THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE WILMER COLLECTION 
 
 OF CIVIL WAR NOVELS 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 RICHARD H. WILMER, JR. 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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HOW I ESCAPED 
 
 BY 
 
 W. H. PARKINS 
 
 Archibald Clavering Gunter 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "MR. BARNES OF NEW YORK" 
 "MR. POTTER OF TEXAS," Etc 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 7 East Fourteenth Street 
 l88q. 
 
Copyright, i888, by 
 
 ARCHIBALD C. GUNTER. 
 
 [_Ail rights reserved."] 
 
 Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
 Astor Place, New York. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 HOW I STAYED FOR HER. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter I. — " Got your carpet-bag packed ? " 5 
 
 " II. — Amos Pierson, - - - 14 
 
 " III. — Love or Duty, - - - - 22 
 
 « IV.— The Empty Sleeve, - - 29 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 HOW I FLED FROM HER. 
 
 Chapter V. — A Confederate Detective, - - 38 
 
 « VI.— The Provost Marshal, - - 45 
 
 " VII.— The Blockade-runner, - - 54 
 
 « yilL— The Shovel or the Rifle? - 62 
 
 « IX.— The Night Attack, ... 69 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 HOW I WON HER. 
 
 Chapter X. — She Came ! - - - - 79 
 
 XI.— The Red-headed Negro, - 84 
 « XII. — The Honeymoon in the Blue 
 
 Ridge, - - - - 93 
 
 «' XIII.— When Girl Meets Girl ! - - 103 
 
 603176 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 HOW I CAME BACK AND FOUGHT FOR HER. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter XIV. — Into the Dark Country, - -no 
 
 " XV.— Through the Gaps, - - ii8 
 
 " XVI.— Through the Lines, - - - 132 
 
 XVIL— The Letter of Life, - - 144 
 
 " XVIIL— The Fight for the Bridge, - 151 
 
 « XIX.— Where was She ? - - - 159 
 
 « XX.— The Little Hostage, - - - 171 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 How I Stayed for Her. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "got your carpet-bag packed ?" 
 
 " Laura — Miss Peyton, may I have a dance ? " 
 
 " Certainly ! " 
 
 "The next waltz?" 
 
 " No — the next dance, whatever it is ! Please take the 
 very next, and come with me now, " 
 
 As she said this, Laura Peyton slipped her arm into mine, 
 and leading me through one of the French windows of the 
 old southern house onto the wide balcony, whispered, 
 her blue eyes blazing with excitement in the moonlight, 
 though her cheeks were pale and her lips trembled: " Law- 
 rence, it has come ! " 
 
 "• Do you really mean it ? " 
 
 " Yes, South Carolina has seceded ! " 
 
 Her words brought almost despair to my heart, for 
 Laura Peyton was a southern girl and I a northern man; 
 and though but the day before we had plighted our troths 
 and given our loves, I trembled as I thought of what the 
 political passions of the time might bring to our lives. 
 
 Seeing my expression, Laura suddenly placed her hand 
 in mine, and whispered : " This shall never alter my 
 promise to you, Lawrence ! " 
 
 Some girls would have blushed or fluttered with a per- 
 haps unconscious coquetry as they said the words, for 
 
6 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 this was the second time in her life that my fiancee had 
 called me by my Christian name ; but Laura Peyton's 
 voice was firm and resolute, and brought back to me a 
 firmness that I must confess for a moment had left me, 
 for I knew the passion that was dominant in the South in 
 i860, and the manner in which northern men were regard- 
 ed by a large number of the population south of Mason and 
 Dixon's line. 
 
 Some cf this spirit was observable as we reentered the 
 house, where a few of Laura's young friends were enjoy- 
 ing an informal carpet-dance in the large old-fashioned 
 parlor that December evening. Judge Peyton's residence 
 was about five miles away from the little capital of South 
 Carolina, and the sudden cessation of the music and ex- 
 cited exclamations of the guests told us that the news had 
 become generally known to the company. 
 
 Belle, Laura's younger sister, who had been playing 
 one of those old, long-since-forgotten Jullien polkas, after 
 a moment's pause suddenly attacked the piano again with 
 all the enthusiasm of sixteen, and sang the local seces- 
 sion air that was soon afterward superseded by the 
 Bonnie Blue Flag with her whole soul. The effect was 
 electrical, and in a moment every voice in the room ex- 
 cept my own rang out with the southern air. 
 
 My failure to respond to this outburst of secession 
 sentiment was noted by a young lawyer, who had been 
 my friend and chum until a rivalry for Laura's affections 
 and hand had somewhat cooled our good-fellowship. 
 Harry Walton stepped up to me, and rather insinuatingly 
 remarked : " Mr. Bryant does not sing this evening. 
 Has he lost his voice ? " 
 
 *' No," I replied ; "but I don't know that tune." 
 
 " It's one that you'll have to sing before long, and if 
 necessary Lll try and teach it to you," sneered young 
 Walton. 
 
 *' Oh, I'll instruct Law — Mr. Bryant myself," inter- 
 rupted Laura, anxious to change a conversation that was 
 becoming of a nature that sometimes in those days led 
 to very serious results. 
 
 This stumble over my Christian name probably enraged 
 my rival much more than my refusal to join in the seces- 
 sion melody. 
 
 An expression of trouble passed over his face, as he 
 
HOW -I ESCAPED. 7 
 
 caught a veiled glance the girl at my side cast upon me 
 as she interposed between us. He bit his lip, and 
 remarked coldly, with a forced composure: "Then I leave 
 Mr. Bryant to your instructions, Miss Laura ; but in 
 case you do not succeed — there are other and stronger 
 teachers " 
 
 " None that you could bring to bear upon me, Mr. 
 Walton," I remarked. " If Miss Peyton does not succeed, 
 you had better not attempt the task." 
 
 My rival was about to reply in a tone that might have 
 led to unpleasant results, when the conversation was inter- 
 rupted by the entrance of Judge Peyton, the father of my 
 sweetheart, and the company of young people running 
 to him to get his ideas upon the political situation. 
 
 " Father, you've heard the news ! We're no longer in 
 the United States. We've cut loose from Uncle Sam. 
 Seceded at last ! " cried his son, young Arthur Peyton, 
 with the enthusiasm of twenty. 
 
 "Yes; I've expected this for months," returned the 
 judge solemnly, " and feared it ! " 
 
 " Feared it ?" echoed two or three of the guests. 
 
 " Feared it," cried his son; " feared the Yankees ? Why 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia — every southern 
 State is with us. We've all the trump cards in this 
 game ! " 
 
 " Humph ! " returned the judge. " But we haven't played 
 them. We'll all do our duty by our State, Arthur ; but Fm 
 afraid there'll be more tears than laughter about this 
 business before it is ended." 
 
 With those words and a slight sigh, Judge Peyton 
 turned to his study, and after a few moments the company 
 gradually left for their homes. 
 
 " I shall, see your father in a day or two, Laura," I 
 whispered as I bid her good-by. " This political com- 
 plication compels me to have no misunderstanding in 
 my relations to you." 
 
 " You — you know I love you — will love you, no mat- 
 ter what happens," returned my fiancee. 
 
 Then mounting my horse for my short ride to Columbia, 
 I saw Laura watching me as I passed down the moonlit 
 avenue, the girl making a very pretty picture back- 
 grounded by her southern home. 
 
 Laura Peyton though in some respects a typical 
 
8 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 southern girl, had little of that languor supposed to be 
 peculiar to tropical loveliness, was no brunette with black 
 lustrous eyes and voluptuous, lazy beauty, but brilliant 
 and blue-eyed, vigorous and direct in movement and 
 mind, and of a beauty that made her a female load-stone 
 to the local beaux. Perhaps from very force of contrast 
 to the languid manners of most of the South Carolina 
 girls about her, she was one of the most popular young 
 ladies in the section of the State near Columbia. 
 
 It was a short five miles to the capital. I let my horse 
 take his own gait, while I meditated upon the problem 
 before me — that was to win and marry a southern girl from 
 a southern family — from a seceded State, I — a northern 
 man — a Union man, one who might have to meet her 
 relatives even in battle — and this in December of the year 
 i860, with the passions of that gigantic political volcano 
 seething and struggling and fighting to break out of the 
 crater that had been opened that very day by the seces- 
 sion of South Carolina. Pondering upon this problem 
 I trotted into the main street of Columbia, which was full 
 of excited people discussing the situation, and as I did so, 
 started and listened. 
 
 The city bell upon the old market was ringing out joy- 
 ous peal upon peal that meant its own and that town's de- 
 struction by sword and flame after four years of most 
 miserable horror and bloody war to the American peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The excitement had spread to the negro population. 
 Young Caucus, my body servant, came to me, his eyes 
 rolling and his red hair more frizzled than usual with 
 excitement, for he was a mulatto with that unusual hair 
 in people of his race, that we call brick-red. This 
 gave him a curious made-up appearance, and added a 
 comedy look to the boy even when he was in a rage. 
 
 As young Caucus, whose services I had hired from his 
 master, Judge Peyton, took charge of my horse, he seemed 
 choking with some extraordinary idea, which had just 
 come into his black brain, and gasped out to me : 
 " 'Skuse me, Massa Bryant, but what you s'pose Massa 
 Abram Lincoln do now dat South Carlina commit 'ces- 
 sion — reckon Massa Lincoln hab to commit sucide." 
 
 This extraordinary idea of the President elect's politi- 
 cal duties made but little impression upon me at the 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, 9 
 
 moment. I was too much perplexed at my own position, 
 though I have often laughed at it since. 
 
 I declined to discuss the matter with young Caucus, and 
 passed into my house, where I spent several wakeful hours 
 that night pondering over love, politics, and patriotism. 
 
 I had been about five years in the South, having 
 been called there in my profession of civil engineer to 
 assist in laying out the work and building some of the new 
 railroads being constructed in South Carolina and Georgia. 
 I liked the country and its people, and did not wish to 
 leave it — in fact, would not leave it unless I took Laura 
 Peyton to the North with me, as a hostage from the 
 southern people. Yet as I faced the outlook, and thought 
 of having that very day been almost cut in the street by 
 people I had considered as intmiates, because they doubted 
 my loyalty to the cause of secession, and remembered the 
 speeches made since Lincoln's election, I could not doubt 
 that my next few months would be unpleasant ones in the 
 Palmetto State, and that my course of true love would 
 run over one of the rockiest beds that was ever invented 
 for that tumultuous and uncertain stream. 
 
 Pondering on this problem, I fell asleep, to be aroused 
 next morning by the voice of Tom Baxter, who cried to 
 me in a cheery way, " Got your carpet-bag packed ? " 
 
 " No ! — what do you mean ? " 
 
 "Well, you'll have to pack it soon. I mean you and I'll 
 have to go North. " 
 
 Tom was my associate engineer, and, occupying the 
 same house with me, ejaculated his words from the next 
 bedroom, where he was apparently making his morning 
 ablutions. 
 
 " You've just arrived from Augusta ?" asked I. 
 
 *' One hour ago. And they're getting ready to do the 
 same job in Georgia that they did in South Carolina yes- 
 terday. Tell you more about it at breakfast," remarked 
 the sententious Tom. 
 
 Baxter had come from Illinois. Like myself, he saw 
 the storm ahead, though from a different point of view, 
 as he had been for the last few weeks, on the business of 
 the railroad, in Georgia. He was a hard-thinking fellow, 
 and reasoned upon all subjects, professional and otherwise, 
 with the directness of a mathematician and in a very 
 straight line. 
 
lO HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 I was anxious to get his full views upon our situation, 
 and followed him quickly to our breakfast-room. 
 
 As I entered, Mr. Baxter was laughing at some remarks 
 of young Caucus, who was waiting at the table. 
 
 " How you tink, Massa Baxter, de North stan up agin 
 dose ? " exclaimed the negro, giving an excited wave of 
 his napkin through the open window toward three com- 
 panies of South Carolina militia that were marching 
 by with true militia irregularity. " Dose sogers go up 
 to settle de Black 'Publicans and dey settle dem aboli- 
 tionists d d soon ! " 
 
 " Give me some eggs ! " said Baxter, choking a 
 laugh. 
 
 " Some eggs and coffee for me, also. Caucus, and then 
 get out," added I ; " I wish to talk to Mr. Baxter." 
 
 " Yes sah ! of course sah ! " muttered the young negro, 
 executing our orders, and then retiring from the room 
 with martial step and a grin of joy, for the military band 
 outside had suddenly struck up, and Caucus was anxious 
 to follow the music, which he did shortly afterward, to- 
 gether with half the young negroes of Columbia. 
 
 " Now," remarked Baxter, as soon as the sound of Cau- 
 cus' departing footsteps had died away, "you and I, 
 Lawrence, will have to take a trip north very shortly. I 
 suppose you are aware of that ? South Carolina seceded 
 yesterday. To-morrow it will be Georgia and all the 
 cotton States. And you and I know on which side of the 
 line we ought to be when it comes to fighting." 
 
 " I shall remain here, at least for the present," I re- 
 marked. 
 
 " So shall I, but I shall sell everything I have and be 
 prepared to leave. Take my advice, and do the same." 
 
 " Still, I'm comfortable here ; have succeeded in my 
 profession ; am popular with the people about me." 
 
 " Popular ? — How long will you be popular if you don't 
 take their side in the coming struggle ? Popular ? — 
 Doesn't every day show you your popularity is waning ? 
 Popular ? " 
 
 Here he stopped short, for Caucus came into the room 
 bringing a pretty little envelope addressed to me in a 
 feminine hand. 
 
 As I tore open the envelope and devoured its contents, 
 Mr. Baxter continued : 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, II 
 
 " Popular — yes, I see, very popular with some one 
 about here. That's why you're so anxious to stay. 
 Well, if I guess right as to who the lady is, I'd risk a 
 good deal to gain that girl, for she's worth winning. I 
 wish you luck ; but all the same, if you remain in this 
 State, you'll have to fight on one side of the line and I 
 on the other, for I tell you that this movement means 
 taiar ! " 
 
 "War?" 
 
 " Certainly ! Isn't that " — here Mr. Baxter got up from 
 his chair, walked round to mine, and whispered in my ear 
 — " armed rebellion to our Government — levying of war 
 upon it right there before our very eyes ? " and he pointed 
 through the window, toward where a portion of the South 
 Carolina militia were marching down the main street of 
 Columbia to take the cars for Charleston, to participate a 
 short time afterward in the bombardment of Sumter. 
 
 " It's war! " he continued — '* miserable, horrible, bloody 
 civil war ! You've got to take your choice — ^our side or 
 the other ; and if you remain here, it must be the other." 
 
 " All the same," I replied, " I shall stay here until " 
 
 " Until you win her ? I wish you luck, my boy ; but 
 she a southern girl and you a northern man — God help 
 you ! " And with this Mr. Baxter turned away, walked 
 out of the room and went to his work at the railroad 
 offices. 
 
 I remained with a very glum face, which became more 
 gloomy as I re-read the letter my fiancee had just written 
 to me. It was as follows : 
 
 '"The Oaks,' ] 
 
 Columbia, December 2i, i860, f 
 
 " Darling : Please come and see papa this very afternoon at the 
 latest. Circumstances that I cannot explain by letter make me ask 
 you as you love me not to delay your interview with my father. To- 
 morrow may be too late. Don't fail. 
 
 " Your Laura.'' 
 
 What new complication did this note herald ? Puzzle 
 my brain as I might, I could not guess. Of only one 
 thing was I sure — that was my sweetheart loved me. 
 So despite the clouds that seemed to hang over me, I was, 
 in the elasticity of youth, comparatively happy even on 
 that morning. 
 
 But curiosity, added to love, made me hurry what 
 
12 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 little railroad business I had on my hands, and early in 
 the afternoon I rode out through the main street of 
 Columbia, which was filled with people eagerly discussing 
 the situation, for nearly all business was thrown aside 
 for politics at that time, and after passing by the State 
 lunatic asylum and the beautiful plantations of the 
 Hamptons, Prestons and Singletons, soon found myself 
 at the Avenue of Oaks that led to Judge Peyton's coun- 
 try seat, called after the beautiful trees that embellished it. 
 
 Before I reached the house, however, 1 was met by Miss 
 Belle, who came running down the avenue to meet me, a 
 leghorn hat with ribbons floating from it, after the fash- 
 ion of the time, in one hand, the other held out to me. In 
 the frank impulsiveness of her nature, she cried, with the 
 very sweet southern accent this young lady possessed, 
 " Laura has just told me all." 
 
 "All!" I muttered, astonished at the suddenness of 
 her outburst. 
 
 " Certainly — all about you're wanting to marry her ! 
 " You see she had to — a girl must confide in some one — 
 no one could keep such a secret — and mother being dead, 
 I took mamma's place — and I'm so glad you're going to 
 join us — be one of us — I always said that Mr. Bryant 
 was too good a man to be one of those awful Black Re- 
 publicans — 'deed I did ! " 
 
 This view of my political ideas being changed by my 
 suit for her sister's hand rather amused me. I remarked : 
 
 " I have never been a Black Republican — that is, not 
 the kind of a Black Republican you mean." 
 
 " There's only one kind of Black Republican ! " re- 
 turned Miss Belle, sententiously. 
 
 " What kind is that ? " 
 
 " A bad abolitionist Black Republican. Oh, how I hate 
 'em. They would destroy all our social happiness. They 
 would separate us from the servants who love us. Fancy 
 tearing old Mauma Chloe from me whom she loves. I 
 told the poor old creature what the horrid northern^ 
 wretches wanted to do to her, and she cried all last night. " 
 But you're reformed — I know you are — and — you would 
 like to see Laura, I suppose — she rather expects you " — 
 this last with a roguish glance. " She's over there in the 
 garden ! Here, Csesar ! come and take Mr. Bryant's 
 horse ! " 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I3 
 
 r dismounted, and a black servant leading my nag to the 
 stables, Miss Belle pointed to a white hat seen through the 
 foliage, and cried, " There she is ! Good-by till — after- 
 ward, Mr. Reformed Black Republican ! " 
 
 I hardly heard the last of her speech, as I was rapidly 
 making my way toward my sweetheart, who apparently 
 did not notice my coming. As seated upon a bench in a 
 little grove of oaks, she held a letter in her hand, though 
 both her eyes were expectantly placed upon the road 
 from Columbia. She had in some manner apparently 
 missed me as I rode by, and was still looking for my 
 coming — I thought with a kind of nervous impatience. 
 
 A man's vanity is always flattered by the beauty of the 
 woman who loves him ; and in gazing at Laura Peyton 1 
 became very vain, for no prettier sight had ever met my 
 eye. 
 
 Though nearly Christmas, the weather was still mild 
 and warm in this southern latitude, and the girl looked 
 like a summer picture, as, with her white hat trimmed 
 with a dainty ribbon or two thrown upon the bench 
 beside her, and dressed in some light gossamer garment 
 crinolined and puffed out about her, as was the fashion 
 of those days, she leaned forward, all her soul in her eyes, 
 looking the wrong way — for me. 
 
 A moment afterward the tableau changed. Her eyes 
 fell upon the letter — a shiver of disgust appeared to run 
 through her. She sprang to her feet impatiently, in her 
 haste permitting a glimpse of a southern foot and ankle 
 that gave me another lover's rapture, and crushed the 
 letter nervously in her hand. Her lips muttered in an 
 excited manner, her eyebrows contracted with a slight 
 frown, and she gave a determined stamp with her little 
 foot. 
 
 Then she turned her head, the frown changed to a 
 smile, the shadow on her face became sunshine, her lips 
 murmured, " Lawrence ! " — she was in my arms. 
 
 After a moment she disengaged herself from my em- 
 brace, and, affecting lightness, whispered : " I knew you 
 would come. My note insured that. Curiosity as well 
 as love is powerful in man as in woman." 
 
 <• Why were you so anxious for me to see your father 
 this very day ? " I asked, in reply to this. 
 
 " This letter ! " she said, glancing at the crumpled paper. 
 
14 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " To-night, or at latest to-morrow, Amos Pierson will ask 
 my father for my hand. This is his notification to me of 
 his intention." 
 
 "Amos Pierson ! " I gasped — " the millionaire cotton 
 merchant of Savannah ? " 
 
 " Certainly," she replied. " He entertained my father 
 and myself last year when we visited Georgia. I think — 
 I fear — he has some business or financial hold upon my 
 father ! " " 
 
 " You surely do not believe Judge Peyton would coerce 
 you — in such a matter as this ! " 
 
 " Certainly not ! But Amos Pierson, I can see from his 
 letter, expects in the arrogance of his wealth to win me. 
 Disappointment will make him our enemy and at this 
 moment we need so many friends ! Lawrence, I know 
 his character — beware of A?nos Pierson ! " 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AMOS PIERSON. 
 
 " Beware of Amos Pierson — why ? — because he is my 
 rival ? What do I fear, so long as I have your love ? 
 Laura, why don*t you ask me to dread all the suitors for 
 this hand — Harry Walton, for instance?" replied I, seiz- 
 ing the fair member she had held out in warning gest- 
 ure, 
 
 " Because Harry Walton is a gentleman — impulsive, but 
 always chivalric, always brave. Brave men are not so 
 much to be dreaded as cowards. They strike fairly to 
 your face — not behind your back. Amos Pierson is one 
 of the kind you feel, but do not see. He will wound you 
 in the back ! " 
 
 *' Pshaw ! I'd much rather have Amos Pierson for a 
 rival for your hand than Harry Walton — fifty is not so 
 much to be dreaded as twenty-five, and I have heard Mr. 
 Pierson's age stated at about the former figure," laughed 
 I, anxious to relieve the anxiety of vcvy fiancee, though by 
 no means happy to hear of an additional enemy to my 
 wooing, surrounded as it was with so many political 
 obstacles. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I5 
 
 " Therefore you understand the reason I wish you 
 to see my father this afternoon — so that Mr. Piersor^, 
 when he arrives, will discover that my future station in 
 life is already settled. That "—here she began to blush 
 and falter — "that — 1 am as surely and as truly yours as 
 if I were already wedded to — you ! " 
 
 The last " you " was a little gasp, for what man could 
 tefrain from sealing such a declaration from the woman 
 he loved ? 
 
 " So," I replied, " you wish Mr. Pierson to know he has 
 no hope " 
 
 " At once and forever ! You will find my father, Law- 
 rence, in his library. This action of South Carolina has 
 disturbed him very much. Heaven only knows to what 
 it will lead ! " 
 
 Knowing the house very well, I turned from my sweet- 
 heart and found my way to her father, meditating on the 
 consideration of Laura, who, in all our interview, had 
 never mentioned the political troubles that stood in our 
 path almost forcing us asunder ; for my sweetheart's 
 sympathies were all with the South in the struggle, as 
 what southern woman's were not, through that four 
 years of famine, desolation, flame and bereavement, — to 
 the end ! 
 
 I knew, however, her father would mention the politi- 
 cal aspect of our courtship, and was prepared for it. 
 
 On entering Judge Peyton's library, to my astonish- 
 ment I found him with the day's papers before him and a 
 suspicious redness about the eyes. He greeted me pleas- 
 antly, but rather sadly. 
 
 " You have been reading the news ? " I ventured to 
 remark, " with a good deal of interest." 
 
 " With a good deal of sorrow," he replied. " This ordi- 
 nance of our State legislature is, I feel, perhaps wrong — 
 certainly hasty ; and may bring us more trouble than our 
 politicians reckon. They pass the ordinance, but if it 
 comes to fighting, the people will have to do that, and I 
 have a young boy " — here the judge looked wistfully at 
 the picture of Arthur that hung upon the wall ; then con- 
 tinued with a sigh — " and he is anxious to be in the front. 
 I fear for him. Heaven only knows what secession may 
 bring to my family ! " 
 
 Here was my opening. I remarked ; 
 
l6 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " It was in regard to )^our family that I called to ?^peak 
 to you. Miss Laura " 
 
 '* Ah ! " 
 
 " I love her, and I have asked her to marry me. She 
 has consented. I have now come to you to ask your 
 approval of my suit." 
 
 To this the judge did not answer, so I went on and 
 gave him a short history of my courtship of his daughter, 
 stating that our affection was mutual. 
 
 Here the judge stopped me by remarking, suddenly, 
 " You wish to marry my daughter at this time ? " 
 
 " As soon as possible ! You know my professional rep- 
 utation in the South : that I am as well able to support 
 her as most young men who depend entirely upon their 
 professional exertions." 
 
 " Yes, I have no doubt of your ability," replied the old 
 gentleman, " as an engineer ; but, though I have every 
 respect for your professional attainments, the peculiar 
 position that you hold in our community makes me hesi- 
 tate to give my consent to your proposition that a few 
 months ago I should have been pleased to consider." 
 
 '' Why should the severance by South Carolina of her 
 ties to the Federal Government of the United States com- 
 pel me to sever the ties of love that bind me to your 
 daughter?" I asked, impetuously. 
 
 " Because the ordinance of secession passed yesterday 
 will make my daughter and you citizens of two different 
 nations that bid fair, shortly, to become hostile to one 
 another. If war should break out between us and the 
 United States, you would be unable to live in this com- 
 munity, and a wife must follow her husband," remarked 
 the judge, slowly and deliberately, as if weighing his 
 words. " My daughter's sympathies are, I hope, entirely 
 with the people of her State in such a quarrel. Political 
 differences would destroy eventually any love that there 
 now may be between you. You are both young, impul- 
 sive, and ardent, and you could not so entirely restrain 
 yourselves as to prevent the excitement of the combat 
 raging about you from entering into your home. There- 
 fore I am opposed to any immediate union between you 
 and my daughter. Perhaps," continued the judge, with 
 a sigh, " this quarrel of the politicians may yet be settled 
 by the people without bloodshed. Pray heaven it may 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 17 
 
 be ! If so, come to me again, and if my daughter loves 
 you as you say she does, my answer will be a different 
 one, unless " 
 
 " Unless what ? " I interrupted, hastily. 
 
 " Unless " here he checked himself suddenly and 
 
 said : " But that is an affair of the future. At present 
 all I can say, Mr. Bryant, is, that I wish you to consider 
 my daughter entirely freed from any promise she has 
 made to you until the present political storm has ended. 
 God knows I wish South Carolina had not seceded ! " he 
 continued, impulsively. 
 
 " Ah ! ycu are a Union man," I cried. 
 
 *' I love the Union, but I love my State better ; and 
 though, like many other men in the South, I have 
 struggled to prevent yesterday's hasty and radical action 
 by my native commonwealth ; still, that action being 
 taken, I am for my State, rig/i^ or wrong. I shall confer 
 with Laura, and perhaps, after an interview with her 
 may write you further my views upon the proposition 
 you have done me the honor to make. You have my 
 highest personal esteem, Mr. Bryant," he said, shaking 
 my hand as I rose with rather a gloomy and unhappy 
 expression on my face. 
 
 " Then you have no objection to my visiting your 
 daughter ? " I asked. 
 
 " None in the world, as a friend. All I wish is that 
 until the political horizon becomes clear, you entirely for- 
 get that my daughter has given you reason to hope for 
 her hand. As a man of common sense, this should impress 
 itself upon you. As a man of honor, a father's wishes in 
 regard to his child at such a moment should be binding 
 upon you." With this the judge returned to his reading, 
 apparently anxious to close the interview. 
 
 As I walked through the hallway I encountered a 
 young gentleman whom I hoped would some day be 
 my brother-in-law — young Mr. Arthur Peyton, with 
 the enthusiasm of twenty, excitement, youth and hope 
 upon his face, had apparently just arrived from Colum- 
 bia. 
 
 His expression betokened intense joy. He cried out 
 merrily : " Hello, Bryant ! Isn't this glorious ? Wade 
 Hampton is about to raise a legion for the service of 
 South Carolina in case of northern invasion, and has 
 
l8 now I ESCAPED. 
 
 offered me a lieutenanc)\ There's promotion for you ! 
 Quicker than if I had been at West Point." 
 
 " If the uniform is handsome, I presume you'll be very 
 fatal to the young ladies about here," remarked I. 
 
 " Trust me for that," laughed the boy, and continued : 
 " By the bye, your friend Walton will rank me, as he has 
 been offered a captaincy." 
 
 " That is the advantage of twenty-five over twenty in 
 this world." 
 
 " But I don't suppose you care much about this, as you 
 are a northern man; though periiaps, pleaded with " — here 
 the rogue winked at me — " by my sister, we may consider 
 you as not the ivorst type of ' Black Republican.' " 
 
 These remarks, which brought me once more face to 
 face with the obstacle constantly growing larger and 
 larger between my love and its happy consummation, 
 gave me a very surly and dogged air as I walked into 
 the garden, which Avas instantly perceived by my fiancee. 
 
 As she came toward me, she whispered : " Lawrence, 
 bad news ? Papa refuses his consent ? " 
 
 " Not so bad as that," I replied. " He only asks us to 
 postpone our engagement until our political troubles are 
 ended." 
 
 " Postpone ouF engagement ? You mean postpone our 
 marriage." 
 
 " No — our engagement ! " 
 
 " Impossible ! Our engagement was made yesterday. 
 As well ask us to postpone our love." 
 
 '' Yes, he asks us to forget what we said to each other 
 yesterday. Can you do that ? " I whispered into the 
 dainty shell that she called her ear. 
 
 " Forget that you said you loved me ? — Oh, Law- 
 rence ! " and the tears came into her eyes. 
 
 *' That is what he asks ; but it is as impossible for me as 
 to forget that I live. However, that is what your father 
 wants." 
 
 *' I can forget no more than you that I love you ! " 
 whispered the dear girl, emphasizing her words with a 
 glance that set me to comforting her in the way most 
 pleasing to engaged young ladies. 
 
 After a few moments, her spirits having come back to 
 her, Miss Laura said, airily : " Oh, I don't mind if papa 
 a.sks us to postpone our marriage, after all ' " 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I9 
 
 "Indeed !" I said, rather sullenly, "I had supposed 
 you wished to marry me immediately." 
 
 " No, Lawrence, not immediately,'' said the 3^oung lady, 
 laughing. " Trousseaux are works of time, and by the 
 time my trousseau is ready, this political squabble be- 
 tween our southern fire-eating politicians and your Puri- 
 tanical northern philanthropists will undoubtedly be 
 ended. So when my trousseau is ready, I shall be ready. 
 As to the engagement being suspended, I will see papa' 
 about that at once " — this with a little laugh and playful 
 threatening of the hand toward the judge's library win- 
 dow. 
 
 " Immediately ? " I cried, in rapture. 
 
 "Yes," she said, starting and turning pale. "This 
 matter must be settled within five minutes, for I see the 
 man who will do all he can to prevent our union from being 
 made complete." As she said this she pointed down the 
 avenue, and following the direction of her hand, I saw 
 a gentleman riding up the pretty road that led from 
 Columbia. 
 
 " His name?" I gasped. 
 
 "Amos Pierson," she faltered, and with that disap- 
 peared by one of the French windows leading from 
 the old-fashioned southern portico into her father's 
 library. 
 
 I gazed very savagely at this supposed enemy of my 
 happiness as he rode up the avenue, and did not think 
 him handsome. 
 
 He was a man about fifty years of age, rather inclined 
 to be florid and stout, with brilliant steel-blue eyes, an 
 honest forehead, but a treacherous mouth. He frequently 
 laughed, and showed exceedingly white, large fangy 
 teeth. He was dressed in the southern style of that day, 
 in black broadcloth somewhat too large for him, dark 
 slouch hat, pro lounced diamonds and massive gold 
 jewelry in the form of rings and watch-chain. He was 
 followed by a handsome young quadroon slave, carrying 
 a valise and saddle-bags upon the horse he rode at a 
 short distance behind his master. 
 
 " Ain't he horrid ? " whispered Miss Belle in my ear, 
 as she came beside me to witness the new arrival. " He is 
 like Sol Smith, the actor, when he plays Jacques Strop," 
 for this young lady, though but sixteen, had a passionate 
 
20 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 love for the theater, and regarded a visit to Charleston, 
 where she could see any of the popular pieces of that 
 day, as one of the joys of her existence. 
 
 Mr. Pierson, however, not having heard this remark, 
 flashed at the young lady a grinny smile, saluted her with 
 a wave of his hand, and coming up to her, said, enthusi- 
 astically : " You have done the business in South Caro- 
 lina a little ahead of us Georgians, Miss Belle, but we 
 won't be far behind you. These northern abolitionists 
 who would rob us of our property must be checked at 
 once and forever." 
 
 These remarks from a man who had not yet lost his 
 New England twang, and whose every manner and gesture 
 indicated his Yankee origin, seemed to me as astonishing 
 as they were disgusting ; but he was like most northern 
 men who from self-interest or association took the part of 
 the South in our late quarrel ; the further north a man 
 came from, the more bitter, unrelenting, bloodthirsty and 
 cruel he was in his sentiments, expressions, and denuncia- 
 tions of the birth-place that he had disowned and upon 
 which he was willing to make war. This was not so aston- 
 ishing as it would seem, for nearly all of these men had 
 come down south as slave traders or overseers, — two 
 occupations that did not tend to develop the sympathy 
 and kindliness of the human heart. 
 
 Mr. Pierson had begun as overseer some thirty years 
 before I saw him, and from that had graduated to 
 slave dealer. Then, having accumulated considerable 
 money by speculating in black flesh and blood, he had 
 gradually drifted into the cotton trade, and was now sup- 
 posed to be the richest cotton broker in any of the Gulf 
 States. He was consequently a most pronounced seces- 
 sionist and an intense hater of everything that was not 
 southern. 
 
 " You mean," said Miss Belle, spicily, " that we im- 
 pulsive South Carolinians have stolen a march upon you 
 lazy, sluggish Georgians ; — but permit me to introduce a 
 reformed Black Republican — Mr. Lawrence Bryant, Mr. 
 Amos Pierson." 
 
 It was vitally to my interest that Laura should conclude 
 her interview with her father without interruption from 
 the gentleman before me ; anxious to detain him, I joined 
 the conversation. • 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 21 
 
 *' A reformed Black Republican ? Why this is a 
 curiosity ! " sneered Mr. Pierson. 
 
 " I would be a curiosity if I were one," replied I, rather 
 hotly, for the appearance of the man before me irritated 
 me to such an extent that I was not as careful of my 
 words as my position at the moment should have dictated. 
 
 " Ah ! you are 7wt a reformed Black Republican ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes he is," laughed Miss Belle ; " Laura has 
 reformed him." 
 
 " Laura ? " said Mr. Pierson, giving me an ugly glance, 
 while his face grew red with some emotion the mention 
 of my beautiful sweetheart's name brought to his mind. 
 " Laura ? What had she to do with it ? " 
 
 " Oh, that you will discover in time," laughed Miss 
 Belle. "He came here a northern man, but he has 
 decided to remain south. He has concluded to be one 
 of us if " 
 
 Here I interrupted hastily : '* Miss Belle imagines, 
 because I do not contradict her southern ideas, that I have 
 forgotten what my relatives and friends in Illinois have 
 written to me — that it is the feeling of every one in my 
 old home that the Union must be preserved at any cost, 
 and in any way." 
 
 "Ah! then they would make war upon us?" laughed 
 Mr. Pierson, showing his teeth. " Well, I am ready to eat 
 the first northern Black Republican on the sacred southern 
 soil of our State." 
 
 "Perhaps you had better begin with me," I returned 
 hotly, but the conversation was here brought to an end by 
 Miss Laura coming from the library, followed by her 
 father, and welcoming in true southern hospitable man- 
 ner the man she knew would do his utmost to frustrate 
 what at that time I was confident from her confession 
 must be very dear to her. 
 
 As it was growing toward evening, it was time for me 
 to return to Columbia. Mr. Pierson, with the judge, had 
 entered the house, while I made my adieux to Miss Belle, 
 who then kindly turned her back upon us and allowed 
 her sister and myself a tete-a-tete as I rode down the 
 avenue. 
 
 "It's all right, Lawrence," said vay fiancee, as soon as 
 we were out of Miss Belle's hearing. " Papa knows I 
 can marry no one but you, and h^s consented to our 
 
22 HOW I ESCAPED 
 
 engagement, only stipulating that it shall not be an- 
 nounced, and that our marriage must be postponed until 
 our political troubles have ceased. God grant the time 
 may come soon." 
 
 " I echo that prayer," I whispered, as I kissed my thanks, 
 and waving my hat, I rode laughingly and happily away, 
 only once turning around to look at the fair girl as she 
 stood, the setting sun illumining and making bright her 
 face, surrounded and backgrounded by the beautiful 
 green foliage of the avenue oaks. 
 
 "Good-by," she cried, waving her hand. '' It will be 
 all right in a month," while I reechoed her words, and, 
 made foolish by love, believed them ! 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LOVE OR DUTY. 
 
 But during the month which I had supposed would see 
 the political horizon clear, Mississippi, Florida, and all 
 the Gulf States seceded, and every day made it further 
 and further from being "all right." 
 
 The Southern Confederacy was formed, the various 
 branches of its government completed, and company after 
 company and regiment after regiment thronged through 
 Columbia en 7'oute for Charleston, to encircle with brist- 
 ling batteries and frowning guns the only fortification in 
 South Carolina that still flaunted the flag of the United 
 States. 
 
 This immense transportation of troops and military 
 material made my railroad duties exceedingly arduous; 
 consequently I had little time to visit the Peytons, though 
 every spare moment of mine was devoted to my sweet- 
 heart, and we passed, even at that time, many happy 
 hours together. 
 
 Laura informed me that, upon learning from her father 
 of her contemplated matrimonial union with me, Mr. Pier- 
 son had left the next day for Savannah, having wished 
 her — rather ironically, she thought — a happy ending to 
 her engagement. 
 
 During this time, however, two occurrences took place 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 23 
 
 to which I gave but little heed at the moment, but which 
 affected me very seriously shortly afterward. They were 
 these: 
 
 One day young Caucus came into my ofifice, and, in his 
 excitable darky manner, said : " Mas' Bryant, dar am 
 sev'ral officers below dat am anxious for a interview." 
 
 I ordered them to be admitted, and found that they 
 were two members of the staff of General Beauregard 
 who was then in command of the Confederate forces about 
 Charleston. One of them, Stuart Bee, a Georgian and 
 a particular friend of mine, handed me a letter tendering 
 me a staff appointment upon the transportation corps of 
 the Confederate army. He said they had called to ask if 
 I did not wish to take immediate charge of the movement 
 of the troops then being pushed forward to reinforce the 
 Confederate soldiers already about Charleston. 
 
 I replied that I did not wish to join the Confederate 
 army in any capacity. 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Bee. " Do you not now forward 
 to us all the troops that pass here ? " 
 
 " Yes," I replied, " as engineer of the South Carolina 
 Railroad, but not as a member of the Confederate army." 
 
 ''Well," he replied, "you do your work in a very satis- 
 factory manner; but I had hoped that you would accept 
 the appointment, because it would put an immediate stop 
 to the local prejudice that is growing up against you. For 
 your own sake, you should make it plain that you are 
 favorable to the Confederate cause. The report that you 
 have refused this offer will only tend to make your posi- 
 tion here more uncomfortable with our people who sur- 
 round you." 
 
 " I am very much obliged," I replied, " for the honor 
 tendered me, but must still refuse. I am fully sensible 
 of the inconvenience that my declination may bring to me, 
 but cannot reconsider the proposition. Do you know, 
 by the bye, who was it that recommended me for the 
 position ? " 
 
 '•I believe Mr. Amos Pierson, of Savannah, who has lately 
 accepted some large contracts for army supplies for the 
 Confederate Government," replied my friend. 
 
 With this the two officers said good-by, leaving me 
 to reflect that Mr. Amos Pierson, through his recommenda- 
 tion to General Beauregard, had succeeded in compelling 
 
24 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 me to assume a stand that in this exciting time would prob- 
 ably cause my social ostracism by most of my neighbors 
 in Columbia. 
 
 Evidences of this in the next few days became appar- 
 ent. My refusal to accept an ofifice upon the staff of 
 Genera] Beauregard was noted by the local papers and 
 commented upon in no flattering terms, and the cold 
 shoulders that had been turned to me for some time past 
 during my business and social intercourse with the citi- 
 zens of the town became much more cold. 
 
 Even Laura remarked this with a sigh as she said: 
 " What a pity, Lawrence, that you are not one of us — one 
 who loves the South." 
 
 " As well as I do one of its maidens," laughed L 
 but the laugh had a rather forced and unpleasant ring 
 in it. 
 
 The second event was the departure of young Arthur 
 Peyton with his company to join the forces about Charles- 
 ton. 
 
 The lad went off in high spirits, laughing and happy as 
 if he were going to a picnic or a frolic, but after that a 
 little of the coming gloom of the war descended upon his 
 family. His father sighed more often, and Miss Laura 
 and Miss Belle seemed to be even more southern than 
 before in their sentiments, the latter young lady saying to 
 me one day: " If I don't soon make a true South Caro- 
 linian of you by coaxing and by being your friend in your 
 suit for Laura, I shall begin to try sterner measures, Mr. 
 Lawrence Bryant." 
 
 She said this with a very sweet sixteen-year-old laugh, 
 but I felt, notwithstanding, that there was an unpleasant 
 tone of truth in her remark. 
 
 So things drifted on and on, always for the worse, until 
 one day Columbia became a ferment of excitement under 
 the news of the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter 
 by the Confederate forces. 
 
 From that time on I knew that there was no hope of 
 any peaceful solution of the difificulty that had begun by 
 the secession of South Carolina four months before. 
 
 I felt that my duty called me to the North, that my 
 love bound me to the South, and so I lingered despite 
 the warning of Mr. Tom Baxter, who arrived the day 
 afterward from Georgia. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 25 
 
 " Are you going with me, Lawrence ? " he asked. 
 
 " Going where ? " 
 
 *' North, of course, while you have the chance." 
 
 " Not at present," I replied. 
 
 " Not at present ?" he echoed. " If you don't go now, 
 you will never go. When two armies face each other in 
 Virginia and Tennessee, it will not be so easy a matter 
 to pass through their contending lines as it is to buy a 
 through ticket for Washington and get north in less than 
 two days, as I am about to do." 
 
 " Still," I replied, " I shall remain here for the present." 
 
 " Ah ! I suppose it is the young lady who still detains 
 you ? Marry her, and take her north with you ! " 
 
 "■ At such a time she would not leave her father and 
 her sister. I fear that 1 will lose her if I leave her, and 
 I love her too well to give her up." 
 
 "Well, my boy," returned the sententious Tom, "if 
 you stay here two months longer, you will not be able to 
 leave peaceably, and you'll lose the girl anyway." 
 
 " What makes you think that ? — Laura Peyton loves 
 me !" muttered I, in almost a tremble. 
 
 " Laura Peyton loves you mow ; but wait till the 
 fighting begins, and your sweetheart will very soon grow 
 cold to a man who is not willing to risk his life for the 
 cause s/ie loves. You will not be able to stand against 
 her prayers and entreaties ; and if you do not, you and I, 
 my dear old chum, will perhaps meet in combat upon the 
 battle-field. Take your last and only chance to do your 
 duty. There'll be no half measures in this conflict. Go 
 north and be a northern man, or remain in the South and 
 you, nolens volens, will have to fight for the Confederacy." 
 
 With this Mr. Baxter proceeded on his way, but though 
 out of my view, his remarks lingered in my mind, and 
 had it not been for the beautiful eyes, welcoming arms, 
 and beguiling smiles of the girl I loved, I should soon 
 have followed Mr. Baxter north. 
 
 Thus, undecided, struggling between love and duty, I 
 remained until the first day of July, 1861, drew near. 
 
 From that day the Confederate Government had decreed 
 that all people remaining under its jurisdiction should be 
 considered subjects of the^Confederacy and not permitted 
 to leave its borders without its permission. Such per- 
 missi n it was considered a military necessity not to grant. 
 
26 HOW 1 ESCAPED. 
 
 save to women, children, and persons not subject to mili- 
 tary duty. 
 
 I was now compelled to take some definite action. 
 After a night spent in alternate wavering between my 
 love for my country and my love for Laura Peyton, I 
 decided to return to the North, if possible taking her with 
 me as my wife, — if not, hoping that she would be true to 
 me through the few months which I thought it would 
 probably take to settle the contest now beginning be- 
 tween the North and South. 
 
 Actuated by this idea, I rode out through the pretty 
 streets of Columbia to the home of my sweetheart. It was 
 a very calm, beautiful summer evening, but I hardly 
 noticed it, so engrossed was I in the misery and anxiety 
 which my resolution had brought to me. 
 
