Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1891-02-09
A COOL SOLDIER BOY.
An Interesting Renaissance of the War.

thon open In the city OF Fayettevllle,
Tenn, in the month of February, 1864,
Watching the long line of Government
wagons, coming in under guard, loaded
with corn, several of us were talking of
Lincoln county, and saying what pity
that such a country should be mixed up
in war, when the landlord who come
out on the porch unobserved, said:
Soldiers don't know what war is near
SO we'll as people over whose lands
armies march and battles are fought, or
see the results of their toll taken as no
doubt this corn has BEEN"
We looked up in.surprise at each 9TH
er and then at the landlord, who repli-
ed
''No doubt I have astonished you boys
but l mean no disrespect to you. Now,
if you were only citizens and lived as
have done, long before and after the war
right it this place. you would feel the
force of the remark L have made"
''Let me observe that you ought to
have thought of that before you attempt
ed war;" said Martin, one our party, as
he tilted his chair against the side of
the house.
''True enough, my friend, but no one
began this war expecting to fight, at
least on their own ground. We simply
thought we had right to dissolve the
old partnership without making so much
fuss about it,"
I'm which idea you were evidently
mistaken, landlord" replied Martin.
Yes, we are all Americans and fight
as Americans, presume; but you have
no idea of war for all that. You see it
from an army stand point. We see it
in it's hideous form. Many an incident
comes under our eye that escapes yours.
Men of both armies and armed men of
neither, keep us in fear all the time.
say, you know nothing of war, because
you are not left to your own resources
as we are. You have a protection of
which we know nothing. During all
this long war, and I have been an OBJ
serving man, (true, too old and crippled
for any active service) but can recall
one single instance where, under the
most trying circumstances, know that
one man exhibited GOODNESS that was
remarkable, and for which have never
accounted satisfactorily to my own
mind"
''Tell us, won't you, Uncle?" said
we.
''Well, sitting on this poarch one day,
as you are now doing, was avery differ
ent class of men. They were what you
boys call 'bushwhackers.' knew every
one of them; had known some of them
for years before the war. To us they
were Home Guards. They were regu-
larly enlisted, but an independent
company No doubt they used many
times harsher measures than the regu-
lars would have done, but you see they
took greater risks. No, boys, am not
defending them, nor did 1 ever belong
to Them and 1 will say that I have
thought some of their actions were
wrong; but this do know, they are the
OutgrOwth of the war. They came
from among the classes who know what
the war is by the saddest of experiences.
But never mind that. They had been
somewhere the day before and ! guess
they put in agood share of the night,
for their horses were jaded and worn
out. The men seemed little better, and
from the manner in which they demand
ed their dinner, 1 knew they meant it,
and while knew the most of them,
that would not excuse me, for they had
the power to inforce their demands. l
had just come the door to call them to
the best dinner l could muster, because
KNEW they would take no other, as hun
CRY man knows no friends except good
meal, when heard the captain say:
"Well. boys, if that isn't--coOl.
Look at that!'
Imagine how astonished was, If you
can, when glanced in the direction
indicated and saw single Federal
soldier leisurely walking up the street,
and evidently directly towards us. He
was dressed in a cavalry uniform and
carried his carbine in his arms as care