Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-12-05
JOE ROGERS MOTHER.

JOE KOGERS MOTHER.
If You have never been in the valley
sof the Tennessee mean that part of
the famous valley that stretches south
westward from the great Sand Mount
ain to the picturesque table lands Of
Mount Sano-y0u have missed scene
.faircst of all in that country of fair
scenes. ! will not attempt to describe
1t. l can not do it justice. No one
can. 1t is the paradise of North Ala
bama, and in the heart of that far
Southern district, devastated by war,
and yet. thanks to its protecting bull
wark of mountains. its pleasant homes
and well titled lands, escaped almost
unscathed.
Not many miles to the north is Look
out Mountain and the battle-tields of
Mission Ridge and Chickamauga. Fur
Their to the south and west, on the same
great trunk line that passes within the
shadow of the heights on which Hooker
fought the battle in the Clouds" il
that already famous young city of
phenomenal growth. Decatur, and be-
yond that the new Sheffield and war
SCARED Corinth.
But while this corner of the great
valley saw little of,either blue coats or
gray-except perhaps. an occasional
foraging party that chance led away
from the railroad and into the garden
land between the big hills-the valley
gave it's best blood for the cause of the
C0nfederacy and sons and brothers
left the cotton unpicked in the field to
join Bragg and his gathering hosts
across the border line Of Tennessee, or
to follow the fortunes of Morgan or
Stuart on their cavalry raids to the
North.
Back from the Tennessee, in cove
protected from the ,northers by the
broad back of Monte Sano, hardy
mountain farmer had built house Of
uncut stone--a poor place ut best, but
home for the sake Of what was in it.
1t was not typical Southern home,
for the good wife and mother was
housekeeper, dairymaid and gardener
all in one. while the two strapping
bows, with their father, did the work
which on other plantations fell to the
task of the negro slaves. At the near
est store, at Maysuille. old John Rogers
was, with indiscriminate courtesy
dubbed Colonel" Why. he never
knew. Perhaps no one else did. Even
before the war military titles were
popular in Dixie. Now they are all
colonies. So few privatos escaped the
war.
Among the negroes Colonel" John
was looked upon with some disdain.
A man who worked" his farm with
out II single black boy was not likely
to win the respect of 1.-The quarters" at
the big plantations on the river. FARM
ers who worked were ''poor-ah white
trash" in those days of easy indoleRce.
But "Colonel' John thrived for all
that. and never a home ia all the broad
valley was happier in the little cove
,under the shadow of Monte Sano.
News travels slowly in the country.
In those days few newspapers found
their way into the Tennessee Valley Of
Alabama. and the first shock of war at
Fort Sumter was too far away to affect
the tranquility of the people by the
great river. Then came the frantic
call for troops by the government at
Montgomery, and the great valley was
at last awakened to the horrors of war;
A recruiting Office was opened at
Huntsville, ten miles away, on tho
other side of Monte Sano. and hus-
bands and fathers and sons left their
homes and people went away to the
wG. The valley of the Tennessee was
desolate. The negroes went docking
northward in search of the army OF
emancipation. and the cotton was left
In tire bols to spoil. There came u
time when even food was scarce, and
beef was worth its weight In the
strange new scrip the Confederate
government had issued.
sCclonel" John Jared worse than
many. although for months after the
bows of the lower valley had gone
away into Tennessee his sons yielded
to tile wish of the old folks and stayed
at home. The time came, however,
when bonor compelled them to go, and
they went; but the eyes of the aged
mother were wet with tears and the
face of the whitc-haired Colonel"
John was strangely old when theF
babe their boys good-by.
There are brave hearts here ut home
who remember those sad farcwclis.
when the boys in blue went far away
to fight and die on these Southern
battetields. There were the same sad
partings in many Southern home.
and tho war left hundreds of decimated
families in that fair valley.
Months passed, and then years.
Occasionally letters from the absent
soldier boys came to the old folks in
the cove, but they were few and very
far between. They had gone north
and enlisted In the Aruy OF Virginia.
They had been at Bull Run. and had
been on the Peninsula ia the checker
board operations of McClellau's cam
paign. The latest letter. scribblod in
pencil and written in haste. and read
ia that little homo with aching yet
thankful hearts, told of good health
and Confederate success. Side by side
the brothers had fought. us yet unhurt.
Enw they Mnra In 90 with Loo info fhn