THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00030508852 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://archive.org/details/twoboysincivilwaOOhoug TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER ' Two Boys in the Civil War and After W. R. HOUGHTON M. B. HOUGHTON Montgomery, Ala.: THE PARAGON PRESS 1912 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY JKIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL WE DEDICATE THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO THE MEMORY OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD THOUSANDS OF WHOM SLEEP IN UNMARKED GRAVES AND TO THOSE OF THEIR POSTERITY WHO ADMIRE AND VENERATE IN THEIR FOREFATHERS, HEROISM, COURAGE, BRAVERY, SACRIFICE, ENDURANCE, LOYALTY. ' persons when captured or had friends on the outside who managed to give them some. As in life in the outside world among these three 46 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER to four thousand men many were thrifty, many barely held their own, and others exhibited the ex- tremes of want and despair. By their skill, energy and tact a considerable number managed to live fairly well and made a little money. A sutler store was one of the institutions of the camp and we could spend our little change for to- bacco, cakes, bread, can goods and other goods not contrabrancl. If the commander found that the men were buying too much for their comfort he forbade the sale for a while, but the love of gain would pre- vail and the sutler would slyly lay in stock some more of the forbidden goods. The commandant cf the prison wanted the men deprived of everything that would mitigate their misery. The finger ring industry was the most important in the prisor. Along with this trade was the making of wat li charms, bracelets, breastpins and other jewelry. The sutler was allowed to sell us large guttaper- cha coat buttons at five cents each. These we would boil in tin cups until they resumed their original shape. With great patience the worker would cut the centre out and fashion it into a ring. Old gold pens, pieces of silver, brass buttons, and any other bright metal was used in making sets representing clasped hands, hearts and shields and other designs which were nicely engraved and highly polished The sets were riveted in with pins or strips of meta 1 so perfectly that the fastenings could not be dectoc- ted. We used sand paper and a greasy cloth to pol- ish. With my two bunk companions for partners T started a ring factory. These men were Johnathan Smith, farmer and blacksmith and R. M. Espy ?. farmer, both from Henry county, Alabama. Smith TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 47 was somewhat of a genius at tinkering-, Espy had no skill in any particular line and I was an untrain- ed boy with a bent toward barter and some tact as a salesman. Our first investment was for two rubber buttons costing ten cents which amount we raised by selling a part of our rations which we sorely needed. I cut a brass button from my old coat which we ham- mered out on an old piece of iron. By some means we bought or borrowed a ten cent file. Smith made two rings, Espy and I assisting in cutting and pol- ishing. The sets were clasped hands with hearts on either side. The rings were well shaped and the metal shone like polished gold. I willingly acted as salesman and found a purchaser in the sergeant of the guard at ten cents each. With the money we purchased more buttons and made more rings. Smith constructed a little machine that cut a small ring out of the centre of the button thus giving us two to the button. The small ones were suitable for children and were made as carefully as the larger ones. Double rings for men were made by riveting two buttons together so deftly that the joint could not be readily detected. All of the metal was nicely engraved, highly polished and were artistic and beautiful. Smith invented boring and riveting machines and we gradually acquired the facilities for doing the work with more ease. Now and then a particularly mean official would come along and destroy all the little helps that a factory contained. He would de- light in smashing everything in sight and we learn- ed to conceal and scatter our treasures when one came in sight. 48 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAE AND AFTER There were so many rings and trinkets made and so few buyers that I had to seek a market. The prison authorities ran wood wagons to haul our fuel and would detail men to go outside of the camp to load the wagons and unload on return. I have of- ten volunteered to work all day lifting very heavy sticks of green beach wood for the chance to sell my stock to the guards. The trip was about a mile and the grounds was covered with snow and my clothes were very thin but I braved it all and some days was not rewarded with a sale, but usually sold two or three. Our trade in rings graudally increased and a short time, before we were released, and in one day I dis- posed of twenty dollars worth, but it was the ban- ner sale of the season and a riddance of accumulated stock. Sometime the sergeant of the guard would ask me to allow him to carry the rings outside to show to his friends or to the people of the city. No doubt they were in demand as curiosities or relics or were purchased by kind hearted civilians who did not object to aiding in this way the suffering prisoners. He did not always account for all put in his posses- sion and at times paid over ridiculously low prices for those he said he had sold. With the money or shinplasters obtained by our handicraft we bought some extra rations and some few articles for our comfort. I concealed on my person a dozen or more choice rings when we were released and brought them safe- ly to Alabama. They were objects of curiosity and interest to my friends and relatives and were high- ly prized. Unfortunately, a few years after nearly TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 49 all of them were stolen, presumably by a servant. A small one is yet in my possession. I also carved a wooden mug with a relief scroll bearing the inscrip- tion "Camp Morton Prison 1864," which I left with relatives in Lee county Alabama. It was much ad- mired and was really a pretty keepsake but unfor- tunately was destroyed when their house was burn- ed soon after the close of the war. I also brought home a large tin cup, more than a quart size that I had used during my campaign experiences as a gen- eral utility cooking vessel. As occasion demanded it was a soup pot, coffee pot, meat pot or for any pur- pose almost that a small cook stove could supply. The coffee was of burned bread crusts, parched corn or wheat, bran or sweet potatoes. This highly priz- ed old friend was also destroyed in a fire more than thirty years after the war had closed. Tunneling was a favorite method of attempting to escape from the prison. The black soil of the prison enclosure was about three feet deep and un- derneath was a thick stratum of white sand. The men would commence under their bunks and dig with knives, sticks or any tool they could improvise down to the sand and then scrape out a tunnel to- ward the guard wall. The dirt was carried away in their pockets or they would tie a string around the bottom of the legs of their pants and partially fill the space around their limbs with the sand, then walk out and slowly scatter it about on the grounds so as not to attract attention. They often patiently worked for weeks until they estimated they had run their shaft outside the guard wall, usually about fifty yards, and await a dark night to open out on the outside. A number of men escaped in this way 50 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER but spies and traitors made it dangerous and nearly every eflort made during the last six months of our confinement was defeated by some scoundrel who would betray the workers. In one or more instances the guards would allow the prisoner to open the outside end of the tunnel and shoot him down as he emerged. A preconcert- ed movement was projected for a general escape. It was one of those unaccountable uprisings that take possession of men without a head or immediate cause. No one appeared to direct but it was whis- pered from man to man and caused great suppress- ed excitement. For some reason it was reported that most of the guard for the prison had been with- drawn leaving barely sufficient men to mount the guard on the walls. It was believed that the Confed- erates were threatening some nearby point and all their men were needed to repel them. On a certain night armed with rocks and sticks, we were, aboul eight o'clock to scale the east wall, rush the guard and escape to the country. Hundreds of us drifted in the direction indicated. We were desperate and did not take into count the risk. I had several stones of convenient size to knock a guard down if he of- fered resistance. The few sentinels could not kill all of the mob and we could get over before others could come to the rescue. Then the sentinels on the walk high up on the walls would not be able to shoot often or accurately with hundreds of stones being hurled at them. We were in striking distance when we heard the bugle calls on the outside, the double quick of infantry, the unlimbering of artillery and the tramp of cavalry. We had been betrayed and sullenly returned to our quarters. TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 51 Thirteen of our men escaped one day, but a few of them were afterwards retaken. A detail was sent out with some wagons for wood about two miles from camp. This detail of thirteen was guarded b;y six men. By some means a signal was agreed on and at a favorable opportunity they seized the guard, took their arms and made off. Afterwards the guard was doubled and no more escapes were made in this way. During the latter part of the year 1864, sometime in November, we had orders to move. It was not made known to us that we were to be exchanged but to be sent back South on terms never fully under- stood by us. Joyfully we boarded the freight cars at Indianapolis and set out for the long, slow jour- ney toward Washington. We were sent down the Potomac and passed Fortress Monroe, Newport News and thence up the James river to our lines just below Richmond. It was a ragged, emaciated lot of men, spiritless and weak from long confinement and ill treatment that once more entered Dixie. Our heroic fellow sol- diers guarding the lines, looked on us with tender compassion for they were in dire straits themselves and the coming collapse of Confederate hopes cast a baleful shadow over the remnant of Lee's once in- vincible army. They appeared to us as men who realized that their fate was fixed but who were de- termined to meet the consequences without an