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RALPH j. SMITH

Oompan.V K, Second Texas Infantry. Rora

at Centerville, St. Mar.v'.s Parish, La,,

July 19th, lb40. Now resident

of San Marcos, Hiys

County. Texas

Reminlsences of Civil War

By Ralph J. Smith, Sometimes Private.

1x1 the year 1861 the grim viitjagied , matter of few momths uatil we would god of waj- i-eigned supreme through- return home covered with glory ouc Texas. In June of thart, year Ex- I and ronown. The possibility of such Governor Stocokdale, a man of brll- \ a thinig as defeat never for a mom-

liant attaiaimenits as well as a fiery Southern patriot, spoke to a large au- dience of citiizems of Jacfcsoai County in the court house of the town of Tex- anna. His eloquent pleadings of the Confederate cause, for he was migh- tier in words than deeds, oneated great excitemejit and enthusiasm through- out the Siurrounding country, inflam- ing the minds of his hearersi, espec- ially the young men, to feiver heat, and they were eager to enter (the fray and drive the cruel invader of their beloved land off the earth or surren- der their liives in the attempt. So I

ent entered the mmxi of a member of our inexperiienoed corps. Day after day we were dined, wined and flat- tered. Night lafter niight we floated upon a s.ea of glory. The ladies pet- ted and lionized us; preachers pray- ed with and for us, deolarimg that th© lord was on our side, so we need have no fears. Alas how soon we were to realize the truth of epigram that the lord was on the side with the big- g.est gunis. While in this camp that brainy old war veteran, Ex-iPre&ident of the Re- public of Texas, Cenenal Sam Hous-

lost no time in joininaiig the oampainy ton, made us a talk calculated to then beimg arganized by Clark Owen ; dampen the ardor of men less imtoxi- who up to this time was a strong Un- 1 cated than we poor boys with pomp ion. man, opposing secession, who be- j and glory of war. He told us we knew came our Captain. He was a man not what we did; that the resources

about fifty-five years oM and a Chris- tian gentleman.

1 wish I were able to describe the glorious anticipation of the first few days of our military lives, when we each felt individually able to charge and anihiliaite a whole company of blue coats. What brilliant speeches we made and the dinners the good people spread for us, and Oh the ibe- witchiing female eyes that pierced the breasts of our grey unif ormc, stopping temporarily the heart beats of many a feUow that the enemies bullets, were destined &oon to do- forever.

On the 10th of October we werei or- dered to Houston where we were mob ili^d into the Second Texas Infan- try, commanded by Colonel John C. Moore, our company designated Com- pany K. Here again all was excite- ment: and all felt that it was only a

of the north were almost exhaustleas That time and money would wear us out an.d oonquoa- us at last However he might as well had ibeen gi vdng ad- vice to the inmates of a lunatdcK asy- lum. We knew no such word as fail.

On the 22nd of March, 1861. af- ter months of impatiiont waiting, w* were ordered to the front. M last a thousand hearts beat happily. Hur- rii^dly boarding a train we were car- ried to Beaumont by rail, thence by boat to Wise's Bluff, head of naviga- tion on the Neches rdiver. From there were marched to Alexandria, La-. thence transponts eamrdied us down Red river and up the Mississippi to Mem- phis, Tennessee, where we imm' d - ifitplv boflrded a railroad train for Cor- inth Mississdippi.

After four daj's rest at Corinth we receiived orders to cook three day?

1.

rations, preparatory to marching to bliiioli, or Pittsburg Landing, tweaity five miiles East. We marched on the thifl'd day of April, advan.cing slowly on aocomi't of th« wretche<l coadiition of the road. Of oouiriie we ate our rations in thie finat tweaiy tour h.ours, it being a woil-knowm. iioldiier's max- im that rations aie carrd'ed easier in tile fiitomach than oil the back. After floundering througii the alusto for two days we ihrew our tired bodies down in a muddy corn field where drows- ing aind freezing, hungry and soak- ing we speinit the last night before our initiation into the horroa-s of real war.

The" next moi'jiinig, Sunday April , 6 th we went into tb© hard fought bat-*! tie of Shiloh. I S'h.all not attempt } to give a detailed discription of the I bloody encounteir. A private soldier has n.o knowledge of military move- , menitis outside of his iiameddajte sur- roundings. In fa<5t men of the rank | and file are often puffed up wiith the pride of victory only to find out some-^ time after waj-ds that he had been j well-whipped. In great battles wiith j thousands on each side , especial- ' ly privates, are like little screws in the wheel of a giant machimie. They are carried along by the pow.©r that moves the whole mass without know- ', ing where or why. i

About nine o'clock with empty stom: ; achs and appetites made voracious by the faint smell of commissaries emin- ating from General Grant's camp our i regiment went into the midst of the i fighit. All I remember for the first few minutes after was a terrible noise great smoke, incessant rattling of small arms, infernal confusion and then I reaJdzed that the whole linie of the enemy was In disorderly retreat We followed them close for fear they would carry off their commissaries but they did not appear to be as hun- gry as we were and dashed through the camp without the slightest halt, while we prepared for the morrow by

taking posseBsion of the stores. Our regiment, the Second Texas, raw re- criuts and weak froiin hungej- as it were, behaved like veterans, and al- though 1 have s<een the honor claim- ed in print by others, it undoubted- ly played the pxincipal rodi in tJie capture of the brigade of General Pren* tice. 1 witnessed the General surren- der hiis sword to Colonel Moore and saw the men lay down their arms and maa-ch to th© rear under guard. In the words of Sargeant Bill, wit of our reginaent, (of whom more hereafter) "This day's fight was as easy as seining for suckefs."

When evening shades began to draw a curtain over the bloody field Gen- eral (jrjuifs forces, disorganized and beaten, could be seen like a great unordered mass., huddled under the canons of the gunboats. The spiteful crack of small arms gradually ceas- ed and we prepared to accept a elight token of the regai-ds presented to us by the enemy in the shape of quarter- master's stores, comnxissaries etc. Oh how empty we found ourselves now that we had time to think of it. Having inflated our anatomies with crackers, sausage, pigs feet, macaro- ni. sugar caffee etc. we began to se- lect such blankets overcoats and oth- i^*- clothing as we felt the need of. It soon began to be rumored among us that our Commander, General Albert Sidney Johnson was dead upon the field. No man who has not been a soldier can appreciate the change this news brought in the morale of our whole army. Although still rejoicing over the resu't of the battle, the fac- es of the men showed rather the grim satisfaction of the successful gladia- tor than the glad exultant S'mile of the mirth-crowned warrior. To his dea/th the soldiers almost universally attributed their failure to obtain vic- tory on the next day, but now we kno\v iliere were other causes.

(irawt's reiinforceinafnts wer«j larger iu nuniibeir ithan we tJtiougihit. and I &m afraiid that faiilurie to desitroy all or nearly all thie captured evippliies, con- tributed largeily to our repulKe. j AJany of our boya w<3re raw recruits who had yet to learu that a battle Je I never ovier as lonig' aa the enemy is | in sight. Our victory had eieeiuingly ' been so ccanplieite that it was every- j where neipont&d in the rauka that the battle was over, all we would have to do next day would be to tak^e charge of tjirant'a Army, whixjh was ready to sui'iTender, 1 eaw numbers of men proceeding to the rear loaded with clothiiHig amd supplies. Poor fellows, they had been hungry so long and wet so much, they had fought so long and so gallia/ntly for them they were no doubt conviniced that they had earn ed a little comfort and rest, though it would noit have changed the ultimate result of the war, probably would have proloiaged the bloody and use- less struggle.

For the honor of the boys I have often regreitted that we did not give (irant time to apply the torch to his stores. Wonn out but for once not hungry, we slept through the night. Though the clouds poured down a perfect deluge those who had escap- ed wounds or guard duty knew It not until the roar of artillery awoke us the next morning.

About ten o'clock on the 7th the Second Texas was ordered to charge a masked battery, supported by a brigade in ambush. This was a warm corner indeed, for in a very sliort time the regiment lost one hundred and fifty men, inicludimg ithe captain of my company. The wriitier was &oon after wounded in the left leg, falling in the eniemy's line and was of course captured. So I would advise all boys .going into battle to avoid being shot in the left leg below the knee. for it is a daily reminder to me of that piagtaked war.

Our army, failing to break the ene--

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my'fii line, hastily fell back to Corin- th and I was a priisonieir at the ten* der imeroies of th© foe. Our army at the battle of Shiloh n)iim,bered forty thousand and three hiumdred and Grant's forces on the fiinst day num- bered forty nine thou/sand. After General Buell reinforced him on the night of the Bth be had Sieventy thousj and aixd ea,ght hundred. We lost in killed, wounded and missing, ten thou- sand and seven hufladred. Granit'si Iosb.- es accordiing to General Sherman's statement,, was thirteen thousand five hundred and s.evenity-ithree.

My wound was bandaged and toge- ther with imany others of both blue and grey I was sent to St. Louis, Mo. vyhere a hospital for prisoners was fiitted up by some angels in female forms called Rebel Sympathi?ers. Human Sympathizers would have been a much more appropriate name, for those blg-hearteid ladies. 1 am sure knew neither North nor South, but that all jnankind were their brotliers. The hospital was located in McDow- ell's College on Gratiot s.treet and many a wounded Confederate has cause to thank heaven and woman- kind for the delicate care he received therein.

Tile physician into whose hands I fell had at one time lived in Houston, Texas, and strange to say, out of the thousand or more wounded prisoners I was the only Texan in that depart- ment of the hospital, so the doctor was particuliarly kind to me, in re- turn for which, as a slight token of my gratitude, I made a pipe of stone with my name engraved on it, also name and number of my company and regiment and presented iit to him as a souvenir. He seemd to prize it very highly.

To the doctor and the ladies of the city who supplied me with food more appropriate for the sick than prison- ers of war are furnisihed I owe my fife, for weak and exhau'Sted from loss o^ blood my condition was critical for

sometime, iioLwiithstandiiing the care they bestowed u{K>n me.

