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.IBRftRY OF CONGRESS

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RALPH |. SMITH

Oompaii^^ K, Second Texas Infantry. Bora

at C*,nterville, St. Mary's Parish, La,,

Jily 19th, lb40. Now resident

of San Marcos, H;iys

County. Texas.

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Reminisences of Civil War

By Ralph J. Smithy Sometimes Private.

In the year 1861 the grim vliiaged god of war reigned supreme through- out Texas. In June of tha/t year Ex- <j over nor Stocokdale, a man of bril- liant attaiaiments as well as a fiery Southern patrioo, spoke to a large au- dience of citiizens of Jackson 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, created great excitement and enthusiastm through- out the simround.ing coaintry, inflam- ing the minds of liis hearer®, espec- ially the young men, to feiver heat, and they were eager to enter ithe fray and drive the cruel invader of their beloved land off the earth or surrein- der their liives in the attempt. So I

matter of few moinths ujutLl we would return home covered with glory and renown. The possibiilty of such a thing as. defeat never for a mom- ent entered the mand of a member of our inexperiettioed corps. Day after day we were dined, wined and flat- tered. Night after nighit we floated upon a sea of glory. The ladies pet- ted and lionized us; preachers pray- ed with and for us, declarimg that the 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 bdg- g.est gu/nis. While in this camp that brainy old war veteran, Ex-iPresideint of the Re- public of Texas, General Sam Hous-

lost no time in joiniimng the company \ ton, made us a talk calculated to then being organized by Clark Ow^en ' 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 seoessdon, 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 rei&ources

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

I 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 anihiliate a whole company of blue coats. What brilliant speeches we made and the dinners the good people spread for us, and Oh the be- witching female eyes that pierced the breasts of our grey uniforms, stopping temporarily the heart beats of many a fellow that the enemies bullets, were destined soon to do forever.

On the 10th of October we were or- dered to Houston where we were mob ilized 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 exhaustless That time and money would wear us out and oonquoa' us at last However he miight as well had ibeen giving ad- vice to the inmates of a lunatdq asy- lum. We knew no such word as fail.

On the 2 and of March, 1861, af- ter months of impatient waiting, w^ were ordered to the front. At last a thousand hearts beat happily. Hur- riedly 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 river. From there were marched to Alexandria, La., thence transports carried u© down Red river and up the Miesdssippi to Mem- phis, Tennessee, where we imm' d - iateh- *>o8rflAd a railroad train for Cor- inth Mississippi.

After four days rest at Corinth we received orders to cook three day?^

1.

ratiaiiis, preparatory to imarchimg to fcjhuioli, or FiittS'burg Landing, twenty five mides East. We mairichjed cm the third day of April, advancing slowly on acconnt of the wretched oondiition of the road. Of couiriBe we ate our rations in the fioiat tweaay four hours, it beiing a wexi-fenowm ^joldjier's max- im that rations ane carried easier in the kStomach than on the back. After floundering through the sjush for two days we ihrew our tired bodies down in a muddy corn field where drows- ing and freezing, hungry and soak- ing we spent the last night before our

taking' posseisaaoin of tixe stores. Our regiment, the Second Texas, raw re- cruits aixd weaJc froim hunger as it were, behaved like vefterans, and al- though I have seen the hotnor claim- ed in print by others, it undoubted- ly played the pnincipaJ roilil in the capture of the brigade of General Pren- tice. I witnessed the General surren- der his sword to Colonel Moore and saw the men lay down their arms and niaach to the rear under euard. In the words of Sargeant BdiU, wit of our regiment, (of whom more hereafter) "This dayy's fight was as easy as

initiation into the horrors of real war. seining for suekei's."

The next morninig, Sunday April , When evening sthades began, to draw 6th we went into th© hard fought bat- [ a curtain over the bloody field GeU' tie of Shiloh. I shall not attempt j eral Grant's forces, disorganized and to give a detailed discription of the I beaten, could be seen like a great bloody encooiniter. A private soldier unordered mass., huddled under the has no knowledge of military move-- , canons of the gunboats. Th© siplteful mentis outside of has immeddate sur- i crack of small arms gradually ceas- roundiiings. In fact men of the rank l ed and we prepared to accept a eldght and file are often puffed up with the token of the regardiS presiented to us pride of victory only to find out some- by the enemy in the shape of quarter- time afterward* that he had been j master's stores., commissaries etc. well-whipped. In great battles with Oh how empty we found oursielveis thousands on each side , especial- ; now that we had tiime to thank of it. ly privates, are like little screws in Having ioiflated our anatomies with the wheel of a giant machimie. They crackers, sausage, pigs feet, maoaro- are carried along by the power that ni, sugar coffee etc. we began to re- moves the whole mass without know- ' lect such blankets overcoats and oth- ing where or why. i er clothing as we felt the need of. It

About nine o'clock with empty stom: ] soon began to be rumored among us achs and appetites made voracious by I that our Commander, General Albert the faint smell of commissaries emin- | Sidney Johnson was dead upon the ating from General Grant's caimp our I field. No man who has not been a regiment went into the midst of the ' soldier can appreciate the change this fight. All I remember for the first ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^

whole army. Although s.till rejoicing over the resu't of the battle, the fac-

few minutes after was a terrible noise great smoke, incessant rattling of small anms, infernal confusion and then I realized that the whole lime of the einemy wasi in disorderly retreat We followed Ihem close for £ear they would carry cff 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

2

es of the men showed rather the grim satisfaction, of the sucoeasful gladia- tor than the glad exultant smiile of the mdrth-crowned warrior. To Ms death the soldiers almost universally attributed their failure to obtain vic- tory on the next day, but now we kno\v iliere were other causes.

(J rant's rejinfoTcem©nts wene lariger in nunuber thaox w<? thQught and I am | afraid that failure to destroy all or 1 neaa-ly all Urn captured euppliies, con- 1 tributed largely to Our repulee. I Many of our boya were raw recriuiits who had yet to learn that a battle is I never over as loiiig as the enemy is | in sight. Oiur victory had eoemingly ' been so coonpLeite that it was every^- where reponted in the ranka thut the battle was over, aU we would have to do next day would be to take charge of Grant's, Army, whijch was ready to suriTender. I tjaw numbers of men proceedlhg to the rear loaded with clothiinig amd suppJies. Poor fellows, tbey had been hungry so long and wet so much, they had fought so long and so gallantly for them they were no doubt convimced that the.y had earn ed a little camifort and pest, though it would not have changed the ultimate result of the war, probably would have prolonged the bloody and use- less struggle.

For the honor of the boys I have often regretted that we dad not give Grant tinie to apply the torch to his stores. Wotrn out but for once no^t 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 short time the regiment lost one hxmdred and fifty men, includimg the captain of my company. The writer was aoon after wounded in the left leg, falling in the eoiemy'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 i^ a daily reminder to me of that , plagtaked war.

Our army, failing to break the ene--

3

my 'a line, hastily fell back to Corin- th and I was a pdisonjer at the ten* der merciiesi of the foe. Our army at the battle of Shiloh nium,bered forty thousand and three hundred and Crranit's forces on the first day num- bered forty nJne thousand. After General BueJl reinforced him on the night of the G'th he had seventy thous and and eight hundred. We lost in killed, wounded and misising, ten thou- sand and seven hundred. Grant's loss- es according to General Sherman's Btaitememt,, was thirteen thousand five hundred and seventy-three.

My wound was bandaged and toge- ther with imany others, of both blue and grey I wa® sent to St. Louis, Mo. %yhere a hospital for prisoners was fitted up by some angels in female forms called Rebel Sympathisers. Human Sympathizer© would ha,ve been a much more appropriate niame, for those big-hearted ladies. I am sure knew neither North nor South, but that all mankind were their brothers. The hospital was located in McDow- ell's College on Gratiot street and many a wounded Confederate has cause to thank heaven and woman- kind for the delicate care he receiiVed therein.

The 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 particularly 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 it to him as a souvenir. He seemd to prize it very highly.

To the doctor and the ladies of the city who suppUed me with food more appropriate for the sick than prison- ers of war are furnished I owe my life, for weak and exhausted from loss of blood my condition was critical for

sometime, uotwiithstaaidiiing the care they bestowed upon, me.

There wesre a dozen or more Conifed- erate officers near where I was in the hospital amd one day they were amusdmg- theaniselves by sdmglnig Dixie and other soingsi when a Germain U. S Captaan ordered them to stop. They paid no attention to him and contin- ued to Sling, whiereupoa he became fur- ious and ordered the guard to fire iiv to their room which they promptly did. No one was hurt, however, but the Catpain, who I heard, was cash- iered. At any rate we never saw him -again.

After about three months^ in St. Louiis in College I learned some things and my wound being healed, for some cfiuisie I was remoived to the penjiten- tiary at Alton Illinois, which I en- joyed more than being in college, as I isoon recruiited suf fioiently to throw away my criuitchesi and enjoy the asiso- ciation of the one thousand other prisoners, whom the Undited States had kiindly sent North to spend the siumimer and recuperate and gatlier strength for tlie fatigue of coming campaigns. We received aa good treat- ment in the Alton prison as prisoners could expect in time of war. We re- lieved the tedium of oiur confinment by mamufacturing every conceiivable kind of tninklet of Sitone, wood, or any other mateirial we could get that our few tools would work. I saw a vio- lin made there that was. a work of art.

