Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-07-17
THRILLING INCIDENTS OF THE
IL. WAA u. -


In the month of June 1868. bel
! anxious to furnish our friends in Englsl
every information, concerning the pr
| gress of events, We left Granada; Mi
sissippi, and wended our way towar
-Abbeville in the same State for the pu
pose of obtaining pass from. Gen, Viii
pigue to enable him to proceed to Men
phis. A Yankee school marin accon
panied the writer of this to the heat
quarters of the lamented General. Tn
lady had been preaching Radicalism
the Southerners and that country becOn
ing too hot for her ladyship, she detel
mined to leave for PorkopOlis, he
adopted city. Putting up at the Collin
House in Granada, and learning that W
were on the eve of going to the Blui
City, she kindly asked US if we woul
accompany her portion of the journe.
at least. This we could hardly refuse, a
our sympathy was enlisted in be
half Il, of one whom we suppose'
had probably fallen into bad company b.
associating with Radicals in the South, ant
becoming disguised with them, perhaps
was on her way to Yankeedom to use he
fundamentally in convincing that partl
OF their error. But suffice it we had M
difficulty in obtaining the necessary docu
ments from Col. Falconer, the then cour
teous and gentlemauly agent on Gen
Villepigue's staff. 3d7 % 2's9fri'l.,
Arriving at Senatobis, we proceeded t.
the headquarters of Col. Jackson. This
gentleman hesitated at first to indorse our
papers, but finding evidence of our iden.
tity which were fully satisfactory to the
Colonel, he gave US the following, and
sent US on our way rejoicing:
t'ass Mr.. T. w. W., British subject
and correspondent through our lines
to Memphis. -
Everything passed on evenly and
placidly until we reached the late
Mr. Farrel's, about eight miles
from the Bluff City on the fernando
Plank Road This gentleman's negroes
had left him the night previous for the
Yankee lines at Memphis, and the old
gentleman passed us in hot pursuit to en-
deavor, if possible, to recover his lost
property; his efforts, however, were un-
successful t -
Arriving at Memphis, we proceeded to
the GayOso House, and leaving the lady
who accompanied US in charge of Col
Crockett, the host of that once famous
establishment, we wendell our way to-
wards the headquarters of Gen. w. T.
Sherman. Our business with hisindivid-
ual was to obtain permission to carry out
few supplies TO our family at Granada,
Miss. He refused, however, to comply
with our request, acting Gen. Ham
mond giving US distinctly to understand
that Gen. Sherman would not issue per-
mits under any circumstances. The Gen
eral thinking probably he had us Just
where he wanted Us, asked the following
question; 'tBy whose authority did you
reach our lines 2" Our answer was: trBy
pass | obtained from Gen. Villepigue,
at Abbeville, Miss, and which was in
dorsed by Col. Jackson at Senatobia.
Gen. Sherman remarked: 81 don't re-
cognize Col. Jackson, sir; because that
gentleman is in armed rebellion against
the United States" Well, said, this is
domestic quarrel of your own, Gener-
al, and one l deeply regret, but over
which | have no control But,
sir, my Interpretation of inter-
national law is that being a subj ect
of Her Britannia Majesty, p am entitled to
protection from all powers friendly to the
government of Great Britain, and instantly
producing my passports, and wishing the
General good morning, left his tent, on
the outside of which saw an old negro,
whom afterwards learned had been ar
rested as spy, but was finally released.
This negro had formerly been in my en-
plOy at Grenada On the following
morning l left for Dixie, and reached Mr..
Farrel's the same night After breakfast
the next morning, l proceeded towards
fernando, and only stopping at DR.. Nc
Neese's for refreshment While the negro
woman was in the act of giving me
a glass of buttermilk, l heard
shooting in the adjacent woods,
but took no notice of it whatever.
After giving the negro woman some COM
pensatiOn for her trouble, left the house
for fernando. had not proceeded more
than one hundred yards from the house,
when l heard shooting in the distance.
Turning around instantly, two Federal
soldiers were in my front, one of whom
pointing his revolver at my heart, snapped
his pistol again and again, but the weapon
Of death refused to do its work. 'Surren-
der, you rebel scoundrel, "was the demand
of this representative of one of the
best governments the world ever saw.
Gentlemen, / said, l am no rebel, but
subject of Great Britain. 'Let us have
none of your nonsense, replied the sol
der in blue. ''We'll take you to head
quarters" Well, I said, that suits
me precisely, 1 want to see
your Captain. On our way to the head
quarters both of my captors informed me
they were themselves British subjects,
and were from Manchester, England, and
had only been in America few months,
but being unable to get employment in
the Northern States, had joined the
army as a means of supporting their
families; both of them seemed delighted
that the pistol had missed fire. 1t is
hardly necessary to say that as soon as
l saw the Captain and explained matters
l was Immediately released. The Cap
tain who was also an Englishman after
reprimanding his men for attempting to
shoot an unarmed man, and having about
one hours conversation about Old Eng
land and the British army etc.,
1 started for fernando which
place l reached about 2 o'clock in
the afternoon. After obtaining a horse
and wagon, left for Cold Water. |
When arrived at Cold Water bottom my
troubles commenced, being captured by |
three horse thieves and highway robbers,
all of whom determined to kill me on the |
spot and appropriate the horse and wagon |
to their own use. Before leaving Her |
nando l procured gallon of the best |
Bourbon whisky for my friends in Ora |
NADIA, and thinking there was no time to |
be lost, said to them, "Boys, perhaps |
you have not had any old Bourbon since |
the war;" They declared they had not.
We'll, said l, let us all take smile. Ac-
cordingly they drank two or three times,
and came to the conclusion, that as had |
treated them so well, they would permit |
me to proceed on my journey. This
seemed to be God send, for never in my
life had passed through such terrible |
ordeal as the one above described.
THos. w. WHITE.
Now that war has been proclaimed be-
tween France and Prussia, contempt