ex- hibition of fear. We went into camp for a time but whether for want of equipment or in compliance with terms of release we were dissmissed subject to call. The or der for again entering ranks never came, for com- 52 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER munications were cut off in all directions and the end of all things hoped for by the Confederates was at hand. My only brother, W. R. Houghton who was a gallant soldier of the Second Georgia regiment Longstreet's corps, attempted to send me money at two different times to Camp Morton and had the let- ters safely mailed within the enemy's lines but it is needless to say I never received the robbed let- ters. Dr. John A. Wythe an eminent physician now of New York, who was a prisoner also in Camp Mor- ton, who seems to have had some influential friends outside the prison, wrote a series of articles on pris on life in Camp Morton which were published in the Century Magazine. The story of the abuse, cruel- ty, graft, neglect, starvation and mortality connected with the conduct and management of that prison makes the history of Andersonville mild in compari- son when the resources of the two governments are considered. These articles can be found in the public library of Montgomery and should be read by every South- erner when the story of Andersonville prison is quoted as a reflection on the Confederacy. COMMENTS ON OFFICERS I never saw General Beuregard but once during the war and that was shortly after the first battle of Manassas or Bull Run as the Federals call the first great fight of the war. He was a small dark nervous, soldierly looking man whose appearance in- dicated French extraction. He was regarded as one of the coming great commanders of the war bat sub- sequent events did not add to his first reputation. TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 53 I frequently saw General Joseph E. Johnston who achieved fame at the battle of Manassas. He had a clear cut, military air, rotund and of medium size. He gave out the impression that he was a man of quick perception and thoroughly self possessed. He wore a military goatee with side whiskers which contributed largely to his soldierly appearance. His subsequent career proved his ability as a tactician and strategist but fate denied him the glory of achieving any great victory. General J. E. B. Stuart was a handsome, dash- ing, spectacular officer. He wore a broad brimmed, heavily plumed hat with a cockade and dressed in a fine suit of Confederate gray. His sword and belt, his boots and other equipments were bright and clean. He had long reddish brown beard and mount- ed a splendid charger. Altogether he was a pictur- esque commander but his showy appearance made him the target of the enemy. He was a brave and gallant officer and his reputation as a capable com- mander increased until his untimely death. General Trimble, at one time our brigade comman- der was a sturdy but slow officer with great tenaci- ty and purpose. He handled his brigade usually with skill and effect. He was not personally very striking but inspired confidence by his calmness and exhibition of utter fearlessness. General E. M. Law at one time also our brigade commander was from Tuskegee, Alabama, and was small of statue but brave and alert. He usually kept close to his men in battle and was considered a reliable officer. General Longstreet, our corps commander, was a large heavy set, determined looking man who was regarded as slow but sure and possessed the confi- 54 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER dence of his men and the army generally. He was not showy or dashing nor was he very aggressive but held on to any advantages with great tenacity. Colonel W. C. Oates who commanded the 15th Alabama regiment for some time was a handsome and brave leader. He was regarded by many as too aggressive and ambitious but he usually was well to the front and did not require his men to charge where he was unwilling to share the common danger. RECONSTRUCTION The Southern States were in a deplorable condi- tion just after the close of the war. The widows, or- phans and the aged seemed to constitute the body of the population of hopeless whites. There was little left in a material way except the land. The negroes or freedmen as they were then called did not know what to do with their newly conferred boon of en- franchisement. Their former masters were dead or too poor to provide for them. Work stock were scarce and old broken down army horses were in great demand for plow purposes. Hundreds of ne- groes drifted about aimlessly, indisposed to work because they wished to enjoy freedom for a while without restraint. The southern people knew lit- tle else than farming except in the old way and they went to work to get a living from the soil as best they could. With an idle, shiftless horde of negroes turned loose it was natural that larceny and other crimes increased with amazing rapidity. Pigs fowls, cattle and farm produce had to be vigilantly guarded. Military government did little for the pro- tection of the public and the scum of both armies preyed on the helpless and scattered inhabitants. TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 55 Then came the crowning infamy of negro suffrage followed by carpet bag and negro rule. The adven- turers who were mostly subordinates and hangers- on of the northern army in partnership with a small following of southern renegades, took advantage of the negro's ignorance and with the aid of his suf frage filled every office, state, county and municipal where there was a prospect of plunder. The so-called elections were a travesty on the right of suffrage. Hordes of negroes, like a great black, portentous cloud, armed with old shot guns, knives, sticks and other weapons would encamp the nights before an election on the hills near the coun ty sites, build bonfires, sing, dance and drink, pre- paring for the election on the morrow. They had been industriously drilled into believing that if they did not vote the republican ticket they would be placed back in slavery or deported to Africa. They had no conception of the value of their votes or the purposes of government but obeyed implicit- ly the direction of their white bosses. The so called elections were farces but backed by the military arm of the conquerors the southern people had no recourse but submission. Military authority was gradually withdrawn and the white people began to assert themselves in every- way possible. They had success in localities but the era of carpet bag and negro rule lasted for ten years. Its baneful effects will be felt for generations. In order to break up this infamous domination the southern people resorted in many places to taking forcible possession of the ballot boxes, substitution and destruction of ballots and many other devices. In many precincts where the negroes were in the 56 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER majority the whites would not open the polls and they did not have sufficient intelligence to conduct an election themselves. However they never failed to turn out in great numbers to vote or try to vote. It was only a question of time after the withdrawal of military authority that the intelligent white man would overcome the brutal and ignorant black. There is no parallel in history to the condition of the Confederates after their surrender. Their north- ern foes after subduing them by force of overwhelm- ing numbers deliberately turned loose upon them millions of half civilized, ignorant aliens, totally un- fitted for absorption and made them the governing and dominant factors over their prostrate former foes. It was more diabolical than the emancipation proclamation during hostilities which seemed in- tended to incite insurrection in the south and cause the slaughter of the women and children while their protectors were at the front fighting back the in- vaders of their country. The last has the very slight justification as a war measure ; the former was evolv- ed long after the last armed foe had surrendered. Some Recollections of Confederate Camp Life BY W. R. HOUGHTON. I propose to tell something of the life of the Con- federate soldier in camp and on the march, aside from his prowess in battle. Enlisted in April, 1861, we went to Savannah, thence to Tybee Island, where we drilled, fought mosquitoes and fleas for two months, thence tc Brunswick, Ga., where we had the same troubles, varied by an outbreak of measles and mumps, which played havoc with the companies composed of men from the country. On this account, I always con- gratulate mothers when their children have these complaints in infancy. We had, in our ranks, men of every calling, sailors, soldiers of the Mexican war, a French Zouave who had served in Algiers, men who had been educated in Europe, travelers, circus clowns, poets, authors and musicians. It was at first, hard to get accustomed to camp life. Men divided into messes, according to their likes and dislikes, but soon one found that his best friend was not inclined to cut wood, fetch water, make a fire or do his share of washing the tin plates. Others who had been foppish in dress at home, be- came careless and dirty, and others used much pro- fanity and vulgarity. So these messes in four years became greatly changed, sometimes by death, some- times by weeding out objectionable fellows. I remember one man, whose ill-temper, profanity 58 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER and obscenity was such that he could not find a mess- mate who would stay with him. Another one who knew more Shakespeare than any man I ever saw, was so lazy and dirty that he messed alone. Another in the next company, an old bachelor of means was so objectionable that a detail of men cut off his hair and scrubbed him, not very lightly, in the effort to get him less offensive. But long campaigning, dan- gers shared together, hungers and the brotherhood of comrades, finally made many of those who messed together, regard each other with a love like Jona than and David, passing that of women. However, it was the rule of one mess to the close of the war, that during our meals, however taken, standing or sitting, no profanity or vulgarity was permitted. Several of the company had their musical instru- ments until forced marches caused them to disap- pear, and thus we had music, and a glee club gave excellent vocal entertainments around the camp fires or under the trees, but these too, disappeared in the severe campaigns. At first we had chess, checkers, cards and games, but after the first year all games except cards were abandoned. I have seen men playing poker on a knapsack within ten steps of a preacher discoursing to men sitting on the ground around him. But it was singular that the men