There was great excitement among the officers and guards, of the prison one ndight. I leaj-ned next mor.ndn.g that a Mdssonrdj officer, Colonel Mc- Laughlin, and twenty- fiive of his men had escaped by tunneling under the prison walls. Of cour®e the outside sentinel hiad been brihed, at least we so thought.

After three months of prison life at Alton we were marched on board I transports., which w.e.re protected by j gunboats, and conveyed to within one j mile and opposdite Viicksburg landin(g,

4.

where wie were regularly excbanged and soon crosis-ed over to Viicksburg where the sympathiiZing sons, aaid daughteirs of Dixie., in anticipation of our arrival, had prepared a boumitiful feast for ua, such a one as makes, a ragged soldier feel like rising up at it.-; end and exclaiming: "Fate can- not harm me today foar I have din- ed."

After -eating until the provender

did not tasite good any more I con- cluded .to look around for siome 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 pri.son at Camp Douglas near Chir- cago and had just been exchan.ged.

Concluding that we were free to re- sume our oooupation of wrestling with tlie boys in blue for possession of their commissaries and to meet wiith success would need the riest of the boys, we boarded a train for .Jackson Mississippi, in siearch of our regiment. Not hearing anything of it upon 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 elee who would listen to us with anxious and retpeated requests for information as to the whereabouts of the Second Texas, for we were all exceedingly eager for a sight of the boys once more. Ten or twelve days passed without the slightest informa- tion being obtained, when the whole camp of the exchange men, about a hun.dred in inumber, were ordered to report to General Pemberton' s 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 Lieutenants., enough to officer half a dozen regiments, all

LM" ■UW.'^Jli.U^UUJjaL.LL

anxious to coanmarui this new regiimeait member that soem© as long as my We eiighteen poor, ignoraait Texas miiid enidure® for it tauglit m« to ap- privateSi could not rsadily accoujit I preoate tlie fact that men are not for this, but finally conicluded that I always what tbey seem. General

tbey were the soJe survivors of their command, which had all been killed or captured, but as thisi did not au-

iMoore was a graduate of West Poiint, a strict disciplinarian with rather a haughty air, but when we aaw him

gur well for their oare of their mien j mingling his tears, with those of the or their bravery on the baittle field, ] ragged, foot-sore returned prisoners w^ concluded to immediately make a ! we knew that beneath his grim and roar by presenting oureelvesi at head- 1 cold exterior there beat a heart as quarters and demanding peirmissaon I tender as a little child's. Such ex- t.-> go to Hollow Springs., Mississippi | pressions of fedliiia.g together with where we hoped to get hews of our j aynipathetic acts of a thousand kinds regiment. The commanding general, afforded a bond of trust between after remonstratilng with a«i on the icA- many of our officers and their men ly of going in search of a regiment that nothing but death could break, the whereabouts of which we knew i Soldiers will follow such leaders. In- nothing an seeing that we were obsti- 1 to most death-dealing hail of buUets nate and determined, at last reluctant , without deliberations or fear of the ly granted us the required permission i consequences.

and tranaportatlon. j Upon returning to the ranks I

The next day found us in Hollow found many a gap in the line, missed

Springs and after two days in which \ many a familiar face. Some had dl-

time we subsisted alone on red per- Ktmrnons, we weire made happy by the information that the Second Texas was in the vicinity and a few days af-

ed upon the field of battle, some sack ened and pastsed away, some disappear- ed none could sa,y whither. Those yet left had became inured to expos-

terward had the pleasure of being iire and hardship. Whole-souled jolly

quartered under the old flag again.

Our old Colonel, now General Moore

he having been promoted for gailan-

fellows every one with a heart for every fate. I was thrown with troops from almost every state, both North

try on the battle field of Shiloh, was j and South, during my four years in In command of the brigade to which , the army and I feel confident that the Second Texas belonged. We had \ the Texas Volunteer excelled them all hardly shaken hands wi^h half of j for light-heiarted joMty ajnd"don't giive

our friends nor had a chauice to re- ply to shouts of welcome and words of eoingratulatioi-'S from the boys in the ranks before we had orders to inarch in a body to the General's tent where we soon lined up. No sooner ha,d we halted than the General 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 again safe and sound and congratulated us upon our peiTseverance in overoomimig so many obstacles in our efforts to array our- selves once more under the flag of our beloved Second Texas. I ©hall n-

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 b.pjd. then laughed and joked the reet of the day and half the night. The prophet Jeremiah was much givon to lamenta- tion,s, yet he said a merry hG.art is a continual feast, and that ic about all those Texas soldiers had to feast on for many consecutive hours on numerous occasions. The jolliest most quizical of all my chums was noted for the uncertaintv

of bis temper and I shall conitent my,sielf by calling him Sargcaat Bill. At ithe time of which I am writiug Biy was about twcinty-five years old, six feet two iucbesi in heighth and straight as an Indian chief, v/Lth long black hair a:^d cyeB. of the same color BO pierciing that they seemed to pene- trate one e^en tO' the sole of his booits wheiniover Biil v/as deeiply ir. earnest. A native of Virginia, he had cocme to Texas in his early youth so that na- ture and education had combined i in his make-up a chivalrous ideal of th.e old Virginia Cavalier, together with the dare-deviil necklesisness of the Tex- ii.- cowboy, and to slightly paraphrase Shakespeare the elements i-jo mixed in him that nature might eitand up cind say to all the world: "Here ia a soldier."

Bill had boon oaie of the first to re- spond to his State's call to arms and expresced his firm belief that every anale from sixteen to one hundred able to shoulder a gun, should bo in the field under his country's banner. He swore that the orily cause cf our fail- ure to crush the United States and end the war in a year was a mortify- ing fact that there were thousands o" able-bodied men in the South who not only refuced to volunteer but were skulkir.g in the brush to escape beinig conscripted. He could not a- bide a conscript, his idea being that a man who had to bo farced into, the army would not fight and wae^ good for nothinig but to dig tre-nchcs after he got there.

Bill had devoted himsolf to profnn- ity in all of its various brancheis. For artistic conception and brilliant execu- tion his oaths stand without a para- lel in the annals of war. I first be- came acquaimtcd with him durniig our journey from Houoton while wo were camped for the night at Wise'si Bluff. His discerning eye dis-covered a ware- hotise containing several barrels of "joy to the world" tonic. Procuring an auger he crawled under the buiid-

ing, bored through the floor and ithe bottom of one of these barrels and prccecded to draw off the precious fluid. Having filled all the vessels a\'ailable he drove a plug in the hole, revurned to camp and informed the beys of the windfall.

On my return to the regimemt my phyaical condition was far from sat- isfactory the regimental physician re- portdng that I was afflicted with phth-' is pulmonus and unfit 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, Mies., to recup- erate. Quitman was a health resort before the civil war. A hospital for convalescent Tiexas soldiers in charge of Dr. Bryant of Houston wasi loicated one mile from town, near one of the finest and boldest springa 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 as everywhere else in the Confederate Army, cut rather short without any frills or tucks. In fact at was- plain, so very plain thait it became U'ecessary for the inmateS' to embellish it somewhat in order to make life worth living.

Rest and the sulphur water seemed to engender in u& 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 juL't made a requisition for such eat- ables as were available and then all that was necessary tOi procur them was to step up to the eooip, 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 sleeping off the fatigue of their daily toils we were exceedinigly careful not to awaken them. Thus, thanks to the noble Mississiippians who raised and

f umdishieid us with so many of the good things of life, we were^ enabled, if not to wear purple and firn© linen, at least to fare eumiptously every day. The ahoive mientiomed diet, together with the healing wateris of the sul- phur springe., cured my honrihle disr ease in about forty days.

Having be^en so successful in find-

©ooil, Who'd harm the dear creajture® for

pasision. or gold." About January 1st, 1873, I rejoin- ed my regimieint at Camp Timmonis, seven miles above Viicksbiur^g,, where it had gone into winter quarters. Ev- ery one was in good spirits aind liv- ing as well as past experienoei liin *he

iiig health and many other blesisings service gave them reason to expeot. in this vicinity 1 was fain to linger | General Boiuregard had been succeed- but in the latter part of December Dr i ed as division coimmaiijdeir by Gener-

Bryant cruelly ordered me to join my command. Before the receipt of this unwelcome order eight or ten of us pre-cmpited a jug of what is known in this/ 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 country, 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 Sweethearts" and was reispond- e:l to thus: Our sweethear'^s dear, to them we

drink. Though nameless here, of them we

think: Here's health to them and wealth to

them, With every blesisiing else to them."

