my might for freedom. CHAPTER Xyi. My Second Furlough. IT was five hundred and fifty-five days from the time that I bade adieu to my loved ones at Millbrook on my first fur- lough to tiie time that 1 saw them again on my second furlough. Tliose were days of intensely fierce warfare, of blood and car- nage in wliich I was more or less engaged, and of constant toil and heartache and dread on the part of my Heroine of Mill- brook; but our gracious Lord had wonder- fully protected us in the midst of dangers, seen and unseen, and cared for us other- wise. My second visit home was made at a time that the Yankees had undisputed possession of all the country through which I passed north of the Tennessee River. They had strong garrisons not only at Nashville but also at the several towns south of that city, both in Tennessee and Alabama, and their (331) 332 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. scouts were roaming in every direction with vigilance and frequency. Tories (" home- made Yankees") there were, also, in consid- erable numbers along much of the w^ay, and of the most venomous kind. They would lux- uriate in an opportunity to report a Confeder- ate soldier to the nearest Yankee garrison in order that he might be captured or shotj and they were ever watchful for an occasion to have their Southern sympathizing neighbors robbed by the Yankees, burned out, impris- oned, or murdered. They served as neigh- borhood detectives of the basest sort for the Yankee garrisons, and kept them advised of everything that was said and done by those in their several communities whose hearts were with the South; nor did they scruple to manufacture such falsehoods as suited their purposes of evil. Times without number good and orderly citizens were marched ofl' as prisoners from their homes by Yankee soldiers suddenly coming upon them, because of reports, oftener untrue than otherwise, furnished them by Southern-born people, who, because of cowardice and meanness. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 333 had become bootlickers for Abraham Lin- coln. Through their instrumentality, largely, a reign of terror existed in many communi- ties through which I passed, as it did also indeed in many other sections of our country occupied by Northern soldiers. For a Southern family in such sections to lodge or feed a Confederate soldier was to expose themselves to imprisonment and their prop- erty to confiscation or destruction; nor must they express sympathy with the South in any way whatever if they would be careful of their well-being. With the Yankee satrai^ for a master and the homemade Yankee for a detective, the misery of any Southern community was made complete. In such a case the apprehension of impend- ing evil was constantly suffered by our peo- ple at home; and they had every reason to believe that some calamity was likely to be- fall them at any time, day or night. Oftentimes they dared not speak above a whisper at night in their homes, lest some vigilant Tory should eavesdrop them in the chimney corner, and manufacture a lie out of 38tl: cojSTfederate echoes. what he pretended to hear, and they could not do neighborhood visiting without being suspected of plotting against the Lincoln dynasty, and be arrested therefor. These conscienceless detectives would often clothe themselves with dingy Confederate uniforms, taken from prisoners, and go to some Southern patriot's house for something to eat, thus personating hungry Confederate soldiers. If food was given them, the one giving it was soon thereafter carried to prison. How many Southern homes were entered, uninvited, by Yankee soldiers, and how much hurt was done by them to quiet households, can never be told, so constantly and so ex- tensively was such barbarous business car- ried on by the "men in blue." It was often their delight to rush roughly into Southern homes, to treat contemptuously the helpless inmates, to brazenly invade every apart- ment, ^nd to help themselves to whatever they wanted, whether under lock or not. As I, from personal knowledge and other unmistakable tokens, while on this second co:n'fedekate echoes. 335 furlough of mine, became more thoroughly acquainted with the true state of affairs, in some places worse than others, with those who were in accord with the South, my heart throbbed with a wrathful indignation toward the insolent tormentors of those defenseless home people beyond what I had ever before realized, and I could not but feel that the whole tribe of Lincolnites, from their chief down, more than merited our utmost contempt and execration — and extermination, if possible. The remembrance of those days of wanton persecution of our home people by the ad- versaries of the South is still abhorrent to thousands of Southern men and women, and all the more so as no reparation, even in word, has ever been made by the victors in the struggle for tlieir treatment of our un- armed and unoffending people in so many sections of the country from which our ar- mies were forced to retire by the outnum- bering armies of the advancing enemy. My furlough began April 30, 1864, our en- tire regiment (35th Alabama) being fur- loughed that day by Col. Sam Ives, com- 336 COI^rEDEEATE ECHOES. mancling it. He consented to do this at the earnest solicitation of the commissioned officers of the several companies composing the regiment, they proposing to assume all the responsibility that might attach to the act at army headquarters. Our regiment, and the 27th Alabama, had been detached from the army of Mississippi nearly two months, and sent to North Ala- bama, where they were made up, to gather up recruits in that region. They had ac- complished all that could be done in that di- rection, and were awaiting orders to rejoin the army. Our men had been so constantly on duty, gathering up recruits and catching Yankees, that very few of them had the opportunity of visiting their homes, close to which most of them were; it was, therefore, deemed but right, under the circumstances, by the officers to give them a few days at home before leaving ]^orth Alabama. There was no "red tape" in this way of furlough - ing, but the ranking officer, though no higher than a Colonel, was thought to be competent to do as Col, Ives did. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 337 In my case, and that of AV. G. AVhitfield, Orderly Sergeant of Company D, no special time was required for ns to return, because of the distance we had to go and the dilFi- culties we had to surmount. Col. Ives knew that we would make every ellbrt to return in a reasonable length of time. Whitfield wanted to go to l^ew Providence, where he had relatives, if not a sweetheart, and I, of course, wanted to go to Millbrook to see my family and do what I could for them. Whitfield and I could travel together a considerable distance, which we did, and we determined to walk, so that we could go through the woods and fields when neces- sary for our safety, and travel at night more securely than we could on horseback. Our plan, also, was to keep as far as we con- veniently could from the Yankee garrisons, and off of public roads as much as possible. And as to practicing deception on whomso- ever we should meet, in order that we might elude and delude the Yankee soldiery, and set us forward more surely on our way, we were agreed that there was no moral 22 338 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. wrong in it, even though we represented our- selves as deserters, the most odious of all characters. We must, in the use of every needful expedient, succeed in our perilous undertaking and report back to our com- mand for duty in due time. "All things are fair in war," is an adage that we were will- ing to adopt, so for as it related to the em- ployment of stratagems for our safety and success. The first problem, and a difficult one, that Wliitfield and I had to solve w^as, how could we cross the Tennessee River? There were no ferries then in operation within our reach, because of the Yankees on the other side, who were actively patrolling the river for a consid- erable distance above and below Florence; and they were all the more diligent because frag- ments of our two regiments (2Tth and 35th Alabama) had but recently gone over on their side at night and brought back with us their brag '•AYhite Horse" Cavalry, of the 9th Ohio Regiment. We must find a cross- ing some distance below Florence, if possi- l)le, and we made our start for that i)urj)ose CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 339 from Ne wburg, where we were furloughed, and where the two regiments were lust in camp. This place was, as I now recall, some eight- een or twenty miles south of Courtland. Going over into the valley, we learned that a man named Battle living on the river at the mouth of Cane Creek kept a canoe (dug- out) and would take pleasiu'e in setting us over. He was about my age, and said to be a Union man of the mild and accommodating- variety. This man, though at that time on intimate terms with the Yankees, who were nearly opposite him across the river, had no fond- ness for Yankees in general. He belonged to a distinct class of men in portions of the South during the war who had an uncon- trollable dread of battle, and who studied to make the best shift that they could with both sides, as occasion seemed to demand, with reference to their interests. They never de- generated into Tories, but they employed many devices to keep out of our army. They were, at heart, as anxious for the Yankees to get whipped as Southerners geneifilly w^ere, 340 CONFEDEllATE ECHOES. but they were not willing to help whip them lest they themselves get shot. There was a heavy Yankee patrol some three hundred yards from the river where we crossed, but Mr. Battle, whom I remember with pleasure, understood their movements, and assured us that he could take us over in his canoe so as to evade them by crossing- after dark. He put us in a hiding place in the afternoon from which we could see across the river, but could not be seen from the other side, and told us just when the Yankees would appear on the other bank, which they did at the time. Just at sun- down the last of them left, after watering their horses iu the river. An hour after that we crossed over, landing a little below where they were, and moved hurriedly into the big- timber and undergrowth as quietly as we could, not speaking above a whisper. Mr. Battle, who frequently visited the Yankee camp over there, gave us their countersign as a safety measure, should we accidentally come in contact with them. As it was our purpose to travel at night. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. ull we pressed forward that entire night with the ^orth Star as our guide, and by star- light, as there was no moon to light ns on our wilderness way. At times we would have to push our way through dense undergrowth of briers and vines, and to wade a branch or creek. And the stars were frequently shut out from lis by clouds, making our way so dark and uncertain as to quite bewilder ns. By agreement Whitfield would be guide for a while and then I would, for we could not walk side by side under such circum- stances. As we went trudging along si- lently through the dark woods late in the night, Whitfield in front, he suddenly ex- claimed in a loud whisper: "Here's another river, Doc, and we are gone up sure I" We had come to the bluff bank of a broad stream, as seen by starlight, which made our situa- tion quite alarming. While pondering what we should do, "kerchug" splashed a rock in the water, thrown by Whitfield before I knew it, to sound the depth of it. Then we went walking along on the bluff, throwing rocks in the stream until we had gone some o4Z CONFEDERATE ECHOES. two or more miles, to where the bank was low. Whitfield then quickly undressed and began to wade into the water to find its depth. It was deep, but he could wade it; and across he went, calling to me to come on. While he was dressing on the other bank I prepared for wading, and went for- ward to where he was. Going a little be- yond him to a log to facilitate me in putting on my clothes, I discovered that we were on the point of an island, and that more wading awaited us. 1 was ready for it, but Whit- field had to prepare again for it, and pres- ently we were on the real bank of what we afterwards learned was Cypress Creek. It was Wednesday night that Whitfield and I crossed Tennessee River and made our first night march. Just as day was break- ing Thursday morning we went into a thicket on a high bluif and spent the day, sleeping much of the time. There was a house in sight of our hiding place, and Whitfield, ever venturesome, made his way stealthily toward it until he saw an old gen- tleman out in the horse lot, then went to COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. 343 where he Avas. It Avas a lucky venture, for the old man and his family were strictly Southern in sentiment, and gave us provi- sions for the day and some to carry along' with us. lie also gave us important infor- mation about the route to travel for our safety, etc. Thursday night we traveled all night again, but were in a road most of the time, and at daj- break Friday a farmhouse came to view, Avith some negro cabins between us and the house. It was too early to disturb the Avhite family for our breakfast, but Ave Avent to a negro cabin for information, and Avaked up the sleeping in- mates. A startled old negro man opened the door j ust Avide enough to poke his head out, and from him Ave learned Avhose place that was, and that the owner had tAVO Yankee blue sons Avho had just come home on a visit. HoAV to get past that house Avithout going the road by it Avas then Avhat avc Avanted to know, and we learned from the old negro that there was a near cut to a creek beyond the house by going back to the Avoods and taking a certain direction. We were soon 344 CO]SrrEDEKATE ECHOES. in those woods, and hunting a hiding place instead of regarding the negro's direc- tions. Some distance from there we found a deep wooded ravine, in which we stopped for the day, though we spent but half the day there, and that in much discomfort. About eight o'clock we heard the yelping of a hound ap- proaching us, and seemingly following our tracks. That we were dismayed may as well be confessed, for we were in a horrid Tory community and there was no way of escape. The dog, however, ceased yelping before he reached us, called back, it may be, by his Tory masters, who thought that he was on the wrong trail, as we had taken a different course from the way the negro directed us. We heard nothing more of the dog, and con- cluded to remain where we were until the hunt was supposed to be over. We left at noon and concluded to try our luck by tak- ing the road, he to be strategist one day and I the next. Having gone some distance, we came to a house at the foot of a long hill, close to COISTFEDERATE ECHOES. 