The Indianapolis journal., 1884-05-22
A REMINISCENCE OF WAR TIMES.
Something About John Payne. Who Was
with the Seventy-Ninth Regiment.

Brief mention was made yesterday of the
death of John Payne, an old colored man, who
was quite a noted character in some respects.
He had had quite an eventful career He was
slave until he was over forty years old, and at
the breaking out of the war was the property Of
a man named Thornbury, at Louisville, Ky. In
1862, when the Seventy ninth Indiana regiment
which General Fred Knefer commanded, started
for the front, they stopped for some time at
Louisville, and Payne and another
negro placed themselves under the protection
of the soldiers. Thornbury came after them fire.
quently, but was not allowed TO take them away.
He got an order from General Boyle, who was
then in command at Louisville, for the re
covery of the two men, but when he presented
it the Seventy ninth had been transferred from
Boyle's command, and General Knefer is cred
tied with saying: ''Boyle-who is Boyle-I don't
know him-you go back and tell him to go to"
or words to that effect A year later,
when Knefer was returning home, he
was arrested at Louisville, on a
warrant charging him with stealing negroes
Payne and his companion) The case was af
terwards dismissed, but it gave the General con
siderable trouble at the time. Payne stayed
with his regiment during the remainder of the
war, doing cooking, washing and other services
for the officers He had been Baptist preacher,
and when the regiment was in camp he fire.
quently held protracted meetings which were at
tended by as many as 1000 colored people. Al
though totally illiterate, he had rough elo-
quence and ready speech that made him
very popular as preacher But his
chief forte was in singing negro hymns-in
which he eXcelled ON account of his stentorian
voice aud quaint melody. The soldiers were
cheered up on many long and weary march by
'Old Johns singing, which he kept up for hours
without any special effort. When the regiment
left East Tennessee to rejon the army of the
Cumberland, in the spring of 1864 the division,
after long separation, was again united, and
this was the occasion for considerable display
and dress parade. All the regiments which were
lucky enough to have either brass martial
bands left had been playing national airs. The
Seventy ninth had but one drummer left, and as
they marched through the whole division, from
the rear to the front, they put old John at the
head of the columns, and he sang with charac-
teristic earnestness "De good Lord delivered up
Dan-uel, ''You could have heard him three
miles" said an old soldier who related the cir
cumstance to the reporter yesterday, land l
All along the line the men
shouted until they were hoarse, and
in the midst of it old Paynes voice could be
heard. ''De good Lord delivered up Dan-uel,
why not deliver met" There were several other
such experiences, and they endeared the old man
to the soldiers very much He stayed with the
regiment throughout the war, and at the end
came to Indianapolis with DIR. J. II. Tilford,
whose family he has since served in various ca
pacties, and always faithfully and atfectionately.
He died seven days ago, and his remains were
laid away in the Tilford burying ground at
Crown Hill He has been delivered as was also
"Dan-uel,' of whom he so frequently sung.