The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-04-03
venty niles about Mariette. taking that

twenty miles about Marietta, taking that
town as a centre. He showed us that Sher-
man was not only before Atlanta, but that
the federal troops held the whole line of
railroad from the Chattahoochee to the
Tennessee and on to the Cumberland.
1t was about $50 in the morning, and
Bell and myself were about to extlngush
the fire 80 as not TO attract the attention of
friend or foe, for we felt in honor bound 10
protect our unexpected guests, when in
the far distance we heard man shouting
On the instant we sprang back from the
fire and bent to listen. The man had evil
IDENTIFY been attracted by the light, and
there was that in mis- pitiful cry that
brought to mind the appeals Of the wound
ed, when, with torch or lantern, the details
make their way through the distorted
ranks OF the dead TO find the friends and
the Toes who still breathed. a few minutes
of eager silence, then the cry was repeated.
This time the words were very distinct, and
there was thrilling pause between, as il
the man was not strong enough TO speak
the whole sentence.
1t was the grand distress night signal of
powerful secret society, of which knew
nothing at the time, but l never heard the
words before nor afterward outside Ma
sonic lodge. The hailing sign l have seen,
however, given on the 1eld by friend and
foe, and TO the best of my knowledge and
belief 1t was always respected. On hearing
the words Bell shot out an oath, then
bounded from my side shouting:
Courage, my brother! Courage my
Cd! We uns ia a comm ~ To my sur
prise the confederate who had been sabsred
IN the head sprang to Bells side. The re-
naming confederate and myself remained
back in the shadows, though the sound of
our friends voices talking with the
stranger below the spring treasured US.
| The voices came near, and in few min
utes Bell and the Mississippian came into
the circle of light carrying between them
heavily bearded man, whose haggared face
and bloodshot eyes told of more than the
suffering of death. The faded gold braid
on the ragged gray coat, the three bars on
the collar and the swollen, rag covered left
foot which he held straight before him told
that be was confederate captain, and the
! spur on the remaining boot suggested cav
| airy artillery or the staff.
The man was placed beside the fire and
while Bell prepared some superior the
poor fellow had not tasted food for eighty
hours-l took the rags off mis- swollen foot
and discovered that d musket ball had gone
| squarely through the instep and came out
| leaving big, ragged wound in the sole of
| his foot. While | was bathing the wound
soaking it in one of the tins and waiting
for the fragments that had been used as
bandages to dry, the man told US that his
name was Watts. He belonged to the
Second Kentucky, and had been on the
staff of the confederate General Ross when
the federal cavalry under Garrard charged
into Decatur ten Gays before. After his
friends had been d iven off he concealed
himself in the house OF southern family
till three days before when the approach
of the Yankees forced him to fly as quickly
as q man supported by crutch and with
the small bones of his foot smashed to
| splinters could.
After the captain had been feed and his
bandaged he was placed on the bed of
! boughs, near which we found the doll and
the child shoes, and the poor fellows voice
failed him when he tried to express his
gratitude. In order that the three confed :
crates might have chance to talk without
restraint of our presence, Bell, with a deli
cacy that eeemed entirely foreign to his
usual manner, drew me out of hearing and
whispered:
Thunder and Gineral Jackson, cap! if
powahful likes if you'd be head surgeon
and me chief steward of purity consider
able rebel hospital"
After giving our confederate friends
time enough to discuss US and to debate
their own situation, Bell and [ returned to
! the fire, and l at once announced our Dur
| pose, after telling Watts that we were Yam
KEGS, which he already knew. recall as a
curious fact that each of these three men
| had loaded revolver in his belt, but after
our meeting we felt that they would no
more think of firing at US than at their own
people Truly fellow feeling makes even
old foemen wondrous kind.