345 which a curving road passed. We had no thought of stopping, but as we came to the side gate we saw in the back gallery a company of men and women, among them a Yankee soldier in uniform, and I followed my prompting to turn in at the gate and show friendliness with them, Whitfield fol- lowing me. The stratagem was a suc- cessful one. The Yankee soldier was a deserter from our Virginia army, as he told us with much gusto. He w^as a young man of Southern birth and raising, who had volunteered in the Southern army, but was noAV in the ranks of our enemies. Of such material as this "Old Bill" Stokes's regiment was made up, he himself having been an ardent Confeder- ate before he went to the Yankees. The most of the deserters, however, from our army were nothing more than "play- outs," having wearied of tlie dangers and toils of war, or those who felt constrained to return home for the support and protection of their families. There was a vast differ- ence between this class of deserters and 3^6 COXrJ<:DEKATK ECFIOES. those that wont into the fight against ns as soldiers or as citizens. These never aban- doned their Southernism, as the others did, and kept aloof from the Yankees as much as it was possible for them to do. And many, perhaps most, of them had made good sol- diers before they left us. Had there been no "play-outs," however, Lincoln's invaders would have been defeated and our Southern Confederacy firmly established. Having tarried as long with the Yankee sol- dier and Wayne County Tories as suited our })urposes, we left them pleasantly, and at once determined to get as far from them as we could before going into camp. AYe there- fore kept on our way the rest of that day and all night following. As day was break- ing Saturday morning we sprawled out on the ground to rest and sleep. Presently we heard a lady calling cows after the old and ringing style. Whitfield's eyes at once lost their sleepiness, and, remarking, "There is milk there, sure!" away he went to arrange for our breakfast, it being his time (we took it time about) to negotiate for rations. He CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 347 found a nice, plain Southern family, and we fared well with them. After breakfast they gave us a bedroom to rest in, and we slept until nearly noon before w^e started again on our homeward march. Here we learned that wo had taken the wrong road sometime during the night, the north star being hid from us by clouds, and had gone twelve miles out of our way. Our aim was to go northward that night through the western portion of Lawrence County after getting out of Wayne, but our mis- take put us in the eastern portion of it. To get back on our contemplated line of travel we must now take a northwest course and strike the Beaver Dam road north of Law- renceburg. We reached this point at nightfall, and found that Mrs. Moore, an old acquaintance of mine, lived there. Her son William, an only child, was Colonel of one of our Ten- nessee regiments. When we came in sight of her house, I left Whitfield in the woods and made my way cautiously to it to ask for food and lodging for us. She and I both 348 CONFEDEliATE ECHOES. were greatly surprised at seeing each other; and in a few w^ords she let me know^ that she was in constant dread of Yankee spies, and asked me to return to my comrade and re- main until nine o'clock, as a p^'ecautionary measure against any danger to her or to us. We were then to enter a certain door, where she would meet us in quiet, give us our sup- per, and show us our bed. The light burned dimly, and we talked but a short while and in whispers. As was understood among us, Whitfield and I left not long after midnight, she having shown us how best to leave the house. ^ow it is Sunday. At Mrs. Moore's we took the Beaver Dam road, but I do not re- member how far we traveled it. We con- tinued our journey throughout the most of the day, passing Rockdale Mills and Hamp- shire and crossing Duck River after dark in a skiff at Baxter's fish trap. As we drew near to Rockdale Mills, which we knew nothing of before, we began to see more people astir than was comforta- ble to us. Presently we came to a church COJSTFEDERATE ECHOES. 349 where a congregation was assembling, and we determined to hunt a hiding place as quickly as we could. A short distance after passing the church we came to a thickly wooded hollow on our right, and turned up that, going some distance from the road be- fore we stopped. We had scarcely settled down, lolling on the ground, when here came a man up the same hollow to where we were! That made us restless for a moment, but needlessly so. Our stranger visitor introduced himself to us as the Kev. Joseph H. Strayhorn, of the Southern Methodist Church, and let us know that he would preach that morning at the church we had just passed. He saw us leave the road and thought we were going to a spring up the hollow. He knew from our clothing that we were Confederate soldiers, and sought us, therefore, in the hope that ho could learn from us the latest news about the war. He was a true Southerner, and wc had a jolly good time with him until he had to go to the church. He gave "Whitfield and me some valuable information about the 350 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. road, people, etc., ahead of us until we crossed Duck River. Brother Strayhorn and I met no more until the fall of 1869, the year after I be- came a preacher. We were members to- gether of the Tennessee Conference, M. E. Church, South, and warm friends until he died, in 1899. He was a ver}' devout, warm- hearted man, a good preacher, and an un- usuially sweet singer of the songs of Zion. "When I see him again, it will be in heaven. Among the names given us by Brother Strayhorn that we could talk freely to and get information from was Mr. William Biffle, in the outskirts of Hampshire. We reached his house a little before sundown, and I went to the front door while Whitfield waited at the gate. Mr. Biffle was a thorough Confeder- ate, and had two sons in our army if I do not forget, but no introduction or reference that I could give could induce him to show us favor in any way, and he was painfully restless while we were there. He did not treat us with the slightest civility, but re- ferred us to a man some half a mile beyond COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. 361 who might tell us what we wanted to know. This man was a " Union man," though Mr. Biffle said nothing of that. Strayhorn had told us. AVe did go there, and learned from him where we could cross Duck Kiver, the road leading over a considerable ridge some- what back of his house, and down into the narrow bottom, at that place, of the river. Mr. Biffle had suffered so much from Yankee soldiers and their odious emissa- ries, and they had devised so man}- means to entrap him, that he stood in constant dread of them, lie dared not admit a Confederate soldier into his house when it was likely that some Yankee spy might see him do so, lest he be reported on and carried off to prison, or suffer some damage of a more serious na- ture. And then he did nut know but that Whitfield and I were Yankee detectives in Confederate clothing, as they were given to practicing such stratagems to catch our un- suspecting fi-iends at liome. As T was re- turning from Millbrook, dressed in citizen's clothes, I spent the night with him, receiv- ing a most cordial welcome. Tlie entire 352 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. family were spleiulicl people of the best Southern type. It was night when "Whitfield and I reached Duck River, and the place was known as Baxter's Crossing. The dwelling was on the south bank of the river, and when we came to it the small yard seemed to be full of men, which caused us considerable uneas- iness, as we did not know but that it meant arrest for us. "We opened the gate unhesi- tatingly, however, and walked straight to the door of the house, which was open, and inquired for Mr. Baxter, whom we asked for supper, which was then on the table, and to set us across the river. "We were promptly accommodated in both particulars, and were soon on the north bank of the river with a feeling of much more security than we had on the south bank, where we had employed our stratagem of dissimulation for all that it was worth, as a military necessity. Having crossed Duck River, our aim was to pursue our way through the woods, bear- ing gradually to the right, until we came to the "Natchez Trace," the road along which COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 353 Gen. Andrew Jackson is said to have taken his army to whip the British at I^ew Or- leans; but we soon encountered a swamp which seemed impenetrable in the night, and we stopped till daybreak. Then onward we went, coming to the road at the right place, and traveled it together until we came to Kinderhook, an invisible village then in the northwest corner of Maury County, where he went straight forward on the Charlotte road, and I took the Hillsboro road to the right. His problem then was, how he would get across Cumberland River near Clarks- ville; and my problem was, how I would cross the main Yankee thoroughfare between Kashville and Franklin, which I thought to be my principal danger then. That safely crossed, I believed I could reach Millbrook without disturbance, as I had learned on my first furlough how to wend my way through that region. Whitfield and I had many serious and troubled moments from time to time while we were together, but we also got a good supply of fun out of our pilgrimage in one 23 354: COXFEDEUATE ECHOES. form and another before we parted, to meet again on the fighting line in Georgia. But my part of the fun ceased when we parted, and I was greatly burdened with a sense of loneliness and insecurity the rest of the way. After AVhitfield and I parted it took me a little over three days to reach Millbrook. The families that I stopped with at night were of the quiet order and kindly disposed toward me. From them I procured pro- visions for each day after the first, when I already had with me what I needed. An air of perfect self-composure, and the em- plojanent of such other tactics as were needed a time or two, secured my sale ar- rival at home Wednesday afternoon, May n, at 3 o'clock. .Vs I entered the hall from our front porch the right-hand door leading into our family room stood open, and 1 was at once face to face with ni}' precious household. '' What a meeting! What a meeting! " As they first came to my view my ever-busy wife was at work, assisted by "Aunt Milly" CONFEDEllATE ECHOES. 355 and Keziah (colored), preparing some wool for the spinning wheel and loom; while Granville, our firstborn, now seven years old, was playing in the room with his two- year-old brother. My arrival was altogeth- er unexpected to my wife; and, indeed, a greater surprise to her than my other visit, because there seemed no possible way for me to get home then, owing to the Yankee occu- pation of the country I had to pass through. The many days of my absence had all been long ones to my beloved wife, so bur- dened with toil and care had she been to meet the home responsibilities that were uj^on her, and of anxiety for my safety in the midst of constant perils. She had lost some flesh on account of the strain that was upon her, but she indulged no thought of getting out of heart. At one tiaie, however, she had become almost discouraged, as it seemed that the war would never end; but her spir- its were revived just then by being at church and hearing the preacher (Dr. J. W. Plan- ner, Sr.) read as the opening hymn of the service: 356 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. " Give to the winds thy fears; Hope and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears, God shall lift up thy head. Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears thy way; Wait thou his time, so shall this night Soon end in joyous day." There are three other verses to this con- soling hymn of Zion, and while it was being "lined," as the custom then was, and sung, she realized with unusual satisfaction and joy the presence of the Divine Comforter with her, and tlie " blessed assurance " that we would be cared for by him as our Leader "through waves and clouds and storms," such as we were then experiencing or might experience. It was in her heart to say joy- fully : " The Lord is my light and my salva- tion; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" She had so managed her home affairs, helped by the faithful servants on the place, that all were well clothed, and a good CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 357 supply of food was on hand. The clothing was homemade, both for summer and win- ter. Aunt Milly, N^athan. and Keziah were the help. Nathan was Keziah's husband and Aunt Milly's son. A Lincolnite had allured Amanda, the house servant, away since I was at home, and Sam went to the Yankees in Alabama. The three that re- mained were more and more attached to my family as the war went on, and remained at home to its close. The Yankees were in- sufferable pests to my wife while camped so long on our place, and would have given her vastly more trouble than they did if it had not been for the negroes, for whom they seemed to have respect, and by whom they were influenced; albeit, the negroes had as profound contempt for them as my wife did. How many homes throughout our South- land w^ere thus protected from Yankee ruin and their inmates supported in the absence of the heads of the families in the war by faithful negroes of the olden type ought to be found out and told. And a monument ought to commemorate their fidelity. 358 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. The Yankees had gone from our place when I reached home, but there was a camp of them over Cumberland River, some two or three miles from us. Somebody reported to them that I was at home. Late in the evening of the first Sunday after my arrival, N^athan came hurriedly to the front door to speak to me. His communication w^as that two Yankees were slipping up the back way through the orchard toward the house to ar- rest me. " Go and meet them instantly, and invite them around to the front door," said I to Xathan. He cast a look of amazement at me, as though he had expected me to run, but 23i"omptly did as I told him. As he brought them around I met them on the front steps, introduced myself to them, shook hands with them cordially, and invit- ed them to spend the night. Kathan's face and eyes betokened wonderment. The strat- agem tickled him. If ever two Yankees were mesmerized, they surely were. They accepted my invi- tation to spend the night, but left the next morning before T got up. I took them to CO.N FEDERATE ECHOES. 359 an upstairs roum to sleep, and sat with them a good while before they retired, telling them all sorts of things about the war, which seemed to entertain them highly. Among other things, J spoke of what a hor- rid business it was for us to be lighting and killing each other as we were, and that my part of the jRght was over, ^ot once did they intimate to me their purpose in coming to my house, so elFectually Avere they flanked. They were part of a squad, the rest of which were not far ofl*. The remainder of my stay at home was in quiet, the Yankees and their emissaries hav- ing got the impression that I had no thought of returning to tlie army. Indeed, only my wife and a few close friends knew what my plans were; all others were made to believe that I was permanently at home, so far as the war was concerned, my part of the fight being over. As the time was approaching for me to return to my command the problem became more and more serious as to how I should do so. My homebound stratagems coming 360 COXFEDEllATE ECHOES. in would not serve my piirijose going out; and, obviously, it was more dangerous to go out than it was to come in. Gen. Rousseau, at the head of the Yankee forces at I*^ash-- ville, was trying to make himself popular with our people, and was very generous in giving them passes to go to and fro, as they might wish; and very often he would give a person in Nashville a pass for a friend out in the country. Thus it was that I at home procured a pass from him at l^ashville, through Miss Hennie Cockrill, the daughter of Mr. Mark R. Cockrill. It was a big un- dertaking to procure such a pass as I want- ed; for it was to go to St. Francis County, Ark., to see after my farm and negroes there; but Miss Cockrill, cousin of my wife, knew how to work the Yankee General, and got the pass, which, by way of fun, he said would not be good if the Rebels halted me. Then, again, I learned that practicing phy- sicians were allowed to visit patients through the Yankee pickets by simply stating their business. And so I got me a pair of medical saddlebags from a friend at hand, the biggest CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 361 pair I ever saw. I took all the framework for holding bottles out of them so that I coi.ld fill them with such things as they woald hold that I wanted to carry with me, medicine not included. Neither the route that I was to travel nor the mode of conveyance was indicated in the pass; and as I preferred the overland route on horseback, I bought a condemned " U. S." mare to ride, duly accredited by Yankee of- ficials, and named her Sylvira. All aboard for Arkansas! Gen. Rousseau doubtless thought he was loing a silly thing to accommodate a stupid man, but he helped me back to Dixie and the battlefield. Hunting a horse, which I bought from Mr. Bowen, at McWhirtersville, and procuring a pass consumed more time than I thought for, and therefore delayed my I'eturn to my com- mand longer than I had anticipated. The de- lay, however, was not serious, and was very pleasant, of course. I started back May 31, soon after dinner. As I was on the eve of starting I engaged 362 CO^^FEDEKATE ECHOES. in religious devotions witli our liousebc Jd, white and black, and committed us all into the protecting care of God in the most effec- tual way that I could. We necessarily wept and sighed, but wc remembered the gracious promises of the Lord, and trusted him for rdl things for our good. Granville had been during my absence the companion and comfort of his mother far be- yond what might be expected of one so young, and was an intelligent sympathizer of hers in all her troubles. He had seen her bosom heave with sorrow during my ab- sence, and her e3'es fill with tears ever anc. anon, and had come to know the meaning of it all. And he had seen how bright every- thing was with her while T was at home. J^ow he sees her again as I am about to leave, with sorrowful face bathed in tears. It was too much for him to stand, and, turn- ing around to the back window of the room, he rested his arm on the sill of it and hid his weejoing eyes in his bent elbow. He grieved to see '" papa " leave home, but " mamma's " sorrow and tears on that account overpowered CO:NFEDEliATE ECHOES. 