The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1863-05-20

strictly guarded. The dirt was general,
about one inch deep, well mixed with lice
We could neither beg nor borrow !
broom. The wind made the dust drift
from place to place, as it blew in different
directions. This thought was rather
hard. j sent by one of the guards for
lead pencil. 1t only cqst dollar IN Con-
federate money Small pie, co. each ont
dollar, and scarce AT that. A cake OF
soap one dollar, ard everything in pro-
portion. One seeesh soldier, more hon
orable than many others, offered me ten
dollars for my pocket knife
| We remained four days at Columbia,
/ Tenn. The eonscripts and myself had be-
come quite friendly Some Yankee pris-
oners comingin from the battle of Frank
lin, We were all of us put under strong
guard and marched of to phelbyville,
Tenn. A few miles from Columbia the
surface of the country is quite level, but
there is only q few inches of soil on a
limestone rock, generally covered with q
dense growth Of red cedar timber, just the
size for railroad ties The soil is very
sticky. The land does not seem to wash
but little.
On ths second day. early in the morn
ing, we passed good looking house.
Two ladies made their appearance with
pies. The officer in charge asked the
price. One lady said % cents piece to
secesh cavalry, blu. that she would give
them to Yankee prisoners and con-
scripts. The ladies disposed of their
pies.
| When we anne within mile or two of
ShslhyYille, the whole Of General Cheat
hams Division was out on drill. | had o
full view vi their various maneuvres for
more than one hour. | estimated them at
80, 900 men.
Here again | was questioned and cross
questioned. and finally ordered to the
guard house with the oonscripts. Here
we had to bake our own corn bread and
broi our half ration Of bacon. We had
nothing else 70 eat. In the guard house
! soon discovered pretty sharp looking
old negro man. Immediately went to
the officer of the guard, who seemed a
good fellow, and complained of his intro
ductlon of ne gro equality in the guard
house. H. sgid he could not help it.
then enquired what the ne2ts was under
guard for. lie said it Was for plotting
c9nseripts fro IN the rebel camp to Rose.
Grams lines, an d that said negro was the
property Of a Union man then living in
Nashville.
The conscripts and myself, about %
in number, were crowded into very dir
ty stock car, and went by the way of War
Trace to Tull Ahoma, through very poor
country The rebel troops we're quite
thick along this road, guarding against al,
anticipated cayalry raid from Rosecran' .
army.
On approac hing Tullahoma your hum
bic servant Kept as sharp a look ont as
possible. The rebels had thrown up con.
siderable earthworks. view ed their en-
campments and conversed with the guards
who had US under their charge. and fualy
estimated Bragg's or Johnson's forces at
this pssts at 10000 men. From the pris-
on window | had fair view Of their prin-
cipal encamprnent, and saw them 6gh,
two grand sham battles. Their plan is te
form two complete lines of battle, say
100 to 200 yards apart, placing those
regiments in front that have the largest
amount OF conscripts, SO as to make the
second line drive the first line on to the
Union forces. They practice yelling like
devils, so rs to scare the Union forces,
but their yelling is two handed game.
While at Tullahoma / noticed daily
large fatigue parties detailed to strength
en- the earthworks in the vicinity
On the alst and ED their lsrg. en-
campment was broken up and all their
forces seemed to be marching TO meet Ro-
secrans. There were no surplus supplies
at Iuliahoma, but report said there was
large supplies at Bridgeport. but when we
arrived at Bridgeport had good chance
for observation. There was no supplies
there. Then report said the large SUP
plies were at Chattanooga. At Chasts-
nooga had but little chance for obssrv.-
ton. but msde the acquaintance Of some
citizens aud quite number of new con-
scripts, some from Florids, and others
from below ATLANTA, Georgia. They all
concurred in Che opinion that the supplies
were light.
In going from Tullahoma TO Chatt..
nooga the country Is poor and mountain.
Gus. We passed through Cumberland
Mountain by d tunnel. noticed several
places where they we're mining bitumin.
GUS stone coal. Near Chattanooga we