would not carry a pack of cards into battle. When the cannon be- gan in front, and we pressed forward to form in line of battle, one could walk a long distance on cards strewn by the way, and I have never seen a pack of cards on one of the thousands of dead, either friend or foe, I saw on battlefields. The members of card clubs will take note, and TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 59 they are sure not to order pockets in their shrouds for cards. Perhaps nine-tenths of the soldiers played some game of cards and about three-fourths indulged f n gambling. On the march from Culpepper, Va., to Gettysburg, we marched an hour and rested ten minutes, with an hour's rest at noon. As soon as the men stacked their arms for the midday meal, the gamblers would set their roulette, chuckaluck and faro spreads, which they had lugged under the burn- ing summer sun. Crowds surrounded the ''lay out" eagerly reaching over the shoulders of the nearest to lay on their favorite color or number of card bundles of Confederate currency. When we recoiled from the rock bound heights of Little Round Top at Gettysburg, leaving so many gallant fellows cold in death, we saw no gambling on our sullen retreat. At Chambersburg, I lent a gambler $20 who said he was in a game. He was captured the next day and kept in prison a long time. On returning from fur- lough I met him on a train in North Carolina, and after embracing me with every appearance of joy, he suddenly thrust his hands into his pocket and handed me the money. There are some debts a gambler feels bound to pay. No doubt the spirit of gambling that permeates the women's clubs, the so- cial clubs, and infests the towns with games and disreputable characters, owes something to the de- moralization of war times. The blockade runners brought over fresh supplies of cards which were generally plentiful in camp. We were ordered to Richmond in July, 1861, which caused a great deal of joy and a stag dance. We marched through streets, thronged with peop^ 60 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER cheering and waving handkerchiefs, just as the same Richmond did at the reunion in 1896. My company had more baggage then than the brigade had in 1863-4, but we began to lose "impedimenta" at this point. We went to Acquia Creek where the gun boats shelled us from afar, which caused a few In- dians who had enlisted with us to desert. Thence we marched to Fairfax, C. H., in the sultry August days, a trial to the parlor soldiers. A fine looking lieutenant of a north Georgia com- pany had a heavy black mustache previous to this march, but before it ended, one side of his adorn- ment was white as snow, because his hair dye was with the wagon train which took a different route. We spent the fall around Centerville, and built log huts, with no floors but the moist earth, daubed the cracks with mud and covered the huts with boards split out of very refractory oak. We had rations and clothing in abundance, but the mud prevented exercise. Books were plentiful, and the folks at home kept us supplied with good things. Here we saw the first miltary execution. Three of the Louisana Tigers were shot for insubordina- tion, and our command was among those marched out to witness the sad scene. We left quarters in March for Yorktown, and our real hardships began. Rations were often scarce and poor. Coffee had been issued to us, but now that failed, and from that time to the close of the war, only an occasional ration of coffee was given us as some blockade runner would bring a supply. The men first tried sassafras tea, but as a steady diet, it proved debilitating. Parched corn meal, po- TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 61 tatoes and other substitutes were tried for the re- maining three years, but open air life made the men long for their coffee and the writer whilst scout, never failed to ransack wagons or knapsacks for coffee, and fared much better than the men in the line in this respect. CAMP PESTS. In the trenches at dam No. 1, on the Warwick river, near Yorktown, we were in mud and water night and day under fire from the enemy and almost incessant rain, and some unburied Federals lay near us. When we were relieved we occupied some bark shelters erected by other troops, and had our first experience with body lice, that pertinacious pest of all armies. For years it was common around the camp fires to see men holding their shirts above the fire to rid them of the annoying enemy, and one sol- dier for experiment, placed several on a piece of wood and laid it on the snow for the night. Of course, the creatures were frozen stiff, but when placed near the fire next morning, they were soon lively as ever. Nothing but fire and boiling water could kill them. The boys declared that they had "I. F. W." which meant "in for the war," described on their backs which did bear some marks. The amount of fine underwear infested by these pests given to the flames at Yorktown, would stock a gents furnishing store, but it was of no avail, for like the poor, they were always with the soldiers in camp. For the first year each company wore its own un- iform, and some were of fine material, but now the factory jeans, the famous Confederate grey, became 62 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER a necessity, and our fine jackets were exchanged for long tailed frocks. We forgot these long tails when standing near the fire, and most of them got scorched, so that we had forked-tail coats, and leavn- ing wisdom by this experience mostly wore jackets afterwards. Sometimes the government would get a supply by blockade runners of fine English cloth and we would get good uniforms, almost too blue. I remember the Jenkins, S. C, brigade clad in these new uniforms, created a sensation when it appeared in Bragg's army in 1863, so blue did they appear in the distance and some of our scouts lost their lives by mistaken pickets. The writer was fired upon by his own friends more than once whilst trying to enter the picket line. Salt was always scarce after the first year. Each man treasured a little in a box tied up in a rag in his haversack, but in damp weather, it frequently lost its savor, as well as its substance. I have tried gun powder as a substitute, but do not approve of it. Cooking utensils were plentiful at first. After a time we were reduced to an oven and frying pan for each mess, and later to a skillet for each com- pany. When the wagon drove up, each company had a man to claim its skillet, some being marked with a file, and frequently disputes as to ownership oc- curred. Some men would tie a frying pan or skil- let to his knapsack, hence the famous expression, "tote his own skillet" so well known in one Alabama district. Halted for the night in a rain in the wet woods, one would wonder how he could light a fire. Soon a little glimmer appeared, when some man had obtained a little dried inner bark of a dead tree, cedar twigs or dry leaves, or a piece of newspaper, TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 63 the little flame was carefully fed with pieces of dead twigs until it became a fire, then a hundred hands bore away little torches of twigs to become the par- ent of other camp fires. Some would gather wood for the night, some take the canteens and get water, and with the cheerful blaze, would arise the shouts of laughter and the hum of conversation. The meal, if we had any, being over, the old campaigner would bathe his feet in cold water, rub the bottoms with tallow, if he could get it, and toast them before the fire in order to harden them for the next day's tramp. Then if it still rained, blankets, oil cloths, or little tent flies captured from the foe were stretched over poles, and the men would crawl under them and sleep better than the inmates of palaces. " have seen men who had lost their blankets sleeping on logs or fence rails by the fire, whilst snow was fall- ing. Two men usually slept together, thus having a blanket under and one over them. When one's comrade was killed or went on picket, the other one had to fare as best he could. The night before we charged Fort Sanders at Knoxville, was bitterly cold, and snow driven by a fierce wind fell at intervals. As we lay on the side of the rocky hill facing the fort, the shells fell among the rocks and made us wakeful. Just before day, I saw the captain and first lieutenant of the next company fighting. I ran down, and assisted by main force in separating them, but could not learn the cause of the quarrel, until we formed the line about break of day, when I was informed it was for "pulling cover" that is, the fellow on the windward side was angry because the other fellow got too much cover. But the men were and are yet, excellent gentlemen, and one lost 64 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER a leg in battle. In an hour after this little fracas, we had charged Fort Sanders and Longstreet lost 218 dead in the unavailing assault. Whilst on the sea coast or camped near large streams, our facilities for bathing were good, but often the men had no means of getting a good bath. I have cut through ice four inches thick with an axe and bathed in Cub Run, and while in the trenches at Petersburg under incessant fire night and day, the only water we used came at night in canteens from a spring reached by a deep ditch. The spring still gushes forth its pure water, remembered only be- cause it quenched our thirst and laved our faces and hands for it was used for no other purpose. On our last retreat, for five days, many of us never bathed our faces. We waded streams, but like Gideon's band, we never stopped and after the surrender, I gave the last money I had in the world to a Fed- eral for some soft soap he had taken from some farm house. Our laundry work was of the rudest. We had six- teen negro cooks in our company until rations got too scarce to divide with so many, and they were re- duced to three. On forced marches these were sometimes captured, but always escaped and return- ed to us. We paid them to wash our clothes, but when they were absent, we had to do it ourselves. Only twice did I attempt the job. I waded out to the middle of a swift creek rubbed and dipped and finally beat the clothing with a rock, but was a fail- ure as a laundryman. In preference I wore woolen underclothing even in summer, as many laborers do, and am not convinced that it is not as cool and heal- thy as cotton or linen. Few men and officers had an entire change of clothing or anything but a change TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 65 of underclothes. Knapsacks were abandoned by all but a few and the extra clothes were wrapped in a blanket; this was rolled up, the ends tied together and worn over the shoulder. On forced marches and desperate