The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-01-29

Gradually his lip wreafhed itself into curl
of unutterab1e scrn, and, gazing steadily on
! me, he slowly uttered, -
"Pou yenng fool! And suppose you were
| a school teacher or something of that kind IN
yeur own land! And yon thought you would
| come dswn here and rob us, and burn our
| houses and murder ms, did yuu? Wow let me
4 give you little advice: If yeu ever get hsme
again, fbnt you never will do try, fen Gods
sake, and have little better sense and stay
tbere7 Then he turned eentemptueusly ON
his heel and strobe away. The rabble rewarded
him with cheer. ] could never find out who
/ he was; but after that / looked for no more
| sympathy in that crowd.
| My conductor now returned and escorted me
into the presence of Gen. Leadbetter. / was
| glad of the change, though there was little
about this man to inspire confidence. They
said he was from the North originally,-a
native of Maine l believe His habits were so
intemperate that Confederate Captain after
wards informed me that he always lived in one
of two states,-either dead drunk OF gentle
manly drunk. His record was, even this early
! in the war, of very i'll character for he had
been the principal agent in hanging consid-
erable number of East Tennessee Union men
under circumstances of great barbarity. To
! this, it was said he owed his present position.
! Such was the man in whose hands my fate now
| rested.
| All the facts concerning him learned after
| wards except one that was apparent when l
entered the room. He was considerably under
| the influence of liquor, though not to an extent
| which interfered with the transaction of busi-
ness. He began to question me, and without
! any regard for truth | gave him the story that
! / supposed would be best for my own interest.
| l told him was United States soldier, giving
my name, company and regiment correctly;
! but told him | was sent on this expedition
without my previous consent, and was ignorant
of where | was going or what was to do,
| which only learned as fast it was to be
executed. He next inquired who was our
engineer, but / refused to tell. l afterwards
| found that they were exceedingly anxious to
| discover the name of the person who ran
our train, imagining him to be some official
| connected with the Georgia State Railroad. He
| then asked after the purpose of the expedition.
L pleaded ignorance as tar as any positive in
formation went; but as this did not satisfy
him, l gave him my differences. There was
no betrayal of Union interests in this for all l
| told him was what any thoughtful person, map
in hand, would have supposed-the destruction
of bridges and the capture of Chattanooga and
! the occupation of East Tennessee. He was very
attentive, and Said,-
"But has Mitchell men enough for all that?
| My spies report that he has not more than
10000 infantry and three regiments of cav
airy
This was so near the truth that I did not
wish to confirm it. SO took another depart
| ure from accuracy, and said-
THAT must refer only to his advance guard,
and leaves out of account that part of his COM
mand which has not yet left Nashville"
What" he returned, is there 4 reserve
army"
assured him there was, and that with the
regiments on their way from the West and
Northwest, 10000 or 10000 men would be at
Nashville for Mitchel's disposal in three or
four weeks.
Leadbetter then asked "What do you sol
diers think is going to be done with such a
! large army?"
1--WE are confident" answered, " that Chat
tanooga will be first captured, then Atlanta,
and afterwards Mitchell may probably strike
for some point on the coast, as to cut the
Coniederacy III halves"
| The General rubbed his forehead for mo-
ment, then eXclaimed,-
Its a~grand plan. They can do it if they
have men enough. But / had no idea that
Mitchell had such backing
How | did wish that he had but | knew
better.
Then wheeling his chair directly in front,
and fixing his eye Steadily on me, he con-
! tinued,-
L am much obliged to you for this informa-
| tion. Now, sir, | want you to tell me just how
many men you had on that train, and to de-
scribe each one, so that | may know them when
L get nOld OF Jnem.
This was too much! / answered. General,
/ have freely told yOu whatever concerns only
myself, because | thought you ought to know
that l am soldier tsInder the protection of the
/ United States Governmcnt But | am not base
enough TO describe, my comrades"
OH" sneered he, Il don't know that /
ought to have asked you that"
g. think not, SIR" / replied
"Wcll," retorted he, "yOu need not be so
particular. | know all about it, Your leaders
name is Andrews What kind of man is hep"
j was thunderstruck, How should he have
Andrews's name, and know him to be our
/ leader? / never imagined what / afterwards
found TO be the true cause,-that Andrews had
been captured, with documents in his posses
sion which implicated him so completely that
he acknowledged bis name and the fact of his
leadership. | had every confidence that he, at
least, would escape and devise some means for
our relief. So l answered boldly
Il can tell You only one thing about him,
and that is, he is man you will never catch"
As | said this | thought | noticed a peculiar
smile on the Generals face but he only
replied,-
THAT will do for YOU" and turning to a
Captain who stood by, continued Take him
TO the hole,-you know where that is"
With military salute the Captain took me
out of the room. There was an explanation of
| the Generals smilel Before the door heavily
ironed, stood Andrews, waiting for an audience,
and with him Marion Ross and John Wollam.
| did not think it prudent to recognize them,
nor they to recognize me- SO we passed each
other as strangers
Tn hs continued I