There were a dozen or more Cojvfed- erate officers near where I was in tlie hospital and one day they were amufiiing themselves by sa/n^ing Dixie and other sooigs when a German U. S Captaim ordered thean to stop. They paid no attenitlon to him and cooitioi- ued to sing, whereupon he became fur- ious and ordered ithe guard to fire iih- to their room which they po-omptly did. No one was hurt, however, but tho Catpain, who I heard, was cash- iered. At any rate we aever saw him again.

Aiter about three months im St. Louis in College I learned some things and my wound beimg healed, for some ci'iuse I was removed to the peniten- tiary at Alton Illiinois, which I en- joyed more than beiaig iji college, as I soon recruited souffioiently to throw away my crutches and enjoy the asiso- ciatioii of the one thousand other prisoners, whom the Uniited States had kiindly seint North to spend the summer amd recuperate and gather su-ength for the fatigue of coming campaigns. We received as good treat- ment iin the Alton prison as prisoners could expect In time of war. We re- lieved the tedduim of our confinment by manufacturing every conceivable kind of trinklet of stone, wood, or any other material we could get that our few tools would work. I saw a vio- lin made there that was a work of arit.

There was great excitement among the officers and guards of the prison one night. I learned next morning that a Missouri officer, Colonel Mc- I-^ughlin, and twenty- five of his men had escaped by tunneling tinder the prison waUs. Of cour-se the outside sentinel had been bribed, at least we so thought.

After three months of prison life at Alton we were marched on board transports, which were protected by gunboats, and conveyed to within one mile and opposiite Viicksburg landing.

where we were regularly exchanged and soon or eased over to Vlcksburg where the sympathizing sons and daughters of DdxLe, in anticipation of our arrival, had prepared a bountiful feast for us, such a one as makes a ragged soldier feel like rising up at itri end and exclaiming: "Fate can- not harm me today foi' 1 have din- ed."

After eating until the provender did not tastte good any more I con- cluded to look around for some one I knew and soon discovered the fami- liar faces of seventeen of the Second Texas boys, who had been captured like myself, at Shiloh, but had been in prison at Camp Douglas near Chir cago and had Just been exchanged.

Concludijig that we were free to re- sume our ccoupation of wreatling with the boys in blue for possession of their commissaries and to meet with success would need the rest of the boys, we boarded a train for .Jackson Mississippi, in search of our regiment. Not hearing anything of it upoai our arrival there went into an exchange camp nearby on Pearl River, electing a captain of our little company in order to draw rations.

We promptly began to woiTy Gen- eral Pemberton, his adjutants and every one eke who would listen to us with anxious and repeated requests for information as to the whereahouts of the Second Texas, for we were all exceedingly eager for a sight of the boys once more. Ten or twelive days passed without the slightest informa- tion being obtained, when the whole camp of the exchange men, about a hundred in number, were ordered to report to General Pemberton" 3 head- Quarters for organization into a regi- ment, although half of the men were convalescent and unable to shoulder a musket. There were, however, loaf- ing around headquarters in Jackson able bodied Lieutenant-Colonels, Maj- ors, Captains and Lieutenaiiits, enough to officer half a dozen regiments, all

4.

anxious to cotmmand this new regiment We eighteen poor, ignorant Tiexas privaiteSi could not readily account for thiis, but finally concluded that they were the sole survivors of their command, which had all been kiEed or captured, but as this, did not au- gur well for their oar« of their miea; or their bravery on the battle fiiield, we concluded to inimediiately inak« a roar by presenting oarselvpsi &.t head- Quaj-ters and demandiinjg permission t,-> go to Hollow Springs, Mdssijijsappi wher*j we hoped to get news of our regiimenit. The conimandiing general, after remonBtratling with as^ iOai the fol- ly of going in search of a regionent the whereabouts of which we knew nothing an seeing that we were obsti- nate and d'etermi,ned, at lasit reluctant ly grant>ed us the required permission and transiportatiofi.

Tile next day found us in Hollow Springs and after two days in which time we snbisifited alon.e on r^d per- simmons, v/p. were made happy by the information that the Second T«xas was in the viicLnity and a few days af- terward had the pleasure of being fiuartered under the old flag again, j Our old Colionel, now General Moore ; h+' haviing been promoted for gallan- 1 try on the battle field of Shiloh, was j In command of the brigade to which the Seco.nd Texas belonged. We had j hardly shaken hands wi^h half of j our friends nor had a chanice to re- 1 ply to shouts of welcotme aaid words of congratulatioirs from the boys in the ranks before we had orders to march in a body to the General's, tent where we s.ocn lined up. No sooner had we halted than the G«ieral ap- peared, grasped each of us by the hand and with tears trickling down his cheeks spoke to us of the joys he felt at see'ng us back agaiin safe and sound and congratulated lis upon our pciTSieverance In overcora'mg so many obstacles in our efforts to array our- selveis onee more under the flag of our beloved Second Texas. 1 shall re-

member that &oen« as long as my mind endures for it taugbt m^e to ap- preciate the fact that men ar« not always what they seem. Genierai Mooro was a graduate of We»t Point, a strict disciplinarian with rather a haughty air, but when we saw him mingling his tears with those of the ragged, foot-sore retuxnied prisoners we knew that beneath his griim and cold exterior there beat a heart as tender as a little child's. Such ex- pre.sBdoniB of feeling together with aympatheitic acts of a thousand kinds afforded a bond of trust between many of our officers and their men that nothing but death could break. Soldiers will follow such leaders in- to most death-dealing hail of bullets without deliberations or fear of the cojisequen'Oes.

Upon retumdng to the ranks I found many a gap An the line, missed many a familiar face. Some had di- ed upon the field of battle, some sack ened and pasised away, some disappear- ed none could say whither. Thos,e yet left had became iiuiured to expos- ure and hardship. Whole^ouled jolly fellows every one with a heart for every fate. I was thrown with troops from almost every state, both North and South, during my fonr years in the army and I feed oonfidient that the Texas Volunteer excelled them aU for li.ght-heiarted joUty and"don't give a darn" under all circumstances. He accepted whatever the fates dealt out to him, good or bad, perhaps grum- bled for a minute if very bad, then laughed and joked the rciSt of the day and half the night. The prophet Jeremiah was much givon to lamenta- tion.s, yet he said a merry he.art is a continual feast, and that ia about all these Texas soldiers had to feast on for many consecutive hours on numerous occasicns. The jolliest most quizical of all my chums wa>s noted for the uncertainty

of his temper and 1 shall coiiteait myaelf by calling him Sargcaat Bill. At the time of which 1 am writing Bil' was about tweaty-five years old, six feet two inches in heighth and straight as mx ladiian chief, v/i/th long black hair and oyeu. of the saane color so piercing that they seemed to pcn«- liate oaie even to the sole of his boots whoncver Bill was deeply ir. oaracut. A native of Virginia, he had come to Texas in his early youth so that na- ture and educaJon had combined in his make-up a chivalrous ideal of the old Virgimia Cavalier, together with the dare-devil recklessness of the Tex- I'..- cowboy, and to slightly paraphrase Shakespeare the elements ^o mixed in him that nature might t^tand up and say to all the world: "Here is a soldier."

Bill had been orje of the first to re- spond to his State's call to arms and expresced his firm belief that every male from sixteen to one hundred able to shoulder a gun, should be iz\ the field under his country's banner. He swore that the only cause of our fail- ure to crush the Undited States and end the war in a year was a mortify- ing fact that there were thousands o' able-bodied men in the Scuth who not only refused to volunteer but were skulking in the brush >to escape being conscripted. He cauld not a- bide a conscript, his idea being that a man who had to be forced into the army would not fight, and wnr good for nothing but to dig trenches after he got there.

Bill had devoted himcolf to profon- ity in all of its various branches. For artistic conception and brilliant execu- tion his oaths stand without a para- lel in the annals of war. I firist be- came acquainitod with him during our journey from Houston while we were ramped for the night at Wife's Bluff. His discerning eye discovered a ware- house containing several barrels of "joy to the world" tonic. Procuring an auger he orawk^d undc^r the build-

ing, bored through the flooi- and tJbe bottom of one of these brxrels and proceeded to draw off the precious fluid. Having filled all the vessels a\'ailable he drove a plug in the hole, iXvurnjad to camp and informed the beys of the windfall.

On my return to the regiment my phy^'ical condilion was far from sat- isfactory the regimental physician re- porting that I was afflicted with phth- is pulmonus and utofit for duty. I was offered a discharge but being atill hopeful and zealous for our cause I refused to accept, thereupon was ordered to Quitman, Miss., to recup- erate. Quitman was a health resort before the civil war. A hospital for convalescent Texas soldiers in charge of Dr. Bryant of Houston was located one mile from town near one of the finest and bo'dest springs I have ev- er seen, the water of which is strong- ly impregnated with red sulphur. I soon discovered that the diet furnish- ed in the hospital was ai: everywhere else in the Confederate Army, cut rather short without any frills or tucks. In fact at was plain, so very plain that it became necessary for the inmates to embellish it somewhat in order to make life worth living.

Rest and the snlphur water seemed to engender in us a decided and con - tinual hankering for poultry, fresh pork and fruits. These our generous compatriots in the vicinity furnished us with true Southern hospitality. We juDt made a requisition for such eat- ables as were available and then all that was necessary to procur th'>m was to step up to the coop, pen or tree and draw them. We generally selected a dark night to draw these delicacies, for fowls are much easier handled at night and as our good neighbors who so kindly furnished us were at that time soundly S'leeping off the fatigue of their daily toils we were exceedinigly careful not to awaken them. Thus, thanks to the noble Missiissiippians who raised and

fumiisJiieid us with. sO' many of the good things of life, we were^ enabled, if not to wear purple and flai© limeii, at least to fare eumptously every day. The aiboive imentioned diet, together with the healiaig waters^ of the sul- phur springs., cured my honriible disr ease in about forty days.

Having beeoi so Siuccessful in find- ing health and many other bleasings in thdis vicinity I was fain to linger but in the latter part of December Dr Bryant cruelly ordered me to join my command. Befoire the receipt of this unwelcome ordeir eight or ten of us pre-6<mpited a jug of what is known in thig. section as "mountain dew," and after supper we gathered in the dining room of the hospital and pro- ceeded to vex the drowsy ear of night with maudlin mirth. After spreading the festive board and mixing a good strong decoction, which for want of a better name I will call punch, toasts were proposed. Among the first was "Our Country", responded to as fol- lows:

"Here's to our coiintry, may she ever be free,

As the winds of the mountains or the waves of the sea; May the hearts of her sons n'er fail in her need,

But drive from her soil the Yankee breed."

