The National tribune., 1894-08-09


looking gunboats, and river transport
of all kinds and classes plowing up th
waters and stemming the current Of tn
mighty river both up and down stream
the towns, cities, forts, ETC., along am
upon IFS banks-were all pleasant an
interesting sights and scenes that are In
dellibly stamped upon the tablets Of nj.
memory.
/ Will venture to say, however, here
and feel confident that the great ma
iority at least Of the readers Of this ar
ticle Will bear witness to what / say
that perhaps one soldier out of 20 OF
this trip took these things in, appro
priated them and enjoyed them as
did and remembers them as / do, while
at least 10 out Of 20 were tucked away
on the boiler deck of the boat, down il
the hold OF the engine-room playing
cards, and knew nothing and cared les;
about the passing panorama, whilst the
other four out of 30 were either lolline
about indiferently or were crawled of
asleep some place, and will rise up to
day and dispute all this account.
But if anybody doubts what | say, OF
wants to enjoy as fine an excursion as
the world affords, let him take passage
on a frst-class Mississippi packet at
Memphis about the middle of March
and 90 down to the Crescent City, and
if he don't enjoy it I'll give it up that
"wIsE HEADS WILL DIFFER"
Ny reveries Oh the beauties of nature
were interrupted one fine forenoon when
] observed the boats of our feet began
to swing their sterns ahead down stream,
and"land at little town on the Louis
lana side of the river about 75 miles
above Vicksburg. / soon learned that
the name of the town was Lake Provi-
dence.
The place of landing and disembarka-
ton was just below the town, alongside
or in the edge Of an abandoned planta-
tion, which not having been cultivated,
had grown up with some kind Of vege-
tation resembling turnip tops As We
had been confined to dry rations for a
long time, the boys were as hungry for
something green as a COW or horse ever
was, and every one was grabbing, | re-
member, at the supposed turnip tops,
and as soon as we had stacked arms and
broke ranks, it was amusing to see the
boys cram their mouths full of this bitter,
sticky, offensive weed, and then spit it
out in hurry and wipe their mouths
But all we're so hungry, that no one was
satisfied with observing another's ex-
perience, but must taste for himself,
hence it was passed around to all.
/ never saw a prettier camp than the
one laid out and constructed here the
tents were put up in parallel rows,
straight as a bee-line Wild cane was
cut and carried by many from brake
not far off, and sheds, porches and porti-
Goes made of it in front of our tents.
Spanish moss was gathered and carried
into the tents for carpeting and bedding,
which was soon condemned by the Sur
geons as unwholesome, and had to be
taken out. As the ground was very
low and damp many drove forks into the
ground, and placed poles along and cane
across, and thus constructed elevated
beds or cots.
Company wells were dug, and clear but
warm or trepid water filled them brim
full. This water failed to satisfy thirst.
The wells were condemned by the Sur
geons, and the holes filled up. We then
used water from the lake Providence),
small sheet of deep water that seemed
once to have been a bayou, but cut off
from the river by levee. Along and
around this lake the town of Lake Provi-
dence was built, and embowered among
the moss-draped trees and evergreens.
never enjoyed a pleasanter camp than
this. The surrounding county was also
full Of old sweet potatoes and crowder
peas ;-yuml yum!
II may seem tough now to the present
generation to know that we appropriated
all these things, even the furniture, stock,
and houses themselves, if we wanted
them. But you must remember that
+" the way Of the transgressor is hard"
The wages Of sin is DEATH" and that
when a people treason or 60 of in rebel
lion under another flag Of their own
make, insult and pull down the flag of
their own country, to which their fore
fathers had sworn their lives, their prop
erty, and their sacred honor, that they
forfeit everything protected by or under
their old flag and Government, and
everything they possessed, even life IL
sell, was ours if we chose TO take il.
That is the way the soldiers | went
with understood it. The landed prop
erty of the Confederacy was, therefore,
by rights ours, the same as if taken by
conquest from foreign foe, and should
have been pareeled out as land warrants
TO Federal soldiers, or sold to pay the ex-
penses Of the war, pensions to soldiers,
etc. That is the way we looked at it,
and understood it. Treason would then
have been made odious. There should
have been an exodus of both the old reb
aud the negro, and England, who
AIDED AND ABETTED
them, should have found a colony for
them.