The National tribune., 1895-09-19

was to follow the Ocmulgee River, which
was now on, down to where it emptied into
the Altamaha. and thence directly to our
| men. Although / was entirely alone. and
dare not speak to a human being, felt en-
couraged, and began to think of home and
friends
The current was swift. and the boat made
good time, while | sat in the hind end hold
| ing my hands on either side in the water to
keep inflammation out of my wounds, as
they were much irritated by the exertion OF
cutting off the tree.
About midnight / came to a sudden curve
| in the river, where 1 found myself near a
bridge belonging TO the Brunswick Railroad,
with rebel guards, a battery of artillery, and
! plenty of lights j could not land on either
bank, because of mire and canebrakes, so L
cautiously steadied the boat with the stream
and resolved to float until they ordered me to
halt. While passing under the bridge | ven
tured to take one long breath.
As / merged from the other side Of it /
could see the rebs as plain as day; but they
evidently did not see me- and / was willing
TO he let alone" again. kept very still
until another bend In the river took me out
of sight.
This travelling continued for a few days,
when deserted the boat and took to the shore.
All at once i meta man on horseback, and two
negroes with him. We were within a few
feet of each other when we first met. He said
TO me: GOOD morning, sir" answered:
GOOD morning." Then followed ali array
of queries, which answered as well / could.
He said: "You have told me pretty good
story, but / guess you are a Yankee" l
asked him what made him think so. Well,
you have on some Yankee clothes, and you
talk like Yankee"
/ then admitted it and appealed to his
sympathies, telling him / was tired of the
war and only wanted to get home, and asked
him to let me 90, as / was sick, wounded,
and starved in prison; that i would not ask
him to help me, telling him would serve one
Of their boys in that way under the same cir
cumstances
Z" 1t Will not do, said he; "you will come
back here running off our niggers, burning
our property, and raising the devil. You
Michigan men have done MS more damage
than all the restn He then took small
rope and tied my hands together.
We arrived at the station-BuZZards'
Roost-and Barnum's woolly horse would not
have attracted more attention than did /, for
they gathered from all sides to see a live
Yankee. The train arrived, and / was placed
in charge Of the trainmen, and sent back to
Macon, where the rebels claimed i had broken
my parole of hoLor, which / strenuously
denied. They placed me in the officers
stOckade. / began to thinb things looked
rather serious, and Immediately planned for
another escape by getting my Connecticut
friend to unfasten gateway where the slops
were carried off from the prison.
But in the afternoon of the day that / in
tended TO make the attempt to escape in the
evening they took me to Andersonville, and
/ was very glad to 60 there, for / expected
some severe punishment at Macon for run
ming away.
From Andersonville was sent to Florence.
j soon slipped the guards again, fell in with
comrade who was playing the same game,
whose name i have forgotten. We lay in
the woods all day and travelled at night. On
the morning of the second day we saw a large
house ahead, with woods beyond. We de-
cided to stay in the woods that day, and /
proposed that we leave the road and 90
through the fields. He objected, saying the
white folks were not up yet and the planta-
ton slaves would not notice u.s. But he was
for a large-sized negro in the road,
who halted us, said he was on guard, and |
we must 60 with him. My comrade said:
No, come on; no Niger can stop me-"
We started down the road all together. When |
opposite the house our escort told us again |
that we must stop We told him we guessed |
not, and both started for the woods on the
run.
Two white men with double barreled shot
guns came out of the house, and with several
negroes started in pursuit. AS it was now
broad daylight we concluded to give up
We were marched back TO the house and
given good chance to wash, and clean towels,
and then a frst-class breakfast The lady
rave me quantity of boiled sweet potatoes,
and the men marched me back to prison /
never knew what became ofmy comrade.
l was put at some hard labor for several
lays. Once / stopped over, when everything
Jurned dark and fell over upon my head and
shoulders, having tainted from over-exertion,
ack of food and rest. The next morning some
,ne asked me if / thought / could get along
without trying to escape again. told them /
would try. In the meantime the prison had
been finished and occupied by our men
After many sickening experiences on Nov.
"a, i signed my parole, and with others
marched out Of the pen, each of us getting a
loaf of bread While standing in the ranks
waiting for the cans | felt an almost uncon-
trollable impulse to jump straight up in the
lir and screech out meaningless veil. I
suppose it must have been an over supply of
at the prospect before me of seeing
home again.
Arrived at Savannah. we staid all night out
N the commons. Next day went aboard
'oat stripped off all our clothes, washed with
Dap and water, stepped across on an adjoin-
ng boat, dressed up in a full new suit of
lothes, and started for Gods Country as .
appy set of men as men ever get to be in ,
his world-C. A. Wing, Sergeant, Co. C,
til Mich