The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-06-27
There were rs in the party, and Ellis

Iner6 were 10 IN the parry, ana ILLS
skillfully led the way to the Holston riv-
er, in sight of the land Of promise.
There he broke down under the excess
i've fatigue Of two journeys in the hot
August nights and turned over the COM
pany to the care of another pilot. Some
Of the refugees had money and pressed
it Oh him; others had none and were
destitute of food. While the travellers
rested in a secluded camp the big heart
ed mountaineer went out among the
farmers and laid out all the money that
had been given him in food for the poor
fellows who were starving.
When Ellis again reached Carter coun-
ty, the troubles there had increased.
This county is on the northern slope of
Smoky mountains, in an angle between
North Carolina and Virginia, where the
Confederates had full sway. Union re-
cruiting officers had penetrated there
without armed troops and the enemy
was cruelty energetic in stamping out
the camps of the would be Union SOL
diers Civil war was at it's height and
no man safe unless he wore the gray. A
full company of 100 men was piloted by
Ellis through to Kentucky in November
and his boldness and skill in the venture
led to further expeditions His next
party was SO large that the Confederates
were aroused and followed the trail as
far as Powell river. The men forded the
river, guns in hand, and turning in mid
stream kept the enemy at bay. After
crossing, the refugees entered a deep
woods and scattered effectually blind
ing the trail These men reached the
Union lines and by that time the fame
Of Ellis was such that refugees and re-
cruits in the mountains, bound north
ward, would not march without him as
leader. He changed the route to Knox
vile after that post fell into Union
hands.
When the Confederate prisons were
moved to the extreme south in 1864, he
guided escaped prisoners from the Caro-
lima mountains to the Union lines in
Tennessee Or Kentucky. It CHANGED that
when he struck General Gillem's camp
near Morristown, in October, 1864, there
was battle on hand between Gillelm's
troops and Morgan's old brigade, under
General Vaughn. Ellis volunteered to
fight and, as he expressed it, enjoyed
himself finely in helping run the Con-
federates out of Morristown. When he
set out again for his native hills, it was
with authority to drum up recruits for
the Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry: Arm
ed with a brace Of pistols and repeating
rifle, he literally fought his way alone to
the rendezvous in Carter county. He
bore a charmed life and once escaped
from a whole company Of Confederate
cavalry that surrounded house where
he stopped for a meal He secured re-
cruits for one company and delivered
them at the camps, then resumed his
work Of scout and guide. Falling in
with the Thirteenth regiment, he found
the company which he had recruited
without a captain, and the men insisted
that he take command. He "consented
to act,' as he declares in his memoirs,
but adds in the same paragraph that ar
my life was too slow for him. He pre-
ferred the stirring though dangerous life
or scout and guide, although he was the
hardest hunted Union Tennesseean in
all that mountain range.
By an agreement with his commander
he went back to Carter county to drum
up recruits for the regiment at large.
The Confederates had meanwhile become
moro and more alert and hostile, and
when he reported back to camp with his
"batch' he announced that on his next
trip he must be furnished a patrol, or
he would be compelled to 'bushwhack''
in retaliation for the methods used by
the enemy. A detachment of 80 Carter
county recruits was given him. On near
ing the hills they found themselves pur-
sued, and Ellis finally determined to
turn On his hunters
With a few raw recruits added to his
company, he formed three detachments
and marched into Elizabethtown. The