 As I rode up the avenue, a horseman rapidly passed me, 
 apparently coming from Judge Peyton's house. He was 
 muttering to himself in some trouble apparently greater 
 than mine. His features were not so distorted by misery, 
 however, that 1 failed to recognize in the uncertain light 
 the face of Harry Walton. He was dressed in the uniform 
 of a captain of the Hampton Legion, and rode by me so 
 rapidly that I did not think he saw me, for he uttered no 
 word of greeting, and gave me no salutation. 
 
 This was not altogether surprising, though we had been 
 great friends a few months before, and chums at college 
 in '55, and it was partly owing to his friendship that I had 
 obtained my railroad position. Still, ever since the bright 
 face of Laura Peyton had come between us, he had grown 
 colder and colder, and his hearty shake of the hand had 
 gradually changed to a bow, the bow to a nod, and the 
 nod had become colder and colder, until we were now 
 almost strangers. This was partly due to our different 
 political senthnents, but more from his suspicion that I 
 had found favor in the sight of the woman he loved, 
 though as Laura's engagement to me had never been 
 formally announced, he had by no means given up all 
 hope of winning her hand, and his visits to her home in 
 the last few months had been as frequent as my own. 
 
 On entering the house, I was greeted by Miss Belle, who 
 rather cavalierly informed me that her sister would not 
 be visible for a few minutes, but if I could waste a little 
 of my time on her, she would tell me something that 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 2J 
 
 would perhaps prove to me that, notwithstanding my 
 lukewarm southern sentiments, she was still my friend, — ■ 
 " though I am not goijig to be so much longer," she said, 
 rather savagely. 
 
 "Well, what have you done forme?" I asked, trying 
 to turn the conversation. 
 
 "Done for you? I have this evening, with consum- 
 mate tact for a girl of my years, prevented your sweet- 
 heart's being proposed to in full form with all the 
 romantic advantages of military uniform, broken heart, 
 and instant departure for war and bloodshed by one 
 Harry Walton, once attorney at law, but now captain in 
 Wade Hampton's gallant legion. He looked so hand- 
 some in his regimentals, that I would not have given much 
 for your chances had he ever asked Laura," remarked 
 Miss Belle, rather sarcastically ; " and if he ever comes 
 back wounded for our glorious cause, I wouldn't give 
 much for them any way," continued the girl, with a little 
 laugh, partly of merriment and perhaps partly of malice. 
 
 " He didn't see her, then ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, he saw her ; but he didn't have any chance to 
 propose to her, for I took care to make the third at the 
 parting, and didn't give him a single second for a tete-a- 
 tctc. Nevertheless their parting was very affectionate, 
 and perhaps a little tender. There were tears on both 
 sides as he bade her good-by. That is the reason she 
 won't see you now, — red eyes are not becoming." 
 
 " And why have you done this thing for me — one 
 whom you half dislike ? " ventured I. 
 
 " Because," replied the lady, airily, " I still have hopes 
 of you ; and, until I give up in despair, am perfectly will- 
 ing to be your friend ; but when I do make up my mind 
 once, definitely and forever, that you will never become 
 one of us, that moment my good offices will leave you, 
 and I shall do my best to assist Harry Walton in gaining 
 the love of my sister. You see I'm an artful recruiting 
 officer, for the C. S. A." 
 
 This conversation was now interrupted by the entrance 
 of Laura whose white summer dress made her look to me 
 prettier than ever — perhaps because 1 thought I should 
 soon part from her. 
 
 There was a suspicion of redness in her eyes and a 
 tearine s about her cmile which indicated that her sister 
 
25 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 had not exaggerated the effect of Captain Walton's fare- 
 well. 
 
 After a few moments' conversation, Miss Belle left the 
 room, and I began to explain my motives and my plans 
 to my sweetheart, once or twice interrupted by a gasp of 
 pain and a sob that carried with it no tears. 
 
 When I had finished, she looked at me and faltered : 
 " Lawrence, I know if you part from me now, it will be 
 forever." 
 
 " Forever ! — no, no. I'll come back for you, as sure as I 
 stand by you now. But come with me north — leave all 
 this trouble behind you " 
 
 " Leave my poor old father — my little sister — who 
 have just now given Arthur to their country's cause — • 
 leave them ? No, no, Lawrence ; you may love me, but 
 now you do not honor me." 
 
 " Not when I beg you to be my wife ? " 
 
 " Yes, but if I accepted — if I let myself be happy — if 
 I deserted the South and my dear father and sister, I 
 should despise myself. Lawrence, if you wish to retain 
 my love, never ask me to do this mean thing again ! " 
 This last the girl said in a haughty despair, walking up 
 and down the room, but sometimes stopping to kiss and 
 fondle, and at others to flash almost angry glances at me. 
 
 The scene was becoming cruel. Fortunately it was 
 interrupted by a servant bringing in a letter addressed to 
 Miss Laura Peyton and marked " Immediate." As she 
 tore it open, I recognized that the handwriting was that 
 of Harry Walton. 
 
 She glanced through it, handed it to me, and said fal- 
 teringly : " Harry Walton asks me to marry him ; and 
 you leave me at such a moment ? " 
 
 " What have you or I to fear from Harry Walton ? He 
 is a gentleman," I answered. 
 
 " But there is one who is not a gentleman," she 
 gasped. "Amos Pierson, through his business hold 
 upon my father, still thinks to win me." 
 
 " Still thinks to win you ? A man whom you de- 
 spise ? " 
 
 " Yes ; here are the proofs," and she handed me a 
 bundle of letters. " I had intended to show you these 
 some time ago, but circumstances compel me to let you 
 read them at once. This man will not give up his hopes 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 29 
 
 of my love, — will not give up his desire for my hand. Can 
 you at such a moment, even for your political principles 
 leave me, the woman who loves you^ who has stood 
 against the advice of the friends of her youth and the en- 
 treaties of her relatives, to be true to the promise that 
 six months ago she gave you to be your wife ? Can 
 you desert and leave me alone for an indefinite period in 
 a land that may perhaps become the scene of actual war- 
 fare ? Can you part from me and hope to win me ? Stay 
 here, and I will love you forever ; desert me, and I shall 
 doubt the truth of your affection. Is it my love, our 
 happiness, and your presence by my side, — or do you 
 leave me surrounded by enemies to my affection for you, 
 to be parted more and more from you each day by 
 the political passions of this awful time ? Will you, dare 
 you — dare I let you — take such chances against the hap- 
 piness of our lives ? Do you remain in the South, or do 
 you go north ? " 
 
 Enforced by pleading eyes, clinging arms, and loving 
 kisses from the woman he loved, what man could give 
 an answer other than I did ? " I remain ! " 
 
 As I left her that evening, I thought there was triumph 
 as well as love in Laura Peyton's eyes. 
 
 The first of July, 1861, passed. I still stayed in 
 South Carolina, was considered a citizen of the Con- 
 federacy, and became subject to Confederate military 
 law. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EMPTY SLEEVE. 
 
 The immense transportation now forced upon all rail- 
 roads in the South, of arms, ammunition and men, to the 
 scene of war in Virginia now occupied the most of my 
 time. 
 
 The rest of it I gave to her. 
 
 In fact, almost all other social intercourse was debarred 
 me, for the rumor had been circulated constantly, and con- 
 tinually gained ground in the community, that my sympa- 
 thies were northern. Thus shunned by the friends and 
 acquaintances of a few months before, I was compelled 
 
3® HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 to live almost entirely by myself, and the only solace that 
 I had was the sweet caresses and bright smiles of my 
 fiancee who seemed at this time to be made even more 
 tender than before by the recollection that for her sake I 
 had isolated myself in a community so entirely hostile to 
 me. These reports as to my northern sentiments were so 
 continually and systematically spread, that I knew some 
 one interested in annoying me circulated them. I had a 
 faint suspicion that this was due to the efforts of Mr. 
 Amos Pierson, who had now become one of the leading 
 army contractors in the South, and was making a large 
 amount of money from his operations with the Confeder- 
 ate Government. Consequently he had great weight and 
 influence in its councils. This suspicion was made a 
 certainty by another proffer of a staff appointment from 
 General Pembcrton, who had become the local com 
 mander of the district. 
 
 I again refused, and also discovered that this offer was 
 made at Mr. Pierson's suggestion. 
 
 The local papers again published my refusal, and made 
 longer and more violent comments upon it than before, 
 but the Confederate Government took no action at this 
 time as to forcing me into their service, probably knowing 
 that my experience as a railroad engineer was of great 
 value to them in my present location. 
 
 So the Confederacy drifted along through the varying 
 successes and hopes and fears of the first two years of its 
 existence. 
 
 It had become tacitly understood between my sweet- 
 heart and myself that as soon as the war was over we 
 were to be married. I had at first hoped that this would 
 not mean more than a year's delay, but as time wore on, 
 the end seemed further and further in the distance. The 
 dogged persistence of the North seemed only to become 
 more dogged and more determined by defeat and disas- 
 ter, until early in December, 1862, the battle of Fred- 
 ericksburg was fought, and brought great misery to me. 
 
 The news of the success of the Confederate arms had 
 been received by telegraph. The ladies of Columbia, 
 and those of the men who were not in the army, were 
 excited with the joy of triumph. 
 
 Two weeks after this battle, on Christmas Day, 1 had 
 ridden out to Judge Peyton's to enjoy the only hospital- 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 3I 
 
 ity I could then find in the community. For I had no 
 friends, though still waited upon by the faithful Caucus, 
 who stuck to me in spite of, as he expressed it, " de 
 an'mosityob de South ! " 
 
 Laura had received me as usual, but her sister, Miss 
 Belle, who had by this time gradually given up all hope 
 of making me a southerner in feeling, remarked with 
 some asperity that she thought it was about time I 
 showed myself to be a man, and instead of making love 
 to young ladies, went out and fought, like other men, 
 for them on the battle-field,—" like Major Harry Walton, 
 for instance," for by this time death had made promotion 
 rapid in the Confederate army, and Walton was now a 
 major, while Arthur, their brother, but twenty-two years 
 of age, was a captain in one of the South Carolina regi- 
 ments. 
 
 The family had received no news from him, though 
 they knew that he was in the army engaged at Fredericks- 
 burg. During the first months of the war the anxiety of 
 the judge's family for the safety of the hope of their 
 house had been something upon which it was fearful to 
 look. The panting eagerness of the two girls as they 
 read the dispatches, the suppressed apprehension with 
 which they looked at the long lists of killed and wounded 
 that followed every battle, made my heart bleed for 
 them. But as engagement after engagement took place, 
 and their brother's name never appeared in the lists of 
 maimed or dead, such is the curious effect of habit that 
 even they became accustomed to the suspense, and rather 
 thought that their brother enjoyed a charmed life that 
 could not be shortened or endangered by, as they ex- 
 pressed it, " Yankee bullets." 
 
 They had not received any communication from the 
 young man since Fredericksburg, and thought it curious 
 that he had not written to assure them of his safety. 
 Though knowing the exigencies and demands of military 
 life, it did not create any great anxiety in their minds, as 
 the lists of killed and wounded, as hurriedly telegraphed 
 from the field hospitals, had not contained the young 
 man's name. 
 
 The judge had just come out on the veranda to smoke 
 his after-dinner pipe, as good cigars in those days were 
 a very rare article in the South, while corncobs and to- 
 
32 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 bacco could be always obtained. I had accompanied 
 him, and we were sitting down, the old gentleman talking 
 to me about the happy Christmas days of a few years be- 
 fore when his son Arthur was at home— a subject on 
 which he seemed to linger ; for the judge doted more 
 and more upon the boy as his absence became longer. 
 Suddenly I heard a subdued cry from Miss Belle, who 
 was looking out of one of the upper windows over 
 our heads, and turning around I saw a light wagon 
 just drawing up at the steps of the house. In it upon 
 the back seat were two Confederate officers, one of them 
 supporting the other, who seemed in an almost fainting 
 condition. 
 
 As the wheels stopped, he appeared to rouse himself, 
 and said faintly, though in quite a weak voice : " Home 
 again ! " 
 
 The next instant, with a scream, " It's Arthur's voice! " 
 Miss Belle and the judge had run to the wagon, from 
 which Harry Walton, with bandaged head, was support- 
 ing Arthur Peyton. They were around him in an instant 
 with tears, caresses, and cries of joy. 
 
 Then suddenly Miss Belle shrieked out : " Arthur, 
 Where's your arm ? " 
 
 The boy gasped, " Lost at Fredericksburg," and fainted 
 away upon his father's breast, who groaned " Great God ! 
 it's his right arm ! " while Laura looking at him with a 
 pale face, sobbed, " Maimed for life ! " 
 
 In a moment they had him upstairs ; I, calling for my 
 horse to be saddled, prepared to ride into Columbia for a 
 doctor. While this was being done, Harry Walton and I, 
 left alone together, looked at each other on the veranda. 
 
 " You," I said, " are wounded also ?" 
 
 " Yes," replied he; '' the fragment of a shell grazed my 
 head at Fredericksburg. My hurt is slight. God knows 
 how Laura's brother's wound will turn out ! " 
 
 We neither of us went in, to interrupt the first agony of 
 grief that came upon the Peytons. Both Major Walton 
 and myself considered such a scene as a sacred one. 
 
 A moment after, Miss Laura's voice was heard crying, 
 " Get a doctor, quick ! " and Belle screamed, " Arthur's 
 dying ! " 
 
 I sprang upon my horse, and as the judge came hur- 
 riedly upon the veranda, I shouted: " Don't fear ! I will 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 33 
 
 have a doctor here as soon as horseflesh can do it," and 
 galloped away down the avenue. An hour afterward 
 i returned, followed by the best physician in Columbia 
 that I could obtain,— good doctors being scarce, most of 
 them having volunteered their services in the field. 
 
 While the physician went up to make his examination, 
 the young ladies came downstairs, and Miss Belle, with 
 feminine logic and philosophy, strode up to me, and with 
 flashing eyes whispered : '' It was your friends who have 
 done this to my brother. How can you expect me ever 
 to endure your sight again ? " 
 
 *' Hush! " said Laura, coming between us. " Belle, you 
 are unjust. Lawrence had no more to do with this than you, 
 and has but this moment proved his friendship and sym- 
 pathy by doing everything in his power to save our 
 brother's life." 
 
 " Oh ! you love him! " cried her sister; "you love him 
 yef ; but when, if my brother lives, you look at his empty 
 sleeve, you will hate this northern man as I do." ^Vith 
 that she walked into the house. 
 
 " Forgive her, Lawrence," said Laura, apologetically; 
 *' she is but a child. Remember her excitement, her 
 love for her brother, and her misery at seeing him thus 
 maimed." 
 
 " I have every consideration," I replied, " for your family 
 in your bereavement; but think, dear Laura, in what a 
 fearful position I am placed when every misfortune of this 
 war is laid upon me, — when I am surrounded by enemies, 
 and have nowhere to turn but to the friendship of you 
 and your family." 
 
 " I will remember," said Laura; " I will fry to remember 
 — if I can." 
 
 As these words, ominous to my future happiness, fell 
 from the lips of the girl I loved, the surgeon came down 
 and made his report. With careful nursing and tender 
 care, there was every chance for the young man's life. 
 
 " But his arm ! " almost sobbed the judge ; " his arm ! 
 My poor maimed boy ! " and Miss Belle, after echoing her 
 father, cried out to me, as I rode away from the house; 
 '■' This is what your northern brothers have done to us, 
 Mr. Lawrence Bryant ! " 
 
 Under these circumstances could my reflections that 
 evening as I rode into Columbia have been pleasant ones ; 
 
 3 
 
34 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 or my sleep that night have been the sleep of the happy 
 and unconcerned ? 
 
 The closing catastrophe of my courtship was coming 
 — I knew it. To reach the climax would take but a little 
 time. 
 
 When I rode out to inquire after Arthur's health, Miss 
 Belle received me, sometimes with scowls, sometimes 
 with ironical remarks, that showed me that I could expect 
 nothing from her but open animosity. 
 
 Laura attempted to palliate this and explain it, but even 
 as she did so her manner was forced and constrained. 
 She was not the open, light-hearted ingenuous girl who 
 first became my sweetheart and then my affianced bride. 
 There was evidently some secret influence upon her 
 mind which was weaning her heart from me. 
 
 In the course of the next two months her brother had 
 recovered sufficiently to lounge upon the veranda, the 
 light spring air every day giving him greater and greater 
 strength, but the empty sleeve in his uniform was a con- 
 stant reminder to his sisters of what he had lost : and 
 the helplessness of the young man with his right arm 
 gone stimulated his family's hatred to the North, which 
 fell upon me as its nearest representative. The old 
 judge's cordiality of manner gradually left him, his 
 answers to my remarks became monosyllables, and Laura 
 herself, as she looked at that empty sleeve, seemed to 
 grow colder and colder to me, and to show greater cor- 
 diality and warmth to Major Walton, who every day rode 
 over to inquire how the patient progressed, and to linger 
 all day with the young ladies after he had discovered that 
 the patient was better, apparently charming them by his 
 anecdotes of battle, and of dangers undertaken and 
 endured in the defense of their beloved cause. 
 
 In such scenes I, of course, had no part, and Laura 
 seemed to take rather a pleasure in innuendoes that 
 taunted me for my lack of gallantry in not being a sol- 
 dier, such as: " This Columbia of ours cannot interest you 
 much. Major Walton — now that all the men have gone to 
 the war " — or—'' Oh! the stay-at-homes ! Were I a man 
 like you, Mr. Bryant, I'd fight for some side ! " Such 
 remarks she would emphasize with a haughty laugh, 
 dwelling a little on the " Mr. Bryant," for she sometimes 
 omitted to call me Lawrence at those times. Had I been 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 35 
 
 a thorough judge of a woman's heart, or not blinded by 
 misery ; after such speeches, I should have known that 
 the girl's love was still entirely mine, for then she always 
 seemed to apologize for them by her manner, and some- 
 times to become even more affectionate than she had 
 ever been to me. 
 
 Thus we drifted along, until one day the sword of 
 Damocles, which had hung over our engagement by so 
 fragile a hair, descended and severed, apparently, the 
 love that had bound us together. 
 
 It was a slight incident that brought about the crisis. 
 
 I had been talking with Arthur, who was now conva- 
 lescent, but of course entirely disabled for active mili- 
 tary service. The young man, who had all through this 
 affair been very cordial and friendly to me, was saying 
 that he would like, as soon as he was a little stronger, to 
 obtain employment on the railroad of which I was one of 
 the officers, remarking : '' You, Bryant, know that now 
 I've got to use m.y brains for a living, not my hands." 
 As he said this, the young fellow gazed at his empty 
 sleeve, and a little spasm of agony ran over his face ; 
 then, trying to conjure up a grin, he cried : " Pshaw ! 
 If I only had left \.\\% feeling of it when I lost it ! — but 
 though it's buried up at Fredericksburg, it ached all 
 night. That cold Virginia ground must have given it 
 the rheumatism.'' 
 
 Feeling for the boy's helplessness, I remarked : " You'll 
 soon grow resigned to your loss, Arthur." 
 
 " Perhaps he would," said Miss Belle, who had been 
 listening to us, clad in a dark homespun dress, for the 
 blockade by this time was beginning to tell upon the 
 ladies' costumes down south, "if he had another man to 
 take his place." Then she whispered to me : " Major 
 Walton goes to the front again to-day. This time I did 
 not interrupt his t^te-a-tete with Laura — and the result — ■ 
 
 •ee 
 
 She pointed through a vista of shrubbery, and as I looked 
 I gave a start. Walton was evidently taking leave of 
 my sweetheart, and this time he seemed in great spirits as 
 he mounted his horse. 
 
 What man who loves is not jealous sometimes ? Wal- 
 ton left in despair the last time — now he seemed radiant 
 Had Laura given him hope ? 
 
;^6 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Thus working myself into a fit of rage, I walked down 
 the avenue toward my fiancee, who was just waving a 
 very gracious adieu to the dashing major. 
 
 I can see her now as she looked then, every graceful 
 curve in her girlish figure standing out in full relief 
 against the clear blue of the April sky ; for the scarcity 
 of cloth of all kinds in the South at that time compelled 
 even the women of the wealthiest classes to dress as 
 economically as possible, and Laura's frock of some home- 
 made jean or cotton was entirely without ornamental fluff 
 or flounce to destroy the beauty of her exquisite form, 
 that combined the graces of the girl with the grander 
 beauties of Avomanhood. 
 
 There she stood clad in homespun, a few wild flowers 
 upon the bosom of her dress, a slight flush upon her face, 
 that gradually became paler as she saw the excited agony 
 in mine. 
 
 " You were bidding Major Walton good-by — judging 
 by his look, I should presume the parting had been a ten- 
 der one," 1 said, with a slight sneer, for these long months 
 of trouble had come upon me all at once to make me pas- 
 sionate and hasty. 
 
 <' You — you take a very curious tone to me to-day, 
 Lawrence," murmured the girl, growing slightly paler. 
 
 " Not more curious than the tones you have taken to 
 me ever since your brother returned," answered I, hotly. 
 
 This was by no means diplomatic on my part, as it made 
 Laura remember Arthur's sufferings and loss, that had 
 gradually made her colder to me as a northern man. 
 
 The color came back in a rush to her cheeks. " You 
 do well, Mr. Bryant, to remind me of what has come to 
 me and mine from the hands of your friends," she said, 
 haughtily. "■ You have made me at last remember what 
 my Tove for you made me forget— that I am a southern 
 girl." 
 
 Her answer told me of my mistake, but I was despe- 
 rately jealous, and sneered : " That remembrance was, I 
 presume, assisted by Major Walton ! " 
 
 '' It was ! " 
 
 " Ah ! " 
 
 " It was assisted by every southern man I saw fighting 
 for his country— Harry Walton among the rest," she 
 returned, haughtily. Then, faltcringly, " Lawrence, I 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 37 
 
 have loved — God knows how I've loved — and hoped day 
 by day to win you, through your love of me, to our cause 
 and our side — that my country would be your country — 
 but now," — here she gasped and staggered a little, and 
 then, as if filled with some mighty idea that gave her 
 courage, she drew herself up, and with a calmness, per- 
 haps of despair, uttered : " But now you will not become 
 one of us in love for the South — your kindred will never 
 be my kindred, and at such a time it is not right that a 
 southern girl should wed an enemy of her country ! " 
 
 " You would not say such words if you had ever loved 
 me! "cried I, in agony, for I knew my sweetheart was 
 going to be mine no more. 
 
 " Ever loved you ? " she faltered. " Ever loved you ? 
 What passion do you call it that makes a girl endure the 
 jeers of her friends and scoffs of her kindred to cling to 
 the man they hate and despise ? Is not that devotion ? 
 Is not that true love ? That is what for two years I have 
 given to you, Lawrence Bryant. That is what this ring 
 has cost me ! " And as she said this, she took my engage- 
 ment ring off her finger. 
 
 " My God ! You are going to leave m.e ! " I cried, 
 
 " Yes. It has come at last, Lawrence — at last ! This 
 ring is mine no longer ! " and she held it out to me, and 
 I trembled, for I knew that Laura Peyton, the girl I still 
 loved, was my sweetheart no more. The next moment 
 the ring dropped from her faltering hand upon the grass, 
 and she fell fainting into Miss Belle's arms, who shrieked 
 out at me : 
 
 *' You've broken my sister's heart ! I'll make you fight 
 on one side or the other for this, you Yankee ! " And the 
 girl shook her fist at me, a perfect picture of rage. 
 
 As I rode away, I took my last look at the house in 
 which I left so many pleasant memories. The old judge 
 was smoking on the veranda ; the oaks were as green and 
 beautiful as ever, but the love — the love of the girl I 
 loved — that had left me, and the place looked as desolate 
 as the war had made my heart. 
 
BOOK II. 
 How I Fled from Her. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A CONFEDERATE DETECTIVE. 
 
 My love was lost to me. What was there to hold me to 
 this place, an alien, surrounded by enemies ? I deter- 
 mined to leave South Carolina. I remembered Miss 
 Belle's threat. If I was to fight I would fight for the 
 cause that I loved. I resolved to go north through the 
 Confederate lines — at this time a very difficult matter, 
 though four routes were open to me. One was to get 
 to Wilmington, or some other port, the resort of blockade- 
 runners, and so to Nassau ; another, by way of Suffolk 
 and Norfolk to the Union lines in Virginia ; a third, to 
 go to the coast of South Carolina, and escape by boat to 
 some Union war ship off the coast or to the Federal 
 troops garrisoning Hilton Head ; the fourth was through 
 western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. This 
 latter was very hazardous, as there were a great many 
 bushwhackers and guerillas all along the route. The 
 one to the near sea-coast was not so long, but was well 
 guarded by South Carolinians, who were so entirely 
 devoted to the southern cause, that I could find no Union 
 sympathizers to help me on my way, although in the last 
 few months I had known of men escaping by this route. 
 
 After careful deliberation, I determined to go by way 
 of Suffolk and Norfolk, as my connection with railroads 
 would give me passes and ticket accommodations, per- 
 haps, where other people could not get them. Beside 
 this, 1 would obtain aid from a secret organization of 
 Union men in North Carolina. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, 3g 
 
 1 knew I had no time to lose, and made my arrange- 
 ments hurriedly. Once only did I hesitate in my course, 
 and that was the day after my last interview with Laura, 
 at "The Oaks.'' I was walking down the main street 
 of Columbia, busied with some of my preparations for 
 departure that I was compelled to make in the most 
 guarded, careful, and surreptitious manner, when two 
 young ladies passed me on horseback. A glance showed 
 me that they were the Misses Peyton. Miss Belle gave 
 me a haughty, unrecognizing glance. Laura looked at me, 
 seemingly about to speak, then faltered, and, apparently 
 urged by her sister, rode on. A single word to me, from 
 her, I believe, even at that moment, would have held me 
 in South Carolina. With my heart in my eyes, I looked 
 after the girl I loved as she rode away. Twice Laura 
 seemed to hesitate as if she would turn back, each time 
 opposed by her sister. Once she nearly made the move- 
 ment, but Miss Belle seized her bridle and turned her 
 horse once more away from me, apparently saying a few 
 hurried words to her. As she did so, I saw Laura's grace- 
 ful form, clad in its gray, homespun habit, sway in the 
 saddle ; but after that she never attempted to gaze back 
 or turn again. I staggered away to my office and there 
 found a document that hurried my arrangements for de- 
 parture. 
 
 Had I known it, however, I would have found that 
 before my sweetheart had ridden a quarter of a mile 
 she had, despite her sister's tears, entreaties, and rage, 
 deliberately returned along the street, trying in vain to 
 find me, to tell me the words for which I longed. 
 
 The document I gazed at was an official order from the 
 general commanding the district to report for active 
 service in the Confederate army at Charleston within 
 seven days. 
 
 Accompanying the command was a letter from my 
 friend Bee, on General Beauregard's staff, which ran as 
 follows : 
 
 " Headquarters Department S. C, Ga., And Fla., ) 
 Charleston, April i, 1863. \ 
 
 " My Dear Bryant : I have just learned the news that you are to 
 be ordered to take active service with the Confederacy. As to the 
 legality of this order, there can, of course, be no doubt, you having 
 remained two years within our borders after the time allowed for the 
 departure of aliens. You have probably been pennitted to remain in 
 
40 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 your position as engineer of the South Carolina Railroad because 
 the Confederacy needed your services as such. Now, however, 
 the 'powers that be' have decided that you become one of us. I 
 advise you to make no opposition, as it will only entail trouble and 
 danger upon you. Come to Charleston quietly, and if in my power, 
 I will see that you get a staff appointment, — something that will not 
 compel you to absolutely use your arms against the people I have a 
 strong suspicion you regard as your brothers. A word to the wise is 
 sufficient, as I know everything will be done to compel your com- 
 plete compliance with the order that has been sent you, — your 
 friend, Mr. Amos Pierson, having taken an apparently active interest 
 in this matter and an army contractor being at present a power in the 
 South. Your well-wisher, 
 
 "Stuart Bee." 
 
 The effect of this was simply to hasten my departure from 
 Columbia. I completed my preparations, and next morn- 
 ing, the 3(;1 day of April, 1863, boarded a train on the 
 Charleston, Columbia and Augusta Railroad for Graham, 
 N. C, at which point I expected to meet a friend who 
 would advise me as to the best way to reach Suffolk. 
 
 In these preparations I was necessarily compelled to 
 make a confidant of my valet, the red-headed Caucus. 
 This disclosure I made after pledging him to secrecy very 
 privately in my office the night before I left. Then 
 Caucus surprised me. 
 
 I had supposed him devoted, body and soul, to his 
 masters in the South, but he burst out : '' Oh, 'fore de 
 Lord, Massa Bryant, if I could get north wid you ! " 
 
 " Go with me ? " 
 
 " Yes. I's longin' to hear de Yankee gunboats fire, dat 
 means freedom for dis darky." 
 
 " Why, I had supposed that you loved the Peytons too 
 well to wish ever to leave their service." 
 
 " Yas, I lub de Peytons ; dey has been mighty kind to 
 me ; but I lub habin* my own way, and doin' nothin' when 
 I choose to bettar. Dar's white blood in me, Massa 
 Bryant ; look at my head ! De redness of it means dat I's 
 a spirit dat '11 fight for bossin' myself. I's named Caucus 
 cause I's Caucussion ! " 
 
 " It is impossible for me to take you with me. I could 
 never get you through to the Union lines." 
 
 " Don't I know dat ? " returned Caucus. " Haven't I 
 thought of dat ! Wouldn't I have gone myself long ago 
 if I had reckoned I could fotch dar ! Why is you goin', 
 Massa Dryant ? Why you not want de Peytons to know ? 
 
HOW 1 ESCAPED, 4I 
 
 Has de young missus gwine and gib you de shake? 
 Always reckon she vvah powerful gwine on you, sah. 
 Mighty sorry to see you leab, sah." 
 
 Caucus would have run on for half the night lamenting 
 my departure, and expressing astonishment and wonder, 
 had not I cut him short by handing him a letter to the 
 railroad company resigning my office in their employ, and 
 charging him as he loved my personal safety not to deUvei 
 it to the corporation until one week from the time of my 
 departure. 
 
 I then spent the remainder of the night completing my 
 preparations. I had gradually, during the last few months, 
 exchanged all the Confederate money I had for U. S. 
 greenbacks, trading these little by little, as time and oc- 
 casion permitted, with the Federal prisoners in Columbia. 
 As Confederate money had greatly depreciated, and I had 
 now over one thousand dollars in greenbacks, I took 
 five hundred of this sum, considering that it would be 
 sufficient to carry me north. The rest I inclosed in a 
 short note to Laura, telling her that I knew from the 
 certain poverty coming to all in South Carolina that some 
 day or other this money would be of service to her, beg- 
 ging her to accept it as a loan from one who would never 
 cease to wish to be her friend, and who would never for- 
 get that she was the only woman he had loved — who still 
 thought her to be the only woman he would ever love. 
 This missive I charged young Caucus to give to Miss 
 Peyton on the same day he delivered my resignation to 
 the railroad company, and for no cause whatsoever to 
 deliver either of the messages before the time I had in- 
 structed him. 
 
 When I set out on my journey I had with me a 
 Colt's revolver and cartridges, my money, the best suit 
 of clothes I possessed, and a few cherished mementoes 
 of the girl I still loved but left behind me. I had already 
 sent a message to a friend of mine in North Carolina 
 who was a Union man ; besides this the bond of masonic 
 fellowship being also between us, I knew that he would 
 never betray me. 
 
 I had no sooner boarded the cars than a great difficulty 
 confronted me. My long connection with a leading 
 southern railway made me known to nearly all brakemen, 
 conductors, and engineers upon the different roads over 
 
42 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 • 
 
 which I traveled, and consequently forbade any attempt 
 at traveling under an assumed name unless 1 could 
 thoroughly disguise myself. To all inquiries as to my 
 destination I replied that I was going on railroad busi- 
 r, ess to North Carolina and Virginia. Tliere were several 
 Confederate officers on the train, traveling to join their 
 various commands, who seemed to look with suspicion 
 upon any one dressed in citizen's clothes, but after seeing 
 me recognized by the conductor as one of the officers of 
 the South Carolina Railroad, their suspicions were lulled. 
 The same effect was also produced upon two or three 
 army detectives that were upon the train looking out for 
 deserters and stragglers from the Confederate ranks. 
 
 Travel at that time in the South was by no means 
 pleasant, as the railroads were gradually getting into a 
 very dilapidated and unsafe condition from the inability 
 of their authorities to provide them with either new iron 
 or rolling stock, — nearly all the iron in the Confederacy 
 being seized by the Confederate Government for the 
 manufacture of cannon and other war material. 
 
 I determined that the railroad business that carried me 
 away from Columbia should be the pursuit of some new 
 rails for the South Carolina Railroad. 
 
 This point decided, I sat down in the car and rumi- 
 nated in that kind of stunned daze that comes upon every 
 man after one of those great earthquakes of life that 
 tear up and destroy the desires, aims, and social topog- 
 raphy of existence. I was flying from the woman who 
 had been for three years the one object of my thoughts 
 by day, my dreams by night ; not because I did not love 
 her, but because 1 feared that if I stayed within reach of 
 her, she would allure me to the cause I hated, and make 
 me, like herself, ready to fight the people whom I loved. 
 
 At this moment I presume I must have given a sigh or 
 groan, or something of the kind, for a peculiar, twangy, 
 nasal North Carolina voice broke in on my reverie, say- 
 ing : *' You don't look 'ticular spunky this morning, Mr. 
 Bryant. Can't you move your head a little so I can git a 
 square spit through the keer window ? " 
 
 I moved my head, and recognized Pete Bassett, a 
 government detective, who had been about our railroad 
 yards for the last few we^.ks looking after the Federal 
 prisoners of war that were at this time arriving in large 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 43 
 
 numbers from the North for confinement in the stockade 
 near the town. 
 
 Mr. Bassett seemed inclined to be chatty. Unheeding 
 my apparent disincHnation for conversation, he insisted 
 on telling me of the various escaped Federal prisoners he 
 had assisted in recapturing, punctuating his anecdotes 
 by squirts of tobacco juice that he delivered with the 
 precision of a marksman at the telegraph poles that we 
 ran past. 
 
 He invited me to drink at every station. Do what I 
 could he seemed to be at my elbow. His very cordiality 
 seemed to me suspicious. I became convinced that foi 
 some reason or other his gray eyes, reddened by bad 
 whisky, were always on me, and that he had a particular 
 interest in my movements. I determined to test this. 
 
 At the next stopping place I knew that the train ran 
 up the track to a water tank and then returned to the sta- 
 tion before proceeding on its way. 
 
 I jumped off the cars as we ran slowly past the place, 
 and to my disgust Bassett sprang off also. 
 
 " What did you bolt the train for, Mr. Bryant ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Why, to stretch my legs," I replied. " It's only going 
 for water and '11 be back in five minutes. What made 
 you jump it also ? " 
 
 " Wall — for — for about the same objict," he muttered. 
 " You see I reckoned you knew the customs of your road, 
 and wouldn't be after being left yourself. I calculated 
 your lead was a good one to follow. — Have another pull 
 at my corn juice ? " 
 
 " No, thank you I " remarked I. 
 
 A few moments afterward the tram returned, but I 
 boarded it with a sinking heart. I knew Pete Bassett, one 
 of the coolest sleuth-hounds in the Confederacy, was 
 on my trail — that my attempt to gain the Union lines 
 was being shadowed. 
 
 After running off the track once, and being detained 
 several hours, we arrived at Charlotte, where I had to wait 
 two hours before resuming my journey. 
 
 In this place I expected to meet no one to help me ; 
 but at Graham I anticipated seeing my Union friend. 
 
 I therefore acted in such a manner at Charlotte, as 
 would throw Bassett off his guard at Graham. 
 
44 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Immediately on my arriving in Charlotte I went about 
 looking apparently for a friend at the depot, though I 
 expected to meet no one. I then wandered about the 
 town, up one street and down another, all the time con- 
 scious that I was dogged by Mr. Bassett. After doing 
 this apparently without an object, which was exactly 
 what I would in Graham a few hours after with an ob- 
 ject, I returned to the hotel, casually met my pursuer, 
 and asked him to drink with me, saying I'd been kill- 
 ing time looking about the town, but had not seen a soul 
 I knew, all the men being at the war, and I not much 
 of a hand at making friends with ladies. 
 
 I then boarded the train, Mr. Bassett accompanying 
 me, and reached Graham at three o'clock in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 Here, telling Bassett I would lay over for the night, 
 being tired of the continual jolting of the train on the 
 bad track, I wandered about the railroad depot. Good- 
 shaw, the Union friend of mine, was there to meet me, 
 but I passed him with an unknowing glance and a mut- 
 tered " To-night." 
 
 He in these suspicious times being of quick wit, said 
 nothing, but boarded the train as if looking for the ar- 
 rival of some one else. 
 
 I was sure Bassett suspected nothing, and my wander- 
 ing about Charlotte had made him careless in his watch 
 on me. 
 
 After a little time in the depot, I went to the hotel, de- 
 posited my carpet-bag there, took an apparently aimless 
 walk about the village, as I had done in Charlotte, taking 
 care to pass the house of George Goodshaw, and note 
 that the window blinds were tied with red, white and 
 blue cords — a signal among the Union men of that part 
 of North Carolina that the house could be visited in 
 safety. 
 
 Satisfied in this, I continued my ramble, finally reach- 
 ing the hotel, taking supper with Mr. Bassett, and after- 
 ward playing euchre with him for the drinks. Losing 
 most of the games, I got disgusted at my hard luck and 
 went to bed, Bassett doing the same. 
 
 Half an hour afterward I sneaked from my room in the 
 hotel. As I opened the door I heard a noise like the 
 banging of a boot a little farther akmgthe passage way in 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 45 
 
 the chamber I knew to be occupied by Bassett, and on 
 looking, by the dim light of the hall, found a string run- 
 ning from the knob of my door in that direction. In a 
 flash I knew the detective was on the alert. I ran down 
 the stairs as quietly but as rapidly as possible, and in a 
 moment was in the open air. I could hear Bassett's feet 
 on the stairs in pursuit. As I did so, the whistle of an 
 incoming train sounded in the still night air, I knew the 
 time-table of the road. It was the night express bound 
 north. 
 
 As if by instinct I turned and ran toward the depot, 
 and as I ran I thought Bassett's steps sounded but 
 fifty yards behind mine. I would make him think I took 
 that train ; if he boarded it. I should then be free to con- 
 sult with my friend unmolested. I gained the depot, and 
 took care that he saw me enter it, then jumped on 
 the platform of one of the cars, passed through it, de- 
 scended leisurely on the other side, and strolled into the 
 darkness. I remained in the gloom of an old woodshed, 
 and could discern by the dim light of the station Bassett 
 searching for me on the train. The whistle blew, the 
 wheels revolved, and the detective, sure that I was 
 on it, rolled off northward to Raleigh. I was alone in 
 Graham. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PROVOST MARSHAL. 
 
 A FEW minutes afterward I found myself at Good- 
 shaw's grasping his hospitable hand. His cheery voice 
 said : " Well, getting out of the woods at last, Jkyant ? 
 I would do the same, but I have a family, and that ties 
 me here." 
 
 We consulted eagerly as to the, best routes to take 
 for my escape. The eastern portion of the State was 
 considered dangerous on account of guerilla warfare. 
 I might make my way either by the Cape Fear or Neuse 
 river in a boat, to the Federal war-ships. Some had 
 escaped that way guided by negroes in the night from one 
 point of the river to another, the blacks always proving 
 entirely reliable guides, and no instance being known of 
 
46 HOW 1 ESCAPED. 
 
 their ever having betrayed any Union men who had trusted 
 in them. But to this route there was a serious objection 
 because the terminal points were too far from the Federal 
 lines. If I reached Newberne by the coast I would then 
 have to travel north through dismal swamps, before 
 reaching the Federal gunboats, and the people about this 
 portion of the country were so entirely in sympathy with 
 the Confederate cause, that from them I could expect no 
 aid. 
 
 Upon hearing of the difficulties attending a journey 
 upon these routes, I determined to attempt to make my 
 way out of the Confederate lines by Suffolk and Norfolk, 
 going via Weldon on the Seaboard and Roanoke Rail- 
 road. Then I explained to Goodshaw the pursuit of 
 Bassett. He looked very serious at this, but said : " The 
 detective is one train ahead of you. Let us hope that 
 he will go beyond the point at which you must leave the 
 railroad." 
 
 Next morning, as I paid my hotel bill, the proprietor 
 asked me if I knew the name of the thief who had run 
 away in the night without paying his bill. 
 
 The train soon took me to Raleigh, where I received 
 further assistance from another friend. Fortunately this 
 gentleman was on very good terms with the provost mar- 
 shal at Raleigh, and introduced me to him, and he, recog- 
 nizing me as one of the officers of the South Carolina 
 Railway, kindly gave me a pass to Richmond, I telling 
 him I was going there to attempt to induce the Confed- 
 erate Government to permit us to have some new rails, in 
 order to repair our road, which was now in quite an unser- 
 viceable condition. 
 
 As this was almost a military duty for the service of 
 the Confederacy, I not only got a passport, but was invited 
 by the provost marshal to dinner. 
 
 As every day added to the danger of my being' sus- 
 pected and arrested, because the moment I did not report 
 at Charleston according to orders from the Confeder- 
 ate Government, I would be considered as a deserter, I 
 declined the provost marshal's dinner, and arrived at 
 Goldsboro next morning, Monday. This place was under 
 strict martial law. 
 
 I found out that a man in citizen's costume was a very 
 rare sight, in this part of the Confederacy, and that he was 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 47 
 
 always regarded with more or less suspicion. Many offi- 
 cers would immediately demand his passport. Fortu- 
 nately mine was of the right kind. 
 
 Here, while in the depot preparatory to taking the train 
 for Weldon, two curious incidents took place that changed 
 the whole form of my attempt to escape. 
 
 I had hardly been in the depot a moment before, to 
 my dismay, I met my friend Mr. Bassett. 
 
 He gave me a very surly scowl and growled, " I was 
 coming back looking for you. That was a mighty mean 
 trick you played on me at Graham t'other night. I 
 have been 'way up to Weldon, reckoning you was on the 
 keers with me." 
 
 " Trick ? " replied I. " What trick ? I should rather 
 think it was a trick that you played on the hotel-keeper, 
 running off in the middle of the night and not paying 
 your board bill. He is looking for you, also." 
 
 " That kind of talk won't do," said Bassett, savagely. 
 " I have got instructions to look out for you, and I have 
 a mind to arrest you at once ! " 
 
 The only way with this man was to dominate and crush 
 him. 
 
 My passport made me bold. I said : " Arrest me if 
 you dare ! You will soon find yourself in jail if you try 
 it. Have you got a warrant ? " 
 
 " No," he said, "but I have got instrtcctions !'' 
 
 " Very well," replied I. " You disturb me in my busi- 
 ness, and I will have you pulled over the coals at Rich- 
 mond in a way that will astonish you. Look at this pass- 
 port ! " 
 
 I poked in his face the one issued by the provost 
 marshal at Raleigh. The sight of it made him gasp with 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Do you see this ? " said I. " This is a permit to go 
 to Richmond on military business of importance to the 
 Confederate Go^'ernment ! You dare to disturb me, and I 
 don't know what a court-martial will do with you ! " 
 
 " No," he muttered, " I would not dare lay a hand on 
 the man with that passport," for this " business of import- 
 ance to the Confederate Government " cowed and aston- 
 ished him. " But all the same," said he, " I will go to 
 Richmond with you to see that you execute it ! Busi- 
 ness of importance to the Confederate Government ? " 
 
48 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 muttered he, moving away. " Don't forgit, I'll be on the 
 train with you, Mr. Bryant, but as she won't roll out for 
 about fifteen minutes, I'll fill my bottle with corn juice 
 for the journey." With that Bassett walked off through 
 the depot, about as completely crushed a detective as I 
 ever saw. 
 
 I was meditating upon Mr. Bassett's kindness about 
 going to Richmond with me, to be sure that I executed 
 that " business of importance to the Confederate Gov- 
 ernment," when the telegraph clerk hurriedly cried out 
 very excitedly to the people in the depot : " Great news 
 from Longstreet ! He has driven the Yanks back on 
 Norfolk ! " 
 
 The remarks I heard from the people about me con- 
 vinced me that I would have little chance of escaping 
 from Suffolk county into the Federal lines. Longstreet 
 had so advanced his lines by driving the Union troops 
 back, that my journey would be considerably lengthened 
 and its dangers and difficulties materially heightened. 
 With Mr. Bassett waiting to board the same train I did, 
 I felt that, should I leave the cars at Weldon, as I 
 intended, he would follow me. Under these circum- 
 stances, without a passport through Longstreet's lines, 
 my escape would be impossible. 
 
