The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26

d and awful destruction brought upon
6 this once proud and happy people, made
!. me feel that 1 was terribly guilty my~
4 self because belonged to that race that
t was the cause OF all their woes The
2 narrative he received from Col. Tark-
enton was related in such a thrilling
manner that was made to believe there
: was terrible retribution in store for
those who had almost destroyed the red
| man from the face of the earth. Some
how had a presentiment that we were
to receive our portion right there ana
then. The plaintive cry OF the whip
poorwiu, the solemn boot of the owl,
mingled with the deep believing OF q
huge bullfrog, altogether caused kind
OF superstitious fear to thrill every nerve
and fiber of my frame. Our campfire
had pretty well died out, but occasional
Iy q blaze that had almost expired
| would throw long shadows from the
trees clecr across the placid waters OF
the creek, which to nay already supersti- |
tious Imagination looked like so many |
! spectres, or as l imagined the spirits |
| that once animated the bones of the |
dead Indians On whose graves we were |
! then seated, At this moment the Colo |
mel ceased speaking, and as looked at |
| his face had turned his face in the direc- |
ton of the creek; his mouth was wide
| open, his eye-balls looked as IL they |
| were ready to start from their sock cts. |
| looked in the direction he WAS gazing: /
ct first l could see nothing, as thought,
but the tree shadows, but there was one
| shadow more prominent than the rest:
/ saw it move: ! again looked at the Col
| Onel-bis eyes had grown two inches
| larger. I whispered "IDjins !" l saw
him. without moving his eyes, reach his
| hand to the head OF his pallet, and grasp
his dOuble-barreled gun, which 1 had
heavily loaded with the hope of getting
ah Vaghf hn |
hunters he'd seen in the creek that day
By this time my excitement had be"ome
so great that was in proper frame OF |
mind to imagine anything, and in an
instant all the shadows of the trees
turned to Indians and came marching
right upon us A thousand things pas s.
cd through my mind at once; thought
of home, OF wife and babies; thought
OF the wrongs our Pilgrim Fathers did |
the Indians eftcr landing on Plymouth |
Rock; wished that old Grant, Ben But
Ter, Horace Maynard, old BrownloW
anG Andy Johnson were in our place, |
and we somewhere else. But there was .
no hope for US now, for here they came.
/ saw the Colonel raise his gun, and |
whispered, STEADY, old boy, steady!"
At this moment 1 saw the foremost In
dian fall fiat on his face, and nearly at ,
the same instant blaze of fire issued I
from the mouth Of the ColOnel's gun, c
that reached across the creek, and seem J
ed to burn in the side of the noun. e
tain for at least second. Methinks / 4
con hear the sound of that gun reverbe- | c
rating till yet. I don't suppose there
ever was as much powder burned at one
time in shotgun before. W. ID. l., OF
Arkansas, who was with us, not know
ing that 1 had loaded the gun, had
charged her heavily, thinking some II
might arise for its use. So
you will not be surprised whom say the
Colonel was FRUSTRATED to the ground,
and for some moments remained insen>
sible to everything that took place
around him. Just at this moment and
for the first time, thought of those that 1 =
wei sleeping around ME. | shouted at b
he top of my voice, "Iniins Injins !" r
Ind broke to run. All of our party, b
about ten in number, had seen the skel- Ri
'tOu that FOwlkes bad dug up, and had 20
heard the traditional stories that Tark- ~
'ntOn had told that day about the Ins n
Ian grave, and the ghosts that nightly
walked and sang their war>songS on the Co
ide OF the mountain opposite our camp. | Ga
10 nearly If not quite all at the very mo- FF2
nent the COlOnel's gun fired were q;
roaming about Indians; and you may HI
now that had company that night in La
ny flight towards Col. Tarkenton's. | r.
he TWO mules We worked TO our wagon NJ
we're tied to the wheels of the same; d
hey ran away and caused every horse Pc
l -
uch another din and clatter bad not e.
cen heard on the banks OF that creek | H.
iOce the last great battle fought there ! So
V tho red man. After we had run | So
bout one mile, we halted in the middle | Sgi
f a five hundred acre field to get breath I
nd count our number. We found two TEE
Kissing. Capt. A. c. S., of Pulaski, and Tr
ur negro Dock, who went with us to M9
OOk for the party. THANK the Lord !" W.
ays Chsrley, there are only two of our -
lumber killed" "Amen!" was the re- -
ponse from half dozen lips. Col. p.
rought up the rear. Some one asked ~
i'm how many Indians he killed, and
9 replied he Thought about fifteen,
ut would not swear to more than one;" "
u knew that one was dead, for he saw
i'm fall even before the gun fired. Il
But where is the gun?" He had left it
Ahind, it had not only kicked him
own, but it was still kicking at him L
hen be left. At this moment we heard | col
0me one calling in the direction OF our dec
amp, and we at once recognized the 81 81
oiceJof Capt. [ After considerable An
we approached him, or rather at
1a Captain approached US, and from lun
i'm We learned the cause OF all woes. am
Ie had very quietly gone down to the tai tai
reek to examine bis POLE which he had cas-
set out" with the hope of catching a the
rge jack fish he had seen that day; on sta
is return he happened to see the Colo STtu
ell as he leveled his gun, Just in time to y
i've bimselt by falling fiat to the lin,
round, else the forty-eight buCkshot wit
at passed directly over him would | the
ave undoubtedly lodged in his body. c chha
ut where was the negro, Dock? No cha
ne had seen him since he went to sIeeD $50
the wagon to which the mules were ives
ed when they ran away After a teo ~
Gus search the wagon was found about VII
half mile below camp, turned bottom Ian
DE- up, with Dock underneath, not | Wa
art, but too badly scared 10 halloo t0a
fter careful survey the next morn tbe d
e, we found there was no serious dam dow
70 sustained by any one except little sur,
Dug. Lavender, his fine mare I'M a or
'ad near camp, What her It. death was two
uSs-' ~ astrAy snot from the CoIonel'e vii
In, or from sheer fright, we never | cha
new. Take it altogether, this was the den
ggest scare that any set OF men ever OF u
,perienced in Hickman county. Ev>
y family OF the neigh bOrhood for If
lies around were more or less alarm
b. Mr.. a., who lives half mile bes b,
W our camp, said be thought it was cou
her the Yankees or the Day of Judg- Dec
ent coming. He heard the Colonei's n ben
m, and thought the Yankees were the
cling Little Lot, small town near bia,
n eampi but when the mules with the al,
1gon and Dock landed in his yard, be oW
ought his time had come. Mrs. G. 81 ai IL
VS. she h'ta Zen married years, but clvi
ver saw her husband on his knees be> ded
re, or heard him say, Lord haYe mer- OF q y
on a poor sinner - x. I1ic
Station, Feb. -. and
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