The second toast was proposed to "Our Sweeithearts" and was ret'ipond- f-il to thus:

Onr sweetheari*^© dear, to them we drink.

Though nameless here, of them we think; Here'? health to them and wealth to

them. With every blessiing else to them."

Then someone proposed a toast to "Women" which was responded to this way : Here's to our women, God hlPS" th^m

.'\nd death to the man who'd op- press them; Dealt h to hiis body and death to his

soul,

Who'd hiairm the dear creaturesi for pasision or gold."

About January 1st, 1873, I rejoin- ed my regiment at Camp Timmon'S, seven miles above Vicksburg,, where it had gone into winter quarters.. Ev- ery one was in good spirits and liv- ing a>a well as past experienoei liin *he service gave them reason to expect. General Boiuregard had been succeed- ed as division ooimmander by Gener- al Maury, who was. an able officer and very popular. The only fault the boys found with hiim was hiis weakness for general review,, dress parade etc. The vetteransi of the rank and file ser- iously objected to these "circusi par- ades" as they called them, because they imposed upon tbem a hard day's work marching and counter marching for no earthly purpose which they could uuderistand except to give the officers an oppoirtundty to show them selves off in aU their glory to an ad- miring crowd of fashionables and society matrons who drove out from the city to our reviews. General Maury was a splendid horseman and of commanding appearance and no doubt impreseed many sentimental female eyes as a "thing of beauty and a joy forever" as he dashed up and down the line of troops on his p.piriited charger. But wiith the boys in the ranks it was quite different.

Among the crowd of spectators on the days of review were many silly girls who adored an officer's uniform no matter how unworthy of it was the man inside. The attention of a member of the staff filled these fair damisels with delirou© joy while the flattering notice of a handsome gen- eral in command threw them into such spacms of ecstatic delight that the nerves of a few of them never recov- ered from the shock. To these thought- leps creatures what appeared so grand to the ragged foot-sore veterans in the ranks were simply a part of the officer's equipment, like their horses

ami auiforms. Being fully aware of t.liia we had decided objections to a- beltiiig iu thedr folly and avoided review wheaiever it was possible to do BO.

Our army, of course, had a number o*" "lady kiUers" among our officers. However fliiie clothes do not make a coward any more tlian they uiake a man, and often the most fastidious dandies would fight like demons through the smoke ajid grim of bat- Ue.

As 1 am wribing reminiscences and not history I shall pass over ithe bat- tles fought during my absence from my regiment. I leai-ned upon my re- turn that the mem in ranks fully ex- pected to fight a diciisiive battle at Corinth with the ajrmy under General Halleck, which appeared before our fortifications at that place soon after the battle of Shiloh. This army num- bered ninety thousand but our men were anxious to try conclusions with it although our force was only about half as mainy, having held their own at Shiloh when the odds against them were as great, after marching and fighting for three consecutive days; they believed that when fresh and hav- ing the advanitage of fortifications they should have won but General Bouregard haviaig become satisfied that the fighting qualities of his men were all that could be desired, appar- ently concluded to gijve them a Mttle ti-alning for speed, as they were or- dered to retreat toward Tupelo, fif- t;' miles distant. Tlie boys did not ap- prove of this mode of warfare and Gene^ral Bouregard was severely cen- sured by his men for the seemingly uncalled for retreat though some no doubt blessed him for leading them away from danger.

Colonel Ashbel Smith was at this time, January 1863, in command of the Second Texas Regiment. Colonel Smith was an able officer, thorough- ly educated and a diplomat of some note, having at one time represented

the KepubUc of Texas at the court oi France. He was quite an athlete and his temper was somewhat inllama- tory and when enraged he cut such fantabiUc capers before high heaven as made the angels smile. These bursts of anger soon passed off but while they lasted the Colonel danced, awore, jingled his sword and denoun- ced the object of his wrath in. words that burned holes in the surrounding atmosphere. Pasticnate and eccentric though he was the Colonel's heart was full jeweled, twenty-four karats fine and devoted to hi* men, especially the old volunteers in the ranks, whom he loved like brothers. However this did not prevent us from laying plans and executing schemes to bring on his crazy spells as we called them, and many a quiet smile or hearty laugh we enjoyed at the Colonel's ex- pense.

Early In 1863 our regiment was re- cruited with conscripts, about one hundred of them being chased out of tlie brush and into our ranks. This I think was a mistake. Conscripts and volimteers being actuated by dif- ferent motives, interfere and hinder each other lake a team compvosd of a lazy mule and a spiinited horse, when combined in the same regiment. Our conscripts never amalgamated witli the "boys" as the Colonel always called the remnant of the original volunteers, which was no doubt rath- er our fault than theirs, for we consid- ered ourselves their superiors, an op- inioai even in which our officers shar- ed, as the followinig occurence will il- lustrate.

Owing to his eccentric movements when he had a "spell" on we had given Colone-l Smith the name of'Tin- gle Box". Though, of course, we did not use that pet name when address- ing him he was fully aware of it, hav- itig heaiTd us use It in a thousa,nd dif- I ferent indirect ways without taking I notice but one day as he rode by an unlucky conscript called oiit to aiioth- 8.

er: "Her© ooines Jingle Box". The Colonel lonmedaateily charged liilim and oxj his taking to the brush diamount- e.l and soom raax hiim dowoii and, Siedz-- Jng him by the eai* and emphasiz,iin,g every other word with a hearty kick

known Bill's judgemejit to be sierdoufi' i:' at fault. It bsiimg excaedlnigly dark ar;d beMig very tired h© aw or© ho would advance no further without restiiHg. He pix)oeeded to sit down on what he suppOGed to be a log

h.i swore by the Olympic gods that no but rapidly descended about te,n feet

blank conscriipt should call him nam- e:;. The Colonel was somewhat Irdsh when enraged. I have often wond-eried since the dark days of our lintes^tine strife at the cold-blooded iindiffeirence with whiich Wf at that timie looked upon, death and thie^ grave. They being hourly btr-

to the bottom of a muddy branch Bill's oathiS and tho sihoutsi of laugh- tt:r that followed this luxi,icrous ac- cident seemed to throw a shadow of life over ihe Siurroundinge sufficiently to enable us to fish hdm out of the diffiioulty. Our advance guard arriiived about

fore our eyes in their various forms j eight A, M., the rear coming about they soon ceased to inspire us with ; noon. I think that some of our con- awe and became matters to joke a- : script® failed to show -uip at all, buit boxxt, While out foraging one day ! none appeared to know or care. Dur- with Sargeant Bill we discovered a ing the afternioon we embarked on pair of graves. At the head of them j a itransi>ort and steamed up the rlv-

was a pine board upon which the fol- lowing lines were written.: "The Yankee hords and thieving'

bands, Came South to rob our houses and

s.teal our lands; But this narrow contracted spot. Is all this poor Yankee ever got" The other grave beinig. unmarked we decided that: the poetaster, after delilv- ©ring- himself of the aboive epitath, had immediately fallen dead from ex- haustion, necessarily foUowimg his monumental effort, and some kindly disposied passer-by interred him be- side his late enemy. Acting upon this conclusion Bill proceeded to set Up a board at the head, of the un- marked grave inscribed thus: "Here lies a moniumental poet, His neighbor's epitath will sh.ow it.

About twelve o'clock one cold wet night the latter part of January 1863 WR received ordersi to cook the usual three days rations preparatory to marcliiing. Two hours afterward Camp Timmons was deserted and we were tramping through the darknees toward Snyder's Bluff, seven miles distant on. the Yazoo river. This was the only occaeion I remember to have

er for Yazoo City. This mode of transportation wias very unpopnlftr with the boysi. They even preferred marching to being packed aboard like fowls cooped for market, with no opportunity to augment their scanty ri'tions by contrlbution,s. from the sur- rdundlng country. Our first night afloat passed off quieitly. Some reliev- ed the monotony by playing cards, oth- ers by singing songs^ I give below one of these songSi written by a member of our regiment, whiich has never appeared in print:

SHILOH. Draw near my gallaait comrades and

a story to you I'll siing, .V sad and moiumfu.1 song of war,

tears to your eyes twi,ll bring; One April morn on Shiloh's plains the

risin,g aun dis.played, One hundred thousand soldiers in bat- tle line arrayed. Soon drum and fife proclaimed the

hour that we must march away. Mid canon's roar and musket's crack to mingle in the fray.

9.

with his sward and swore that if tiie

CHORUS. I witii nis swora ana swore ui»l hx uuc

Croriii ShiJoh's fieldb the bullets sped, ! dastard who did this unholy deed did

(ji\ Shiioh s hilki full mauy bled-

uot come forward to be liuug iinmed-

Uu Shilohs plains lay thousands dead iaieiy he would throw the whole re- w hue bhiloii s rilis ran red with giment iu irons annd jnake the last IjI^o^^ I one of them draw for a black bean

land shoot the man who got it for an Time after time we chai'ged tlie foe I example.

who made a aitubboru sftaad,

Soon after this naval engagement,

Vnd ere the sun had reached the in which so many lives were threat- West we fought them hand to hand. I en ed and none lo»t, we reached Yar last their solid ranks we broke I zoo City, landed and marched to the

At

and scattered them afar, And then the vale of niighit fell down

and closed the sceme of war. The memory of that bloody day the

heart with anguish fills, For dead and dieing everywhere lay

thick on Shiloh's hills.

When mormine'& ldgh.t onee more ap- peared drums beat to arms again, Unmindful of the dieing and heedless

of the slain; And soon the canon's deadly mouth

renewed its angry roar. Ten thousand fell and thousands sped

to battle never more. Each place in ranks may be refilled

but not in heavy hearts, That watch and pray for their return throughout our country's parte. This song is set to the tune of Joe Bowers.