 As I meditated, a special train bound south ran sud- 
 denly into the station. At all events, I must put Mr. 
 Bassett off my track. The train for the south attracted 
 my attention. Bassett, I knew, had made up his mind I 
 was going north. A sudden thought, almost an inspira- 
 tion, flashed through my brain. The conductor of the 
 train for the south cried " All aboard ! " 
 
 Its wheels commenced to re olve, I hurriedly crossed 
 the platform, and mounted the last of its moving cars. 
 We ran out of the station. I felt certain I had accom- 
 plished my object. The detective was left behind 
 me. With a sigh of relief I passed into one of the cars, 
 which was poorly furnished, worn out and dilapidated, as 
 were all railroad cars in the Confederacy at that time. 
 There was a heterogeneous mass of people in this car, 
 among them three or four red-faced men who were talk- 
 ing loudly, and smoking such cigars as I had not seen for 
 years— evidently genuine Havanas. 
 
 They were apparently seafaring men. I listened to 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 49 
 
 their conversation, and discovered that they were captains 
 of blockade-runners whose vessels were at Wilmington, 
 and who had run up to Richmond on a pleasure trip while 
 their ships were discharging their cargoes and taking 
 in cotton. One of them, a burly, jovial, good-natured 
 Briton, called by his companions Captain Samson, was 
 telling some anecdotes connected with his profession that 
 moved his listeners to shrieks of laughter. Even with 
 the excitement and peculiar difficulties of my situation 
 about me, one of them has to this day impressed itself 
 upon my mind. 
 
 " You see," remarked Samson, " the Yankee govern- 
 ment had to get so many new officers and sailors into its 
 service to keep up this blockade that is making our fort- 
 unes, that a number of old merchant captains received 
 appointments as lieutenants and masters in the regular 
 United States Navy, — among them an absent-minded 
 New England skipper named Eph Starbuck, who had 
 been the last twenty years captain of the Mary Jane, 
 a Boston coastc that ran regularly to Charleston, South 
 Carolina. He was placed as lieutenant on board a gun- 
 boat bound to that port because he was supposed to know 
 every channel and outlet from Charleston as well as a 
 local pilot. 
 
 "Well, one night he was officer of the watch on his 
 little gun-boat looking out for blockade-runners, when 
 suddenly he heard a hail from another Federal cruiser — 
 ' Ship ahoy ! ' 
 
 " ' Ahoy, there ! ' answered Starbuck. 
 
 " ' What ship is that ? ' 
 
 " ' Mary Jane for Charleston, with general merchan- 
 dise ! ' growled Starbuck from force of habit. 
 
 " The next minute his gun-boat was boarded and cap- 
 tured by the Federal cruiser, who of course thought she 
 was a blockade-runner ! It is rumored that Starbuck who 
 was half asleep at the time had forgotten all about the 
 war, and as his Federal friends boarded him, yelled out, 
 ' Pirates ! ' " 
 
 A moment after, the entrance of the conductor stopped 
 my laughter, and forced my mind to m.y own situation. I 
 did not know even where the train was bound — 1 must 
 find that out immediately, I was going away from Rich- 
 mond; consequently my passport was now useless. 
 4 
 
5© HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " You are bound for your vessel, I suppose," I said, 
 touching the arm of the red-faced Briton. 
 
 *'Yes, sir, to Wilmington. We go down the river to- 
 day." Then I knew the train must be for Wilmington. 
 The conductor was rapidly approaching me. I knew that 
 in the absence of a ticket which I had failed to purchase, 
 he would demand a passport. I had none and I felt 
 that I could not obtain one. 
 
 As he approached me, with an effrontery born of the 
 desperate nature of my situation I said : " Conductor, 
 can you give me the directions to the provost marshal's 
 office at Wilmington ? " 
 
 *'Certamly," he replied giving me the address. 
 
 '' Thank you," said I. " Can't you go with me and show 
 me the place when the train gets there, as I have never 
 been in the city before ? " 
 
 " Of course I can," said the conductor. "Your pass- 
 port?" 
 
 " I haven't got any. You can go with me to the provost 
 marshal's office. 1 left hurriedly on immediate business. 
 I have to go to Nassau to obtain iron for the railroad of 
 which I am engineer. Here is my card." 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Bryant, I know you very well by reputa- 
 tion," replied the conductor, " and I believe I have 
 passed over your line under a pass signed by you." 
 
 I tendered him my fare. 
 
 "Oh, no. Not from a railroad man in your position." 
 
 I remarked that I had not had time to obtain a pass- 
 port, as it was necessary for us to have the iron at once. 
 
 " Yes, the rails are in bad condition. I wish you could 
 buy some for our road while you are getting your own. 
 Gracious ! that was a thundering jolt ! " remarked the 
 conductor as we rolled over a dilapidated rail. 
 
 This official's apparent knowledge of me seemed to dis- 
 pel any suspicion which my civilian dress had caused 
 among the passengers of the train. 
 
 I entered into conversation with the captains of the 
 blockade-runners, and soon obtained all the information 
 that I wished with regard to taking passage for Nassau. 
 
 "You had better come on my boat, the Dart," said 
 Samson. " We leave to-day at two. I have made three 
 successful in-and-out trips already, so you are pretty cer- 
 tain of not being captured." 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 5I 
 
 ** No," I replied, " I shall hardly be able to leave im- 
 mediately." 
 
 But at that very moment my mind was made up, 
 whether he knew it or not, to be a passenger on Cap- 
 tain Samson's steamer. The details I received with re- 
 gard to passengers upon a blockade-runner were all very 
 satisfactory, except this one, which made a great imj^-es- 
 sion on me at the time, and a much stronger one soon 
 afterward. Each vessel, before she was permitted to go 
 down the river, was smoked and poled for stowaways 
 fleeing from Confederate jurisdiction or military service. 
 This operation was explained to me at length, and was as 
 follows : The blockade-runners being invariably loaded 
 with cotton, stowaways were compelled to conceal them- 
 selves among the bales. To prevent this, all interstices 
 between the bales upon the upper deck were thoroughly 
 explored by long, sharp poles, so that if the fugitive had 
 any feelings whatever his cries generally made his pres- 
 ence known to the Confederate soldiers ; but as the pol- 
 ing was not always as successful in the hold of the ves- 
 sel, after the cotton had been probed as well as it was 
 possible to do it, the hatches of the boat were shut down 
 and the hold was thoroughly fumigated by dense smoke 
 from burning rosin, which, as the captain remarked, if it 
 didn't bring out the skulker, generally killed him. 
 
 " I brought two corpses into Nassau last time," re- 
 marked the skipper, sententiously, with a jovial, kind- 
 hearted laugh that sent a shudder through me. 
 
 The distance between Goldsboro and Wilmington by 
 rail in those days was about seventy miles ; but such 
 was the wretched state of the road-bed that our train 
 took nearly five hours to make the run. In fact, a 
 hand-car could have almost made the trip in the same 
 time. I had ample evidence of the fact a little later. 
 
 Arrived in Wilmington, I stepped off the cars before 
 they had ceased their motion, and sneltering myself behind 
 one of the numerous cotton bales piled up by the side of 
 the railroad track, scanned the faces of the passengers as 
 they descended from the train. After close scrutiny I 
 gave 0. sigh of relief. I was now entirely sure that Bas- 
 sett was separated from me for the present. 
 
 I had determined upon a plan while on my journey to 
 Wilmington. I got hold of the conductor and he took 
 
52 HOW 1 ESCAPED. 
 
 me to the provost marshal's office. I asked to see the 
 officer in command, and after a few moments was shown 
 in to that gentleman. I found him to be a pale, sallow 
 captain of Louisiana volunteers, with piercing black 
 eyes, a jet black moustache and a rather comical, but 
 decidedly sharp smile. He had lost a leg at Malvern 
 Hilly was dressed in fatigue Confederate uniform and 
 was smoking an excellent Havana cigar which had been 
 presented to him by some of his friends, the captains of 
 blockade-runners, who found it well to be on good terms 
 with the provost marshal of the port to which their ves- 
 sels ran. He answered to the name of Captain Du- 
 quesne, and his smile might be said to be at high tide 
 when I came in. He was hurriedly giving directions to 
 a sergeant in attendance as to the disposal of three 
 or four refugees that had been discovered on board a 
 blockade-runner that day by the unpleasant yet effect- 
 ive process called " probing and smoking." 
 
 This was by no means reassuring to me, but I opened 
 my business with as off-hand and take-it-for-granted a 
 manner as possible. 
 
 "I have come," said I, " as chief engineer of the 
 South Carolina Railway to obtain from you a pass to 
 leave the Confederacy and visit Nassau upon a blockade- 
 runner in order to make a contract with English capital- 
 ists to furnish railroad iron for the road of which 1 am 
 an officer." 
 
 " Your name ? " asked the captain. 
 
 I presented my card, fortunately having one or two 
 yet in my possession. 
 
 "Ah, Mr. Bryant," he said smiling, ''permit me to in- 
 troduce myself. Captain Duquesne, tenth Louisiana Vol- 
 unteers, C. S. A., Acting Provost Marshal, Wilmington, 
 N. C, and to present you with a cigar," 
 
 I accepted the cigar, and, ye gods ! how I enjoyed it ! — 
 the first genuine Havana I had smoked for over two 
 years. 
 
 ''You have a pass, T presume, Mr. Bryant?'' said the 
 captain between the whiffs of his-Cabafia. 
 
 I bowed and presented mine. 
 
 " Ah," he remarked, looking rather suspicious ; -' this 
 is to Richmond, not Wilmington." 
 
 ''I was on my way to Richmond," I replied, ''but 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 53 
 
 found when I reached Goldsboro that it would be im- 
 possible to obtain railroad iron in Richmond, as the Con- 
 federate authorities need every scrap in their possession 
 for war purposes. Consequently I took the other and 
 only plan. The railroad I represent has been of the 
 greatest use to the Confederacy in forwarding supplies, 
 war material, and men for the government at Richmond. 
 You know that ! " 
 
 " Certainly ! " 
 
 " It has not had a new rail laid down upon it for over 
 two years. If new iron is not placed upon some portions 
 of its road-bed it will be unable to perform the work your 
 government requires of it. It is absolutely necessary 
 that we should have at least three thousand tons of new 
 rails almost immediately. The only hope I have of ob- 
 taining them is by buying them in England, and for that 
 purpose it is necessary for me, in order to get them 
 quickly, to proceed at once to Nassau." 
 
 " How will you buy them in England ? " asked the 
 captain, 
 
 " The road I represent has accumulated a large amount 
 of cotton for that purpose, which it will ship out of the 
 Confederacy by blockade-runners to pay for the iron for- 
 warded to us from England." 
 
 '' Ah ! " said the captain, a smile illuminating his coun- 
 tenance as he did a little rapid figuring upon a piece of 
 coarse brown paper in front of him, " iron rails would be 
 worth — about fifty cents per pound laid down in Wil- 
 mington by blockade-runners, three thousand tons would 
 cost one million five hundred thousand dollars. For this 
 you would have to pay in cotton, worth on the wharves 
 at Wilmington five cents per pound, which would be 
 about thirty million pounds — sixty thousand bales. What 
 a cursed lot of cotton your railroad must have, and what 
 an awful lot of blockade-runners it will require to carry 
 it out ! " 
 
 " We haven't quite that much on hand," replied I, " but 
 will have it by the time it is necessary to make deliveries. 
 I shall contract, however, for such iron as we can pay for. 
 Even one thousand tons of new rails would be of some 
 advantage to us." 
 
 " Certainly, but not a great deal, for so long a track as 
 yours, judging by the state of the road-beds about here. 
 
54 HOW I ESCAPED. , 
 
 You see, my dear Mr. Bryant, I was educated at West 
 Point, and graduated into the engineers." Here he gave 
 me another smile. 
 
 I cursed my luck at having run against an engineer 
 officer as provost marshal. 
 
 " You won't grant me the pass ? " I asked. 
 
 " I will telegraph to the authorities at Columbia, and 
 if your journey is approved, will issue the pass to-mor- 
 row. Take another cigar, and enjoy Wilmington," and 
 Duquesne bowed me out of his office. Without waiting to 
 argue further upon the matter, I immediately left, know- 
 ing I was doomed the minute a telegraphic reply from 
 Columbia reached the provost marshal. My heart felt as 
 heavy as if the irons were even now upon my wrists. At 
 the most I had but three or four hours' liberty. 
 
 I wandered about in an aimless way, hardly knowing 
 where I went. By some fatality I found myself at the 
 railroad depot gazing in a dreamy manner at the freight 
 trains, that were bringing in load after load of cotton. I 
 had done this but a few moments, when I gave a start ; 
 my mind, roused by an electric shock, resumed its func- 
 tions. 
 
 The electric shock was a hand-car coming with all its 
 speed into the station, propelled by eight stalwart negroes 
 reeking with perspiration, and on that car, calmly chew- 
 ing his usual cud of tobacco, Mr. Peter Bassett. Fort- 
 unately he did not see me. I sneaked away among the 
 cotton-bales, and knew that I had hardly fifteen minutes 
 more of freedom. The moment the detective reported 
 to the provost marshal, orders would be issued for my 
 arrest. 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 
 
 As I hurried from the depot, my eyes fell upon the rail- 
 road clock. Its hands made the time fifteen minutes of 
 two. 
 
 A sudden thought flashed through my mind. Captain 
 Samson, the burly British commander of the Dart, had 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 55 
 
 said his vessel would leave at two o'clock in the day, and 
 drop down the river to Fort Fisher, from there that even- 
 ing to make the attempt to run through the Federal 
 blockading squadron, I determined to take the chance 
 of leaving the Confederacy without a pass on the Dart. 
 I hurried to the levee, which was probably at that time 
 the busiest point in the whole Southern States. Numer- 
 ous blockade-runners were discharging cargoes of mis- 
 cellaneous manufactures, guns, ammunition and material 
 of war for the Confederacy, while others were being 
 loaded to their gunwales with bale upon bale of cotton, 
 to give labor to the starving spinners of Manchester. 
 The more a boat looked like a mountain of cotton, the 
 nearer she was ready to sail. 
 
 I saw a sharp, rakish-looking craft of about four hun- 
 dred tons, of a dull, leaden color from the top of her low 
 smoke-stack to her water line, her deck piled with at 
 least two tiers of cotton bales, and read upon her stern 
 '' Dartr 
 
 A number of negro stevedores were employed putting 
 on board a few extra bales that were generally considered 
 the perquisites of the officers of the ship. The boat was 
 evidently almost ready to leave. One of these negro 
 stevedores came around a large pile of cotton bales, evi- 
 dently in search of something. It was his pipe which he 
 had forgotten. 
 
 As he picked up the pipe, I touched him on the shoul- 
 der and held out a one-hundred-dollar greenback. The 
 darkey's eyes rolled, his lips watered, for one hundred 
 dollars in greenbacks meant a great deal more than one 
 thousand in Confederate money. 
 
 I said : '' Conceal me on board that vessel, and this is 
 yours." 
 
 The darkey, who was a man of herculean build, shook 
 his head, and said : " I'd like de hundred, Massa, but de 
 job ain't possible." 
 
 He and a companion who had joined him stooped to 
 lift another bale of cotton, when, with an inspiration 
 born of desperation, I whispered, " The job is possible ! 
 Put me inside of that bale ; then you can carry me on 
 board." 
 
 " Golly ! " said the first darkey, and " Holy Moses ! " 
 said the second. 
 
56 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " One hundred dollars, and put me in that bale ! " re- 
 peated I. 
 
 " You'se got to make it two fifties, massa, and we'll 
 do it. We won't neber dar change a hundred-dollar bill. 
 Dat throw 'spicion on us to once." 
 
 I hurriedly sought in my pocket-book and produced 
 the required denominations, while with a celerity that 
 astonished me the two stevedores ripped up the bale of 
 cotton, and tore out enough of it to permit my con- 
 cealment. Giving them the money, I found myself nearly 
 smothered in the white fleece that gave to the South the 
 sinews of war with which it fought so desperately for 
 four years. 
 
 Whispering to me that they would stow the bale in a 
 place from which I could get out, the two negroes picked 
 me up and after a few moments' rapid motion, I judged 
 from the bale being put down again that I was on board 
 the Dart Before leaving me, one of the darkeys cut 
 the bands that confined the bale and pulled me out of it. 
 
 I found myself in a space not over a foot high be- 
 tween the top of the cargo in the hold and the lower 
 deck. An angle made by a beam left space enough be- 
 tween the cargo and the ship to receive my body. Into 
 this I was unceremoniously hustledby the stevedore, who 
 made me very uncomfortable by this remark as he de- 
 parted : 
 
 " Seems to me dis beam may sabe you from de probin' 
 an' pokin', but, fo' de Lord, when it comes to de smokin', 
 I pities you Massa Runaway." 
 
 I had not much time to meditate upon the ominous 
 significance of the stevedore's words, fori soon heard the 
 throbbing of the engine and the revolutions of the twin 
 screws by which the vessel was propelled, and knew that 
 she must be under way. My heart gave a jump of joy. 
 I had escaped the poking and smoking ! 
 
 The vessel had hardly been in motion a quarter of an 
 hour, when I could hear the captain replying to a hail, 
 apparently from a patrol boat. The engines stopped, 
 and a minute after Samson's hearty English voice ex- 
 claimed : " So you have come on board, as usual, to do 
 your searching and smoking ? This is the third success- 
 ful trip I have made, and you never omit it, though you 
 have not found any contrabands on board yet." 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 57 
 
 At this remark, my spirits, which had been buoyant 
 ever since the vessel left Wilmington, left mc, and my 
 heart began to beat with a nervous flutter. We were to 
 be searched and smc ked ! 
 
 This was at present an unknown horror. A few mo- 
 ments later it became a real one. After a minute or so, 
 a little light came into my place of imprisonment. The 
 hatches had evidently been opened. I heard voices, and 
 the searching began. 
 
 It was impossible for the Confederate soldiers to move 
 about the cargo, that was packed so tightly ; but by 
 means of long poles, which they forced through the 
 crevices between the bales of cotton, they explored every 
 part of the vessel pretty thoroughly, and had it not been 
 for the protecting beam of the vessel behind which I had 
 taken refuge, my body would have been such a mass of 
 bruises and wounds that I should probably have cried 
 out from very pain. As it was, I rather laughed Lt the 
 efforts of my enemies to bring me from my place of 
 concealment. 
 
 While the guard were doing this, the captain jeered 
 at them. " Didn't I tell you there wasn't any refugees 
 on board my vessel ! Poke away, but don't keep me so 
 I'll lose the tide and can't get out through the Yankee 
 blockaders to-night." 
 
 " All right ! " said the officer in command of the 
 guard-boat. ** We'll give your hold a good half-hour's 
 smoke, and if that doesn't bring any one, we'll let you go 
 down the river." 
 
 The hatches were put on again, and I could hear the 
 men going up on deck. As the light was cut off by 
 the closed hatchways, a vile, suffocating, unendurable 
 odor of smoking rosin and tar came to my nostrils. This 
 grew denser and denser, until every breath that I drew 
 seemed to contain no oxygen but all smoke. The per- 
 spiration came from every pore of my body. A black 
 soot settled upon me and filled my nostrils. I could 
 feel my eyes grow large in their sockets. Racking pains 
 shot through my head and back. I was too feeble to cry 
 out, or I should have screamed for deliverance. Faint- 
 ing, I sank down in my place of concealment. I was 
 almost asphyxiated ! Suddenly, as my head became 
 lower, I felt a cold current of air fanning my cheek. 
 
58 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Greedily as a starving man seizes food did I inhale this. 
 It was the breath of life, and issued from a small aperture 
 in an iron rod that came down and fitted into a socket 
 in the deck. Instead of being solid, this was, for greater 
 lightness, in the form of a tube. A portion of this tube 
 had been broken away, which left free communication 
 with the upper air above. I glued my mouth to the aper- 
 ture, and once more began to live. I could defy not 
 only the searching, but the smoking of my enemies. 
 
 I lay there and sucked in the invigorating air from 
 above, while around me, for the next fifteen minutes, 
 was an atmosphere of soot and smoke in which no man 
 could have lived. After a time the hatches were re- 
 opened. No cries having been heard, and no one having 
 crawled out to surrender himself, the guard-boat de- 
 parted. I made myself as comfortable as circumstances 
 would permit, and about two hours afterward the boat 
 stopped again and anchored behind Fort Fisher. I knew 
 that it must become dark night, and that consequently 
 several hours must elapse, before the boat would venture 
 to leave the protection of the Confederate guns. 
 
 To my astonishment it seemed to me hardly an hour 
 before the vessel's engines were again in motion. She 
 was moving through the water once more. 
 
 What was the meaning of this — it could not be possi- 
 ble the captain would dare to run his vessel through the 
 blockading squadron in open daylight? She must, for 
 some unknown reason, be returning to Wilmington I 
 
 As this horrid thought ran through me, I gave a gasp 
 of despair, but after a moment became calmer and de- 
 termined to find out. Anything was better than suspense. 
 
 I began to crawl through, or rather over the cotton to- 
 ward the hatchway. A little light coming from it, as it 
 had not been carefully closed, guided my movements. 
 After half an hour's desperate battle with the cotton bales, 
 squeezing between them and the deck, I arrived at the 
 hatchway. Looking up I became convinced it was really 
 daylight. I consulted my watch. It showed the hour 
 of 5 P.M. 
 
 What unforeseen thing had happened ? That I must 
 discover. Cautiously I forced the hatchway further off, 
 and, standing on the cotton bales below, squeezed myself 
 through upon the lower deck. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, 59 
 
 There was no one here to discover me. After making 
 sure of that, I carefully ascended the ladder, and, peering 
 out upon the upper deck, saw, as well as I was able for 
 the surrounding bales of cotton, that there was something 
 white and fleecy in the air about me. For a moment I 
 thought the ship must be on fire and deserted by her crew. 
 Next, my eyes being blinded by the light after the inky 
 blackness of the vessel's hold, I imagined that it was flakes 
 of cotton liberated from their bales in some unknown 
 manner, floating about me. A few moments after I gave 
 a gasp of astonishment and joy — my eyes had resumed 
 their functions. I saw what was really taking place. 
 
 In a dense, heavy white ocean fog, the blockade-run- 
 ner was boldly attempting to run unseen through the 
 Federal squadron that barred her passage to the open 
 sea. 
 
 Whether the blockade-runner escaped or was captured 
 by the United States vessels, I was out of the Confeder- 
 acy in any event ! 
 
 I staggered upon the deck feeling once more a free 
 man. The crew were all at their places. The captain 
 near the pilot, who stood at the wheel, bringing two small 
 lights that were placed upon the beach half a mile away 
 into a line, or what is nautically termed '' into one." 
 
 When this was done, we were in the true channel lead- 
 ing to the ocean. 
 
 The second officer saw me, and silently supported me 
 to where the captain was. That gentleman regarded me 
 for a moment and whispered : " Give him 'something to 
 drink. The poor devil's dying. He looks like a smoked 
 herring. Haven't time to attend to him now ! " and then 
 gazed with the pilot anxiously out to sea. 
 
 My appearance justified the skipper's words. I was 
 covered with black soot that made me look almost a 
 negro. My mouth was parched with the heat of the 
 lower hold ; my tongue hung out of it bronzed by thirst ; 
 my body was fainting with weakness. I could only gasp, 
 "Water!" 
 
 It was given me. I revived and became hungry. The 
 cook took compassion on me, and gave me some hard 
 tack and meat. I sat upon the deck, silently munching' 
 this and regaining my strength. As I ate, I watched the 
 picture before me with intense eagerness. The vessel 
 
6o HOW I ESCAPED, 
 
 was making her way slowly from under the guns of Fort 
 Fisher into the circle of Federal blockading vessels that 
 were presumed to lie just out of the range of the Con- 
 federate artillery. I say presumed to lie, because the 
 fog was so dense that not one of them could be seen. 
 Through this fog the boat glided, her deck as silent as if 
 she were manned by the dead, though every sailor of the 
 crew was on the alert, and every motion showed intense 
 excitement. 
 
 The pilot and captain were at the wheel, and the direc- 
 tions were given to the engineer in whisper through a 
 speaking tube ; the sounding of the bell might indicate 
 our whereabouts to some neighboring Federal cruiser. 
 
 Though it was only five o'clock in the afternoon, this 
 fog was as good a protection, if not abetter, than the dark- 
 ness of night. As I stood leaning against a cotton bale, 
 my nerves seemed to be more powerful than those of 
 ordinary men, my excitement was so great, I caught 
 a motion of the second ofificer of the vessel, who stood 
 near me. 
 
 He went forward silently to the captain and touched 
 his arm, and looking through the mist, I saw a light glim- 
 mering in the fog about a hundred yards away. 
 
 The captain muttered, as the second ofificer pointed 
 this out to him: "The light of a Yankee flag-ship. She 
 has to keep a light, as she is at anchor. Some of the 
 cruisers might run into her." 
 
 We passed the light. Receiving no hail, and hearing no 
 commotion on her decks, I gave a sigh of relief, which 
 the captain echoed. But not a minute after this my 
 heart gave a jump. There was a whizzing sound 
 through the air ; for a moment I thought that it must be 
 a shot, but looking into the heavens, 1 saw the fiery tail 
 of a rocket fly through the mist. 
 
 "Curse her!" growled the captain; ''she suspects 
 something, and has sent up a signal. There will be a 
 lot of them around here and around us in a few min- 
 utes ! " 
 
 With that he whispered something down the speaking- 
 tube to the engine-room. The vessel seemed suddenly 
 to double her speed and fly through the white, thick 
 clouds of vapor that were around her. But now, to the 
 horror of every one on board, this vapor, as we sped 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 6l 
 
 along, seemed to grow lighter and lighter, and the captain 
 muttered to himself : " My God ! the fog is rising ! " 
 
 Then the pilot grew pale, and whispered : " There is a 
 very good chance of our being captured this trip." 
 
 The captain muttered, *I have made three in-and-out 
 
 runs this year, and d d if I will be captured this trip, 
 
 or any other ! " 
 
 As for me, my heart was as light as the dancing waves 
 through which we rode. If captured, I would be sent 
 north; and if we reached Nassau, I could take a vessel for 
 New York. I was out of the Confederacy, that was 
 certain ! 
 
 My joy was so great that it was impossible to keep it 
 out of my face, and the second officer as he passed gave 
 
 me a scowl, and said : " What are you looking so d d 
 
 happy for ? " 
 
 As for the captain, he seemed to be thinking deeply, 
 and turning some plan for escape over in his brain. 
 
 The vessel continued her speed. Suddenly a low, 
 dusky outline appeared in the mist upon the port side 
 of us. Both the captain and pilot gave a start, and 
 grasped the handles of the wheel more firmly. The next 
 instant a cry of the second officer and a wave of his hand 
 caused me to look to starboard. Another low, dark out- 
 line could be seen upon that side of us. Both, however, 
 were a little forward of us— one upon our port, and the 
 other upon our starboard bow. " Two cursed Yankee 
 cruisers ! " muttered the second officer. 
 
 The next instant thunder apparently broke into the 
 mist. The lightning flashed, and the thunderbolts seemed 
 to fly through the air. 
 
 The English captain gave a low chuckle, and said : 
 
 *' D n them, those two Yankee beggars are peppering 
 
 each other ! " (for not a shot came near us). " Now they 
 will be so occupied they won't notice me." 
 
 He whispered something to the engine-room, turned 
 a few spokes of the wheel, and the little blockade-runner 
 seemed -to revolve upon her axis and return over the 
 path by which she had come. 
 
 "What are you doing ?" gasped I. 
 
 "Going back to Fort Fisher as quick as we can," mut- 
 tered the second officer. " We will try it again to-night ! " 
 
 These words almost made my heart stop still. Going 
 
62 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 back to Fort Fisher ! Going back to the Confederacy, 
 from which I had escaped ! Would I be able to conceal 
 myself, and sail out again on their next attempt ? The 
 chances were not one in ten thousand, with my escape 
 known in Wilmington, and Mr, Peter I3assett upon my 
 trail. 
 
 My only hope now was that rue should be captured! 
 
 In returning, we were compelled to run close to the 
 Federal flag-ship again, and the mist was not quite so 
 heavy. 
 
 With the courage born of desperation, as we neared the 
 admiral's flag-ship I shrieked out wildly to the top of my 
 lungs : " Ship ahoy ! Stop this blockade-runner ! " 
 
 My voice rang out through the still air, causing a com- 
 motion on the Federal flag-ship that I could see as well 
 as hear, but causing more commotion and more surprise 
 upon the decks of the blockade-runner. 
 
 A pattering hail of musket balls began to fall upon us. 
 The United States marines had opened fire ! 
 
 "Ship ahoy ! " I cried again. 
 
 I could see the red-faced English captain dancing a 
 jig of rage as he stood at the wheel. The second officer 
 was cursing, and running toward me, a belaying pin in 
 his hand. 
 
 I cried : " Ship ahoy ! Stop this block " 
 
 At this instant a flash of lightning seemed to strike my 
 brain. I reeled and fell upon the deck. My last fleet- 
 ing, conscious glance saw the second officer with his 
 belaying pin raised for another blow. 
 
 Then the mist seemed to close around me and night to 
 come upon me. There was a surging in my ears, a roar- 
 ing of waves in my brain, and nothing ! 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SHOVEL OR THE RIFLE? 
 
 *' Chuck that corpse into a wagon ! " 
 
 The voice seemed familiar, but I was so sick, so dizzy, 
 and such burning pains shot through my head, that I was 
 unable to speak. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 6;^ 
 
 " Pitch that corpse into a wagon, I say, quick ! " 
 
 The voice seemed very famihar to me. I felt myself 
 thrown into something in a very unceremonious manner, 
 and gave a groan. 
 
 " Hello ! By Jove he's a tough one ! " was the next 
 lemark, and in the tones I recognized the voice of Peter 
 Bassett. " Smoked, and poled, and knocked over the head 
 with a belaying pin by a British skipper until he is nearly 
 a mummy, and s^i7l alive ! I have half a mind to let him 
 die, for the mean trick he played on me, but I reckon I 
 had better fulfill my orders and get him back into a breath- 
 ing condition if possible." 
 
 With that I felt my jaws forced open, and something 
 trickled down my throat that seemed liquid fire, but 
 apparently gave renewed life and vigor to my limbs, 
 though my head still ached as though it would burst. 
 
 " What are you doing to me ? " I gasped. 
 
 " Giving you brandy, firstly, and carrying you back to 
 the provost marshal at Wilmington, secondly. You are 
 the slipperiest customer I ever tackled." 
 
 "Where am I ?" I muttered, dreamily. 
 
 " Just being toted on the ambulance through the streets 
 of Wilmington, North Carolina. The British skipper was 
 so cursed mad at your hallooing to the Yanks that he 
 had not more than cast anchor before his boat brought 
 you ashore and turned you over. He swears that after 
 his hospitality to you, you are the most ungrateful cuss 
 that ever trod his deck. If, from your desperation, he 
 had not supposed we would shoot you as soon as we got 
 hold of you, I reckon he would have tossed you over- 
 board to the sharks." 
 
 All this came to me in a dreamy way. The throbbing 
 in my brain was so severe that I did not care very much at 
 that moment what was happening to me. 
 
 A few minutes after I found myself in the temporary 
 Confederate prison at Wilmington. A surgeon attended 
 me and said that in a week I would be fit to travel. I 
 did not pay much attention to all this, but being carefully 
 attended, and the young doctor being a man of skill, I 
 in a few days became convalescent enough to think, and 
 with thought came almost despair. 
 
 During my attempted escape from the Confederacy, I 
 had been too excited to give much thought to anything 
 
64 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 but my movements. I had had no time for reflection. 
 Now I began to think of the sweetheart I had lost, and 
 loved, and for whom I had sacrificed so much. I knew I 
 could expect little mercy from the Confederate Government 
 — that my chances of getting north were now practically 
 nothing ; that I would be either forced into the Confeder- 
 ate service to fight against the cause I regarded as right, 
 or drag out the length of the war in some Confederate 
 military prison. All that, however, seemed but little to 
 me, now that I had once more got my thoughts upon 
 Laura Peyton. I fell to dreaming about her in a despe- 
 rate, sullen sort of manner. I believe I should have died 
 of despair had I not heard the surgeon say, one day, that 
 as soon as I was well enough for him to certify my ability 
 to travel, I wa3 to be sent to Charleston. 
 
 To Charlestoji ! I was going nearer to the girl from 
 whom I had fled, but whose image had never left my mind, 
 even in the excitement of the extraordinary adventures, 
 uncertainties, and trials through which I had passed. 
 
 I asked the surgeon if he could tell me from where 
 the orders had come for my removal. 
 
 " I believe they were brought here by the detective 
 who caused your arrest." 
 
 This of course meant my friend Mr. Bassett. If I 
 could but discover under whose instructions he was acting, 
 or by what influence he had been detailed to prevent my 
 escape from the Confederacy, I might be able to form an 
 idea of my future fate. 
 
 Two days afterward I left Wilmington upon the train 
 in the custody of the detective, and, weak as I was, pro- 
 ceeded to pump him as to the influence that had brought 
 me to the condition I was now in. I had not been robbed 
 of my money when arrested. Bassett, for a detective, was 
 honest ; consequently, by means of my Federal green- 
 backs, that were as potent in the Confederacy as they were 
 north of Mason and Dixon's line, I soon had Mr. Bassett 
 in a sufficiently communicative mood for him to tell me 
 he reckoned 1 had some powerful enemy among the high 
 government officials. 
 
 "Do you mean Confederate army officials?" I asked. 
 
 "Oh, no ; they are too busy fighting ; but it is some- 
 body who has a big pull in Richm.ond." 
 
 " You don't know his name ? " 1 inquired. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 65 
 
 *' No ; and if I did I would not tell you ; but he is a 
 big 'un, you can reckon on that." 
 
 The only enemy I had of such influence was Mr. 
 Amos Pierson. The poorer tlie Confederacy grew, the 
 richer he had become, and the army contractor had now 
 even greater power than at the beginning of the war. 
 
 Amos Pierson had had me arrested ! Amos Pierson had 
 prevented my escape north ! And fool that he was, Amos 
 Pierson was bringing me nearer and nearer with each 
 revolution of the car wheels to the girl I loved ! I felt 
 happy in the thought that in my forlorn condition my 
 luck was turning ; that after all it was fated I should 
 not leave South Carolina until I had made her my bride. 
 
 When youth and hope pull the same way, the result is 
 almost a certainty. In the two days that Mr. Basseti 
 and I took to reach Charleston, health had again come 
 to me. My spirits, before broken down, were elastic 
 and buoyant. My body, that had been debilitated and 
 enervated by disappointment and confinement, was rap- 
 idly regaining the elasticity and strength that should be 
 in a man of twenty-eight who has not destroyed his 
 vitality by disease, dissipation, nor luxury. I was strong 
 enough to fight the battle of life and love once more as 
 we ran into Charleston. 
 
 We arrived at this place about April 17th, nearly 
 two weeks after the decisive repulse of the Federal 
 monitors in their attack upon and bombardment of Fort 
 Sumter and the neighboring batteries. 
 
 The town, as I looked at it in the bright, soft spring air 
 of that April morning, would have seemed to me the 
 Charleston I had known before the war, had it not been 
 for its hurrying troops, the new batteries in connection 
 with Moultrie to the left, the long lines of earthworks to 
 the right, on the shores of Morris and James islands, 
 ending in Battery Wagner ; between these Fort Sumter, 
 sitting upon its granite rocks in the middle of the pas- 
 sage, the key to the defense of Charleston. I had not 
 much time for reflection, for I was immediately placed 
 in charge of the provost guard by Mr. Bassett, and hur- 
 ried through the streets to the Charleston jail in the south- 
 eastern portion of the city. 
 
 A few Federal prisoners of war were in the jail yard at 
 the time, though it was by no means crowded ; as it was 
 
66 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 some months afterward, when a number of Union cap- 
 tives, officers and men, were brought in from Anderson- 
 ville and other prisons, in a vain attempt to prevent the 
 United States batteries on Morris Island from bombard- 
 ing the town. 
 
 To my astonishment I was placed in the fourth story 
 of the jail building — a portion that was entirely devoted 
 to the incarceration of deserters from the Confederate 
 army. I protested against this, telling the officer in 
 charge that I was no deserter, and asking to be confined 
 with the civil prisoners on the ground floor. 
 
 This, however, was immediately denied me. I had to 
 make myself as comfortable as possible where I was 
 placed. This I did by means of some of the greenbacks 
 I still had with me. 
 
 I asked the officer in command of the guard if I could 
 be permitted to communicate with Colonel Bee, of the 
 Adjutant General's department. After some hesitation, 
 he refused to carry or send any note, but informed me 
 that he would notify Colonel Bee that I was in the prison, 
 and in case that officer wanted to see me, he presumed I 
 would know it. That was all that I wished. Bee was 
 the last man to turn his back upon a friend when in dis- 
 tress or trouble. 
 
 Agreeable to my expectations, about an hour after this 
 Stuart Bee passed the guard and came up to see me. He 
 was looking very well, with the exception of a slight pale- 
 ness, caused by loss of blood, and carried his left arm in 
 a sling. 
 
 Noticing my look of anxiety, he gave a slight laugh and 
 said : " Bryant, a little present from your friends, the 
 Yanks. I got it at Fort Sumter about two weeks ago. 
 If it had not been for that, you would hardly have seen 
 mc so soon ; but I am at present, fortunately for you, off 
 active duty on account of this. However, I will be 
 shortly in condition to return this compliment. " And he 
 touched his bandaged arm. 
 
 I expressed my concern at his wound. 
 
 '• Pooh ! pooh ! It is nothing ! Your case is a great 
 deal worse. Now," he said, taking me aside, " unless 
 you do something for yourself, I can do very little for 
 you, Bryant, old fellow. You did not take my advice, 
 and report for service as crdered, but attempted to 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 67 
 
 escape. At all events, that is what Bassett reports of 
 your movements. Now that you are here, unless you do 
 as I advise you, the chances are you will have, during 
 this summer, a pretty warm time of it." 
 
 " What do you advise me U- do ? " I asked. 
 
 " Do what you are commanded. You will join the 
 Confederate service. I believe I have influence enouo^h 
 to get you a staff appointment, as I promised you. Your 
 engineering ability is well known, and can be made use of 
 here in building fortifications. You will probably have 
 no active fighting to do against oiir enemies the Yanks." 
 
 " And if I refuse to fight * our enemies ' the Yanks ? " 
 said I. 
 
 " Then all I can do is to make your lot as a prisoner as 
 comfortable as possible. We are suffering, ourselves, for 
 want of provisions and many comforts of life ; you, as a 
 prisoner, will scarcely receive as much, and will be, com- 
 paratively, badly off. Think of this matter. I will con- 
 trive to postpone your examination until to-morrow. Do 
 as I ask you. It is the easiest way out of the scrape, old 
 fellow. Meantime I will try to make your quarters more 
 comfortable." 
 
 With this he left me. Half an hour afterward I had 
 evidence of Bee's not having forgotten his promise. 
 
 I was removed to the second floor of the building 
 where the Confederate officers and soldiers accused of 
 military offenses were imprisoned. There I had a small 
 room by myself, which had clean linen upon its bed. 
 Soon after a good meal of corn bread, fresh beef, and 
 coffee made from parched corn, showed me that as far as 
 it was possible in a country that was slowly but surely 
 losing all the comforts of life, my welfare had been taken 
 care of by the generous Georgian. 
 
 The next morning Bee called again, and added to his 
 arguments of the day before the following one, which 
 caused me much mental anguish, though it did not shake 
 the resolution I had made and kept for three years. 
 
 " I have been inquiring about your affair, Bryant," he 
 said, " and it is rumored that the reason you remained 
 south, \j'as because of your engagement to Judge Pey- 
 ton's daughter. You stayed here to win her, but her south- 
 ern sentiments prevented your success, even though she 
 loved you. From all I can find out, I am inclined to 
 
68 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 think she loves you still If you join us, old boy, she'll 
 adore you, and we will soon have a wedding. I'll be 
 your best man — for even in these unhappy days we 
 soldiers steal some time from Mars to devote to Cupid. 
 You might just as well be happy and free as an officer of 
 the Confederate army, and gain the woman you love, as 
 to be a prisoner until the close of the war and lose her. 
 Your examination will take place in about half an hour. 
 Don't make a fool of yourself ! Let love aid common 
 sense ! " 
 
 The time left me for reflection did not change my 
 resolution. I had made up my mind how I must act. 
 Duty and honor said one thing. Love might cry out the 
 other as loud as it liked ; my resolve was unchanged. 
 
 My interview with the Confederate provost marshal 
 was very short, but by no means sweet. That ofificer 
 said : " Mr. Bryant, I know everything in regard to your 
 matter. We have a high respect for your ability as an 
 engineer. You can be very useful to us. You were 
 ordered to report at Charleston on the loth of April. 
 Seven days afterward you were brought here, having at- 
 tempted to leave the Confederate lines without a pass- 
 port, and under circumstances that indicated you in- 
 tended to go north. Your resignation to the railroad 
 company shows that you expected to leave the South. " 
 
 Here he handed me the document that had been de- 
 livered by Caucus, as I instructed him, to the officials of 
 the South Carolina Railway. " What have you to sav to 
 it?" 
 
 "Nothing!" replied I, "you are entirely correct in 
 your surmise. I did intend to leave the Confederacy, 
 because I do not wish to take service in any capacity 
 against the government of the United States." 
 
 " Very well," continued he, " you are a deserter from 
 our service. If you accept an appointment under the 
 Confederacy, and take the oath of allegiance to our gov- 
 ernment, you will be put upon active duty in the army. 
 Do you accept the same ? " 
 
 " No ! " I answered. " I will not enlist in the Confed- 
 erate army." 
 
 " Very well. I shall report the case as it stands to the 
 general in command. " And with that he dismissed me 
 under care of the guard again to my prison. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 69 
 
 A week after this I was summoned before him once 
 more. 
 
 " We have received orders from Richmond with re- 
 gard to you, " he said, " and I am sorry, Mr. Bryant, 
 that they are of a kind that will be as unpleasant for me 
 to carry out as they will be for you to endure. You 
 refuse to enter the Confederate army, once more ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " I replied, " as firmly as I did two days ago, 
 but I am very much obliged to you, colonel, I see you 
 wish to give me a chance to escape some unpleasant 
 position." 
 
 " You are entirely right, Mr. Bryant," he said, " but 
 since you will not accept it, my orders are to imprison 
 you here and place you, as a criminal laborer, under mili- 
 tary guard upon the fortifications of this place." 
 
 " A criminal ? " gasped I. 
 
 "Yes, such are my orders. ' Deserters are criminals.' 
 Since the planters refuse to let us have all the negroes 
 needed to complete the necessary fortifications, we want 
 shovels as well as rifles to defend Charleston. You re- 
 fuse to prry the rifle. You s/ia// carry the shovel. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE NIGHT ATTACK. 
 
 • I HAD hardly reached the prison again, when Bee came 
 to see me, and said : " You are very foolish in this mat- 
 ter, Bryant. Change your mind, and even at this mo- 
 ment I will try to make your fate a better one. There is 
 some strong influence working against you, otherwise you 
 would probably have been merely imprisoned here ; but 
 unless you consent to the terms offered you, there is no 
 doubt that in a day or two you will be working on some 
 of those sand batteries down the bay along with a gang 
 of negroes. They talk of the yellow fever coming here 
 this summer. You will lead the life of a slave. Unac- 
 customed as you are to hardship, I hardly think, old boy, 
 that you will ever see your sweetheart again For God's 
 sake, take my advice ; I mean it for your good." 
 
7© HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " No," I replied, for I had grown dogged in this matter. 
 " Under no circumstances will 1 take the oath of allegiance 
 to the Confederate Government ! " 
 
 " Very well," he said; " you have made your bed, and it 
 is a hard one." He wrung my hand and left me. 
 
 That evening I discovered, by the change in my treat- 
 ment, what was to be my fate. I was again removed to 
 the fourth floor of the building, which, even at this season 
 of the year, was growing very hot and unpleasant. 
 
 Despite my expostulations, my clothes were removed, 
 my money taken from me, and I was clad in the stripes of 
 a convict. My rations were cut down to simple corn- 
 meal, and I began to experience the bitterness and hope- 
 lessness of my fate. 
 