charges these were laid aside and often lost. I have seen thousands of federal knapsacks in line as their owners fled. The federal government furnished them with a new supply, ours could not. NOT ALWAYS GLOOMY. The southern soldiers could or would not as a gen- eral rule carry the regulation knapsacks, although we often captured thousands. Our guns weighed 11 pounds, ammunition and accoutrements about six pounds. Then a haversack, canteen and blan- ket about the same so each had to bear a load of about twenty-three pounds, which on a long day's march counted heavily as the straps bound one, about the breast. There were some men who car- ried a full knapsack with an axe or hatchet or a skillet tied to it, and these men, even on long marches, were generally the life of the line. They could hallo, sing, jest, relate anecdotes and play pranks. In camp, if we started an unfortunate squirrel or rabbit, the yells and shouts of the men could be heard a long distance, and often would be heard the remark, "There goes Jackson or a rab- bit." One must not think that these men suffering so many hardships, and winning so many desperate fights, were gloomy and sad all the time, or even much of the time. There was merriment and fun, and one could hear jests as we charged the enemy. Discipline, as it goes in the regular army, was not enforced after the first year. Officers and men 66 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER messed and slept together. I played whist in the captain's quarters for a long time. The first year we had candles, tallow dips, then we had Confeder- ate candles, made by dipping a long wax wick until it was the size of a goose-quill. This was wound on a stick and sent to us, and by unwinding a foot of it, we had a candle that lasted until more was wound off. But in the gloom of approaching defeat in the winter of 1864-5, our people were too poor to furnish even this substitute. But the men built them a theater of logs with blankets and tent flies for drop curtains, and with these poor accessories, but with trained actors who were our comrades, got up some excellent performances. The worst trial besides hunger was want of shoes. A near relative a sixteen-year-old boy, came with a different regiment to Virginia in the fall of '62. I visited him and found him barefooted. Mark Pow- ell of Lowndes was guard over a prisoner to be tried by a court martial for desertion. Conveying his prisoner over the frosty ground to the house where he was to be tried, Colonel, afterwards Governor, O'Neil of Alabama, came in and returning the salute of the sentinel, asked how the man came to be bare- footed. The reply was that the government had not supplied him and he had no money. Colonel O'Neil said, "Here Sentinel, take this money and get this man a pair of shoes. I'll be d — d if I can try a bare-footed man for his life this cold morning and do him justice." It is needless to say, the man was ac- quitted. My shoes gave out at Second Manassas. I had a long walk before me to the hospital as I was wound- ed, and I took a pair off a dead foe. He did not TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 67 need them, and I did. On the march to Gettysburg I wore out three pairs in a month. The leather had been hurriedly tanned and the shoes came to pieces. KNOXVILLE CAMPAIGN. On the East Tennessee campaign, we were cut off three months from railroads, mails and sup- plies. I saw hundreds of bare-footed men marching over frozen snow near Dandridge on the French Broad river, and saw the blood from their feet mark the snow. Sometimes an order would come for the barefooted to go to the butcher's pen. A man would put his foot on the hairy side of a fresh cow hide and a piece heart-shaped would be cut out. Then holes were cut near the edges, and it was sewed with thongs of the same material over his feet. They were better than nothing for a time, but when near the fire they shrank amazingly, and when wet by the rains, they became too large. Yet men clad in this fashion on empty stomachs, drove the enemy, and after dark we felt among the shucks where the ene- my had camped and picked and ate raw corn that had dropped from the horses mouths. Before coming to the Tennessee army I had for- tunately procured a pair of English army shoes, iron-heeled, with rows of iron and brass tacks. On a scouting expedition I captured a lot of horses and saddles, and from a saddle skirt a soldier cobbler half soled my shoes with maple pegs hardened in the camp fire. I paid him with the other skirt for the job. The East Tennessee campaign was the hardest we ever had. Coarse corn meal was issued to us at 68 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER Chattanooga. It would hardly stick together when baked, and in a haversack in rainy weather it crum- bled. Then little filmy threads like spider webs ap- peared in the bread. On the march to Knoxville we pushed the enemy hard, finding abandoned wagons, ammunition, etc., along the road, but no food. It was cold and a quick pursuit for a whole evening made us hungry, but we had not a mouthful to eat. Off before day the next morning, I picked up in the road a piece of cabbage stalk, which constituted my entire sustenance for thirty-six hours. I was so hun- gry that I felt like I had reverted to the original type of savage man, and would have stolen bread from a baby, if there had been bread and a baby to be found. The country had been harried by both armies, and the secession element had been run off, leaving a population very forbidding in appearance, and all the boys used to say that all east Tennessee lacked of being hell was a roof over it. Birmingham has some excellent citizens who lived in that section but owing to their participation in the war, were not permitted to return there. After the failure to take Knoxville, we marched northeast, fought a bitter little skirmish at Bean's Station, where I pulled up a fence post and in the darkness prized out of the frozen ground some Irish potatoes, my only food for that day. Crossing the Holston, we marched without food for a whole day in the bitter cold. Jim Dubose of my company, nephew to General Toombs, raided the corn which had been given to the headquarters horses. Another procured some of a fat hog which had been killed for trying to bite some soldier. I volunteered to make the corn into hominy with the aid of hickory ashes from our camp fire, the only luxury we had. It was TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 69 an all night job. I put too much ashes and the lye ate the skin cff the corn. Before daylight I had fried the hominy with the fat pork, and woke up the com- pany to a hearty meal, enough for all and it enabled us to make another day's march. The winter of '63-4 at Morristown, Tenn., was peculiarly hard. We had no huts, rations were scant and poor, as were blankets, clothing and shoes We did not get a mail for three months. Plug tobacco could not be had, and "stingy green" the unpressed leaf raised in the surrounding country, was all we had, and very scarce. We could hear of the men who would leave the fire and go behind a tree to take a chew, being fearful they would be asked to divide. Making our way towards the Virginia line, we pass- ed through the home of Andy Johnson, and the place where Morgan was killed. Camped near this place, three days rations were issued to us. A vote was taken whether we should cook and eat the whole at one meal or dole them out. I voted for the latter and was upbraided for my want of trust in Provi- dence, and the majority being against us, we ate the whole at one meal, and did not have enough. That night we heard the whistle of a locomotive, the first in months. The bridge over the Holston had been re- paired, a train came in, and before noon a large box with a huge side of bacon and a bushel of cow-peas came to Tom Coleman from his father in Columbus, Ga. Big hearted Tom made it common property to the company, and what a feast we had ! I trust Tom has his reward in the beyond. DESTROY LETTERS. Mail facilities were not very good most of the war, 70 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER especially whilst campaigning, but in camp we had letters pretty regularly. Paper was poor and hard to get, and we often got supplied from captured knapsacks. I noticed that southerners seldom car- ried their letters into battle. When moving into line in hearing of shells, one could see men tearing up precious missives from loved ones at home, and the way was littered for miles with the fragments. I am inclined to think this was also common to the better class of federal soldiers, as the letters found in their knapsacks, whilst numerous, I counted fifty- two in Asa Frear's at Savage station, indicated that the writers did not belong to the cultivated class, but the contrary. Of course there was nothing wrong about taking property on the battle field but robbing the dead was never favored by most soldiers. Yet, strange to say, almost every corpse had his pockets turned out very soon after he fell. In the tumult of a charge and retreat and return, one would think that killing and victory would be the supreme thought of men, yet in a very few minutes after a charge and repulse, I have returned over the ground and saw where the robbers got in their work, and neither side seemed to have been exempt. At Chickamauga near the pond, now drained, in front of the Kelly house, lay a federal breathing heavily, but insensible from a bullet in the head. We camped near him all night and the next morning I saw a dozen or more Confederates sitting like vultures over their expected feast. He had a gold watch chain plainly visible, and just as he was gasp- ing his last, a man reached for it, took out the watch saying, "Well, I reckon he won't need this any more." The others had been waiting for the man to die. TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 71 A near relative in a northern prison wrote me that he was ragged and starving and to send him some money. Having none, I determined to get some on the next battle field, and took a pocketbook from a man headless by reason of a cannon shot, named John W. House, of Wheeling, W. Va. I wrote to his mother and sister according to a request found in the book, and sent the letter by flag of truce, but I devoted the money to the relative. This, and taking the shoes from a dead federal at Manassas, com- pleted my experience in such matters. Those may condemn who will, but under the same circum- stances, I would again act in the same way, and I believe they would. At Fredericksburg, from the top of a hill, I saw the morning sun shining brightly over some hun- dreds of dead lying on the frozen ground and nearly all stripped of clothing taken by our men to ward off the cold. To supply blankets, the people at home cut up their carpets, took the carpets from the churches and sent them to us. Under such covering I slept the winter of '62-3. One ingenious fellow having worn out his clothes, made himself an entire suit including a peak shaped hat or cap out of a flaming red carpet, with figures on it so large that it took his whole body to display one rose. When we left quarters it was snowing and our command waited by the roadside to allow his regiment to pass, and as he appeared against the white background, the shouts that went up attested the admiration for his genius. It took a brave man to stand the gibes hurled at him. The suceeding winters we had no carpets and suf- fered much discomfort from want of blankets. 