368 him. His little heart aclied with grief as neser before. He then seemed to fix his purpose to be a comfort to his mother more than ever, from which he has never departed t') this day. A friend of ours has said that h3 and his mother were raised together. As I rode out of the front lawn gate into the public road 1 began to iium almost un- consciously a favorite song of ante-bellum days : '' Do They Miss Me at Home? " And then I communed with myself and said: " Yes! yes! yes! I am missed, I am missed a't home." I knew full well, of course, that I was missed at home, but never before that parting afternoon had I been so profoundly and solemnly impressed with the unspeaka- ble value my presence at home was to my family; so much so that their happiness de- pended on it in an incalculable measure. And also of how much value to me their presence was; so that my life seemed incom- plete when they were parted from me, not knowing when we should meet again. It was best for me to go through Nash- ville, and keep my horse's head somewhat 364 OON^FEDERATE ECHOES. westward for a while, as my pass was to take me to Arkansas I Then I would take the risk of turning hurriedly southward un- til I came to and crossed the Tennessee River, when I would be in Dixie. As I ap- proached Nashville I came to the picket st.'<- tion, but did not halt. " Good evening. Doctor," said the officer in charge. " Going to see a patient? " (Ho saw my saddlebags.) "Yes, sir," was my professional reply, while Sylvira continued her fox trot. The same thing occurred as I went out of I^ashville. Of course I wore citizen's clothes. The first night was spent at Mrs. Ack- len's, the widow of Joseph H. Acklen, not far out of IsTashvile. Uncle Calvin Goodloe had come to Nashville, on his way to Wash- ington, on secret service for Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army in Georgia, and we had arranged to spend the night together at Mrs. Acklen's, where, indeed. Uncle Calvin was stopping for a time. He and Mrs. Acklen were old friends, and T had known her several years. He gave CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 365 nie the gratifying information that the Yan- kees were not then occupying Florence, and thi.t I could likely cross the Tennessee River thore if I could soon reach there in safety. As a part of the mission on which Uncle Calvin was embarked, he was to ascertain the strength and disposition of the Yankee ai*my at ^N^ashville, the location and charac- tt^r of the defenses, etc. This he had done eflectually when we met at Mrs. Acklen's, and gave the facts to me, to be communica- ted in person to Gen. Roddey or Col. John- son, of the Confederate cavalry in ^N'orth Al- abama, one of whom I would, find at South- port, the steamboat and ferry landing on the south bank of the Tennessee River from Flor- ence, lie was then ready for his Washing- ton trip, and started right away. His equipment for this entire expedition was letters of introduction and commenda- tion to Abe Lincoln &; Co., from prominent Yankee officers and ''Union" civilians; es- pecially did he get well fixed up by Gen. Rousseau and other influential parties at N^ashville. The}^ were made to believe that 366 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. he was '*^ truly loyal " to the Lincoln gove *u- nient, and that important business of his own was taking him to Washington. He had been pulling the wool over the eves of Yankee commanding officers ever since tae invasion of l^orth Alabama by Rosecrans's army in the fall of 1862, and he captu)(^d them at the start with two decanters of line brandy. As that army was approaching tl' e Valley, though still in Mississippi, he mount- ed his horse and went to meet it with the de- canters in his saddlebags. lie sought out Gen. Rosecrans at once, to find out from him what the citizens might expect from hifci army as it passed through jSTorth Alabamji. Rosecrans and his associate commanding of- ficers were highly pleased with him — and his brandy; and ever after that he found no trouble in manipulating big Yankees. Uncle Calvin followed the long-ago custom of taking " toddy " at home, and of keeping fine liquors in a sideboard for himself and friends, but I never saw him intoxicated in the slightest. The brandy with which he cap- tured the Yankees was ft'om his sideboard. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 367 t^[aving spent my first night from home at Mrfc . Acklen's, I proceeded on my journey the next morning, reaching Florence early Sunday morning, June 5, with assurance ba-ck on the road a few miles that no Yan- keies Avere there. But as I rode into town thti people were looking for the Yankees ev- ei'y minute, and, horror of horrors! there w^as n<^ way to cross the river, Col. Johnson hav- ii g held the ferryboat on the other side on a<3count of the advancing Yankee column. 1 was " in the middle of a fix," as Pitts Owen would say. With my pass to Arkan- sas from Rousseau, my " U. S." riding horse, and my medical saddlebags void of medicine, I felt like I would be held as a spy if cap- tired by the Yankees. And the more so as '. was dressed in citizen's clothes. I hurried iSj^lvira on down to the river, which is three- <^juarters of a mile wide there, with the pur- pose of turning her loose, of ridding myself of everything that would hinder me from swimming, and of taking to the river on a juece of timber to support me in swimming, if there was no chance for a boat. 368 CONPEDEKATE ECHOES. Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray ■ In Dixie's Land I'll take my stand, To lib and die for Dixie. Looking across the river, I saw on nhe other side a party of Confederate soldi(3rs under a large cotton shelter, to whom I hallooed, and inquired for Gen. Roddey or Col. Johnson, that being where I expect'ed to find one of them. The latter was thei e, and as soon as he learned from me who > I was, and that I had a message for him fro^m Uncle Calvin, he sent a skiff for me, rowed by two Confederate soldiers, as it was much quicker crossing that way than in the boai:, which was an item of importance, as the Yankees were near at hand. I hitched Sy^ - vira to a swinging limb, and bequeathed he?" to several little boys present, if I could not have her crossed. The Psalmist said, "A horse is a vain thing for safety," and I found it so then. The skiff had hardly touched the bank where I was standing until I was in it, and we were hastening back to the Dixie shore. "When we got beyond the island in the river, and I felt safe from Yankee bul- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 369 lets, T raised the Rebel yell in tlie loftiest strain that I was capable of. "What is the matter with you?" asked one of the soldiers in the skiff. '' This is the first time that I have had any breath for about a month, and I wanted to try it a little," was my reply. While I was talking to Col. Johnson, two of his scouts came to the north bank of the river, and the boat was sent for them and their horses and Sylvira. Then onward to the; seat of war in Georgia I went With a freeman's bounding heart, and took my place in the glorious front! Hooray for Dixie! 24 CHAPTER Xyil. Religion and War — Christian Association, E .c. OF the religious aspects of army liie in our command I wish now to speak, having thought best to put this matter aioart from other features of the war, of whatt3ver character, whether strictly military or otlier- wise, and bring it as connectedly to view as possible. To do this in the most available way it is needful that I drop in again with the army at many places already made famil- iar to the reader of tliese relics, and link on to those events heretofore made known in connection with its movements the others of which I would now speak, of a religious na- ture. But can there be religion in the army — a pure form of Christianity among those whose heai'ts throb with the utmost aversion for their fellows, and whose hands are red with human gore? Do not the scriptures of re- (370) COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 371 vealed f:ruth give evidence in the negative? In such questions as these there may be in- volved a problem, hard of solution to the entire satisfaction of many good people, but, speajiing from the standpoint of a Southern soldier and professed follower of Christ, I can say with perfect sincerity that it did not hinder a conscious experience of grace in my case, nor obstruct me in the performance of religious duties, for me to abhor that spirit of Yankeedom that impelled vast multitudes of armed men, plunderers and murderers, to in- vade the sacred precincts of our home land, aud to strike down every one of them that I could in personal combat. We fought strictly in self-defense, and could not but despise and destroy a foe to the extent that we were capable of, who would leave their homes to come upon us with all their might, to break us down in every way Vhat they could — in person and in property, in State and Church — wdien we had done nothing to provoke even their displeasure to- ward us, never having wronged them in any way whatever, f My language in reference to 372 COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. them is not employed for purposes of harsh- ness, but simply to express, in the integrity of my heart and plainness of speech, my abiding and profound convictions of the meaning of the Yankee invasion of the S'outh, based upon evidence undeniable and of lim- itless extent. It is idle twaddle to speak of our secession as being justifiable cause for declaration of war against us and the atroci- ties which were perpetrated upon us foi our ruin, when they themselves made secession on our part a necessity. Who does not know that the soldiery who fought us cared noth- ing as to whether or not we withdrew from the JS^orthern states and established a gov- ernment of our own? It is but too plain that motives of a spiteful, mercenar}^, and murderous nature moved those who iiad lon^^ been our defamers to enlist in an aggressive warfare against us. What other attitude could we assume to- ward such a foe as this than the one that we did? And could we not serve God, and at the same time fiercely and violently Avith- stand the causeless and vindictive invasion \ CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 373 to which we were subjected? From the standpoint of those who precipitated and perpetuated with such remorseless vehemence the fratricidal war, in which we of the South were compelled to engage, let them answer for themselves whether or not a genuine form of scriptural godliness is compatible with warfare. Among Southern soldiers there was religion, pure and undcfiled, and a great deal of it. The manifestations of it were abundant in all parts of our army, as per- fectly competent witnesses attest, and in my own heart the love of God was realized and enjoyed in very great measure. There came to our soldiery seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord on many occasions which were inexpressibly glorious, and the work of grace moved on while the war lasted. All the soldiers of our command were not Christians, to be sure, and some there were who had backslidden after they joined the army, but there were many who were de- vout followers of Christ. Among those who were Christians were those who came into .')74 COISTFEDEIIATE EflTOF.s;. llie army as such and those who professed religion during the progress of the war. To nie it was always a matter of sur])rise that a soldier, of all other men, could be satisfied to live in sin; and it was passing strange that one would throw away his religion in the midst of the dangers of warfare. There was nothing in the soldier life to suggest to me the benefit or propriety of being a sinnei', but everything to suggest the importance of being a Christian; and as to there being any temptations to pursue a sinful life, it seemed to me that there was as nearly no place for such things in our surroundings as could possibly be the case almost anywhere. " Death was staring us in the face " all the time, a perpetual reminder of the final judg- ment in the presence of God; and we were away from the unholy allurements of society life. There were some drinking and gambling at times among some soldiers, but these were not in such form nor to such extent as to carry with them the attractive force of a temptation. Few and uninviting were the forms of sin in the army; while, on the other CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 375 hand, the incentives to piety were abnndant, and the methods of grace were allnring. When the companies composing the Thirty- fifth iVlabama Regiment went into the camp of instrnction at J^a Grange they at once select- ed Rev. Robert A. Wilson, a member of the Tennessee Conference, Methodist Episcopal (Jhni'ch, South, as their chaphiin, and ho promptly embarked in religious work among them, such as belonged to tlie duties of his position; so that it may be said that religion and warfare took an even start in this com- mand. The same fact may doubtless be stated with reference to most of the other regiments constituting the Confederate army. And that religion kept pace Avith the military movements of many commands may also be truthfully said. Brother Wilson remained with us as chap- lain nntil March 10, 18G3, when, owing to feeble health, he left us to engage in post and hospital duties. He was in the best sense a faithful servant of God, and did all that was possible under the various circumstances that surrounded ns to advance the spiritual inter- 376 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. ests of the soldiers of our command. He was much loved, and in the full confidence of those whom he served in the Lord. He never failed to have daily religious services among us when it could be done, which he conducted himself, or had others to do; preaching as often as opportunity allowed and having prayer meeting services on other occasions. He was also the chief instrument in founding a Christian Association and de- veloping plans for its perpetuation while the war lasted, looking to cooperative work on the part of Christians of all denominations, and furnishing an asylum for all who were or desired to become the followers of Christ. It was the uppermost thought in my mind when joining the regiment to call a meeting, at the earliest opportunity, of all the Chris- tians in it, and to propose the organization of such an association; and I was proceeding to do so when I learned that Brother Wilson, with whom I just then became acquainted, had the matter already under advisement, in connection with others to whom he had pre- sented it. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 377 To all intents and purposes, so to speak, we had a Christian Association of co-operative functions from the time that we entered fully into the Confederate service, but it was not un- til ^^ovember 27, 18(32, that the '' Christian As- sociation of the Thirty-fifth Alabama Regi- ment" was formally organized, with Consti- tution and By-laws. This was done while we were in camp at " Mouth of Tippah," Mississippi, and the officers elected were: President, B. M. Faris; Yice-presidents, J. E. jlS unn, A. T. Goodloe, Mealer, and Garrett; Recording Secretary, R. A. Wilson; Assistant Recording Secretary, A. F. Evans; Corresponding Secretary, Capt. Taylor. The Constitution and roll of tlie members fell into the hands of the enemy at Yicksburg after the battle of Baker's Creek. The members consisted of those who were professed Christians and those who were earnestly striving to become such. Regular meetings of the Association every Thursday night; prayer meeting every night, and preaching every Sunday — such was the ar- rangement agreed upon in regard to our 378 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. stated meetings and religious services. In the matter of our religious meetings, strictly speaking, we had already been holding them after this manner in the main, but it was thought best that the Association, in its or- ganic capacity, assume the responsibility of, at least, fixing the time fur our several reli- gious gatherings. As to special revival serv- ices, we simpl}' engaged in them whenever and wherever we could, and in connection with whomsoever they might be begun or conducted. In our regular prayer meetings we would go from company to company, hav- ing them in one company one night, and in another company the next night, and so on until we met with all the companies of the regiment. Sometimes, however, our fa- cilities would be better for holding them at some particular place, say near the center of the regiment, and we would meet there from night to night. Congregations assembled for preaching wherever the best arrange- ments could be made to accommodate the greatest number of men, and sometimes we could get the use of a church near which CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 379 we chanced to stop. In tlie camp, on the march, and along the lines of fortifications we continued throughout all our campaigns to hold our religious services of one kind or another. In prearranging for the organization of the Christian Association, Brother Wilson and I, after having talked the matter over in all its phases and bearings, determined to introduce the subject at the prayer meeting in Com- pany Ct Tuesda}' night, November 25, 1862; and this he did. Between ourselves we prayerfully considered the subject of Avho ought to be the President of it, and agreed that we would put the name of B. M. Faris in nomination for that position, who was at that time orderly sergeant of Company B, but subsequently one of its lieutenants. Faris was a Presbyterian, while most of us who were forward in religious work were Methodists, but it was our conscientious be- lief that some other than a Methodist should be at the head of the Association; and, be- sides, we had all confidence in Faris meeting fully the obligations of the position. Only 380 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. the Lord knew what Brother Wilson and I were doing in this matter, wherein we were planning for his glory; and I am sure that we were guided by the divine counsel. The proposition to inaugurate a Christian Asso- ciation was favorabl}^ receiv^ed by all present and a committee appointed to draft resolu- tions, a Constitution, etc., and report at our meeting the Thursday night following. The work of the committee was approved unani- mously on the night that they made their re- port, and the organization of the Association was effected in full. The committee consist- ed of R. A. Wilson, A. T. Goodloe, J. W. West, B. M. Faris, A. F. Evans, Mea- ler, and Garrett. We were, according to the Constitution, to elect officers every three months, and at every election Faris was made his own suc- cessor, and so continued to be President of the Association while the war lasted. Hav- ing sustained this relation to it during its en- tire existence, and being in every way wor- thy of the important and responsible position, it is but right that his name have special CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 381 mention here. He died in Searcy, Ark., September 9, 1888, and the first notice that I saw of his death was embraced in the fol- lowing editorial note in the Christian Obser- ver of September 19, 1888 ; " Kev. B. M.Faris. "After going to press last week we re- ceived tidings of the death of this true- hearted servant of God. His death is one of the dispensations of Providence that are liard to understand. He was in the prime of life, endowed with a rare degree of spiritual- ity, together with a vigor of mind and a clearness of perception that are not often combined. He gave promise of great use- fulness in the Master's work on earth. Admitted to the ministry in 1874, he la- bored in Tennessee, serving the Churches at Humboldt and at Somerville effectively for ten or twelve years. He took charge of the work in South Frankfort, Ky., only about a year ago, but yielded to the repeated urgency of the people of Searcy, Ark., to the effect that he was needed there, and went to that place last spring. Tt is only a short time 382 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. after his removal that we are called to mourn his death." Upon seeing this notice 1 at once prepared and had published in the Christian Ohserver and Christian Advocate the following com- munication : "Kev. Bluford M. Faris — His Army Life. "My acquaintance with Faris, as I was wont to call him, began at the organization of the Thirty-fifth Regiment, Alabama Vol- unteer Infantry. Myself a stranger at that time to most of the regiment, I at once sought out the chaplain, Re^■. K. A. Wilson, and through him was made acquainted with Sei-geant Faris, of Company B. Many very excellent Christian heroes were among those gallant warriors, but Faris had special gifts and graces which fitted him for more en- larged usefulness perhaps than others of his comrades. "A Christian Association was soon formed in our regiment, and as by common consent Faris was regarded as best suited for Presi- dent, and so was without o])])osition placed COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. 38o ill that position. Afterwards, when Gen. 'Abe ' Buford was our brigade commander, we organized ' Tlie First Christian Associa- tion of Buford's Brigade, C. S. A.,' into which our regimental association was merged. In the meanwhile Faris had become so fi-en- erally and favorably known that he was with one ^ oice made President of the brigade As- sociation. In this position he was contin- ued until the close of the war, ever faithfully and efficiently performing his official duties. All along he conducted a number of Bible classes also, with great benefit to himself and to his classes. "He was a young man when he enlisted in the army ' for the war,' and just beginning his preparation for the ministrj^ in the Pres- byterian Church. He was strikingly modest, humble, and unobtrusive, being altogether unconscious of his own eminent worth. He was well balanced, stead}^ and constant in his religious character and life, full of zeal and the Holy Ghost. He abounded in good works, and had his heart set on maintaining divine worship among the soldiers, and win- 384 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. niug his iincoiivertecl comrades to Christ. For a long time we were without a chaplain, and very often without a preacher of any kind; but day after day, when the situation of the army would allow it, he would have us assemble for religious services, whether in camp or in the trenches. It was an everyday business. He never failed in his high pur- poses, nor evaded any responsibility whatev- er. An everyday Christian for everyday work, and for the long pull the world over — such a Christian was my noble friend and yokefel- low in the Lord and comrade in arms for our country's cause. He a Presbyterian and I a Methodist, both laymen then, we met at the cross of our common Master, and only knew each other as brethren in Christ Jesus. Our hearts were blended together in fraternal love, tender and enduring, which death itself cannot sever. Faris, we will love on through- out eternity! "Among his many gifts, of which I am in- adequate to do justice, God endowed him with an extraordinary voice, characterized for fullness and mellowness, and his articu- COKPEDERATE ECHOES. 385 lation was superb. In exhortation, in prayer, and in song he was without a peer among us, as it seemed to me, and yet as artless as a child. When he ' raised the tune,' which we generally had him to do, all could easily join in; and though the singing was neces- sarily loud, as it came forth from assemblies of soldiers accustomed to the battle " yell," one could readily recognize at a distance his sonorous and articulate voice as he carried us onward and upward in the precious serv- ice of song and adoration to our God. " His rank in the army was first orderly sergeant, and afterward lieutenant. On ev- ery march and in every battle engaged in by his command I think he was on hand. In the military sense as in the religious, he endured hardness as a good soldier, and with remark- able cheerfulness. On the field of battle he was calm, collected, and dauntless. He fought to beat our country's foes, and had the faculty of imparting to others his reso- lute and persistent daring. His comrades Avere made better and braver by his presence among them, and no name was honored in all 25 386 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the army more than that of Bluford M. Faris." In contemplating the estahlishment of a Christian Association in our command, those who were the prime movers in inaugurating the enterprise had in mind the two prominent ideas of cooperative work by Christians of various denominations, and of furnishing an asylum, so to speak, for all who were or de- sired to become the followers of Christ. A number of Chvu'ches were represented among our soldiery, and it was worth our while to put ourselves in such relations to each other as that we would have a common understand- ing in regard to religious work, and be in ii situation to pull together in such work. Be- ing away also from the restraints of Chiu'ch- membership, it might be possible that some Avould break loose from their religious moor- ing and drift away into sin, the danger of which we believed might be obviated by hav- ing a kind of army Church into whose mem- bership the members of all Churches could come. Furthermore, and not of least impor- tance, was the consideration which related to COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 387 those who might become earnest inquirers after truth — that they might be afforded help in an effective way, and a companionship of kindred spirits into w^hich they could enter with the utmost profit to their souls. Our preaching and social religious services were always seasons of grace and refreshing to us from the beginning of our military ca- reer, and great good was doubtless accom- plished by them, but it was not until we were near Davis's Mills, Miss., in September, 1862, that there was a distinctly marked revival meeting. This was not very extensive, how- ever, but exceedingly precious and joyous to many souls. It began simultaneously in the Thirty-fifth Alabama and Seventh Kentucky Regiments, Sunday, September 14, Brother Wilson preaching that morning in the Sev- enth Kentucky, and that night in our regi- ment. Unusual solemnity pervaded the con- gregations at both the services, which made it perfectly obvious that protracted and special efforts should be at once engaged in for the conversion of sinners. Fortunately, there was a church close by which we were 388 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. allowed the use of, and in that we assembled for preaching and other religions services from day to day until the following Saturday night, when we were called away from the church to prepare rations for the next day, looking to a movement against the enemy that day. Brother Wilson did most of the preaching, and it was in the power and dem- onstration of the Spirit. A number of sin- ners were converted, precisely how many I do not know, and there was a bountiful spirit of rejoicing among the Christians in attend- ance. "Preaching again to-night," I say in my diary of September 18, " and a happy time we had. O how my soul was filled with the fullness of joy ! Thank God for the outpouring of his Spirit." It was high tide with us all through the meeting, but that was an especially good day Avith us, which we had begun by an experience and prayer meeting at the church. At the Mouth of Tippah, where we organ- ized our Christian Association, there was a decided religious influence manifest at a number of our meetings, though no special COMFEDERATE ECHOES. 880 revival services were held. It was uniform- ly our custom, however, to make very direct appeals to the unconverted members of our congregations to turn away from sin at once and serve God, and they were constantly re- minded in the exhortations that were made to them that they were in imminent peril of their lives every day. Those of us who con- ducted the social religious services from time to time lost no opportunity nor occasion of warning our sinful comrades of the dangers that constantly threatened them, and of pre- senting the blessed Saviour to them as their only refuge and security. And I am sure that during our stay at " Camp Mouth of Tippah " there were many who were so impressed with the importance of becoming Christians that they did in reality begin re- ligious lives; there were, indeed, unmistaka- ble tokens that such was the case. CHAPTEK XYIII. Religious Meetings Here and There. DURIJS^G the time that we were at G-rena- da, the winter of 1862-63, we had many religious privileges, except for awhile when the weather was very severe, which we en- joyed very much. The Association meet- ings were delightful, and the membership in- creased considerably, the accessions being 1)oth those Avho were professed Christians and those who were earnest inquirers after truth, the two classes who were invited to join. It was a rule of the Association, from its organization, to make a call for members at every meeting, and our hearts were con- stantly made to rejoice at seeing our beloved comrades in arms, professors and seekers of religion, identifying themselves with us in a work of so much importance to our own spiritual welfare, and of such value in behalf of others. We had no form of reception of (390) COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. 