The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-02-28

within a few days, he'll keep on striking !
till the Yankees are destroyed or their |
spllntered FRAGMENTS are captured on the |
banks OF the Ohio.'"
This and much more Of the same kind the |
man with the paper read, and 1t struck Ele
as not little curious that while all these |
men were undoubtedly southern in their !
sympathies, and showed a decided dislike |
Tor the Yankees, yet they were of one
mlnd-and that the correct one-as to the |
termination of the war. The man whom [
knew and still think of as 1.-The commo-
dore" appeared to voice the sentiments of
his comrades by saying, as nearly as | can
recall:
II lit as hard as any man so long as it
seemed to be the moth agin the south. for
Pm southern man through and through
though L amt never owned niggah, but
I'll allow Pve often wanted to when they
was worth id sight more'n ever they'll
be again. But soon's jeff Davis got to con-
scriptin, what did he do! Did he take all
alike, rich and pore, and say, Boys you've
got to fight for the confed'racy and lick the
anks, no matter how rich or blue blooded
yer dads wasp No, sab. He says, "A man
that runs a plantation with nine hands
amt 'bleeged to fight; he can stay home
and raise fodder, but you pore vagabonds
ez amt got niggahs or plantations, you've
got to walk right up har to the front and
let them id Yankees shoot you.' WAL
that let me out as it let you boys out. It's
now rich mans quar'l and pore mans
fight, and by the 'tarnal l amt goin to resk
my life to save a rich mans nipgahs.
We're agwine to be licked, shores yer
Dawn, an doggone me if it don't kinder go
again the grain to hev the Yanks come out
atop. Still, none of this crowd brought
on the muss, an we WuZ all fools ever to've
gone into It,"
This speech was received with much ap-
plause. The opinions, as 1 well knew,
were rather threadbare, but they repre-
sented the views of majority of the south
ern troops as early as the summer of 1868,
when l had an opportunity to talk with
many OF them at Vicksburg. l shook Bell
till he woke up, and then we rose and
walked out TO the fire.
Our Irish brother vagrant, major Gen
eral Nolan, Of the Swamp Rangers with
ready wit, introduced Bell as General
Scott' and myself as Captain Daniel
O'Connell." The newcomers took no
! note OF their names-shook hands with us,
and we were invited to partake of the corn
bread and boiled meat which the black man
was sun busily cooking.
Three meals in one day, and bountiful
meals at that was much more than we had
been accustomed to. Yet the memory of
have eaten ten times day had the food
been set before US. The general and the
commodore had evidently told our story to
| their friends, for we were not questioned
much. Bell knew all about the regiments
that had gone into the confederate army
/ from east Tennessee and western North
/ Carolina and let him talk about them,
which he did with great familiarity and
well assumed pride. l remember that he
/ rang the changes on "a rich mans Quar'l
and a pore mans fight" and always with
excellent effect.
l imagined THAI those men looked re-
lieved when my companion and myself an
nounced our purpose to keep on till we
reached the mountains. They made no at
tempts to conceal their purpose in being
! here. They had rebelled against the re-
! oellion and they were living by what they
euphoniously called 'foraging," put which
an intelligent jury would be likely to con-
slider stealing. The negro was runaway,
a powerful fellow and, as we learned, one
of the most useful members of the gang
for he not only cooked, but his skill as a
forager was acknowledged to be greater
| than that of all the others put together.
| We stayed in this strange camp for three
! nights, during which time the men went
of foraging by turns and never came back
empty handed. During our stay the com
modore, who was the leader of the gang,
kept US supplied with a decoction of oak
bark, which turned our feet to the color of
tanned calfskin and toughened them in a
| surprising way, so that while the effect
lasted we were not troubled again with
bruises or bhsters.
The gang seemed to be well supplied
with confederate money, and dirtier cur
rency than that displayed in pulpy wads by
some of the men il would be difficult 10
imagine. In addition to this money they
had several packs OF greasy cards, the
backs showing that they were composed of
the remnants of many packs. Every night
the cards were brought into use. Poker
was the game, the commodore was the
banker and nails of three sizes were used
as ''chips." Bell and myself were invited
into the game, and on our pleading poverty
our fellow Migrants generously raised a
collection that netted US about $500 each
without perceptibly decreasing the wads
that had been placed under contribution. |
am very sure that it did not detract from
their value.
I had never played poker before, bat !
understood the rules of the game. So, not
to appear odd, went into the gane,p and
and played SO cautiously that in the three
nights my losses amounted TO only ten DOL
lars, very modest sum indeed, when the
smallest chlp-a single nail--representcd
five dollars and teppenny nall twenty.
At times there were several pounds OF
nails in the middle of the blanket on which
we played, and they represented hundreds
no more than the paper they represented.
Bell had passion for poker. This game,
to use his own worGs, lest filled him plum
full of new blood of the richest kind.' He
forgot his sutferings, forgot how and why
be had come here and whittier he was
bound in the excitement of the play lie
played, as it seemed to me, recklessly: but
he was so successful that the second night
he was able to return, with thanks the
} generous contribution of our entertainers
and still have q snug sum left. recall thai
on the third night when he and the com
modore were betting and tossing nails in a
. a great rate, some one told Bell he wa:
. blufing.
"Bluffingw he repeated with pictur
esque oath. 81 tell you, neighbor, if ] has
| ten kegs of nails ana was Flowed TO raise
} the ante that amount, I'd chuck ZEN init
; the pot quicker'n you could say 'scat2'"
This bold declaration intimidated thu
commodore. He "called" Bell-and lost
The mountaineer held royal flush or som,
/ equally unusual and unconquerable hand
: Bell afterward assured me that if we hat
{ stayed in that game for week he "woulC
have won every doggone dollar then
> swamp angels had, and got mortgage oil
their duds and rifles BESIDES" and be
; lieved him.
t Although treating US so well our friend
! did not press US to remain after our fee
3 were ''about healed" They agreed witt
? Bell that if we wanted to strike the noun
2 tains with least danger the best way was {
: cross the Savannah into South Carolina
( land then head plum for the west.'' Th
river was about two miles beyond the islam
en- which we were encamped, but they ha
= scow on a little bayou few hundre
e yards away, and on this the commndor
4 volunt Inferred to ferry Us to the South Car
DINA shore, where he assured US we shout
3 find the ground "a little drier, but NO
enough to brag on.'' When the time cam
r for our departure, Bell generously offere
: to return all the money he had won, Blu
the men Indignantly refused it, declarin
t that he had ''won it like gentleman an
that it was his by all the rules of honorabl
r gambling. Then he proposed to buy one G