72 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER POLITE PRISONER. I was wounded at Second Manassas and my com- rade, Oliver Cromwell, lost his blanket. Staggering along in the rain the following night, he spied a form under a federal blanket by the roadside, and he crept under the good shelter, for these blankets turn rain, and spent a comfortable night. Awakened by the pro- vost guard the next morning, he found that he had shared the blanket with a dead federal. The same night weary and weak from the loss of blood, I slept in the Chinn house, whilst the busy surgeons were amputating limbs in the yard. A wounded captain was placed beside me, and when I awoke he was dead. Next morning I wandered in the chilly rain look- ing at the dead and the debris of the battlefield. I was hungry and the smell of so much blood had made me sick. Approaching a party of wounded federals, who had on oil cloths, they were very polite, they had coffee and rations, but wounded in the legs, could get no water or fire. I had feet and one hand so I got wood and water, and around a cheerful fire, we had a hearty meal and friendly talk. One, a polished Pennsylvania captain, with a crushed ankle, gave me his card and told me if ever a prisoner or in happier days a visitor to his state, to call on him. I parted with him with regret when the long line of white ambulances came from Washing- ington for him, whilst I with ill-fitting shoes taken from a dead foe, turned in the opposite direction to trudge through the mud forty miles to Culpepper, and a hospital. Our men generally treated prisoners well. I never permitted a harsh treatment of them in my pres- TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 73 ence, nor did others to my knowledge. On two oc- casions I carried water to wounded federals under a heavy fire, and I have repeatedly seen others risk their lives to aid wounded foes. Of course there were exceptions. On a scout I captured a German who could not speak a word of our language. When I took him to the others of my party, I heard the click of a gun hammer, and was just in time to throw up the rifle of a Texas scout. I had a sharp controversy with him, and af- terwards learned that his brother's wife, with an in- fant of three weeks had been driven from her home in far away Missouri into the snow and without clothing by union men while they burned her house. She and the infant both died, and it was said the two brothers never took prisoners. He was one of the handsomest men I ever saw, and daring to rashness. I had to guard that prisoner, and shared my scant rations with him, and when nightfall came he had a hundred opportunities to escape, but each time I lost him among the wagon trains, he would find me with a glad cry. If he did not understand English he understood the gesture with the rifle of the Tex- an. I have captured many of these creatures whilst alone on a scout. Tempted by the huge bounty, they were gathered by the thousands in foreign coun- tries and drilled on their way over, even in the har- bor of Liverpool, and had no heart in the war, but they could defend breatworks, and hold forts. Two of us captured a picket post of fifteen men, killing one, only one, and he a Canadian, could speak a word of English. If Stonewall Jackson's plan for raising the black flag had been followed, these creatures would not have crowded the union armies. I saw a 74 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER provost guard take $400 bounty greenbacks from one of these men. Many of these cattle surrendered on slight provocation, or deserted to lie in Confederate prisons, where by eating our rations, they served more effectually than with arms, and now most of them draw pensions and glory in the flag. The northerners managed to make money out of every war, including the Spanish, except the war of 1812 when the New Englanders tried to secede, but the histories say that patriotism urged them on in 1861-5, when the fact is that large bounties and bonds mostly sustained the fight. HARD LINES. One morning in 1862, I was sick and attended hospital call in a driving snow. The surgeon order- ed the steward to give me a dose, which taken I fell insensible before I had gone a dozen yards. I was sent to the church at Montpeller, the former home of President Madison. It was of brick with floor of the same material, with narrow high-backed pews, which formed our only beds. The fire in the only stove went out, and to prevent freezing, I went out in the snow and tore palings off the enclosure of graves and renewed the fire. From a wound at Mal- vern Hill I was sent to the hospital in Richmond, where owing to the immense number of wounded, accommodations were little better, and I was fur- loughed home. Wounded again at Second Manassas, I was sent to Charlottesville, thence to Lynchburg, thence to Liberty, now Bedford City, Va. Here were about 2000 sick and wounded with a clever assist- ant, and an inhuman surgeon. Quartered in tobacco factories, our dining room was on the ground floor TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 75 of 120 feet in length. Our supper was light oread, "wasp nest" we called it, and sorghum syrup, and about one-eighth enough. I have gone in, spread my- self before two plates set one over the other, hid one piece of bread in my jacket, and ate both rations, then getting up and walking further down, been hus- tled into a seat by the sergeant and repeated the per- formance. The surgeon refused a furlough but through Vice-President Alex Stephens, I got one and went home for sixty days. Reporting on my re- turn I found that the men, incensed because the sur- geon, using all the delacacies sent for the sick and giving wine parties with these things, had waylaid him one night as he came out of the house where he had given a wine supper, and nearly killed him with brickbats. This was the extent of my hospital ex- perience. Once in 1863 I went to surgeon's call with a sharp pain in my side betokening pneumonia. The man in front reported the same symptoms. We were ordered to march, as the surgeon said the ambu- lances were full and we had to march in the driving snow. Before noon the man who reported sick in front of me, gave one gasp, fell in the snow and was dead. At 3 P. M. we waded an ice laden stream 150 yards wide and it seemed as if I had turned to ice. Going into the wet woods to camp, the boys said I would die, and got me into a barn, spread our wet blankets on the clover, one getting on each side of me and covering me with other wet blankets. I awoke next morning well and since that day have had faith in the efficiency of a "wet pack." Many were the expedients used to get out of reach of bullets by the "malingerers" or shirkers of duty. Some shot themselves, but the powder blown into the flesh revealed the author of the wound. All sorts 76 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER of diseases were simulated and complained of. The most ingenious was invented by a man who bound a piece of plug tabacco under his arm until he was as yellow as gold, including the whites of his eyes. The doctors recommended his discharge because he was in the last stages of something very bad they knew not what, but I suppose they called it heart failure, not having any other name. Now and then the doctors would make a raid on the hospital and drive back crowds of these "play outs" but that sort of a man never makes a good soldier, though he may defend breastworks, as al- most any animal will fight in self-defense. I had two furloughs on account of wounds, one so it said for gallantry, one to have some dental work done, and one for a day whilst en route to Chicka- mauga. Of course, much was made of the returned soldier, who feasted on good things, and was a kind of hero. I did not envy the lot of the few young men who stayed at home under one plea or another. The girls did not fail on every occasion to let them know their opinion of a "stay at home," and surely I would have preferred the fire of the enemy to the scorn of the girls. Captain Tom Chaffin of Columbus, Ga., never had a furlough, never swore an oath, never was in the hospital, and never received a wound, though he had the seams on both sides just below his pockets cut out at Chickamauga, and his sword belt was shot off, and his canteen punctured on other occasions. In a fight he always got a gun, and if coolness accounted for anything, he did execution. The friendly post oak which sheltered us at Chickamauga, was just his size then, but it is larger now. Nearly every sol- TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 77 dier got one or more wounds. I was hit seven times, but only three of them disabled me for more than a few minutes. Some years ago I sat on a dummy car in Birming- hrm, with six others, all of whom had been wounded more than once, and three of them five times. Two were wearing minnie bullets in their muscles. There were a few soldiers who never were in a hospital, never had a furlough, received a wound or shirked a fight. At first each regiment had a chaplain but after a time there was not enough to go round. Some of the devoted men were very attentive to the sick and wounded and preached occasionally. It took a de- voted man to be patient in constant hearing of the profanity, ribaldry and general deviltry of camp life, but those who were patient, kind and loving to the men, had their rewards in the affection and re- spect of the soldiers. Sometimes we could hear of great revivals in other parts of the army, but I never saw one in Hood's division. I think men got to lean towards fatalism after awhile. We could stand on the field looking down into the peaceful, sometimes smiling, faces of dead comrades, so full of life an hour before, and around us, not a tree or a twig the size of of a pencil but cut or barked by bullets, and yet we had charged and fought and stood at this very spot for minutes or hours. We could but wonder why we were left and the others taken, and some argued like the Mohamme- dans, "It is kismet, it is fate." Nevertheless, most