891 members, only invited them to come forward and have their names entered upon the reg- ister, but their reception in this simple man- ner was always impressive and often exceed- ingly touching. B}^ appointment of the Christian Associ- ation we observed while here Friday, De- cember 19, as a day of fasting and prayer "for the prosperity of the cause of Christ in our Confederacy and the establishment of our independence;" and an exceedingly in- teresting occasion it was to us. In all our meetings, from first to last, we were careful not to omit praying for our Confederacy, that the Lord would own us as his people, and for the success of our arms in the day of battle; and very earnest were the petitions that we offered at the throne of grace for these blessings to be granted to us, but it was deemed but right that a day be set apart from time to time as one of fasting and prayer in which to make special pleadings with God to dwell in our midst and save us from defeat by our foes. On occasions like those we entered with all heartiness into the 392 CO-NIEDKKATE ECHOES. service, and the praying was of the most earnest and fervent nature. The destruc- tion of the enemy was not asked at any time, but that all their plans might come to naught, and they be put to the necessity of calling off their dogs of war and letting us alone. In our capacity as a Christian Association we set apart and observed a number of days, at different intervals, for fasting and prayer for the spread of Christ's kingdom in our armies, and for our independence as a gov- ernment; and we were very careful to ob- serve all thanksgiving and fast days appoint- ed by President Davis. Besides the regular preaching in camp by our chaplain while at Grenada, we had the opportunity of attending services frequently at the Methodist Church and hearing a num- ber of very able sermons. Eev. E. M. Mar- vin, D.D., subsequently a bishop in the Methodist EpiscoiDal Church, South, preached several times, and so forcibly and touchingly did he present the message of salvation to those who could hear him (the church w^ould CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 393 not hold all that were anxious to hear him) that many turned from the paths of sin to those of righteousness. After preaching by him Sunday night, December 28, 1 say in my diary : " Brother Marvin preached a very touching sermon to-night to a packed house. There is deep interest on the subject of re- ligion among the soldiers. Many men will return to their homes better than when they left them." Dr. Kavanaugh, Rev. F. E. Pitts, and several other ministers, also preached for us, and effectively. Sunday, January 11, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered in the church, and it was a season of unusual joy and comfort to our souls; tears flowed down the cheeks of many warriors, and they felt that they were much nearer heaven than when they first believed. February 19, 1863, while camping near Ed- wards's Depot, Mississii^pi, the election of of- ficers of the Christian Association " for the ensuing quarter" took place, with the fol- lowing result : President, B. M. Faris; First Yice President, A. T. Goodloe; Second Yice 394 CONFEDERATE ECHOES, President, Lieut. Stewart; Third Yice Presi- dent, Lient. Evans; Fourth Vice President, Lieut. Beckham ; Kecording Secretary, R. A. Wilson; Assistant Recording Secretary, H. E. Kellogg; Corresponding Secretary, Capt. Taylor; Librarian, Lieut. Patton. I did not note in every instance, it seems from my diary, the quarterly election of of- ficers of our Christian Association; how- ever, we were often prevented by the exi- gencies of military service from attending to this matter at the designated time, and so it was deferred, it may be, one or two quarters. At Port Hudson, March 18, 1863, Brother Wilson was elected an honorary member of the Christian Association, he having left us for post and hospital duty a few days before that time. At this place there was a consid- erable increase in the membership of the As- sociation, and more than ordinary solemnity characterized the congregations at our reli- gious meetings. The work of grace went steadily forward here, as it had been doing indeed all along before this, but a more deci- ded and manifest impetus was given it than COISrrEDEKATE ECHOES. 395 was usual at our ordinary stated services, and more distinct evidences of the prcconce of the Holy Spirit in our midst were clearly to be seen. March 29 1 say in my diary : " I believe a revival has already commenced in our midst, and I praise God for it." The resignation of our beloved chaplain while here greatly grieved those of us who were trying to uphold the banner of Christ in our command, and caused us much uneasi- ness in regard to the leadership and manage- ment of Christian work thereafter. He had while with us been our chief counselor and prop, and we saw not how we could move forward without his valuable suggestions and help in other ways. We had indeed leaned upon him more than we were conscious of having done until he left us; which he did with great reluctance, and only because his condition of health required him to do so. We tearfully asked one another what must be done, and determined that at the meeting of the Association March 25 volunteers be called for "to take the lead in conducting our prayer meetings and such other religious o96 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. services as it is competent for laymen to hold." The call having been made, the fol- lowing volunteers reported for such duties : B. M. Faris, A. T. Goodloe, Taylor, A. F. Evans, J. W. West, I. L. Pride, Beck- ham, and Weatherford. This " Social Band," as it was named by President Paris when calling for volunteers for the work in- dicated, was soon strengthened by others joining it. It was to us all a very great un- dertaking to embark as leaders in religious services and movements among our comrades, but there were some who found it particu- larly embarrassing to do so. Those of ns who first volunteered met to- gether by agreement in a secluded spot in the woods Sunday morning, March 29, for prayer and consultation that we might be qualified in all needful measure for the work we had undertaken, and to make such ar- rangements as we could for special revival services in the regiment. In great earnest- ness and humility and faith Ave implored wis- dom from on high to be imparted to us in this our time of imminent need, and that we COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. 397 might have the baptism of the. Holy Spirit upon us, and the sweet tokens of the divine pleasure were with us while we thus prayed together. We felt that the ties of brotherhood bound us closer together than ever before, though there was no lack of love amono- us theretofore, and we declared our readiness, the one to the other, to enter upon such Chris- tian labors with renewed zeal as seemed best for the spiritual well-being of our comrades and the glory of God. Our communion with one another and with God was inexpressibly precious, and the experiences into which we entered were of the most comforting and joy- ous nature. To our God, to each other, and to our command we bound ourselves in a covenant which was never broken, to go for- ward and continue in the w^ork which, rely- ing upon God, we had undertaken. What the fruits of this meeting were cannot be known until we reach the inheritance of the saints on high, where, I feel sure, every member of that " Social Band " will go. So mote it be! There was another meeting April 2, not of 398 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the " Social Band," but still more touching, in which I was called upon to take part, and which is worthy to be placed on record in this connection. Just before dinner on this day Capt. Taylor sent word to me that he wanted to see me at his tent. I immediately went, and found him prostrated in an agony of grief, caused by having just learned of the death of his child — his only child. With tears and sobbings he made known to me the sorrowful fact, and let me know that he had sent for me to pray with him and give him what comfort I could in his great sorrow. We sought the quiet of the woods not far from camp, where we remained about two liours. My heart was overrun with sympa- thy for him, and the more so as two children of my own were in the grave; and I pleaded ibr the presence of the Comforter with him with all the eagerness and faith that T was capable of. Many of the precious promises of the Bible also came to mind, and these were readily grasped by him as a sure sup- port. Before the meeting closed his grief was turned to gladness, and we returned to CONFEDEllATE ECHOES. 399 camp abounding- in the love of God, and more than ever consecrated to his service. After returning from a meeting of the Christian Association the night of March 25, I found the negro cooks, teamsters, etc., of our regiment engaged in a prayer meeting in the rear of the tent occupied by my mess, which was very interesting to me. 1 went quietly into the tent, not letting them know that I had returned, and lay down. I could easily hear all that they said, and was very much impressed with the earnestness and sincerity of their devotions. They not only prayed for the religious prosperity of com- mand, but also for the success of our arms in the day of battle. They were in slavery, but they preferred not the domination of the enemy in our Southland. During our stay at Port Hudson (March 3 to April 4, 1863) we had much religious enjoyment, albeit we suffered no little anx- iety for the success of the work in which we were engaged for the Master without the presence and help of a chaplain, and there was unquestionably a distinct advance alon^^ 400 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the line of personal consecration to the serv- ice of God, and a considerable enlargement of the borders of Zion. As laymen in the Church we went away from Port Hudson more determined than ever to keep the banner of Christ unfurled in the army while the war lasted, and to carr}^ forward such enterprises as would best promote the religious interests of our fellow-soldiers in our country's cause. Our prayer meetings and Christian Asso- ciation meetings became more and more pleasant and profitable to us, but it is not needful that I speak of them in detail, my purpose being to speak somewhat fully of the occasions of extraordinary religious interest, special revival meetings, etc., in which mem- bers of our command took part. Forest Sta- tion, Miss., was the next place in order where we engaged in a revival series of services, resultino- in the end in the conversion of a great many soldiers, and bringing unusual joy to the hearts of all the Christians. xVfter the evacuation of Jackson it will be remem- bered that we fell back to several points on the Southern railroad, Forest Station among CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 401 the rest. "We reached this place July 29, 1863, and left there August 11. Very early after our arrival there arrange- ments were made for brigade preaching, there being at that time several visiting preachers along with the army, who, I sup- pose, fell back from their homes as we re- tired. A place convenient to the brigade was selected, and, it being in the woods, the undergrowth was cut away. A good many seats were made with logs and poles, but many of the men sat on the ground, there not being sufficient sitting room for all who attended the services. Elevated scaffolds were built at a number of places around that occupied by the congregation, upon which to build fires for light. The scaffolds were constructed with forks and poles, and a thick layer of dirt placed upon them to protect them against the fires. Immediately in front of the preacher were poles resting in low forks, at which penitents were invited to kneel. We had preaching at this place morning and night, mostly by Eev. Mr. Cooper, of the Cumberland Presbyterian 402 CO^s^FEDERATE ECHOES. Church, whom I had never seen before. He drew ns all to him at once, and secured the hearty and active cooperation of the Chris- tians of the connnand. The order of the services, as announced from the stand, was: " Prayer meeting at 8 o'clock a.m., preaching at 9 o'clock, and preaching at night." It is utterly impossible to express our ap- preciation of such services as these, which were conducted after the manner of revival services where the " mourner's bench " is recognized. Tliere were many earnest mourn- ers and many glad conversions, and Chris- tians were nuide happy in the Lord. The preaching, the exhorting, the praying, the singing — these were all done with the utmost fervor and directness, and accomplished, ])y God's blessing, large and gracious results. Much wickedness had been observed in ])ortions of our army, especially in the way of gambling, for some time previous to this meeting, Avhich caused much sadness to those who were working for Christ, but after this r, at least, saw but slight displays of wick- edness of any kind. OOJfFEDERATE ECHOES. 403 We went from Forest Station to Newton, at which place we arrived August 12, and went into camp two miles beyond. Here we remained until August 29. The revival went with us, and continued throughout our stay here, increasing from day to day in volume and interest; it was indeed a tremendous re- vival in all the characteristics of an extensive and genuine work of grace. A great many sinners were converted, and the Christians were constantly happy in the love of God. Field and company officers and privates worked and prayed together, or kneeled as penitents together, at our rude altar place. There were many " altar workers," and they were ready at every service, when not kept away by military duties, which was at times the case, to instruct and encourage the mourners, and to pray for their conversion. It is beautiful to see people seeking re- ligion under any circumstances, but when we looked upon our soldier comrades coming to Christ we were drawn toward them with cords of resistless tenderness. There were Church members at our meetings ^vho, at 404 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. home, had been opposed to altar exercises, but thej broke over all their prejudices, and became exceedingly effective altar workers. One of them who had witnessed the conver- sion of a number of penitents to whom he had talked at one of our night services said to me as we walked back to camp after the benediction: "■ Goodloe, I am afraid I have done wrong to-night, having worked in the altar as I did, contrary to the teachings that I have received in the Church to which I belong. Well, 1 am sorry if I did wrong, which in my heart I cannot feel that I did; but when I saw those soldier boys begging for mercy at the hands of God, I could not but give them such help as I was capable of; for I knew them, that they were brave and hon- est men. After all that I have heard against the mourners' bench, I must confess that there are no reasonable objections that T can urge against altar exercises." And he worked on with increasing avidity and effectiveness and with much joy to his own soul. Ever since ray connection with the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South, T had been COI^^FEDERATE ECHOES. 405 very fond of the " mourners' bench " exer- cises, and of course did what I could to help the mourning soldiers to Christ; and I praise God that I have often been permitted to see those with whom I have labored and prayed accept him in faith and love. During our army meetings some of my most delight- ful religious experiences were caused by see- ing those profess religion in whom, in the name of the Lord, I had taken special inter- est. In my diary of August 26 I made a note of the conversion of 'William Myers while lying in my lap. It was at the night service, and the altar place was filled with mourners, Myers among the rest. I was going from one to another on my knees, instructing and encouraging them. When I came to Myers he turned from the altar pole and leaned upon me, and I sat down on the ground so that I could more easily support him. His agony was intense, but brief, and presently he was happily converted. Concerning his final ef- forts and conversion I say in my diary : " O how beautiful it is to see the dead struggle into life!" 4:06 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. During our meeting here at Kewton we had the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ad- ministered to us at our preaching place in the woods where our meeting was being hekl, Sunday, August 16, after preaching by Brother Jones, the Methodist pastor former- 13^ at Canton. It was another one of those occasions of which it is impossible to speak so as to do justice to it; it was lovely be- yond description. I simply say in my diary : "The scene was solemn and sublime." Our arraigeuients for preaching here were about the same that they were at Forest Sta- tion, though perhaps a little more elaborate, and we selected a densely shaded place on a creek some distance from camp. Where the mourners knelt by the altar poles we kept the ground well covered with green twigs cut from the limbs of bushes and trees to protect them from the gi'ound as much as possible. These were made the more neces- sary on account of several rains that fell dur- ing the meeting, and they were renewed from time to time as necessity required. We provided ourselves with a blowing CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 407 horn here at the beginning of our meeting, and appointed one of the soldiers to blow it as the signal for j)i*eaching, and found it a great convenience. My brother-in-law and messmate, W. Pike Cockrill, soon found a &maller and better-shaped horn which he fin- ished up very nicely, inscribing upon it also the name of our Christian Association, and gave it to us. This we kept with great care, and used it to blow for all religious services, indicating thereby the time and place of tlie meeting. Its note soon became familiar tln-oughout our entire encampment, and the object for which it Avas blown understood. It was not only used in connection with our stated services, but was also employed to call together congregations for worship when no previous announcement had been made, as when a preacher would come unexpected- ly into camp and would consent to preach for us, or when we wanted a called meeting of the Christian Association, or a special prayer meeting, etc. The sound of the horn was the invitation to come together for wor- ship at once, and at the place where the horn 408 COKPEDEKATE ECHOES. sounded. We put it in the keeping of Faris, as President of our Association, and he gen- erally had Pike Cockrill to blow it, which he did admirably. -When the war closed Faris took this sacred war relic home with him, but, having left it with some one when he went to Virginia to complete his theological studies, it became misplaced, and he never could find it again. Long after the war end- ed he wanted to put it into my hands for some special reasons, but, to his surprise, it was not where he thought it was. I adver- tised for it several years ago, but have never been able to recover it. I still hope to find it. The finisher of it was my wife's brother, and with these fin^'ers of mine with which I now write I closed his eyes in death at Cul- leoka, Tenn., IMarch 8, 1884. The ministers that helped in our I^ewton meetings were Brothers Cooper, Ross, Jones, and Grifiin, of Mississippi; Mclnnis, of ]!