 The next morning I was hurried off with two or three 
 more Confederate prisoners, — the very scum of the prison, 
 who had been sentenced for dastardly crimes against 
 social law — not the military offenses of soldiers, — and 
 sent to join a gang of negroes who were working upon 
 the fortifications being hastily erected on the sandy 
 island named Morris, defended and dominated at that 
 time by the Confederate Battery Wagner. 
 
 As we were marched ignominiously down to the tugboat, 
 some of the more desperate of us being ironed, the con- 
 temptuous glances of the people in the streets of Charleston 
 showed me that I now was regarded as a criminal. The 
 treatment of the guard as they hustled us onto the little 
 tug-boat indicated that they regarded me as one of the 
 class among whom I was placed ; not a soldier, not even a 
 civilian, but simply a convict. I was very glad when, a 
 few moments after, the tug left her dock and took me 
 away from the people who, attracted by curiosity, gazed at 
 us. It is very difficult to feel like a hero in the dress of a 
 felon. I was becoming ashamed. 
 
 We ran down the harbor, passing the old-fashioned, 
 ineffective Castle Pinckney to the left, then Battery Rip- 
 ley, and, gliding along the south shore near Fort Johnston, 
 passed between Battery Greig and the grim walls of Fort 
 Sumter, which still frowned defiance, though somewhat 
 shattered by the bombardment of Union monitors. A 
 few minutes after, rounding Cummings' Point, we ran 
 down the shore of Morris Island, and landed at Fort 
 Wagner. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 7 1 
 
 Here the Confederates needed not only rifles but 
 shovels. We were to work the shovels. 
 
 This island is about three miles in length, and runs 
 from Battery Greig on the north to a creek or estuary on 
 the south which separates it from Folly Island. 
 
 This inlet is of sufficient size and depth to be impass- 
 able to an attacking party, unless in boats and protected 
 by armed vessels. Morris Island has a varying width of 
 from several hundred yards to perhaps a mile, but toward 
 the west runs into a mass of creeks and marshes imprac- 
 ticable for the movement of troops. The ocean side of 
 the island is composed of numbers of sandhills or dunes 
 of varying size, some of them forty or fifty feet in height, 
 perhaps more. These are all white, glistening, flinty, 
 burning sand, except where covered by scrubby trees. 
 The topography of Folly Island, at that time occupied by 
 the Federal forces, is of the same general character. 
 
 On landing, we were marched, or rather driven, to the 
 southern end of the island, where we were placed at 
 work upon some light batteries that were being prepared 
 hurriedly for Confederate guns. Here, under a brilliant 
 southern sun the glistening sand became during the day 
 hot as the surface of a winter stove. The nights, fortu- 
 nately, in this later part of April, were cooler, and gave 
 us some relief. 
 
 But as summer came on, even these grew hot. From 
 the time we landed, our lives became a fearful drudgery 
 which was never suffered to relax ; during the day, filling 
 sand bags and throwing up embankments; by night, fight- 
 ing sand fleas for rest, slumber and forgetfulness. Our 
 rations — corn meal and rancid bacon — were such that had 
 I not been absolutely driven to it by starvation, I could 
 not have eaten a mouthful. As day after day passed, 
 all this became a frightful, driving monotony. The Con- 
 federate officers, forced to haste in the erection of their 
 batteries by the evident preparations that were being 
 made on Folly Island to attack them, drove us harder and 
 harder in our labor. These men did not spare their ov/n 
 muscles and their own blood; then why should they spare 
 us convicts and slaves ? 
 
 The summer advanced. The nights and days became 
 hotter and hotter, the labor more cruel and unremitting, 
 our rations smaller and more nauseating. Morris Island 
 
72 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 was now a purgatory. Then came the Federal attack, 
 and this purgatory became a hell. We were shot at from 
 the Union batteries upon Folly Island. The little blood 
 left m our poor, half-naked bodies by the swarms of 
 voracious mosquitoes was drained from some of us by 
 bursting Federal shells. When first upon the island, in 
 the day there was only time for labor, but at night I 
 used to think of the woman I loved. Afterward, the dull 
 monotony of passive misery seemed to take possession of 
 me. I thought of nothing but of keeping alive till I 
 escaped. I began to look longingly at the United States 
 flag floating scarcely a mile from me, but what a mile ! 
 — a few hundred yards of white sand, a deep inlet a 
 quarter of a mile wide, and more uncovered sand to that 
 Federal flag. A thousand to one I would be shot be- 
 fore I reached even the inlet. Notwithstanding the des- 
 perate nature of the enterprise, I believe I should 
 have attempted it at night, had not about this time the 
 increased rapidity with which we were worked driven all 
 else but the desire for rest from my mind when permitted 
 respite from a toil that now became utterly exhaustive. 
 
 The activity on Folly Island indicated that the Con- 
 federates were right in hurrying their preparations for 
 defense. One night — I cannot be exactly sure as to the 
 exact time, because I had failed in my misery to count 
 the days or take record of the months — one burning- 
 hot night we heard the sound of the chopping of a thou- 
 sand axes upon Folly Island. In spite of the shelling of 
 the Confederate batteries, this sound continued all night, 
 and the next morning it seemed as though a magician's 
 wand had waved. The woods in our front across the 
 inlet were all cut down, uncovering to us a long line of 
 Federal batteries, crowned with artillery and heavily 
 manned. Between these and the Confederates an imme- 
 diate cannonade began, which continued at intervals for 
 nearly a week. 
 
 At the end of this time four low, black-looking vessels, 
 each one bearing upon its deck a single black turret, 
 appeared off the bar. I had never before seen any ships 
 like them, but I knew they were monitors. The fortifica- 
 tions were now as nearly complete as they could be made 
 under the heavy fire of the Federal troops, and we of the 
 shovel were all marched up the island to give place to 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 73 
 
 those who used the musket, in the form of gray Confed- 
 erate infantry. 
 
 As we entered the bombproofs of Fort Wagner, I could 
 see the monitors steaming in over the bar and taking 
 up a position north of the southern portion of Morris 
 Island. The next moment a tremendous bombardment 
 began. Long lines of barges, towed by steam launches 
 or propelled by oars, shot out from Folly Island, carrying 
 some thousands of troops. Despite the Confederate 
 fire, which cut lanes in their blue ranks, these were 
 landed and formed upon the sandy beach. 
 
 This cannonade continued while we were driven along 
 the island to Fort Greig, then onto boats, and ferried over 
 like cattle to grim old Sumter, to work on its fortifica- 
 tions, now beginning to disintegrate under the Union 
 guns. 
 
 As we entered the fort, I gazed at Morris Island. 
 The flag of the United States was flying at its southern 
 end, over the batteries upon which 1 had been working 
 the day before. 
 
 The Federal forces had now to accomplish the most 
 difficult portion of their work : that was the capture of 
 Fort Wagner. Their iron-clads steamed in, and for thirty 
 days and nights rained the largest projectiles in use at 
 that time upon both Sumter and this sand battery that 
 barred their passage to Charleston. 
 
 During this time, in Sumter, the same grinding toil fell 
 upon us. We labored like cattle, dismounting and remov- 
 ing guns, filling up rents and fissures in the fort's granite 
 walls with their very debris knocked about us by Federal 
 cannon — all this under a fire that was simply infernal. 
 Like the galley slaves of old, we toiled and died without 
 the reward of soldiers' gallantry or the honor of soldiers' 
 deaths. We had ten times the discomforts and twice the 
 danger of the troops in the garrison. If there was a 
 scarcity of provisions, whose rations were cut down ? 
 The convicts'. Were the bombproofs full, for whom 
 was there no shelter from Federal shot and shell ? The 
 negroes and criminals. By this time, misery had made 
 me scarcely human. 
 
 This continued for some thirty or forty days, when 
 one morning I saw the Confederate flag was not flying 
 upon Wagner, that lay in full view from Sumter, across 
 
74 HOW T ESCAPED. 
 
 the channel. Half an hour afterward the stripes and 
 stars were hoisted upon it, and 1 knew the southerners 
 had evacuated Morris Island. 
 
 All this I looked upon with listless interest, until 1 
 chanced to hear a conversation between two Confederate 
 officers. One said : " Since the Yankee army has got 
 Wagner, I reckon the Yankee fleet will try to get us." 
 
 " Then," replied the other, " if they are fools enough 
 for that, we'll get them ! How do you im.agine they'll 
 try it ? " 
 
 " Boats, of course ! " muttered the other ; and then he 
 cried : " Look out ! That was a nasty one ! " as a shell 
 from one of the monitors knocked over a ton of granite 
 from the crumbling wall upon a working party on the 
 fort. Under this lump of stone, as they walked away, I 
 could see two or three writhing bodies. 
 
 These words had set my brain going again. If the 
 Federal boats made an attack, even if driven off, I might 
 climb out of one of the casemates, and perhaps escape with 
 them — if they captured Sumter, I was free any way. 
 
 I began to look round me and see what the chances of 
 success were. The preparations made for the defense 
 against such an attempt made me know it could not suc- 
 ceed. The fort had been battered into crumbling ruins. 
 No heavy guns upon its battlements were in condition 
 to be fired ; but in these ruins were bombproofs impreg- 
 nable to either bombardment or assault. The crumbling 
 walls could still support light field-pieces. These loaded 
 with grape and canister, were so placed as to sweep 
 with a cross-fire the various faces of the fort. Hand- 
 grenades were piled about in convenient places. The 
 few companies of artillery that had garrisoned the fort 
 during its bombardment had been replaced by some of 
 Colquitt's Georgia infantry. Muskets, not cannons, were 
 to be the weapons now used in Fort Sumter. 
 
 I continued my observations, and as the officers 
 appeared to regard me more as a machine than a man, 
 discovered from their conversation that upon a signal the 
 batteries of Johnston, Moultrie, and Sullivan's Island had 
 all been trained to sweep the faces of Fort Sumter, the 
 direction and elevation of their guns marked and noted 
 so that they could fire with the same accuracy of range 
 at night as by day. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 75 
 
 In this fire no boat attack could succeed. I therefore 
 made my arrangements to join the Federal launches in 
 their inevitable retreat. 
 
 For this purpose I selected a broken-down embrasure, 
 the rubbish from which ran in a gradual slope to the 
 water. It was easy of ascent as well as descent, and 
 would be sure to tempt some of the officers of the 
 attacking party to try a landing. I noted that no gun 
 could easily be trained upon it. Through this embra- 
 sure I would join the Union boats. This being settled 
 I fell to waiting for the night that I hoped would give 
 me liberty. 
 
 Notwithstanding the desperate fatigue and labor of 
 the day, I lay awake, all the night after I had heard this 
 conversation, looking for the Union boats ; but nothing 
 came save an occasional shot from their monitors. 
 
 The next day I could see something was expected to 
 take place. The hurried manner in which we were 
 worked, filling hand-grenades and placing bags of sand 
 about many of the embrasures of the fort, in order to 
 prevent musket-balls or grape-shot frorii the Federal 
 launches entering them, all told this. 
 
 As the evening drew on, the night became dark. Then 
 the hail from boats coming down Charleston harbor was 
 heard, and a reinforcement of some hundred more of 
 Colquitt's Georgians came into the fort accompanied by 
 several officers who had volunteered for this night's 
 particular service. Among them, I thought I heard the 
 voice of my friend Bee, but was unable to communicate 
 with him, as immediately after this we convicts, together 
 with such negroes as were in the fort, were marched under 
 guard to a distant portion of the works. 
 
 All this told me that by some means General Beaure- 
 gard, who commanded the fortifications of Charleston, 
 was aware that this night had been selected for the boat 
 attack. 
 
 Sneaking past the guard, who were now intent only upon 
 noises coming from the sea, I crawled to the embrasure 
 I had selected, and looked out over the surface of the 
 water. Nothing was to be seen save a few sparks of fire 
 ascending lazily into the air some miles out to sea from 
 the smokestack of one of the Federal vessels, and the 
 low, black hull of a Confederate iron-clad that moved 
 
76 HOW I ESCAPED, 
 
 slowly past me to take a position some half mile away, 
 where her guns could cover one of the angles of the for- 
 tification. Despite my fatigue, the excitement kept my 
 eyes from closing. I waited and watched for all of three 
 hours, but about this time, overcome by lack of sleep my 
 eyes closed, and I fell into an uneasy slumber. 
 
 From this a noise that seemed to shatter my ears awak- 
 ened me. The light guns of the fort had been discharged, 
 and a rolling fire of musketry was pelting bullets through 
 the darkness into the water for a hundred yards or more 
 from the base of the fort. Suddenly a single rocket went 
 into the air. The next instant the faces and angles of the 
 fort were swept by every projectile known to modern 
 warfare. The Confederate guns on Sullivan's Island had 
 opened on us, followed immediately by Ripley, Johnston 
 and the Confederate iron-clads. Under our bombprcofs 
 the garrison was safe. Heaven defend the Union boats 
 outside ! 
 
 The water for several hundred yards about became a 
 mass of foam under the bursting shells and solid shot 
 that plowed it up. Then, by the light of an exploding 
 bomb, for the first time I discovered the Federal boats 
 dashing toward us in several divisions. As they entered 
 the fire, some of the barges sank, the screams of their 
 drowning crews arising over the babel of sound. Pelted 
 by musketry, plowed up by cannon shot, detachments of 
 these boats with a cheer pulled for the attack. 
 
 One division headed by a young officer came straight 
 for the embrasure from which I was looking, favoring 
 the sand-bags that protected me with a volley. 
 
 As they approached, hand-grenades were thrown upon 
 them from the fort. 
 
 The Federal officer cried : " That casemate is our 
 best chance. Give way, men ! " They forced their boats 
 up on the scarp and debris at the foot of my embrasure. 
 As they leaped on shore a solid shot from Moultrie 
 crashed through one barge and a bursting hand-grenade 
 tore up the bottom of another. I sprang out to join 
 them, and, as I did so, a bullet from the officer's revolver 
 grazed my hand. The next instant the boats that were 
 following him were either destroyed or else retreated out 
 to sea, 
 
 A dropping musketry fire from the battlements above 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 77 
 
 Struck down several of the sailors and marines about him. 
 The launches that were following retreated into the dark- 
 ness. The young ofificer looked at his sinking boats, and 
 saw that there was no chance for success. I was about 
 to beg him to retreat, and to tell him I would join him, 
 when to my horror and astonishment, he handed me his 
 sword and cried : " Tell your men to cease firing ! I 
 am here unsupported. To save my men, I surrender to 
 you." 
 
 Stunned by disappointment, I looked at the white 
 handkerchief one of the sailors was waving, and saw the 
 boats in which the Federals had come sink into deep 
 water by the scarp of the fort. The order to cease firing 
 was given above ; a detachment of Confederate infantry 
 appeared at the embrasure, headed by my friend Bee. 
 
 He cried out : " The only way to save our prisoners' 
 lives is to take them into the fort ! " For the shot from 
 Moultrie and the Confederate batteries around the har- 
 bor still hailed upon the outside of Sumter. I came up 
 first. As the Federal lieutenant was dragged into the 
 embrasure with his men, he said to Bee : " I cannot give 
 you my sword, as I have already surrendered it to one of 
 your men, a very gallant fellow who attacked us single- 
 handed ; but if I had had support from the rest of the 
 boats — curse 'era ! — I'd have fought my way into that 
 embrasure ! " 
 
 The next instant Bee in the darkness dragged me 
 along to the commanding officer to receive a reward for 
 my gallantry. 
 
 Almost the first thing I recollect after this was stand- 
 ing in a circle of Confederates, and hearing Bee say : 
 " This is the man who, single-handed, attacked the Fed- 
 eral boat's crew ! " 
 
 Then an astonished laugh came to my ears, the com- 
 manding officer saying : " By the Lord ! it's a convict 
 that has done all this ! Gallantry's contagious. Some of 
 our slaves will soon be capturing a Yankee regiment ! " 
 
 Though Bee took a good look at me upon this speech, 
 still he did not recognize me. 
 
 I said : '• Colonel Bee, I am a convict, but, you know, 
 not a criminal, though compelled to labor here as one ; " 
 Then I turned and walked sullenly away, and joined the 
 gang of slaves and convicts ; for the cruel disappoint- 
 
78 HOW 1 ESCAPED. 
 
 ment of the night had almost maddened me. I hated 
 every one who wore the Confederate uniform. 
 
 Half an hour afterward one of the guards touched me 
 on the shoulder, and said : " Colonel Bee wishes to speak 
 to you." 
 
 I followed him, and found the gallant Georgian about 
 to reembark in one of the boats that were taking back a 
 portion of the troops to Charleston. 
 
 He tcok me aside, and said : " Did you really attack 
 the Federal sailors ? Do you now intend to join us ? If so, 
 I can report this to the commanding officer, and, I think, 
 under the circumstances, have your sentence revoked." 
 
 " Does this imply my taking the oath of allegiance, 
 and joining the Confederate army ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "Then I must refuse." 
 
 " You had better reconsider. Your lot here is a hard 
 one, for, Heaven knows ! I would hardly recognize you 
 — you are so terribly changed ! " 
 
 "You need not take any trouble on my account," I 
 said. " I do not intend to join you. I did not attack 
 the United States sailors. I went to join t/iem, and to 
 attack _>w/, but to my disappointment, they surrendered 
 to me." 
 
 " Very well," said Bee, curtly, after a little laugh. 
 " If you won't help yourself, I can do nothing more for 
 you ! " 
 
 He turned and walked to the boat, never looking back. 
 
 I could see that my sullen manner had irritated the 
 man who had tried to be my friend as far as circum- 
 stances permitted him. 
 
 Then the guard took me again to the wretched hole in 
 which we convicts and slaves were herded. I lay down, 
 broken in mind, broken in body, broken in heart. The 
 chance I had longed for, and planned for, had failed me. 
 I was still a prisoner, doomed to slave in a Confederate 
 fort. 
 
BOOK III. 
 How I Won Her. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SHE CAME ! 
 
 The next day the gang of laborers with which I worked 
 was moved out of the fort. At dusk, to avoid the Federal 
 fire, we were embarked on boats towed by a steam tug 
 up Charleston Harbor, and I thought we were going to 
 the town ; but, instead, our voyage was continued to a 
 little creek called ''Wappoo," that empties into the Ash- 
 ley River, opposite the city. 
 
 Moving up this as far as boats could go, we were 
 landed and marched a mile or two that night, to some 
 sheds evidently prepared for us, given our miserable 
 rations of poor corn meal and poorer bacon, and lay 
 down in some straw, like dogs in a kennel, to sleep. 
 
 Early the next morning, under guard, we were set to 
 work on some fortifications about a mile from Fort Pem- 
 berton, on Stono River, These were being hurriedly 
 completed. Having failed in the reduction of Fort Sum- 
 ter, the Union forces might now make some attempt to 
 come to Charleston, via Stono River. It was much pleas- 
 anter here than on the sand dunes of Morris Island. 
 There was running water, green trees, and an absence of 
 that deafening sound that came upon us day and night 
 from the Federal guns. Bad as it was, the place was a 
 great improvement upon where we had previously worked. 
 These fortifications were not heavy earthworks, like those 
 at Wagner, or on Morris Island, but were long lines of 
 intrenchments fitted to protect an infantry force in the 
 open field, though, at convenient places, batteries were 
 
8o HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 erected in which guns could be placed as needed to resist 
 any Federal advance. 
 
 Curiously enough, my health under these circumstances 
 became better. The greenness of the trees pleased me 
 after the white sand dunes of Morris Island. The run- 
 ning water sounded sweetly to me, and I became stronger 
 and better each day. I had grown accustomed to hard- 
 ship and hard fare. Besides, my life was given a certain 
 variety by the number of people I saw passing along the 
 country roads, this place being entirely out of the range 
 of Federal guns. Ladies, even, sometimes passed that 
 way, though I took but little notice of them, and my life 
 was monotonous toil. 
 
 I was awakened from this monotony by a sudden 
 shock. One day, laboring on an earthwork that ran close 
 to and commanded a long, yellow, dusty road, I heard 
 the sound of hoofs upon it. Chancing to look up, my 
 gaze became petrified and fixed upon four figures on 
 horseback, made indistinct by a surrounding cloud of 
 dust. One was a red-headed negro ; another looked like 
 that of Bee the Georgian. Then cantered behind a 
 youth with an empty sleeve, and last — her form ! For a 
 second I thought myself going mad, that it was an hallu- 
 cination. 
 
 But her face became more and more distinct, the lovely 
 eyes grew familiar to me, and her voice came to me. 
 " Arthur, are you sure this is the right way ? " 
 
 At these words existence seemed at first a dream, then 
 floated away. The shovel fell from my hand — the earth 
 seemed to strike me. 
 
 The next thing I remember was the guard saying : 
 
 " Why, the poor devil must have got a sunstroke ! He 
 fell down just as you come up, miss ! " 
 
 Then Laura Peyton's voice cried : " Quick ! Place 
 him by this spring. The water will revive him ! " 
 
 I opened my eyes, and found myself in a small grove, 
 through which a pretty little stream flowed down to the 
 swamp that bordered Wappoo Creek, near the place where 
 I had been working. The cold water revived me. I lay 
 upon the grass. She was gazing at me and muttering 
 " Poor fellow ! " but there was no recognition in her 
 eyes. Caucus was bathing my face with water. 
 
 As he did so, the negro began to tremble and turn 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 8l 
 
 dusky. Though he said nothing aloud, his lips muttered: 
 " Fo' de Lord ! " 
 
 A moment after the guard said : " Git up and back to 
 work. I can't wait for you any longer. Git up ! " 
 
 I did not move. I would have died before I left her 
 without her knowing me. 
 
 " Git up ! " and the fellow would have kicked me had 
 she not stepped between us. 
 
 " This poor creature is sick, worn out — can't you see 
 it ! Are your eyes not human ? " she said, standing 
 over me in the plain homespun dress these days of pro- 
 longed war had brought to all the ladies of the South. 
 
 '' The officers are inspecting of us. I'm responsible for 
 him ; he must come with me. Git up, you sneaking 
 skunk ! " muttered the man. " Git up ! " and he raised his 
 hand. 
 
 " Don't you dare touch him ! " she cried. " My 
 brother, Captain Peyton, is one of the officers inspecting 
 you, Colonel Bee the other. I'll be responsible for this 
 man's custody. Can't you see he's too weak to move ? 
 Go back to your duty ! " 
 
 "All right, miss, if you say so ! " muttered the man. 
 Remember, you'll see he comes back. Don't git me into 
 the guard-house ! " 
 
 "I'll see you are safe." 
 
 " Very well, miss," and the man returned to the in- 
 trenchments. 
 
 He had no sooner disappeared in the trees than Cau- 
 cus, whose eyes had been rolling wildly, suddenly cried : 
 " Fo' de Lord ! Massa Bryant ! " and fell to kissing my 
 hand, while she who had been gazing at me with a look 
 all of pity and naught of recognition, suddenly grew pale 
 and gasped: " My heaven ! " then commenced to sob and 
 wring her hands, and would have flown to me. 
 
 But I waved her off, and said : '* Keep away — don't 
 touch me. The filth of the prison is on me ! " 
 
 And she muttered, " I don't care ! " and would have 
 soothed me with pitying tears, but as she came toward me 
 she stopped and shuddered, looked at my striped dress, hes- 
 itated, turned pale and gasped : " Why, you are a co?ivict ! " 
 
 "Yes, a convict for loving my country — for loving 
 you ! This striped dress is a present from your admirer 
 — Amos Pierson's influence has brought me to this \ " 
 G 
 
82 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " Amos Pierson ! " she cried. " He has again tried to 
 obtain my consent to marry him. It was reported you 
 were dead, as you had gone out to sea in a blockade-run- 
 ner, which was destroyed by Federal vessels." 
 
 '' Yes, Amos Pierson ! " said I. between my teeth, 
 "Amos Pierson ! But, thank God ! his influence has 
 brought me back to South Carolina — to you ! Laura, 
 you refused him, — was it for me ? Was it for my 
 sake ? Do you still, in spite of all," muttered I, for the 
 girl was panting and sobbing in a way that gave me 
 
 hope, "do you still " I looked around. Caucus had 
 
 disappeared. " Do you still, in spite of the North and 
 the South, do you still love me ? " 
 
 She said nothing. I was trembling with disappoint- 
 ment, when in a flash she turned toward me and held 
 up her finger. The sunlight through the treetops illu- 
 mined it, and I saw upon it the engagement ring that 
 she had dropped upon the greensward the day I parted 
 from her in Columbia six months before. 
 
 Despite the rags and filth that covered me, I would 
 have seized her in my arms, but at this moment the 
 bushes that lined the stream were parted and Stuart Bee 
 gazed upon us. 
 
 As he looked, a grin partly of astonishment, partly of 
 good-nature, ran over his handsome countenance. He 
 turned hurriedly back and I heard his voice saying : 
 " Arthur, your sister is not here. We must look for her 
 somewhere else ! " 
 
 As he did this, the sergeant of the guard forced his way 
 through the brush, crying out to me : " You lazy sneak, 
 you have been twenty minutes loafing here ! Back to 
 work, at once ! " 
 
 A flash of rage was in my sweetheart's face. In another 
 moment she would have confronted this man, her brother 
 would have heard her, and there would have been a 
 de'nouemejit when Bee at this moment, looking over 
 his shoulder, said sternly : " That man is worn out with 
 work. Give him an hour's rest, or you will have to put 
 him in the hospital, sergeant." 
 
 "Very well, sir," replied that functionary, touching his 
 cap. " He has generally done his share, and I'll be easy 
 on him this time ! " 
 
 He went back to his men. I could hear Bee and 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 83 
 
 Arthur walk off to their horses. Laura and I were alone 
 together once more. 
 
 '' Uo you know that officer ? " she suddenly asked. 
 
 "Who, Stuart Bee?" replied I. "He has been my 
 only friend." 
 
 " He is still your friend — our friend," she cried. " He 
 must have planned this meeting for us. He it was who 
 obtained my brother's appointment to make the inspec- 
 tion of the fortifications here, and persuaded me to come 
 with him." 
 
 " It was for my sake, Laura ! God bless him ! " I 
 cried, as remorse seized me for the words I had uttered 
 to him when last we met ; " but we will not be long un- 
 interrupted. I must say all I have to very quickly." 
 
 I told her my adventures that had brought me to the 
 state in which she saw me ; this very rapidly, and only 
 interrupted by sighs of sympathy and exclamations of 
 horror from Laura. 
 
 When it was over she said : " Lawrence, you must end 
 this martyrdom at once ! " 
 
 " Yes, by perjuring myself, and becoming a Confeder- 
 ate soldier ! " 
 
 " No — not that way ! Though I am a southern girl 
 
 not that way ! I should not respect you if you took that 
 way now." 
 
 " Then how? " 
 
 " I can't tell, yet. All I know is, that I could not exist 
 thinking of you as I see you now. In some way I must 
 save you, — in some way I wi7/ save you ! " 
 
 "■ You love me ? " I gasped. 
 
 " I'll talk of nothing now but how to save you ! " 
 
 " You love me ? " I begged. 
 
 *' I hear my brother calling me ! I must go, or he will 
 find us here ! " 
 
 " You love me ? " I cried. 
 
 " Yes, " she said. " I love you, and will save you ! " 
 
 I seized hex hand in mine and pressed my parched, hot, 
 burning lips upon it. As I did so, both a tear and a kiss 
 fell on my face. 
 
 Arthur's voice was heard calling : " Laura, where are 
 you ? " She turned from me and ran through the grove 
 in the opposite direction to the road, apparently intend- 
 ing to come out at some distant point in answer to her 
 
84 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 brother's call. Her tears had unloosed the fountains of 
 my heart for the first time in all my misery. 
 
 Half an hour afterward 1 staggered out to the line of 
 men, shoveling sand upon the Confederate earthworks. 
 There was no sign of either her, her brother, or Caucus ; 
 still I shoveled away with a better heart than I had ever 
 had before in the rebel trenches, for I had faith in the 
 woman I loved fulfilling her promise and finding for me 
 a way to freedom. 
 
 CHAPTER Xr. 
 
 THE RED-HEADED NEGRO. 
 
 For two days I waited. On the morning of the third, 
 as we were being routed out to our work, I thought I 
 heard a familiar negro voice. 
 
 The next moment the sergeant of the guard said : 
 " Hello, here's a disobedient nigger ! To work in the 
 trenches for punishment, eh ? You red-headed rascal, 
 I'll take the spunk out of you ! " 
 
 " Fo' de Lord ! go easy on me, massa ! " 
 
 No one took any interest in this matter, as it was a 
 common habit of planters in the neighborhood to aid the 
 Confederate cause by donating to it the labor of their 
 insubordinate slaves ; as for me, it filled me with hope. 
 For the negro sent to work in the trenches was Caucus, 
 and I guessed he had some communication for me. 
 Unfortunately, however, he was told off to work on a 
 different part of the fortifications, and I got no chance to 
 comm.unicate with him until night. Our sleeping arrange- 
 ments were very primitive. We lay down in a long shed 
 in any part that was convenient, the guard giving but 
 little attention, except to see that we did not escape ; 
 consequently I soon worked myself alongside the red- 
 headed negro. He seemed at first in almost too much 
 trouble to speak to me. 
 
 In answer to my inquiries, he only muttered : " Golly, 
 if I knowed dis, I'd never no way come heah. Dey 
 worked de life out o' me to-day, an' dis grub ain't fit 
 for a buzzard to chew ! " 
 
 *' You have something to tell me ? " 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 85 
 
 " Yas ; but de sergeant said he'd tie me up by de 
 thumbs " 
 
 " Speak — quick ! What message have you for me ? " 
 
 " Well, jes' let me get de aches out of my arms an' 
 legs. Lord, how dey worked me ! It ain't possible you 
 libed six months in dis kind of way, Massa Bryant ! " 
 
 " That is the reason I want to get out of it. Quick ! 
 what communication have you for me ? " 
 
 " Well," he said, " don't I want to get out ob it quick too? 
 De missus sent you dis," and he handed me a little packet. 
 
 Watching my opportunity I read the note. It was simply, 
 
 "Do as Caucus tells you." 
 
 Besides this, the packet contained the same identical 
 roll of greenbacks I had sent my sweetheart and asked 
 her to use on my leaving Columbia. 
 
 " Your mistress says," I whispered to him, " I am to 
 do as you tell me. — What am I to do ? " 
 
 " Get out of heah, quick. I'se got a boat ready to 
 take you down de Stono ribber to de Yanks." 
 
 " But how are we to get out of here ? " 
 
 " Well, dat's what you got to find out. If I'd a knowed 
 what it was, I'd neber hab come myself, do' she'd begged 
 me on her shins for an hour; but you mustget out to-night." 
 
 Get out to-night ! The proposition was a sudden one. 
 
 Get out to-night without having a bullet put through 
 my body ? As I looked at the line of Confederate sen- 
 tries, with their loaded muskets, that prevented any 
 escape of the negroes or convicts, the proposition 
 seemed an absuid one. 
 
 I had never before thought of escaping from the 
 guards, because, without friends and without money, it 
 had always seemed to me an impossibility to reach the 
 Union lines ; but now, as I reflected on the matter, my 
 views suddenly changed. 
 
 The nights had been growing colder and colder, as 
 we were now getting well into the month of November. 
 Large camp fires each evening were built for the comfort 
 of the guard. The wood for these had been brought 
 every day by a detail under guard ; but to-day, for some 
 reason, this had been omitted or forgotten. I'he stock 
 of fuel was not sufficient for the night's use. 
 
 At the very moment I was planning escape, I heard the 
 
86 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 sergeant directing some of his men to take a few of 
 the laborers and get in a supply for the night. The 
 soldiers, not wishing to take too much trouble, roused 
 up and ordered out those of the prisoners nearest the 
 door of the shed. 
 
 I whispered to Caucus to get up, come with me, and 
 join the gang. 
 
 " I can't ; I's too tired. Doan want no more work to- 
 day. Ts neber been used to de life ob a field hand." 
 
 '' Come with me, if you want to get out of here to- 
 night. The sergeant '11 tie you up by the thumbs to-mor- 
 row," I whispered in his ear, supplementing my argu- 
 ment with a vigorous kick, for I was thoroughly enraged 
 at Caucus' indifference. 
 
 With a grunt, partly of rage and partly of pain, he got 
 up and followed me. 
 
 We soon found ourselves in the v/ood squad guarded 
 by three or four Confederate soldiers with loaded muskets, 
 and marched off to some neighboring timber. I whispered 
 to Caucus to keep close to me, whatever else he did. 
 
 Fortunately for us, the timber was quite thick about 
 here, and we were ordered to spread through it and get 
 the wood which had already been cut down and piled in 
 various places. This we were to bring to a place indicated 
 for our meeting just out in the open ground. We were 
 divided into three gangs, a Confederate soldier with a 
 loaded gun going with each one of these ; the fourth, a 
 corporal, remaining at the place to which we were told to 
 bring the wood. 
 
 In the undergrowth at night it was a difficult matter 
 for one man to keep his eye on three or four, and watch- 
 ing my opportunity I gave Caucus a signal, then dropped 
 down into the thick foliage, and crawled on my hands 
 and knees followed by the negro. 
 
 I felt pretty sure that our absence would not be noticed 
 until the gangs had brought the wood to the place of 
 meeting. That would give us at least twenty minutes' start 
 of any pursuit. 
 
 As I crawled along followed by Caucus, I asked him : 
 *'• What route are we to take to your boat on the Stono 
 River ? " 
 
 His reply astonished me. He said : " Golly ! Ts too 
 tired to go dar now. It's more'n a mile away." 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 87 
 
 " Look here," I said, " if they catch us, you will be shot 
 as well as I." 
 
 "Golly! do you link dey'll shoot vicV 
 
 " I know they will." 
 
 " Den dey's got to cotch me fust ! " and from this time 
 on the vigor of the negro astounded me. 
 
 He started off through the brushwood at a pace that 
 made it difficult for me to keep up with him. 
 
 After about five minutes more of this travel, we entered 
 the swamp that borders Wappoo Creek. We did this none 
 too soon, for at this moment the firing of the guard 
 indicated that our escape had been noticed. 
 
 Following Caucus by a path that he apparently knew, 
 even on this dark night, I passed along the swamp going 
 up the Wappoo Creek. We heard nothing of pursuit. 
 At night it would have been impossible for them to fol- 
 low us without the aid of dogs, which I presumed they 
 would get as soon as possible. 
 
 Following the creek for about a mile and a half, we 
 came upon a place where there was not more than three 
 or four hundred yards of open ground to the Stono 
 River. This was about half a mile above Fort Pember- 
 ton. Peering cautiously out of the undergrowth of the 
 swamp in the direction of the river, we found no one 
 moving and no guards set, the river above the fort being 
 considered perfectly safe from any boat attack of the 
 Federals. Crossing this ground hurriedly, we descended 
 to the river, and there found a light skiff that Caucus 
 had moored at the spot for this emergency. In it was a 
 suit of decent clothing for me, and some simple but 
 wholesome food, the first I had tasted for months. I 
 immediately threw off the convict suit I wore, and 
 donned the clothes while Caucus was pulling the skiff 
 into mid-stream In the pocket of the coat I found a 
 loaded revolver. 
 
 " Who sent them for me. Caucus ? " I whispered. 
 
 " Miss Laura. She's been tinkin' ob you and wringing 
 her hands ober you for de las two days. She's had red 
 eyes, sah ; powerful red eyes, Massa Bryant." 
 
 These words added strength to a resolution I had 
 already made. 
 
 While this was going on. Caucus had turned the boat 
 down-stream and we were gliding toward the Federal 
 
88 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 gun-boats, some five miles distant. We had already 
 reached a point in the river only a few hundred yards 
 above Fort Pemberton. 
 
 " Where is your mistress ? " whispered I. 
 
 " Miss Laura ? " 
 
 " Certainly ! " 
 
 " Oh, she's a mile or two up de ribber stopping wid 
 Judge Elliott's family. Her brudder's stoppin' dar, too. 
 He's looking after diggin' up some forts near heah. I's 
 to go back and 'port to her when I's got you safe down 
 de ribber to de Yanks." 
 
 "Very well," said I. "I must see her before I go. 
 Turn the boat up-stream ! " 
 
 '• No, sah. I ain't nebber goin' up dis stream agin ! " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " I means when I gits to de Yanks I's a-gwine to stay 
 dar. I's bound to be free like you is, sah." 
 
 " Then you are not going to return to your mistress ? " 
 
 " No, sah. If I once get to de Yanks, I stays." 
 
 " Turn that boat up-stream ! I must — I will see her 
 before I go." I seized the tiller to change the direction 
 of the little craft. • 
 
 " Dis boat don't go up-stream wid me in it ! I's 
 gwine to be free ! " 
 
 " Look here. Caucus," I said, " there's no use of your 
 arguing with me or acting in that way ;" for the black 
 had raised his oar threateningly. " I am going up that 
 river to see Laura Peyton, and you have got to go with me." 
 
 " Nebber ! " 
 
 '' Then I've got to go without you ! " and I clapped 
 my revolver to his head. 
 
 " You ain't gwine to kill me ? " he gasped. 
 
 " Not if you do as I say, but if you make any disturb- 
 ance here now, I will ! " 
 
 By this time the boat had floated almost opposite the 
 fort. 
 
 " If you want to get out, you can do so after we have 
 got up-stream a little way, but we must go back first. 
 It is too late to do anything else," I whispered, as I saw 
 two patrol boats moving about down the river opposite 
 the fort. " You see they know of our escape. We never 
 could pass between them." 
 
 Fortunately during this conversation we had been 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. »9 
 
 drifted by an eddy under the shadow of the bank and 
 the patrol boats did not see us. The wind was blowing 
 up-stream, and they could not hear us. Urged by my 
 revolver, and perhaps by his fears, Caucus turned the 
 boat about and rowed slowly up the river away from the 
 Federal gunboats for which he longed. 
 
 " Look heah," he said, " it's sartin death for you to 
 go up dar. If de rebs cotch you, whar am you ? " 
 
 " I am going to see her before I go." 
 
 " Golly, you's gone mad, you has, sah ! You dunno 
 what you's doin'. If de rebs cotch you, you's a goner, 
 and de Yankee gunboats ain't but few miles away, I 
 reckon dey ain't so much, sah." 
 
 " Pull ahead ! " 
 
 1 cocked the revolver, and Caucus said no more for 
 some time save an occasional ejaculation of " Fo' de 
 Lord, you has gone crazy ! " or some similar expression 
 of astonished horror and disgust. 
 
 " Row quicker ! " said I, sternly, whenever he relaxed 
 his efforts, and in about an hour we rounded a bend in 
 the stream upon the bank of which I could see lights, 
 apparently from a house. 
 
 " Dat's de place, sah ! " 
 
 *' Where she is ? " 
 
 " Yes, sah ! " 
 
 As the boat drew up at the bank, I said, " Go into the 
 house quickly, and tell her I am here. Don't you alarm 
 the family, for the Elliotts are southerners to the back- 
 bone, and if this comes out, it means the whipping-post 
 for you, as well as imprisonment for me." 
 
 " I knows dat, sah. Golly ! I tink you treat pretty 
 hard dis boy who helped you to 'scape." 
 
 *• Tell her quickly," said I, "and when this is over, 
 Caucus, I will make your disappointment up to you in 
 some way. You know I was kind to you before. Be 
 faithful to me, and I will be so again." 
 
 " All right, sah," said the volatile black, with a grin. 
 *' I's bound to get free dis trip, somehow, an' I s'pose I 
 can put it off for a day or two." 
 
 With that he stole up one of the paths leading through 
 the garden to a pretty cottage erected upon the banks of 
 the stream, while I impatiently and anxiously placed 
 myself in the shadow of some trees to wait as well as I 
 
90 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 could for the coming of the being for whom I had risked 
 so much, 
 
 A few moments after this she was by my side with im- 
 patient words, almost reproaches. " For God's sake, 
 Lawrence ! — you may never escape now ! Why didn't 
 you go ? " 
 
 " Because I love you." 
 
 '' Yes ; but think how unhappy you make me. If you 
 are taken again, they will perhaps /'/// you ! " 
 
 " To win you I would risk anything ! " 
 
 " But you cannot win me if you die." 
 
 " I will win you before ! " 
 
 " For heaven's sake, leave me ! Take the boat and go 
 down the river." 
 
 ''That is an impossibility now," said I. "The Con- 
 federate patrol boats are on the alert. Every picket 
 between here and the Federal lines knows that we have 
 escaped," for at that moment I heard the booming of a 
 gun down the river. 
 
 " You can go. You must go ! " 
 
 ''I will not go. I came here deliberately." 
 
 " And why ? " 
 
 " To win you ! " 
 
 " Win me ! — what do you mean ?" 
 
 " I mean this," said I. " If you love me, you would wish 
 to save my life." 
 
 " I cannot save it if you do not leave South Carolina." 
 
 " I will never leave South Carolina until you are my 
 wife. I made that resolution six months ago. when I was 
 forced back into this State. Providence brought me 
 back to be your husband." 
 
 " This is madness ! " 
 
 " Laura, you must love me, after what you have done 
 for me. For God's sake, do the only thing that will make 
 me wish to save my liie—7/iarry me now ! " 
 
 The astonished girl panted at this, and in a sort of des- 
 perate frenzy, I seized her in my arms and supplemented 
 my peculiar wooing with all the kisses and endearments 
 that I had hoarded up for the girl in my imagination dur- 
 ing the long time I had been parted from her. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake have mercy upon me ! Think of 
 what my friends, my family, would say to my marrying 
 you in this way." 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 9I 
 
 " For my sake, have mercy upon me ! Think of what 
 my misery will be if I leave this place fearing I have 
 lost you." 
 
 " We cannot be married to-night." 
 
 " Before I fly from South Carolina, we must be," I 
 muttered, the sudden joy of knowing that I had won her 
 coming to me with her words. 
 
 " For my sake, leave me ! You will be captured ! My 
 heavens ! they are coming now ! " 
 
 The girl panted and clung to me while I listened, and 
 through the darkness of the night heard the sound of 
 cavalry and the clanking of sabers. 
 
 *' Conceal yourself, for my sake ! " she begged. 
 
 " Not unless you promise to be mine." 
 
 " And if not ! " 
 
 " They'll find me here, — I don't care what becomes of 
 me ! " 
 
 " You are mad ! " 
 
 "Yes, mad enough to do this." 
 
 " Quick ! You won't have time, — let me hide you ! " 
 
 " Do you promise ? " 
 
 " Yes ! Anything to save your life ! Come ! " 
 
 She glided up the pathway, I followed her silently. 
 I knew that I had conquered— that Laura Peyton's 
 promise was her bond. 
 
 " This way ! " She passed around one of the out- 
 buildings, and coming to the barn, she led me into 
 an old deserted portion of it, filled, as well as I could 
 discover in the gloom, with rice seed and sacks for hold- 
 ing the same. 
 
 " Conceal yourself between these ! I will send Caucus 
 to look after you." 
 
 " By this kiss, remember your promise ! " 
 
 She tore herself from me and left the place. 
 
 I could hear the Confederate soldiers outside ques- 
 tioning the family if they had seen about there a white 
 escaped convict and a red-headed negro. 
 
 Next I heard Caucus' voice. " Golly, I 'specks I's 
 de only red-headed nigger 'round dese parts ! " 
 
 " Well," laughed the officer of the cavalry, ''if you 
 meet your twin brother, arrest him and we'll give a reward 
 for him." 
 
 " How much reward ? " said Caucus. 
 
92 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " Well, perhaps a hundred dollars." 
 
 ''Say, you make it a thousand, and I'll delibber myselt 
 up for him," laughed Caucus, as the patrol rode away. 
 
 After a few minutes, the astonished exclamations and 
 hearty laughter of the Elliotts at the wit of Caucus died 
 away. I could tell from the voices that they were all 
 women, young Arthur Peyton and the men of the house 
 being off on duty at this time. 
 
 Half an hour or so after this Caucus came to me, but 
 in a very surly mood, and gave me a very stale piece of 
 corn bread and a by-no-means succulent sweet potato. 
 
 "Why didn't you bring better ? " asked I. 
 
 *' Cuss you ! " replied Caucus. " Do you tink I's 
 gwine to give you a good meal after you robbed me of 
 my liberty ? What am I now ? A slabe ! But for yous 
 I'd have been a free man an' a Caucussion ! Heah's 
 someting else, sah ! " He handed me a scrap of paper. 
 