of these same men who return- ed home became pillars in the church, some minis- ters. One of the most daring of Longstreet's scouts, 78 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER profane and ribald of speech, unable to write his name then, is now a useful and respected minister of the gospel. He belonged to the gallant Fifteenth Alabama of glorious memory. It also happened that the war was fought during the transition stage from the smooth bore musket which carried 100 yards to the Enfield rifle, which was dangerous at 1000, and even more, and the re- peating rifle was also used by the federals. Few of our Generals except Wilcox and Rhodes had the genius to meet the situation. These organized corps of sharp-shooters drilled by bugle to advance or retreat, rally or charge and to take advantage of trees, rocks or the conformation of the ground, and drawn out in a thin skirmish line, frequently drove solid lines of battle before them, and now all the armies of the great powers copy the tactics of those two great Alabama soldiers. BADLY LED. We were very badly led at Malvern Hill. In two ranks touching shoulders with another supporting line just in the rear, we marched through an, open field against batteries of many cannons, supported by men armed with rifles. A bullet which struck a front man at close range, was likely to kill the man in the rear. Some of the generals got excited, made speeches and, as might be expected, lost con- trol of their men. Afterwards the men learned to fight according to common sense, and not according to antiquated tactics for smooth bore arms. We took advantage of every defense or obstacle, and charged by rushes, spreading out to a more open for- TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 79 mation. After we were put in position, the officers never interfered with the men to any great extent, and the men knew what to do, and generally did it. I have seen a little pale sergeant, after the enemy's charge was repulsed, leap over the works and cry: "Charge 'em boys," and the whole line went with a rush that was irresistable. One of my regiment was, by court martial, convicted of stealing some fish hcoks and lines, and he was a disgraced man. In the first battle afterwards, at the command to charge, he took his hat in one hand, and his gun in the other, being very fleet and yelling like an Indian. After that, he was welcome to every camp-fire, and to a "chaw" of tobacco from every man. The winter of '64-5 was very sad. We did not get enough to eat once a month. The men grew gaunt and thin. Clothing and blankets were tattered. Fuel was scarce, and we cut the green loblolly pine for our fires. We were on the Darbytown road, five miles from Richmond, and had about one man to every 8 yards as a guard for the line of fifty-five miles in length, the whole army numbering about 45,000 whilst 120,000 confronted us, superbly armed, cloth- ed and fed with abundance. Sherman's army had laid waste in Georgia and North Alabama, and letters came telling how the loved ones at home, the helpless women and children, were starving. The fire in the rear caused many a good man to go home never to return. In whispers, with a tried and faithful few, we would discuss our inability to hold so long a line, and supposed and de- termined that when the grand final came, we of Lee's army would go down like Napoleon at Water- loo, in a blaze of glory, not forseeing that starvation 80 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER on the last retreat would so cripple the army, that although Hood's division was nearly intact, yet only 13,000 would be left to lay down their arms. The last scene at Appomattox is imprinted on my mem- ory. The tears, the oaths, the hysterical, insane laughter, the breaking of guns, swords, the prayer for death from men who had toiled and sweated, starved and bled for a cause they loved better than life. Most of us anticipated then that the negro would be placed to rule over us, but we did not foresee the exceeding sordid malice and attempted humiliation with which it would be brought about, nor did we foresee the deviltry by which money would be wrung out of the south by the despicable carpet-baggers, who were the agents of the victors. To my mind the greatest battle the Confederate soldiers ever fought was not on bloody fields, but in his desolated home, when for years he maintained the supremacy of his race against the sordid politi- cians, the fanatics and the credulous victors of the north, who sought, whilst robbing him, to degrade him, as well as themselves, by injecting into our po- litical system four millions of a race not prepared for the experiment. The Confederate was reared in the belief that John Brown, who sought to murder at midnight women and children, was an assassin like Guitteau. The northern men agreed with us that the latter was an assassin but worship the memory of the former as a saint, mostly because he wanted to harm only Southerners. They were reared that way, or to use an expression applied to the president, they are built that way and cannot help it. We have long been accustomed to thinking that a TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 81 man who believes the negro is equal to himself, is the best judge of the matter, and it is best to accept the situation, but meanwhile keep our own doorsteps clean as did they in the happy days of Jerusalem. The terrors of misrule, reconstruction, the long years of negro domination, and the worse rule of thieving carpet-baggers, did not shake the stern soul of the Confederate. Not one in a thousand deserted his race or forsook the faith of his forefathers, and now he sees the fruit of his labors, and his faith in states redeemed and independent, and communities careless of the opinions of the worshippers of an inferior race. If America is saved from the fate of San Domingo and Jamaica, the salvation came by the courage, faith and persistence of the Confeder- ate soldier and southern women. CAMP FARE. With the last number I thought I had naturally brought these recollections to a close, but so many people, young and old, have expressed a desire for more of the experiences that otherwise do not get into history, that some other things are added. We did not often get good bread in camp. In winter quarters '61-2, we took it by turns to cook a week at a time, and we often had light rolls, obtain- ing yeast from some neighboring house and "rais- ing" the bread by the fire in our stick and mud chim- neys. Afterwards on occasions we cooked biscuits with the aid of soda and grease fried out of bacon. When ovens or skillets were scarce we often had to wait our turn. After a time we got only poor beef and flour, and our bread was poor indeed. In the spring the men would strip the bark off a 82 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER hickory or poplar and make a beautiful tray in which to knead the flour into dough. But these luxuries were not always accessible, and I have seen the com- missary wagon drive up in dark wet woods, after a hard day's march, and the flour for a whole com- pany would be dumped on an oil cloth or a blanket. Then with cold water we would mix the flour, often without salt, on an oil cloth, and bake in ovens, skillets or frying pans ; or if these were not avail- able, then a string of dough would be wrapped around a ramrod and held to the fire, turning often until it was baked, or partially baked. The only meal we had in the five days preceding Appomat- tox was cooked in this manner from flour brought in by a haggard, weary man after a severe skirmish on a scouting expedition. But he does not remember that a couple of drinks of "apple jack" taken with Fitzhugh Lee, helped him to carry the load to his famished comrades. General Scott said that the fry- ing pan killed more soldiers than Mexican bullets, but we seemed to be proof against its bad effects, or perhaps our rations were so scant that we could have devoured the food raw and been none the worse for it. Corn meal was harder to manage than flour. In a newly built fire on the damp earth, we could not bake an ash cake, nor could we cook corn bread on ramrods, so we had to take our turn waiting for the skillet. We preferred bacon to beef, because we could ea the former raw and had little trouble in preparing it; it afforded more strength and fortified us against the cold. Sometimes the beef was so wretchedly poor that it was hard for even a hungry man to eat it. We would chop it up bones and all and set it by the fire to simmer all night, and then parch some flour in the frying pan to make gravy TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 83 and get a good meal out of very poor material. If the men got enough to eat there was always merri- ment, shouts and laughter, but if rations failed the men were sullen and gloomy. Hence young wives are always advised by mothers to see that the breadwinner is well fed, if he is ex- pected to stay in a good humor. I feel positive that Hood's old division did not get one-half, and much of the time one third, enough to eat for the last three months of the war, whilst we were within five miles of Richmond. Men can stand a hungry spell for a short while, but long starvation will sap the strength of any army. Our men grew gaunt, lean and haggard. Only now and then would a scouting trip result in anything that could be con- verted into Confederate money, and the writer would get off to Richmond for a day. If he visited the fa- mous "hole in the wall" and got a measured glass of applejack it cost $5. A dinner at the Powhattan Exchange or American cost $10, with a $2 tip to the waiter for an extra dish or two. Then he had a nap on the grass in the noble capitol square free, and a ticket to the new theatre $10 more. Supper was not to be counted in to a man who had a dinner that day. After the theater a five miles tramp to the lines, to creep between blankets that had seen long service, and this made a red letter day long to be remember- ed, and not one man in five hundred had this chance to enjoy one day's surfeit in a year. It was against military rules to sell liquor in a camp or cities like Richmond under martial law. In the early days of the war men would bring li- quor into camp in their gun barrels, a convenient stopper being inserted in the muzzle. Then an in- 84 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER nocent looking countryman would dirve his little wa- gon in with vegetables and a keg of butter, in which was concealed a keg of apple brandy. The sentries soon broke up this game, and then men would come in with canteens concealed under their coats, but the occasions when men could drink were few and far between. Early in 1863 during a hard snow, Gen- eral Hood rode to each camp fire, spoke a few words and told us we would get some whisky and sugar soon. It came, and such a glorious stew we had, that when I awoke the next morning, the piece of church carpet covering me was so laden with snow that I could hardly turn over. One morning we started for Richmond in a driving snow which got to be eighteen inches deep, and only four paths could be seen for the twenty-five miles as we made our way in ranks without a halt. About 3 P. M. Sunday, with bands playing, we plowed our way through Frank- lin street, the fashionable avenue of the city. Our hats, beards, shoulders, blankets, every vantage of rest was piled with snow, and the citizens, then at dinner, rushed to the doors and windows, some cry- ing and exclaiming. Soon. those dinner tables were cleared of everything, and pitchers of coffee, tea, brandy and all the eatables were distributed among those grim looking veterans. 