Then someone proposed a toast to "Women" which this way :

Here's to our women, God blpsr' them And death to the man who'd op- press them;

al Maury, who was^ an able officer and very popular. The omly fault the boys found with hiim was; his weakness for general review,, dress parade etc. The veterans of the rank and file ser- iously objected to theGe "circus par- adies" as they called them, beicause they imposed upon them a hard day's work marching and counter marching for no earthly purpose which they could underetand except to give the officers an opportunity to show them selves off in all their glory to an ad- miring croiwd of fashionables and society matrons who drove out from the city to onr reviews. General I Maury was a splendid horseman and of commanding appearance and no doubt impreseed many sentimental female eyes as a "thing of beauty

and down the line of troops on his ?piriked charger. But with 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 damsels with deiliroUiS. joy while the flattering notice of a handsome gen- eral in command threw thiem into such spasms, of ecstatic delight that the was responded to nerves of a few of them (never recov- I ered from the shock. To these thought- le&s creatures what appeared so grand to the ragged foot-sore veterans in the rank© were simply a part of the Deairh to hiis body and death to his ' officer's equipment, like their horses

aujd amforiDis. BeJmg fully aware of Uus we had decided objections to a- betting in tlieir folly and avoided revieiw whenever it waa possible to do so.

Our army, of course, had a number of "lady killers" among our officers. However fiine clothes do not make a coward any more than^ they make a man and often the mos-t fastidious dandies would fight Idike demons through the smoke aoad grim of bat- Ue.

Ais 1 ajn writing reminiscences and not history I shall pass over ithe bat- tles fought during my absence from my regiment. I learned, upon my re- turn th3.t the men in ranks fully ex- pected to fight a dicisive battle at Corinth with the ajrmy under General Halleck, which appeared before ouj fortifications at that place soon after the battle of Shiloh. This army num- bered ninety thousand but our men were ancsious to try conclusion® with it although our force was only about half as many, 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 advantage of fortifications they should have won but General Bouregard having become satisfied that the fighting qualitiies. of his men were all that could be desired, appar- ently concluded to giive them a little ti-aining for speed, as they wene or- dered to retreat toward Tupelo, fif- ty miles distant. The boys did iiot ap- prove of this mode of warfare and General Bouregard was severely cen- sured by his men for the seemingly uncalled for retreat though some no doubt blessed hiim for leading them away from danger.

Colonel Asihbel Smith was at this time, January 1863, in command of the Second Texas Regimeait. Colonel Smith was an able officer, thorough- ly educated amd a diiplomat of some note, having at one time represented

the Republic of Texas at the court of France. He was quite an atlilete and his temper was somewhat inf lama- tor y and when enraged he cut such fantaatiic capers before hiigh heaven as made the angels smile. These bursts of anger soon passed off but while they lasted the Colonel danced, aw ore, jingled his sword and denoim- ced the object of has wrath in words that burxied holes lijn the surrounding atmosphere. PasKionate and eccentric though he was the Colonel's hearit was full jeweled, twenty-four karats fine and devoted to his men, especially the old volunteers in the ranks, whom he loved like brothers. However thiB' did not prevemt 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 iColonel's ex- penise.

Early in 1863 our regiment was re- cruited with conscripts, about one , hundred of them being chased out of ' the brush and into our ranks. This I think was a mistake. Conscripts ; and volunteers bea.ng actuated by dif- I f erent motives, interfere and hiinder i each other Mke a team composd of a lazy mule and a spiirdted horse, whetn combined in the same regijnent. Our conscriptSi never amalgamated with the "boys" as the Colonel always called the remnant of the original volunteers, which was no doubt rath- I er our fault than theirs, for we consid- , ered ourselves their superiors, an op- , inion even in which our officers shar- ]ed, as (the followimfg oocuirence will il- lustrate.

Owing to his eccenitric movements when he had a "spell" on we had given Colonel Smith the name of" Jin- gle Box". Though, of course, we did not use that pet name when address- ing him he was fully awaxe of it, hav- ing heard us use it iin a thousand dif- I f erent indirect ways without taking I notice but one day as he rode by an unlucky conscript called out to anoth- 8.

er; "Here comes Jingle Box". The Colonel liTQimediateily charged hulim and on hiSi taking ito the brush dismaunt- e.i and soooa ram him dowoa and siedz- ing Wm by the eai' and emphasiziag every other word with a hearty kick

known BlJl'a juidgement to be eeiTJouS' t:' at fault It beiimg exceeidlnigly dark ar:d betog very tired he swoiT© he would advance no further witthouit restiing. He pivjoeeded to sit down on what he siuppoeed to be a liog

h.^ iswore by the Olympic gods that no but rapidly descended about ten feet

blank conscript should call him nam- e:;. The Colonel was. somewhat Irish when enraged. I have often wondered since the dark days of our Intesitinie strife at the cold-blooded, iindifference with which wfc at that Ume looked upon death and thie grave. They being hourly htf

to the bottom of a muddy branch Bill's oaths and the sliouitsi of laugh- ttr that followed this ludicrous ac- cident seemed to throw a shadow of life over the siuirroundings sufficiently to enable us to fish him out of the diffioulty. Our advance guard arriived about

fore our eyes in their various forms | eight A. M., the rear comdng about they siooin ceased to inspire us with i noon. I think that some of our con- awe and became matters to joke a- j scripts failed to show -uip at all, but bout, While out foraging one day I none appeared to know or care. Dur- with Sargeamt Bill we discovered a ing the afternioon we embarked on pair of graves. M the bead of -them i a itransiport and steamed up the rlv-

was a pine board upon which the fol- lowing lineSi were written.: "The Yankee herds and thievimg'

bands, Came South to rob our houses and

steal our lands; But this narrow comitraoted spot, Is all this poor Yankee ever got"

The other gnave being unmarked we decided that the poetaster, after delilv- ering himself of the above epitath, had immediately fallen dead from ex- haustioai, necet'sarily foUowimg his monumental effort, and some kinidly disposed pas&er-by interred him be- side his late en-emy. Acting upon this concluiSiion Bill proceeded to set Up a board at the head of the un- marked grave inscribed thus: "Here lies a monumental poet, His neighbor's epitath will show it.

About twelve o'clock one cold wet night the latter part of January 1863 w* received ordersi to cook the usual three days rations preparatory to marchiing. Two hours afterward Camp Timmons was deserted and we were tramping through the darkness 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 w.as very unpopulftr with the boys. They even preferred marching to being packed aboard like fowls cooped for market, with, no opportunity to augment thedr scanty rations by contribution® from the siur- pounding country. Our first night afloat pasised off quieitly. Some reliev- ed tbe monotoaiy by playing. cards, oth- ers by singling songs^ I give below one of these songs written by a member of our regiment, which has never appeared in print:

SHILOH, Draw near my gallaait comrades and

a story to yon I'll sing, .V sad and mournful song of war,

tears to your eyes twill bring; One April morn on Shiiloh'® plain® the

rising sun displayed. 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.

CHORUS.

Croas ShiJoh's fields tbe bullets sped, (Ji\ Shiioii s hills full niaiiy bled — On Shiloii's plains lay thoaisands dead \\ hue tihilou s rilis ran. red with blood.

Time after time we charged the foe

who made a iiitubboroi sitand, And ere the sun had reached the

West we fought them hand to hand. At last their solid ranks we broke

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

and closed the scene 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 mornime'iS ^hl once more ap- peared dru,ms beat to arms again, Unmindful of the dieing and heedless

of tihe slain; And soon the canon^s deadly mouth

renewed its an©ry roar, Ten thousand fell and thousaaids sped

to battle never more. Each place in ra^nks may be refililed

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

Life on board had become distress- ingly duU and I saw from a well known expression on BilFs coujnten- ance that something was Mkely to happen soon to break the monotony, ».> was not all surprieed when on the morning folJowinng it was suddely shivered into a thousand fragments. Someone had during the niight dis- figured the mane and tiail of the Col- onel's black charger to such an ex- tent that we were unable to recog- nize him . The resulting "crazy &peU" was one of the most excrus-- iating that we ever succeeded in bringing on the Colonel. He charged up and down the deck, beat the floor

with his sword and swore that if the dastard who did tihis unholy deed did not come forward to be hung immed- iately he would throw the whole re- giment in ironjj annd anake the last one of thexu draw for a black bean and shoot the man who got it for an example.

Soon after this naval engagement, in which so many Idives were threat- ened and none lost, we reached Ya- zoo City, landed and marched to the suburbs where we went into camp.

This picturesque little city is tJiur rounded by a beautiful and fertile country which had never, to this time been invaded by the soldiers of eith- er army, t:o chickens were crowing and fat hogs grunting in every di- rection. Such attractive sights and charming sounds created among us a strong desire to establish perman- ent headquarters but it turned out to be another case of "Twas ever thus since childhood's early hotir", for much to their chagrin the regi- ment was ordered to re-embark next day. Together wiith one other man I had beeui out on a foraging expedi- tion and knew nothing of the depar- ture of the command until our re- turn the followLnjg 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 las-t scoundrel of them had de- serted and decided to hold the fort for funther orders. On the morning of the third day, with visions of the guard house and a bread and water diet before his eyes, my companion deserted me and went in search of the regiment. Though left forlorn 1 was not alone by any means for the citizens of the city soon took me in hand and entertained me Uke a Maj- or-Gen eral. But the faireet day has its night and my holiday was sud- denly obscured by the arrival of Cap- tain McGinnis of my regiment who promptly attached me to a squad of

10.

ten juen, sent out under him to giath- er a bunch of negroe® ito l>e used in building fortdfications.