Life on board had become distress- ingly dull and 1 saw from a well known expression on Bill's counten- ance that something was likely to happen soon to break the monotony, B,> was not all surprieed when on the morning follow inng it was suddely shivered into a thousand fragments. Someone had during the night dis- figured the mane and tail of the Col- onel's black charger to such an ex- tent that we were unable to recog- nize him . The resulting "crazy spell" was one of the most excrus-- iating that we ever succeeded in

suburbs where we went into camp. This picturesque little city is sur rounded by a beautiful and fertile country which had never, to this time been invaded by the soldiers of eith- er army, to chickens were crowing and fat hogs gruntLng in every di- rection. Stich attractive si<ghts and charming sounds created among us a strong desire to establish perman- ent headquarters but ift turned out to be another case of "Twas ever thus since childhood's early hotix". for much to their chagrin the regi- ment was ordeired to re-embark next day. Together with one other man I had been out on a foraging expedi- tion and knew nothing of the depar- ture of the command until our re- turn the following morning. When dis covering that the camp was vacated and not a soldier to be found we held a council of war and concluded that the last scoundrel of them had de- serted and decided to hold the fort for funther orders. On the morning of the thir<l day, with visions of die guard house and a bread and wat«r diet before hii> eyes, ray companion deserted me and went in search of the regiment. Though left forloni I was not alone by any means for the citizens of the city soon took me in hand and entertained me Like a .Maj- or-fJeneral. But the faireat day has its night and my holiday was sud- denly obscured by the arrival of Cap-

bringing on the Colonel. He charged i tain Mcdnnds of my regiment who uj) and down the deck, beat the floor | pmmptly attached me to a squad of

10

ten men, seat out under him to ga/tli- er a bunch of aeigroes ito be used in building fortifications.

The Captain, who had come down by boat, soon procured hiimiHelf a good horise, mounted, gave the com- mand to "forward, march," and my elysdium was no more. We had not proceeded far before the Captajin, casting his eyes over the landscape, caduaJly remarked: "Boys, this ap- pears to be a beautiful and prosper- ous country. Horses and saddles must be quite plenitiful around here." This sieemingly unimportant remark was isufficient to transfer na from in- fa.ntry to cavalry service, for witliout further orders we wer^e soon. ailJ moun- ted. I was among the fiirist to secure a "charger" in the shape of a mule, which I found hiitched in the out- skirts of the City. I chrisitened my mount Prestigitator, because he play- ed me so many tricks, and my com- paniions soon changed my appelation to Zfljchariah on account of my be- ing oompelled to cliimb a tree to Tuount hiim with safety. On my re- turn four days later I left the mule -•xaolty where I had "conscripted" him. and never heard from him again. His owner, no doubt, had long before be^u (onviinced from his aictions that t.'ie teacs: was an emisary of Belze- bub and was not at all surpriised to find ■■.iin in the same spot where he had left hdm after an unacoounitable abienci- of four days. We captured t,he '-equired numbor of negroes, some twenty five or thirty and when we returned loaded them on a trans- port >r;d pnx-c^v'.ed up the river *o the mouth of the Yellow Bushy riv- er where the fortifications were in course of constiruotion. These biacks were used exclusively as laborers. I 'uvei- saw an p'Uied negro in the Confederate sreviice. The chief fault of on* soldiers was their contempt for the apade- Very few of thiem had been accustomed to hard manual lab-

or and avoided tremch dlggiing as much as possible, often to our disad- vantagr

Mter delLveiriiig our charges we joined our regimemt, which we founid l(^ca*ed at Fori Pemberton, near the conjunction of the Tallahasse and Ya'-ou ri^er.s. Ihij Fort had been recently constructed as a part of the I'Ue of defense of Vicfesburg against General Grant, that city bedng the last stronghold on the Missiissdippi river in our possoasion after the fall of New Orleans. This Fort was not a brilliant example of military engi- neering. A shell from a gunboat had exploded a magazine, killing and se- verely wounding twelve or fiifteen men, whdch oocured soon after our arrival. W© always referred to it as a slaughter pen. While we wiere here we were confronted on several occasions by a portion of Grant's ar- my, but they did not attack \is., «md as we stood strictly on the defensive no engagements occured. An occas- ional shelling by a gunboat was tli« only fire of the enemy wie were ex- posed .to while in this vicinity, and as these did not venture near enough to do much damage their sh.elling merely served to break the monotony of camp Mfe.

The outposts of the opposing army were on several occasions juat op- pos.ite each other on the river, which was at this place about seventy five yards wide. The pickets on these postS' would often amuse each other by tantalizing or joking. Often the guards entered inito all the prelimin- ariies for exchanging rations, news- papers, etc.,, but no exchange ever actually occured.

We had in our regiment a young Irishman, brave as a lion and of powerful physic, who, when drinking was dangerous to either friend or foe that crossed him. This man, whose name was Ferrin, had gotten the idea into his head that our Maj- 11.

or was prejudix^d agaiiust Wtm, and used hia authotrlty lo vent hia per- sonal Bpite agaiiwit h.im. This officer ordered Ferrui to draw oft the car- cas of a dead mule from the proxi- uiity of the camp. Being in a surely mood the Iriahman told him to point hla nose In the direction of hados and to "double qudck." This enrag- ed the Major and he struck him a blow wlith the flat of hie sword. Far- rin. wild with passion, immeddatoly seized a piece of rail lydiiig at his fe^et and would have bratoed the Maj- or on the spot had he not turned and fled. The Major made for a crowd of men who saw tlKsmi coming ait full speed and began to laugh and yeU, chccriing first one and then the other until (the whole camp was in an up- roar. The officer ran into the crowd and someone tripped up his pureurcr and he was aeoured. The laughing of the crowd brought Ferrin to his senses and he did not try to caich the Major.

Grant's movements imdicating that he had no intentlmis of approaching Vicksburg from the diirection im which we lay we were ordered to evacuate l-ort Pemb-erton and return to Camp Timmons seven miles above Vicks- burg. This was welcome news to all the boys as there was not a single chicken left to annoimce the coming of morn and the voice of the porker was no more heard, tnons the enemy made a feeble at- Soon after our arrival at Camp Tim- tempt to land troopa ajt Chickamau- ga Bayou, nearby, but as they with- drew after a slight skirmish our of- ficers concluded that this was a ruse to cover General Grant's real Inten- tions and we we-re ordered to War- rington, on the Mlssisisippi,. twenty miles below Vicksburg.

Here was located a Fort with a few heavy guns commanding the river which up to the time had succeeded in preventimg the passage of the ene- my's gunboats. Provisions became ex-

ceedingly scarce while we were stat- ioned at WarringtOin and continued so unttl a piece of bacon was loolied upon a.A a treasure to be jealously guarded. Col. Smith had begged, j bought or stolen a piece of a hog which he had concealed under his cot. During a night his dreams were disturbed by something apparently crawling under hla cot. Seizing his sword in one hand while he made a quick grab with the other he grasped the hand of a conscript. Leading his prisoaier out into the Mght of the campfire the Colonel minutely exam- ined his crest-fallen countenance and exclaimed: "I knew that it was a blamed conscript. If it had been one of .the old boys I never would have gotten my hands on him". Then giv- ing him a kick he reurned to his slumbers.

Hunger hath no ears, neither hath it a conscience. Pushed on by hope or fear of scorn men will brave the terrors of the battle field with the moat reckless abandon but few in- deed are those who haveithe moral for- titude to leave the pangs of hunger In their own stomachs half appeased In order to relieve a starving com- rade to a similiair extent. The qual- ity and quantity of our rations con- tinued to get no better while at War- rington, so much so it required tbe utmost inguinlty on the part of each of us to keep the lamp of life alight Some one discovered that the twamp around oiu* camps were full of wild bees and a hunt for -the trees con- taining their stores of honey was or- ganized. By working all day in the mud and water up to our waists, for we were comp^elled to wade bayous which here run into the Mississippi. we succeeded in gathering a suffici- ent quantity to supply the whole re- giment with at least one full meal of this d(>li clous sweet.

The lord tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb sometimes and We rpade aiiothfr discovery of nature's bounty

12.

on thle expeditioai. We found tbe a- bove meiitiomed bayoua cantainjed In- uuinerable cmw-tiis.h, which wi© capdiur- ed in great profuaioaa. Then after these were cooked thiey added much lo the reliish of our coa'n dodgea\

On May the fifteemtli, 1863 we hur- riedly marched into Vicksburg, tak- ing our position in the treinches in the roar of the city. We soon found that General Grant with a force said to be one hundred thousand Btrong had just attacked General Perabeir- ton on the Big Black river, defeated him and drove his imferior force be- hind the fortifications at Vicksburg and was rapidly advancing with an overwhelmMig army.

On the morninig of the sixteenth of May we found our whole systeim of breastworks extemdioig in a semi-cir- cle around the oity to a junction with the river above and below, seven mdl- ej in length comfroai'ted by a heavy line. Preparatione^ were made ito meet the charge which was momentarily expected. Aimundtion was issued more freely than rations. Company offir- cers laid aside their swords and took

va&tatiing chariges the boys in blue concluded they had eniough for the once and withdrew in disorder. It was duriiaiig oiiie of theis© bloody as- ^ilaultfi. that a sitandard-beaa-er of the enemy reached our breastworks and planted his flag on top and jumped down among our boys unhumt. Many of the boys who saw this said," This Yankee was loaded with gun powder and whiiskey on the inside." But Sar^eant Bill Siwore by the eternal that while it wasi an insult it was. true bravery and we should do him the justice to acknowledge iit. The battle raged for aboujt five' hours during which time the enemy, so it was stated at the time, losit twenty thouaand men. Nearly all our con- scripts and raw volunteers fired their first volley up into the air. But having their attention brought to the fact that the enemy were in front and not flying over-head they did fair execution.

Two days after the assault on our breastworks there was a truce declar- Hl, lasting three hours to enable the enemy to bury their dead, which lay

up muskets.' Parsons withdrew under thicJi upon the field, soime of them

the bluffs of the river, I suppose that their prayers for our success might ascend to the ithrone of grace unmix- ed with the unholy sound of war. Many of our third Liieutenants discov- ered sudden demandSi for their servic- es as cooks at headquarters or othier detached duties far from the madden- ing crowd in blue. We conferred the title of "dog robbers" on these cooks.

just outside our trenches.

