Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-01-14
The rnlon .lea Of North rarolIna

From the Cincinnati Commercial, Dec. co.
Captain Albert Grant, of the Nineteenth
Wisconsin Infantry, who was taken prisone,
before Petersburg in June last, and escanej
from the Confederate prison pen at Colpr-
hia, South Carolina, arrived in this CITY VOC
terday. His narrative of experience in ~
South is unusually interesting, as he is a var.
tleman of much intelligence, whose habits &c
observation enabled him, during his captiv.
ity, to accumulate an extraordinary yarist,
of information. More than that, there is ~
doubt whatever as to his entire truthfuIpess
In the first place, he was much surprised
on passing through the rebel camps and linz,
Immediately after he was made prisoner =.
the appearance of weakness of Lees ann.
and he hardly knows how to account for 10
failure of the Army of the Potomac to crusS
il. He was for time in the city of CharIos
ton, and had the pleasure of noticing the rsnL
growth of grass in King street, the princinaI
thoroughfare of the city. 1t is his opinion
that about one half of the city has been de-.
stroyed by the CONGREGATIONS that occurred
early in the war and the year of bombard
ment, recently suspended during the exchange
of prisoners. Our shells frequently set the
town on fire, and once, during his STAY. a
shell caused the burning of twenty-seyen
buildings. While marched as a prisoner
along the upper part of King street, he look
ed closely to see how the number of stores
that were open compared with those that
were closed. He but three business
houses with open doors, and they seemed tn
be doing a small grocery business He made
his escape from the cars while being trans.
ported to Savannah, and wandered about in
South Carolina for nearly month, when he
was compelled to call at a house to get water.
as the weather was exceedingly hot and the
country parched with a prOtracted drouth,
and was reeaptured. The man into whose
hands he fell was a member of the South
Carolina Senate Just at this time Sherman
was in the neighberhood of Atlanta, and the
news of the battles of the goth and 22d of
July was being circulated. We had lost
Mcpherson, and the rebels claimed to be vic
torious The South Carolina Senator decIar
ed that the end of the war was at hand. The
contest between Hood aud Sherman, for the
possession of Atlanta, would be conclusive.
to his mind. If Hood defeated Sherman. the
Yankee army would be totally destroyed, and
that would conclude the war. And if Sher-
man took Atlanta, he was in favor of giving
up, as it would be madness to fight any more
after that. Atlanta he considered the gate
to Southern Georgia and South Carolina, and
its fall would be the ruin of those States,
while their overthrow would give a mortal
wound to the confederacy.
Captain Grant was in Savannah when Sher-
man took Atlanta, and describes the sensa-
ton there as profound. The rebels seemed
stunned, and there were curious develop
ments of Union feeling among the people
For time, the Captain says, he was in doubt
whether the rebels would not really give up,
feeling their cause hopeless and knowing that
all their sacrifices were in vain.
From Savannah Captain Grant was sent to
Columbia, where he made his escape, walk
ing, he believes, nearly six hundred miles, by
very circuitOus paths, of course, and coming
out in East Tennessee.
The most remarkable of his observations
relates to the numbers and spirit of the Union
men of North Carolina. When he had been
twenty days out, and had just crossed the
line between North and South Carolina, lie
was startled about the middle of the night
by hearing voices in the middle of the road
and approaching. Stepping aside and listen
ing closely, he was treasured by the discovery
that one of the voices was that of a negro,
and supposed of course the other was a ne
gro also. He called them, and inquired the
road to a town not far distant, which was in
the direction he wished to go. A white
mans voice replied:
"Men of your stamp don't want to go to
that town-you must flank it,"
"What do you mean by men of my stamp"
was the response.
"Why," said the Carolinian, 81 mean that
you don't want to go there, that's all; but
you must flank it."
"But what do you suspect me of being? ?"
Captain Grant inquired.
"YOu are Yankee" replied the Carroll
MAN tEif vOu ern thnra vOry will ha rnada oriS-
oner."
'And if am a Yankee" said the Captain,
"and wanted to flank the town, is there any
body about here who could show me how to
do it q? is there such a MANI"
"That be" was the reply, and the Caro-
linian parted from his negro companion, who
turned out to be woman, and took Captain
Grant to his house, and called up his wife and
had her get supper for the stranger. Cap
tain Grant had been for months in rebel
prisons, and Jared hard, and for twenty days
had been sleeping by day in hiding places
and crawling weary and sore footed, on his
way by night, living on raw corn. The sup
per at the hospitable Carolinian's, he says,
was the best he ever tasted. There were hot
wheat cakes and cold chicken and preserves,
and everything was inexpressibly good.
Here Captain Grant got his first insight of
of the real Union party of North Carolina.
His host told him where and how to find
Union men, and marked out the most favora-
bic roads for him to take, giving many direc-
tiOns, all of which were proven to have been
given in good faith. The mountains of West
ern North Carolina were found swarming
with Union men, refugees from rebel con
scription. Many of them live in caves, ven
ture out to see their families at night, and al.
together lead very wild and strange life.
They we're not alarmed at the idea of enter
ing an army because they feared to encounter
the dangers of war, but they had horror of
fighting against their country and the old
flag and would undergo perils and privations,
aud die rather than do it. Captain Grant
found in one place den in the woods, inge-
niously constructed, in which fifteen of those
men lived. When he reached these friendly
people he was in pitiable plight, his clothes
being nearly all torn off, and his boots worn
until they ceased to afford any protection to
his feet. The Union refugees harboriRg in
one of the huts in the woods were he found
shelter, mended his boots, so that they were
made quite servicoable-
1t is the opinion of Capt. Grant that there
are from sac to ten thousand Union men dyoid-
ing rebel conscription IN Western North Carroll
ma, and that tie Union feeling there is as general
and positive as Il eUer aoaS Ia East Tennessee
He actually raised a company, nearly one hun
dred strong, of the Carolina refugees, and
brought them into East Tennessee, where
they narrowly escaped being made prisoners
by Breckenridge, and he left his company in
the woods and proceeded with one of them TO
Knoxville selected IN he an officer who re-