The Captain, who had come down by boait, soon prooured hiimiseJif a good hoTfse, nioumted, gave the com- mand to "forward, march," and my elysdium was no moire. We had not proceeded far before (the Captain, casting hiis eyes over th^e landscape, caduaJly remarked: "Boys, this ap- pears to be a beautiful and prosper- ous counitry. Horses and sa;ddle,s must be quite plentiiful around here." This seeimingly unimportant remark was suffiicient to transfer mb from in- fantry to cavalry service, for witliout further orders we werte soon alj moun- ted. I was among the fiiirist (to secure a "charger" in the shape of a mule, which I found hiitched in the out- skirts of the City. I christened my mount Prestigiitator, because he play- ed me so many tjrioks, and my com- panions soon changed my appelation to aachariah on account of my be- ing compelled to cliimb a tree to luounl kiim with safety. On miy re- turn four days later I left the mule c'xai'lty where I had "conscripted" him. and never heard from him again. His owner, no doubt, had long before be^u convinced from his actions that the Leas: was an emisary of Belze- bub and was not at all surpriised to find 'uui in the same spot where he had left hdm after an unacoountable abi:enc(- of four days. We captured Lhe 'vquired numbi ,r of negroes, some twenty five or thirty and when we returned loaded them on a trans- poit 'i;d prorM>^v'.ed up the river *o the mouth of the Yellow Bushy riv- er wheire the fortitications were in course of construction. These blacks were used exclusively as laborers. I ntver saw an {"'nied negro in the Confederate sreviice. Tihe chief fault of o:m' soldiers was their contempt for the spade. Very few of thiem had been accustomed to hard manuial lab-

or and avoided trench diiggang as mux^h as possible, often to our disad- vaitagi-

Aifter delivering our charges we joined our regiimemt, which we found lr»ca*ed at Fori I'emberton, near the conjunotion of the Tallahasae and "fa'.oo risers. Ihi^ Font had been recently con,structed as a part of the Tne of defense of Vicksburg against General Grant, that city bedag the last stronghold on the Miseissippi river in our posseission after the fall of New Orleans. Thde 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 fifteen men, which oocured soon after our arrival. We always referred to it as a slaughter pen. While we were here we were confronted on several occasions by a portion of Grant's ar- my, but they did not attack \is., and as we stood stri.ctly on the defensive no engagements occured. An occas- ional shelling by a gunboat was tlie only fire of the enemy we were ex- posed to while in this vicinity, and as these did not venture near enough to do much damage their shelling merely served to break the monotony of camp Mfe.

The outposits of the opposing army were on several occasions just op- posite each other on the river, which was at this place about seventy five yards wiide. The pickets on these posts would often amuse each other by tantaMzdng or joking. Often the guards entered imto 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 fnend or foe that crossed him. This man, whose name was Ferrdn, had gotten the idea into his head that our M«j-

11.

or was. prejudiced agaimet hiim, and i ceedlngly scaince while we Wiere atat-

used hiiS. authority to vent his per- sonal spite agaiintit him. Thais officer ordered Fiernn to draw off the car- cas of a dead nxule froim the proxi- mity of the camp. Being in a surely mood the Irishman told him to point bis nose in the diroiotion of hadioa and t-o "double quick." This- enrag- ed the Major and he struck him a blow wiith the flat of his sword. Far- rin, wild with passion, iimmeddatcly seized a pieice of rai,l lydmig at his feet and would have brained the Maj- or om the spot had he noit turned and fled. The Major made for a crowd of men who sa.w them coming ait tuW speed and begaai to laugh and yell, .chociring first one and then the othier until (the whale oamp wasi in an up- roar. The officer ran iaiito the crowd and someone tripped up Ms pursurcr and he was secured. The laughing of the crowd brought Ferrin to his senses an,d he did not try to ca^xh the Major.

Graiht's movomentiB. indicating that he had no intentl/ons of approach ing Vicksburg from the diiroction in which we lay we were ordered to evacuate l-'ort Femberton aaid rieturn 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 annoiunce the coming of morn and the voice of the porkor was no more heard, mons the enemy made a feeble at- Soon after our a-rrivalat Camp Tim- tempt to land troops at Chickamau- ga Bayon. nearhy, but as they with- drew after a slight skirmish our of- ficers concluded that this was a ruse to cover G-eneral Grant'Si real Inten- tioiiis and we were ordered to War- rington, on the Mississippi., twenty miles below Vdokaburg.

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

lianed at Warrington, and ciontinued so until a piece of bacon was liooik'ed upon as. a treasure to be jealiousiliy guanded. Coil. Smith had begged, bought or stolen a piece of a hog which he had conjcealed under his cot. During a lUight his. dreams were disturbed by something apparently crawling under his cot. Seizing his sword in one hand while he made a quick grab with the other he grasped the hand of a oanscrl.pt. I.,eading his prisoaier out into the light of the campflre the Colonel minutely exam- ined his crest-fallen countenance and exclaimed: "I 'kn.ew that it was a blamed conscript. If it had been one of ith.e old boys I never would have gotten, my hands on him". Then giv- ing him a kick he neurned to hiis slumbers.

Hunger hath no ears, neither hath it a conscienioe. Pushed on by hope or fear of .scorn men will brave the terrors of the battle fie.ld with the mosit reckless abandon but few in- deed are thos.e who ha vei'thie moral foi'- titude to leave the pangs of hunger In their own stomachs half appeased in order to relieve a Sitarving com- rade to a similiar extent. The qual- ity and quantity of our rations con- tinued to get no. better while at War- ringtom, .so much so it required the utmost Lnguinity on the part of each of us to keep the lamp of life alight. Some one discovered that the ewamp around our camps were full of wild bees and a hunt for the trees con- taining their stoii'.es of honey was or- ganized. By working all day in the mud and water up to o-ur waists, for we were compellied to wade bayous which heire run into the Miissdssippi, we succeeded in. gathering a suffici- ent quantity to supply the whole re- giment with at least one full meal of this delicious sweet.

The lord temp.ereth the wind to the shorn lamb Siome.tini.es and we made another discovery of naturie's bounty

12.

on thl© expeditio-n. We found thie a- bt>ve meaitiomied bayoua canitainied iu- uumerable icraw-»tiii3.h, which we capliur- ed in great profusion. Then after these were cooked they added much io the reliish of our corn dodger.

On May the fifteenth, 1863 we hur- riedly marched into Viicksbiurg, tak- ing our position in the trenches in the rear of the city. We soon found that General Grant with a force said to be one hundred thousand Sitrong had just attacked General Pember-- ton on the Big Black river, defeated him and drove his imferior force be- hind the fortifications at Vicksburg

va&tating charigea the boys lu bliU'e concluded they had enough for the once and withdrew ia disorder. It was during one of these bloody as- Liaulte that a etandard-bearer of the enemy reached our breastworks and planted his flag on, top and jumped down among our boys unhurt. Many of the boyis who saw this said," This Yankee was loaded with gun powder and whiskey on the inside." But Sargeant Bill swore by the eiternal that whiile it was an insult Lt was. true bravery and we should do him the justice to acknowledge iit. The battle raged for about five hours

and was rapidly advancing with an i during which itime the enemy, so it

overwhelming army.

was stated at the time, lost twenty

On the morninig of the sixteenth of thouaand men. Nearly all our con- Alay we found our whole syste^m of scripts and raw volunteers fired

breastworks exteaiding in a semi'Cir- cle around the city to a junction with the river above and below, seven mil- ea in length confron'ted by a heavy line. PreparationiB were made to meet the charge which was momentarily expected. Aanunition wias issued more freely than rations. Com,pany offir- cers laid aside their swords and took up muskets. Parsons withdrew under the bluffs of the river, I suppose that their prayers for our success might ascend to the throne of grace unmix- ed with the unholy sound of war. Many of our third Lieutenaints discov- ered sudden demands for their servic- es as cooks at headquarters or other detached duties far from the madden- ing crowd in blue. We conferred the title of "dog robbers" on these cooks.

On the morning of the 22nd of May Grant began a series of desper- ate charges all along our front, throw ing fifty thousand men against our lines, composed of twenty thousand men. The shocks were terrihle and for a while it looked asi though we would be overwhelmed and trampled under foot by mere force of numbers. However after several bloody and de-

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 oiur breastworks there was a truce declar- ed, Iiastlmg three hours to enable the enemy to bury their dead, which lay thick upon the field, some of them 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 burning fuse that had dropped among his companiomsi, ran to a pool of water and threw it in, thus extinguishing the fuse and mak- ing the shell harmless.

During this truce, although it was contrary to orders, a few lof us evad- ed the guards and repaired to a plum orchard, some distance inside the enemy's lines, where, while filling ourselves with fruit, we ran across sevieral United States Soldiers on a similiar errand. We engaged in friend- ly conversation, taking pains however to get separated before the truce ex-

1 pired.