^ew Orleans; and McCutchon, chaplain of the Seventh Kentucky Regiment. All of them preached the pure gospel with soul-stirring earnestness, and did the listening soldiers in- co:n^fei>ekate echoes. 409 calculable good, though Brothers Ross and Cooper, both Cumberland Presbyterians, preached oftenest. Brother Jones was with us August 14-18, and preached a number of times and exceedingly acceptably while with us. So well pleased was our regiment with him that, by a unanimous vote of the Christian Association after he left, and after consultation with Col. Goodwin, he was invit- ed to become our chaplain. He took the mat- ter under prayerful consideration, and was anxious to comply with our request, but he was under such obligations elsewhere that he could not serve us. Witli Brother McCutchon we had for some time been well acquainted, and he was dearly loved in our regiment, which he visit- ed right often. The Seventh Kentucky Reg- iment was fortunate in having him for their chaplain, as he was in every way suited for the position. He adjusted himself to army life as easily as did any private soldier, and had a heart full of love for those whom he served in the gospel. A true man and min- ister he was in every sense; and his preach- 410 CONFEDEEATE ECHOES. ing and advices were always much apprecia- ted and very profitable. He was a member of the Memphis Conference, Methodist Episco- pal Chnrch, South. It was not thought best by the preachers conducting these meetings to offer an oppor- tunity for Church membership to those who Avere converted, but they were advised to send their names to their home Churches for membership there, and to engage at once in Christian labors in the army. We had many accessions to our Christian Association, as one of the results of the meetings, and of those who were not members of our regi- ment as well as those who wei'c; for we opened the doors of it to all soldiers who wished to join it, and could meet the condi- tions of membership. CHAPTEK XIX. Religious Meetings, Etc. FKOM Newton we went to Morton, where we remained until September 30, camping- about two miles southwest of this place. The visiting preachers who had been so val- uable to us in our religious meetings did not come with us here, but the revival services were continued by Brother McCutchon, the only chaplain then in our brigade. There were two or three licensed preachers, with limited experience, among the soldiers, who rendered him what assistance they could, and the lay workers cooperated freely with him. The brigade preaching continued most of the time that we were at Morton, and the services held were all the more advantageous to us because, in the absence of the ministerial help that we had had, we were put to the ne- cessity of leaning more entirely upon the (411) -112 COJSFFEDEKAIE ECHOES. Lord. Brother McCntchon was a noble leader, and did splendid work for the Master, but, after awhile, being overcome by weari- ness, he was put to the necessity of closing the series of meetings, which were begun at Forest Station nearly two months before. When this meeting (which we called bri- gade preaching) closed religious services of one kind and another were held daily in the several regiments of the brigade, thus keep- ing aglow the revival fires which had been kindled so gloriously in our midst. At these regimental meetings, which were sometimes preaching services, though generally prayer and experience meetings, similar methods were employed in conducting them as had characterized our brigade services, and a goodly number of soldiers were converted. Altogether, at the brigade and regimental services, there were many precious souls brought from nature's darkness into the mar- velous light and liberty of God's people dur- ing our stay at Morton, besides the great comfort and encouragement that was afford- ed the Christian workers. There were also COISTFEDERATE ECHOES. 413 many mourners who, though not making an open profession of religion, gave evidence of having entered upon newness of life in Christ Jesus. While here at Morton we received a good supply of Bibles, Testaments, hymn books, and tracts, which had heretofore been or- dered. The need of these we had felt very keenly for some time in carrying forward our religious undertakings, but they could not have reached us at a time that they would have been more appreciated, or that the sol- diers would have been in a better frame of mind to have been profited by them. They came to a multitude of new converts to the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to many more who were earnest inquirers aft- er the truth, not to speak of the Christian workers who stood in need of an abundant supply of such utensils in performing their labors. To be sure, there were many of us who were never without our pocket Bibles, but there w^ere many others who had none, having lost theirs or worn them out, if they brought them from their homes; but we stood -114 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. in need of other religious literature besides the Bible, and especially did we have an ur- gent need for a good supply of hymn books. What a mighty chorus of voices there was raised in songs of praises to our God by the soldiers when the hymn books were given ont in the congregations! Canton was our next stopping place, and here we spent most of the winter of 1863-64. To this place the revival went with us, and there abode, having its developments not only in the conversion of many other precious souls to Christ, and much reformation other- wise, but in establishing mau}^ new converts and older Christians in the fixed habits of la- borers in the vineyard of the Lord. Our camp while in the vicinity of Canton was two and one-half miles southeast of that place, near a creek, and on very good ground. At our daily prayer meetings here we made it a rule to call for mourners, laymen though we were, as we were about to close, and it was almost invariably the case that some came forward. With these we en- gaged in special ])rayer for a short while, and CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 415 every now and then some of them were con- verted. On October 9 several visiting preachers came into camp, among- them Brothers Cooper and Harrington; and that night the former preached, and we began another series of re- vival services. We had already prepared ns a brigade preaching place, with larger ac- commodations than those we had theretofore had, and built over it for shade a large bush arbor. All were ready to charge again the "citadels of sin" under the leadership of these excellent ministerial brethren, and the first service was an onward movement. Brother Harrington preached the next morning, and Brother Cooper the next night. That was Saturday, and we had arranged for Brother Harrington to preach again Sunday morning, and Brother Cooper Sunday night. On Sunday morning, to our surprise, Elder Burns, upon invitation of Gen. Buford, came to preach to us, and we were a little afraid that some unpleasantness might grow out of the unexpected clashing of appointments; but Brother Burns, upon seeing that we had 416 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the meeting* in hand and had made other ar- rangements, consented readily to our man- agement of the meeting, and we arranged for him to preach that afternoon and several times afterward. Thei^e was nothing wrong in Gen. Buford's wanting his friend to preach to his brigade, but we smiled at the thought, and passed around a few pleasantries, that our brave commander should^jreswme to make the appointment of a preacher to conduct re- ligious services, which we of the "rank and file " had taken in hand. We knew, howev- er, that he intended no disrespect to us b}'^ making the appointment, and we fouiul his friend to be a very pleasant Christian gentle- man. The meeting went on joyfully and prosper- ously, mourners constantly crowding the al- tar place, and souls being converted from time to time. The altar workers were now like trained veterans, and left nothing un- done which they could accomplish to set for- ward the spiritual interests of those who were crying to God for mercy. 'Not only so, but they urged those who were not seeking relig- CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. 417 ion to begin at once to do so. In the midst of our meeting, while the visiting brethren were with us, we were interrupted by having to go up to Grenada to turn back a Yankee raid, and also to go out in the direction of Living- ston for tlie same purpose; but these expedi- tions did not cool off the revival fervor at all, and so we went on with our meetings as soon as we returned to camp. We had much to do, to be sure, besides attending religious meetings; but these things we did, and left not the others undone. After Brothers Cooper and Harrington left others came to preach for us at times, though the services were more frequently altogether in the hands of laymen, some of whom exhib- ited no little preaching ability. Brother Cof- fey came to the brigade about the 1st of IJiTovember to act as Chaplain of the Twenty- seventh Alabama Regiment, and a most ex- cellent and faithful minister he was. Broth- er McCutchon, our " old stand-by," was al- ways in labors abundant, but he preferred that we use the visiting preachers as much as possible while their services were available, 27 il8 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. thus husbanding his strength and resources for occasions when no other help was at hand. On and on, from da}' to day, we went with our meetings until our departure from Can- ton. They were always well attended, and although some of them were more interesting than others, they were all seasons of refresh- ing to us. When we had no preacher with us we conducted the service in the regular order of public worship generally, the leader reading a portion of Scripture and giving such explanation of it as he could, which an- swered in the place of a sermon, unless it was sti'ictly a prayer meeting that we were holding. All along, also, we were very care- ful to remember and observe our Christian Association meetings, which blessed work grew among us constantly in interest and profit. At the i-equest of the pastor, I suppose. Brother McCutchon held a meeting at the Methodist Church in Canton, November 15- 27, which was participated in largely by the soldiers, though by many citizens also. Serv- ices were only held at night, and we CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 419 arranged our meeting in camp during that time so that we could attend at both places. It was an excellent meeting in every partic- ular, and there were quite a number of con- versions. During the meeting, Sunday, November 22, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered at the morning service, after preaching by Brother Wheat, an army missionarj'-. It is impossible to con^'ey any idea of our appreciation of the blessed privilege of thus commemorating the sufferings and death of our precious Saviour in the army. Thank God for the opportu- nities that were afforded us for so doing! While at Canton it got to be quite com- mon for soldiers recently converted to be re- ceived by different preachers into the several Churches which they represented, those re- ceiving baptism to whom it had not previ- ously been administered. A large number connected themselves thus with Churches, and their names were sent home, whenever it could be done, to be entered on the Church registers there. Faris and I formed several Bible classes 420 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. while we were here, which we continued to conduct to the close of the war. We had no commentaries nor other Scripture helps, but we made a very close study of chapter by chapter and verse by verse in an earnest, prayerful manner, and we felt that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we learned much of the Word of God. We became more and more endeared to it as we engaged thus in the study of it, and experienced daily that it was indeed a lamp to our feet and light to our path while passing through the sevei-e ordeals of fratricidal warfare. We also enlarged our supply of religious literature while here: books, papers, tracts, etc., all of which was " greedily devoured " by the soldiers at large. We had no fears of religious publications not being read, our only apprehension being that the demand could not be supplied. The harvest which came from this sowing is only known to God, but was abundant, I am sure. As the winter began to come on, and the weather became uncertain, we found that we must stop our brigade meetings or build a COKFEDERATK ECHOES. 421 church to hold them in. The latter we did. It was a somewhat rude structure, built of split logs and boards, and having a ground floor covered with straw, but it was suffi- ciently comfortable to answer our purposes, and was unquestionably a potent means of grace to us. I doubt if Solomon loved the house that he built at Jerusalem more than we loved the one that w^e built at Canton, nor do I suppose that the Lord honored the former with his presence more certainly than he did the latter. From that army house, as also from many other rude fixtures for meet- ing purposes, many souls started to heaven, a sufiicient token of the divine pleasure rest- ing upon such preparation as we could make to carry forward the ark of the Lord among soldiers engaged in active warfare. Before leaving Canton our Christian As- sociation underwent a change of name and reorganization. It had already virtually be- come a brigade association, others than those of our regiment having joined it, and so it was named Tlie First Christian Association of BuforcVs Brigade. It was called '• first " J122 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. because no other brigade association had be- fore this been formedj and it was thought that others might be hei-eafter. A new Con- stitution was framed, and under it the reor- ganization was effected and officers elected January 6, 186J:. It had been our custom for some time not only to offer an opportunity for those to join the Association who wished to become mem- bers of it, at the close of our regular meet- ings, but also to call for volunteers to lead in such religious exercises as we conducted in the absence of a preacher, and these fea- tures became permanently attached to our brigade organization. I have preserved a copy of the Constitution framed at Canton, together w^ith the names of many of the mem- bers and those w^ho volunteered to lead in our religious meetings. The officers elected at the time of the re- organization were: President, B. M. Faris; First Vice President, R W. Millsaps; Sec- ond Vice President, J. "W. West; Third Yice President, A. F. Evans; Fourth Yice Presi- dent, J. E. Kunn; Recording Secretary, W. COXFEDERATE ECHOES. 