The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-06-27
TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.
\ TOUGH YARN BY \ CONFEDERATE
SOLDIER.

SOLDIER.
Early in the spring of 1862 I left my
cottage home, and with knapsack and
blanket sought the ''tcnted field. - and
was soon drilled and equipped for the
duties before me. l shall not attempt q
detail Of camp life. its eNcitements or
its monotonOus rounds of daily duty and
routine. The command TO which |
belonged spent the spring and summer
on guard duty in East Tennessee. and
In drilling and perfecting their organiza-
ton, and in August moved forward to
Cumberland Gap, and thence, in SeDtem-
Der, thTO' the Gap.intO Kentucky. going
in with Gen. f. Kirby Smith and com
ing out with Gen. Bragg. | shall not
attempt to portray the sufIerings of
that disastrous campaign with its retreat.
and he who does attempt it will make a
most signal failure Suffice it. that
many OF us got out of Kentucky, in
some way, and that when General Bragg
hurried on to CHATTANOOGA and Muir
treesboro my command was left in East
tennessee, remaining in its mountain
gaps during the winter of 1862 and 90
and until just before the battle of Chic
amaUga, in '63, when we-those of us
that pneumonia had spared during the
seventeen SHOWS of that dark dismal
winter. and those that the typhoid fever
had not parched up during the severe
heat Of the succeeding SUmmcr-ioiUed
General BraCg'S main army. II WAS
during this summer of 1868. in East
Tennessee, that l was mounted on a
good horse, and with three wagons. a
wagon master and a small guard. was
sent from one of the Gaps to MOrriStown
for supplies, and having secured the
L. al.
return to the gap when the incident
that l started out to relate occurred.
While there were, at that time,
large number of good people in East
Tennessee who were patriotic, and
whose SympathieS were with the COnfed-
eracy. there was. as is well known. a
larger proportion of Union men. " and
especially was this SO of the mountain
population. Nor were they ignorant of
the fact. at this late period, that the
power Of the tOufederacy was weakening
and that gradual evacuation Of their
territory was going on. This knowledge
greatly eInboldened that class of peo-
pie known As "bushwhackers, - aud it
became exceedingly dangerous for
Confederate soldier to leave camp and
go out through the country alone. !
had been in the section for several
months. had always been treated kindly
by every body. and somehow or another
| felt 10 unusual fear.
Every old soldier knows what furag-
ing means, and on a Thursday in July
while still on cur return to the Gap, |
instructed the wagon master to go on
with the wagons while ! made a short
detOur from the main road in search Of
something TO eat or drink-assuTing
him that as my horse was fleet l would
catch up with the party when they halt
ed for their MONDAY rest and dinner.
With a word OF caUtiou-''DOn'J go too
far or stop too long wagon mast
er passed on and | was left alone.
Our road for the day had traversed a
small stream with huge hills on each
side, and sometimes We were in the bed
of the stream and sometimes we were
on its bank, and so it proved with the
little bvway that l was now pursuing.
| rode leisurely on everything was quiet
mind. as it wandered back home and
lived over happy hours with wife
children and friends again, and then
returned to war. its suiferingS. its prob
abilities and possibilities, and not until
my horse threw mp his head with a sign
of recognition did my thoughts return
to myself and my situation. | was just
five miles from the main road, and was
just entering one of those beautiful lit
tie valleys for which the mountain reg
ions of Tennessee are so famous. Only
/ for a moment did | halt and take in the
scene, and then, as If assuring myself