There were many heroic acts per- formed during this battle. One of the boys picked up one of the enemy's shells with a burni,ng fuse that had dropped among his companioinHi, ran to a pool of water and threw it in, thus extingiuishlng the fuse and mak- ing the shell harmless.

During this truce, although it was contrary to orders, a few of us evad-

On the morning of the 22nd of ' ed the guards and repaired to a plum

May Grant began a series of desper- ate chargesi all along our fronit, throw ing fifty thousand men against our lines, composed of twenty thousand men. The shocks were terrible and for a while it looked asi t,hough we would be overwhelmed and trampled under foot by mere force of numbers.

orchard, some distance insdde the enemy's lines, where, while filling ourselves with fruit, we ran across several United States Soldiers on a similiar errand. We eng.'vged in frie^md- ly conversation, taking pains however to get separated before the truce ex- pired. The siege went on and the solid

However after several bloody and de- shots broke down our embankments

13.

lucMre and more every day. Many of uux guns were di««nauUed, xni&n were drop pill g every wiiere alO(ng tiie lioie und railous grew lesii at every Isaue uuiil they were tiiially reduced to oue-fourth the prescribed ThlB would have anly beeoi aa iiK>eu tive to fight iu the opeai field where

thufi with empty Bitomache and our skin from head to lieela pricked by the savage body Lice, on the morn- ing of July third a lone horseman approached the trenches from the amount. , direction of headquarters, leaped his horse over the embankment and un-

furled a white flag. This man as victory would bniaig us the enemy 'h \ brave as Napoleon's guard wept tears

camp and stares but under the cir- cumstances it only discouraged us. I

j of grim despair. With shot and &heJJ sweeping the ground all about him,

thank the history of the war will show , the horseman aped on with face as

that the Northern troops excelled in building and defending fortifications while we were supeiior to them In charges and endurance. G<ranf» "sappers" gradually extend

white as the flag he bore, (for iit was not for victory that his life was im- periled,) and soon dlsa.pp€ared In the enemy's line. The end had coone. Thousands of failures had been wriit-

ed their uenches aearer and nearer to ten by general's, newspaper corresr our lines. HU artillery bombarded us and every resource known to modem warfare was brought against us until many became discouraged but with some, the more desperate our conditions grew the more desperate they became. I remember a staff of- ficer. Major Hal Runnels of Houston, who seemed to court death daily. There was a piece of rising ground that was swept continually by shot and shell to such an extent that ev- ery one avoided It. But this officer, In passing from headquarters to the trenches, walked on this death trap as calmly as tf he were taking a walk In a quiet garden far from the scenes of war. When he reached the trenches 1 often saw him mount the fortifications to examine the position of the enemy through a field glass while the air was full of shells all around him. I do not know whether he was killed or not but if he escaip- ed ho must have been under special protection of tlie god of war.

Day after day it was reported that , fp^ at the expense of the (General Joeeph E. Johnson was com- ing to our reMef and would fall on Cirant tomorrow but if tomorrow ev- e.' came Johnson did not.

After forty-eight days of constantly , casion at Shiloh. Many of the boys watching and fighting on quarter ra- tions oiu' oommisEory entirely failed.

pendents, aides and "dog robbers" on the siege of Vlcksburg, explaining in a hundred different ways why we were not re-lnforeed or relieved. The only one that I have to offer is that the political aspirations and bicker- ings between our commander and the Richmond authorities were the sole cause of the fall of the last stronghold in the Mississippi

On the morning of the Fourth of July we stacked our arms and march- ed about a mile to the rear, In the direction of the river. In charge of United States guards. Many were the surmises as to what our fate would be. Visions ol close confln- ment in Northern prisonis floated be- fore our eyes while the conscripts shook with fear of immediate exf>cu- tion, for Sargeant Bill had told them that Grant had all conscripts shot

Ijate in the afternoon General Grant Isstied the first full ratiions we had had in many a day. thus for the second time our whole regiment was

United States government, but under how different and much raoiv humiliating circumstances than on the former oc-

thought that this kindness shown us was to make the surrender more com-

14.

plete aad tiiat It would be. oouiiiter balanced by added orueilty in tlie fu- ture but I had been iu GTiaat's hands before and knew him ito be hi\xmsm.e, makinig war only on those with anas in their hands so was not afraid.

We soon learned that we were (to bt! paroled, and after paying our in- debtednesis to the inner man with com- pound interest at u&urous rates our cheerfulnesiB gradually begaai to re- turn.

The few blibies which had been in evidence disappeared. Cards were re- sumed and dreams of home entered the brains of many of us. Home meant quiet nighits and peaceful days, no weary hours on guard,, no shriek- ing shot or shell. It seemed Idtoe the baseless fabric of a dream.

On the eleventh day, haviiaig neceiv- ed our parole from the United States authorizing us to go where we .pleas- ed and oommaflid ourselves according to our own free will, with the excep- tion that we were not to take up arms against the Uniited States until we were exchanged, we marched outside the fortifications and diispersed.

The rank and file of our regiment being exceediinglyianxious for a glimp- se of the prairies of Texas once more concluded to take advantage of their eoforeed furlough and visit their old homes in spite of the earnest expec- tations of CoJianel Smith that we would follow him to Raymond, Mis- sissippi where a camp of paroled men had been established. We soon set out on our pedestrain jaunt of three hundred miles which we considered no more than a pleasure excursion after what we had undergone.

With light hearts and light bag-

home.

After crossing the ri.ver all of Com- pany K. except four., including myself coneluded to take the lower and shor- ter route by way Oif Alexandjia, La., while we chose the better but longer way by Natchiitoches on Red River. For subeiiistenice we, of course, had to depend upon what w© could beg, bor- row or steal. However we seit out gaily fiiinging "Homeward Bound We Sweetly GUde," trusting in the bib- lical aaauranice that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

We found the people along our route, though iUy provided themselves, will- ing to divide the last morsel wiith us and we had free aooess to the fruit whieh was ripe on the trees^ at majny places overhanging our road. I re- member one feast that came to us in rather an unexpected way. We had sitopped for the night In the sub- urbs of a small village one afternoon before sunset. Having managed In some way to get hold of a canjteen of rum we were soon quote jolly,. One of my comrads had stretched out for a quiet snooze when I placed a revol- ver, which we had smuggled out of Vicksburg, on his head for a rest and fired. He arose in a storm of wrath. The other boys began to laugh and yell at us, which attracted the attention of an old gentleman sitting on hiis porch, who ran out and en- tered into conversation with us and invited us to spend the night with him. We were well provided for con- sidering the times.

The next morndnjg we took our depar- ture. After twenty days afoot through Louisiana we reachied Beaumont, Tex- as, where we were furnished rail-

gage we trudged along like school , road transportation to Houston. Up- boys on a holiday, our only draw- on our arrival there we were taken back being blistered feet, for on in hand by appreciative citizens, well account of our long confinment in. the i entertained and our tattered gar- trenches at Vicksburg many of the j ments replaced with new ones, boys' feet had grown tender and dls- From Houston we reached our des- comoded them in their haete to get | tination at Texanina in a few hours by

15.

raij and stage and 1 was once more , tion we were conveyed by rail to San- weicoaned Iwiiieatti the parental vine ' dy Point and froan Uiere marched to

and fig uve.

About tlie fij-st of October 1863, we received notice that the Second Tex- as had been exchanged and was to be reorganized at Houfitoai. Though there was some doubt as to our be- ing regularly exchanged, all the old members fit for duty reported as soon as this order reached them. Our ColoneJj soon convinced us that our exchange was all right and that we were not going to fight with a rope around each of our necks, for hanging is the puniehment meted out to captured soldiers wlio have brok- en their parole.

We organized at the same camp about two mites from Houston where two years before we had originally entered into the service of the Con- federate States as a regiment. We were at that time volunteers, nearly everyone young and thoughtless, fill- ed with exhuberant hopes and stronig in the belief that our regiment could wipe the best brigade of Yankees that ever en.terd the field off the face of the earth any morning before break- fast.

But now what a chajnge had come over the spirit of our dreams. We had fought, starved and laid in pri®- on for two years until otir ranks were r'^duced to two hundred and ftfty of the volunteers, who though resolved to stand by our country as long as life atood by us, were withoirt enthus- iasm and almost without hope. We had learnied many things about war that tended to lessen our zeal for glory thereby, and though we &till answered the bugle call promptly.

Columbia on the Brazos river. Arriv- ing at Columbia we boarded a trans- port and wenit down the Brazos to Velasco, for what purpose we never found ouit as there was no enemy in miles of this place. Some of the boys said that we had probably come down for sea-bathing. It being the middle of wi niter and our camp being located on a bare beach where we had no protection from the bdtter Nonth wind that prevailed, we came near freez- ing on several occasions. Finally we had orders to move West of the Braz- os river about four mllie© where the country was heavily timbered and wo were protected from the wind.

In January 1864 we were removed to Cedar Lake, six miles from the mouth of Caney river where a Fort of the same name was located. This We were to guard. Several gunboats of the blocading fleet were at that time occupying the coast of Texas and had appeared in sight of Fort Caney and it was supposed that the eujemy was making preparations to land troops nearby in Order to cap- ture the garrison. We wei'e accord- ingly there to support it. Not long after our arrival two of the Federal Gunboats drewjmear and began to eiielil the Fort. Our company was ordered inside but on our remonstrating -we were allowed to deploy up and down the beach behind sand hills. The 1 gun in the Fort was soon saienced.

An unexpected treat fell to our lot soon after the firing ceased. The Federal gunboat ran a Spanish sail- ing vessel in near the Fort where she grounded. The crew, all Cubans, be-

there was no spontaneous hopes of | ing much frighten.ed. abandoned her each sounding of its note<s that we i and took to the woods. Our officers were to march mio battle immediate- 1 took possession of the boat and car-

, go, consisting of coffee, Irish potatoes

ly. Orders that met our approval we ^ ^ ' "* *, ,. u

' salt fisih, calico washbowls and pitch- obeyed but others we evaded as all , ^^^ ^^ .^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^

old soldif^rs know well how to do. | besides numbers of ca^^i'S of various

Having coniploted our reorganiza- tonics, which we called soothing sy-

16.

rup, consigned to R. & G. Mills of Galveston.

