Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-11-19

were the acme of comfort compared with
the sufferings and subterfuges during
the preceding month
The man to whose wagon I was az
signed was named Sim Sleigh. He was
from Habersham county, which he as
sured me twas the garden spot Of all
God Almighty's creation. / was born
up thar in the Nacooches valley. Ever
hear ont: No? Waal, you uns don't
know nothin Of this var world. That's
the land Of iron, that's the land Of gold,
and thar dimements grows biggern
eggs. Thar amt no place like it foh
water and trees, fob cohn and wheat
and fruit; and as foh the men and wom-
en-, my friend, they can't be beat for
strinth and beauty"-
stopped the eloquent mountaineer to
assure him that if the men were like him
he must be quite right. He shook hands
with me, and continued:
''You and mes sojers and id fools.
Your from Kaintuck, and she showed a
he'll Of q lot OF sense in fghtin without
secedin. Why in blazes didn't they
leave Habersham county aloneg We
didn't like the Yanks any more'n the
rest of Georgia, but, d-n old Brown,
nothin would satisfy hiI7, the cussed
luny, but Habersham county must 70
out with the state. Why, we uns met
up at ClarksyilIe Court House and passed
resolutions declarin that, if Georgia had
q right to secede from the Union, then,
by Cd, old Habersham she had plum
right to secede from the state. But it
didn't work; the id conscription Off
GERS come i'll and every doggoue man
that could tote rife, and some that
couldn't. was swore in. The folks down
south Of US that's got lots Of niggers was
hell bent on wah, but they amt done
much O the fightin. / went up to Var
ginny and was shot at Gettysburg. Jest
look at that" and he held up his mutt
lated left hand. "Then they sent Inc
home and placed me in the quartermas-
ter's department TO raise the tax in kind,
and I tell you, neighbor, enjoy collectin
hit-outside OF old Hahersham"
This was said as we drove along, and
was broken into by explosive crackings
Of his whip and whole volleys Of obiur-
cation fired at the mules in the lead
The ''off" mule he swore he would kill
as soon as he reached Walnut Hill.
asked Mr.. Sleigh why it was that he
was carrying provisions in the direction
of the mountains when Johnson's army,
a few days march to the southwest,
needed supplies.
IF you uns can tell me why anythins
done in this id wah, can explain
But the talk is that Mr. Wharton, he's
a-comin up har and a-goin to make up u
raid into aist Tenn'see and on into Yam
kee land, and he's got to have feed goin
over the ridge. But, between we uns,
hits all id lie. Hits the quarter
masters! Why, they sell the tax III kind,
and they're a maxim money hand over
fist. The qnartermasters and commits
saries and receivers has a asoft thing Of it,
d-n 'emr'
This and much more in the same vein
Mr.. Sleigh pointed out with intense bit
terness and amazing vclubility. He be-
lieved the Confederacy was away to
h and gone, = and he said with refresh
ing frnpixness that when the end cnmes
and he evidently expected 1t very soon,
be twas gwyne to freeze on to them
Y thar mules, and the son Of u gun who
tried to take them away from him
7 ''would have the biggest fight on hand
old Habersham had seen since Adam was
a barefoot boy"
That night we encamped in lovely
run. tributary of Hudson's fork, which
in its turn is tributary Of the Savan-
nah. slept with Sim Sleigh and Bell
with Mcneil, the other driver; but as
we sat about the fire before lying down,
I it was evident that the other driver was
| quite in accord with mine. 1t surprised
me then, and the surprise increases as L
/ think it over after all these years, that
I the Confederacy-rotten within and ham
mered remorselessly from without-last-
ed as long as it did. And yet, with all
I the discomfort Of these drivers, if the
/ Yankees had attacked our little camp
4 that night am certain they wonld have
defended their charge as bravely as if
4 their hearts were entirely given to the
war. 1t was the savage pride that re-
fuses to acknowledge defeat that kept
/ these heroic men fighting after the prin-
ciples with which they began were lost
sight of and the cause that called them
out was entirely hopeless.
About noon of the second day. and
Just as Sleigh, who was now in the lead,
was looking ahead for place where he
could rest the animals for an hour and
cook dinner, a young man with one bar,
the insignia Of 4 second lieutenant. on
the collar of his faded gray coat, halted
the wagons at the forks Of the road and
said he was ordered to take them on to
Gainesville, ten miles away, instead Of
to Walnut Hill. That country is filed
with springs and streams, 50 that we
had no difficulty in finding camping
place near by.
Lieutenant Owen was about my own
age, and, although burning with anxiety
to meet the Yankees, he had never seen
one. He and I became chummy at once.
He was at school at Athens, Ga., when
the war broke ont, and would have gone
to the front but for his mother, who
lived near Gainesville and was an in
valid. He quite envied me my expe-
rience, and told me he had hopes Of 60
ing with Wharton On the raid into east
Tennessee.
This bright young fellow, whose name
would indicate that he was himself q
Welsh extraction, was firmly convinced
that the Yankees were of an entirely diff
ferent race from the southern people
He believed that nine-tenths Of the mer
in the Union army were ''HeSsians anC
hirelings," and that they We're only here
by virtue of their roverpowering numbers
The memory of Young Owens confdenc'
and my own feelings as he denounced
the Yankees as ''cowardly cutthroats'
makes me smile now, but distinctly re
member that lay on my face looking al
at him with all the tiger in my nature
swelling my muscles and increasing TIN
beating Of my heart. He had swor,
strapped to his belt and big pistol 81
his hip, and although / was unarmed
save for the knife given me by Abe bacl
on the Lamar place, it gave me feelin;
Of intense satisfaction that !, fugitiv
Yankee. if alone with this kindly brag
gart for one minute, could strip him D
his arms and tie him with his own trap
pings AS it was, actually found com
fort in echoing his assertions that ~th
Yankees were doggone towards"