423 L. Phifer; -Vssistant Recording Secretary, H. E. Kellogg; Corresponding Secretary, A. T. Goodloe; Librarian, AV. G. Whitfield. The following is a list of those who volun- teered, while at Canton, to conduct divine worship at our various religious meetings in the absence of a minister of the gospel: B. M. Faris, A. T. Goodloe, A. F. Clark, Livingston, J. M. Pearce, E. M. Odom, J. W. West, J. E. ]V[unn, H. M. Terry, IS^ B. Etli- ridge, R. F. Parker, J. F. Harrison, L. E. Hall, J. N. Sandlin, J. Hammock, L, A. Terry, S. Skelley, W. Myers, W.W. Morris, A. F. Evans, J. IL Davidson, W. G. Whit- field, W. T. Hargrove. The Preamble to the Constitution was as follows : " Whereas the undersigned, j^rofessed fol- lowers of Christ and earnest inquirers after the truth, cut off as we are from such Church associations as are afforded for the comfort and support of the more peaceful dwellers at home, realizing the want of some organiza- tion to assist us in the Avorship of God, that we may be established in his most hol}^ faith, 4:24 CONFEDEKATS ECHOES. rooted and grounded in his love, and grow In the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; and for the purpose of developing and giving higher tone to the moral and religious senti- ments of those with whom the fortunes of war associate us, do hereby adopt the fol- lowing Constitution." We were never troubled with denomina- tionalism to any serious extent at any time, in connection with our religious work, but a preacher was with us a short while at Can- ton who, many of us feared, would give us trouble in this direction, as he exhibited a decided disposition to magnify the peculiar dogmas of his Church. There were no divis- ions created among us, however. Some- times in social conversation we would speak of the lines of demarcation between the Churches, but never in a spirit of contro- versy. It was generally done to gain informa- tion, or for some other innocent purpose. Tn connection with this matter a pleasant inci- dent occurred in my hut at Canton. Evans, Faris, Whitfield, and I were in conversation. Evans was a Cumberland Presbyterian; Far- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 425 is, a Presbyterian; Whitfield, a Baptist; and I, a Methodist. Evans, apologetically, intro- duced the subject of falling from grace, for the purpose of ascertaining what scripture and ai'gument supported each one of us in the positions which we held. Of course we made him speak first; and he told us why he believed apostasy impossible. Whitfield spoke next, and expressed himself about as Evans did. Faris, always modest, insisted that he be the last speaker, and so it was now my time to give a reason for my faith in regard to this dogma; but, instead of doing so, I moved that we use all diligence to make our calling and election sure, that we labor in the vineyard of the Lord with ever increasing earnestness, and that we make no efibrt to lose our religion in order to test the possibil- ity of such a thing. Faris seconded the mo- ton with a gusto, and it was unanimously carried in the same style. Although the visiting preachers who came at times into camp did us much good, we felt constantly the need of a chaplain to abide in our midst, take the general oversight, at 4:26 CONFEDEEATE ECHOES. least of our meetings, and perform various pastoral functions among the soldiers. We were constantly on the lookout for some one suited to the position, but could never get a successor to our dear Brother AVilson. Our first stopping place after we left Canton was Demopolis, Ala., where wo were in camp a short while in February, 1864. Here our daily religious services were altogether delightful, though there were no special revival efforts put forth, albeit the revival fires were still burning brightly in our hearts and in our midst. At the meeting of the Cbi'istian Association here I had the pleasure of reading communications to us from Bishop Paine and Rev. Thomas O. Summers, D.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, commending us for our la- boi-s in Christ Jesus, and encouraging us to still abound therein. These letters were as cordial to our souls, and with a rising vote we unanimously and heartily thanked the authors for writing them. jS^ear Newburg, N^orth Alabama, the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-fifth Alabama CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 427 Kegiments camped April 1-10, 1864, and here we had some very precious meetings in a chnrch close by. Brothers F. S. Petway and J. D. Barbee preached several times here for ns acceptably and effectively, be- sides other religious services that we held in the church. The work of grace moved on, though there are no conversions at this place noted in my diary. These two regiments were at Courtland April 16-27, and here we had daily services in the church, having the ministrations of Kevs. Joseph White and Felix R. Hill, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and Coffey, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The meeting was characterized by great religious fervor and revival power. Many penitents were at the altar of prayer, and nearly twenty souls were converted. The tide of rejoicing ran high, and our re- ligious gladness was unrestrained. In the midst of the meeting, April 27, we received marching orders, and left at noon. I say in my diary: ^'We part with the good people of Courtland with many tears." 4:28 CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. While our army was on the "Kenncsaw line " in Georgia in the summer of 1864, though in the trenches pretty much all the time, we managed to find frequent opportu- nities for assembling for divine worship, though generally the enemy, from a distance, would be firing at us with their long-range cannons and rifles. We would hear the noise of their passing shot and shell, but none of them ever fell among us while we were engaged in worship. They were gen- erally prayer meetings that we had while here, though occasionally a minister would drop in with us and preach for us. Rev. Robert A. Wilson, our old chaplain, sur- prised and delighted us with a visit July 1, 2, and preached to large and attentive au- diences both those days. He would have remained longer had not orders reached us, the last evening he was with us, to be ready to move at a moment's notice. His pres- ence gladdened all our hearts, and he ex- pressed great joy at seeing the religious in- terest, which he had formerly done so much to promote, still being actively maintained in our command.. CONFEDEKATE ECHOES. 429 After leaving Kennesaw we made a brief stand north of the Chattahoochee River, and then crossed over this stream to a strong- po- sition " in front of Atlanta." Before settling- down in this position we lingered for awhile above it, there seeming to be an imminent probability of an open field engagement with the enemy. During this interval, so to speak, our regiment was close to the Forty- ninth Alabama, in which a meeting was con- ducted by aMethodist preacher named Hullet. All who could from our regiment attended these services, which were characterized by convicting and converting grace. There were quite a number of conversions and accessions to the Church; and although these men got religion under fire, so to speak, they never- theless gave sure evidence that it was the " old-time religion " that they had. It will be remembered that we were in those days in the midst of as active military operations as Gen. Sherman with his 100,000 invaders could make them, as onward he constantly came, bending all his energies and using his mightiest efforts to overwhelm 430 COXFEDEKATE ECHOES. our gallant, resisting force of less than half the number of men. It was incessant war- fare in its most violent and gigantic forms in which we were then engaged, but the worship of God was maintained in one form or another with unabating constancy and zeal. As I look, at this remote day from those trying and bloody times, into my diary my heart is greatlj^ touched with the notes that I then made, and I feel like praising God in loftiest strains for the blessed privi- leges he then afforded us of honoring his name and laboring for the salvation of our fellow-soldiers, and foi* the limitless bene- dictions which were bestowed upon us from on high. While persistently confronting the foes of our country, we with none the less determination withstood, by divine grace, the encroachment of the adversary of souls. In this connection I will here give a few personal items from my army diary: Sunday, July 17, was "'• clear and pleas- ant." " In the morning I met and heard my Bible class, after which I attended preaching in the Forty-ninth Alabama Keg- COXFEDEIiATE ECHOES. 431 imeiit by Brother Hullet. In the afternoon we had a good prayer meeting" in our regi- ment conducted by Lieut. Evans. At night I went to preaching again in the Forty- ninth Alabama Regiment, and witnessed the reception of several men into the Church. The Lord is greatly blessing us." "July 20. Generally clear. This morn- ing I met my Bible class as usual, and had a good time studying the Scriptures. At 12 o'clock we are called to ' attention,' move some distance to the right, and then go for- ward into battle — the battle of Peach Tree Creek." " July 28. Clear and warm. We have been prevented by heavy fatigue and picket duty for several days from attending to re- ligious services in the regiment. I heard my Bible class this morning, which was an interesting and profitable occasion to us all. At noon we move to the left where a battle was begun, to support the front line of at- tack, and are subjected to heavy fire, losing several of our men. We remain on the field till midnight, bringing ofi!" the wounded 432 COXPEDEEATE ECHOES. from between our lines and those of the en- emy, and then move back to a new position on the left." Had I fallen in either one of these battles, I would have gone from the delightful study of God's most precious word with my dear comrades in arms into his immediate and blissful presence on high; and it is joyful to my soul to-day to contemplate the fact that I was thus engaged on the eve of battle, albeit I knew not that the deadly strife would the same day set in as the sun began to lean westward. " Be ye therefore ready also : for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." Several new positions were taken the last days of July and early in August to defeat, as far as possible, Sherman's flanking move- ments, but each day we had preaching and prayer meeting and Bible studies. August 10-17 the revival fires burned exceedingly brightly; large numbers of penitents sought religion at our rude altars of prayer, most of whom were converted, and Christians ex- ulted in the Lord with ever freshening joys. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 433 Speaking of mj^self, I say in my diary of August 16: "My soul is greatly blessed." In this series of services we had the minis- trations of Revs. Coffey, Cooper, Frazier, Davis, S. M. Cherry, Given, and King. After Hood evacuated Atlanta and began his self-destructive Tennessee campaign, no opportunities were afforded for revival meet- ings until the few fragments that were left of his army were in ]N^orth Carolina, though the prayer meetings were held from time to time as our situation would allow. In the latter part of March, 1865, there was a de- cided, though not very general revival meet- ing in camp. Quite a number of mourners were at the altar, and there were several conversions. This is the last revival that I noted in my diary, and the last one with which I was connected. Then the surren- der was virtually at hand. Yerily there is such a thing as religion among soldiers who go to war in defense of such principles as those for which we fought I I feel inclined to say, though it may be 28 434 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. unbecoming in me to speak thus, that patri- otism never reached its perfection until the armies of the " Old South " were marshaled for her defense, and to repel the aggressive forces of the determined destroyers of our own fair land. If it ever was a Christian virtue, it was as it then existed in the bos- oms of the loyal men and women of the Southern Confederacy, both in and out of our armies. But, referring especially to our patriot soldiery, the completion of lofty man- hood cannot be attained through the channel of patriotism alone, but the Christian religion must be superadded, and become the chief and divine factor in putting manhood at its best before the world. In my estimate, no grand- er character could be found among the walks of men than the genuine Confederate sol- dier, fully imbued Avith the spirit of patriot- ism, over whose head waved the blood- stained banner of Prince Immanuel. It is not to be thought for a moment, as Sam Watkins woidd have it, that to have been a Confederate soldier entitles one to the kingdom of heaven, or that the worthy CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 435 cause for which he fought was capable of imparting godliness and religions enjoyment to him; bnt it may truthfully, it seems to me, be said that the Confederate soldier who, having a clear understanding of the merits of our cause, went to war in earnest, and continued in the service from principle, was possessed of those elements of manliness which would much facilitate him, by divine help, in becoming a Christian of a high or- der, and of enjoying his religion in a large measure. I was already a Christian when I enlisted in tlie army, but I am sure that I was much advanced as such while serving in the capacity of a Confederate soldier on the firing line. To our Lord be all the praise for the religious prosperity and enjoyment that we had in his blessed service. Amen! CHAPTER XX. Black Mammies — Memoirs — Southern Womanhood, THE estate of my parents, who died when I was but a little child, consisted, in part, of slave property. My brother, two years older than myself, was the only other child that they had, and we became the own- ers of what property they had. This was di- vided between us when my brother reached his majority, he taking what fell to him, while my share remained in the hands of my guardian until I was of age, or nearly so. Among the negroes that we inherited were two women named Hilly, one of whom was called Milly Sims and the other Milly Fox, to discriminate them from each other. In the division, the former fell to my brother and the latter to me. David G. Goodloe was my brother's name. Upon the death of our mother, some three years after father died, we were taken from the family home, in Maury County, Tenn., to (436) CONFEDEliATE ECHOES. 