I The siege went on and the solid shots broke down our embankments

13.

more and more every day. Many of our guns wene diisanantled,, men were droppiing every wliere along itiie liiae and ratioias grew lesai at every issiue until mey were tinftily reduced to one-fourth the prescribed amiount. This would have ooiily beea an. inoea- tive to figliit in the open field where victory would bning us the ©neiray'» camp and stores but under the cir- cumstanices iit only diiaoouraged us. I

thufl with empty sitonaache and our skin from head tx> hieela priioked by the -savage body lice, on the morn- ing of July third a lone horseiman approached the trenchefl from the direction of heaidquarters, leaped his horse over the embankment and un- funled a wMte flag. Thiia man as brave as NapoJeon's guard wept tears of grim despair. With shot and siheJJ sweeping the ground aU about him,

think the history of the war will show, the horseman aped on with face aa

that the Northern, troops exceliled in building and defending fortifications while we were superior to them in charges and endurance.

Grant's "sappers" gradually extend- ed their trenches nearer and nearer to our Unes. His aritiUery bombarded us and every resource known to modem warfare was brought against us until many l>eoame 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 if 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 fortificatione to examine the positijon of the enemy through a field glass while the air was full of sheils all around him. I do not know whether he was killed or not but if he escap- ed he must have been under special proteotdon of the god of war.

Day after day it was reportedi that General Joseph E. Johnson was com- ing to our relief and would fall on Grant tomorrow hut if tomorrow ev- e.' came Johnson did not

After forty-eight days of constantly watching and fighting on quarter ra- tions our commisBary entirely failed.

white as the flag he bore, (for it was not for victory that his life was im- perilled,) and soon disappeared in the enemy's line. The end had come. Thousands of failures had been writ- ten by general's, newspaper corre&- pondents, aides and "dog robbers." on the siege of Vicksburg, explaining in a huiwired different ways why we were not re-inforoed or relieved. The only one' that I have to offer is that the political aspiratlions and bicker- ings between our commander and the Richmond authorities were the sole cause of the fall of the last stronghold in the Missiissippl.

On the morning of the Fourth of July we stacked our arms and marchr 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 ba Visions of close confln- ment in Northern prisona floated he- fore our eyes while the conscripts shook with fear of immediate execu- tion, for Sargeant Bill had told them that Grant had all coniscrlpts shot

Late in the afternoon General Grant issued the first full rations we had had in many a day, thus for the second time our whole regiment was fed at the expense of the United States government, but under how different and much more humiliating circumstances than on the former oc- casion at Shiloh. Many of the boys thought that this kindness shown us was to make the surrender more com-

14.

plet« and that it would b© oouniter balQiiced by added criielty in tit© fu- ture but I had been In Grant's hands before and knew him ito bie hiumane, making war only on those with arms in their hands so was not afraid.

We soon learned tJxat we were ito be paroled, and after paying our in- debtedness to the inner man with com- pound interest at u&urous rates our cheerfulnesB gradually began to re- turn-

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

On the eleventh day, haviing receiv- ed our parole from the United States authorizing us to go where we pleas- ed and oommand ourselves according to our own free will, with the excep- tion that we were not to talte up arms against the Umited States until we were exchanged, we marched outside the fortifiioatioms and dispersed.

The rank and file of our regiment being exceediinglylanxious for a glimp- se of the prairies of Texas once more concluded to take advantage of their eaforoed furlough and visit their old homes in spite of the earnest expec- tations of Colonel 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-

homie.

After crossing the riiver all of Ckxm- pany K. except four, Inoltiding myself concluded to take the lower and shoir- ter route by way of Alexandria, La., while we chose the better but longer way by Natchitoches on Red River. For subflilstenjce we, of course, had to depend upon what w© could beg, bor- row or steal. However we set out gaily singing "Homeward Bound We Sweetly GUde," trusting in the bib- lical assurance that "sufficiient unto the day is the evil thereof."

We found the people along our rout©, though illy provided themselves, will- ing to divide the last morsel wiith us and we had free access to the fruit which was ripe on the treesv at many places overhanging our road. I re- member one feast that came to us in rather an unexpected way. W© had stopped 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 canteen of rum we were soon quite jolly,. One of my oomrads 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 his porch, who ran out and en- tered into conversation with us and invited us to spend the night with him. W^e were well provided for con- sidering the times.

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

gage we trudged along like school j road transportation to Houston. Up- boyia on a holiday, our only draw- on our arrival there we were taken back being blistered feet, for on in hand by aptpreciative citizens, well account of our long confinment in. the i entertained and our tattered gar- trenches at Vicksburg many of the | ments replaced with new ones, boys' feet had grown tender and dls- 1 From Houston we reached our des- comoded them in their ha&te to get | ti nation at Texanna in a few hours by

15.

raii and stage and I was once more , tion we were conveyeid by rail to.San- weicojcaed bemeaLh the parental vime ' dy Point amid from there mafchied to

and tig U'ee.

About the fii-st of October 1863, we received notice thait the Secomd Tex- as liad been exchanged ajid was to be reorgandzed at Hoiustoai. Though there was some doubt as to our be- ing regularly exchamged, all the old members fit for duty reported as soooi as thi® order reached them. Our Colonel soon convinced us that our exchange was all right and that we were not going to fight with a rope airoiund each of our necks, for hanging is^ the puniislimen,t meted out to captured soldiers who have brok- en thieir parole.

We organized at the same camp about two mites from Houstoai where two years before we had originally entered into the service of ithe Con- federate States a& a regiment. We were at that time volunteers, nearly everyone young and thoughtless, fill- ed with exhuberant hopee and strodig in the belief that our regdanemt could wipe ithe beat brigade of Yankees that ever enterd the field off the face of the earth any morning before break- fast.

But now what a chamge had come over the spirit of our dreams. We had fought, starved and laid in pris- on for two years until our ramfcs were reduced to two hundred and ftfity of the volumteers, who though resolved to stand by our country as long as life stood by us, were withouit enthus- iasm and almost without hope. We had learnied many thimgs about war that tended to lessen our zeal for glory thereby, ajnd though we etill answered the bugle call promptly, there was no spontaneous hopes of

Columbia an the Brazos river. Arriv- ing at Columbia we boarded a trans- port and weairt; down the Brazos, to VeJasco, for what piirpose we never fournd out as there was no enemy iu miles of this place. Some of the boy 3 said that we had probably come down for aea-bathimg. It beiaig the middle of winter and our camp bei.ng located on a bare beach where we had no protection froim the bitter North wind that prevailed, we came niear freez- ing on several occasions. Finally we had orders to move West of the Braz- os river about four mi lee where the country was heavily timbered and we were protected from the wind.

In January 1864 we were removed to Cedar Lake, six miles from the mouth of Caney river where a Port 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 wias supposed that the eiijemy was making preparations to land troops nearby in Order to cap- ture the garrison. We were accord- ingly there to support it. Not long after our arrival two of the Federal Gunboats drewjiiear and began to shell the Fort. Our company was ordered inside but on our I'emonstratiaig we were allowed to deploy up and down the beach behind sand hills. The 1 gua in the Fort was soon sileiuced.

An unexpected treat fell to our lot soon after the firing ceased. The Federal gu.nboat ran a Spaniish sail- ing vessel in near the Fort where she gromided. The crew, all Cubans, be- ing much frighteined, abandoned her

each soivndiing of its notes that we ! and took to the woods. Our officers

were to march imto battle immediate- ly. Orde.rs that met omr approval we obeyed but others we evaded as all old soldiiers know well how to do. Having completed our reorgajiiza-

took possession of the boat and car- go, consisting of coffee, Irish potatoes salt fish, calico washbowls and pitch- ers, bar iron and some few barrels besides numberfS of cases of various tonics, which we called soothing sy-

16.

rup, consignied to R. & G. Mills of Galvetston.

W« were ordered by companies to unload the vessel which had now be- come a wreck aaid|we were proaniseid the usual salvage, oiie-ithird of the car- go. Attaching a cable and the whole regiment lemdiiing a hand we soon had a suitable position for unload- ing and in a few hours had taken everythiin.g out except the bar iron.

MeanwMle the boys had tested the various brands of sootbinig syrup which they found to be greatly ex- hiliarati/nig in iits effectsu However, after conibiaiual sampMiUg they discov- ered it to be overpoweringly imtioxica- tlng. In fact by twelve o'clock at night the whole command was stret- ched on the sajnds of the beach help- lesaly drunk, except Major Fly, Sax- geanit Bill and myself.

On sipeakinig of the matter after- ward I placied our Chaplain in the list of the sober but BLll siwone 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 sdmigle side to a question and that to his personal advantage". Bill swore that any man who was too good to associate with the ra;nk and file on earth would de- sert them on the road to heaven. On the sitrength of these convictions he refused to hear him preach. Dirunk or sober the Chaplain was able to de- part the next morning in a cart which hf had loaded down with goods from the wreck.

The FMn 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 all 3ay g»t- ting on their feet. There was visible of the cargo next day alSteir unload- ing, six or »9ven barrels of tonic, one-fourth of the coffee amd crock?ry ware, the remainder having been hur- ried in the sajid by the boys who were so drunk at the time that veiry

little of it was ever recovened, they not beia^ ftble to remember the hid- ing places after they becajme sober.

