Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-01-25
Between the Lines.

In other lives Of Joy or pain.
Between the Lines.
"War is bad thing" said Capt
Hay, as we sat together one summer
evening in front of his mountain cot
tage.
The Captain had been entertaining
me with some of his war experiences
He had seen a rough time in East
Tennessee. Between the Confederates
and the Union bushwhackers, who were
quite numerous in that region, he had
found it necessary to do some hard
fighting and some swift running.
EYES," continued the Captain, "war
is terrible business. 1t is not so bad
between two armies. Regular soldiers
expect to kill and be killed, but such
war as we had right here between
the lines, with friends and neighbour
and brothers cutting each others
throats-I tell you, sir, it was rough
looked out upon the clusters Of
white farm houses dotting the hill
sides and resting in the valleys. II
seemed to me that peace had reigned
there forever.
did you have much trouble right
around herel' l asked.
"Well, you would have thought so,
replied the Captain gloomily. Dc
you remember speaking to me about
the Widow Scott and remarking that
she had a very sad face 7"
EYES," / answered with some in
terest, twas she the heroine or the
victim of some war tragedy"
"a victim" said the Captain. jerk
ing the words out with something OF
an effort.
"You know" he resumed, "that we
were about half Union and half Con-
federate in this neighborhood. Well,
as fast as the boys were old enough to
shoulder musket they slipped of,
some going to the Federals and others
joining the Confederates.
$50 things rocked along until Burn.
side was in Knoxville, and Long
street was advancing on him through
the mountains. At that time / had
been away from here for about two
years but when Longstreet's right
wing got over yonder behind the
range, l came here with squad OF
cavalry to pick up few conscripts.
"Whew! But we found regular
hornets nest. There were some GOOD
Confederates' of course, but then there
were lots of Unionists, and we saw
trouble all the time.
1--WE shot a number of bushwhack.
ers just as we found them, without
going through the formality of trial
/ have never regretted that. They
were robbers and assassins, hiding in
the woods and making war upon both
sides, sparing nothing that came il
their way. No, l see nothing to regre
in all that"
Among the Unionists in the valley
was a young fellow named John Scott
We had played together, gone to TIT
same school, and courted the same
girl. and was sorry enough when
came in the fall of "a to find tina
John had joined Burnside. A weel
before my arrival John had paid I
flying visit to the valley and hac
married Alice Davis, the pretties
girl in East Tennessee.
rs me of the men did not like John
They had an old grudge against him
and they urged me to capture hin
when he made his next visit to hi
bride. l kicked against this. / tolt
them that John was no bushwhacker
He was a brave soldier, and if HI
wanted to see his little wife / had M
objection. Besides, / told them thai
we were between the lines and oul
old friends considered it neutral
ground, and we were in honor bound
to respect their wishes. l made the
point that we had confined our opera
tions to the next county. We had
simply made our headquarters in the
valley, and had never molested the
people there"
The veteran whitfield away vigorous.
ly at his pipe.
"You said something about the
Widow Scott" suggested.
"Yes, / believe l did. Well, it is
still a sore subject with me, but
will tell you the story. In those
times you must understand that this
valley was regarded by common con-
sent as a sort of neutral ground
There was no agreement to that effect
between military men, but we natural.
ly fell into it, and it was common
thing for some of Burnside's men to
run down and visit their homes, while
some of Longstreet's soldiers would
slip over for the same purpose.
~ might as well have talked to