 " How am I to read this without any light ? " 
 
 " Come wid me ! " 
 
 I followed Caucus to an old cabin, perhaps two hun- 
 dred yards from the house. It was near the bank of the 
 river where our boat was moored. Here the negro soon 
 lighted a tallow dip. By its light I saw Laura Peyton's 
 well-remembered handwriting. It said : 
 
 " Darling : I dare not visit you now, but will take the first oppor- 
 tunity as soon as the family are asleep — perhaps in half an hour. Was 
 it noi a little ungenerous, dear one. to take advantage of my fears 
 for you ? Could you not see that it would have broken my heart if 
 anything had happened to yon ? That was the reason I gave you my 
 promise ; but I will keep it if you will keep yours, and try to fly to 
 safety." 
 
 If the delicate and maidenly reproach in the letter 
 made me feel that I had not treated my sweetheart gen- 
 erously, the thought that I had won her obliterated it 
 with joy. 
 
 A movement of the negro's attracted my attention. In 
 the uncertain light I could see he still eyed me in a very 
 sullen manner. I knew he had not forgiven me for bring- 
 ing him back to slavery. If he betrayed me, there was 
 an end to every hope. 
 
 '•Caucus," said I, "you don't seem to like me as you 
 used to." 
 
 " No, I's cussed if I does ! " 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 93 
 
 "Here's twenty dollars." I took this out of my hoard 
 of greenbacks that Laura had returned to me. 
 
 " I don't want no money from you, Massa Bryant," he 
 said, savagely, though he eyed the greenback in a greedy 
 way. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do. Caucus," said I ; '* you want it to 
 hire a minister." 
 
 *'■ Hire a ?>n?iister ! What for? To bury us when de 
 rebs catch us? " 
 
 " No," I said, " to hire a minister to marry me." 
 
 *' Marry you ? Who you marry ? " 
 
 " Can't you guess, Caucus ? " said I, 
 
 " Golly ! not Miss Laura ? Dat's what you wanted to 
 come back for ? " 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "otherwise we would now both be 
 free together. I have come back to marry your mis- 
 tress." 
 
 " Fo' de Lord ! Dat's what you brought me back for ? " 
 said Caucus, a grim smile lighting up his dusky features. 
 "Well, den ! If Miss Laura marries yous, I forgive yous. 
 Great gosh ! How de Peytons will cuss ! " His grin 
 changed into a guffaw. 
 
 " Then," replied I, " I will soon be in your good graces 
 again. I will soon marry your mistress." 
 
 " Golly, dar's fun ahead ob us ! Fo' de Lord, you's 
 cute as a coon ! " and the negro gave another wild 
 chuckle. 
 
 I did not answer this. My thoughts had taken another 
 turn. How was I to get a minister to make me the hus- 
 band of Laura Peyton, unknown to her family, in a land 
 where civil war made every one suspicious ? 
 
 How was I, a fugitive, to do this ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 THE HONEYMOON IN THE BLUE RIDGE. 
 
 These thoughts rapidly todx my mind to my promised 
 bride, her beauty, her love — now all mine again. For a 
 moment I was in heaven. The next instant I was on 
 
94 HOW 1 ESCAPED. 
 
 earth. The negro's hand was on my arm. He muttered, 
 " Hist ! " 
 
 We both h'stened. Some one was apparently, from the 
 noise, examining the boat that had brought us up the river. 
 
 " I'll see what dey's up to ! " whispered Caucus, and 
 he stole from the cabin, while I examined my revolver 
 to be sure it was in condition for service. 
 
 With it, the forethought of my sweetheart had provided 
 a little extra ammunition. 
 
 For fear the dampness had affected the priming, for 
 some drops of water might have got on it when 1 had the 
 trouble with Caucus on the river, I carefully placed a 
 little fresh powder in each of its six nipples, and re-capped 
 the cylinder. To do this I had to turn my back to the 
 door in order to get the light from the candle. 
 
 I was just finishing this when I heard a chuckle, and 
 looking over my shoulder, saw a man standing in the door- 
 way of the cabin. To my sorrow, I recognized him. He 
 was Pete Bassett, the Confederate detecdve. 
 
 " Wal ! " remarked he, with a grin, " this is exhilarat- 
 ing as whisky ! To meet you agin. Mister Bryant ! I heard 
 in Charleston four hours ago that you had cut out. 
 Thar was a standing reward from a particular friend of 
 yours to keep an eye on you, and I come after it." 
 
 " How did you discover me ? " murmured I, -capping the 
 last nipple of the cylinder. 
 
 "Why, by instinct ! I knew the gal was staying up har. 
 I came and nosed around. I reckon'd if you tried to get 
 down the river, our picket boats would have nipped you. 
 So when I discovered that ar skiff had been out to-night 
 and evacuated in a hurry by the oars left in it, I calculated 
 I'd nabbed you again. So come along ! " and he would 
 have approached me. 
 
 "Stand where you are ! " 
 
 " Notby a darned sight ! " 
 
 ' Stand ! " I covered him with the cocked pistol. 
 
 " Crackey, I didn't know you were heeled! " He paused, 
 astounded. Then he began : " Now, Mr. Bryant, you'd 
 better take that thing down. You know you can't get out 
 of this place, nohow. I'll go easy on you. I'll — if you 
 put that cursed thing dowift-I'll let you go, I'll only take 
 in that red-headed nigger ! That'll stop the talk. Lord ! 
 won't they give it to that saffron-skulled darkey ! " and 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. gc 
 
 the detective gave a hideous chuckle to try and throw 
 me off my guard. 
 
 As he did so, a more hideous and awful chuckle came 
 from behmd him. Bassett's laugh closed with a gurgle 
 With a smothered cry, he fell senseless at my feet, and 
 over him with a pick-handle that would have felled an ox 
 stood Caucus. 
 
 "Wonder if dat smash his head in. Call me saifron 
 sku led. D-n him ! " and before I could interpose, 
 another dreadful blow fell upon the head of the senseless 
 Bassett. 
 
 I jumped forward and caught Caucus' upraised hand 
 and not without difficulty restrained him, for the negro's 
 eyes had become bloodshot and his nostrils dilated with 
 the scent of gore. The black was going back to his bar- 
 barous instincts. The meek slave was becoming like what 
 he had sprung from, a Zulu warrior. 
 
 '; What we does wid him ? " he asked, showing his 
 white teeth. "Finish him up, and chuck him in de 
 ribber ? 
 
 *' No, no ; no murder ! " 
 
 '' If we not fix him, he fix us. His life or ours If de 
 rebs cotch us now, we's gwine in ! " 
 
 ^'- 1 know that, but I don't wish to kill him." 
 *' He nearly dead now. It no hurt him. Why not ? If 
 we don t git him out ob de way, what become of us, 
 Massa Bryant ? ' 
 
 " That's true," I replied. " We will get him out of the 
 way, and I II show you how." For an idea had just come 
 to me by which we might be relieved of the presence of 
 Mr. Bassett. "We'll take most of his clothes off • he'll 
 hardly be known by the rest if the rebels pick him un I 
 suppose none of the pickets down at Fort Pemberton 
 know him personally. If they do, he won't be in a condi- 
 tion to tell em anything, for a week or so. If he crets past 
 them, the Federal gunboats '11 take care of him to the 
 end of the war." 
 
 T u "^^f ^?'' "'^''" ^° ^° • " ^s'^ed the black eagerly, for 
 I had already pulled the coat and vest off Mr Bassett 
 and was examining his linen. This I was relieved to find 
 was in no very good shape, as rtigards either cleanliness 
 or condition, and bore no marks by which he could be 
 recognized. 
 
96 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " I'm going to put him adrift in the skiff. He'll float 
 down the river. If the rebs pick him up they won't know 
 him, and if he gets to the Union boats he can't hurt any- 
 one." 
 
 " Dat's good, Massa Bryant ! " muttered the negro 
 with a grin. " Hope he'll get to de sharks and 'gators, or 
 de Yankee gunships. Call me sarsafras-skulled niggah — 
 cuss him ! " 
 
 With that, aided by me, he dragged the insensible 
 Bassett to the boat, and, propelled by a vigorous push, the 
 skiff with its load floated down the stream. 
 
 As we did so, however, Bassett gave a low groan, and 
 this was echoed by a female voice beside me. I turned 
 hurriedly, and Laura Peyton, with a pale face, gasped 
 tremblingly to me : " Lawrence — you — you have killed 
 some one ? " 
 
 ** Not exactly, darling," I replied, taking her in my arms 
 and trying to comfort her. '' But I've been fixing a man 
 who stood between me and liberty and you ! " 
 
 With this I told her hurriedly of Mr. Bassett's commis- 
 sion from Amos Pierson, and what Caucus and I had done 
 to the detective. 
 
 " This complicates matters fearfully," she returned, 
 after a pause of consideration. " Come what may, Law- 
 rence, I'm glad you did not kill him. Now that this has 
 happened, you must get away from here instantly." 
 
 " Not until you keep your promise ! " 
 
 " How can I keep my promise ? Who can marry us 
 here ? You act like a crazy man," she muttered, wring- 
 ing her hands. 
 
 " Until you are my wife, I make no attempt to leave 
 South Carolina. I won't exist with the fear of losing 
 you to make my life the miserable one it has been these 
 last six months," 
 
 " Whether you leave South Carolina or not, you must 
 fly from here to-night ! " 
 
 " Not without hope ! " said I, doggedly. 
 
 "You must ! " 
 
 " Not without hope ! " 
 
 " Well, then," said she, " you stubborn one, I'll give 
 you hope ! " 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 ** Let me think," she muttered, knitting her brows. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. gj 
 
 " Let me think ! " And for a minute she remained 
 motionless, except that a silent tear or two ran down her 
 cheeks. 
 
 Then she cried suddenly, a look of resolution beaming 
 in her eye : " Listen to me, Lawrence Bryant, and re*^ 
 member, in all the life we may go through together, 
 what I do for love of you now. Like most men you 
 love— a little selfishly— that doesn't make us women love 
 less, so long as you love us. Now in your selfishness 
 )^ou threaten a practical suicide, unless I do what you 
 demand— a thing that will separate me from the love of 
 my family. But why should I go over this again ? I, 
 because your death would break my heart, have con- 
 sented to this." 
 
 " No, no ! " I cried. " Laura, forgive me ! " for her gen- 
 erosity brought my selfishness hpme to me. " You shall 
 not sacrifice yourself for my mad passion. I'll, for your 
 sake, try and save myself— try and escape to the North. 
 And when this awful struggle is ended, if we both live, 
 I'll come back to you." 
 
 " Come back to me perhaps after half a century. Who 
 knows how long this war may continue ? Do they fight 
 any the less now that so many are killed— that there are 
 so many widows and orphans, and each day makes more .? 
 No, Lawrence—" here she beamed on me—" I'll not take 
 the chance of losing, neither. I'm glad now that you 
 fought for our happiness. I'll marry you, come what 
 may, as I promised. You wouldn't have me break my 
 word to you, would you, dear one ? " this last with a 
 pitiful smile that contained two tears. 
 " You'll marry me ? " I cried. 
 " As soon as possible ! " 
 "How?" 
 
 "A-a-h. How.?" She gave another sigh and 
 thought hard again. Then said, " I'll tell you how ! " 
 speaking with sudden determination. " There is a part of 
 this State so blessed by God that this cruel war has 
 never reached it. Far away to the northwest, cut off by 
 the high peaks of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany from 
 the awful carnage and bloodshed of Tennessee, and too 
 far from the coast to be engulfed in the cruel devas- 
 tation that is scourging the country about here, the 
 pretty mountains and upland valleys of Spartanburg 
 7 
 
98 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 county, save for the absence of their sons, hardly know 
 of the carnage that is going on all round them. My 
 aunt, Miss Mary Tickens, has a little farm near the 
 boundary of North Carolina, not far from Jackson Hill, 
 She is an old lady of about seventy, and has lived there as 
 long as I can recollect, waited upon and tended by two 
 negroes, who are as old as herself. She is bright and active 
 for a woman of her years, and would be sure to discover 
 the circumstances that brought us to her, but, fortunately, 
 I being her favorite niece, received a letter from her not 
 long ago stating that she was going to make a visit to her 
 sister, in Augusta, Georgia. The old cook is the only one 
 left in the house. She adores mc, and will believe any- 
 thing I tell her. In that portion of the State you would be 
 unknown, and would be as safe as it is jiossible for you to 
 be in the Confederacy. Meet me there, and I will keep 
 my promise." 
 
 " You will marry me there ? " 
 
 " Y-c-s ! " she replied, slowly, with a sigh, then giv- 
 ing me a slight smile, murmured : " It is near ' The 
 Land of the Sky.' Lawrence, in happier days, I would 
 have picked it out for — a — a honeymoon in the Blue 
 Ridge," the last with a blush that looked crimson in 
 the light of the candle. 
 
 " You will meet me there ? " 
 
 " Certainly. Come to my aunt's house." And she 
 gave me careful directions. " Four days from now I 
 will be there. I can easily make the excuse of visiting 
 my aunt to my father, brother, and sister, who do not 
 
 know that she is absent from her mountain home. 
 
 But how to get there ? " At this she paused, and then 
 cried despairingly, "This war has made me so very 
 poor ! " The next moment, covering her face with her 
 hands, she muttered : " I should not have told this to 
 you ! " 
 
 " Darling," said I, " why did you not use the money 
 that 1 sent to you six months ago ? " 
 
 There was a little reproach in my tone, for during 
 this interview, I had been looking at the plain homespun 
 dress of my sweetheart, the coarse shoes, and the 
 absence of all the little delicate adornments which she 
 had been used to wear in the happier days of our first 
 engagement. " Why didn't you spend the money ? " 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 99 
 
 '* I could not take it from you, when I supposed you 
 would not be my Jiusband," she cried. " Oh, I am so 
 glad now that I have been able to return it to you intact, 
 without having touched a dollar of it ! " 
 
 " So am I," replied I. " Fate made you save it. It 
 gives us money enough to make the attei7ipt to become 
 happy." 
 
 With this, after much entreaty, I forced upon her a 
 sufficient amount for all the requirements of her jour- 
 ney. 
 
 "Why," she said, "this almost makes me feel rich. 
 Every dollar of this is worth twenty of Confederate money. 
 But how are you to get away ? That is the real difficulty. 
 Without a pass you can travel nowhere in this portion of 
 the State." 
 
 At this I began to think. How was 1 to leave the 
 neighborhood of Charleston without a passport ? Every 
 train was guarded, and every traveler without papers 
 looked upon with suspicion. This obstacle to our plans 
 would have appeared insurmountable had not, at this 
 moment, my eye rested upon the coat and vest of the 
 detective. Filled with a new hope, I seized Bassett's 
 clothes and thoroughly searched them. In them I found 
 a pocket-book full of papers and money, which I thought 
 best to take with me ; also a passport made out to travel 
 on business of importance to the Confederate Govern- 
 ment. It was a general, unlimited, roving kind of pass- 
 port, though, unfortunately, it gave a description of Mr. 
 Bassett with which I did not thoroughly agree, though 
 our height and weight were about the same. 
 
 " I must try it with these papers," said I. " They are 
 my only chance. Let Caucus guide me to the railroad, 
 in order thai I may get a train for Columbia, thence on to 
 Spartanburg. Then he can return and bring you to me." 
 
 I hurriedly asked her if the schedule time of the South 
 Carolina Railroad had been altered in the last six months. 
 She said she thought that it had not. If this was so, I 
 knew the running time, and could make my arrangements 
 accordingly. In order to catch the early train, it was 
 necessary for me to start at once. I called Caucus, 
 explained the matter to him, and he agreed to what I 
 said. He remarked that there wouldn't be any danger 
 for himself in traveling with a young lady as well known 
 
lOO HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 as Miss Peyton, and he could get along very well without 
 me, as I had only been a source of danger to him ever 
 since he had met me. 
 
 We were all too much excited to make my parting with 
 my sweetheart a tearful or a sad one. We had not time 
 to think. 
 
 Leaving her ; under the guidance of Caucus, who 
 knew the by-ways of this part of the country thoroughly, 
 I traveled rapidly north from the Stono River, crossing 
 the Charleston and Savannah Railroad track, and taking 
 a small country road, succeeded in reaching the Seven- 
 Mile station on the South Carolina Railroad. This was 
 just sufficiently outside the picket lines of the Confeder- 
 ates around Charleston to be safe. 
 
 Sending Caucus back to my sweetheart, with strict 
 injunctions to watch over her until I met them, I boarded 
 the train, muffled myself up well about the head, and 
 pretended to sleep, in order to avoid interrogations. 
 
 The running time of all trains upon the railroad was 
 now so bad, owing to their defective tracks, that I knew 
 it would probably be evening before we reached Colum- 
 bia. This suited me very well, as there was less chance 
 of my being recognized in that town at night. The hard- 
 ships and trouble I had been through had, to a certain 
 extent, altered me, and the poor clothes I now wore, so 
 different to my apparel of a few months ago, made the 
 change in me a great one. Another thing in favor of my 
 not being recognized was that the exigencies of the war 
 had called all the young men away to the army ; conse- 
 quently the former brakemen and conductors had been 
 removed, and their places taken by old men, who had not 
 seen me in my railroad position, and did not know me. 
 It was night when we reached Columbia. My ticket was 
 taken up and my pass examined by the last conductor. 
 Among the things I had found in the pocket of the 
 detective's coat was a plug of tobacco. In my haste I 
 had transferred it to mine. This was fortunate, as I was 
 just about to leave the train when the conductor suddenly 
 turned to me and said : " Can you favor me with a chaw, 
 Mr. Bassett ? " 
 
 " A what ? " 
 
 " A chaw of tobacco, of course. " 
 
 I put my hand in my pocket and found the plug. Had 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. lOl 
 
 I not been able to do so, the conductor mis^ht have sus- 
 pected me. I presume he knew Mr. Bas^ett's habits, and 
 that he never traveled without his tobacco. 
 
 Leaving the train, and going into an out-of-the-way 
 portion of the town, where I would be apt to meet no 
 one who would recognize me, I spent most of the night. 
 The next morning I sent a negro to buy my ticket, for I 
 was afraid that the ticket-seller would remember me. 
 Having procured this, the early train took me up into the 
 hills. 
 
 I now felt more at my ease. Every mile I went, carried 
 me away not only from the scene of war, but from the 
 people whom I had known, and who might recognize me. 
 That evening I put up at the little country hotel of Spar- 
 tanburg, the landlady of which was a widow, her hus- 
 band having been killed at Gettysburg. 
 
 Here I waited — waited impatiently for two long days, 
 most of the time watching the road leading north from 
 Spartanburg, for I knew that along this my sweetheart 
 must pass to the place where she had promised to be my 
 bride. The beautiful country about me, the bracing at- 
 mosphere of these hills, so different to the clammy moist- 
 ure of the swamp country of the coast where I had 
 toiled, all were naught to me — I looked only for her. I 
 did not see her, but the evening of the second day the 
 landlady said that Miss Peyton had hired a wagon from 
 her to go out to her Aunt Mary's place. That night I 
 hardly slept. The next morning I drove out toward 
 Cowpens Ford, and turning up a little mountain road, 
 an "hour afterward, Mr. Caucus, with an exclamaiion of 
 delight and a horrible grin, opening the gate for me, I was 
 in the arms of my sweetheart once more. 
 
 '' Did I not keep my promise ? " she said. " Did I not ? 
 But oh ! how I had to fib to my family. What decep- 
 tion ! I almost despise myself for it. I wonder if they 
 will ever forgive me. My poor father ! " 
 
 She commenced to wring her hands, and would have 
 gone on in this style had not I, inspired by her presence 
 said : " Laura, this is no time for tears. We must be 
 married at once." 
 
 " At once ? " this with a little tremble. 
 
 "Immediately!" I returned. "Were we to be met 
 together, your situation would now be embarrassing." 
 
I02 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " Oh, I had forgotten that ! " she cried, giving me a 
 delicious blush. "Old Mr. Huntington, the minister who 
 baptized me, lives not two miles from here. He is 
 both a little deaf and a little blind, but I imagine a cere- 
 mony performed by him will be as binding as if solem- 
 nized by a minister with the complete use of his faculties. 
 Will you ride over to him and give him this note from 
 me ? I think he remembers me as a child." 
 
 I soon found the old preacher, and two hours afterward 
 returned with him. Here a new rapture awaited me. 
 Laura swept into the room. In some occult manner, in 
 Columbia, she had obtained a white muslin dress and a 
 little French ribbon, perhaps the relic of her finery before 
 the war. Radiant with blushes and love, my bride was a 
 perfect goddess of beauty. 
 
 The marriage ceremony between us was performed. 
 Half an hour afterward the minister drove away, and my 
 bride and I strolled out on the veranda of the old house. 
 Behind us were the beautiful peaks of the Alleghany and 
 Blue Ridge, that cut off the desolation of war from us. 
 Below, a hundred beautiful little hills gradually rolled into 
 the valleys that ran down to the sea-coast, red with the 
 blood of civil contest. ' 
 
 In this fair country, divorced by nature from the pas- 
 sions of men, we had only to live for each other now and 
 be happy while God would let us. For a month we tried 
 to live the life of forgetfulness, and in part succeeded. 
 What man would not think that Heaven intended his 
 fate to be happy, blessed as I was by the supreme 
 love and beauty that my wife gave to me? But still 
 neither of us could forget the danger that surrounded us. 
 This made us very cautious, and actuated by this, my 
 wife wrote several letters to her family describing the 
 happy visit she was making her aunt. 
 
 It was a curious honeymoon. The sudden opening of a 
 door caused the bride to start ; a step upon the piazza or 
 on the walk outside made the bridegroom handle his pis- 
 tol. The faithful Caucus, however, was always on the 
 alert, and nearly every day went down to Spartanburg to 
 get the news ; but no troops were moving in this country, 
 which had been denuded of all its young men, and we 
 were far enough away from the great highways to the 
 gaps of the Blue Ridge by which reinforcements were 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I03 
 
 sent into the valley of the Tennessee to be rid of marching 
 troops. We lulled ourselves into a hope that this might 
 last forever, until, one clear winter's day, the sword 
 descended — our honeymoon in the Blue Ridge ceased 
 forever. Like most tragedies, it came unexpectedly. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHEN GIRL MEETS GIRL ! 
 
 The day had been one of dreamy happiness. We had 
 now almost deluded ourselves with the hope that a hap- 
 pier Providence than that which had heretofore been 
 over us would still permit us to linger in each other's 
 love, despite the whirl of war around us. The day had 
 been one worthy of the superb scenery about us that gave 
 a tinge of poetic romance to our love. We had been sit- 
 ting together on the veranda, looking down the slopes of 
 the Blue Ridge, upon which a little stream ran toward 
 the plains upon which the war raged that we had grown 
 now to look upon as very distant. Behind us the moun- 
 tains rose into the blue air, and were covered with a slight 
 snow, for it was late in December. 
 
 " Laura," said I, giving her slight waist a little honey- 
 moon squeeze, " do you remember this day three years 
 ago ? The n^ght of the little dance at your house — the 
 day Secession was declared ? " 
 
 " Yes, Lawrence," she muttered, " I have never for- 
 gotten that ; but please do not at this moment mention 
 what reminds me of the last three terrible years. Here, 
 cut off from bloodshed and trouble by that little range 
 of hills below, let us be happy while we can ; the time 
 
 will be too short. My heavens ! whose voice is 
 
 that ? " 
 
 At this she turned pale and began to tremble nervously, 
 and I turned pale also, for — " This is Aunt Mary's hou-se, 
 I reckon^ isn't it. Caucus ?" came to us in the accents of 
 the woman I wished least to meet on earth — Miss Belle 
 Peyton, Laura's sister. 
 
 I could hear the negro's teeth chatter ; next his voice 
 
T04 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 came to me in a kind of grinning yell : " Golly gracious ! 
 Miss Belle's heah ! Miss Belle's heah ! 'Clare to good- 
 ness, Miss Belle's heah ! " 
 
 He ran about the garden shrieking this out, apparently 
 to give us warning. 
 
 " Are you crazy, Caucus ? Open the gate at once, and 
 let me in ! " said Belle, hurriedly. 
 
 The next moment she rode into the garden. Pale, but 
 firm, Laura rose to meet her sister. 
 
 I can see Belle now as she came running up the steps, 
 crying : " Laura, I grew anxious about you when Aunt Mary 
 wrote me from Augusta saying nothing of you. I thought 
 it curious that you were makmg her a visit when she was 
 not at home. But now I will stay a week or two with 
 you myself. We'll have a delightful time up in these lovely 
 
 hills. We'll Oh ! my soul ! This is the cause of your 
 
 visit. You are .staying here with this man. My sister, 
 what does it mean ? " and Belle glared at me with fiery 
 eyes. 
 
 At this Laura said, very calmly, though there was a trem- 
 ble in her voice, " Belle, let me introduce to you my 
 husband, Mr. Lawrence Bryant." 
 
 " Your kusband ? " shrieked Belle. " Oh, heavens ! this 
 is worse than I feared ! " 
 
 " My husband, whom I love and honor, and whom you 
 must respect, Belle, if we are to be sisters." 
 
 " Sisters ? When you have married one of our enemies ? 
 This man who loved the North so much that he left you 
 to fly to it ? Oh, what degradation ! What misery ! 
 What despair ! AVhat will my poor old father say to — 
 this ? " and the girl began to pant with passionate rage 
 and hysterical misery. 
 
 " He will say nothing. You must not tell him — at 
 present," came from Laura's pale but resolute lips. 
 
 " But I 7ai// tell him, so that he can despise you as I 
 do. Loving this man who would destroy us— a Yankee." 
 This last was uttered as if it was a term of contempt 
 beyond anything else on earth. " A Yankee ! " 
 
 The girl came toward me with flashing eyes, looking 
 as if she would almost attack me. 
 
 " Oh, how I hate you ! " she hissed. "You who have 
 lured my sister away from her duty and her friends. A 
 man who had not lieart enough to fight us, but must 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. IO5 
 
 destroy our family by making a woman love him, and 
 she — my sister," and she burst out crying, sobbing, and 
 wringing her hands. 
 
 I bad said nqthing to this, judging it best to let her 
 exhaust her childish fury. Now I remarked : " Miss 
 Belle, I loved your sister before this war came to 
 separate us. You used to like me then ; can you 
 not think a little kindly of one who regards you as — a 
 sister ? " 
 
 " Your sister 1 she shrieked. " I will not be your sis- 
 ter long. I have heard that you are a criminal — a deserter 
 from the ranks of our army twice over. Good -by, Laura ! 
 Your honeymoon will be a short one." 
 
 The girl turned to go, and almost staggered while doing 
 so. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " cried Laura, suddenly confront- 
 ing her. " Where are you going ? " 
 
 *' I am going to the nearest military post to denounce 
 this man you have wed, and to deliver him up to our 
 authorities, that he may be shot to death. That's what 
 they'll do to him ! Then he can call me ' sister ' no 
 more. Then our disgrace may be wiped out by his blood. 
 You shall be his widow — not his wife ! " 
 
 " You will do nothing of the kind," said Laura, very 
 calmly. '' You are crazy now. Belle. You will stay here 
 until your mania is over." 
 
 "■ I will stay here not a second ! Don't you try to 
 detain me ! Keep your hands off me ! " for Laura had 
 placed a detaining grasp on Belle's arm. '' How dare 
 you ?" 
 
 "It is my duty," said Laura, "to my husband and to 
 you to stop an insane woman from doing what she would 
 regret forever. Do you suppose I will let you, in your 
 mad anger, murder the man I love ? Do you think that 
 I am crazy as well as you ? You will stay here until you 
 regain your sanity ! " 
 
 " Not another second under the roof that is polluted 
 by this man. Oh, my Heaven, Laura ! how could you 
 do it ? But I will do my duty, if you forget yours, you 
 renegade ! " The two girls stood confronting each other, 
 the dark eyes of one flashing anger into the resolution in 
 the blue eyes of the other. 
 
 " Lawrence/' returned Laura, calmly, "give me your 
 
I06 HOW 1 ESCAPED. ' 
 
 assistance. Your life depends on it. This girl is mad 
 enough to do what she promises ! " 
 
 I saw that my only chance of safety was in obeying my 
 wife's request. I came, and as tenderly^ as possible took 
 hold of Belle's arm. 
 
 " Oh, you're a northern gentleman!" she hissed, " to lay 
 your hands on a woman ! It is like you Yankees ! " 
 
 " Belle, stop these insults," cried Laura, *'or I shall for- 
 get that you are my sister ! S/op them ! Lawrence, 
 Quick!'' for Belle had commenced to struggle and 
 scream in her hysterical rage. 
 
 Then Laura and I, as delicately and tenderly as was 
 possible, drew the struggling girl into the house, and 
 securely locked her into one of the upper rooms. 
 
 This apartment was a kind of attic, the windows of 
 which were protected by iron bars from the assaults of 
 negro thieves, the place being used as a family store- 
 room. I shall never forget the look in that girl's eyes 
 that fell on me as we left her ! The rage of " a tigress 
 robbed of her young " would do no justice to the picture 
 that Miss Belle's pretty face made as we closed the door 
 on her and turned the key in the padlock. 
 
 Laura and I descended the stairs, despair in our hearts. 
 We knew our honeymoon was over, that the war had 
 drifted from the plains of South Carolina into this quiet 
 valley of the Blue Ridge. 
 
 " Lawrence, we must part now. There is but one 
 place of safety for you, and that is on the other side of 
 the line." 
 
 " Now ? " I muttered. 
 
 " Yes ; I know you would stay with me. You would 
 risk your life for my happiness, for another day with me ; 
 but you must go. It may be a sweetheart's wish to 
 detain her husband. It is a wife's duty to bid him God- 
 speed at such a time as this. " 
 
 " Laura, you must go with me ! " 
 
 " I cannot ! I dare not ! I must keep this girl here, 
 or you will be pursued before you can reach any place 
 of safety. I will join you in the North. It will not be 
 difificult for me to take passage in a blockade-runner. 
 Women are non-combatants. 1 will meet you wherever 
 you tell me. My life here could hardly be pleasant now ; 
 with you away from me it would be misery. I shall 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. IO7 
 
 keep Belle securely, but tenderly, until the danger of her 
 denouncing you is passed." 
 
 After this I did not attempt to persuade my wife to 
 accompany me upon the hazardous journey I was about 
 to undertake. I had long ago mapped out the route I 
 should take on leaving the Confederacy. It was across 
 the State line, but a few miles distant, into North Caro- 
 lina, then through the western portion of that State into 
 the mountains of East Tennessee, entering the Union 
 lines near Knoxville. 
 
 Dangerous as this road was, on account of guerillas, 
 bushwhackers, and scouts, it was the best now open to 
 me. 
 
 I made my preparations hurriedly, silently, with 
 almost a broken heart. That night my wife and I 
 parted. Our honeymoon ended almost as suddenly as 
 it had begun, but I left with the joy that now she was 
 mine ; no other suitors could rob me of her. She was not 
 my sweetheart — she was my wife. 
 
 This journey I was to make alone. I would not take 
 even Caucus with me, as it was necessary that he should 
 stay by my wife. I was thoroughly armed with a pair of 
 navy revolvers, had a fairly good horse, and fifty dollars 
 in greenbacks in my pocket. The balance of my hoard 
 I left with Laura for any expenses and emergencies she 
 might meet with and to pay her passage on some block- 
 ade-runner to Nassau, thence to New York. 
 
 As Caucus opened the gate of the garden, and bade 
 me good-by, I could see the pale, distracted face of my 
 wife, as she stood in the doorway of the house. I did 
 not dare look back too long, and, setting my teeth, 
 turned my head away to make my escape, for her sake 
 as well as my own. 
 
 My preparations had occupied me till perhaps nine 
 o'clock at night. Beyond the gate of the garden, my 
 road ran down a little lane Imed with laurel trees. 
 The moonlight, however, reflected from the snow of 
 the neighboring hills, made this lane quite light. I was 
 leaning on my horse, arranging the articles that I carried 
 with me in a knapsack slung upon the saddle, v/hen I 
 heard these words, that gave me a tenible start : "By 
 Gosh ! I've got you now, and this time you don't escape 
 me ! " 
 
lo8 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Glancing hurriedly up, I saw confronting me, not ten 
 feet away, the form of Pete Bassett, who had me covered 
 with a revolver. 
 
 Fortunately one of my pistols was in a holster hanging 
 from the saddle, and my hand rested upon it. I did not 
 move it as I knew that any motion would be the signal 
 for my death, but with a presence of mind born of the 
 situation, I said quietly : " Mr. Bassett, I never expected 
 to see you again." 
 
 " No," he replied. " And you don't like it, after hav- 
 ing that nigger beat me nearly to death, and then ship- 
 ping me down the river in a boat, delirious for two 
 weeks, so I could not give an account of myself. You 
 didn't reckon on me to find yo.u agin, but that reward 
 is still open from that particular friend of yours. So I 
 come up and nosed around Columbia, and when I saw 
 your gal's sister Belle start out suddenly for this part of 
 the State, I followed her, and having got a glimpse of 
 the gal you are sweet on through the window of that 
 house, I knew you wasn't far away. Now I have got 
 you sure ! You don't dodge me agin. Throw up your 
 hands ! " 
 
 " Yes, I do ! " cried I, with a laugh. " Hit him again. 
 Caucus ! " 
 
 With an oath the detective suddenly wheeled and 
 faced about to confront, as he supposed, the negro once 
 more. As he did so my hand drew my pistol from its 
 holster, and like lightning I shot him, for I had no 
 mercy now. This man had three times stepped be- 
 tween me and escape, and I knew if I did not kill him 
 there would be but little chance for me. 
 
 With a horrid yell, Bassett fell into the roadway. 
 I stepped up to him and he gasped : " Played me agin, 
 Gol darn it ! and this time played out forever ! Fust 
 laid out by a nigger, and then chawed up by a 
 Yank ! " 
 
 With this he fainted, probably with disgust, as his hurt 
 did not seem to be mortal. 
 
 As I bent down over the wounded man. Caucus and 
 my wife, attracted by the noise of the shooting, came run- 
 ning down the avenue. From her appearance I am sure 
 that Laura thought I had been the victim, for she gave 
 a sigh of relief when she saw me .standing erect. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. lOQ 
 
 "What new horror is this?" she gasped, while Cau- 
 cus gave a grin and chuckled : " You fixed him dis time 
 didn't you, Alassa Bryant ? An' I fixed him de last time ! 
 I reckon we got to bury him dis time ! " 
 
 " That would not trouble me much," I replied. He 
 has had three chances at my liberty— now I have had one 
 chance at his life ! " , ., -r 
 
 " Lawrence, you must not stay here ! said my wite. 
 "We will do what we can for this wounded man. Go 
 on at once, you may be pursued ! This has made your 
 flight even more imperative than Belle's visit ! " 
 
 Another hurried parting, another last kiss, and I 
 started once more upon my journey. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 How I Came Back and Fought 
 FOR Her. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 INTO THE DARK COUNTRY. 
 
 I HAD made up my mind to follow the road which led 
 across the State line into Henderson County, thence to 
 Asheville, in Buncombe County, and the French Broad 
 River, which would give me a direct route through one 
 of the gaps of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains 
 into East Tennessee. Now, fearing immediate pursuit, 
 I whispered my change of plans to my wife. I deter- 
 mined to go somewhat off the direct route by way of 
 Rutherford County, which would probably throw any 
 people following me off my track. Taking a few hurried 
 directions from her lips, for Laura knew the country very 
 well, I took the small road leading across the State line 
 to Island Ford, in Rutherford County, North Carolina. 
 
 It was only a few miles distant, and in about an hour 
 and a half, by riding rapidly, I had made the place. 
 From here I passed rapidly along to Rutherfordton, 
 a little village and county-seat, arriving there some 
 time after midnight. From this place, after resting my 
 horse, I followed the directions given me, and about three 
 in the morning reached Green's Hill. The country was 
 very thinly settled, and that night I was disturbed by 
 nothing save the barking of a few curs as I passed along 
 near the farm-houses on the road. 
 
 I was approaching Green's Hill when I heard the clatter 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. lit 
 
 of a horse's hoofs behind me. Urging my tired beast to 
 his speed, I kept along as rapidly as possible, but in spite 
 of me, the sound came nearer and nearer. Fearing that 
 I was pursued, and knowing that it was by only one man, 
 for I could hear only the noise of one horse, I drew up in 
 the shade of some trees to let him pass me, or to see 
 what he intended to do. 
 
 I had not been in this position more than a minute or 
 two when a form of a man on horseback rapidly passed 
 me. By the uncertain light, it seemed familiar to me. 
 
 I hallooed, " Is that you, Caucus ? " 
 
 '- Golly ! Fo' de Lord, Massa Bryant ! I came near 
 passin' you ! You come right along wid me. Dey is 
 fixin' up a party to pursue you down dar in Spartan- 
 burg. Dey ain't half an hour behind me. Miss Laura 
 said 1 was to come along to tell you. Dis note's from 
 her, and '11 give you all de statistic. Come along with 
 me, quick ! " 
 
 Together we spurred along the road to beyond Green's 
 Hill; then turning to the north, under Caucus' direc- 
 tion, who had been through this country before, we fol- 
 lowed a little mountain path until we reached the stream 
 called Otter Creek, which I believe connects with the 
 French Broad River further on. The country here was 
 very wild, and our horses were quite tired, though they 
 were fresh when we started, we having ridden over thirty 
 miles that night 
 
 As soon as morning came, we turned from the road into 
 the bushes, where we could hardly be discovered, made a 
 fire, and after eating a breakfast which I had brought 
 with me (though Caucus had brought a much more 
 elaborate meal with him), and tethering the horses, we 
 lay down to rest. 
 
 I was so worn out that it was long after mid-day when 
 I awoke with a start of misery. The negro snored con- 
 tentedly by my side ; the horses, a little way off, browsed 
 upon the grass about 'them. What had happened to me ? 
 I knew some sorrow had overtaken me. After a moment 
 the scene brought my loss home to me. My vvife, my 
 companion, my sweetheart, was parted from me, perhaps 
 forever ! 
 
 This recalled to me the note that Caucus had brought 
 from her. The light had been too dim to read it when 
 
112 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 slumber fell upon me. I hurriedly tore open the epistle. 
 It read as follows : 
 
 " Monday Evening. 
 
 " My Darling Husband : I send these hurried lines to warn you 
 that a party is being collected to pursue you. This ought to reach 
 you about an hour ahead of them. They can hardly take the road 
 before that time has passed. Your pistol shot attracted some men 
 riding along the road. Bassett was able to tell them, and direct their 
 movements. Thank God, my sister Belle had no hand in putting 
 these bloodhounds on your track. Oh, my darling Lawrence, how 
 I shall pray for you to-night ! Bere.t of your presence, I feel like a 
 widow now— that these are a widow's tears that fall upon this paper. 
 Guard your life, for it is my life, my husband ! God grant that we 
 may meet again, is the one prayer that will go up to heaven, my own, 
 my darling one, from your loving, despairing wife, 
 
 " Laura Peyton Bryant. 
 
 " I sii^ my new name, dearest, for the first time. Oh ! God pro- 
 tect you ! L." 
 
 I had seen the dear handwriting many times before, 
 but never had it despair in it like this, the first, perhaps 
 the last note I should ever receive from my wife. 
 
 My eyes filled with tears as I cursed my selfish passion 
 that had caused this beautiful creature to risk her happi- 
 ness on the existence of the hunted creature that I now 
 was. As I re-read the letter, and the significance of the 
 words, " Guard your life — for it is my life, my husband ! " 
 came fully to me, I determined to use a circumspection, 
 forethought, and prudence in my movements through the 
 dark and bloody land of the guerilla and bushwhacker 
 I was now coming to, that for my own sake I should 
 hardly have contemplated. 
 
 I awakened the negro with some difficulty. }X first he 
 seemed astonished, but after a moment recollected, and 
 said. " Fo' de Lord ! at first I reckoned I was out coon 
 huntin', Massa Bryant, but now I 'members dat you an 
 me is de coons, an' somebody else is de hunters." 
 
 I directed Caucus to get us something to eat, which he 
 did very quickly, as we thought it safer to make no fire 
 and eat some of what was already cooked in our knap- 
 sacks. 
 
 While we were doing this I questioned Caucus, and 
 learned that there were probably about six men in the 
 party pursuing us; that he knew the country quite well, 
 having hunted over it when living with Laura's aunt 
 years before; his acquaintance with the country roads and 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. II3 
 
 topography of the neighborhood going pretty accurately 
 as far as the boundaries of Yancey County, about twenty 
 miles from where we were. Beyond that point his knowl- 
 edge was vague, uncertain and muddled. 
 
 I had a general idea of the main lines of travel to the 
 gaps in the Blue Ridge myself, and pondered long upon 
 the route I should take. At first I thought of going 
 directly west via Asheville into Tennessee ; but that 
 would place me well south of the Union lines between 
 Knoxville and Chattanooga, and every highway between 
 those two places was filled with detachments of Con- 
 federate soldiers. I abandoned, but reluctantly, the 
 route via Asheville, as it was much the more direct and 
 easier to travel. Had I not done so, the information 
 that Caucus brought me from the road over which we 
 had come the night before would have caused me to 
 abandon the Asheville route. For while I was pondering 
 the black had sneaked cautiously down to the highway, 
 from which he returned in a state of great excitement. 
 
 " Great gosh ! Dey's on our scent, Massa Bryant," he 
 said. 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Dem Home Guardians from Spartanburg." 
 
 '* Home Guards. How do you know that ? " 
 
 " Seed der tracks — seed 'em in de road — de marks of 
 der bosses." 
 
 " What makes you think they are from Spartanburg ? " 
 
 " Seed de off fore shoe of de horse Miss Belle rode 
 yesterday — it war broken. One ob dem fellahs took 
 Belle's horse to ride last night, and dar's de print of a 
 broken off fore shoe in de road in front ob us. Reckon 
 dey's gone on to Marion to rouse 'em up to look for us. " 
 
 " How many were they ? " 
 
 " Three, sah ! " 
 
 *' I thought you said the party of Home Guards num- 
 bered six ? " 
 
 " So I did, sah. Reckon de oders of dem went off de 
 Asheville road to gibe us a deal if we come out dat way. 
 I don't feel quite comfortable, sah ! " 
 
 " Neither do I, Caucus," I replied, as I saw another 
 avenue of escape cut off, that by Marion — the main town 
 of McDowell County, in which we now were. 
 
 " Look here, Cauk," said I, " do you know any by- 
 
114 HOW 1 ESCAPED. 
 
 path or mountain road leading from here north, between 
 Asheville and Marion ? " 
 
 "Yes, sah. One by Three Forks." 
 
 " Where's that ? " 
 
 "About twenty miles from heah, on de borders of 
 Yancey County." 
 
 " And after that do you know the way to the north ? " 
 
 *' No, sah ; but I's heerd folks speak about it. Dar's 
 a place called Mitchell." 
 
 " Any gap to go through the mountains into Tennes- 
 see ? " 
 
 " Don't know, sah. Reckon dar is. Dar's a riber up 
 dar called de 'Chuckey. " 
 
 " You mean the Nolachucky, don't you ? " 
 
 *' Don't know, sah. I neber heard it called nothin' but 
 de 'Chuckey." 
 
 " Very well," said I, after some thought. " We'll go 
 to Three Forks to-night," for I had already made up my 
 mind to try and get through into Mitchell, a border 
 county of North Carolina on the Blue Ridge, and then 
 by going almost due west through the mountains into 
 East Tennessee, I should strike Knoxville. 
 
 " Better not start till dark, sah," remarked Caucus. 
 " Might meet dose Home Guardians on de back track," 
 
 " Can you find the way at night ? " 
 
 " Sure, Massa Bryant." 
 
 " Very well, then ; we'll leave at dusk." 
 
 This we accordingly did after making our supper with- 
 out lighting a fire, as the forethought of my wife had 
 given me cooked provisions to last me several days, and 
 Caucus had taken a good stock for himself when he left 
 in pursuit of me. 
 
 I placed the precious letter from my darling Laura 
 along with the few papers I carried with me, among them 
 the passport belonging to the detective, Bassett. This 
 might be of use to me in case of detention by Confeder- 
 ate scouts. 
 
 I knew that we were now approaching rapidly the bor- 
 der country where some were Secessionists and others 
 Union people, and that v/ith each step we took our dan- 
 ger from bushwhackers and scouts increased. We had 
 more evidences of this as we progressed. A burnt cabin 
 by the roadside, a destroyed corn-crib, and the manner 
 
HOW 1 ESCAPED. II5 
 
 in which a man we met in the road took to the woods 
 all showed me that we were gradually getting into the 
 bloody ground of western North Carolina and East Ten- 
 nessee, where neighbor fought with neighbor and brother 
 slew brother. 
 