Geioeral Bee sent w<agon/s down and hauled off the remaininig barrelsi and coffee, kindly leaviing us the bowjs, pitchers, the proper use of which would no doubt have improved our appearances hut as he failed to fur- niak clean towels and soap to go with them we failed to awreciate their value.

About this time two of our con- scriiptai, no doubt recognizing their ignorance of dynaties and with praise- worthy zeal to rise in a chosen (by others) profession concluded to begin an individual inveadgation of these forces, each for himself. Procuring two charged shells from the Port they proceeded to experiment. One of the shells waS' placedi at the roots of a large 'tree, and reaching around from behind one of the "situdents" touched the fuse with a lighted torch. The shell went off and so did two of the investigator® fingers The other daring seeker after knowledge of thi.ngs imiilitary. placed his shell un- der a rude board and stood upon It while he applied the torch. The re- sult was a raipid ascension skyward In which I fear the victim came nearer reaching heaven than he ever wiUi a- gain. Strange to say this fellow re- turned to earth intact 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 Billings 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 assigned, lo post duty up- on our arrival at Ualvemon and re-

war, ueineral Mc«jru(ier, comimander ot the loj'ces on ualvestoin isianid, had his headquanLers in ihe city and our duties comsisted in guarding thes« together with the quarteranasteir and commissary liito-res. In the intervals of guard duty we occupied our tame trying to drill eoonething like soldier- ly bearing into our raw consicripts i/n order to make them fiit for the next war. Most of us had then lost all hope of the presetnit one, for seeiing tha.t the complete subjugation of the Confederacy was only a matteo- of a few months, we soon gave up trying to make any improvements in the awkward squad® of consoripts when asisignied to drill tihem.

We were never molested by the enemy while on Galveston Island. Our nearest appiroach 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 demiamded that the government issue rations to their starvin.g wives and children, which being refused on account of the depleted condition of our com-

ondy military execution, I wditneesed during the war. A private of Geriman

mained there uuiui the cioae of 'une- parentage beloniging to an artillery

company of Col. Cook's, regiment was shot for desertion. He had made two former attemiptsi to deiSerit and it was at last decided to make an example of him. Our regiment was assigned to 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 parleloigram all fading in- ward. The deiEerter 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.

The squad consisted of twelive men, the half of whose guns wiare loaded with powder and^ ball,, the reimaining six guns being charged with blank cartridges. None of the squad knew whether he fired a blank or a ball.

After the execution we were mai--- ched by where the body lay dead up- on the ground in order to impreiss 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 duriiug the summer of 1864 by a silent and insidious enemy a-

missarie®, had come in a riotousi mob gaj^gt which our heaviest guns avail- to secure provisions by force if per- suasion diid not avail.

No one who has not seen a mob of this kind clamoring for bread can have any conception of the crazed and uncontrollable rage of the panti- cipants or aippreciate the difficulty of quieting them withoiit 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 battlte— fields and endured the hardehips of many campaign®, only to sue comb at last to this dreadied scourge. This was a time that tried men's souls be- yond the test of battle shouts. No surging crowd® of men to urge one on to victory or death yet now what heroic bravery it required to sit a- lone through the sad isilent watches of the night beside a plague-stricken- comrad's bed and minister to 'the dieiinig wants of one who's very breath exhaled death into the surrouniding at-

18.

mosphere. But men wier© found in oamp and women 'too In thje|ici'ty| whose thoughts of ©eltf Wiere dfrowned in, oth- er's cup of (treimblimg so. ithat not one wais left ito suffer and die alone.

Aiud here durdng this, ©piidemdic was disp&ayed equally as much heroism if not more than is required to go in- to battle both by isolidiiers and also the good women of the city, true hero- ines iiUdeed who so kindly cared for and miniieitiered to the s'ck and dieing soldiers. I am sometinfies iniclined to agree with thait fellow over the river who leaid: "Woman is the fin^ ishing grace of creation, (the oom- pleteness of man's bli&s and paradise his companion, councilor and comfor- ter in his pilgrimage through life. Our sweetest cup of earthly happiin- ess is mixed and ministered by her hands and in heaven we will bless our creator for her aid in reaching

that blissful G'tatie." Pl'eaae excuse thiis diigresisl'Om,.

Nothing of an eventful nature oc- cured to us durdng 1864. The opening of the spring of 1865 brought with it the down^fall of the Confederacy and the few of us le'fit returned to our homes emancipated after four years from the restraints of military life, which we enjoyed very much. The war | has been over forty-six|y©aira and it isi only the volunteer soldier who fully realizes the changed con- ditions. They ane heavenly indeed now in comparfeon. General Sher- man properly defined war when he said that it was the opposite of heav- en. This is the opiinion. of

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

19.

TO THE DAUGHTERS OF THE CON FEDERACY.

An Insight into the Character of Volunteer Soldier.

I was a VoluQiteer soldier. I have ever loved the word Volunteeir and have deitesiLed the word Conscript. It takes a voluniteer soldier to diacrim- iaate between ithe two. The oompari- son iii like a team com posed of a lazy mule aiid a spirited horse. Each is acLuated by a different motive. The volunteer goes of his own free will; me conscript is coerced.

I was An my 21iSt year when I vol- unteered in the Confederate service. I was so good and so green that my pa thought somethdinig of making a preacher of me but I told him ithat the boys- were all volunteeriang and that I was going to volunteer too. Late of girls kissed me good bye as I had three sisters and one sweet-heart Two yoimg ladies each made me a present one of a bible and the othier of a rather insigmificant one that I was loath to take, but took it as she said that I would need it, and I did, so much so that Lt soon wore out. The lady who gave me the bible exac- ted two promises of me, one was to quit swearing and the other was to read my bible, which I did. And no doubt this oontriibuted ito my moral welfare, as I did not let a day pass that I did not seonetly petition our Creator for his oare and protection and I verily believe that all iintelEgent soldiers did the same, especially in active service, for the fatajilties that were oonistantlv oocurdmg inspired them with a deflire for His protec- tion.

Well, we orgjvniz^f^ ft company with Clark L. Owens as our captain, a man fi.fty-flive years old and a Chris- tian gentleman. We went direct to Houston aind joined the Seoooid Tex- as Infantry, commanded by Colonel .Tohn C Moore, ft West Po'int gyad-

20

uate and a brave and gallant officer but not a Christian, for he wasi red- headed, red-bearded, red-faced, and extremely high-itempered. It was on- ly a short time until I had strong ©us- picions that I had joined a negtiment of devils. In every regim^eint of vol- unteer soldiers there is a strong vedjn of humor that a® ever present and never absemt even in the thiickest of battle .To show you how quickly they can go from the very serious to the very ridiculous I will deacrdbe this scene.

My reigiimenit was doing posit duty and was appointed to escort the re- maifns of Colonel Thomasi F. Lubbock from the depot down la town. He was placed in a public building and lay in state and while his citizen and soldier friends were godjig in and viewing him the regiment was lined up in the sitreet listening to a rose- bud orator enlogdizing. He began in this way: "Thomas P. Lubbock Is dead, dead." repeating this three tim- es. He spoke about one hour and wheu the regiment moved off immed- iately some wag started the ball to rolMng by repeating his finst words which went down the regimient, two- thirds of the boys joining in. This was the most ridiculous scene I ever wit- nessed. Of course, the regiment was disgraced in the eyes of the friends of Colonel Lubbock and the citizens^ of Houston were glad when we left, which we did on the 22.nd of March 1862, going direct to Tennessee, reach- ing there in time to engage in the battle of Shiiiloih which was fought on the &th and 7th of Afpril. It wasi this first day's fight that convinced me fhct I was riight in my concluslans for m^y regiment fought like devils incarnate. Thns was the biiggest re- vival I ever witneissed. There was rrr^at r-'joicime; for w'th an army one- third less than that of the enemy we drove them to the Te<nne?.s'^e riiver and many a poor fellow took his last bath in his '^ffortc to cross. We alfo cap-

tured their entire commiissiairy and quarter-masteir's stores and ate sup- per and breakfast off th.edr comimis- sariies and buit for the death of our general late that e vending we would, have captured the entire army.

The next day, the Tth was revival day foil" the feiderals, for Giemeral Buell on ithe night of the 6th croased over with forty thousand fresh itjr.oo/p,s. I was wounded and left on the battle field and am prepared to advise all young meixi gouig into battle to avoid being shot in the left log beiow the kaee. I was not in a posiitiom to .see how fast the boysi moved tO' the rear but uaderstood they made a good record for speed, which was wisie un- der the circumstances.

