The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-04-22
SARGE PLUNKETT.
A Look at the Pictures Of tho War 10
Cuba.
atlanta Constitution.

Atlanta Constitution.
When I look upon the pictures Of
orueltieg in Cuba it makes me shud-
der, for old folks in Georgia know just
how it is themselves.
When I look upon these pictures l
cannot help but think Of the times we
had right here in Georgia when old
Sherman came, and as / study upon
it, somehow, the echoes Of the songs
that we're sung around the dying bed
of a good old woman seem :" tingle in
my ears. There is no harm in telling
the story, that the young generation
may know that the cruelties Of wal are
not peculiar to the island Of Cuba,
nor entirely attached to the Spaniards
alone.
There used to live between Atlanta
and the Chattahoochee-a little to the
right of where Westview cemetery now
stands-a family of people that / can
give as a sample of the cruelties Of
those days. They were a well-to-do
family widow with three sons and
two daughters. When the war broke
out the three sons volunteered at nee
and they remained with the army all
the way down to Atlanta, and not one
of them was ever hurt nor sick in the
whole four years, a remarkable history
of one family, when it is we'll known
that the whole three were faithful and
gallant to a marked degree. %
The mother Of this family, a widow
for years, was past eighty, and when
the armies arrived around Atlanta she
could do nothing more than remain at
her home out by Westview. When
Hardee went to Jonesboro all three Of
her boys were with him and they were
terribly distressedebou the condition
that their family might be in, never
having visited their home, as close to
it as they were. Just at the time that
Hardee moved down to Jonesboro there
was much depression among the SOL
diers and there was much speculation
as to what was going to be done. The
boys knew that their mother and sis
tiers were obliged to be in. a suffering
condition and often it was that they
had discussed it among themselves.
At last they decided that these loved
ones at the old home must be attended
to, let it cost what it would. They
we'll knew there was no use trying to
get a furlough at that time and so they
decided that one of them should desert.
All three of them being faithful Con-
federates, they decided to draw straws
to see which should be the deserter.
The youngest of the three drew the
shortest straw, and so it was that
Charlie, as he was named, took the
risk and the odium Of being a deserter.
There was no time to be lost, so when
night came on Charley bravely walked
forth from the Confederate lines and
was o on his way back to the old
home, to his mother and sisters. He
went clear around Atlanta, clear around
his home and came up from the other
side. He found his people in a suffer-
ing condition, and told me afterwards
that had it not been for some scraps
of potatoes that be gathered from
Judge Wilson's patch they would have
starved.
After the fight at Jonesboro Hood s
army took the back track and went to
Tennessee again, while old Sherman
pitched out toward the sea, after max
ing way with everything that he could
passibly lay hands upon. Before
Sherman left Atlanta he issued orders
for everybody to leave for a certain
distance around the city. They could
take their choice of going South or
back across the Ohio river. No more
cruel thing has ever happened in Cuba
than this, and I said right then that
the back of my hand was against old
Sherman, and it is to this day, dead
though he be.
These circumstances put Charlie,
the youngest deserter, in the most
trying condition. Els poor old mother
was past eighty-too feeble to 60 back
across the Ohio-he was a deserter in
the C~onfederacy and so he knew not
what to do. At last he decided that
the best thing he could do would be
to 90 to Atlanta, let the yankee com-
mander know the circumstances and
throw himself upon their mercy. There
vas no mercy in those days, not a
whit more than there is in Cuba at
this time.
Anyhow, Charlie went into Atlanta,
hup'od up old man Markham, who
stot ell with the yankees TO. his
univ.- proclivities and together they
went to the headquarters of one Leocct,
who was the quartermaster general of
the yankees at that time. Be it said,
to the credit of Mr.. Markham, that
although a ~unionist, he never tired in
doing good turns for the Southerners
and worked hard in relieving the suf-
fering all around at that time. He
went with Charlie to Leduct and he
plead for him and told of the feeble
condition of the old mother, but it
done no good. With a flourish of his
hand he called a subordinate and
ordered the family moved outside Of
what was then designated as the
"limit''-the line around Atlanta in
which no citizen was allowed to re-
main. Charlie had nothing left him
but to 60 back across the Ohio, while
his poor old mother and sisters were
put in an army wagon, taken beyond
East Point and dumped right out in
the big road without anything on earth
to shelter or to feed upon. Nothing
in Cuba surpasses this in cruelty.
From where they were dumped like
garbage this poor family went on their
way toward J%onesboro. Of course,
they could not get far before the old
mother must sink. At night the girls
gathered some leaves and made a bed
the best they could for the mother.
Away in the night Brown and I heard
the girls crying and we went to their
camp. The most pitiful scene I ever
saw was there as that poor old mother
passed away. Poor old soul, she
looked upon her daughters with such
a pitiful gaze and yet she strove to
the last to cheer them. She begged
them not to cry and asked us to sing
a song. Brown opened up on the old
"Ship of Zion" and it soothed them