Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-10-07
Talk viii a Rebel.
From IT, Philadslphia Prsss.I

! beard shout IOm the surrounding thTOug
s. Here come the rebel prisoners Here theJ
come r' Finding it much easier to he borat
along witt the crowd than to stem G current S,
irresistible as hundreds Of excited people, down
We went to the cars, with their TpbeliOUs bug
dens toward the y harf; for this time impeiied
I by q sympathetic curiosity, quite as strong as
The most enthusiastic spectators. Proceeding
over blocks huge pebbles or rather bouders,
railway tracks, formidable arrays Of crinOine,
we halted st the car next tO the engine. The
cars having stopped the swaying multitude
paused, the gebes thrust their Leads from the
windows, and, practically, save the wagging Of
few l0qusci0us peanut and lemonade women,
there was complete rest" a Ia Militairs
More conspicuous than bis fsll0w prisoners,
was young man with d faely chissied face.
searching, intelligent, black eyes, and evenly
developed forehead, leaning caIelessly out Of the
window, taking a view Of the illuminated Vol
unteer Rsfreshment Saloon. Around him ard
his comrades were the people. Each lookei at
the other. prisoner and spectators, SpeechIsssiy,
until SOutbron Z" asked
What place IS that, sir, lighted up2"
That" replied a citizen, IS the v0lUntser
refreshment saloon, where the Union soldiers are
fed on their way to and from the war"
Rebel-It is very comfortable looking estab-
Ishmeut, sir
Citizen-Yes # is. Wouldn't you Ike to be a
Union soidierl
Rebel would have no objection for about a
half hour, sir.
Citzen-Do you belong to fighting Iogi-
meut2
Rebel belong, sir, to a South Carolnarogi-
ment.
At this point, the pressing, pushing and
cTOwdiug became SO violent, from the anxiety Of
the people to catch every syllable uttered by the
intelligent young rebel, that fortunately, we
were very suugly pushed against he css, direct
" under The Ieoe., SO that we lost not a word
After slight pause aucther citizen asked the
rebel
Where are you front"
Rebel am native Of South Carolina, sir,
bat | enlisted from Macon, Ga, where I was
employed ss 8 clerk
Tbs nsme Of South Carolina startled an en-
thuslastc EmeraIGsr from his rsp0se, " no saiG:
That IS the S-ats we are going 10 sink"
Rebes-That may be, Dir, mt thars is not
South Carclinian living who viii not gladly sinh
with her
To which sharp but vulgar little beg Isplisd:
Now yOu are only blowing"
Rebel geutemau-I am prisoner by the mis-
chance Of war, for itjs one of the mislOrtunes Of
war to become a prisoner. and hone you viii
not insult me. Ve are entirely ai your mercy.
and ask only that you treat Us Ike men. We
have been treated well BY yoar soldiers, and
though We don't expect citizens to act ike sol
dlers do to each other, yet we hope that you viii
not uuProvoksdiy Insult Us.
Citizsn-You shouldn't mind thai remark; II
was only made by boy.
Rebsl--OUr soldiers always treat your pris
Onsrs well, sir.
Citizen-Eot at Richmond
R-bel-In Richmond the citizens may have
treated the Federal prisoners badly, 6us 1 am
sure the soldiers could not do it, tor, as far as
my observation exteuds-and it mas been large
the soldiers on both sides uniformly treat their
prisoners kindly.
Citizsn-What division of the rebel army
were you in
Rebel was in General A. P HIS division
sir, and General Jackscn's corps Of the Conted
crate army.
Cibzen-Then you we're in the fight with
Pope
Rebel-Yes, sir, for nineteen days, we were
either following she Federal army or they were
following rs, so there was slweys fighting alter
ustoly from the Iesr.
Citizen-Then you have seen some service
Rebel have, sir, since the assault of Fort
Sumter. After the evacuation Of Fort M0u.trie,
/ was there aud assisted TO make "a -usr9usvl
J1an II ever was. nave been cons lantiy or
the field since, and including the lasl battle Of
Manassas, where was taken prisoner by the
IO1Ih Pennsylvania regiment have been IL
fourteen engagements.
Citizan-I should think you were pretty tired
of war;
Rsbel-Wen, sir, I left a comfortable home
from sincerity Of conviction. l have put Up
with privatious TO which I have never been ac-
customcd, but 1 don't complain, sir.
Cisizer-What are you ightiug for anyhow
Rebel believe, sir, that l have been fight
ing for the maintenance OF a gTeat pnuCIple. 1
may be wrong, sir, but that conviction has sus-
tained me- for fourteen months before your bat
teries. We believe that Ve are right, and that
we will bo eventually successful l can't ex-
sctly defue the nature of the principle for which
we are coutending. The statesmen Of both sec
tons of our country have not been able 20 come
to q satisfactory conclusion about it. If they
had, we should not have been at war.
CiGzsn-Whst if you are not successful
r sbel-Theu don't care what becomes Of
me but / don't want them ever TO see South
Carolina sgain. l am sorry thst We Americans
are fighting against each other. l would nOt
care the least if our enemies were ElRlisb lri5h
or Dutch.
Citizsn-Wby. one half of your soldiers,
at least, have been forced into TIE Southern
army.
Rsbel-That IS not true, sir. went volun-
tsrily don't know any VINO have gone other
wise. There is one Of our men ii the car WITH
ms, who told at Harrisburg that he was forced
into tle Confederate service and l say to you,
il his hearing, that he lies. l have heard your
men say the same when they were taken pTis-
oners, but I believed it to be ali stuff. Any !
soldier who would say such thing on either |
side, IS unworthy to bear a musket IN any cause; /
he is a liar aDd a coward.
Citizsn-We hear thar your army have scarce !
~ p-fvtf,1v-- 70 act aud hoy No eh0ng
Rsbsl--SO iaT IS my observation goes, that IS |
not true. When we have been on long, quick |
for which some Of our generals ars /
famous, we may have suffered some, being faY .
away from our supplies, but thai such was the |
regular condition OF the Confederate armies, /
believe 20 be false.
Tae Citizen who he'd been interT0gsting the /
rebel prisoner here retired, and his place, and 4
else's place were filed with a " stal /
gart boy" from Erin, who, doubtless, fslt it /
duty to carry on conversation with the pris- 1
0DeT. He began With Say, / say, dd yces 4
see tie Saxty-n0in-h sir IN yoUT travels O.
Rsbel-The what sir
Edn-The Saxty- y-aoi1th-did yees never hear I
Of the bOysl
Rebel don't know what yOu mean. L am
not accustomed to the slang of these parts. !
Erin-I mean the Irish 5oys-sho New York /
six y-uinth.
Rsbel-I never heard of them, but If Il viii 4
afford you any grasi6cation, can tell you that
| heard there were good many Irish in the
Federal forces, but they never gave US chance
10 see their faces.
Erin-You name that while they were march
ing along not sispectn' an enemy, yea Poorsd .
INTO their rare from yer masked bstteries.
Rebel don't want 70 talk to you, sir. In
my county, a dog like you, if he had the cour-
age st all to bark, would soon get his ears
cropped,
Cittizen-What do you do with the Irish who
are il your armies
Rsbel--Ws have no faith in either Irish or
Dutch, and, therefore, never put them in the 4
isld. They are used for garrison duty, Whe.o /
here is iitsle probability Of attack
. The conversation between tbe parties was 1
lere broken by the guards preparing to conduct I.
he prisoners to the boat FOR Delaware. We Z