I was taken direct to St. Louis and placed in McDoweM'siOollageand kiuidiy careid for. I stayed three mon- ths and of courue learned a great deal and but for the reason that I did not make suffiicient progresrs or some other reason thicy sent me to the penitentiary at Alton, Illiiiois, where 1 stayed three months longer. I enjoy- ed thiej' more than in Colliege for I had moi'e rooim for exercise and soon recruiited sufficiently to throw away my cnutohas and mingle with the 1200 other prJuoners and enjoy their asaociatiosi. If you wilil excuse

me for taking you to the pienitentiary

,.,,,. ^ . .. ^ V- (Written during the Spanisih-Ameri-

I will bring you out again and to be

brief will say that I was sioon with i ^^'" War)

my reigiment.

homie, are unpleasaint memories. I might elaborate on these largely but will refrain from doing so and sim- ply inform you, and would have you beliieve me, conditions as tbey exist today are heavenly indeed in. compari- son. And I would urge that all be interested in the dissemination of the Christi^an religion and Christian education and of course the making of good and wholesome laws for the benefit of the conscript and conditlions will be created that I am sune will more likely meet with diviine -approv - a' than asi other ciiviil war. The vol- unteer Confederate isoldier and Vol- u.rii:ieeir soldiei- of the cross, lis alijO. K. The Volunteier soon becomes imiuiune to that disease called acute verdancy Noit so the conscript, for he is lack- ing in independence and is perpetual- ly under the tutorage of the other fellow.

I thank you ladies for your atten- tion and may happiness ever attend you, may nothing disturb your pure thoughts and may you ever be lovely and pretty are the wishes of my heart.

WAR NOT JUSTIFIABLE.

There is much to be learned of the volunteier soldier. For four years I heard eveir subject under the sun ciisaed and discussed except autooio^ biles, aeroplanes and hobble skirts I do not know why the boys did not think of these.

Now my friiends, not desiring to weary your patience I will conclude with a few more thoughts. The de-

That divinely instiituted law of free moral agency ia as applicable to an aggregaticn of men as to the individ- ual man, and when a coHsction of men. assenible together and devise plans for war, claimiiiag|itto|bo|3Uistiiifi- alile and haividiig the s-aniction of divin- ity L3 equally as absurdjto mylmindjas foT tvv'o individuals to bocomo ant'ago-

moraMz.ing conditions 'that the civil . nistic and settle their grievances by war created, both in the army and at rescrting to armc, resulting perhaps

' 21. .

In th.e deaitih cf 1, aAid the vlictwious party claiiming the Lord wasi cm his side. VVheaii a|man'9|ijndiividiia] domain is thireateaiied by an armed foe, he i* justified in defending It, even if he has to dosituroy life in doing oo. Anid wihen a natioaiis teraiiitioaiy isldnvad'- ed by aai armied force, theai, and on- ly than, m uhie juatlfded, dm resii sting ar^d making war on thelinvadcrlamdi it would bp cowardioe and wanit of pat* rlotisim not to do so, and under these conditiione on,ly, if eiver, the leaders mighit claiini divine direction or tjanc- ticni The dicmorallKang effect of war and the absence of pieity and the un- favorable condiitione for such in arm- ed foriees, and the wijckednessi ajnd viico necessarily^ orecjted in enga.giing i:i the avocatioin of a aoldier is con- cliusive evidence, that the creator has nothing to do wdith war,

Theire is/ we admiit, an overruling providence that is cons'tamitly operajt- Ing on. lives and heari:s of natlotnis or men that con/stitute nations, but pro-

a'lud tellinig lOf whajt a gncifut MIe. pre- srVver the Bliblo^ ie by carrying In it the hroast pocket. Tjho old sojd/iier knowti how thiiis Is dome —-the can' scHipt or cowardly soldier during an engaigeimenit has fneqiicnitly bean known to hdide in the bruisih and reiad the Biible or deck of cards, more ofiten the laititer, .instccd of bciir.g .in tho fighit. By this irjeiRins Ivi® life v/iaa preseirved.

Because] good accrues to men or natione as a ree-uJit of war is no ovl- donioei of dts jiUSitmiCB® or riighteonanesB OH' that the creator sancitioms it. We n;ay be liuired dMo ithe bciliief thiat He does because pecuniary advantages and moral achievemcntjsi ao-dise from it. If Toun shoots down poor BilJltherie will also be pccxiniary bencfite., .espec- ially if BiJi's life its insured. Hio v/id ow iis oistajblished in buHdnessi and started on the road to prosperity- This is frequently tlie case aaid it would be exiti'etaeliy absurd to isay

videmce isi oniiy guidcrig ard direct- that tlie Lord was onu Tom's side.

ing those who submit to his laws.

In oa"der to be properly qualified to becoone a soldder and a formidable aiu tagoncet, there is seemioigly iimpl ant- ed in the mind a hatred of the foe, couitroHiiig chaTac'ticrdisitic of the Criea- tor and producimg Injtho htuman brcasb an element that is antagonistic to whait we ai'e tutored to beldeve is the controlling characteristic of tiie Crea tor, that is love and mercy. We ad- mit there have been a few exoeptiocjS to this rule; in a few isolated cases our warrior leaders' have maintainjed their proper aUeigiance to the creator while prosiecutinig a war. These only are the true heroes, and these only should be eulogized.

The naitural tendency of a soldier life, judgliing fl-om a "ouii- year ob- servatdion and exp^eriencc, isi demor- alization, so much so that in our op

While we bolseve that rigiht and juS' tice will ultimately prevail the Lord seems from observation to be on the side of the strongest and best equiip- pfd. Two of the ablest men anid SMitesmen ithe world has ever produc- ctl were Gladstcnie and Bdsmark. The former not only opposed war except ill case of invasaon, but averted it when possible and when precipitated usic^d means to stop its pnosecution.

The latter in his last days acknow- ledged that he had- been instrumeuital in bringing about three wars, saw hfw they could have boiea averijed;ajnd rt^greitted ho hind r.ot stopiped them. The American people as well as tlie English would do well to emulaite the example of these two statesmen,. But then , desipiite the dire coinse quenc es | of war, it sedms hiistory has *o repeat itself. ThOi greed for Gold love of ccn-

iniion a company of preachers would quest, fame and adventure must be be taking a k/t of chances of becom- ing demoralized, especially in a war of eXitended diuratdon. Preachers us- ed to be very fond of citing instances

gratified; that ambitions element wliich is so closely allied to the brute must be gratified, so that our warrior lerders. Gon. TiheopoliiB Dolittle and

22.

and othena, nmy huva theilp broiws crowtiied with lauineilei amd have coJos- «>ial marhlic-' moiniuimcni:® ©nected im their mieauoiry.

It is evein claiimod, thait in gmng 900 miles from home to tho Phiiipime Is- lanida to £ied a fo© to conquer, is jus- tifiable from a moral staiuipottnit. Cathaliiciism bojiiirg the doaxiiimrjnit relig- ion our D.D's claim it is op/pressi'vio, and we an'e jusitMiaibJie k\ slTJUghterffliiig large p'Sirceimtiogie ci the piopulatiion. in order to make the r&mciiindor acoep't our veirsion of the gosipol regairdlesis or the loss of the litvosi cf sievoral thousand of our young moin in so do- ing 'the creaimjof|the niatdoii'. Wejca/n- uot become rocoiiicaleid to tlie pniinoip- lo of forcible ohri,stianity. If we •could wc woiuM fa/vor ishootitig it in- to som,e of OUT laomc fcilks.

GENEALOGY OF THE SMITH FAM- ILY.

Ralph Smith, San Marcos,

Ajt the first glance, sx this heading the reader would justly conclude tliat the writer had assumed to hian- delif an herculean task, but as my ob- ject is to givie dm brief a biography ^ my own family ancsstors, excludljag ail of tiie name of John Smiith, there beimg none so called in my anceatry, the task will Beem' easier.

ed itio be 80 years old. My mother's parenits,, Wm H. Cook and Martha Cook, for whom my mother was nam- ed, were natdves of Ohio in which state my mother was neared. at the town of Mililedigeviillie. This grand- nicther Liiviod to be 70 years ojd. My grandfather Cook lived to be 87 years, old and served in the war of 1812. H lived unitil I was near grown |and|oifitien deeply imuterested me by repeating his recolleiotions. of the war,|an,d.|iinapiring me with a great desda-e to become a soldier. I feared then the opportun- iity would never come but it did come I had thriee first cousins that sprung from a branch of this Cook family, their names being WilMam HonryjHar- rJson, Benjamin Aibijah Curtis, and Zachariah Taylor Cook. Beiing unab- le to tote such names for long, they neeeasarlLy passed away early in life. Some very noted characteriisifeics of my antecedents were that they weire all born tviith their eyes open, mono had fits, and none of theim ever were hunig, went to jail, the penitontiiary or the leigislature. All were big eat- ers, and some suocessfuil in leadimg a mule to waticr or ^riving a cow down a lane. Of all my ancestors that I have any knowledge nO)ne'|lived| always some succuined to disease whale otiiers more fortunaite lijved u/ntil thei/ machimery wore out and submitted to that irrevocable decree of ithe Crea- tor, and went the way of all mom- kind. Some were heroes in war, but

