The National tribune., 1893-03-23

H1EgH7z%syyY.cS,}:, place, which was about
tHNSHsss5tsysTf,l:.. two miles from my
go .s::. home in the Mills /
was we'll aware that
there was q company of rebel soldiers watch
ing for me, and had so informed all the men,
and told them to be ready to start Immediately
after dark, as we would have to travel hard all
night, in order to escape from the rebels who
were watching for u.s.
When / arrived at the place Of starting
found my men all ready to 60, and We at once
started on our journey. We waded Doe River
travelled on the highest part Of the mountain,
going through Limestone Cove to Kelley's
Gap, where / expected so more men would be
waiting to join my company, as had arranged
with them to meet me at this point on this
night.
The night was very dark and cloudy and it
looked very much like rain, which made 1t very
bad travelling for most of my men, as they were
not accustomed to travelling through the rough
mountains. AS had fears of the rebels inter
cepting me I changed my route, going farther
into the mountains, which mado travelling
much harder. But after travelling very hard
we reached Kelley's Gap about II o'clock that
night. / was very much disappointed on my
arrival not to find the 90 men whom expected
to meet me at this point. We did not tarry
long here, fearing the rebels had captured
these so men and were watching for US. we
pushed on as fast as possible for wanted to
get to the red banks of Chucky River, where
we could rest on spur of the Unaka Mount
ain, where we would be safe from the rebels.
We got to our place of concealment about
daylight, having travelled % miles over the
toughest mountains had ever before travelled
over. The men were all very tired, and great
many of them
HAD BLIsTERED FEET,
while Others had snagged their legs, making
han war nal1 do Of
the wind was blowing very hard, which made
it very disagreeable indeed. The men were so
wornout that they went to sleep on the
cold ground, without any fire to warm their
aching limbs, for / was afraid to have fires,
thinking that the rebels might see the smoke
and surround US and capture the men, and as
capture by the rebels meant instant death, we
preferred taking the risk of freezing to that of
being captured by these blood thirsty rebels. I
did not dare sleep myself, but stood picket for
the men while they slept.
About II o'clock | saw coming up the mount
ain company of men, which at first / thought
were the rebels on our trail. 1 ran down the
ridge to point where ! could see them better.
when / saw that they were the men who were
to meet me at Kelley's Gap. My first greeting
was: Well, boys, / missed you last night"
YES" they answered; "we went to the
wrong gap, and did not know you had passed
through until this morning. When We came
to Kelley's Gap we struck your trail, and think
ing we could overtake you to-day we followed
on, and are glad to say we have caught up with
YOU"
then inquired Of them about the rebel SOL
ders, but they could not give me much infor-
nation. l next inquired about their proVis-
ions, and was somewhat surprised when they
told me they did not have anything to eat, and
did not know where to go to get anything. l
told them it was hard place to get provisions
but / would try to get them something. l
then directed them to go to where the other
men were. and / left them and went down to
the foot of the mountain, where good old
Union man lived, by the name of William
Bayliss. 1 told him I had large company Of
men up on the mountain, and that l had come
down to see if l could get nything for them
to eat. He said he was afraid the rebels would
find out where we were hiding, and that had
better get away. / told him l must have some
cornmeal and bacon. His wife said she would
90 down the river about two miles, to little
mill. where she thought she could get the meal
and bacon. Mr. Bayliss told me the meal
would cost So bushel, and that the bacon
would cost so cents pound. ] gave him $14
to pay for the meal and bacon. and his wife at
once started to get it for US. Mr.. Bayliss said
could go back to my men, and that he would
have the bacon and meal at the river where we
would cross that night.
l then left and went back up the mountain
to my company of hungry men, and told them
the success | had had. This was encouraging
news to them, and while telling them this saw
a negro man coming up the mountain to where
were. When he came up | could see very
plainly that he was in trouble, and l said to
him: Sambo, what is the matter with your"
and be said, "Boss, was going down the
river road home this morning, and met about
200 rebel soldiers looking for you and they
wanted me to tell them where you was, and
said l could not tell them, and six of them
jumped off of their horses and took q halter,
tied one end of
THE STRAP AROUND MY NECK
and threw the other end over a limb and pulled
me up. tell you, Boss, thought dis darky's
time had come. sho. But the Captain told them
to let me down and I would tell. They let me
down, but would not tell. So they pulled
me up again, which l thought would finish
me. But one OF them said: Let him down. He
will tell US now where that Old Fox isl They
then let me down. and soon as | could speak
l told them / did not know. They pulled me
up the third time; when they let me down and
beat me with their guns over the head, and left
me almost dead. tell you, Old Fox, dem rebels
said they was going to have you if they had to
look into every hollow log there was in the
mountains, and I have come to tell you to be
watchfui."
Night was now approaching. and I thanked
Sam BIO for his information and bid him good
by. AS soon as it was dark l got my men all
up and started our journey. We soon
reached Chucky River, where we found Dir.
Bay liss, who told US that everything was clear,
and VIC at once began to cross the river in .
canoe, and when l had got about half Of my
men over three women came aud brought our
bacon aud meal, and when asked what they
charged for their trouble, they handed me a
bundle of letters and said: "Al VIC charge you
is to take these letters to our husbands in the
army" / took their letters and then gave
them each dollar and bid them goodnight.
When all my men had crossed over the river
We proceeded on our journey. 1t was very
dark night, which made travelling over this
rough mountain very disagreeable for the men
whose feet were sore. We travelled hard all
night, and at daylight next morning we had
reached point on the Cold Spring Mountain,
having travelled about % miles. AS We were
now in a good place to spend the day, we
stopped, and the men were SO tired they lay
down upon the cold ground and were soon fast
asleep. / let them lie and sleep until about IL
o'clock. when 1 woke them up that We
might bake our bread and cook our bacon.
After building several fires we got fiat rocks to
bake our bread on, as We had no cooking uten-
sls of any kind.
Ii the reader will bear with me will give
him description of the way we prepared and
cooked our dinner on that cold mountain. AS
l said before, we got fat rocks which We set
before the fires. Then we got some bark to
knead our dough in, dipping the water and
pouring it into the meal with our hands. We
then put the dough ON the rocks and set them