'Twould make the fame of a painter could he portray that scene as it is im- printed on memory now, but how few of these gal- lant sph:ts are left to recall the snow, the tears of the beautiful women, the anxious faces of the gray haired men, and the wild burst of music from the most famous band of Hood's division as it echoed from the stately residences on the finest street of Richmond, dear Richmond on the James! It was TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 85 five miles further to camp, and not over one third of my company got there that night. When the ex- citement of the music gave way, one became weak, and many times I had to rest before we got to the snowy plain where we halted. We cleared away a space, throwing the snow on the windward side, and unable from sheer fatigue to stretch a tent, built a fire and again came rations of whisky and sugar for the whole company, which those present appropri- ated, and again the stew made us sleep like the right- eous. WADING THE POTOMAC. On the way to Gettysburg we waded the cold and swollen Potomac at Williamsport. It was breast deep and over half a mile wide, and the winding road on either side down the long hills, afforded a view of near ten thousand men with their clothes hung on their guns, breasting the swift current. On the top of the hill in Maryland, were barrels of whisky with the heads out, from which each man was expected to take a gill, but those who had them filled their quart cups. About one third of our command, including some officers, failed to get to camp on Pennsylvan- ia soil that night, and the red mud on their uniforms attested the tangle leg quality of the liquor. Noth- ing was done about this breach of discipline, and some of the brave fellows were left under the rock bound heights at Gettysburg. We read of the groans and cries of the wounded in battle, but in reality I heard little of the sort. Most of the dumb animals when stricken (your dog for in- stance) may cry out with pain, but if badly hurt they go off to some secluded place and are quiet. It 86 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER is so with man. Occasionally one heard a cry of pain, but usually these were reserved until fever and delirium set in at the hospital. In the tumult of the charge one could hear but little, except the roar of cannon, musketry, shouts and cheers. In breast- works I have seen men shot down by sharp shooters, and there was maybe a groan and a lifeless lump of clay instead of a comrade full of life and vigor. I have studied the faces of friends dead on the field a few minutes, or hours after they fell, and without exception they wore a peaceful smile or an express- ion of repose, from which so far as one can see, it must be better to leave the world suddenly than to linger in agony until suffering imprints its heavy lines on the features. But there was one sort of suf- fering that appalled the stoutest. At Spottsylvania a federal was shot through the stomach and lay be- tween the lines for two days, groaning and begging for water. His comrades kept up an incessant fire and did not allow us to aid him. At last, some of our men with extreme risk crawled out and brought him over to our works. Mortification had set in, and he was as dark as an African. He was given a drink of water and died in a minute afterwards. This is only one instance out of many that came under my observation and I knew men who carried in their pockets a lump of crude opium with the resolve that should like fate be theirs they would end life more painlessly. The writer knows a soldier, whose leg, near the ankle, was shattered by a bullet at Gaines' Mill. He lay three days where he fell, and got a piece of wood, which with his knife he cut into splinters, and stuck them m the ground around his leg as a setting. I have seen him since in full run on a deer hunt. Joe TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 87 Bethune returning after his wound at Chickamauga, accidentally shot himself in the knee joint with a self-cocking pistol, then very uncommon. When I went to see him, the blood and oil from the joint were slowly oozing from the wound, and he was gathering handfuls of snow and applying it to the hurt. Expressing my sorrow, the big brave fellow burst into a boo-hoo of crying, and between sobs: "I wouldn't mind it, but the d — d playouts at home will say I shot myself to keep out of the war." He used the same pistol to keep the surgeons from amputa- ting his leg, and now walks with an almost imper- ceptible limp. He is now a judge of United States Court in California. The oldest lawyer in this city lay on the ground with a bullet in his groin for days, and a comrade has cut "WARD" on the big boulder where he got the wound at Gettysburg, the first mon- ument to a Southerner on that field. He relates that whilst in the hospital near the town, good women ministering to all, expressed great surprise because they never heard a complaint or groan from his peo- ple, whilst their people were just the opposite. It may be that the Confederates did not expect much, or perhaps being mostly from the farms, like the In- dians, they were stoical. On the other hand, a man came to our regiment, who said that he knew a wound would kill him. At second Manassas a bullet took from one finger a piece about as large as a grain of corn, and the man died in a few days. The pluck in a man made the difference, when the wound was not necessarily fa- tal. Jim Johnson lay with a bullet through his lungs at Petersburg until the surgeons had finished with 88 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER the other wounded, and then five of the wise gath- ered about him, and four of them bet the other a gallon of whiskey that he would die. Jim lived to help drink the whisky, and is yet an excellent citi- zen. Girard Cook of Lowndes, now over the river, re- lated that at Fredericksburg he lay with a bullet through his lungs on the frozen ground from sun- down until midnight. The last searchers had aban- doned their quest, but finally he saw the dim light of a lantern which finally approached. He could only utter faint groans, and after a time Colonel afterwards Governor, 'Neil, came up to him, gave him from his canteen a stimulant, and remained till help to bear him off was procured. No wonder that O'Neil could not be defeated before the people. Many sad scenes we saw, but the most pitiful of all were the boys, those of fourteen and fifteen years, as they lay dead on the field. We had car- ried their guns on the march, petted them in rough soldier fashion, and lightened the burdens of the lit- tle heroes. It was pathetic, too, to hear in the still hours of the night the screams of horses with one or more legs shattered by cannon shot. Other wounds they bore in silence, but the effort to stand on shivered bones was more than the poor creatures could bear. At Dandridge, Tenn., the Eighth Texas cavalry had charged up a steep hill, the surface of the frozen ground beinc melted by the sunshine. Their horses had broken through the frozen crust underneath the surface and many strewed the ground and in an upright position, their legs buried in the mud. But their master! f ook the fence rail breastworks, and TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 89 left their four-footed servants, mute monuments of their obedience even unto death. One cannot transfer to these lines the gibes and jests, the humor and the fun that enlivened these dark scenes. One busied himself all day making a parody of some poetry captured in the last battle, and late one evening as we were trudging through the mud and rain, gloomy, tired, hungry and sullen, some one suddenly broke out in a stentorian voice : "When this d — d old war is over, And we go marching home again." The gloom was gone and the soldiers laughed again. And in the line of battle, when the shells and bullets seemed to be just scraping our backs as we lay flat on the ground, one sang out: "I wish I was a baby and a gal baby, too, so I wouldn't have to go to war." The nervous tension was gone, and that fellow inspired the regiment in the charge which followed. There were some men whose spir- its were irrepressible. They were the life of the camp and march and they now go to all the cir- cus, minstrels and other shows, whilst others who heard 400 cannons thunder at Gettysburg saw the panorama of second Manassas, the slaughter of Malvern Hill and the plunging fire at Fredericks- burg, can hardly keep awake in front of painted ac- tors and painted scenery that stir not the blood as did the shouts of victory in the days of old. But the others get the most out of life, as did the Roman who said : "Whilst we live, let us live." I love to go to the reunions, not as a delegate, for that is dull, but as a free lance, to approach and grasp the hands of any man wearing a badge, to 90 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER hear his hearty "God bless you" to see the cheerful faces, and hear them tell of their lot since the war. At Memphis, one man said: "I landed in Texas with my wife after the war with just three copper cents, and I've got 'em yet." "Is that all you've got?" I asked. "No, I have five plantations, have raised six children, my girls are well married, and me and the best wife in the world have a good bank account and have plenty of friends." The tales cne hears would fill a volume, and most of them tell of the rewards of patience, fortitude and courage instilled by experience in the war OLD COMRADES MEET. After a third of a century I recognized in the throng at Atlanta the man whose lap pillowed my head in the trenches at Petersburg, after the con- cussion from a bullet, deflected by the silk lining of my cap, had rendered me insensible, and I can yet hear those first words that came to me of the gen- tle voiced, but brave and true, Henry Bussey : "Boys I don't believe he's