Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-12-10

in the right direction. Tough though
the soles Of our feet were, the ruts and
stones in this road punished us cruelty,
and we ayailed ourselves of every field
to get out. At times we stopped to lis
ten, particularly before entering a wood,
and twice we heard the distant rumble
Of moving trains or artillery, but it was
impossible to tell the direction from
which the sound came.
Judging by the stars-the moon had
dropped out Of sight-it was about
o'clock in the morning when we reached
the bank Of the Chattahoochee, and a.
we had been staggering with fatigue we
decided to find a secluded spot in which
we might get a few hours sleep. Neal
the river we came upon the ruin of
pretentious house, whose two chimneys
stood ont against the sky like monu
ments Of desolation. Beyond this we
found a ginhouse, in front of which was
fence with a lot of recently cut green
corn fodder resting against it. We in.
ferred that neither friend nor foehad re.
Gently been near this place, else the fence
and the fodder, if not the ginhouse,
would be missing.
Our great fatigue influenced our de
cision. The door of the building stood
invitingly open, 50 we went in, and feel
ing on the floor with hands and feet we
found it covered with cotton seed and
very dry fodder. We gathered lot OF
this stuff close to the door, but to one
side, and then lay down. / must have
dropped off to sleep the instant struck
the floor.
l could not have been asleep many
minutes, and might have continued to
my own ruin, had not yielded to Bells
whispering and shaking, and by des-
perate effort Of will reused myself into
consciousness. There was no need To
ask the reason for my companions cx-
cited manner. Outside the door a num-
Der of horsemen, attracted by the fodder
and the seclusion of the ginhouse, were
dismounting. The accent, even before
I could wake mp sufficiently to under
stand, convinced me that they were
Confederates, and that they were in no
amiable mood. They swore at the Yam
KEGS in way shocking to listen to; but
then they We're very impartial with their
profanity, for Hood and Ross came in
for their share.
suggested to Bell with my lips to his
car that we slip out and make break
for it, but he had his senses about him
far better than myself A glance through
a split board convinced me that we
could not get out unseen.
After singing their saddles and brides
on the fences and tying the horses to the
same, with the fodder in front, the men
entered the ginhouse and one of them
was about to strike a light when the
corporal in command swore at him,
called him id fool and asked him if
he did not know that the ginhouse was
as combustible as so much powder. They
gathered up the fodder with their feet,
coming dangerously near to Bell and
myself; then they pulled off their boots,
spread their saddle blankets and lay
down.
They swore they were starved to
death. One of them wished he was
horse, that he might 90 out and fill him
self full to the throat with fodder. II
was very evident that these men were
sure that it was "all up with the Con
federacy," and equally certain they
would fight it out so long as one of them
could sit a horse or pull a trigger.
We learned that their scout had beer
i'll the direction Of the Chattahooche,
bridge, but that they had been discov
cred and chased back by the Union vi
dettes a few miles away. They felt rea
sonably secure where they were, an,
their conduct as well as their talk con
firmed this fact.
One Of the men pushed his feet nearly
into my face, but dared not move, ano
at the risk of bursting a blood vessel !;
checked back the desire to cough caused
by the floating fragments Of cotton lin
stirred up by the movements of thes,
men. At length the talking died out
One man began to snore without callins
out protest from his companions, anc
this convinced us that all were ASLEEP
aud that the time had come to be NOV
ing.
From the entrance Of these men, Bel
and l held firm hold of each others lef
hands so that we might. not be separated
in the darkness. As if moved by one viii
we crept out to where the weary horses
were standing with lowered heads and
dropping hips. Bell tried to pull one
away, but 1 whispered that it would be
safe to free the horses, even if we could
notride them. We hurriedly pulled over
the halters and the alarmed horses start
ed away. One Of the animals must have
tried to leap the fence. for it came dowr
with a crash, followed by snorting and
the sound of flying hoofs. Shouts and
oaths came from the ginhouse. and Q
man in the door called ont;
"Who in HI are yon.'
Yankees, cuss your responded Bell.
and at the same instant he drew the pis.
tol Watts had given him, and fired.
We did not wait to learn the result.
but with the north star ut our backs we
ran till we felt that we were out Of
danger.
AS we walked on, painting and whis
pering orr congratulations over our mar.
row escape, the stars paled and pink
edged clouds became visible overhead
1t was Aug. 8. With daylight came the
roar Of guns to the left. We hurried up
jungle covered hill and had just
reached the crest, when from the green
bank in front came the ominous click
ing of number of rifles, followed by
the hoarse command:
ssHalt! Who goes thereg'
Friends without the countersign,"
replied.
Advance, friends, one at time. ,
This was said with something like a
laugh, and we caught the words, more
Johnnies desertingn
We advanced. Bell had dropped his
pistol. A hundred feet through the jun
gle and there. thank God, was group
of men in the blue uniform Of the re-
public.