487 the home of our grandfather, David S. Good- loe, in Tuscumbia, Ala. Here we remained until we were large enough to begin school life, when our guardian took charge of us, and his house became our home. While at grandpa's, Aunt Milly Sims was our " black mammy," acting under the instructions of our step-grandmother, who was exceedingly kind and attentive to us. A suitable room in connection with the main building was prepared for us, and a bed put in it also for Aunt Milly, who then was advanced somewhat in years. Sims, her husband, had died, and she never married again. She was not a strong woman, but sufficiently so to give all necessary care to the little orphan boys, whom she loved with the tenderness of a sympathizing mother. She fully realized the importance and sa- credness of her charge, and constantly mag- nified the position which she occupied. She drew us closer and closer to her from day to day, until we came to feel that Aunt Milly was well-nigli all in all to us. She always acted intelligently in her care of us, and 438 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. was ever patient toward us. Old negro women in the South were called "Aunt." Aunt Milly (Sims) was of a very religious temperament, and would often talk to broth- er and me about religion, and urge us to be good children, so that we might go to heav- en, where our parents had surely gone, as she testified. She was particularly fond of telling us what good people our parents were, and how fond they were of brother and me. She, among other things concerning their devotion to us, told of an incident in connection with our father's last sickness which has lingered in my mind ever since. It was this: While Dr. John P. Spindle, the family physician, and some other friends were sitting up with him, expecting him to pass away at any moment, he suddenly turned his face toward the wall. Dr. Spindle, ap- prehending that it was a death struggle, stepped quickly to his bedside and spoke to him in regard to his condition. Replying to the doctor, he said in a feeble tone: "I do not need anything; I was just giving my children to the Lord." CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 439 It was these talks mostly of onr black mammy, I have often thought, that created in the minds of my brother and me perhaps our earliest desires to be religious and long- ings to meet our father and mother in the inheritance of the saints on high. My broth- er, a devout Christian from early life, has gone to them, and I am sure that I am on the Avay there. He was a Confederate sol- dier, was captured at the battle of Helena, Ark., and died a prisoner of war at Alton, 111., January 5, 1864. The Aunt Milly of whom I now write was our black mammy also during our early in- fancy and childhood in Tennessee, giving our mother while she lived all necessary re- lief in the care of us, especially diu'ing her protracted ill health, and had the care of us on the way by private conveyance from Tennessee to Alabama. So that from birth, indeed, until we were ready for school, broth- er and I were largely dependent on Aunt Milly Sims for comfort of body and enjoy- ment. She was never a strong woman, though she lived to a good old age, and died 440 COXFEDERATE ECHOES. on my brother's plantation in St. Francis County, Ark., in 1859, I think. A good while before she died she did but little more than look after the children in the negro quarters in the absence of their mothers while emploj^ed in the field or elsewhere. My impression is that she was born in North Carolina, and that she was about eighty years old when she died. She never had but one child, a girl, whom she reared to re- spectable womanhood. Aunt Milly Fox, the black mammy of the older children of my wife and me, was born, as nearly as I could get her age, in 1804, in Franklin County, Ala.; and died in David- son County, Tenn., in 1875. I am glad to be able to present her picture, which I had taken in the spring of 1866 in Nashville, and which is an excellent likeness of her. When my guardian put into my possession my property in December, 1853, I went with it at once to St. Francis County, Ark., where I had a short while before bargained for a farm, although I was not twenty-one years old until the 23d of the following AUNT MILLY FOX. CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 441 June. There I lived in '' single blessed- ness" until I married, in Alabama, Novem- ber 29, 1855. Of the negroes then owned by me, Aunt Milly Fox was the matriarch. And I may as well also say that she was my black mammy then, of whom I was very proud. She did my cooking, as well as the cooking for the field hands, kept my resi- dence in perfect order, and gave all due at- tention to my wearing apparel. She was in every way capable of meeting these de- mands; but as a cook, especially, she could not be excelled. I turned the keys over to her, and let her have her own way about the management of household and kitchen af- fairs, and never for a moment did she show a presumptuous or wasteful disposition. And she was strictly honest at all times and in all things, and ever humble and obedient. Other duties than those relating to the house and kitchen devolved on her about the prem- ises, and she performed them always prompt- ly and cheerfully. There was not a "lazy bone " in her, and I never saw her in a bad humor. The negro houses were in the back tl42 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. yard, and she saw to it that they were kept in good order and the children properly gov- erned. I love to think of the piles of black- beny pies she used to make for me in black- berry time, knowing, as she did, that I was very fond of them. During the season the safe was never empty of them. I was from liome a good deal first and last, and nothing ever went wrong in my absence in the af- fairs committed to her keeping and over- sight. She was then living with her second husband, a sort of a carpenter, named Harry ; but she was always designated as Milly Fox, after her first husband. Harry died in 1858. During my minorit}^ she lived sometimes on Uncle Robert Goodloe's plantation and sometimes on Uncle Calvin's, and her duties had reference mainly to cooking and seeing that the negro quarters and children were kept in good order. iSTo complaint was ever made of her b}^ either of these uncles, and they both had large plantations and many negroes. She had twelve children that she reared, and had one or two, perhaps, that died in in- CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 443 fancy. While on Uncle Calvin's place, at one time she gave birth to triplets (two boys and a girl), all healthy children, which she reared. Uncle Calvin had a cradle made large enough to hold all three of them at a time, and detailed a nurse and cow to help rear them. Their names, if you wish to know, were Stephen, Sawney, and Harriet. Harry was their father. Aunt Milly's piety was of the quiet, or- derly kind, with but little demonstration; and wherever she was she exerted a whole- some influence upon the other negroes, re- straining them from disturbances among themselves and any show of insubordination to those who had the rule over them. She encouraged them also not to be eye-servants, but to do their work well, and from jDrinci- ple. In these respects she and her first hus- band were well adapted to each other, but Harry's piety was considerably hypocritical and cranky. He belonged to Uncle Calvin when he and Aunt Milly were married, and I bought him when I got my property, to keep him and his wife together, a rule which 444 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. prevailed throughout the South in those dajSf Yankee meddlers to the contrary not- withstanding. A part of Harry's religion, and a very troublesoome part to me, consist- ed in not eating hog meat, which was the only kind of meat that I could keep on hand at all times for the negroes. One day I had him in my room fixing a door to the staircase, and set to work to per- suade him out of his objection to eating hog- meat. I asked him, to begin with, what his reasons were for not eating it. His prompt reply, which he seemed glad to make, was that the devil was in the hogs, which would put the devil in him if he ate their meat. "Where did you get that from? " I asked. '' Out of the Bible," he answered bravely, as though he had already turned me down. " Why, Harry, those hogs that the Bible tells about the devil getting into were drowned;" and I picked up the Bible and read him the account which Matthew gives of the incident, closing with these words: "And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine; and, behold, the CON^FEDERATE ECHOES. 445 whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the Avaters." This did not jostle Harry's theory in the least, and he came back at me thiisly : '^ But you didn't put de 'terpretation to dat scrip- tur'; you jest put de 'terpretation dar, and you'll see how it is, fur a fack." " What do you mean, Harry, by the ' 'ter- pretation?'" Tasked. " "Why, de 'terpretation is, dem hogs swum across de sea to de tother bank, and dey is de same stock of hogs we got now, what de devil is in." Harry was invincible in argumentation on his religious predilections, as some dogma- tists nowadays are. Sometime after that I caught him stealing a chicken, and from that on issued hog rations to him, which he ate with a decided relish. When I married and took my wife to Arkansas, together with the slave and other property that she inherited from her father's estate, the responsibilities of Aunt Milly's position became very much enlarged, but 446 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. ' she was fully equal to them. She greeted my wife with a glad welcome, and had ev- erything in the house and yard in perfect order for her reception. My wife had al- ready known her in Alabama, and was well pleased to have her valuable help in our home aftaii's of various kinds. They had great fondness for each other as long as Aunt Milly lived. When our first child was born, January 23, 1857, Aunt Milly Fox was regularly in- stalled, so to speak, as the black mammy of our children. The babe at his birth was placed in her hands by the attending physi- cian, to be cared for as is customary with a newborn child. She had also much to do in the care of the mother for the time being. It was perfectly beautiful to the eyes of my wife and me to see with what dexterity she handled and fondled our baby boy from da}^ to day, as she attended to his various wants, and the deepening sympathy and love that she manifested for him. Her attention to my wife also was complete and intelligent. After a while the little fellow must begin to CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 447 live on other diet in connection with his mother's milk, and the feeding process sets in, inaugurated and carried forward by the black mammy, to the detestation of the toothless eater at first, but afterwards to his delight. She begins by telling him what she is going to do, and coaxes him to eat like the little man that he is, just as though he understood all that she said; then the feeding process sets in. And what a suck- ing and spitting and wriggling do we be- hold! Yery likely she will masticate the bread a little herself, to start with, and push it into his mouth on the end of her finger; but getting him to swallow it is a little tedi- ous. Having started him that way, the bread moistened with milk will be given to him little by little in a spoon until he takes to it kindly and smacks his mouth when the spoon touches his lips. This is the first stage, which soon develops into the easy-go- ing eating habit. Sickness may be expect- ed sooner or later, and then the tender-heart- ed and sympathetic black mammy becomes the chief dependence as nurse, to tlie incal- 448 co:n"federate echoes. ciilable relief and comfort of the distressed mother. And so it goes on and on as new arrivals come to the family. These bring the black mammy's services more and more in demand, and draw her closer and closer to the heart of the household. The love for her, indeed, is very strong. In our family Aunt Milly Fox helped to start off our first five children, except that one was born when she was elsewhere. That reached to a year and a half after the war, when I sold our Millbrook home and went the second time to Arkansas. Her age and condition of health did not justify her in go- ing with us, and a perfectly satisfactory ar- rangement was made for her to stay at the home of my wife's sister near IS'ashville. It may be as well to say, to avoid miscon- ception on the part of any one, that the black mammies were in no sense the succes- sors of Shiphrah and Puah, made mention of in the first chapter of Exodus, fifteenth verse. " Black mammy " was but a title of honor, which came easily and naturally to those worthy, high-toned elderly negro women CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 449 who helped so carefully and so elficiently in the care of the little white children of the families where they belonged. As noted elsewhere in this volume, Aunt Milly Fox and JS^athan and Keziah were with my wife and children at Millbrook dur- ing the war, and were their main human sup- port and protection while I was in the army. All were faithful to my loved ones, and will ever be held in fond remembrance by us; but Aunt Milly, with her strong character, was the head and front of the worthy trio. Iler life was so bound up with that of my wife and our little ones that she would have ex- posed herself to any danger, I believe, that might have threatened her, for their security from harm. A debt of gratitude we owe her and her son (Nathan) and her daughter-in- law (Keziah), which it is not possible for us to pay. And now a final word in regard to South- ern mothers and black mammies. It is not to be supposed for one moment that the lat- ter were authorized by their owners to take in hand the government of the children of 29 450 CONFEDERATE ECHOES. the household or their oversight in a strictly authoritative way, as some writers have told, thus taking the children in almost every im- portant sense from under the oversight of their mothers. No such prerogatives were delegated to them. They had the care very much of the little children in a motherly sense, and were at liberty to correct them, by scolding after a sort, if they did not be- have themselves properly, when they knew better, in the absence of their mothers; but beyond that they must not go, except to re- port the children to their mothers for cor- rection. The black mammy was in the con- fidence of the mother, and an exceedingly valuable help to her in taking care of the little children; but it was the mother who had the management both of them and their black mammy. JNTo Southern mother ever turned the government of her children over to a negro woman, however correct and care- ful she might be. Southern mothers did not transfer their obligations to their children to any one. And what grand women those Southern CONFEDERATE ECHOES. 451 mothers were! It is sjieaking modestly to say that no age of the world has ever pro- duced a more perfect specimen of woman- hood than the typical Southern mother of ante-bellum and Confederate days. And above all things else that made her great was the splendid care and management that she exercised over her children, with whom she was always in the closest maternal touch possible. And how proud the children were of their mothers as they grew old enough to understand and appreciate them! They were women of the highest order and management in the business affairs of their homes, over which they presided with the utmost ease and dignity; but they never were possessed of that mannishness which so many Korth- ern women had, and which is threatening now many women of the so-called " ^ew South." The sphere of woman they fully understood, and filled up the measure of their obligations within that sphere. South- ern mothers of the " Old South " were the chief factors in shaping society in the best forms that the world ever knew. Thev had 452 COXFEDEEATE ECHOES. only lofty ideals of principle, refinement, and piety, and that invincible determination in the right that made failure with them in the things that they undertook an impossibility; and they undertook only right things. And whence came, let me here ask, those matchless heroes in gray w^ho fought so long- and so bravely against Lincoln's numberless invading soldiery? Southern mothers gave them to the Confederacy, having imbued them from birth with the spirit of patriotism and courageous manhood. Whence those devoted and tireless daughters of the South, who cheered on their brothers to the conflict for freedom, and did what they could in their places to make our cause a success? Southei-n mothers gave them to us. Who gave our Southland the finest statesmen and divines and citizenship to be found any- where? Southern mothers. All honor to the magnificent motherhood of the blessed Old South! NOV 22 m7 » -^ "■ .
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