The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-02-16

A6hs Jul way W tuc Olu udB. A Nc men
that fired the meetin house today befoah
our eyes. tonight may burn our cabins
ovah our heads. II 30 be they don't do
hit, hit won't be coz they don't want to,
but coz they're skeert. A man with
rifle will have noah powah to keep 'em
low than fifty thousand million meetin
houses full of folks a-prayin.
80 that's why | think religions all
right in hits place, and hit may give
powah Of comfort to the wimmin when
we uns hez to light out, but ca TO me,
I'm in TO wah, and feel that I'll be
'bleeged to give my religion rest till
we decide with our rifles whether lot
Of id rebels or we Union men is
agwine to hev the free run of the hills
along the Cumberland. Thar. that's all
| have to say. and hits right smart noah
than tended to say when sot out"
Father Peters saw that it would be
folly to attempt to change the black
smith. or to try to hold to his own peace
full views the Union mountaineers that
heard him. And then, as his daughter
confessed in telling the story, he fully
appreciated the force of the blacksmith's
reasoning about the war, though the
change in the mans religious views had
on him most discouraging effect.
Even the women and children present
on this occasion seemed to realize that
the war had come to the hills, but they
made no cutlery. gave no sign of nervous
ness. If anything. indeed, they appeared
to rejoice at the prospect of an excite
ment that would break in on the dull
and brutalizing monotony of their lives.
Promising to keep to themselves and
to come together at Bradley's Crossing
when the danger became more threaten
ing, the people went sadly to their cabins
in the mountains, and that night the
children CREASED patches, the women
nodded bullets, and with the grim sto-
lidity of Indians preparing for the war
path the men made ready their arms.
Father Peters went home with his
wife and daughter with the feeling of a
man who has tried to do his duty and
will not be deferred by failure from con-
tinuance. He was at this time over
seventy years or age, and although
never physically vigorous he was active
and his mind was as clear and his hope
ns strong and his desire to save his
fellow men as fervid as when he was
forty. He did not come of q race that
could be cowed or discouraged. He had
the Puritanical temper that is slow to
wrath unless that wrath Is kindled by
the divine spark, when it becomes o de-
vouring fire for the glory of God.
After supper that night the old man
said to his wife and daughter:
II have been praying for the light,
and it has come. l see Gods hand in
this war. His wrath must be quenched
in blood. We are given over to our
idols as q nation, and he will consume
them in the furnaces Of war. Brother
Bradley is about right, and shall pray
that his lapse from grace may be brief"
For two weeks after this the crowds
kept away from the blacksmith's shop,
and there appeared to be quiet in the
hills, but every one felt that it was the
quiet that preceded the storm. News
came that Het Magoone, who had for
merly lived in the Tennessee mountains,
had gone south with band of his fol.
lowers, and some people drew comfort
from this, but Bradley would shake his
head and say:
They're comm. Zollicoffer is rails.
in army down thar by the border.
and they're comm" And the black
smith was right.
In the latter part of November. 1851.
the mountaineers Of southeastern Ken
lucky were in state of great alarm.
Rumors of Confederate invasion along
the line Of the Cumberland river were
rife, and wild and entirely baseless
stories of the cruelties perpetrated by
Zollicoffer's men, at Zollicoffer's order,
were firmly believed. Now and then
ragged refugee from farther south found
protection and stoppage place with
Bradley: and these men told their stories
of suffering and escape, only to increase
the horror and indignation of their breth-
rem along the upper Cumberland.
One day Union man, who lived
about fifteen miles south of the Cross
ing, came running down to the black
smiths shop with the news that Het
Magoone, with company of men who
called him captain" were in Laurel
county. and that they were either kill
ing or forcing into their ranks every
Union man they met. AS Bradley had
been expecting this he could not be sur
prised. In anticipation of Just such an
occurrence and the better to assemble
the Union men within reach, he had
caused piles of dry wood to be gathered
on the highest hills for miles around,
the smoke by day or the fame by night
being the signal to the Union men that
they must gather at the Crossing.
AS soon as the sun had gone down
that night Bradley and few of HE
friends went up to the peaks and lighted
the fires. On his way back he stopped
at Father Peters house and said in mis-
blunt way:
1.-THE time TO- fightin hez come, thank
the Lor, TO hit can't be mo- KILN than
the worryin and waitin. Now git to-
gether all the things we ken tote and
we'll fotch EN- down to my place. Thar'll
be no use in lockin up what's left behind
eff the doggone ours ez is a-comin han
wants to steal 'e-a. Now let we uns
hurry"
Father Peters and his family saw the
necessity for action. There was nc
nervousness on his part, no groans OF
outcries from the womsn, They gath.