killed." The good old comrade cried when he embraced me, and just afterwards I saw his old captain cry in turn as he embraced Hen- ry. The youngster in search of a new sensation at the cheap theater or card party has never had the depths of his heart proved, and the great fountain of mem- ory stirred like these comrades of old, when they meet after the lapse of so many years. We built a great many miles of breastworks dur- ing the war. From Winchester to Petersburg, Vir- ginia is criss-crossed with lines of earthworks, some of v.hich are still perfect, and will be for a century TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 91 to come. The huge first and second lines around Richmond were built by slaves in 1862, and behind a salient in the outer line we resisted the only charge ever made against us behind works. No doubt they protected us against attempts to charge and against sharpshooters very often, but it was our luck to have to charge the enemy in every instance but one, that I can now recall. Grant nearly succeeded in captur- ing Petersburg in June, 1864, and about midnight after a hard march, we lay down to sleep in an old field east of the city. With the dawn, came the sound of musketry and the whiz of bullets, and we woke to find ourselves in a bare field exposed to fire from works at short range, although in front of us was a line of our men covered by works too low to protect us. I took a bayonet for a pick, and a tin cup for a spade and commenced burrowing, throwing up the dirt in front. Billy Redd, our adjutant, assisted me, and soon all the line were working like beavers. We lost several men before we could protect ourselves. To stand up, was almost sure and instant death, so our work was done lying down. Frequently after a hasty march we were ordered to build breastworks, and it was astonishing how quickly without spades we could protect ourselves. The enemy outnumber- ed us toward the close of the war so greatly that he could overlap us on both flanks, and then outnumber us at any point. But he was dilligent in burrowing as we, and when Petersburg fell, there were over forty-five miles of double line of fortification ex- tending from the north to Richmond across two riv- ers to a long distance south and west of Petersburg, and this does not take into account the numerous double lines, the forts and deserted useless works. 92 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER Grant would fortify with the heaviest kind of earth- works, replace every man we killed by a foreigner and move around the end of our line with real Amer- ican troops and fortify again. This is why we, on the Richmond side of the James, were so scattered that, each man defended eight yardsvof the line un- til Grant outflanked us forty-five miles away at Five Forks. General Lee, reporting to the secretary of war in February, 1865, said his men had been fight- ing in sleet and rain without meat for three days, and his calvary was dispersed in search of forage. As early as February 21, 1865, General'Lee'report- ed that he was accumulating supplies in the line of his proposed retreat .which did riot commence until April 2, but many oi" us be^fBrVmat rfa"d discussed around our camp fires the impossibility of holding Richmond against four to one who had fortified themselves and kept building breastworks towards the only railroad that brought us the scant food we got. One may well say that Grant's spades did more to take Richmond than did his guns. We had not the men to spare for charging forty miles of works, nor could we take any one part without stripping our own line of its defenders. One not familiar with these lines will never understand how much labor they cost. Near the crater there was a front line with broad ditch for fighting. In the rear of this another line for bringing in relief, provisions, and carrying out the dead and wounded. Then there were numerous cross ditches and banks of earth call- ed traverses, perpendicular to the main line to pre- vent enfialde fire. Although not required of me, for over a month I took part in defense of this line. I would be roused up, take a gun fire every minute TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 93 or two in the darkness toward the enemy about 100 yards distant, this to prevent them from forming a line for attack. At the end of two hours I would wake up the next man, lie down in the ditch, and my relief would stand with one foot on each side of my head and fire in the same way till the turn of the next man came. This sort of firing did not prevent us from sleeping soundly, but when they played sky- ball with 100-pouder mortar shells we were wide awake at once. Undertaking to dodge one sleek, black shell that appeared to be dropping directly on us from the sky one day, my chin came in contact wth Prince Anderson's head, and both of us were knocked down just as the shell exploded burying a piece weighing at least twenty pounds in the hard clay within a foot of us. Each of us believed for an instant that we were wounded by the shell. One of these shells fell among some Virginia artillerymen engaged in a game of poker within a few yards of us and killed nine. I did not like fighting in breast- works, but in the open where one can look his enemy in the eyes as I have done at less than two paces, one can feel that his manhood is worth something. A. B. Vandergrift of this city tells something unique in the way of fighting. At Rocky Face Ridge his regiment occupied the top of a perpendicular ledge overhanging a steep hill covered with large trees. His command rolled many huge rocks to the edge of the precipice, and when the advancing ene- my had got about two-thirds the way up the moun- tain, an avalanche of great boulders was discharged over the ledge to go bounding, crashing and thunder- ing among the astonished federals. Oak trees two feet in diameter were cut down as if they were grass. The discomfitted foe fled with all haste and 94 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER for an hour the valley below could be heard their curses, the burden of which was : "D — n you, that is no fair way to fight." One morning before day, six of us went out and lay in the ditch of an old set of works on the Darbytown road, where Kautz's cavalry picketed during the day, withdrawing at night. We knew that twenty-four cavalrymen armed with Sharp's carbines and pistols came to that point every morning leaving three of the number as videttes. But on this particular morn- ing it was horribly cold, and the officer in charge must have been a good sort of fellow as he let the men scatter in their various posts, and only three came directly to us, and they were in a sort of In- dian file. They first stopped, one with his horse's head within six feet of us as we lay in the ditch. Being in charge, I sprang up with the others, and with lev elled guns ordered him to surrender. He said, "By God, I'll do it." and came to the ground at once. The others turned and galloped off. In the firing that ensued, one of them was shot through and died that day in his camp. We went there to meet four to one, not expecting the officer in command to allow his men to scatter, which had never been done before within our knowledge. The cavalry were very bit- ter about it, and stuck notices on the trees that they would not spare the scouts if they caught us, and if we took prisoners they always made it a burden of complaint. Whilst we regretted shooting the man as he fled, and that there were only three instead of twenty-four, I can not see how one could be surprised at the event. The calvary horses were very intelligent. They could discover one's approach at night long before their masters. One night John Lindsay and I TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 95 crawled through an open field, the thin ice breaking under us, to capture a vidette stationed near a cedar Against the dim starlit sky we could see the dark outline of the horse and rider, the latter with the cape of his overcoat over his head and evidently fast asleep. The horse was restless and moved his head up and down to inform his master of danger. We got within fifteen paces and Lindsay wanted to shoot but I restrained him, and we called out, "Surrender!" Suddenly his horse wheeled off in a gallop. We fired into the darkness, but never got our man. Cavalry- men have often told me that they depended on their horses for warning them of the approach of danger at night. I used to wonder what time horses got for sleep. One might pass hundreds in an artillery or cavalry camp at almost any hour, and they would be eating, stamping, or showing some signs of wake- fulness, but I discovered that about an hour before day they were generally quiet, some resting on three legs, the toe of the other foot just touching the ground, and cavalrymen told me they were sleeping in this position. I have slept walking, but never could sleep standing. One's knees give way, but a horse seems to be better gifted in this respect. Kautz's cavalry were good fighters. Sometimes when we stepped out of a thicket and demanded sur- render, a picket would raise his carbine and fire, and he would have to be killed. We were ordered now and then to take a prisoner in order to get informa- tion, and if the unfortunate fellow selected would not surrender it was kill or be killed. Keenan of the Fifteenth Alabama got two holes shot through the slack of his pants trying to capture a vidette, and though brave as Caesar, had to run for it, as the 96 TWO BOYS IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AFTER fellow had a repeating carbine. Sometimes they were very polite and have shaken their canteens at me as I passed on a scout. On picket below Fredericksburg we would rig up a board with sails and rudder and send over tobacco in exchange for coffee and newspapers. Above the city Wilcox's men would wade out to the middle of the river and make exchanges. It is related that three yankees were having a good chat this way one time and their line being relieved they were reported as deserters and sentenced to be shot, but Loncoln set aside the sentence of the court martial. On the right at Petersburg men would fire from their picket holes for hours, when some man wcild shout in a loud voice, "Rest!" Then both sides would get out of their holes, walk around, talk, exchange papers or tobacco, and the firing of a gun in thp air would be the signal for them to disappear and the work of murder would again commence. It is hard to believe that brave and seemingly clever men like these would afterwards use the ne- gro and the worse carpetbagger to rob and oppress the south. Perhaps the politician, the stay at home, and the settlers outvoted them and the soldiers could not stay the hand of the thieving crew. There