 Soon after starting we turned to the north, leaving 
 Marion on our right, and I gave a sigh of relief as Cau- 
 cus informed me that he " reckoned that we had now left 
 de road where de Home Guardians might come back on 
 us." 
 
 I knew in case of detention by Confederate troops that 
 I must have some definite object in my journey, and de- 
 termined to be traveling about buying up mules for the 
 Confederate army. 1 explained this to Caucus, telling 
 him he must pass as my servant; and as we rode along 
 asked him, as there were a good many Union men in this 
 part of the State, if he could not recollect, in his experi- 
 ence here before the war, some one that he thought 
 would now be true to the Old Flag. 
 
 " Yes sirree ! I's takin' you to one now — up at Three 
 Forks." 
 
 " What makes you think he is a Unionist ? " 
 
 " Wall, he corned down heah when he war a boy, sah, 
 and dough he's trapped and hunted in de mountains 
 heah for thirty or forty years, dey always call him afore 
 de war ' Ole Yank.' Reckon he must be Ole Yank 
 still, sah," 
 
 " Perhaps so," returned I. "We'll try Old Yank, any- 
 way. I like the sound of the name." 
 
 We traveled on till nearly morning over some very 
 rough country, for Caucus took us by every out-of-the- 
 way path he could think of, and after having gone 
 nearly twenty-five miles, as near as I could judge, the 
 black announced that he reckoned we was " nigh onto 
 Three Forks." 
 
 As the morning advanced and the light became 
 stronger. Caucus began to look about anxiously, and 
 muttered : 
 
 " Can't be possible I corned wrong ! " Then suddenly 
 cried : " Crackey, I knowed I was right, Massa Bryant, 
 Why dar's Ole Yank's dorg, wid de cut-off tail. Hi, 
 Badger ! " This last to a snarling hound, who came run- 
 ning out of a farm-yard to bark at us. 
 
Il6 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 At sight of us, a girl coming out with a milk pail in her 
 hand hurriedly reentered the house, and a moment 
 after " Ole Yank " himself, gun in hand, confronted us as 
 we came up to his front door. 
 
 " Why, dar's de ole man hisself. 'Clare to goodness, 
 Mister Yank, I was skeered you war dead ! Don't you 
 'member Cauk — dat used to carry de grub for you out 
 huntin' ? " 
 
 " Wall ! " said the old gentleman. *' I guess I do — 
 never forgot that h'ar of yourn. Dreamt of it one night, 
 — woke up, and found my hay-rick on fire. What brings 
 you up here ? These aren't no good times to travel." 
 And the old man looked suspiciously at me. 
 
 From the moment he used the word " guess," I felt 
 pretty sure he came from the North. 
 
 " That's a rather dangerous title the people give you 
 about here," I said, to test my idea. 
 
 " Yas, they've called me Ole Yank, 'fore the war, and I 
 sticks up for the name now. Have you anything to say 
 agin it ? " Here he looked significantly at his gun. 
 
 " No ! " replied I, " but I want to speak to you," and 
 without more ado I told him the truth about myself. 
 
 '* Come right in here, I likes to look at fellows like 
 you ! " He grabbed my hand, ushered us into the house 
 and cried out : " Gals, get a right smart breakfast for 
 this gentleman ! " 
 
 His daughters, three comely, bright-eyed, lithe but 
 buxom mountain maidens, sprang to do his bidding, 
 for " Old Yank " was an autocrat in his house. 
 
 After breakfast I explained my plans to him, and he 
 said: "You stay here till to-morrow morning. You'll 
 need a rest before you tackle the job ahead of you, for 
 it's a powerful nasty one. I'll think over your matter, 
 and give you a leetle good advice." 
 
 To this I readily consented. I explained my position 
 and plans to him, and he answered me in about these 
 words : 
 
 " To most men I'd say go back — to you I says go 
 ahead, sonny, it's your only chance. From here on every 
 step you take becomes more dangerous. But Lord ! boys 
 like you has to take some chances. Now I'll help you 
 all I kin. You'd better light out early to-morrow morning 
 to Tittle's place. It's about four hours' travel north of 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, I17 
 
 here, on the borders of Mitchell County. Give him 
 this grip," here he seized my hand, " He'll return it so," 
 with this he grabbed me again. "Then he'll tell you 
 what you'd better do next. Remember that grip, my lad ; 
 the man that can't return it to you in these parts, look 
 out for, and git ready to have the drop on him. Take a 
 paper and make yourself comfortable, while I do the 
 chores." 
 
 He handed me the Raleigh Weekly Standard, the office 
 of which was afterward demolished by a mob of Con- 
 federates. We passed a very comfortable day here, 
 Caucus looking after our horses. 
 
 After supper in the evening, the girls drew around the 
 fire, together v/ith the old gentleman, who amused us with 
 anecdotes of his early life in the mountains and some 
 original remarks upon the war. 
 
 Then one of the girls said : " Dad, suppose some of 
 the rebs come here to-night, what v/ill you do with this 
 gentleman ? You know they don't like you any too well, 
 and I think you ought to have some plan to guard against 
 any surprise in the middle of the night." 
 
 "Wall," said Old Yank, "they do come round here 
 quite often. They seem to have a grudge agin me. 
 P'raps it's fur my name ; but then I alius manage to git 
 along without much trouble. Why, one night half a 
 dozen of them fellers came ridin' up here an' said they'd 
 come fur me, an' I'd have to go into the army; but I jest 
 reached 'round the door and pulled out my Henry rifle, 
 an' my gals understood it an' got their double-barreled 
 shotguns, an' I jest told them boys I had lived too long 
 in the mountains to be scared that way, an' if they wanted 
 to stop in my house they was welcome, but if they laid 
 hands on an ole man like me they'd never do it agin, fur 
 my gals had the bead on 'em. One of 'em said they 
 didn't want any trouble ; all they wanted was to get some 
 supper. You see," continued the old man, with a chuckle, 
 " they knowed mighty well I would shoot, an' I reckon 
 they didn't want to be laid out jist then." 
 
 I said I didn't wish to expose them to any danger. 
 Rather than that I would leave their house. But Old 
 Yank remarked, sternly : " Sonny, you stay right here ! 
 I kin take keer of myself, an' you, too ! " 
 
 Then he led me to a bed that seemed indeed luxuri- 
 
ir8 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 ous after the night I had passed in the woods. Caucus 
 made himself comfortable in the stable with the horses. 
 He said he could " take to de woods quicker from de barn 
 den de house." • 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THROUGH THE GAPS. 
 
 The next morning one of the girls came hurriedly in, 
 and after a whispered conversation with her father, the 
 old gentleman said : " It don't seem to be hospitable to 
 tell you to git, but you light right out. My darter says 
 she heerd from a passing nigger that a squad of Mor- 
 gan's cavalry is coming along this road. Keep dead 
 north 'till you strike the bend of Cane River ; then go 
 northeast, and a little before you get to Flat Rock in 
 Mitchell County you'll strike Tittle's place, what I told 
 you about." 
 
 Under these circumstances, Caucus having brought 
 the horses up, we started out at a pretty lively jog, though 
 we could not make very fast time, for it was raining 
 heavily and the road became very muddy. Meeting one 
 or two people, of whom I inquired if there were any mules 
 to be obtained about here, as I was getting them for the 
 Confederate Government, we passed along, I saying I 
 was in a hurry as I must get back to Raleigh in a little 
 over a week. 
 
 During the day I spoke to the negro, telling him that 
 he had better return to South Carohna with the horses, 
 as, the country being mountainous, I would walk almost 
 as fast as I could ride, and that the dangers ahead of us 
 were very great. 
 
 *' No, sah ! " returned Caucus, showing the whites of 
 his eyes. " Dis chile neber goes back to Carolina. 
 Dars freedom ahead of him, and he's gwine to git dar, 
 sure, dis time. Can't turn me back now, Massa Bryant, 
 not eben wid a six-shooter ; I goes wid you ! " 
 
 And so he did for nearly two^ months without a word 
 of complaint. 
 
 After traveling up hill and down dale for a couple of 
 hours, we came to the bend of Cane River which Caucus 
 had seen before ; then swinging off along a bridle-path, 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, IIO 
 
 that led to the northeast, after making several inquiries 
 of people who were armed and looked at us with sus- 
 picion, I found myself in view of my stopping place, and 
 to my surprise saw two Union soldiers standing in front 
 of the house. 1 was informed by Mrs. Tittle as I rode 
 up that her husband had gone to the mill for grist. She 
 seemed very embarrassed until I came up to her and 
 gave her the grip that Old Yank had shown me. 
 
 At this, apparently having lost all fear of me, she said 
 that these two soldiers had escaped from Salisbury 
 prison, and were making their way to the Union lines. 
 
 I suggested to these men that for their own safety they 
 had better immediately change their clothes for those of 
 ordinary citizens, and they, having a few greenbacks in 
 their pockets, managed to buy from the family enough to 
 clothe them. 
 
 Soon after this Mr. Tittle returned, and told us we had 
 better be on our way, as some cavalrymen were riding 
 about the country looking up deserters. 
 
 He said : " The best thing you can do is to go back, 
 because it will take sand in your gizzard and no weak 
 knees to tramp between here and Knoxville, for the 
 rebels around would just as soon shoot you as a chicken, 
 and the Unionists ain't no better." 
 
 I said : " I must go through ! " 
 
 " Very well ; but make up your mind it is better to get 
 out of the highways and go over the hills and mountains. 
 You d better give up your horses.'^ 
 
 I said that as long as I had a horse I would keep to 
 the highways. 
 
 " All right, then ; if you are bound on the job, you had 
 better go straight up to the north to Little Rock Creek, 
 leaving Bakersville to your left, for if you go near 
 Bakersville, you'll be nabbed, sure ! " 
 
 Thanking him for his advice and directions, Caucus and 
 I hurried along on our way, into a driving rain. This 
 storm, as we went along, became thicker and more blind- 
 ing. Caucus had left all his knowledge of the country 
 behind him long ago^ After passing along several 
 bridle-paths that seemed to lead nowhere in particular, 
 and just missing descending into a little valley in which 
 we fortunately in time saw a squad of six mounted men, 
 doubtless Confederate scouts, who would have done us 
 
I20 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 no good, we turned up into some thick undergrowth, 
 the boughs of which made an uncertain protection from 
 the wind and the storm. Here we built a fire, and tried 
 to dry our clothes. Then we got something to eat and 
 lay down to sleep exhausted, downhearted, wet, and 
 miserable. 
 
 The next morning I was awakened by the negro shak- 
 ing himself like a dog, and slapping his arms about. 
 It had become quite cold. The rain had changed into 
 snow, of which there was a slight fall now upon the 
 ground. 
 
 '' By gosh ! I mus' git somewhar, or I'll freeze to 
 death,"' said Caucus. " The snow is mighty uncomfort- 
 able." 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "we must get somewhere, but I 
 don't like to travel in this snow. It will enable us to be 
 tracked." 
 
 However, getting on our horses, after taking a bite of 
 breakfast, together with some hot coffee that we suc- 
 ceeded in making over our camp-fire, we pushed along. 
 Two hours afterward we could see from an elevated 
 portion of the road a clearing and some farm-houses. 
 These we made for, because the storm had so increased it 
 was now unendurable. Upon reaching one of the houses, 
 we saw no one but women. They appeared to be some- 
 what frightened, and immediately asked if I was a 
 soldier. I told them I was not now on a warlike mis- 
 sion ; that they need not be uneasy. Other women now 
 made their appearance, and one of them seemed to be 
 in such distress that I made some remark to her about it. 
 
 " Distress ? " she replied. " My heavens ! don't you 
 know they killed my husband the other day before my 
 eyes ! " 
 
 I turned away from her, unable to say anything to 
 such grief. The others informed me that he had given 
 information to some of the Union scouts about there by 
 which a Confederate soldier who was home on a fur- 
 lough from the army of Virginia had been captured. 
 That for this a party of bushwhackers had taken him 
 out of his wife's arms in the middle of the night, and shot 
 him to death in front of the door. 
 
 In this place the storm compelled us to remain all that 
 day and night. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 12 1 
 
 Anxious to get away, however, Caucus and I saddled 
 up early in the morning and again tried to force our way 
 in the direction that Tittle had told us to take. The 
 storm came up again, and for three days we wandered 
 about this part of the country, twice camping in the 
 open, and once sleeping in the house of a man who 
 boasted to me that he had helped lay out in the last two 
 weeks three or four Unionists. With this man I made 
 a desperate attempt to bargain for mules " for the Con- 
 federate Government." He had two or three, but I need 
 hardly say that my price was too low for him. 
 
 On the fourth day the storm cleared, the sun came out, 
 and we turned our faces westward. We had come much 
 further north than we had expected, having wandered out 
 of our path and being almost on the borders of Watauga 
 and Mitchell counties. 
 
 Passing through a little gap in the mountains, we 
 came on a plain that was a kind of base to the mountain 
 ranges near us that lay on either hand about two miles 
 away. Here we passed a farm owned by a gentleman 
 who was an officer in the Confederate army, and I 
 pumped a man working on the place about the roads be- 
 yond. He had heard that some soldiers were in the 
 neighborhood, but didn't exactly know where they were. 
 
 We went southward from this place, following a narrow 
 road, from which the snow had nearly disappeared. With 
 this I was delighted, because our tracks in it would al- 
 ways be a direction for any party who wished to follow us. 
 
 After half an hour's travel we came to a large open 
 field, where, to my astonishment, I heard the firing of 
 musketry. 
 
 Caucus whispered : " Reckon we'd better stop and 
 take a squint at dat noise ! " 
 
 Dismounting and sheltering ourselves behind a rail 
 fence, we were able to discover the location of two or 
 three men by the flashes and smoke from their guns. 
 Beyond them, and separated from them by a deep 
 ravine, we saw one or two other men return the fire 
 from a clump of laurel trees. By the uniform of those 
 nearest to us I judged that they were Confederate cav- 
 alrymen. The others seemed to be dressed in blue. 
 
 I had hardly made this observation, when I heard a 
 yell from Caucus. " Golly ! Dey's after us ! " and look- 
 
122 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 ino^ down the road perceived five or six troopers coming 
 along the tracks we had made in the melting snow. I 
 might have paused, surrendered to them, and tried to 
 have made out my case as being all right ; but somehow 
 or other, knowing that they were my enemies, my pres- 
 ence of mind left me, and, followed by the negro, I re- 
 mounted my horse and spurred on my way. This was 
 probably the worst thing I could have done, for a volley 
 from the Confederate cavalry overtook us, and killed my 
 horse under me. Crying to Caucus to follow me, which 
 he did, jumping from his horse for that purpose, I climbed 
 over the rail fence, ran through the undergrowth and 
 went down into the ravine, which I crossed to the other 
 side. 
 
 Here I had a moment's breathing space, in which to 
 regret my lack of presence of mind. Had I remained 
 and faced the Confederate cavalry, I could probably 
 have persuaded them that I was all right. Now, having 
 fled from them, no such chance was open to me. I 
 looked at our poor horses, one dead, and the other in the 
 possession of the Confederates, and had the sorry satis- 
 faction of knowing that, with the exception of the papers 
 on my person, my two pistols, and the money in my 
 pocket, all my worldly goods were in the hands of my 
 pursuers. However, armed as we were, for I had given 
 one of my six-shooters to the negro, I concluded that 
 we could defend the ravine against any horsemen who 
 should attempt to cross it. These thoughts had hardly 
 passed through my mind, when I heard a voice near me, 
 and turning round saw a man in blue uniform. 
 
 He said : " I reckon, you are on the same side of the 
 gulch as we are, stranger. Come right along, and help 
 us stand the cavalrymen off ! " 
 
 Caucus and I silently followed him. In the under- 
 growth were three other men, one of them in the uni- 
 form of a lieutenant in the Federal army. He was armed 
 with a Henry rifle, and replying J:o the fire of three or 
 four Confederate troopers, who were about a hundred 
 and fifty yards off. on the other side of the ravine. The 
 lieutenant, using his gun with great accuracy, kept the 
 Confederates at bay, and injured one of them. One 
 of his men, however, was wounded also. The Confed- 
 erates drew off. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 1 23 
 
 " Now, boys," he said, " we must get through to 
 Steiner's as quickly as possible, before those chaps can 
 get around. Follow me ! " 
 
 Two of us assisted the wounded man, who had a ball 
 through his leg and appeared to be in a good deal of 
 pain, and we hurriedly put off by a mountain path, 
 ascended quite a hill, and, after traveling about three 
 miles, descended into a valley occupied by Steiner, a 
 man celebrated in that region for his Union proclivities. 
 The Confederates had had him out to hang him once 
 or twice, to make him tell the hiding-place of Union 
 refugees, but the old fellow was of such grit that they 
 became ashamed of torturing him, and always let him 
 
 ^°- 
 
 He was mending a wagon in his blacksmith's shop 
 
 when we came up. 
 
 " Wal," said the old man, "you didn't git out this time, 
 did you ? You North Carolina Union boys, born right 
 here, an' knowing every part of the way from here to 
 Knoxville, couldn't get through Morgan's cavalry ! " 
 
 "We will do it next time," said the lieutenant. "We 
 have brought back a wounded man to leave him with 
 you." 
 
 "All right ; I'll take care of him ; but who are these 
 two strangers ? " 
 
 " I am darned if I know, but I reckon they are on our 
 side, and have got sand in them. They helped us stand 
 off Morgan's cavalry. As for the nigger, he's a red- 
 head, and that's a true sign of fight. This gentleman's 
 his master, I reckon." 
 
 " Now," he said, turning to me, " I suppose you are 
 bound the same way we are. I know every step of the road 
 from here to Knoxville, and if you have lost your horses 
 you had better join us, as five are better than two, to 
 stand off any scouting parties. Your horses would not 
 have done you much good from now on, as you would 
 have to take to the mountains, for none of our side can 
 travel the roads and live to get through." 
 
 I explained to the lieutenant and Steiner exactly my 
 position, and how I came to be where he found me. 
 
 " Very well, Mr. Bryant," he said ; " I can put you 
 through if any man can. Is it a go ? " and he offered me 
 his hand. 
 
124 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 In return, I gave him the grip Old Yank had shown me, 
 and Steiner said : " That's the talk ! Now I knows you 
 are square and right." 
 
 The party, however, was too worn out to travel that 
 evening, and we all went to sleep with our pistols under 
 our heads or by our sides, for Morgan's men might be 
 upon us again before morning. 
 
 We were now in a very rough country. The Blue Ridge 
 towered up range above range before us, and presented 
 a grand spectacle, separated by gaps through which the 
 water courses ran toward the Tennessee, pointing out 
 to us the way to the Union lines through which many of 
 these streams ultimately ran. The lieutenant knew every 
 gap and water course in these mountains, and every inch 
 of the country to Knoxville beyond them. This was for- 
 tunate for us, as Longstreet's scouts or foragers were all 
 through this region, having been thrown out from his 
 army now before Knoxville. The lieutenant had been 
 detailed to go through this part of the country to gain all 
 the information he could for the commanding officers of 
 the Union troops in the valley of the Tennessee. 
 
 Though a cavalryman, he had taken this perilous 
 journey on foot, as he could travel with even more celer- 
 ity and less danger through these mountains in that man- 
 ner than on horseback. He was active, fearless, and an 
 untiring walker. 
 
 Our nrst tramp was about twelve miles, to the house 
 of Mr. Middleton, a Union man. Here the lieutenant 
 expected to meet two more men who were going to 
 attempt to pass through the lines. The day was misty 
 and foggy, and a little snow fell. At six o'clock in the 
 afternoon we stopped at a house near the roadside, and 
 had some hot coffee, made as usual in this region from 
 chicory. About seven o'clock we started again in the 
 rain, and two hours afterward moved down into a little 
 valley about half a mile in width, the land being culti- 
 vated by two or three different farmers. The lieutenant told 
 me that one of the farmers had a son in the Union army, 
 while his neighbor had one in the Confederate, as was 
 often the case in the border States. 
 
 After leaving this place about a mile and a half, we 
 met two citizens on horseback. One of them asked us 
 where we were bound. We told him most anywhere. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 1 25 
 
 He replied. *' You will meet with a great big hinderer 
 that will bother you, if you don't mind." 
 
 " What is that ? " asked the lieutenant. 
 
 "The Regulars." 
 
 " Who and what are Regulars ? " 
 
 " Oh ! they just go about and catch anybody they can 
 lay their hands on. Sometimes they take a man out and 
 shoot him ; sometimes they hang him. A hundred yards 
 from here we can show you a tree where they hung a 
 man. Our advice is for you to watch out, or they will get 
 you sartin." 
 
 With these words the two men rode off, but I noticed 
 that the lieutenant had his pistol out and watched them. 
 He told me he thought they might be the advance guard 
 of the Regulars. He kept his eye on them, so that if 
 they did attempt to fire on us as they rode away, he would 
 have "the drop" on them. After we had gone on a few 
 yards, the lieutenant said that we had better leave the 
 roads at once and get up on the mountains. To this, 
 knowing the desperate character of the so-called " Regu- 
 lars," we all assented, and taking a very circuitous route 
 through the roughest of ravines and over the highest and 
 rockiest of hills, we arrived at Middleton's about eleven 
 o'clock in the evening. 
 
 Middleton knew our lieutenant, and invited us into the 
 house, which was on a little elevated ground at the fork 
 of two roads. Here we found the two men who were 
 going with us through to Knoxville. They lived in an 
 adjoining county, and had been dodging about for several 
 months to keep out of the Confederate army. This made 
 our company seven men, with the lieutenant to guide 
 us, in whom I soon began to have very great confi- 
 dence. 
 
 The country about us, Mr. Middleton said, was alive 
 with Confederate scouts and bushwhackers, and he rec- 
 ommended that we should not remain there that night. 
 After consultation we decided to take his advice, and to 
 get an old hunter, Zeke Carter, to pilot us across some 
 twelve or fifteen miles to a road intercepting the one we 
 had left. Zeke was an old bear hunter, and lived in a log 
 hut about two miles up in the hills. Our host volunteered 
 to guide us there, and resuming our walk, after crossing 
 a stream, we reached Zeke's house. A faint light coming 
 
126 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 through the crevasses between the logs showed us he 
 was at home. 
 
 Middleton hallooed, and Zeke came to the door. Then 
 we agreed, after some haggling, to pay him twenty dol- 
 lars for his services — a sum of money that made the old 
 mountaineer's eyes twinkle. He was a hard-featured, 
 stoop-shouldered, long, gray-bearded customer, with 
 piercing black eyes. He mvited us into his cabin, while 
 he cooked the rations for his trip, which he told us would 
 last, probably, three or four days. 
 
 Upon the walls of his domicile were deer-horns, and 
 bear and coonskins, which told of the old fellow's suc- 
 cess with his rifle in the mountains. 
 
 Leaving his house about midnight, he remarked : 
 " Well, boys, we've got a good-sized hill to climb ! " and 
 shouldering his old-fashioned rifle, told us to follow him, 
 which we did, in single file. After a terrific tramp of 
 about ten miles over rocks that cut my boots into pieces, 
 and once getting lost from the party, and having a 
 great deal of trouble to find them in the darkness, I, 
 together with the rest, came to what Zeke said was a 
 good place to camp. 
 
 This was uttered in low tones, to avoid attracting the 
 notice of bushwhackers, for our route led into the ** Sweet 
 Water valley," which Zeke remarked was one of their 
 breeding places. 
 
 We were nearly at the end of our journey for the night, 
 when Zeke cried : " Halt, Gol darn you ! Halt ! " 
 
 " Well, what is it ? " came out of the darkness from a 
 man a few paces in advance of us. 
 
 " Who are you?" inquired Zeke. 
 
 " Well, we are scouting around, and, if you say so, we 
 are friends." 
 
 " How many of you ? " 
 
 " Only two ! " 
 
 " Where are you going ? " asked the lieutenant, coming 
 forward. 
 
 " Oh, we're going about, and I shouldn't wonder 
 if you were like u.s. Ain't you men going to the 
 lines ? " 
 
 To this the lieutenant cautiously replied that we were 
 taking in the country, but Zeke, who was of an impatient 
 disposition, said, " By the etarnal ! there's no use fooling 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 127 
 
 around here ! You come with us, and we'll soon know 
 you, or you will know us ! " 
 
 As we were eight men and they were but two, hesita- 
 tion on their part was out of the question. We treated 
 them as prisoners, and soon marched them to the spot 
 that old Zeke had picked out for our camp. This was a 
 level spot of ground in horse-shoe shape, about fifty feet in 
 diameter, standing against a rocky cliff, over which a 
 stream of pure mountain water descended. 
 
 This place overlooked a little valley, between the Iron 
 and Yellow mountains, and was much frequented by hunt- 
 ers and travelers, as it afforded such fine water. Upon 
 examination, the two men we had overtaken proved 
 themselves all right, and, appointing pickets to relieve 
 each other, we lay down, worn out with nearly twenty- 
 two hours' steady tramping. In fact, as Caucus remarked, 
 as he snuggled up to the camp fire, " Dis road to freedom 
 am a mighty hard one to trabel." 
 
 Too exhausted to sleep, I lay awake, for some time my 
 thoughts turning back over the mountains to the south 
 of me, trying to imagine how my wife had fared in the 
 two weeks I had already been away from her. 
 
 When I awoke it was mid-day. As we prepared break- 
 fast, I looked out over the ledge above which we were 
 encamped, and seemed to see a thousand mountains in 
 this Switzerland of America. 
 
 Our guide now told us that it was about seven miles 
 over the hills to the place where he would leave us. 
 These seven miles seemed an immense distance to me. 
 My feet were sore, my shoes were coming to pieces. My 
 appearance was that of a not over genteel tramp, as I had 
 not shaved since leaving Spartanburg. However, I fol- 
 lowed the party down the steep descents and up the high 
 hills again, repeating the operation several times before 
 we reached our stopping place. 
 
 In about half an hour's travel we came to a public road, 
 which we were compelled to cross. 
 
 (doming from the direction of French Broad River in 
 Tennessee, it ran into Mitchell County in North Carolina. 
 Old Zeke instructed us to walk over this road backward, 
 so that our tracks would mislead people as to the direc- 
 tion in which we were traveling. 
 
 After this piece of strategy nothing happened of 
 
128 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 importance until we came in sight of an old clump of 
 trees, when old Zeke told us of a terrific combat he had 
 had with a bear, which had nearly whipped him. In 
 fact, the old man's arms had not even now entirely 
 recovered from the hugs that Bruin had given them. 
 
 Passing a simple shanty occupied by a squatter, who 
 apparently was too old to fight, but of whose feelfngs and 
 sympathies there was no doubt, for he cursed us for 
 Union men as we tramped past, we paused to look at a 
 valley below, through which coursed the beautiful Doe 
 River. It must have been eight or ten miles away, but 
 looked very lovely in the distance with the afternoon 
 sunlight upon it. As we trudged up to the crest of the 
 hill, on leaving this spot, the lieutenant suddenly paused. 
 
 I thought he had noticed some of the enemy ahead, 
 but instead of that, he pointed to the west and said : 
 " The first sight of Tennessee ! " 
 
 Looking toward the place he indicated, we could 
 see the Bald Mountain of the " Smoky Ridge " that 
 divided North Carolina from its more western neighbor. 
 
 While drinking in the view of this, to us, "Promised 
 Land," old Zeke said : " Wal, boys, I'm going to get 
 back to my shanty, but I'll shake a fist with you all, first. 
 Keep your eyes open and your powder dry ! That's what 
 you want. Good-by ! " 
 
 With this the old frontiersman turned upon his tracks, 
 and striding down the path, was soon out of our sight. 
 
 It was now getting dark, and we determined after 
 dinner that we would start again on our way. The route 
 was directly over the ridge of the mountains, and we had 
 but little difficulty in making the three miles, which 
 brought us to the house occupied by Mr, Cunningham, a 
 good Union man to whom we had been directed by the 
 guide, 
 
 Cunningham advised us to be very careful and not 
 travel by the road, as he had heard of several scouts or 
 Confederate cavalrymen being in the immediate neigh- 
 borhood ; so after supper we concluded to go on at once 
 through the night. 
 
 Tempted, however, by the easy traveling on this high- 
 way, we disregarded Cunningham's advice and determined 
 to travel upon it, though it greatly increased our risk. We 
 kept on close together, sending Caucus a hundred yards 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 1 29 
 
 ahead to act as scout, as we knew a negro would create 
 less suspicion with Confederate soldiers than a white 
 man. 
 
 We had hardly gone this way half an hour when Cau- 
 cus came softly back to us and remarked : " Golly ! dar's 
 voices ahead ob us." 
 
 The lieutenant went with him and reconnoitered ; but 
 hearing nothing, we started on. 
 
 Hardly had we reached the top of the ridge and be 
 come outlined on the sky, when two or three shots whizzed 
 past us from a clump of trees. We knew that we 
 were ambushed, but could see nothing of our enemies, 
 though another volley came in our direction. The night 
 was dark, and, by thie lieutenant's orders, we had thrown 
 ourselves on the ground ; consequently none of us were 
 hart. 
 
 " Boys ! " said the lieutenant, "all of you shoot two or 
 three barrels, and we will make them think there is a 
 'whole company here." 
 
 The banging of our pistols sounded like the regular file 
 firing from a platoon. 
 
 " Another shot each, and then follow me ! " 
 
 We fired one more volley, which was returned, then 
 followed the lieutenant, who left the road and started up 
 the mountain. After a little, the lieutenant said : " Now 
 boys, hurry to the gap, and get through to the other side 
 of this range. It will be some five or six miles out of 
 our way, but we must get there before those fellows ; 
 otherwise we will have another fight for it." 
 
 He had been through this portion of the country be- 
 fore, and knew the roads almost by instinct ; so up hill and 
 down hill we followed him with sore and .weary feet. 
 
 This was especially so in my case. I had not been 
 accustoned to traveling on foot, and kept up with 
 great difficulty with the others, for my shoes, being worn 
 out, filled with gravel and dirt at every step. But at 
 last coming to a little running stream, we all sat down 
 for a short rest, and I washed my feet in the cold water 
 and wrapped them in cloth torn from the lining of my 
 coat. ■ This relieved them somewhat, and we again 
 started on our journey. Nearing the gap about day- 
 break, to our consternation there were three or four 
 lights right down in it. 
 
 9 
 
130 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " Camp-fires," said the lieutenant. " We can't get 
 through there, and this is the only place we can cross 
 without going around by Littleton's, three miles more. 
 Shall we try it to-night, boys ? " 
 
 The general verdict Avas against this, for we were in 
 no condition for rapid traveling, and if discovered by a 
 superior force, would be sure to be captured. So we 
 turned out of the path, and, finding a place in a deep 
 ravine, made a camp, though we dared not light any 
 fire. 
 
 After drawing straws to see who should stand guard, 
 all but the picket lay down, and I soon forgot that 1 was 
 a refugee in the mountains of North Carolina. 
 
 It seemed to me that I had hardly slept a minute 
 before the guard came and touched me on the shoulder. 
 I woke with a start. Some Confederate troopers were 
 riding along the road not two hundred yards from us. 
 
 Fortunately they did not notice us, and about dusk 
 next day we resumed our journey to the house of a- 
 family who lived in the gap, and were friends of cur lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 They advised us not to rem.iin, as the cavalry would 
 undoubtedly return before long, and recommended us 
 to go to Jim Boles' house, who would direct us on our 
 way. 
 
 As we came near that gentleman's front fence, Mr. 
 Boles came to the door, gun in hand, and shouted, " Who's 
 thar ? " 
 
 " Come out here, Jim, I want to see you ! " said the 
 lieutenant. 
 
 " Pshaw ! " returned Boles. " That trick is played too 
 often. What do you want, and who are you ? " 
 
 " 1 am Lieutenant Hanson, of the Fifth Kentucky 
 Union Cavalry, whom you well know." 
 
 "■ Oh, yes ; I recognize your voice," replied Boles. 
 " Come right in, and bring your crowd with you. It's 
 lucky you applied to me, or you would have been in the 
 Rebs' hands inside of an hour. There's a camp of 'em 
 about three miles from here, and you have got to go around 
 by Mix's place." This meant a walk of about fifteen 
 extra miles. 
 
 Boles' two daughters, sixteen and eighteen, strong and 
 healthy, volunteered to pilot us. Our lieutenant was 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 131 
 
 not exactly sure of this part of the route, so he said, '* All 
 right, girls; I'll take you as guides, but you must let me 
 pay for it ! " 
 
 " No, sifee, not a cent ! " they cried. " Let's go now ! " 
 
 " What, to-night ? We are fearfully tired." 
 
 " If you don't go now, you won't go at all. You'll be 
 bagged sure in the daytime." 
 
 There was nothing for it, tired, worn out and hungry 
 as we were, but to travel fifteen long and weary miles 
 that night. The girls said they would go in advance 
 about thirty or forty yards, carrying a white handkerchief, 
 and whenevei" they waved this, we were to halt and wait 
 for instructions. 
 
 We made about three miles the first hour, without any 
 interruption ; then saw two camp-fires, and the girls came 
 back to us, and said we would have to go a little higher 
 up the mountain in order to get through the gap without 
 being discovered. Notwithstanding we did this, we soon 
 came so close to these fires that we got a very good view 
 of the picket on his beat. We saw a dozen tents, and 
 beside them some soldiers cooking by the fire, and others 
 playing cards. A few hundred yards further on the girls 
 stopped and waved their handkerchiefs, then returned, 
 and said there were some men on the roadside by a fire 
 partially burned out. 
 
 Taking us back a short distance, they ascended a little 
 path that wound around the side of the mountains, very 
 steep and difficult, but by which we soon passed the 
 enemy who lay below us not three hundred feet. The 
 thick bushes and flinty rocks of the path tortured my 
 sore and blistered feet, continually reminding me of what 
 " Old Yank " had said to me, — that "Jordan was a hard 
 road to travel." Trudging along as well as I was able, at 
 last we came to a bridge that crossed a mountain torrent. 
 
 Here the lieutenant said he would wager that more 
 men had been shot and killed to the square foot in this 
 section, than anywhere else in the United States. 
 
 To this pleasant assertion none of us replied. We 
 were probably weighing in our minds the individual pos- 
 sibilities of our being added to the number. After 
 another tiresome climb, we crossed the ridge, and keep- 
 ing straight down until daylight, arrived at the house of 
 Mr. Mix, to whom our youthful and faithful guides pre- 
 
132 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 sented us as guests for the day. Here we met two more 
 men who were seeking to avoid conscription in the rebel 
 army by making their way through the Hnes to Knox- 
 viile. 
 
 The whole party were too tired and exhausted to think 
 of travehng, and we conckided to lie over with this hospi- 
 table mountaineer for two days, and then, owing to the 
 sickness of one of our party, a West Virginian, an addi- 
 tional twenty-four hours. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THROUGH THE LINES. 
 
 1'his delay was very welcome to me, as my feet were 
 in a fearful condition and my boots were falling off 
 them. 
 
 I divided my time at this stopping place between 
 sleeping and an attempt at the cobbler's trade, repairing 
 my footgear with the aid of Caucus, who was much more 
 expert at this work than I. 
 
 The two girls who had piloted us so devotedly over 
 the mountains remained here a few days, Mr. Mix 
 offering to take them home again in his wagon, 
 
 P>ery night we gathered around the big log fire in the 
 house, telling stories about our adventures during the 
 war. On one of these evenings I was astonished to 
 hear our lieutenant state that he had had a brother in 
 the Confederate army who was killed at Shiloh, while 
 leading his company against a Federal battery. But 
 it was thus throughout western North Carolina — family 
 was opposed to family, and brother was against brother. 
 
 On the third night of our rest at this place the lieu- 
 tenant and Mr. Mix both became very anxious. They said 
 that we had remained so long here that the chances were 
 that some Confederate troop must pass soon ; conse- 
 quently our guards must be constantly on the alert. 
 
 '-' Vou see," Hanson said, "if Schofield crowds Long- 
 street all his soldiers will be called in, and some will be 
 bound to pass here. Now, I'm pretty sure Schofield will 
 be crowding Longstreet about this time ! " 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 133 
 
 My turn for picket duty came at three in the morn- 
 ing. I was posted about a hundred yards from the house 
 in which our men slept, dressed and armed. The moon 
 was still bright, though rapidly descending to disappear 
 behind the mountain tops. 
 
 I had watched perhaps an hour, when I heard a sound 
 of horses' hoofs at a distance ; then, after listening a 
 moment, the clank of sabers. I looked up the road, 
 and in the full moonlight counted, perhaps half a mile 
 away, twelve cavalrymen, riding leisurely toward the 
 house. 
 
 In a minute more I had aroused my party. " We can 
 fix them from behind that stone wall," muttered the lieu- 
 tenant. " We're nine, they're only twelve. Follow me ! " 
 but as he gave this order his glance fell upon Mr. Mix's 
 wife and children, and the two girls. Then he paused. 
 
 " Don't mind us ! " muttered Mix between his set 
 teeth. 
 
 ** But I must,— think of your little ones, man. If we 
 whipped those fellows at your house, when we'd gone 
 they'd come back and take revenge upon you and yours. 
 We don't repay hospitality that way." 
 
 " God bless you ! " cried Mrs. Mix. *' Go up that stream, 
 and when the rebs go, I'll bring you all breakfast." 
 
 " Follow me, men, quick ! " muttered our commander, 
 " We'll retreat now, but we'll not retreat always ! " 
 
 We silently followed him out of the rear of the house, 
 and obeying Mrs. Mix's instructions, were concealed be- 
 fore the Confederates arrived. Shortly after daybreak 
 one of the girls came out and found us. She said the 
 rebs had gone on, and that Mrs. Mix would now bring us 
 our breakfast. This she did in about half an- hour. As 
 soon as this was finished, the lieutenant ordered a start, 
 and we bade our hospitable friends good-by. Though 
 we tried again and again to make them accept something 
 from us, for all they had done for us, this was refused, 
 and the two beautiful girls even became indignant at 
 our offered remuneration for their dangerous all-night 
 tramp with us through the gap. 
 
 We were now in the western part of Mitchell County, 
 and had next to cross through the valley lying between 
 the Nolachucky River, and the dividing line between 
 Tennessee and North Carolina. A portion of our route 
 
134 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 now lay along this stream which empties into the French 
 Broad in the northern part of Cooke County, Tennessee, 
 this being the most direct way to the Big Smoky or Bald 
 Mountains. 
 
 Thus we traveled until about three o'clock. At one 
 point, where the' river takes a bend of nearly two miles, 
 we forded it, and near the center found it some three 
 feet deep. We had hardly got out and dressed, before 
 two white men and a negro walked down a little path to 
 the place where we had entered the stream. Our lieu- 
 tenant called out and asked the men who they were, and 
 what they came there for. One of them replied that 
 they had seen us from a small log shanty at the top of 
 the hill. They noticed that we were .not soldiers, and 
 consequently thought that we were refugees. They 
 were of that class themselves, and said they had come 
 back from the Nolachucky gap because they had found 
 it guarded, and they could not get through, witJiout going 
 over the Bald Mountains, which were the highest and 
 roughest in the State. 
 
 It was evident now that we either had to run the 
 gauntlet of Confederate soldiers in this gap, or do 
 some of the hardest work of our journey. The men who 
 gave us this information refused to go on with us, as it 
 was too dangerous. 
 
 Our lieutenant, however, said : " There's nothing like 
 trying ! " and taking his advice, our whole party started 
 along a road at which we had just arrived. 
 
 Its pleasant smoothness, so different to the flinty rocks 
 of the hillsides, soothed our fears of immediate danger, 
 and we concluded to try it for a mile or two, though it 
 was a place from which, if we encountered superior num- 
 bers, there was no escape. The rushing river was on one 
 side of the road, and a steep cliff upon the other. 
 
 We had hardly proceeded more than a mile, before the 
 lieutenant, who marched a hundred yards ahead of us, 
 came running back, and said : " Great Scott ! half a 
 dozen troopers are coming down the road. We can't 
 run ; we must stand 'em off, though I fear the noise of 
 the firing '11 bring a crowd of them onto us! Every man 
 of you behind a rock, and obey orders ! " 
 
 Caucus had already done this, getting into the stream, 
 the bank of which and the trees on its border formed a 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I35 
 
 perfect ambush. " Come right heah, Massa Bryant ! " 
 he cried, his teeth chattering with the ice-cold water that 
 had been melting snow the day before. Every rock had 
 its man. I had not a moment to lose, and jumped into 
 the river beside the negro as the squad of Confederates 
 turned the bend in the road. 
 
 Every one held his breath, they had nearly passed us 
 when, unfortunately. Caucus' teeth, stimulated by the icy 
 water, began to play like castanets, making a perceptible 
 noise. 
 
 " Gol darn it, what's that ? " cried a Confederate 
 trooper and the squad paused to listen. 
 
 " Darn me if it ain't a rattlesnake out in winter," said 
 another, and he rode into the bushes on the bank of 
 the stream. 
 
 " Fire ! " cried our lieutenant. 
 
 And a shot came from every rock about the surprised 
 soldiers. 
 
 The man who had turned into the bushes, yelled, 
 *' Here's one of them ! " and drawing his saber, jumped 
 his horse into the river to attack Caucus. At that 
 moment my revolver and the lieutenant's Henry rifle 
 spoke, and the man and horse floundered in the stream. 
 Wounded as he was, the trooper seized the negro, but 
 Caucus fought like a demon, using the butt of his revolver 
 as a club — apparently having forgotten to fire it. 
 
 But if the negro neglected the proper use of his weapon, 
 the others of our party did not ; and taken by surprise, 
 attacked apparently by a greater force, five soldiers 
 spurred for their lives down the road, while the body of 
 their comrade floated drowning in the stream beside 
 them. 
 
 "Quick, men ! " yelled the lieutenant. " Out of here 
 like lightning ! There'll be a hundred men scouring this 
 road in ten minutes ! " 
 
 We needed no warning, but hurrying along after him 
 a few hundred yards, came to a place where the hills 
 were not so steep, and leaving the road, scrambled up 
 the precipice for some time ; then, crossing the ridge, 
 took refuge in a dense •thicket of a second growth of 
 pine and fir trees that formed an excellent cover. Here, 
 placing a guard to prevent surprise, we lighted a fire, 
 beside which Caucus and I dried our clothes, while the 
 
136 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Others cooked our meal, and determined upon our future 
 movements. 
 
 The lieutenant now said that he should try the gap 
 that night, going well up on the mountain side, to avoid 
 the troops that occupied it. 
 
 " To-night ! " most of us groaned, for we were fear- 
 fully tired. 
 
 " Certainly ! to-night ! To-morrow the news of this 
 fight '11 be there, and we'll have no chance of getting 
 through — it is a close call even now ! " 
 
 We cooked a day's rations, as we would not be able to 
 halt again till noon the next day, so our officer told us. 
 
 Then we struggled on after this indomitable fellow, 
 Caucus grunting as he trudged by my side : " Dis am a 
 reckliss country, 'pears to me, Massa Bryant, round heah. 
 Dey'd jist as soon kill a nigger as a white man." 
 
 After a while the lieutenr.nt ordered us to all stop 
 talking. We were entering the gap through which the 
 Nolachucky passes into Tennessee. Soon below us in 
 the valley, as we tramped along the hillside, we could see 
 camp-fire after camp-fire of the Confederate scouts guard- 
 ing this notch in the mountain. We were not much 
 alarmed at this, however, as cavalry could hardly follow us 
 over the rocks in the darkness of the night, and our officer 
 seemed to know every bypath of this part of the country. 
 
 Getting through this pass, near morning, the lieutenant 
 informed us we were now in Tennessee. 
 
 *' Praise de Lord ! de Promised Land ! " cried Caucus. 
 
 " Well, Cauk, you'll find it the cussedest, hardest 
 Promised Land you ever struck. Look out, or they'll 
 have you over Jordan ! " muttered our leader as he 
 passed the word to march on. 
 
 We were leaving the Smoky range behind us. In a week 
 or two our fate must be decided ; but as we descended 
 the mountain into the valley of the Nolachucky, I could 
 see light upon light, indicating more camps of soldiers, 
 evidences that every step we advanced added to our 
 danger of death, or capture. As day broke, we halted 
 and went into camp in another secluded spot. Here we 
 remained in hiding until darkness came on again to con- 
 ceal us from Confederate patrols. 
 