We were ordered by companies to unload the vessel which had now be- come a wreck and] we were promised the usual salvage, one-^third of the car- go. Attachiing a cable and the whole regiment leaidiiing a hand we soon had a suitable position for unload- ing and in a few hours had takea everything out except ithe bar iron.

Meanwhiile the boyB had tested the various brands of aootbimg syrup which they found to be greatly ex- hiliarating in itts effeotia< However, after conbiaiual sampM.ng they discov- ered it to be overpoweringly imitoxlca- tlng. In fact by twelve o'clock at night the whole command was stret- ched on the sajnds of the beach help- lessly druink, except Major FJy, Sar- geanit Bill and my®elf.

On sipeafeinig of the matter after- ward I placed ooir Chaplain in the list of the sober but BlU swore that he was as drunk as the rest. However, Bill was prejudiced against this "par- son", called him a "one-eyed John who could only see a sdingle aide to a question and that to his personal advantage". Bill swore that any man who was too good do associate with the rank and file on ear<th would de- sert them on the road to heaven. On the strength of these convictions he refused to hear him preach. Drunk or sober the Chaplain was^ able to de- part the next mornlinig in a cart which 1 hp had loaded down with goods from the wreck.

The Fnn arose at the usual hour af- ter the night of debauch but the regi- ment failed to greet his returning rays. Many of them were alJ 3ay get- ting on their feet. There was visible of the cargo next day afiter unload- ing, six or »even barrels of tonic, one-fourth of the coffee and crock-^ry ware, the remainder having been hur- ried in the sand by the boys who were so drunk at the time that very

little of it was ever recovered, they not beiia^ ftble to remember the hid- ing pUuces after they became sober.

General Bee s«<nt wagons' down and hauled off the remainjoig barrelsi and coffee, kindly leaving us the bowls, pitchers, the proper use of which would no doubt have improved our appearances but as he failed to fur- nisik clean towels and soap to igo with them we failed to appreciate their value.

A.bout this time two of our con- scriipta, no doubt recognizing their ignorance of dynaties and with praise- worthy zeal to rise in a chosen (by others) profession concluded to begin an Indivlduai invesdgation of these forces, each for himself. Procuring two charged shells from the For>t they proceeded to experdmient. Oni© of the shells waS' placedi at the roots of a large itiree, and reaching around from behind one of the "students" touched the fuse with a lighted torch. The shell went off and so did two of the investigators fSngers The other daring seeker after knowledge of things imiilitary, placed his shell un- der a rude board and stood upon It while he applied the torch. The- re- sult was a rapid ascienjsion skyward In which I fear the victim came nearer reaching heaven than he ever wHl a- gain. Strange to say this fellow re- turned to earth intaiot and unhurt ex- cept for slight bruises. The explosion made a terrific noise and caused quite a commotion. This was the first conscript we had ever seen ele^ vated from the ranks. I always thought that this fellow was what Josh Billinigs would call a "dam phuL

We remained two or three months in -his section when we marched to Houston where we took railroad for Galveston which place we reached a- bout the middle of April 18«4.

-.7.

we were as.signie<i lo post duty u^p- j only military execution I wiitneBsed on our ai-nvai at UaLvetnon aad re- during the war. A private of German uiuijitd Uiere mmi Uie cioc^e "oi "tiiiij paren-tage belongding to an artillery war. ueaif rad Alcv^ruder, comniandef j company of Col. Cook's regiment was

shot for desertion. He had made two former attemipis to desert and it was at last decided to make an examiple of

of the lojv^es on ualvoston IsJand, liad hifi headquarLers in the city and our duties consisted in guarding thes« together with the quartenmaster and [ him. Our regiment was assigned to

couunilssary restores. In the intervails of guard duty we occupied our time trying to drill eomething like soildier- ly bearang into ouir raw conscripts in order to make them fit for the next war. Most of us had then lost all hope of the present one, for seeing that the complete s'ubjugation of the Confederacy was only a matter of a few months, we soon gave up trying to make any improvements in the awkward squads of conscripts when aasig/ned to drill them.

We were nevei- molested by the enemy whiile on Galveston Island. Our nearest aporoach to battle was with our own men when we were called out one night to protect Col. Hawes quar- ters from the assault of a mob, com- posed of resident soldiers and their families. These soldiers dem^anded that the government issue rations to their starving wives and children, which being refused on account of the depleted condition of our corn-

guard the prisoner at the execution, out three miles from town. On reach- ing the appointed place three regi- ments were drawn up forming three sides of a parlelctgram all facing in- ward. The defierter was marched a- long in front of the emtire line and when the open end was reached, halt- ed and the firing squad marched for- ward and fired.

Thie squad consisted of tweWe men, the half of whose guns were loaded with powder and ball^ the remaining six guns being charged with blank cartridges. None of the squad knew whether he fired a blank or a ball.

After the executioji we were mar- ched by where the body lay dead up- on the ground in order to impress up- on our minds the penalty for deser- tion.

This man was the ibst whom I saw killed during tlie war. But we were attacked dur.ing the summer of 1864 by a sileait and insidious enemy a-

missaries, had come in a riotous mob gainst which our heaviest guns avail-

to secure provisions by force if per- suasion did not avail.

No one who has not seen a mob of this kind clamoring for bread can have amy conception of the crazed and uncontrollable rage of the panti- ci pants or aippreciate the difficulty of quieting them without the shedding of blood. However by promising to see that the women and children would be fed and ordering a company to fire over the heads of the mob our officers finally quelled the riot with only one man injured who was acci- dentally killed by some one's awk- wardness in firing.

Here I took part in the first and

ed nothing. The yellow fever invad- ed our camp and soon became epi- demic, carrying off numbers who had courted death on numerous battl/e— fields and endured the hardthipps of many campaigns, only to succorab at last to this dreaded scourge. This was. a time that tried men's souls be- yond the test of battle shouts. No surging crowds of men to urge one on to victory or death yet now what heroic bravery it required to sjt a- lone through the sad siilent watches of the night beside a plague-stricken- comrad's bed and minister to -the dieiiiig wants of one who's very breath exhaled death into the suirroundi.ng at-

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nxosphere. But men Wiem found In camp and women too In thie|ciity| whose thoughts of ©elf w^ere d/rowned in, oth- er's cup of tremblimg so that not one was left ito suffer and die alone.

Aind here durdng this epiidemdic was disp&ayed equally as much heroism if not more than is required to go in- to battli3 both by isolidiers and also (the good women of the oi.ty, true hero- ines iiUdeed who so kindly cared for and miniistered to the s'ck and dieing soldiers. I am Bometimes inclined to agTiee with that fellow over the river who ©aid: "Woman is the fin- ishing grace of creation, the com- pleteness of man's bliss and paraddse his companion, councilor and ooimfor- ter in his pilgrLmage through life. Our sweetest cup of earthly happin- ess is mixed and ministered by her hands and in heaven we wiJl bliess our creator for her aid in reaching

that bllasful etate." Pl«a»e excufi<0 thi'S digression-

Nothiing of an eventful nature oc- cured to us during 1864. The opening of the spiring of 1865 brought with it the do-wuifall of the Confederacy and the few of us left returned to oou* homes emancipated after four years from the restraints of military life, which we enjoyed very much. The war | has been over forty-sixlyeara and it Is only the volunteer soldier who fully realizes the changed con- ditions. They are heavenly indeed now in comparison. General Sher- man properly defined war when he said that it wast the opposite of heav- en. This iis the opinion of

RALPH J. SMITH. Company K, Second Texas Infan- try, born at Centerville, St. Mary's parrish. La., JuiHy 19th, 1840. Now re- sident of San Marcos. Hays Coumty Texas.

19.

TO THE DAUGHTERS OF THE CON FEDERACY.

An Insight Into the Character of Volunteer Soldier.

I was a Voluniteer soldier. 1 have ever loved the word Voiunteer and have detesited the word Conscript. It takes a volunteer soldier to discrim- inate between tihe two. The compari- soii in like a team composed of a lazy mule and a idpirited horse. Each is actuated by a different motive. The voluntetT goes of his own free will; I be cofiscriipt is coerced.

1 was An my 21st year when I vol- unteered in the Confederate service. I was so good and so green tliat my pa thought something of making a preacher of me but I told him that the boys were all volunteerimg amd that I was going to volunteer too. Lote of girls kis.&ed m© good bye as I had three sisters and one sweet-heaxt. Two young ladies each made me a preseoit one of a bible ami the other of a rather insigmificant one thait I was loath to take, but took it as she said that I would need it, and I did, so much so thait Lt soon wore out The lady who gave me the bihle exac- ted two promises of me, one was to quit swearing and the other was to read my bible, which I did. Ajid no doubt this conitriibuted to my moral welfare, as I did not let a day pass that I did not seoretly petition our Creator for hi« care and protection and I verily believe that all iintelUgent soldiers did the same, especially in active service, for the f ataJAties- that were oonistantlv cocuirimg inspired th€m with a deflire for His protec- tion.

Well, we orgamixed a company with Clark L. Owens as our captain, a man fifty-five years old and a Chris- tian gentleman. We went direict to Houston and joined the Second Tex- as Infantry, commanded by ColomeJ .Tohn C Moore, n. Wes>t Po'int grad-

uate and a brave and gallant officer but not a Christian, for he waS' red- headed, red-bearded, red-faced, and extremely high-itempered. It was on- ly a s/hort time until I had eitrong »us- picions that I had joined a regiment of devils. In every regimeait of vol- unteer soldiers there is a strong vein of humor that is ever present and never abseint even in the thickest of battle .To show you how quickly they can go from the very serious to the very ridiculous I will describe this scene.

