The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1892-07-21

"a
"HcllO, siSteTI' responded, and lifted
my hat,
II Bragg had shown as mucn energy
in the threeLlays following Chickamauga
as he did in that sanguinary conflict he
could have marched into Chattanooga
without serious resistance. but q delay Of
forty-eight hours gave Thomas an oppor.
tunity to fall back with his own veterans
and to reorganize the corps Of Crittenden
and McCook. When Bragg did move he
found the Union troops in the works be-
fore Chattanooga and guarding II from
the west bank Of the river. and with
Characteristic caution he opposed Long
streets plan for an immediate assault,
and ut once laid siege to the place.
The story Of that same siege Of Chat
tanOogs forms one Of the most thrilling
chapters Of the war, and history affords
no parallel to its dramatic termination.
The Confederates not only held the three
railroads that entered Chattanooga, but
their cavalry, under Wheeler, poured
over the Tennessee and planted them
selves in force along the valleys and hills.
over and through which ran the Mac
Minnville wagon road, the only avenue
by which the Union troops could hope to
get supplies till they were REINFORCED.
Never before or afterward did that
magnificent Army Of the Cumberland
exhibit such devotion and endurance as
during the siege Of Chattanooga for the
six weeks following the disaster at Chick
amauga. Winter was coming on, but q
majority of the men were without over.
coats or blankets; many Of them were
barefooted, and they did not have, when
cut of from the outside world, full ra-
tons for men and animals for ten days.
But true to their splendid record, the
brave fellows frightened their belts and
stuck it out for weeks on handful Of
parched corn day.
In early October the enemy captured
and held MacMinnville for a short time,
and destroyed large train making for
Chattanooga. Our cavalry. under Nc.
Cook, Mitchell and Long, started to
clean out Wheeler, and.this was eventu.
ally done, but not without much hard
riding and fierce fighting.
was scouting in the defiles to the
west Of Sequatchie valley, in Bledsoe
county, Tennessee, at this time, my
orders being TO watch and report the
movements Of the COnfederates under
Armstrong, who commanded a division
in Wheeler's corps. In appearance and
speech the people in this part Of Ten.
nessee are exactly like those in the Cum
berland range to the north, though the
Union feeling was not so strong, more
than one. half the men in and about the
Sequatchie valley having voluntarily
entered the Confederate army.
We were resting and grazing our
horses one morning along little stream
running down from the hills to the
north, when, IN order to get a better
view of the surrounding country,
clambered up a mass Of rocks that rose
for several hundred feet above our tenn
porary camp. had been here but few
minutes when heard a metallic click,
as II made by a scabbard, and cooking
my carbine | turned quickly in the
direction of the sound, expecting to see
an armed man, whether friend or foe.
But to my relief / discovered that the
sound was made by a tin pail in the
hand Of a girl who had come to q halt
on an elevation about twenty feet behind
me, aud but little higher up. The pail
was flled with beechnuts, which the
girl was munching with astonishing
GOODNESS and display Of appetite with
which was in perfect sympathy.
She might have been seventeen years
Of age, but she had all the grace Of
movement and the delightful ease Of
manner that make children so attractive.
Her thin dress hung half way between
her bare brown feet and her knees. 1t
was fastened at the waist with cord
that brought out the exquisite lines Of
bust and hips. The hands, like the feet.
were shapely and brown, and the face,
framed in q tangls Of dark, sun tanned
hair, was q clear olive, tinted on the
cheeks with q warmer shade. The parted
lips revealed what Is unusual with these
mountain women, and that Is as perfect
set of pearly teeth as had ever seen.
With her head thrown slightly back,
her left hand resting on her hip, and her
right foot advanced with the hand that
held the pail. and chaplet Of crimson
leaves set tipsily on her hsad, that girl
formed one Of the prettiest pictures !
had ever seen, and as looked at her
in undisguised admiration she reminded
me Of the bacchRnte Of whom ! had
read in my neurological studies.
Unjust confess that was more con-
fused than II had been confronted with
man in gray with gun, but not 50 my
lady with the sumac chaplet. Her big,
brown eyes took me in from my rusty
boots to my shockingly bad hat. Then
she placed her left hand beside heI
mouth as II to direct the sound, and
called out in a voice that could be heard
distinctly down at the camp:
Hello, misterP'
Hello. sister, I responded. and lifted
my hat.
asked, with wave Of the brown arm
from myself to the valley.
YES, sister," l replied; I'VE arc al
Yanks."
"Then you uns he'd Orter be 'Shamsd
o'yuselsr'
"rm sorry to hear you say that"
"Yes, heap sight sorry You uns 'peah
to be-" and the pretty upper LIP was
curved at the corner. giving another