 During the next two days we turned north to avoid 
 the highway running toward Jonesborough, the country 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 1 37 
 
 being mostly level, though we sometimes encountered a 
 spur of the Bald Mountains. We were compelled to this 
 roundabout course, as every high-road, cross-road and 
 ferry was guarded by regular soldiers. Reaching Indian 
 River, we were fearfully hungry, having had nothing to 
 eat for over twenty-four hours. Seeing a house near 
 by, I gave Caucus a dollar greenback and sent him to 
 negotiate for provisions, as I thought a negro would cre- 
 ate less suspicion than a white man. 
 
 The black being " fighting hungry," would have faced 
 anything for a meal, and started off eagerly. 
 
 We watched the house and saw Caucus enter, the door 
 being opened for him by a woman. After a few minutes 
 he came out, traveling rapidly, but loaded with all kinds 
 of eatables. 
 
 Five minutes after the woman came running out, appar- 
 ently in the wildest excitement and rage, but Caucus had 
 passed from her view. 
 
 When he came into camp the amount of provisions he 
 had astounded me — a sack of flour, a side of bacon, two 
 pans of biscuits, three dozen hard boiled eggs, a ham, and 
 a lot of potatoes in a sack. 
 
 " All these for a dollar ? " I gasped. 
 
 " Yes, sah ! " 
 
 " What did the woman say ? " 
 
 " She didn't say nothin', sah. She was in de cellar. 
 I inviegled her into de cellar, and den negotiated de 
 grub." 
 
 " Cauk, you'll be a forager in time ! " laughed the 
 lieutenant. 
 
 " I's laming, sah ! " returned Caucus. 
 
 And so he did — a few months after this. 
 
 It was too risky to take back to the woman any portion 
 of her provisions, and we were, perhaps, not over-scrupu- 
 lous, for provisions meant strength, and strength meant 
 safety ; so we pushed along Horse Creek on the road 
 toward Greenville. 
 
 Soon after this we came to a house, the owner of which 
 was acquainted with our lieutenant. Here we expected 
 to remain the night. If was just getting dusk as we 
 halted some two hundred yards from the building, and 
 the lieutenant went forward to see if it would be safe for 
 us to show ourselves. 
 
138 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 He soon gave us the signal to come on. At the door- 
 way we were stopped by an old gentleman, who whis- 
 pered that a Confederate soldier was inside upon a sick 
 bed, attended by his mother, who had arrived a few days 
 before from near Knoxville. 
 
 We were shown into a large room adjoining the one in 
 which the invalid lay. His mother came out and begged 
 us piteously not to disturb her almost dying boy, who was 
 down with typhoid fever. She said he wanted to see 
 some one of us. He guessed on what side we were, and 
 felt afraid for his safety. 
 
 The lieutenant nodded to me to go in, and I found the 
 young man very nervous, partly from sickness and partly 
 from anxiety. In a weak tone he asked me what we were 
 going to do, and whether we would molest him. Noting 
 his excitement, and seeing how it told upon him, I re- 
 quested him to give himself no uneasiness, for though 
 we were Union men, making for the front, we would 
 attack no one who did not disturb us. This seemed to 
 relieve him very much, and his mother followed me to 
 the door, and blessed and thanked me for having mercy 
 upon her boy. 
 
 Never was I so impressed until this moment with the 
 fearful passions of this time, that made a man, whom 
 every instinct of humanity would make us pity and assist, 
 fear we would kill him as he lay sick upon his bed. 
 
 The old gentleman invited us to remain for supper, but 
 told us if we stayed all night we had better sleep with our 
 boots on, as we would probably be gobbled up before 
 morning. 
 
 We took his advice, and his supper, and our host was 
 kind enough to pilot us to a spot between two hills where 
 we could make a fire without being observed from the 
 road. 
 
 Placing sentries, as usual, we passed the night un- 
 molested. Early in the morning our friend came to us 
 and said he would get us some breakfast if we would 
 come down to the house. 
 
 Accepting his offer, while at table a little darkey came 
 in saying there were soldiers at the gate, and looking out, 
 I saw two men on horseback armed with rifles. Our 
 lieutenant, noting their number, called to them to come 
 in and join us. 
 
HOW 1 ESCAPED. I39 
 
 They looked at us in surprise, but acquiesced, and after 
 discovering who we were, one of them jocosely remarked 
 that we had better watch out or they would take us 
 prisoners. 
 
 " You will have a fine time of it, as we are heeled, and 
 some one will be hurt ! " returned Hanson. 
 
 One of them replied : " Just wait at this house for an 
 hour, and we will change your mind." 
 
 The other told us not to mind him, as he was good at 
 bluffing. 
 
 By this time we had come to the conclusion that these 
 men were in advance of others ; consequently, while the 
 two soldiers were still at breakfast, we started out at a 
 quick pace ovi our journey, and went southward toward 
 Cedar Creek, not following any road, but going through 
 woods and fields, which would render pursuit by horsemen 
 very difficult, the lieutenant telling us he knew a family 
 living near Salem, about twelve miles distant, and if we 
 could get there safely, we could learn enough about the 
 position of the troops to aid us in determining our future 
 movements. 
 
 To reach this place, however, wc would have to travel 
 through a thickly settled farming country southwest of 
 Greenville. 'J'his could best be done at night, as we 
 could detect the presence of soldiers by their camp fires. 
 We camped in some timber till evening and then began 
 our march. About eight o'clock in the evening we came 
 to a house that stood near the fork of two roads. A 
 woman appeared and asked who was there. We said we 
 wanted to know if the way was clear to Salem. She 
 replied that she was not quite sure. The day before she 
 had seen soldiers coming from that direction. 
 
 Learning nothing definite, we passed on into the public 
 road leading to the town, only disturbed by the barking 
 of dogs, that had a habit of favoring us very often with 
 their salutations at night. 
 
 At midnight we reached our destination. A woman 
 opened the door for us. There was not a man on the 
 place — every one of them being away in the army around 
 Knoxville, except the woman's husband, who was hiding 
 in the mountains. 
 
 She gave us a doleful account of things, and said she 
 did not know how we were to get through, unless we 
 
I40 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 went north through the woods and approached Knox- 
 ville by a roundabout route. 
 
 This was out of the question ; it meant another two 
 weeks of refugeeing, and we were now almost too worn 
 out to travel. Finally the woman advised us to go 
 northwesterly, direct toward Newmarket, and cross the 
 Nolachucky River above its junction with the French 
 Broad. This was about ten miles, but we could reach it 
 by daylight, as the country was perfectly level and there 
 were no big streams to ford. 
 
 Acting on her advice, we set out. We had hardly been 
 gone an hour before a rain-storm came up that made the 
 road very slippery. We were rejoiced at this. It would 
 tend to keep the Confederates under canvas. Lights 
 appeared ahead of us, which we took for camp-fires, but 
 fortunately we did not have to go near them. 
 
 We reached our point in safety, and stopped about 
 half a mile beyond the junction of the two rivers in a 
 farm-house, where we found no one but a white man and 
 two negroes. We asked the man to ferry us across the 
 stream. He looked us over, then complied with our re- 
 quest, but in a very surly way. The size of our party was 
 too large for opposition, and he took us over in two loads. 
 
 As he landed us he remarked that we would have a 
 nice time getting through the lines, and that he would 
 not like to be in our boots. 
 
 Thanking him for his trouble, we marched in the direc- 
 tion of Newmarket, intending to leave it on our right 
 and to pass southwest toward Strawberry Plains. From 
 here on we were satisfied that we would meet in the roads 
 none but soldiers, and were continually on the alert. 
 It was now about eight o'clock in the morning, when 
 we came to a little creek and concluded to camp. We 
 had traveled all that night, and most of the day before, 
 and nature compelled us to rest. We halted at a little 
 log cabin back of a piece of woodr three hundred yards 
 from the road. It was quite secluded, and not apt to be 
 seen by people riding by. No one came near during the 
 day. We slept on the floor by turns— one of us always 
 being on guard. 
 
 During this time I patched up my shoes as well as 
 I could with strings, and tied them to my feet, from 
 which they had nearly fallen. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I4I 
 
 Often during the day we heard the noise of march- 
 ing soldiers, but were fortunately too far from the road 
 to be discovered. A battery of artillery also galloped 
 past. 
 
 All this indicated some movement on Longstreet's 
 part, but what wa could not tell. 
 
 The lieutenant, however, said : " I think he has got to 
 retreat. Judging by the number of men that are now 
 coming in, he has called in most of his detached parties, 
 but by to-morrow at this time we will probably know all 
 about it." 
 
 " Why so ? " I asked. 
 
 " Because then we'll either be in the Federal lines, 
 prisoners, or gone to glory ! " 
 
 " So soon ? " 
 
 " Certainly ! We can't keep dodging through the rebel 
 army forever. If we stay here, we're bound to be 
 caught in a day or two. Now, I've picked out our cross- 
 ing-place on the Nolachucky — it's twelve miles from 
 here. By a forced march, we'll get there before day 
 breaks. If we get across alive, half an hour '11 place us 
 in the Union lines. As soon as dark, we start to make 
 the attempt." 
 
 If we were successful in getting through, our leader 
 would go to his regiment and we would separate. Feel- 
 ing that this gallant man's services deserved some recog- 
 nition from us, I tore a leaf from my memorandum book 
 and wrote : 
 
 " Whereas, we the undersigned, members of a party of Union men 
 struggling to get away from the Southern Confederacy, have been 
 guided with consummate tact, judgment, self-denial and bravery, by 
 Lieutenant Hanson of the Fifth Kentucky Union Cavalry, we extend 
 to hira our sincere and heartfelt thanks, and, while we are unable to 
 reward him substantially, we give to him our best wishes and best 
 hopes that he may pass through this war safely, and when these 
 troubles are over, may enjoy the rest of his life in health and happi- 
 ness." 
 
 This being signed by us, I read it to the lieutenant, 
 who said he would place that bit of paper in his bosom, 
 preserve it from all harm, and always treasure it during 
 the remainder of his life. 
 
 We now began our walk that would bring us to the 
 crossing of the Nolachucky River, at a place ten or 
 
142 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 twelve miles from Knoxville. Along the road in the 
 darkness we could observe evidences everywhere of the 
 presence of soldiers. In some places fires illuminated 
 the sky, while in others there were tent poles from which 
 the canvas had been struck, and at one place we almost 
 ran into a little camp of men on the side of the road. 
 Avoiding this by a circuitous route through the fields, 
 and coming out into the highway again, we had not gone 
 far before we heard the galloping of horses. Leaving 
 the road once more, because it was evident we were 
 nearing the lights of almost a brigade of Confederates, 
 and could not guess at what point we would run against 
 its picket line, we kept on until two in the morning, 
 when we reached our objective point near the river. A 
 little house stood aw^ay from the road some fifty or sixty 
 yards, and the Nolachucky was at least two hundred 
 paces beyond it. 
 
 Across this river we could see lights, which were 
 undoubtedly the camp-fires of some portion of Long- 
 street's army. The house was inhabited by a middle- 
 aged woman and her daughters. There were no men 
 near. 
 
 As we made known our purpose to get into the Federal 
 lines, the lady said that the rebel picket line was across 
 the river, where we could easily see the camp-fires. We^ 
 then asked if we could cross the stream near there. 
 
 She said, " Not with any safety, as there were three men 
 shot down there last night while trying to cross. They 
 attempted to go just after dark. I warned them, but they 
 said they would take their chances, and when I heard the 
 musketry across the river, I knew they were gone." 
 
 We then asked if there was any other place to cross 
 near there. 
 
 " Yes," she replied. " There's a bridge a little further up- 
 stream, but that is guarded by a company of infantry, and 
 I believe they have one or two guns there. There is 
 going to be some movement, I can't tell what it is, 
 because the troops have been traveling about here all day, 
 and there has been a good deal of musketry firing in the 
 front. I suppose there will probably be lively times to- 
 morrow." 
 
 This made us most anxious to get into the Union lines. 
 If Longstreet advanced, every foot he gained added 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I43 
 
 another foot to the distance we had to travel, and took 
 a way another chance of safety from us. We were now 
 at the border Hne. Imprisonment and death were behind 
 us. Death was, perhaps, before us. 
 
 We sat in tiie dark, early morning hours discussing the 
 momentous question, whether we should attempt to cross 
 or not. The woman knew the difficulty of the situation, 
 and begged us for God's sake not to undertake the trip. 
 
 1 told her we had been over a month on our journey, 
 and we could not remain where we were in sight of the 
 pickets; that boldness was our only chance. I then said: 
 " Boys, I have come on this trip to go through the lines. 
 We have come to the lines, and if I can get any one to go 
 with me, I will get there ! " 
 
 I urged that the present moment, just before daybreak, 
 was the best time to catch the pickets off their guard. 
 
 One man agreed to join me. The lieutenant hesitated, 
 and said: " I do not think we can get across. I know 
 you could not pass that picket line, with me in command 
 of it, in the way you intend." 
 
 I replied: " Don't allow my rashness to influence you." 
 
 At that he jumped up and muttered: " I do not pro- 
 pose to allow any man to say I dare not follow him." 
 
 "Oh ! " cried the woman, "for God's sake, don't go ! 
 If you do, you will never come out alive ! " 
 
 We thanked her for her interest, but there was nothing 
 else for us, — we must go forward. 
 
 Only two of the men, with the lieutenant, would risk 
 the crossing. 
 
 The others said it was too hazardous, they would wait 
 developments. 
 
 As for Caucus, he didn't seem to think he had any 
 voice in the matter, and as soon as I got up he followed 
 me down to the woman's boat, which was an old and 
 leaky affair, hardly useful for any military purpose, and 
 as such neglected by the enemy. It was now between 
 three and four o'clock in the morning. The whole party 
 went to the bank with us. Unlocking the old batteau, we 
 got in. Another man then decided to take the risk, and 
 joined our party, leaving three who declined to go. We 
 shook hands silently. It was now dangerous to speak, 
 for the river was but a little over a hundred yards wide. 
 
 In order to make no noise, we used no oars, paddling 
 
144 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 with our hands. To do this effectively I took off my 
 coat, wearing a dark gray shirt underneath, that gave no 
 light color to make me prominent in the darkness. This 
 coat, which contained all my papers, I handed silently to 
 Caucus, and he placed it on the thwart between us. Then 
 we floated out into the stream. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE LETTER OF LIFE. 
 
 The silence of the night was broken only by the rip- 
 pling of the river against our boat, and the wash of its 
 waters upon the bank we were rapidly nearing. The 
 darkness of the night was only illuminated by two watch- 
 fires that we dreaded. Steering to strike the bank 
 midway between these fires, paddling with our hands for 
 fear of disturbing the silence, we seemed to be totally 
 unobserved. No noise was heard in the brush that lined 
 the bank of the stream. No word came out of the silence 
 of the forest, that was only separated from us now by a 
 few yards of water. 
 
 I was now confident we would gain the bank, and 
 probably half an hour would see us in the Union lines. 
 
 Suddenly from out the brushwood right in front of us 
 came " Who goes there ? " from the hoarse voice of a 
 Confederate picket. 
 
 The lieutenant who sat next to me whispered in my 
 ear, " Overboard, for your life ! " 
 
 As he dropped over the gunwale, taking the side away 
 from the bank, to obtain the protection of the boat from 
 rifle-balls, I followed him, and diving under the bottom 
 of the batteau, we floated silently down stream, just mak- 
 ing exertion enough to keep ourselves afloat. 
 
 As I rose I hea'-d the crashing fire of musketry and 
 shrieks and groans from the companions I had left in the 
 boat, and over all Caucus' voice, shrieking, " Fo' de 
 Lord ! What to do now ? " 
 
 The lieutenant turned his head, and paddling close to 
 me whispered: " Float down the stream before you try to 
 make the bank. This musketry firing will rouse every 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I45 
 
 picket within a mile ; " t^en struck out strongly down the 
 river with the current. 
 
 I followed him, but he gradually passed out of my 
 sight into the darkness. 
 
 After floating down three or four hundred yards, 
 numbed by the coldness of the water, which had but a 
 short time ago left the snows of the North Carolina 
 mountains, I turned and paddled to the bank, drew my- 
 self up on the ground, and thought I had escaped, and 
 could now make my way to the Federal lines. 
 
 Numbed with the cold, I staggered into the bushes, 
 unfortunately striking a few twigs. 
 
 The next instant a couple of bayonets were thrust 
 against my breast, and I heard, '' Surrender or die ! " 
 
 " I am your prisoner," I muttered, for, chilled with the 
 cold, neither resistance nor flight was possible. 
 
 " You are one of that boat's crew we fired into up the 
 river about five minutes ago ? " said one of my captors. 
 
 " Yes," I replied, for there was no good trying to deceive 
 them. '' Who are you ? " 
 
 " Oh, we're some South Carolina boys, up here to 
 see that you Yanks in East Tennessee behave your- 
 selves." 
 
 *' Take him to regimental headquarters," said the ser- 
 geant of the guard, who had come up, attracted by our 
 noise. 
 
 I was searched, and then marched between a couple of 
 soldiers to a log house, about a quarter of a mile up the 
 river, which was the headquarters of the regiment — one 
 of Kershaw's brigade of South Carolina troops, a portion 
 of Longstreet's corps, which, after fighting in Virginia, 
 had come down with their commander into East Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 Their colonel was not here, being away looking after 
 the picket lines. The adjutant, who was at headquarters, 
 told me I would have to wait until that officer's return 
 before they would know what to do with me. 
 
 I asked his permission to stand in front of the fire to 
 warm myself, for my teeth were chattering so that I could 
 hardly speak. # 
 
 " Yes," he said. " I suppose if we want to get any 
 information out of you, we have got to warm you up a 
 little ; but I reckon you will be warm enough — or cold 
 
146 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 enough — before we have done with you. Judging from 
 your clothes, and the position in which you were taken, 
 you are a spy ! " 
 
 I said, '' When the colonel comes I will explain to him." 
 
 " Very well." 
 
 So, the sentry keeping a close eye on me, though I 
 was almost too chilled to move, I warmed myself and 
 dried my clothes in front of the fire. It must have 
 been now four o'clock in the morning. A moment 
 after, the sentinel saluted an officer on horseback, who 
 galloped up, followed by an orderly. He dismounted and 
 passed in, giving me a hurried glance, and after a few 
 moments' conversation with the adjutant, said, "Any 
 
 im 
 
 papers found on h 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Very well. Let the prisoner be brought in." 
 
 I was accordingly marched into the log cabin, which 
 was made comfortable on the inside by a fire and a rough 
 straw mattress in a corner, with some blankets on it. A 
 coarse deal table, some writing materials, and two rough 
 chairs were the rest of its furniture. 
 
 As I entered, the officer gave a start, looked at me 
 sharply, then turning to the adjutant, hurriedly gave him 
 some orders, which sent that officer upon some duty away 
 from regimental headquarters. Next he directed the 
 guard to leave me with him, but to keep a strict watch 
 outside to see that no one came in while he talked 
 to me. 
 
 The door had hardly closed when he turned to me and 
 said, with rather a hoarse laugh, " By the Lord ! this is 
 an unexpected pleasure, Mr. Bryant. When did you 
 come from the earthworks on Morris Island ? " 
 
 With a start I looked at him, and as the voice came to 
 me, I recognized my old friend and whilom chum Harry 
 Walton of Columbia. The full beard he wore and the 
 bronzed complexion that active service had given him 
 had so changed him that for a moment I had not recog- 
 nized him. 
 
 " Major Walton," said I 
 
 *' Colonel," interrupted he. " I^ath has promoted me 
 since I saw you last. Promotion in that way is pretty 
 rapid around here." 
 
 " Colonel Walton," continued I, " I know from what 
 
HOW 1 ESCAPED. 147 
 
 you have said that you are aware that I was imprisoned 
 on Morris Island." 
 
 " Yes, for desertion, I beUeve," he said. " Where is your 
 passport ? " 
 
 " I have none ! " 
 
 " No passport, and coming through our lines in citi- 
 zen's clothes ! How did you leave the earthworks on 
 Morris Island ? " 
 
 *' I was removed from them." 
 
 " Where to ? " 
 
 " To work on the fortifications on Stoho River." 
 
 " When were you discharged ? " 
 
 " I have never been discharged." 
 
 " The second time a deserter ! Looks very bad for 
 you, Mr. Bryant. In fact, fatally bad," he remarked, 
 lighting a pipe and sitting down. " I presume I could 
 shoot you after a drumhead court-martial here, without 
 violating military etiquette. Probably I shall have to, if 
 we are driven away from here to-morrow morning, as I 
 expect to be." 
 
 I replied : " My life is in your hands. Colonel Walton, 
 but I hardly think it noble to take — when he cannot de- 
 fend himself — a revenge upon your old friend and col- 
 lege chum, because he was more fortunate than you in 
 winning Laura Peyton's " 
 
 " Stop ! " cried the colonel. " Don't you say that 
 word. Don't you dare to say she loves you ! I will not 
 believe it ! If she had loved you, neither you nor any 
 man on earth could ever have left her. However, I shall 
 do my duty. I shall take no revenge upon you. I will 
 send you, under guard, to Chattanooga. A drumhead 
 court-martial can dispose of you as well as I can, and no 
 man shall be able to say that Harry Walton treated him 
 ungenerously. I will do my duty, sir ! " 
 
 He called the guard, and was about to consign me to 
 them, when an orderly, coming up, said : " Colonel, here's 
 a nigger who insists on seeing you. He has heard your 
 name, and will not be put off. I think he has solne in- 
 formation for you." 
 
 As he said this, the»red head of Caucus entered the 
 circle illuminated by the camp-fire. The black was drip- 
 ping from the river, but carried in his hand, apparently 
 unwet, my coat that contained all my papers. 
 
148 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 At sight of this garment, I knew that my last chance 
 was gone. Before any court-martial where I was known 
 by my true name, the passport for Mr. Bassett would 
 convict me. 
 
 " 'Clare to goodness, I's real glad to see you, Colonel 
 Walton ! " said the negro, with an attempted wriggle of 
 delight. " Who would spect to drop on a South Carolina 
 friend in dis part ob de country ? Does my eyes good, 
 Colonel Walton, to see you, sah. All de time comin' up 
 heah, I said, ' When will we come to Colonel Walton ? ' " 
 
 "Caucus," cried the colonel, with a laugh. "You are 
 happier to meet me than your master. Take him away, 
 and give him something to eat. Niggers are always 
 hungry. But see that he doesn't escape into the Union 
 lines, for his evidence may come up before us." 
 
 " Now you is talkin', colonel," muttered Caucus. 
 "You kill three or four of us, and was a leetle rough on 
 us at fus'; but you take good care of what is left ob us." 
 
 " Take him away," repeated Walton, with a wave of 
 his hand, as if anxious to get the darkey out of his 
 sight. 
 
 " Yes, sah ; I'm a goin', sah. I'm always ready to eat, 
 sah ; but, Massa Bryant, I don't want you to tink I didn't 
 take good care ob your clothes. Heah's your documents 
 in 'em, dry as a bone. Your pass is all safe, sah," and 
 to my horror, he placed the papers carefully on the 
 table. 
 
 At the word " documents " the colonel paused a min- 
 ute, and said, as Caucus was being led away : " I will 
 examine these. Let the prisoner wait here until I give 
 further orders. You can close the door, orderly." 
 
 Then, without any ceremony, he ran through most of 
 the papers hurriedly, with an occasional exclamation of 
 satisfaction, and looking at me, said : " I think your case 
 will give a court-martial very little trouble. I do not 
 care particularly to conceal my feeling regarding you. 
 If you were shot to death twenty times, it would not 
 cause you the misery that you have caused me." 
 
 " Colonel Walton," replied I, " the misery I caused 
 you was not intended. We both loved the same woman. 
 If I won her, that was my luck." 
 
 " Won her ? " he cried ; " why, she is too true a south- 
 ern girl to ever think of you now. JVon her 7 You have 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I49 
 
 won nothing but what a court-martial will give you ! " 
 Then he went on looking over the papers. 
 
 After a few moments, a short, suppressed cry, as of a 
 man in mortal agony, came from him. Gazing at him, I 
 saw that the paper he looked at was the one letter I 
 had received from my wife. 
 
 With a pale face, apparently controlling himself by an 
 almost superhuman exertion, he strode up to me, and 
 whispered in a low voice : " Is this letter true ? Is — 
 Laura — Peyton — your — wife ? " 
 
 " Yes," I replied, " my beloved wife ! " 
 
 '' Good God ! " 
 
 A moment after he forced himself to calmness again, 
 and, looking at the letter, muttered : " Yes, it is in her 
 handwriting ! " and read it through once more. 
 
 Then, apparently forgetful of my presence, he clasped 
 his hands to his face, sank down into a chair, and I could 
 tell by his short, quick breathing that he was fighting the 
 fight that all men have to make who love truly and lose 
 —a struggle against the despair of knowing that the 
 woman of your heart has gone from you forever. 
 
 " Colonel Walton," said I, " do you want me any 
 longer ? " 
 
 '' No ! Tell the guard " 
 
 I had moved to the door. 
 
 " Yes ! Remain ! " 
 
 I paused. He was staring at me with bloodshot 
 eyes. Then he burst forth ; " My God ! she d/d love 
 you ! " 
 
 " Yes I she loves me still ! " I cried, proudly. 
 
 " I know it ! Don't tell me about it ! From her letter 
 I can see she loves you. My God ! What am I to do ? I 
 cannot do my duty. If I do, I make her " 
 
 And for over half an hour he paced the floor of the 
 cabin, sometimes wringing his hands, sometimes pressing 
 them to his head. After a time he became calmer, and 
 sinking into a chair, perhaps exhausted by the violence 
 of his passion, said to me : " Mr. Bryant, I will not dis- 
 guise from you, when I saw you here, when I knew that 
 you would be convicted, and probably sentenced to death 
 as a deserter or a spy, that it made me happy. This 
 letter from the woman we do//i love tells me she is your 
 wife, and loves you as such. I had intended to send you 
 
150 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 to Bragg's headquarters to be tried for desertion. What 
 mercy you would get you can guess, for Bragg is a man* 
 who has no mercy on his own men— what mercy would 
 he have upon you, a northern one ? Your chances for life 
 would not be worth the snap of my finger. If I did my 
 duty, I should do this, and make the little girl I have 
 known and loved, who was my playmate when a child, whom 
 I love now, God help me, as a woman ! — a widow. I would 
 break Laura Peyton's — I mean Laura Bryant's — heart ! 
 My duty says one thing, my love for your wife another. 
 If I thought she did not love you, I could do my duty; 
 but this letter shows me that every beat of her heart is 
 yours. I cannot do my exact duty. I will compromise 
 with my conscience. Now in order to compromise with 
 my conscience, Mr. Bryant, you must do what I suggest. 
 It is your only chance of life. My regiment and I are 
 put here as a kind of sop to the Yankee maw, that will 
 swallow us, probably, to morrow. This regiment is to be 
 sacrificed to save the division. It has been done often 
 enough on both sides before, during the war, and it is 
 going to be done now. I and my men know this as well 
 as the division general who orders it. We are to hold 
 the little bridge and this bank of the river *'to the last 
 man " — that is my order — or until 1 receive a signal 
 from the hill back of us that two batteries are in posi- 
 tion there that will check the Federal advance. By 
 that time the division will have passed along the road, 
 and the river cannot be crossed in time to do it any 
 damage. Now I am to defend this bridge to the last. 
 I will leave you here. There will be a great many 
 balls and shells falling about you, but I hope you will 
 get accustomed to them, as I am. I shall hold the 
 bridge to the last man. Do you remain here, and if 
 my men forget you in the hurry of the battle, don't 
 ;-^/;//;/^/ them ; don't make y ourseM proiJiincnt. Pick out a 
 safe place. I want to save the husband of Laura Peyton, 
 the man Laura Peyton loves. As for me, I am glad I 
 have got this kind of work to do this morning. I hope 
 my bullet may find me. It will, some time ; and I can 
 give my life for the South with a better heart than I 
 could have, before I met you to-night." 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I5I 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR THE BRIDGE. 
 
 The colonel staggered out. 
 
 As he did so, the faint light of breaking day came in 
 through the open door of the cabin. Looking from a 
 square hole in the log wall that served for a window, I 
 was soon able to perceive the immediate surroundings of 
 the place. 
 
 Just back of it flowed the river, crossed at this point 
 a very little to the right of the cabin by a country bridge 
 hardly wide enough to permit the crossing of an ordinary 
 wagon. 'J he structure of this was of the usual western 
 kind, the girders and trusses being made of squared logs 
 bolted together, and its planking consisting of two-inch 
 rough lumber. The width of the stream, which was here 
 deep and rapid, was but a little over fifty yards; conse- 
 quently a single pier in the center of the river, made of a 
 crib of heavy logs filled in with broken stone, was suffi- 
 cient to support this bridge, which was in the form of two 
 spans resting upon abutments on either bank and the 
 single pier in the center of the current. Upon the oppo- 
 site side of the river two field-pieces were stationed, and 
 a rough breastwork of logs had been constructed to pro- 
 tect an infantry support. Iliis at present was simply 
 guarded by a sergeant and a few men, though the gun- 
 ners were sleeping ready for action alongside the section 
 of their battery. 
 
 Along the opposite bank of the river ran a country 
 road, sometimes beside the water and at other times run- 
 ning off from it from a few yards' distance to fifty and per- 
 haps seventy-five. This was only protected here and 
 there by clumps of timber, and the march of a column 
 over it with the banks on my side of the stream occupied 
 in force by the enemy would be certainly disastrous and 
 almost a military impossibility. After passing the bridge, 
 however, a hundred yards or so, this road turned from 
 the river into the country, which was hilly, and perhaps 
 half a mile away there was a position from which a few 
 batteries of artillery properly supported by infantry could 
 check an advancing army. 
 
152 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Along this road from down the river were coming hur- 
 riedly, but apparently in good order and without con- 
 fusion, the baggage-wagons of a division ; ihe heavy 
 muffled rattle of musketry could be heard down the stream 
 some miles away, an occasional salvo of artillery mingling 
 with and punctuating the roar. 
 
 It was evident that the Confederates were withdrawing 
 from their position — one of the most difficult and danger- 
 ous operations in war when conducted in the face of an 
 active and enterprising enemy. Like most military move- 
 ments, its success depended almost entirely upon time. If 
 attacked while moving along this road by the river, in case 
 the enemy gained the opposite bank from which to 
 enfilade its column with musketry and artillery, the result 
 would be a fearful disaster. If the Confederates could 
 gain unassaulted the position m the hills away from the 
 river, they might bid defiance to pursuit. 
 
 In order to avoid any chances of losing the opposite 
 bank of the river, Walton and his South Carolina regi- 
 ment had been stationed there to hold it, even in the face 
 of an opposing division of Federals. 
 
 But to move a large body of men takes considerable 
 time, even when unassailed. The baggage-wagons had 
 just begun to pass me ; it would be near mid-day before 
 the infantry and artillery of the division could be all with- 
 drawn, and, by the noise down the river, the enemy were 
 attacking now ; Walton and his regiment must be sacri- 
 ficed to military necessity. Even as I thought this, a 
 dusty aide-de-camp came dashing over the bridge. 
 
 As I looked at this structure, any wonder in my mind 
 that Walton was not reinforced vanished from it. The 
 bridge was so small and narrow that a larger body of men 
 than a regiment would have found it impossible to retreat 
 across it, closely pressed by an enemy. 
 
 Walton was standing outside the cabin ; the aide-de- 
 camp rode up, and after a few hurried whispers, the 
 colonel burst forth : " Then he refuses reinforcements, 
 but I am to hold this position I " 
 
 " Yes ! till you get that signal ! " 
 
 "How long will that take?" 
 
 " Three or four hours ! " 
 
 " Good Lord ! There won't be many left of us ! " mut- 
 tered the colonel, gazing sadly at his men already falling 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 153 
 
 in. Veterans of three campaigns in Virginia, and Antie- 
 tam, Gettysburg and Chickamauga besides, his men 
 guessed their fate also ; for I heard one of them remark 
 to a comrade under his voice, as they passed the cabin, 
 " Thar'll be a pretty general turning up of toes to-day, 
 I reckon, Tim ! " 
 
 And the other, a boy of about nineteen, said : *' Trouble 
 you for a plug of tobacco, I'll take a last smoke for old 
 Virginie ! " 
 
 Others, however, stood with compressed lips that grew 
 pale as they thought of far-off homes they scarcely hoped 
 to see again. 
 
 But in all this there was no murmur from any of them, 
 and when the colonel ordered them to the front, they 
 only answered with a yell and double-quicked to their 
 line of battle. 
 
 All this time the roar of musketry down the river grew 
 louder and louder, and dropping shots began to fall 
 about the picket line of the regiment ; a few wounded men 
 came crawling and limping from the front, for all this 
 day I never saw any one assisted off the field by com- 
 rades—their numbers were so few, their need of men so 
 desperate. 
 
 " They attacked you down the river an hour ago in 
 force ? " questioned the colonel of the aide-de-camp. 
 
 " Yes, sir ! " 
 
 " Then there'll be a brigade in front of me in an hour, 
 and a division before this is over. Report that I'll hold 
 this bridge to the last man ! " 
 
 " Yes, colonel," and the aide-de-camp galloped off. 
 
 Calling to his adjutant, Walton hurriedly wrote an 
 order, and said : " Let duplicates in writing be given to 
 every line and staff officer of the regiment ; also to the 
 first sergeant of every company." 
 
 " To so many ? " asked the adjutant, coolly scribbling 
 on a wooden bench, though the rifle balls were finding 
 their way through the trees and wounding men about us. 
 
 "Yes," replied the colonel. *' By the time the signal 
 for retreat is given, a first sergeant may be the ranking 
 officer of the regiment, and I don't want to take any 
 chances of sacrificing one more man than necessary." 
 
 Then he gave a sigh and went to the front, leaving his 
 horse in charge of an orderly. 
 
154 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 The position for the regiment to defend was rather 
 favorable. 
 
 A small ridge, running nearly parallel to the river, and 
 going down close to its bank half a mile below us, was 
 about three hundred yards from me. This was heavily 
 timbered, the trees running a little over the lidge from 
 the river ; while beyond them were open fields, over 
 which the Federals must advance. Along the edges of 
 this timber, at intervals, breastworks of logs had been 
 hastily erected, each of these large enough to give shelter 
 to a company front in skirmish line. Between these 
 sharpshooters were placed in rifle pits, keeping com- 
 munication open. 
 
 This line of defense was a very long one for such a 
 small number of men to hold ; for I noted that the Caro- 
 linians were hardly three hundred, for at that time death 
 had made many a regiment in the Confederate army look 
 like a company. 
 
 But the roar of musketry down the river was approach- 
 ing. I gazed behind me. On the right, across the 
 stream, the last of the baggage-wagons was passing, and 
 a regiment of infantry, already withdrawn from the line 
 of battle down the river, was marching to take position 
 in the hills up the road. Behind them I could see other 
 regiments of infantry, and a battery of artillery. 
 
 The roar of battle came nearer, and now, from drop- 
 ping shots in the front of the regiment the firing in- 
 creased to volleys. This was steadily returned by the 
 South Carolinians. A quarter of an hour of this, and 
 from the noise in front of me a Federal battery had evi- 
 dently got into position, for rifle shells fell into the tim- 
 ber about me, some of them striking the opposite side of 
 the river, and one of them exploding in the marching 
 Confederate regiment on the road, killing and wounding 
 some of them. Five minutes after, another Union battery 
 came into position. It was easy to distinguish this from 
 the first, because its rifled guns fired peculiar shells, that 
 produced unearthly noises and shrieks that seemed to 
 come from almost a human voice. 
 
 As one of these yelling things went over the cabin I 
 was looking from, the front door was hurriedly thrown 
 open, and Caucus came running in, his red hair almost 
 standing. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 155 
 
 I cried, " Caucus, I am glad you have escaped so far." 
 
 " Yes, but I won't last long. I'se most gwine now — 
 heah em ! heah em I Oh Lord, deliber us ! " and as 
 another shell shrieked over us, he groveled in a corner. 
 
 " You're not frightened ? " I asked, astonished, for the 
 black had so often shown his courage. 
 
 "Yas, I's dead scared now ! I could stan' de bullets, 
 and de bustin' things, but when I sees dat talkin' shell a 
 twistin' an' windin' about in de trees, an' sayin', ' Whar's 
 you? whars you ? wha-a-ar's you ? ' I can't stan' it no 
 longer. One uv 'em chased me nigh onto five minutes 
 afore 1 dodged in heah, an' den 'eluded he would take 
 some ob de fellers on de other side ob de ribber. I was 
 too good a dodger. Great Scotty ! Bar's anodder ! " 
 
 This last with an additional shudder as another shriek- 
 ing thing knocked part of the roof off over our heads. 
 
 The Federals had evidently caught sight of our log- 
 cabin, and judging it to be the headquarters of the regi- 
 ment, were getting the range of it rapidly. Telling 
 Caucus of this danger, I beckoned him to come with me, 
 for the noise had now become deafening, and we could 
 hardly hear each other speak. Unheeded by the Con- 
 federates, who were too much occupied in the front, 
 we took refuge behind the abutment of the bridge 
 on our side the river, and underneath its planking. 
 Over our heads we now could hear the groans and curses 
 of the wounded, who limped and staggered, coming in 
 from the front and crossing the bridge. The number of 
 these indicated enormous losses, and was constantly in- 
 creasing, while the fire from the front showed that not 
 only a brigade but almost a division was engaging this 
 one Confederate regiment. This fusillade now came 
 also very heavily from either flank, both up and down 
 the river, enfilading the breastworks and rendering them 
 of little protection to the few men who were now so des- 
 perately holding them ; falling wounded and dying by 
 scores without any of the cheers, hurrahs and dashing 
 excitement of a charge — only just staying there and 
 hopelessly dying as a plain, commonplace, everyday duty 
 — the hardest way to die. 
 
 This idea seemed to impress the black, for he muttered, 
 looking at the thinning line of battle : " Golly, dose rebs 
 dies jist as if dey was use to it ! " 
 
156 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 The fight had lasted now nearly two hours. A couple 
 of batteries and the bulk of the Confederate division were 
 going past on the road across the river. The captains 
 of both these batteries held them, and I could see 
 them violently expostulate with their chief of artillery. 
 Apparently their expostulations were listened to. One 
 of the batteries immediately took position upon our right 
 fiank across the river, in a field some two hundred yards 
 up the stream, opening a direct fire with its rifle-guns, 
 sweeping away little by little the line of blue that was 
 trying to edge behind and cut off the retreat of the 
 Carolinians. This reduced considerably the fire of the 
 Federal troops from that point. The other battery took 
 position immediately behind the road on a little eminence. 
 Spreading its six brass Napoleon smooth-bores (just the 
 arms for the purpose) in the form of a fan, and using 
 them at very high elevations as mortars, with reduced 
 powder charges, it succeeded in dropping its shells over 
 the Confederate line of battle immediately in the Federal 
 advancing column now forming for a charge. The 
 accurate service of these guns was very important ; to give 
 the proper range, an exact charge of powder was neces- 
 sary. 
 
 The captain of artillery, leaving his battery, galloped 
 coolly across the bridge, through the hail of musket balls, 
 to the front of the Carolinians. I could see him talking 
 with Walton for a few minutes, watching where his shells 
 fell, and signaling to the orderly whom he had stationed 
 midway on the bridge to repeat his signs to the officer 
 in command of his battery. These evidently indicated 
 the amount of powder to be used, for this was changed 
 several times, until the range of the battery became very 
 accurate, for I could see through the trees shell after 
 shell exploding in the blue ranks that were moving 
 across the open field. 
 
 Having got his range, the captain of artillery gal- 
 loped back across the bridge very coolly, though I noticed 
 he wiped some blood from a flesh wound in his shoulder 
 as he passed me. The roar of guns down the stream also 
 indicated that another battery had taken position, and was 
 protecting the left, flank of the Confederate regiment; 
 otherwise it could hardly have held its ground as long as 
 it did, for the line of blue was charging ! The slender 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I57 
 
 line of gray infantry waited till the blue columns got 
 within a hundred yards of its breastworks ; then it gave 
 forth its fire rapidly and continuously — so rapidly for the 
 number of men involved, that I knew they must have 
 collected and loaded the muskets of their fallen comrades 
 in order to obtain the great weight of fire. Under this 
 and the bursting shells from the Napoleon guns across 
 the river, the Federal line wavered and went back, leav- 
 ing the yellow fields it crossed covered with spots and 
 splashes of blue. 
 
 Meantime the steady tramp of the infantry of the Con- 
 federate division, some of it going at double-quick, came 
 from the road behind me. Its last few regiments were 
 passing us, and the battery down the river was withdrawn 
 to go in position on the hills beyond. The work of the 
 South Carolinians was nearly over, but hardly one man 
 in three remained in this line of battle. The Federals 
 were again massing a brigade to charge it. 
 
 Four times in the last hour had Walton come back to 
 ask the lookout on the bridge if they had not seen the 
 signal from the hills in the rear. Two of the four non- 
 commissioned officers placed at that duty were wounded. 
 The third, a corporal, in command, always replied : " No, 
 colonel ! " and shook his head. 
 
 The last time Walton came, he limped a little from a 
 slight wound in the leg. 
 
 " Please mount your horse, colonel," begged the cor- 
 poral. 
 
 " No, I can do better on foot yet. My God ! will 
 that signal never come ? I don't want all my men to die, 
 and this charge will settle us ! " and Walton, shading 
 his eyes with his hand, strained them to see if he could 
 catch the signal. 
 
 " It must be there ! " he muttered, then suddenly cried : 
 
 "// has come ! " 
 
 And looking through the smoke of battle to the hills 
 beyond, I could discern the flags. 
 
 The colonel, wounded as he was, ran back to the line 
 of battle The necessary orders were given very quickly, 
 for the companies came in at the double-quick pursued by 
 a hailstorm of Federal bullets. But where was the regi- 
 ment of the morning ? Each company seemed but a 
 skeleton squad, and half of these men were staggering 
 
158 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 or reeling from wounds and loss of blood. Drawing in 
 upon their center rapidly, which still held its ground, 
 they lined the breastwork immediately in front of us, 
 and as the Federal charge came on, gave them one 
 crashing volley, while the Confederate battery behind us 
 dropped six more shells into the charging lines. 
 
 The blue was checked for a moment, and in that 
 moment Walton, with the ease of a veteran, withdrew 
 his men across the bridge. 
 
 While he was doing so, Caucus called my attention to 
 some occurences that were making his hair stand on end. 
 
 The captain of artillery, aided by a couple of pioneers, 
 had rapidly dug a hole in the center pier of the bridge. 
 Into this four men, running down, placed four kegs of gun- 
 powder. Walton turned from his men, and he and the' 
 artillery officer both stayed and to this mine deliberately 
 attached a fuse. Then they coolly waited until the rear 
 guard had crossed the bridge, and reached the little 
 breastwork on the other side of the river. Before this 
 was done there was another heavy volley, and several of 
 the men sank dying as they crossed the stream, while 
 Walton himself gave a start that indicated he had re- 
 ceived another wound, and the captain of the battery fell 
 down upon the bridge. Coolly striking no less than three 
 matches to get a light, under this fusillade that became 
 more deadly every moment, Walton deliberately lit the 
 port fire that led to the mine ; then shouldering the 
 wounded artillery officer, staggered across and took posi- 
 tion behind the breastwork to check the Federal advance 
 for the last time. Both the batteries of artillery limbered 
 up and galloped off after the Confederate infantry. A 
 division had been saved — a regiment almost annihilated. 
 
 But all this meant little to Caucus and myself now — we 
 looked only at the smoking fuse that would explode the 
 bridge under which we were concealed. The black's face 
 had become ashen. His chattering teeth said : " Golly, 
 when dis blows up, we blows up too ! " The cross-fire 
 from the Federals and Confederates made it almost 
 certain death to venture on the bridge. Caucus, before I 
 knew what he was doing, plunged into the stream, and in 
 twenty or thirty vio^orous strokes reached the center pier. 
 Up this he climbed, for it was not more than five feet 
 high, and, sheltered by the heavy log cribbing from the 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I59 
 
 Confederate musketry, deliberately pulled out the lighted 
 fuse from the mine. For a moment the South Carolin- 
 ians did not notice it, but a second after a cry from 
 Walton came across the river. Cursing the black, he 
 called to his men to follow him, and firing his revolver at 
 Caucus, ran across the bridge. 
 
 The Confederates rose up, but the fire from the 
 approaching Federals was too heavy. A few of them fell 
 wounded ; the rest dropped again behind the breastwork. 
 