My father Alfred Smith, was bom March 29ith 1810 in the state of Louds- ! as hero wor&hip is of modern|creatiion

ara, and died August 16th 1889, in Jackson county Texas. I have no re- cord of my mother's birtih or death, but ahe lilvcd to be 65 years old. The wiiter wasjbonnjjuliy 19ith 1840|at|Cen- trcviille. La. My grandfather, Henry Johannon Simith, was born and rear- ed in the state of Maine. He was a keeper of a light house otnltheleoast of La, and while enigaged in this avoca- tion was drowned when my father was a ten year old hoy. My father's mother was of Irish parentage, her family name v/as Armstrong. She 11 v-

and not the fad then, as now no co- lossal marble monumeoit mariks tihe grave of my ancestors. A first cous- in cf my father's whom all readers of Texas hiatory remember, took an ac- tiA'e part in driving the enemy from Texas siodl; I allude to Erasmus Smdfch commonly known as Deaf Smith. I have often hecjr'^ my father refer to hdm 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 siaiil vessel, laiiddmig at tbe oM torvvn oi' Inidianioila, when itransf-ering oiir plumder to a citeani boat we had the hon'Oir of being a parity .to ascenision of the firfsit steam v&sscil uip th© Navir dad riivieir to oM Tiexainna,, hieiad of ,na- vigaitiiciii and our future^ home, gettiiinig in piroxiimiity to this little viHagei in eariy moirniiiig hours, the boat began a i;eirLie,s of sharp and loiud whi3tltO)S which, resiulted in effecting a com- pieie iSitPdrnpede of naitivcs and stock. Same white folks, all the niggers, hoi'iscs, cattlie, hogis, dogsi scampered off to the pro/irile mo dvioibt concluding that the judgement day hfOd come.

My firist recQllectiicin of a school houiSQ was that the inside wall was adormied with hole®. I was frequent- ly caused to eitand en one foot wiith bcok in loft hand the index finger of my right hand inserited in a hole in the wall! and in. this aifctttuide I had to learii' my ICfSrson. If I faiiled, whjich I often diid, 1 wois conducted^ to or nec^r the center of the schiool house and ! for further publish nicnt placed on a | dunce block with a dunce cap om. my ! head and leather sipeotaclGi::. on|,my ey- j es, in thiis comjditiiion I had to endure I

the scrutiinizing gazo of the enitiro I At tlie earnest requic>ot of an old schooil, which was humiliating indeed. I lady friiend and school mate who in- Foi'taina'jGiIy for me there wasi suffi- 1 u;.sts that I write something of my

siiinmon beeir. Now we have virgin pulletis, turkey and craubeirry sauce, chicken anid salmon salad, metropo'li- taii and angel cake, and other num- erouiu. delicacies.

And- the pioipular theme of the day Ijs the heroeis of|tliiejwar wholareeulioigiz- eu even from the pulpits-. For shame when if thetse heroeis, many of them, could have their just deserts, would have a simiilan inscription on their tombstones as that furnished to old Kaisel by an Indiian poet, thu:3ly: There was man who died of late,

For whoim the. angels did ian patient- ly wait. With on L stretched wings of love

To waft him to the realtaiis above. But while the emgelis werie hovering in the skieS'.

And diisiputing over the prize. In sKipped the devil like a weaael, Anid down to hades he carried Keisel.

RECOLLECTION OF MY HOOD DAYS.

BOY-

cieat sympathy malnifeigted for me to encourage me to majlce some heroic sf forts to master my task'.^,. I succeod-

j boy hoed and ycimg mainhcod days. I have decided to give to the public something thot came u.nd>er my obS)3r-

ed to that extent that di,v,orced me i vation and to which I was a-:, eye-wit-

forevei' from these modes of punish- ment.

My first reicollecticns of preaching vvas in a schoiol house; the advent of the parcon was looked to with joy, the meni w^ould herald it abroad, the woihisn would cry aloud "the parson is a coimiiD, or comin,"

ncss, and which I have not the least idea that not anicther man iiu Hays County ever witnicsBcd a like scene. About the year 1856 the re | came from South Carolina a bachelor man, poesi- b]y thirty-five years old, with six ne- groes and other proiperty. He bought an uuLmproved tract of timbered land

Now we have massive church huiid- about ^''tieen miles from old T-exanna iings in every town with clear sound- ; iu Jacksea county, moved ca\ it with ing bells proclaiming the coming of his negroes^ and began cleaxiing it up.

the Sabbath day, and parsonis are thicker than cottom tail' rabbits.

My earjiy recollections of a Christ- mas dinner was that it consisted of braked poissuim, sliced potato pie aind ginger cake, washed down with per-

or had his negro slaves to|do|sc while h: foilloiwed buying and aelling hor-ses a;:d was frequently absent for several weeks.

At the time of the circumstance that I desire to mention he had been

24.

abisemt seiveral anoniths and his near- tbey were extremely haippy and each. ^'st njeighibor!:5Mbad|begian|to|ha,ve|S(tirong| one was placed upon his own coffin

suspicdcino )that somiethdiig hjad hap- pened tO| him and I'commencedjtol make sam/8 investigrjtlionjs which rcsullbed in the aiiTOst sund inccirecraiticn in the county jaiLl of three nogro men and one woman. Shortly after being' plac- ed in jail Ihoy all confessed to the killing of their macjtcr. Their ciaimes wene: Zeke who was a preacher and John and Jack the oldoot, c, man of herculean strengtih six feiet three in^ chos in. heighjth. And he was the "genitleman" who wielded the ax thiat ^lont hafj. mGisitor inito etercity while he was. asleep in the clearing T/i.th his stid'dle for a pillow in the mffiddle of tlie day.

They threw his body into a bru&h pile and burned it to ashe.s and. iit was siaLd that eiveryithing burned up but his heart rjnd we boys and many men wiere supersiti!tiiOu.s enough to be- lieve this rot. Possiibly it was so as it might haA^e been 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 fix>m my viewpoint of things now if tlii.s man practicedi one- half of the cruelty that, these poor slaves accused him of he undoubtedly got his just deserts.

Well in due course of |timelthe|threie men were condemned to be. publicly hung. The jury that tried the wom- an failed to agree as. one man on it would not conrent to ho^ng a wo.man, .'JO she waal finally lliberated. The|thre© men had their usual thirty days, to prepare for their final departure in

in a wagon sod moved ciff under a strong guard of armed men to the gallowii one-mile off in the open post oak wood and near a pubilic road.

As they were marched to tihe place they sang all the way some old bible hymn with a crowd of us school boys as hearerL'.. On reaching the gallows Tliiey found waiitiing the largest crowd ot whJte .mGii and negroes of both cex- 66 I ever saw together, the negroes being coercedi to see the sight. If any was left behind at home it was. dead ones and babies.

The tlinee men were .mad!e|to| asioend- t J the top and on the trap door and '3iuch given a few minute® to talk. Old Jack and John made short speeches but Zieke, the preacher, m/ade quit© 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 Zeke'ti was not and it seemed as though he would not giive it up and struggled fearfully, hie feet moving with as.t.onishin.g 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.'.

NotwithsitandiiJng the solemnity of the ocoasaon this uncalled for outburst brought some smdiles to the boys.

From younig manhood up I have ev- er been irresisitibly drawn toward preachers, especially negro preachers, therefore I got to withdn ten feot of Zeke so I heard all he said and altho a thoughtlesK boy I was impressed with it, too much so for my good, for I coiuld see those dead negroes for a month afterft'ard, especially after eat- ing a bdg supper.

This spot of ground became sacred.

which timeitheld'ifferentjpreachers had .% much so that the public road was them in charge and adminastered spir- changed and no man, white or black

itual consolation to them, by which I have no doubt they were very much benefited.

At any race by tho day of t^xecution

ever got near it, day or nighft, except one of my chums who claimed to ride near the spot cfL?n on dark nights and was not the least

26.

hJ. afraid, ,m h/c would go by wi^- tiuig. Hte fiamo was Ananias No 2 Many were *be ghoBts afterward seen in the vicinifty.

Well, the vdiUiage doctor bought the body of big Jack wi^i the ioiteii- tion of mafciing- a skeleton for exhibir tioii. Of course this- imtsrested all the hoys and we looked forward to i the time with eageraeGs aa:d impa- We to the time when, we would «ee! this curiosity. Well the time came, j borne mail rode to the school house I and reported to us: that the doctor | had Jack's bones together. We^ bovs ' dismissed the schooi. leaving the tea- cher m charge of the girte, r^cid belt- ed for ,the doctor's office in a rur same, three- hiundred yards- off On our arrival the doctor told us, tha/t we I would find what we wanted in a clos- i et in the reai- of Ms office.

A few of us approached the place and peeped in. There we sa-w Jack's bones all together in a box. where jthey remained only a saort time and • I then werel c^nrnped, into, ohe Naividad river The Doctor was not as bravo a? he thought and had no notaom of stayiing in his offflce with Jack's skele-

tOiU.

We bc.ys, aliwayis ttioraght cur teiacC- I ex- was the principaJl acton in- pinn,- j^ng this April Fiooli scheme for our benefit for he wa« a jolly gooKi fe,l- Mow when net in, schooJ trycr,£- to ! hammer some book scnsie toto ^ur ! thick heads.

Well when the negroes were set free the ghost disappeared from- the land. I have never seen a ghost smce the civil, war, for which I thank the Lord.

26.

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