The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1863-07-28

at about o'clock in the morning. A
last one Of our boys was hit, and, bein!
in command of the pickets, l set abou
investigating the matter. There wa
nothing about the planter except tn,
fact Of his being Shareholder, to excit,
suspicion, but that convinced me he hat
a hand in it. | never knew ore Of them
however strong his professions of loyal
ty, who was not at heart rebel.
81 sent for the old darkev, to ques
ton him, and. hearing oft. the planter
came to my quarters, and insisted tha
he had a right 10 hear what his negro
said. | felt sure | couldn't get the
truth out Of the slave in his masters
presence, but | consented to 20 on with
the examination. | put some leading
questions to the old mdE, and in a quiet
straightforward way he told me that an
officer of Bragg's army had been in the
habit of visiting the mansion every few
nights for several weeks That he came
about midnight, left his horse and order.
y concealed in the woods, and went up
TO the mistress's room as soon as he en-
tered the house, the master joining him
there, and remaining with him general
~ for an hour or two. And he added,
with perfect coolness: Directly af'er
de cap'n wud leab. Sar, I'd allars yere
de shootin' 'mong de woods. | reckon
ed dat was quar-, till finarly, one day, |
yered Massa a tellin' Missus dat de
Cap'n was bound to wing one OBJ dem
Yankees anyhow | asked him why
the officer came there, and the old fel-
low scratching his wool, and assuming a
very stupid look, said /:
Z" dosn't knows, Cunnel 1t alters
'peared berry quar- ter me dat he shud
come. but reckons de Secesh wants ter
larn whot's gwine on in de camps Mas
sa, heseff, wus alters berry curious bout
dat. an he sot me, ober an ober agin,
ter fine out-tole me | must keep my
yeres wide open wheneber | toted you
de truck but. you alters hab your
mouth shet so berry close, Cunnel, dat |
neber could find out ting-not ting.
Sar.'
Here the Colonel burst into fit OF
laughter. \ S soon as he could readiust
the mucles Of his mouth to the English
dialect, he continued:
Through the whole Of this, the plan
ter threatened him, and he finally storm
ed, and raved at him like mailman. but
the old Christian went on as uHdisturb.
ed rs Quaker meeting, only once in a
while answering his master, with You
knows tim de Lords truth, massa |
karn't say muffin else. massa lse berry
sorry massa- pears like I'd die fur you
massa, case | loted Won when yous a
chile, an Ise alters lubed YOU; but |
karn't say muffin else-de Lord woant
left me say muffin else, massa. No, He
woant J
"The darky knew we might march At
any moment, and that, when we did,
there were ninetv-nine chances in n
hundred Of his being whipped to death
by his master. or BY some of the neigh
bors, il his master wasn't left to do IL ;
and vet he was as cool as | am. Martin
Luther, when he went into Worms, ex-
pecting TO meet the devil himself, didn't
show the moral courage Of that old ne
gro. He convinced me that the black Is
altogether too much OF Man TO be a
slave"
And what did you do with the mas
ter -
Nothing. Our Brigadier. who had
been frequent guest at his house,
thought il not exactly the thing to hang
a white man on n nigger's testimony,
and so let him off II | had had my
way. be would have hung higher than
Haman"
And what became Of the negro -
"Not many days after his master was
released he came TO my tent one evening,
and. with a little hesitation. said to me
Cunnel. don't want ter Stub you,
but de Lord come ter me lass night, Sar,
an he telIed me ter come yere an Jeff
YOU know what's gwne on
"' And what is going on ?" asked
him.
Wall. you see, Cunnel, de dehi'
hab got inter massa an he swar hem
gwine ter kill me fur telln' you bout de
Secesh Cap'n.'
81 assured him | would protect him
and accordingly. in a day or two.
packed him off. with his traps and family
to the Fret States. 1t was n exactly
according to Tennessee law, and hi:
owner protested warmly against it, but
advised him to prove his loyalty anc
claim his property of Uncle Sam.
+" The old darky lived in li,lle los
cabin near his masters house, and th'
dav he WAS to leave | rode out to SCI
him safely started. His small amount o
personal property was slowed away il
the ambulance. which was II take hin
to Nashville and his wife. a good look
ing mulatto (the old fellow himself wa
blacker than ink had already mounte,
the wagon. 4 pretty quadroon woman
Of about thirty. who passed rs the oil,
mans daughter--though she couldn'
have been of his blood--was helping o.
10 the seat beside her mother the mos
beautiful little white girl | ever saw
+ She was we'll dressed, with fair. clca
rosy skin. and an eve as blue as indigo
| Supnosinr she was their masters child