My regiimefnt was doing post duty and was appointed to escort the re- maifns of Colonel Thomas) F. Lubbock from the depot down in town. He was placed In a public building and lay in state and while his citizen and soldier friends were going im and viewing him the regiment was lined up iin the s.treet listening to a rose- bud orator enlogizinig. He began in thiis way: "Thomaa F. Lubbock Is dead, dead." repeatnlng this three tim- es. He spoke about one hour and when the regiment moved off immed- iately some wag started the ball to rolling by repeaiting his first words which went down the regimetnt, two- thirds of the boya joining in. Thls' was the most ridiculous scene I ever wit- nessed. Of course, the regaiment was disgraced in the eyes of the friend* of Colonel Lubbock and the citizens of Houston were glad when we left, which we did on the 22nd of March 1862, going direct to Tennessee, reach- ing there in time to enjgage in the battle of Shiiloih which was fought on the Gth and 7th of A/pril. It wasi this first day's fight that convinced me fhrt I was riight in my conclusions for my regiment fought like devils incarnate. This was the biggest re- vival I ever witnessed. There was Tr^at r'^joicmc: for w'th an army one- third less than that of the enemy we drove them tr> the Tenine?^'=-e river and many a poor fellow took his last bath in h!s '^ffortn to cross. We ah^o cap- 20.

tured their entire , oommiissiairy and quarter-imasteir's stories and ate sup- per and breakfast off their commis- saries and buit for the death of our geiiieral Late that evieniimg we would, have capturied the entire army.

The next day, the 7th was revival day foir the federals, for General Buell on the night of the G'th croarsied over wiLh forty thousand fresh troops. I was wonnded and leift on the battle field and am ajnepared to advisie all young meai gouig into battle to avoid be'ing shot in the left leg below the knee. I was not in a position to isiee how fast the boySi moved to the rear but understood they made a g-ood record for speed, whiich was wiisie un^ der the •circuinstances.

I was taken direct to St. Loniis and placed iin McDoweli'siCollageand kiuidiy caired foir. I stayed three .mon- ths and of cour'ne learned a .great deal and but for the reason that I did not make suffiiciient progress or some other reason chcy sent me to the penitentiarj' at Alton, Illinois, where I stayed three months longe,r. I enjoy- ed thiiL;. more than in Co'liege for I had moi'e room for exercise and soon recruiite.d snffiiciently to throw away my -cratches and mingle with the 1200 ctheir prii'jiQneriS ; and enjoy their a330.ciatac!5i. If you wiill excuse me for taking you to the pemitentiary I will bring you out again and to- be brief will say that I was soon with my reigdment.

There is much to be learned of the volumteier sioldier. For fo.ur yeiars I heard every subject under the sun cussed and disionssed except autoimio^ biles, aeroplanes and hobb.le skirts 1 do not know why the boys did not think of these.

Now my friends, not desiring to weary your patience I will conclude with a few more thoughts.. The de- moraMzing .conditions that t.he

home, are unpleasant memories. I might elaborate on (these largely but will refrain from doing so and sim- ply inform you, and would have you believe me, co.nditioinis as they exist today are heaveinly indeed in compari- son. And I would urge that all be intereste.d in the dissemination of the Christian reliigiion and Christian education and of coursie the making of good and wholesome laws for th.e benefit of the coniscript and conditions will be created that I am sure will more likely meet with diviiniie approv - a' than .another ciwil war. Th.e vol- unteer Confederate soldier and Vol- u.niLieeir soildiej- of th.e cross tis alijO. K. The Volunteer soon beicomes imimune to that disease called acute verdancy Not so the conscript, for be is lack- ing in iu'dependence audi is perpetual- ly unider the tutorage of the other fellow.

I thiank you ladies for your atten- tion and may happiness ever aittend you, may nothing disturb your pure thoughts and may you ever be lovely and pretty are the wis.hes of my heart.

WAR NOT JUSTIFIABLE.

(Written during the Spanish-.'Vmerl- can War)

That divi.ne.ly instiituted law of free moral agency is as applicable to an aggregation of men as to the' iinidiivid- ual man, a.nd when a collection of men asjenible together and devise phtiis for war, cliaimiin.g|.itto|b'e| justi.fi- able and having th'e sanction of divin- ity is equally as absurd [to my | mind j as

for tvyfo individuals, to becomci antago- civil . nistic and settle t'hcir grievances by war created, both in the army and at rescirtiinig to armis, resulting perhaps

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in the death cf I, aiwi live victwious party claiming the Ix>rd wk,s oji his side. Whexii ajman'aiiadiividuaJ domain is threatened by an armed foe, he i* justifiied in defending It, even lif he has to destroy life in doing oo. And when a natiioirjs fjera'iitox'y Jsldnvad' t>d by an armed force, theai, and oji- l.v thicn, its. 'She Juatlfiied am resistling and makinig war on the] invader [amdi it woiild be cowardice and want of pat' riotisim not to do so, and under these conditione only, if e'Ver, tho leaders mighit cl'aini divine diretvtion or aanc- ticn^ The diomoralieing effect of war and the absence of piety and the un' favoraible condiitions for sucli in arm- ed foaices, and the wlckednessi ajnd vice necessairiiily, created iai eiig3,gmg i:x the avocation of a aoldder is con- chisive evidence that the creator has nothdng to do wdth war.

There is. we admiit, an overruling provid&nce that is coiiatantly oiperaA- Ing on. Hives and heari.s of naitloms or men that constitute naitions, but pro-

ft'ivd '.ellinK lof what a grofut life pre- S( rvor Lhip Rliblo iu by carryiaig In It the breast pocke't. Tho old aoldler knowii Jiow this la dotvo — the con- script or cowardly soldier duj*inK an pRgaigettnc-nit has frequcmtly be(M known, to hide in the brush and re.ad the Bible or deck of cards rcore often the kiiLitcr, instccd of boiirg in the fight. By this niefjus lidis Life v/aa preaefTved.

Becausei good accrues to men oj' nationK as a reKuJt of war Ls no ovi- dence- oif liits justine&s or riightcouaness oi' that tlie creator aancitions it. We n;ay be lurod dato ithe hujiief that H« does beciuise pecuniary advantages and moral achievements! ardise from it. If Toim shoots down poor Bilattherie will also be pecuniary bcncfite, espec- ially if BiJi's life is insured. Hi-j v^^id ow iis OTitablished in buainesB aiid started on the road to prosperity- This is frequently the case aaid it would be extireocoely absjurd to aay

videiDce is oniy guidiing ai?d direct- | that the LK>rd was onj Tom's side, ing those who submit to his laws, j While we belieive thort: rigiht and jus- In order to be lyroperly qualified to tice will ultimately prevail the Lord become a soldiej- and a formidable aiii . seems from observation to be on the tagoncet, there is seemimgly implant- sj,[],e of the ytrongest and beet equip- ed in the mind a hatred of the foe, j>f fj. Two of the ablest men amd contriQiIBiKg chanacteniictic of the CJ''eQ'' suatesmen ith© world has ever produc- tor and producing In j the human breast | cxl were Gladstone and Bismark. The an elemeait that is antagonistic to 1 former not only opposed war except whajt we are tutored to beldeve as the j„ ^.^g^ ^f invasion , but averted it

controlling characteristic of the Crea toi, that is love and mercy. We ad- rait there have been a few exceptdioiis to this rule; in a few isolated cases our warrior Icadorsi have majinitained their proper alleigiance to the creator while prosecutdnig a war. These onjy are the true heroes, and these only should be oulogiaed;

The natural tendency of a soldier life, judgdiug fti'oan a 'oua- year ob- servatdion and experience, is demor- alizajtion, so mtich so that in our op- imion a company of preachers would be taking a lot of chances of becom- ing demoralized, especially in a war of extende^d duration. Preachers us- ed to be very fond of citing instances

when possible and when precipitated usic-id means to stop its prosecution.

The latter in his last days acknow- ledged that ho hadi been instrumental in bringing about three wars, saw ht^v they could, have boen a'Verijed;anid rt'greitted ho hfjd rjot stopped them. The ^Vmerdcaji people ae well as the English would do well to emulate the example cf these two statesmen,. But then, despite, ths dire consequences | of war, it seemw h'story has '■o repeat itself. T'hoi greed for Cold love of ccn- qunst, fame and adventure must be gratified; that ambitious <^lement wliich is so closely aUiod to the brute must be gratified, so that our warrior lorders. Gen. Theopolis Dolittle and

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X

and otli^jfisi, nmy have theiir brows crowaed WBili IcjiireJic^ and have colos- riial mauiblc! mcjinuinuyivto oroct'jid in their meimoiry.

lit 1,3 eViGin claimod, that in goi-iiig 900 miles froiin home to tho Phaiipime Is- landa to fimd a foe to oonquer, te jus^ tiflaible from a moi'ajl stand/poiinit. Cathiolucism bojng tihe doffniimanit rciis:- ion our D.D's claiim it Jis oipipnesiBdfVio, and we aire jiisit.ifiiiablie Im slnughtejniiing large p'Sircemtiagie rf the populatiiOini im ondcir to makie the renniimdcr accept our veirsiiofti of the gosipol (regOindliests oi the loss of the litvosi c<f sievoral thousand of our young laon in so do- iiug 'the creami of |th/8 Illation'. Wiejcaai- not become rccoiiciled to the pniinoi'p- lo of foroiible ohrlsitianity. If we ■couW wo woiUiId fayvor shoioititig' it in- to some of our homo folks.

GENEALOGY OF THE SMITH FAM- ILY.

Ralph Smith, San Marc<«,

Alt the first glance, eX this headimg the reader wouJd justly conclude that the writer had asisumed to him- delif an herculiean task, but as my ob- je-C't is to give in brief a biiiography of my own family ancastors, excluding ail of tue name of Jolin Smith, there being none so caijed in my anceatry, the task will aeem' easier.