 A dozen strides brought Walton to the center of the 
 bridge. He pulled out another fuse, and attached it to 
 the powder, this time cutting it off very short. 
 
 His revolver firing had driven Caucus into the river, 
 who swam back to me. 
 
 • As the colonel was about to light the fuse, he paused, 
 staggered, clapped his hand to his side, reeled and sank 
 upon the bridge, the lighted port fire from his hand fall- 
 ing sizzing into the river. The Federal advance was 
 already at our end of the bridge. 
 
 With a yell of rage for their fallen commander, the 
 Carolinians rushed from their breastwork, charged across 
 the bridge, and at the center the blue and the gray met. 
 Clubbed muskets, bayonets, and even fists were used in 
 the struggle. 
 
 Swept back by overwhelming numbers across the 
 bridge, the Confederates bore with them the dead body 
 of their officer — another hero fallen for that lost cause 
 whose banner had already began to droop and whose 
 stars began to fade. 
 
 As I gazed at this a wave of blue surged round me. I 
 had not come to the Federal- lines — the Federal lines had 
 come to me. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WHERE WAS SHE? 
 
 Being in the Union lines did not seem to improve the 
 position of either Caucus or myself. We were seized as 
 Confederate prisoners. 
 
 I tried to explain to the colonel in command, but he 
 
l6o HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 said : " I have no time to listen to you. Say what you 
 have to say at brigade headquarters." Then we were 
 started to the rear in a hurry. 
 
 This seemed to astonish Caucus very much. He sidled 
 up to me, for we were huddled together with a few Con- 
 federate prisoners and stragglers that had been gleaned 
 by the Federal troops, and muttered disconsolately : 
 
 " Massa Bryant,why is we always took prisoners ? Don't 
 seem to make much diff'rence what side we gits on, we's 
 took prisoners anyway ! " 
 
 " Move along there, and keep your wet rags to your- 
 self ! " cried one of the guards sharply, as Caucus brushed 
 against him with his dripping garments. 
 
 At this the negro looked at him and remarked, plain- 
 tively : " Dey always said in South Ca'lina dat if I come 
 Norf I'd be treated almighty bad, an' seems to me dey 
 was 'bout right. Here I is, come all dis way to freedom 
 and darned if you don't treat me worse dan de Rebs. I 
 was tole you would 'sider me as a brudder," and looking 
 innocently at the man, he set his comrades into shrieks of 
 laughter by saying : " Be'ant you an Abolitioner ? " 
 
 " No, you miserable coon — I'm a Democrat ! " very sav- 
 agely cried the man who was, by his uniform, from one 
 of the Tennessee Union regiments. '' And darn you, if 
 you don't shut up, I'll blow the top of your sorrel head 
 off!" 
 
 The look of unutterable astonishment and reproach 
 with which Caucus gazed upon this unsympathetic boy in 
 blue as he tramped along to the rear after this was piti- 
 able in the extreme. 
 
 During this walk I meditated that the only way that I 
 could be set right immediately was the chance that Lieu- 
 tenant Hanson might have escaped. I questioned Caucuu 
 as to the fate-of our companions. He said two of them had 
 been killed and one wounded by the Confederate pickets. 
 By throwing himself in the bottom of the boat, he had 
 escaped without a scratch. 
 
 Upon my arrival at the rear I was sent first to brigade 
 and then to division headquarters, the general of which, 
 as the firing had already died away from the front, had 
 time to attend to me. I told him I had just come from 
 the battle. 
 
 " Battle ! " echoed he, with a smile. " Guess you 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. t6l 
 
 haven't been round the army much. That was only a 
 reconnoissance in force." 
 
 I inquired of him iT Lieutenant Hanson of the 5th 
 Kentucky Cavalry had joined his command. 
 
 After some inquiries among members of the staff, he 
 told me that he had. The lieutenant was sent for, and in 
 a very few moments his explanations placed me and Cau- 
 cus upon the free list. 
 
 Upon giving a detailed account of my adventures to 
 the Federal commander, he very kindly furnished trans- 
 portation for Caucus and myself to the North. Two days 
 after this we were in Nashville, and two more took us to 
 my home in Illinois. Here I had a small farm, which, 
 during my absence in the South, it being but twenty miles 
 from Chicago, had greatly increased in value. At the 
 local post-office I inquired anxiously for letters for me. I 
 had instructed my wife carefully as to how she should 
 address and send letters to me by blockade-runners. I 
 had been two months on the journey, which would have 
 given ample time for a letter via Nassau to reach me; 
 but there was none there. 
 
 I immediately wrote to Laura z'/a Bermuda, and waited 
 anxiously for six weeks, but received no reply. 
 
 It was now April of 1864. The blockade-runners were 
 often captured or sunk ; the letter service in the Confed- 
 eracy was very uncertain. My epistle might have miscar- 
 ried. 
 
 Despite the entreaties of my friends in Illinois that I 
 would stay with them longer, I determined to go to Nas- 
 sau, for my anxiety with regard to Laura had become 
 unendurable. 
 
 Taking Caucus, who now seemed to think me bound 
 to support him for the remainder of his life, and obtain- 
 ing money for the purpose by borrowing a small sum 
 upon my farm, I set out for Nassau. 
 
 Arriving there two weeks after my departure from 
 Illinois, I forwarded another letter that six weeks after I 
 knew must have reached the Confederacy, because the 
 blockade-runner came back in safety. I had given the 
 letter personally to the captain, who informed me that 
 he had placed it in the post-office at Wilmington, North 
 Carolina. 
 
 Again I waited anxiously a month. Still no letter. 
 
l62 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 During this time my excitement, agitation and misery 
 became greater and greater. I did not dare to visit the 
 Confederacy — certain death awaited me there ; yet I could 
 hear no news of my wife. My next attempt I made 
 in another way. I wrote letters to Judge Peyton, 
 Miss Belle, and Laura's brother, as well as another 
 epistle to my wife, and one to my friend Stuart Bee, 
 and waited another month with no more satisfactory 
 result. 
 
 All this time I had tried to make the acquaintance of 
 passengers on the blockade-runners coming from South 
 Carolina, but the only thing I could learn from them was 
 that they thought the Peytons were ail alive, but there 
 was some sickness in the family. 
 
 At this information, I began to fear that my wife 
 might have expended the small stock of money I had 
 left with her on her sick relatives. 1 knew her unself- 
 ish disposition. I bought a draft on a local bank at 
 Columbia, and forwarded it enclosed in another letter to 
 my darling Laura. 
 
 It was now nearly August. At times I wildly thought 
 of disguising myself and attempting to enter the Con- 
 federacy. I think I should have done something of 
 the kind, for my desire to hear of my wife had now 
 almost become a mania which was undermining my 
 health, taking away my spirits, and shattering my nervous 
 system, had not I about this time received a letter from 
 Stuart Bee which ran as follows : 
 
 Savannah, Ga., Aug. i, 1864. 
 
 My Dear Bryant : Your letter containing the account of your 
 marriage with Miss Peyton, also your extraordinary adventures and 
 escape into the Union lines, came to hand only yesterday. I have 
 been away from Charleston upon military duty for some time in the 
 interior of Georgia, and received it only on my return to Savannah. 
 All I can tell you in regard to your wife is, that I know, from 
 friends in Columbia, she is alive, but shall write and make particular 
 inquiries, and forward to you all details I can learn in regard to the 
 young lady you have been so fortunate to win, as soon as they are 
 sent to me. 
 
 Hoping you are having a more comfortable time in Nassau than 
 you had on Morris Island, I am, 
 
 Yours, sincerely. 
 
 Stuart Bee. 
 
 This letter kept me anxious but quiet in Nassau. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, 163 
 
 About the middle of September an additional note came 
 from Bee which ran as follows : 
 
 Savannah, Ga., Sept. 4, 1S64. 
 My Dear Bryant : I have just received news from Columbia in 
 answer to the inquiries I made with regard to your wife. She is 
 ahve, but I fear not having a very pleasant time with some of her 
 relatives in regard to her marriage with you, and I think from what 
 I hear, somewhat of an invalid, though from all I can learn her 
 disease is not at all dangerous, and nothing that need to give you any 
 immediate alarm. I write you the plain facts of the case as I get 
 them. Would have been able to obtain them sooner, but everything 
 at present seems to be disorganized in the Confederacy, postal ser- 
 vice as well as other things. Don't let this make you anxious enough 
 to attempt to visit her, for I assure you if you are caught again in 
 this part of the world you will have very little chance of escaping 
 this time. 
 
 Yours once more, 
 
 Stuart Bee. 
 
 Whether Bee's warning would have had any effect upon 
 me, I do not know. I was becoming desperate, and ready 
 to take desperate chances ; in fact, had almost engaged 
 my passage on a blockade -runner for the Confederacy, 
 when, about the middle of October, I received a letter 
 from my old chum Baxter, who held a staff position in 
 Sherman's army, and with whom I had opened a corre- 
 spondence. His letter was to the point, and read : 
 
 Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 8, 1S64. 
 My Dear Bryant : Your various letters to me seem to indicate 
 that your anxiety in regard to your wife has become a mania with 
 you. I have no doubt that the lady is well, and some of her friends 
 may have intercepted the correspondence between you. If you wish 
 to see her personally, the best way you can take is to join us. I am 
 in a position to know now of a movement that will take this army 
 very near to her. I am not at liberty to say more, and you will regard 
 this as confidential. Come to Atlanta as soon as possible, and I 
 will get you an appointment of some kind that will enable you to 
 accompany the army ; but come at once, as very shortly the railroad 
 behind us will be cut and communication will be severed between us 
 and the outer world. 
 
 Your old friend, 
 
 Thomas Baxter. 
 
 After reading this letter carefully, I canceled my 
 agreement for a passage on the blockade-runner, and two 
 days afterward saw me on the steamer bound to New 
 York. Making a few hurried preparations, I took the rail- 
 
164 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 road for Nashville, and then pushed forward to Atlanta, 
 where Hood and Sherman were at present confronting 
 each other. 
 
 Here everything seemed to be in preparation for some 
 great military movement. The divisions of Sherman's 
 army were rapidly filling up; recruits being hastened to the 
 front, and men and officers on furlough or leave of absence 
 being called in. The train which carried me to Atlanta 
 brought a large number of them. 
 
 After some trouble, I found the headquarters of the 
 general's staff, and there met my friend Baxter. The 
 mutual confidences incidental to the reunion of old chums 
 being over, he laughed and said : " Got your carpet-bag 
 with you, old boy ? " 
 
 '' To go where ? " I asked, 
 
 " With us to the sea ! You want to find your wife. 
 There is only one way of your getting to South Carolina, 
 and that is with this army. We will soon cut loose from 
 our base, and Heaven knows what will be our next one. 
 Now," he continued, " if you want to go with us, you 
 have got to become one of us." 
 
 " What ! " I said, " shoulder a musket ? " 
 
 " No, shoulder a staff appointment. Come with me." 
 
 He led me in to the chief of Sherman's staff. 
 
 That officer said, '' Mr. Bryant, Major Baxter tells me 
 you are an engineer, and should be very well acquainted 
 with most of the Georgia railroads." 
 
 '' Yes," I replied, " I have assisted in building a good 
 many of them." 
 
 " Then," he remarked, " you should know how to de- 
 stroy them,— their vital places, where the burning of a 
 bridge will do the most damage, or the destruction of a 
 culvert cause a wash-out of the track. We -expect to 
 destroy a great many railroads on this trip, and if you 
 wish to accept an appointment on some division or bri- 
 gade commander's staff, I will get it for you." 
 
 I replied that that would suit me very well, and two 
 days afterward found me acting as extra aide-de-camp to 
 Major-General Woods, commanding the first division of 
 Logan's Fifteenth Army Corps, temporarily in charge of 
 Osterhaus. 
 
 By November 12th, the last locomotive and train of 
 cars had steamed out of Atlanta. These gone, we burned 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 165 
 
 the railroads leading to the north, to prevent their being 
 used by the Confederates. Thus cut off from all sup- 
 plies, communication, and reinforcements, we had only 
 the power of our sixty thousand veterans to rely on. 
 But keep them in bread and meat, and they were the 
 kind of men to go anywhere and do anything. On the 
 14th, with as little baggage, ammunition, and general 
 army stores as it was considered possible for this great 
 army to move with, we left Atlanta, marching southward, 
 our next base of supplies we hoped to gain being Savan- 
 nah, two hundred and odd miles away on the sea. I 
 do not intend to give many details of that eventful march. 
 I paid very little attention to the military movements 
 about me, except so far as obeying my orders, and fulfill- 
 ing my duties. But one thought dominated my mind, 
 and that was that each mile that army traveled carried 
 me a mile nearer to my wife. 
 
 Passing through the rich grain lands of central 
 Georgia we lived as Caucus expressed it, " like fightin' 
 chickens," my table being bounteously supplied by 
 him ; for this creature was now in his element ; bring- 
 ing a large youthful experience of water-melon raids and 
 turkey-stalks to bear on the subject, as he expressed it, 
 '' of fightin' for de grub. " The most expert " bummer " of 
 Sherman's army looked with envy upon Caucus and his 
 extraordinary contributions to our larder. Sometimes he- 
 would come in riding a " borrowed " horse, a turkey and 
 goose slung over his shoulder, a sack of grain or potatoes 
 on one side, a few strings of dried apples twisted around 
 his neck, and driving a fat pig or plump calf ahead of him. 
 Passing through these rich plains of central Geor- 
 gia, pontooning the rivers, the bridges having been 
 destroyed, doing a little skirmishing, and in one or two 
 places some hard fighting, and all the time destroying 
 the railroads that were as vital to the existence of the 
 Confederacy as arteries to the life of man, toward the 
 end of November we arrived at the rice lands of Georgia. 
 By this time the army consisted of three divisions. Fnst, 
 the regular army, disciplined and practiced, that kept 
 their ranks, obeyed their orders, and did the fighting. 
 
 Next the bummers, stragglers, and worthless men of all 
 corps, who were good— as Caucus expressed it—" only to 
 do fightin' for de grub." 
 
r66 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Then an immense concourse of negroes, who had left 
 their homes and followed the army that had brought 
 them freedom. These furnished a more serious impedi- 
 ment to us, almost, than the Confederates. They ate up 
 everything they could put their teeth on, and as the 
 army was compelled to depend for its existence upon the 
 country through which it passed, if we had had another 
 hundred miles to march through the rice swamps of 
 Georgia, I doubt if many would have avoided starvation ; 
 for the bummers got the best of all foraged provisions, 
 the first pick of the barn-yards, and grain -cribs ; the 
 enormous gangs of contrabands the rest ; and the army 
 who did the fighting had a chance at what was left, 
 which, as Caucus remarked, was " de last pick ob de 
 bone ! " 
 
 However, in December we arrived in sight of the sea, 
 and on the 13th, Fort McAllister having been captured 
 by assault, we were in communication with the Federal 
 fleet. A few days afterward we entered Savannah, which 
 was evacuated by the Confederates under Hardee. But 
 here disappointment and delay awaited me. Sherman, 
 to complete his arrangements, reorganize his army, and 
 obtain fresh supplies and ammunition, remained over a 
 month in Savannah. 
 
 Every day I had marched, I had said, "■ So many 
 miles nearer to Laura." 
 
 Fancy my impatience ! 
 
 During this time, I made all the inquiries I could in 
 Savannah in regard to the Peytons, but could learn noth- 
 ing new. The old Confederate inhabitants had nearly 
 all left the town, and those who remained had but little 
 to tell me. However, I heard frequently of Mr. Amos 
 Pierson. Unable to obtain the money due him from the 
 Confederate Government in any other shape, he had 
 received a large amount of cotton in payment of his 
 claims, preferring that bulky but valuable merchandise to 
 Confederate money that was now almost worthless. Most 
 of this cotton had been shipped into South Carolina before 
 the approach of Sherman's army, and stored at Colum- 
 bia. I had no doubt that Mr. Pierson would be near his 
 merchandise, and consequently near my wife. This 
 made me more anxious than ever to be by her side. 
 
 But about January fifteenth Sherman made his prep- 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. l6f 
 
 aratfons to leave Savannali for his campaign in South 
 Carolina. The army had been "fighting light " when we 
 left Atlanta, but now it might be called "flying light." 
 Only the absolute necessities for the campaign were per- 
 mitted us. The wounded, sick, and non-competent of 
 every class were left behind. 
 
 On the seventeenth this movement really began, but it 
 was delayed by tremendous rains that flooded the swamps 
 in the vicinity of Savannah until January thirtieth, when 
 the columns were fully in motion. 
 
 In Georgia we had destroyed railroads ; during the 
 march through South Carolina we built roads. Day 
 after day I directed companies of men laying down 
 corduroys over swamps and floating pontoons across 
 rivers. Some idea of the herculean labor of the engineer 
 corps of the army may be formed from the fact that we 
 bridged the Salkehatchie River, which has fifteen dif- 
 ferent channels, between sunrise^and sunset. Thus fight- 
 ing battles and building bridges, we struggled through 
 the swamps and morasses, and on the sixteenth day of 
 Februar}^ 1865, looking across the Saluda River, saw the 
 beautiful capital of South Carolina. While assisting in 
 our preparations to bridge the river I could almost see 
 Judge Peyton's home, and fondly imagined I saw the 
 form of my beloved wife, whose face I had longed for 
 but never seen for fourteen months. 
 
 Next morning in spite of considerable opposition from 
 detachments of Confederate troops, the Fifteenth Corps 
 succeeded in laying pontoons and crossing the river. 
 Then skirmishingbegan. for the advance guard of Woods' 
 Division, and was followed up by additional brigades 
 being put in action, and the Confederates being driven 
 over two miles. From their last position they retreated, 
 and the mayor of Columbia with a number of the leading 
 citizens came out to surrender the place to us. While 
 negotiations for this were going on, Caucus, who proba- 
 bly knew the hen roosts of the neighborhood very well, 
 had been out on a foraging expedition in the company 
 of several more of the same kidney. About two o'clock 
 he came riding in on horseback in a tremendous state of 
 excitement, and coming to me cried: "Golly, Massa 
 Bryant, if you want to save Judge Peyton's house you 
 come along right smart." 
 
1 68 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " said I. 
 
 " Dat swearin' colonel of Kilpatrick's Cavalry what 
 brags dat he leaves only de chimneys and neber de 
 houses, has gone up Judge Peyton's way, an' if you want 
 to take care ob your wife's family you had better go 
 quick." 
 
 The negro seemed very much excited and grieved to 
 think of the fate that might come to his old master. 
 I hardly noted this, however, for I rode at once to 
 Division Headquarters. General Woods was seated on 
 his horse. 
 
 I said : " General, can I have leave of absence for the 
 day and also use a company of infantry ? " 
 
 He looked at me inquiringly, as I had never made any 
 such request before, and replied : "What for ?" 
 
 " To protect my wdfe ! " 
 
 At this the General nearly fell off his horse in astonish- 
 ment, and gasped : "Your wife a South Carolinian, who 
 lives here ? You must be a South Carolina Unionist; 
 By George ! I should think you did deserve protection. " 
 
 Explaining to him the peculiar relations I bore to Judge 
 Peyton's family, he wrote an order directing a company 
 of Stone's brigade to go with me. 
 
 As they filed off the captain remarked, for he had been 
 placed under my orders for this expedition : " What do 
 you want us for ? Do you know of any treasure hid in 
 the neighborhood ? ' 
 
 I explained to him my errand. He then said : " That's 
 right, I've got a wife myself in Iowa. Boys, we'll follow 
 him lively ! " and gave his men the order to " double 
 quick." 
 
 Guided by Caucus, we took a short cut. I had already 
 had the protection signed by the division commander for 
 Judge Peyton and his family. 
 
 Though we moved rapidly, we were not too soon. 
 
 Riding up the broad avenue of oaks, every tree of 
 which reminded me of the beautiful girl I had left behind 
 me, my heart bounding with exultation and hope, I 
 galloped up to the house and found it in possession of 
 the Federal soldiers. 
 
 Not heeding the marauders that were swarming over 
 the rooms I remembered so well, I only thought of find- 
 ing Laura or some one who could tell me of her. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. 169 
 
 The negro servants had all fled from the house but one 
 that Caucus brought in from tiie garden, knew him and 
 was not afraid of him. In answer to our questions she 
 said Judge Peyton's family fearing what was now taking 
 place, had gone into Columbia for protection that after- 
 noon just before the cavalry rode up. 
 
 I asked if they were all well. 
 
 " Yes, Massa, all well." 
 
 This brought from me a sigh of relief and a " Thank 
 God ! " 
 
 There was nothing now for me to do but to save the 
 Judge's property, which I did with considerable trouble. 
 Even after showing the protection signed by General 
 Wood, one of the cavalry remarked : *' Yes, that is to 
 protect Judge Peyton's property, but these 'ere goods is 
 now our property." 
 
 Had it not been for the captain of infantry, who swore 
 the cavalry should obey orders, if he had to shoot every 
 one of them, the troopers would have left very little of 
 Judge Peyton's house. 
 
 All this took considerable time, and it was nearly five 
 o'clock in the afternoon when I succeeded in making the 
 proper arrangements. The captain of infantry left a 
 sergeant and a squad to guard the house over night. 
 Then I turned into the main road to Columbia. 
 
 Not wishing to travel entirely alone, as skirmishers 
 and Confederate cavalry might be about, I was compelled 
 to take the time that the tired infantry could march in, 
 and it was becoming dusk when we reached Columbia. 
 
 The city we could see was already occupied by Federal 
 troops; the flag of the Union flying from the State House. 
 
 The main street was now full of large quantities of cot- 
 ton and other articles, dry goods, merchandise, etc., which 
 had been taken out ready to be placed on trains to follow 
 the Confederates ; this our rapid advance had prevented. 
 The owner of the cotton I incidentally learned was my 
 friend, Amos Pierson. This would doubtless be confis- 
 cated, and Mr. Pierson shorn of a great deal of his power 
 and wealth. I was compelled to go to division head- 
 quarters to make my report. Here, to my astonishment, 
 I heard that Amos Pierson, on the entry of our troops, 
 had taken the oath of allegiance to the Federal Govern- 
 ment, and claimed his cotton as a non-combatant. 
 
170 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 Long before this I had dispatched Caucus to try and 
 find out where Judge Peyton had taken his family. 
 
 My report being made, I was now free to seek my wife 
 myself. In a fever of excitement I went to the houses 
 at which I thought it likely she would be. Elbowing my 
 way through streets full of excited boys in blue, who had 
 unfortunately, either by design or accident, obtained a 
 large amount of Confederate whisky, which had excited 
 them still more, I sought my wife without success. 
 vSome of the people I called on had left the town ; the 
 others had not seen the Peytons, and were too nervous 
 about their own affairs to care much for those of any one 
 else. 
 
 All this time with cheers and cries the soldiers paraded 
 the streets in squads— even a strong provost-guard having 
 but little control over them, the citizens looking at them, 
 some with scowls and a few with joy on their faces from 
 the surrounding houses and gardens. I went back to 
 headquarters to wait impatiently for Caucus to report 
 where I could find my wife, for without some definite 
 knowledge I might have wandered for days — perhaps 
 weeks — in that motley throng, and never have seen her ; 
 for no ladies were walking the streets of Columbia that 
 night. 
 
 While doing this I was surprised and astonished to hear 
 a very violent commotion. Looking out of the window I 
 saw a faint glow down the main street. This gradually 
 became larger and larger, and the accompanying noise 
 louder and more violent. Hurrying out, I, to my horror, 
 saw a portion of the city was in conflagration. A 
 very heavy wind added to its violence, w^hile drunken 
 soldiers, bummers and camp followers crazy with drink, 
 spread the flames. A sudden fear darted through me. 
 What, in a burning town full of drunken soldiers, in the 
 dead of the night, would be the fate of my wife ? I must 
 find her now ! 
 
 The flames roared more fiercely than ever, the public 
 buildings catching fire. Down the main street immense 
 piles of cotton became each a huge bonfire, the wind car- 
 ried the flaming flakes for blocks around, spreading the fire 
 over a large portion of the city. Inaction was impossible 
 to me. I was about to run blindly seeking her, when 
 Caucus came panting to headquarters. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. lyi 
 
 " Where is she ? " I cried, 
 
 " Don't know sah ! But tink Miss Laura's at Colonel 
 Pickens. Nancy Jackson said dat dey was 'spected 
 dar ! " 
 
 I was already running in that direction, for the Pickens 
 mansion was in almost the center of the burning district J 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE LITTLE HOSTAGE. 
 
 Following Caucus through the streets of the city, 
 wildly jostling drunken soldiers and citizens trying to 
 save their household goods, we plunged into the burning 
 portion of the town, and arrived at the Pickens mansion. 
 This, being surrounded by a garden, I had hoped might 
 have escaped, but it was also in flames. The family had 
 fled from it, taking with them what possessions they 
 could carry. 
 
 Inquiring of some negroes who were trying to save 
 their household goods, they hurriedly told me that the 
 Peytons had been there, but being driven out by the 
 flames, had left about half an hour before. I asked 
 which way. They pointed along another street, but 
 gave little attention to me ; they were too busy trying to 
 save a little of their possessions from the wreck. Fight- 
 ing my way through the throng with one idea — to find 
 my wife and aid her — I was suddenly arrested by a crowd 
 even more dense than that through which I had passed. 
 
 At this moment Caucus stopped and cried out, " Golly ! 
 Look at dat chile ! " 
 
 "What do you mean? "said I. '"Come along and 
 help me find my wife." 
 
 As I uttered this, my attention was arrested by a 
 shriek that apparently came from above me. Looking 
 through the trees of a small garden, I perceived a house 
 which was rapidly becoming a mass of flames. 
 
 At one of the upper windows of this a mulatto servant 
 girl, holding in one arm a child, apparently white, was ges- 
 ticulating wildly with the other and calling for assistance. 
 My wife was probably safe^ while this girl and her child 
 
172 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 were in mortal danger. For a moment I hesitated ; 
 tiien dashed into the garden to save them. 
 
 I had had some experience in my youth as a member 
 of a volunteer fire company, and calling to Caucus to 
 follow me, I pushed through the crowd up to the house. 
 No one was in the yard but negroes, and they were so 
 panic-stricken that they had lost their wits, and though 
 yelling and howling like madmen, were doing nothing 
 to aid this woman in her extremity. With a ladder 
 I could have rescued her easily, but there seemed to 
 be none at hand. Bolting into the house, I tried the 
 stairway, but it was burning and impossible to ascend. 
 As I did so, the girl screamed and groaned, probably 
 merely from terror, as the flames had not yet reached 
 her, though this would be but a matter of a very few 
 moments. 
 
 As I ran around the building trying to find a ladder 
 by which to reach the upper windows, I caught sight 
 of a tree at the other end of the house. The branches 
 of this overhung the burning dwelling. Being a live 
 oak, and green, this had not caught fire. If I could 
 descend from its branches to the house I might save her. 
 Looking around for a rope, my eye caught sight of the 
 garden hose that had been used against the flames and 
 then deserted. This I took, and Caucus, who was an 
 expert climber, joining me, we both had little difficulty 
 in reaching a branch of the tree immediately over the 
 house. 
 
 Using the hose as a rope, I descended onto the roof 
 of the veranda just in time, and breaking open one of 
 the windows, sprang into the room, which was now full of 
 suffocating smoke. Seizing the child from the almost 
 fainting girl, I carried it to the roof and passed it up to 
 Caucus as he reached down from the limb of the tree. 
 
 The rescue of the mulatto girl was more difficult. She 
 seemed to have lost entirely the use of her limbs from ter- 
 ror, but the roaring of the flames made me think quickly, 
 and knotting the hose about her I climbed up it again to 
 the tree. Then Caucus and I, using this hose as a rope, 
 succeeded in swinging her off the veranda, and lowering 
 her to the ground below. Unfortunately the hose, which 
 was rotten, broke ; and the girl's descent, for tiie last few 
 feet, was very rapid. 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I73 
 
 As we did this, a low moan or scream came from the 
 street in front of the house, apparently from a woman. 
 
 The little baby, I could now see by the red glow of the 
 fire, was white. The mulatto girl was probably its nurse. 
 Holding the little infant tenderly in my arms, I descended 
 the tree carefully but rapidly, as the flames were making 
 my perch very warm and uncomfortable. As I did so, 
 the child, which had been asleep, opened its arms and 
 gave a little crow. 
 
 Caucus having gotten the girl on her feet, she recog- 
 nized and spoke to him, and the negro ran frantically 
 out to the street, before I had descended. A minute 
 after he returned, his eyes rolling, his teeth jabbering with 
 excitement, crying : 
 
 " Sah, dar's a lady in de street what would like to tank 
 you for savin' her baby." 
 
 " Take the child to her," replied I, and was about to 
 hand it to him. " Then come with me. My wife again 
 demands every effort of mine." 
 
 " But, sah, de lady 'sists on seein' you." 
 
 With this he ran along, clapped his hands and crowed, 
 then came back to me and chuckled, " Golly, don't em 
 look like em daddy ! "and jabbered and poked the infant 
 under the chin until I thought he had gone crazy. 
 
 But at this moment, an old gentleman, whose face by 
 the light of the burning buildings made me start, came 
 rapidly up to me, seized me by the hand and said, " Though 
 you wear the uniform of the United States, let me thank 
 you for what you have done for my family. My daugh- 
 ter here desires to thank you and bless you for saving 
 her child." 
 
 " Yes, and I thank him, too," cried a girlish voice that 
 seemed familiar, "though he is a Yankee," 
 
 I gave a stare. Miss Belle was standing near me. 
 The other lady, the mother of the child, was murmuring 
 blessings on my head, extending her hands to take her 
 baby from me, but as she did so I gave a cry of startled 
 joy. 
 
 Her eyes, bent down upon her infant to see that it was 
 entirely safe, at this were lifted to mine. She gave a 
 stifled shriek, " Lawrence ! " and fell fainting, but I caught 
 her to my heart as there thrilled through me a wave of 
 ineffable tenderness and supreme joy, for something sang 
 
174 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 in my brain that I had my wife and my child in my arms 
 at the same moment. 
 
 As for the rest of them, they stared hke crazy people. 
 The Judge faltered, " Great heavens ! " while Miss Belle 
 cried out, *' Her husband ! " and seemed almost as much 
 overcome as her sister, though she did not come to me 
 and take my hand as she had been about to, when Laura 
 recognized me. 
 
 The Judge, after a moment, said suddenly : " Law- 
 rence, you came just in time. Get your wife and child 
 away from here ; then I'll talk to you." 
 
 This we did, the Judge explaining to me the accident 
 by which my little baby had been endangered. Driven 
 away by the flames from the Pickens house, my wife, not 
 having the strength to support the child herself, had taken 
 a mulatto girl to carry it. This girl, in the struggling 
 crowd, had got lost, though Laura ran about the streets 
 like a mad woman trying to find her. Being frightened, 
 the girl had taken refuge from some drunken soldiers, 
 and gone up in the second story of the house, which was 
 deserted by its owners, to be further away from the brutes, 
 mad with whisky, who were following her. In her terror 
 she had not discovered that the house was burning, until 
 too late to escape by the stairs. 
 
 While the Judge was telling me this, Laura had partly 
 regained her senses, and clung to me in that nervous, 
 appealing tanner which shows a man that a wife knows 
 her husband is by her side. 
 
 We had now got out of the immediate vicinit}^ of the 
 fire, and I told the Judge of having saved his home from 
 the marauding cavalry. 
 
 Obtaining a pass and escort from headquarters, and 
 Caucus procuring an old wagon and pair of army mules, 
 about twelve o'clock at night we all returned once more 
 to the Oaks. 
 
 During this time Miss Belle had not said one word to 
 me, although she looked at me very often, and some- 
 times her glance seemed to me to be that of shame, which 
 was very unusual in this young lady, as she was not 
 accustom.ed to begging anybody's pardon under any 
 circumstances. However, I was too busy to think of 
 Belle. I had my child and my wife, who told me in a 
 few hurried words that anxiety for my safety had made 
 
HOW I ESCAPED, I75 
 
 her sick. That her brother and father, after learning of 
 her marriage, had always been kind to her, but that Miss 
 Belle for six or seven months had never spoken to her, and 
 had only become reconciled to her when her approaching 
 motherhood had made her very feeble. " But then, Law- 
 rence, Belle became an angel ! " murmured Laura, " and 
 nursed me like the kind sister she had always been be- 
 fore. She will forgive you, Lawrence, in time. You 
 saved the baby, and Belle adores it, and that will make 
 her tender to you some day." 
 
 The next morning I rode in to division headquarters, 
 and after telling the general my story, he laughed and 
 said : " After such a separation, you had better remain 
 with your wife." 
 
 " That is impossible," I returned. *' In a day or two 
 the army leaves here, and I have got to go with it to the 
 front." 
 
 " Not at all," he replied. "We must leave a garrison in 
 this place, and I think I can get you detailed for that 
 duty. You have been away from your wife for a long 
 time, and you may as well remain as somebody who has 
 no ties in Columbia. Besides, you are acquainted with 
 the inhabitants here ; they knew you before the war, and 
 General Sherman wishes to establish a good feeling 
 between the troops in garrison and the people in the 
 place. This fire has probably made them very bitter 
 toward him, though we consider that it was not our doing, 
 as the disaster began by the burning cotton, which was 
 fired by the Confederate cavalry to prevent it from falling 
 into our hands. As to the loss of the cotton, I am not at 
 all sorry for it. It belonged to Amos Pierson, and the 
 miserable turncoat took the oath of allegiance the first 
 man in Columbia." 
 
 Two days afterward the bulk of Sherman's army 
 marched out toward North Carolina, to make the clos- 
 ing campaign of the war. News came back from it day 
 by day of its further advance and further success. 
 
 The loss of his cotton, however, made Mr. Amos Pier- 
 son a very poor man. 
 
 A few days afterward I had reason to know of this, 
 because the old Judge called me into his study and 
 asked my advice. 
 
 He said : " Mr. Bryant — or rather, Lawrence — you are 
 
176 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 now one of my family ; the only male member of it 
 that I can speak to on this matter. My son is away in 
 the Confederate army in North Carolina, and as for the 
 girls, they have no head for business. Two years ago I 
 was compelled to mortgage this place, for the necessities 
 of my family, to Mr, Amos Pierson for twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars. The note falls due to-morrow, and he 
 demands payment of the same." 
 
 Twenty-five thousand dollars seemed to me a big sum 
 for a moment, but when I reflected that it was in Con- 
 federate money, it almost dwindled to nothing when re- 
 solved into greenbacks. 
 
 I looked over the note, and found that it was a specific 
 contract to pay twenty-five thousand dollars in the " law- 
 ful money of the Confederate States of America," and 
 secured by a mortgage upon "The Oaks." 
 
 At this I gave a laugh, and said : " I will attend to this 
 matter. It is not difficult to obtain twenty-five thousand 
 dollars in Confederate money now. This fifty-dollar 
 United States bill, I think, will cover your mortgage. 
 The Confederate States are still a government de facto, 
 and this is a specific contract. If you will come with 
 me, we will make the tender in due form." 
 
 The next day accompanied by Caucus, who wheeled 
 twenty-five thousand dollars in Confederate shinplasters 
 alongside of us in a wheelbarrow, we went into Columbia, 
 and going into Mr, Pierson's office, for the second time 
 in my life, I saw the gentleman who had given me a great 
 deal of trouble. 
 
 He was looking very miserable, for the war had dealt 
 very hardly with him, and the loss of his cotton seemed to 
 be almost the finishing blow. He smiled, however, upon 
 our entrance, and was quite pleased to receive the money 
 that Judge Peyton owed him. But on my tendering it to 
 him in Confederate currency, he literally gave a shriek, 
 and demanded bills of the United States of America as 
 being the only legal tender then due. 
 
 Upon my explaining to him the specific nature of the 
 contract, and making tender for same, and calling in 
 several citizens and a notary public to witness this same 
 tender, and sealing the Confederate shinplasters up in his 
 presence, having counted them, he became abusive. 
 "You ex-convict!" he cried, "didn't I put you oc 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. T77 
 
 Morris Island in a striped dress ? I'll put you in a striped 
 dress again,— a very different uniform from the fancy 
 blue you now wear ! — the accursed uniform that has 
 ruined me ! " 
 
 At this, Morris Island and all my wrongs at his hands 
 rose up in me. I forgot myself, and after hammering 
 Mr. Pierson in a way that made Caucus cheer with joy, I 
 kicked him out of his own office, and never felt happier 
 in my life than at the day's work I had done. 
 
 This tender of Confederate money of course brought 
 on litigation that has not been ended to this day, — the 
 Judge holding on to his homestead. Mr. Pierson still has 
 twenty-five thousand dollars in Confederate money sealed 
 up awaiting his order. 
 
 During these few weeks Miss Belle never spoke to me. 
 Sometimes as I passed her she would give a little shud- 
 der and shrink away, not with horror or loathing, but 
 rather it seemed to me with shame. 
 
 I had questioned my wife with regard to the numerous 
 letters and draft I sent her. To my astonishment she 
 said: "I never received a line from you, Lawrence, but 
 have written you many, many times. This has had as 
 much to do with my illness as anything else — my anxiety 
 for you, and my fear that you might be dead, for I felt 
 sure you would write me if you were alive." 
 
 I explained to her the various methods I had taken 
 to communicate with her, and she seemed very much 
 astounded. 
 
 " Surely," she cried, "■ some one of them must have 
 reached me. Some letter from me should certainly have 
 found you. And the draft ! What can have become of 
 that ? " 
 
 I inquired at the bank in Columbia upon which I had 
 received the exchange, and found that though they had 
 advices of same, no such draft had yet been presented. 
 
 I held several conversations with my wife with regard 
 to this, but we were never able to fathom it. I spoke to 
 the Judge, — he knew nothing about it. 
 
 " I'll speak to Belle about it. She's had full charge of 
 the household while I have been sick," said Laura. 
 
 But I remarked, '' Better let the matter drop." Whether 
 it was something in my manner gave my wife a suspicion 
 I know not ; but she burst out at me : " You don't think 
 
178 HOW I ESCAPED. 
 
 my sister would do such a thing ? You don't think my 
 sister would be mean enough to withhold a husband's 
 letters from his wife, or a wifes from her husband ? " 
 
 " No," I said, " I don't. I don't care what has 
 happened to the letters, Laura, since I have you and our 
 child now, and that is enough for me ! " 
 
 Whether Belle overheard this conversation or not I do 
 not know, but I was sitting out in the grounds the next 
 morning when that young lady came to me. Her face 
 Avas very red, and her hands trembled. 
 
 I said, " Good-morning, Belle," as I always addressed 
 her though she had never yet spoken to me. 
 
 Then she cried out : " How can you treat me so well, 
 when I used to hate you so ? " 
 
 " Used to ? " I said. 
 
 " Yes," she replied. " But I have forgiven you since 
 you saved the baby — my dear little nephew." 
 
 '' Oh," I laughed, " Belle, I don't think you ever hated 
 me very much." 
 
 " Didn't I ? " she cried. *' Look at these ! These 
 will tell you how I hated you, and how much I am 
 ashamed of myself." 
 
 Then the girl burst out sobbing as she dropped a 
 packet of letters into my hand. They were those from 
 my wife to me and those I had written to her, all of them 
 unopened. 
 
 " Now," she muttered, " I want to speak to you if you 
 can ever forgive me. I want to ask one favor whether you 
 forgive me or not. In my hate for you and my rage at my 
 sister having married one of our enemies, I have done 
 something that will make my sister despise me ; perhaps 
 also my father and brother. They are noble ; they do 
 not sneak about and steal letters as I did, and watch for 
 them. Now 1 want to keep my sister's love. If you 
 tell her, I am afraid I will lose it. You are a Northern 
 man, and your side has conquered. You have every- 
 tliing — have pity also. Leave me my sister's love." 
 And she commenced to sob more bitterly than ever. 
 
 " Miss Belle," I said, " why don't you ask for a 
 brother's love?" 
 
 '' Your love ? " she gasped. 
 
 " Yes," I said, and put my hand upon hers, but as 
 I did so she cau'jhi: sight of my blue uniform, and cried 
 
HOW I ESCAPED. I79 
 
 ** Not yet ! " Then after a pause the girl continued ; 
 " You have been very noble to me, and perhaps it will 
 come in time. If the North is as noble and magnanimous 
 as you are to me, perhaps the North and South may yet 
 be brother and sister," and ran away from me. 
 
 But every day after this she became more friendly, and 
 when her brother came home after Johnston's surrender, 
 even his empty sleeve did not make her take her hand 
 off my shoulder as we all, from the piazza, watched him 
 ride up the avenue of oaks to be clasped in his father's 
 arms. 
 
 Soon after this my gallant friend Bee, who had done so 
 much to bring Laura and me together, on his way to 
 Georgia from Lee's surrendered army stopped to spend 
 a few days with us. He was going back to a ruined 
 plantation, a deserted home and a wrecked fortune, but 
 he was the same gallant de'bonnaire Georgian as ever, 
 and he laughed and said, as he bade us good-by : " Per- 
 haps when I get a home and something to eat in Georgia, 
 I may come back to see you again, I presume by that 
 time I will need a wife." 
 
 Here he looked at Miss Belle, who blushed very deeply 
 and went silently into the house. 
 
 So we began our life over again. There were plenty 
 of railroads to rebuild in the South, and the value of my 
 farm in Illinois made me quite rich at that time and in 
 that region of country. 
 
 And while doing so the stragglers from the Confederate 
 army gradually dropped into their old places one by 
 one — those that were left of them. Then one day my 
 wife said to me as we sat on the old porch of " The 
 Oaks," the Judge smoking a Havana cigar now, instead 
 of his old corncob, and Caucus at the other end of the 
 veranda chuckling to our little boy, who was crowing at 
 him in the arms of Miss Belle, " Most of our soldiers 
 are home now, but Major Harry Walton has never re- 
 turned, and I have not heard of him for nearly a year. 
 Can he be one of the dead ? " 
 
 On this, I told my wife the story of her letter ; how 
 it had saved my life ; how Walton had loved her too 
 much to make her a widow, and had died fighting for the 
 cause he loved and believed in, as so many more Southern 
 gentlemen did in those four years of war. And as my 
 
l8o HOW I ESCAPED, 
 
 words disclosed to Laura the unselfish love of the dead 
 Confederate for her, and what it had done for me, she 
 clung to me and murmured : 
 
 " Lawrence, we have not christened our boy yet. Let 
 us call him by the name of the man who gave his father 
 life while he found death. Let us call him Harry 
 Walton Bryant." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
OPTNIONS OP 
 
 THE GREAT NOVEL, 
 
 Mr. Barnes 
 
 of New York. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 "There is no reason for surprise at 'Mr. Barnes' 
 being a big hit'' — Tfu Referee^ London, March 25th. 
 
 ''^Exciting and interesting T — The Graphic. 
 
 li ( 
 
 Marina Paoli' — a giant character — just as strong 
 as ' Fedora.' " — Illustrated London News. 
 
 "A capital story — most people have read it — I 
 recommend it to all the others." 
 
 — James Payne in Illustrated London News. 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 "Told with the genius of Alexander Dumas, the 
 Elder." — Amusement Gazette. 
 
 " Have you read * Mr. Barnes of New York ? ' If 
 no, go and read it at once, and thank me for suggesting 
 it. ... I want to be put on record as saying * it is 
 the best story of the day — the best I have read in ten 
 years.' " — Joe Howard in Boston Globe. 
 
 But at that time Mr. Howard had 
 not read 
 
 "Mr. Potter of Texas/' 
 
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OPINIONS OF 
 
 THE GREAT NOVEL, 
 
 Mr. Barnes 
 
 of New York, 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 ** There is no reason for surprise at 'Mr. Barnes* 
 being a big hit." — The Referee^ London, March 25th. 
 
 ''^Exciting and interesting." — The Graphic. 
 
 " 'Marina Paoli' — a giant character — just as strong 
 as ' Fedora.' " — Ilhcstrated Londoji News. 
 
 "A capital story — most people have read it — I 
 recommend it to all the others," 
 
 — James Payne in Ilhcstrated London News. 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 "Told with the genius of Alexander Dumas, the 
 Elder." — Amusement Gazette. 
 
 " Have you read * Mr. Barnes of New York .? ' If 
 no, go and read it at once, and thank me for suggesting 
 it. ... I want to be put on record as saying * it is 
 the best story of the day — ihe best I have read in ten 
 years.' " — Joe Howard in Boston Globe. 
 
 But at that time Mr. Howard had 
 not read 
 
 "Mr. Potter of Texas." 
 

 
 
 
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