The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-15

was Increased by the dtmonac yells of the
soldiers. They were all grossly ignorant, but
every one had heard of Massa Lincum and Massa
Sherman.
AS we neared the coast there came A gradual
change In the country Magnnlids and cactus
grew tall and thrifty, ana occasionally palmetto
trees were found in open fields. generally alone
and solitary. They were not handsome trees TO
look upon, and there was an unpleasant associa-
tlon about them in connection with the flag Of
South Carolina, the first emblem of secession. O..
AT Millen we found Savannah papers containing
General Beauregard's frantic appeal TO tine peo-
pie or Georgia TO arise to the defense of their
native SOIL to obstIuct the roads and destroy
their supplies, so that Sherman's army might
starve IN their midst. The same papers
tanned the most heart-rendlng account of our
condltion-how the men, weak with hunger,
were falling out of the ranks by thousands, only
TO De goobled up BY Wheeler's cavalry, which
hung ABOUT our Hanks. This was decidedly
amusing, as we were living on the fat
OF the land, aud if any danger threatened
selves with good thIngse Then, there was
no one to 'arise,' as far as we
could see, but old men. women and negroes
Wheelers Cavalry had an occasional skIrmish
with Fitzpatrick, but he caused more annoy
ance to the main columns than a horse-fly. 1t
must be remembered that we were all OF this
time doing our share in railroad destruction. The
roads were of the old-fashoned kind, with ties
much further apart than usual, and long string
ers fastened with wooden pins to the ties, ami
tAe rails spiked to the stringe"s. rs the wood
was all rat pine, it made a very quick and hot
hre, and little time was consumed In heating the
rails, after which they We're twisted into I'M
recognizable shape. AS the country was sparsey
numbered
from one upward and located ten miles apart
At No. l we met the enemy and diminishing fol-
lowed, but it did not retard our advance verr
much At one point, at the intersection of the
dirt road and railroad, they had "A cannon on a
platform car attached to a locomotive. AS we
approached they blazed away.
GENERAL BLAIR's NARROW ESCAPE. -
At this moment General Blair and staff came
along the road. and saw a solid shot strike the
ground. ricochet and hit the under side of a pro-
m nd ole 6ov tha
ball struck the tree Blair's horse squatted down
and it went over his head and killed an officer
and one man in the rear Had his horse re-
NAMED in his natural position General Blar's
career would have ended there. This was the
first time General Mower, commanding the di-
vision. had been with us under fire, and he
seemed to enjoy it to his very fingers ends. He
rode large bay stallion which, with his tall fly
ing like banner seemed to enjoy it heartily
as his rider. We afterwards founl Mower was
always spelling for fight and when one did
not come in his way he Ould hunt it up. The
next day, after brisk sklrmishing, we drove the
enemy across the canal which connects tile
Ogeeche with the Savannah river, our men hold
ing their oartridge-boxes and arms above their
heads TO keep them dry. We took position
the tow-path and the orders were, when the
bugle sounded charge, were to plunge nt0
the mire and swamp before us and charge
the enemy. As we could see that it
was Well nigh impossible, by reason
of the spongy nature of the ground and beyond
were formidable WORKS surmounted by cannon,
1t was not an agreeable undertaking, However
Sherman and Blair arrived at the moment and
the orders we're countermanded. During that
night and the next day we lay upon the tow
path exposed to a constant fire, and the next
evening we took position in tue rear about half
a mile, out OF bullet range. The camp was pre-
pared, and as II had turned cold, huge fires
lighted. Our supper was in course of. prepara-
ton and we were eongratuaLing ourselves on
! the prospect OF a much needed rest. AT that
moment order came to march at once, and if
there was in the command a man given to pro-
family am sure that he relieved himself in a
most fluent and abie-bOdled manner. [ relnem-
Der OF one colonel in particular who was good
church member at home, but his theology
couldn't stand the strain, and while he was lug
ging In the oaths and firing them off like thirty
TWO pound shells until the air was fairly haEY
with birthstone, Gen. Howard and his staff rode
up to the mud-hoie where the Cooners
headquarters wagon was stuck Now
General Howard was a good, pious man, who
never swore-in pubic-and / expected to see
him put the wicked man under arrest, but he
didn't. He sat there and listened for minute,
and probably thinking that the prOvocation JUS
| titled the ColOnePs peroration. rode away. We
| munched on our hard tack as we marched went
about four miles, camped and shlVered with
cold the remainder of the night On the follow
ing night wagons were ali stalled in the
swamps, and consequently we had nothing TO
eat. AT about l O'clock in the morning we
halted, and close by battery We had
drove of cattle along, which we had brought
| from the interior. We had had them on the
march so constantly they were very thin in flesh,
and consequently very tough | asked the artll-
lery officer in command If he had anything to
4 u
| frying-pan. ! told MIN if he would loan
salt and his frying-pan would give him some
beef This he agreed to, and detail was
made and young animal slaughtered, and the
liver and some scFapings Of fat were brought TO
us. We then gathered about the fire. and i,
while the cook fried liver we consumed ituntil
we were full. Then, with our saddles for pill.
4 lows. placed our feet to the fire ard slept.
/ At about daybreak awoke as thought, frozen
stiff but was not, for after stirring the embers
and getting up blaze began to thaw, and
soon was as Timber as ever Food was very
| scarce with us before we opened communication
with the fleet. The men found plenty of RIGS.
| but the shell covering each kernel still at
| tached, and by putting it in a bag ana pounding
| it steadily all day "A man would shell just about
enough to keep from starvation. One day some
| of our foragers struck an oyster he'd down on
| Ossbaw sound and brought up several
bagsful of shell oysters. but as there were only
about six dozen each IL was nothing but an ag-
| gravation. some time after went up to Hilton
| Head and found restaurant where they had
| shell oysters by the cord. | asked the man how
| he sold them. He answered, giving the price per
dozen. told him that didn't want to do
| tau business. AS had only had a taste of Oy-
sters for year or two. wanted TO make full
meal of them. and if bought them by the
dozen my money would not hold out. He finally
said that he reckoned couldn't eat more than
dollars worth, at any rate as | was one of sher-
mans men he would risk it. warned him that
"a bargain was a bargain and he must not plead
the bankrupt act before got through. Well, he
opened and l ate, and after half or three-quar-
tiers of an hour he asked me casually If thai
| the kind of an appetite Sherman's army carried
with them. l told him that had not been well
| for some time and consequently was light
feeder when compared with the able-bodied ones.
He then said: "If you fellows have eaten your
way from Atlanta TO Savannah with that kind of
appetites the Confederacy will collapse within
three tbs" and 1t dld.
In order to open communication with the fleet,
General Howard sent Captain Duncan and two
men down the river in a boat aud they fOated
past the forts and batteries ana let them know
we were there. One of the men who went with
Duncan was a member of my old company. His
name George ". Quimby. He was nat
ural-horn scout, no good as a private in the
n
ming for scouting. He was always falling out of
the ranks aud sneakug off Cd f0raging expedi-
tons, so he often got into hot water. One day,
ND in Alabama, | had order to detail man
| far Snnuti,,l. DIR, IL L at nnht q