My father AJfred Smith, was bora Mercih 29ith 1810 in the state of Lofuasr ara. and died Augusit 16tih 1889, in .lacfescin county Texas. I have no re- cord of my mother's bintih or death, but ahe Mlvcd to be 65 years old. The wiiter waisjboraiiJuliy 19:th 1840|atlCeai- trcviille. La. My grandfather, Henry Joliaininon Simith, was boni and rear- ed in the state of Maine. He was a keeper! of a light house on,|the|coast of La., and white engaged in this, avoca- tion was drowned when my father was a ten year oM boy. My father's mother was of Irfeih pare^ntage, her family name v/as iVrmstrong. She liv-

ed (to b« 80 years old. My mofther'a parente,, Wm H. Cook and Martha Cook, for whomi my mother was naan- ed, were natives of Ohio in which state my mother was neared at the town of MiHedigeville. This grand- mother li(ved to be 70 years old. My grandfather Cook lived to be 87 years old and served in the war of 1812. H lived until I was near grown | and |afitfcn deeply interested me by repeating his i-o,oolJi£,iot,ions. of the war,|and|iniapiring me with a great desiire to beicome a soLdiier. I feared then the opportun- iity would never coone but it did come I had thriee first cousins ithat sprung from a branch of this Cook family, their names being WilHaim Henry jHar- rjfcon, Benjamin Aibijah Ciintis, and Zachariah Taylor Cook. Being unab- le to tote such names for long, they neoeisisariilly passed away early m Me. Some very noted characiterdjsitics' of my amteoedeints were that they were all bom ATlith. their eyes open, none had fits, and none of them ever were himig, woint to jail, the penitontiary or the leigislature. All were big eat- ers, and some successful in leading a mule to waticr or '^niving a cow down a lame. Of all my amcestOTB that I have any knowledge nO)nie|liv,ed| always some succumed to disease while otiiers' more fortunate lived uimtil thei/ machimjery wore out and subiniitted to that irirevocable decroe of ithe Crea- tor, and went the way of all moci- kiind. SoiHie were heroes im war, but j aj> hero womship is of modernlcreatiioin and not the fad theUf as now no co- lossal marble moniumant mariks the grave of my anicestors. A fii-st cous- in cf my faijhor's whom afll readers of Texas hiistory remember, took an ac- tive pai-t in driving the eaieiny from Texas soil; I aMude to Eras+us Smith conumonly known as Deaf Smith. I have often hecr'' my father refer to him they having been raised togeth- er.

In the spring of 1852 when I was tv/elve years old my father with his family immigrated to Texas aboard

23.

a siaiili vessel, landdaig at the old tmvn oi' Inidianola, when tr an sterling our plunder to a cteam boat we had the h&ncir of being a parity to ascension, oit" the first steam vessel up the Navir dad rd(ver to old Texanna, hieiad of ,na- vigajiicjn atnd our futuj-e homo, getting in p.roxi/mity to ithis little village^ in early mcfl'iniiiig hours, the boat began a i:i3irLe.s of sharp and loud whistlios which, reaiulted in effecting a com- plo^e iSitampede of naitiivcs ajnd stock. Some white folks, all the niggers, hordes, cattJe, hogis, dogs, scampered off to the prairde no duobt coinicludiog that the judgomemt day had come.

My first recollecticm of a school houso was tihnt the inside wall was adormed with holes. I was frequent- ly caused to stand cai ome foot with bcok in loft hand the index finger of my ri^ht hamd inserted im a hole in thy waJil and in. itihis atttotuide I had to leani my lessom. If I faAled, which I often dcd, 1 wais conducted to or near the center of the schoiol hoaiee and for further piunishment placed on a dunce blcck with a dunce cap on my head and leather 9peiotacle:iion|imy ey- es, in thiis conjddtiion I had to endure '

the scrutioiizing gaze of the enttire | At the earnest request of an o;d school, which was huiniiilctang indeed. I lady friend and school mate who in- Fontiina'jGiliy fcr me there wsasi siiffi- j u:ists that I wilte something of my cierjt sympathy manifested fcr me to ! boyhood and young macihcod days, encourage me to maHie some heroic ef j I have decided to give to the public forts to master my tasku,. I succeed- j something thcjt came under my obsar- ed to that exibenit that divorced rae j vation and tio whiich I was a;, cye-wit- forever freni these modes of punish- i ness, and which I have not the least

sinimon beer. Now we have virgin pullets, turkey and cranberry sauce, chicken and salmon salad, metropoli- tcn and angel cake, and other num- erouii delilcacies.

>\jid the piOipular theme of tiie day is the heroes of|the|war whoiareeuloigjiz- eu even from .the pulpits. For shame when if these heroes, many of them, could have their just deser.ts, would have a simiilan inscription on their torabsitonieis as that furnished to old Keisel by an Inda.an poet, thui^'ly: There was man who died of late,

For wham the. angels did impatient- ly wait. With outstretched wings of love

To waft him to the realtos above. But while the engeLs were hovering in thje skies..

And d!(2ipnting over the prize. In slCippad the devil like a we&ael, -And down to hades he canTied Keisel.

RECOLLECTION OF MY HOOD DAYS.

BOY-

meuit.

idea that not another man in Hays

My first recollccticns of preaching i County ever wit.ncsscd a like scene, was in a schoiol ho.use; the advent of j About the year 18.56 therelcanie from the paroon was looked to with joy, South Carolina a bachelor man. poesi- the men would herald it abroad, the bly thirty-five years old, wi.th six nc- wcihsn would cry' aloud '"the parson groes and other proipeity. He bought is a coim.ira or comin." i ."n un.!mprov?d trrct of tdimbcred Ic^iid

Now we have massive church bui.!d- 1 about t.'f leen miles from old Texan.n.a ings in every .town with clear sound- ■ iu .Jackson county, moved on it with in,g- bells proclaimiTig the coming of his negroes r.nd began clearing it up,

the Sabbath day, and parsonis are thicker than cotton .taiil rabbits.

My earliy recollections of a Christ- mas dinner was that it consisted of br.ked possuim, sl/iced potato pie amd

01- had his negro slaves to|do|so while h- folloiwed buying a.id aelling horses ar.d was frequently abce.it for several weeks.

At the time of the circum.-j.tan.ee

giinger cake, washed down with per- j that I desire to meiition he had been

24.

aba8int soveral moniths and his near- tbey were extremely happy and each. est neighibon; hadibeg'an|tolhave|S(tirong one was placed upon his own coffin

suspiioionu ithat somiothiiig liad hap- pened tO| him and |i0omm6niced|ito| make some investigrjtiions whach rcsailibed in the arrosit aad iniccjrccraiticn in the county jail of three noigro men and one woman. Shortly afiter being' plac- ed in jail Ihey all confessed to the killing of tliiGiir matJtcr. Their' no.anes wene: Zefee who was a preacher and John and Jack the oldoGt, r, man of herculean strength; six feiet three in- ches in. heighjth. And ho was the "genitleman" who wielded the ax thoit ^'ont hdc. masitor into etGrnity while he was a3lc<:'-p in tlie clearing with his sfiddle for a pillow in the middle of The day.

They threw his body into a bm&h p!le and buniied it to ashesi and it was siaLd that overythdng burned up but his heart rjnd we boys and many lueu were supersitiiUous enough to be- lieve this rot. Possiibly it was so as it might have beeai made of stone. It was currently reported 'that this man, before moving to Texas, had a live negro placed in a coffin and made 2 other negroes saw him in two with a cross-cut saw. I suppose that he died for no human being could stand such an operation as that and livie.

I cannot vouch for the truth of the above but from my viewpoint of things now if tliis man practiced one- half of the cruelit.y that, these poor slaves accused him of he undoubtedly got his just deserts.

Well in due course of Itimej the |three men were condemned to be publicly hung. The jui-y that tried the wom- an failed to agrcp asi one man on it would not consent to hang a woman, :!o She waaifinallylllberated. The|three men had their usual thirty days to prepare for their final departure in

in a wagon aoid moved off under a strong guard of armed men to the gallows, one-mile off in the open post oak wood and near a public road.

As they were marched to the place they sang all the way some old bible hymn with a crowd of us school) boys as hearera. On reaching the gallows They found waiting the largest crowd ot whiibo mjen and negroes of both cex- e>s I ever saw together, the negroes being coercedi to see the siight. If tiny was left behind at home it was dead ones and babies.

The tliree men w"ere,madelto|asoend- t J the top. and on the trap door and 'aach given a few minutes to talk. Old Jack and John made short speeches but Zieke, the preacher, made quite a lengthy speech, all claimiijng to be en route to heaven.

When the drop was made Jack's and John's necks were broken but Zfke't> was not and it seemed as though he would not give it up and struggled fearfully, his feet moving with astonishing rapidity which ex- cited an old colored lady who ex- claimed in a moment of rapture: "Dat nigger sho' been a good dancer in his day.'.

NotwithstandiJng the solemnity of the oocasiion this uncalled for outburst brought some simdiles to the boys.

From younig .manhood up I have ev- OA' be>on irresisitibly drawn toward preachers, especially negro pre-achers, therefore I got to withdn ten feot of Zeke so I hoard all he said and altho a thoughtlosa boy I was impressed with it, too much so for my good, for I could see those dead negroes for a month afterward, especially after eat- ing a bag supper.

This spot of ground became sacred.

which time|the;differentjpreGche.rs had ;^ much so that the public road was them in charge and administered spir- changed and no man, white or black itual consolation to them, by which I ever got naar it, day or night.

liave no doubt they wer<' very much benefited.

At any race by the day of cxet'iition

except one of my chums who claimed to ride near the spot ofL?n on dark nights and was not the least

26.

bii afraid, cus hic would go by whiis- tliiig. HJG namo v/as Ananias No. 2.

Many were itlie ghosts afterward seen in the viciniity.

Well, the viilfliage doctor bought the body of big Jaick wiitii the inten- tion of imakiiing a skeletotn for exMbi- tion. Of course this imtsresited all the boys and we looked forward to the time with eagerness ai:d impa- tience to the tiinie when we would see; this curiosity. Well the 'time came. | Some man rode to the school house \ and roponted to us that the docLor i had Jack's bones together. We boys diisniiiissed the achiool, leaving the tea-j

eher in charge of the girls, roiid belt- i

i ed for the doctor's ofiice in a run, i

same three hundred yards off. On our i arrival the doctor told us- thaA. we i would finid whiajt we waoiited in a clos- et in the reai" of his office. |

A few of usi approached the place . and peeped i:i. There we slw Jack's bones all 'together in a box, wliere they remained only a sihort time and theoi. werc| rLumped iatOi ohe Na^-idad river. The Doctor was not as brave a? he thought and had no noUon of staying in hiis office with Jack's skele-

tOiU.

We boysi all^vay^ tCio^aght cur te.iicCi- er was die principall ac'.ori iti pltviv- ning this Aprdl F^ooL sicheme for our benefiit for he was a jolly good feil- low y^heai net iin echjool tryrlrjg; to hammer somo bctok scusio ii'^lo our thick heads.

Well when 'the negroes v/ere so't free the ghost disappeared from tihe land. I have never seen a gh'ost since the ciivil war, for which I thank the Lord.

26.

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