Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-02-05
A VETERANS STORY.


he looked into the grltc fire FOR time
without speaking. He was reviewing
events of the most eventful period of his
life.
'Thoy hurried us TO the rear Of their
army" continued this softcned, kindly
old gentleman, threw guard around us,
telling the officer In charge to shoot all
prisoners who should try to make their
escape.
eve had been fighting from early in tho
morning until we wore captured, which
was about the middle of the afternoon,
and had begun before light rcpast was
finished, 40 you may imagine we had u
feeling of NIL goncncss' soon after the guard
was placed over ms. Did our entertainers
celebrate the event by rendering II banquet,
with toastsi Not that / recall. We lay
there the balance Of the day, all night and
until nearly evening the next day bcforc
anything WIS done In our behalf, unless IL
was to put on a new guard. That evening
they mar still unicd, to the stu
ton, dc ,t cup Of cornmcol and
chunk OF N, =. for each man and gave us
chance 20 prepare our own banquet after
fast Of IS hours, deluuting a swallow OF
coffee and few bites Of hard bread.
well, rs ! think bnck, 1t seems 10 me
that nothing j have ever eaten tasted bot
ter than the cornmcal inush and raw ha
con OF that first banquet after our capture
No, VIC didn't have tdasts, nor was there
an orchestra or glcc club to supply bnn.
quot music. My, but how good that mush
was, II 1t was saltless, sugnrlcs- cream.
less-even II It was just plain, half cooked
unsifted meal. And the bacong Lord, hut
those southcrnors know how TO mike bu.
con-
GAS soon as the meal was over thoy or.
-dered us into freight cnrs bound for At
lanta. l remember that when the order
came / was In the full enjoyment of hold
ing the rind of my chunl II bacon In my
mouth It was there when fell asleep,
but was gone when / awokc. / shall never
forget the feeling of poverty, the sharp dis
appointment which camo to me, when the
discovery was made that the sweet morsol
WINS gone. | chided myself for going To
sleep and running the risk of losing so
precious possession.
"As l remember, It was about noon
when we reached Atlanta. They told us
TO get out of tho cars. There wero two
long freight train loads of us. What n
sorry looking crowd we werel There hud
been no chance TO wash since thu fight.
Faces and hands were almost as black rs
the slaves who stood about gazing, open
mouthcd, at the qucor assortment of Gagged
Yankees. Men, women and children,
white and black, gathered about us In
largo numbers. A very pretty girl go,
quito close 10 us as we We're grOwlinp
about being hungry and unwashed. /
thought she WINS sorry for us. Maybe she
was child OF Unionlst, and vcnturod TO
ask her if she wouldn't got us mouthful
of food. You ought to have seen her /
never saw 30 much scorn under a summer
hat No, you nasty Yankee beasts. not TO
save your llvesl My pa is with 1ongstreOt
1 wish he had killed all of youn l stopped
looking for sympathy Wonder what bc
came of that girl9 She was us pretty as
two peaches but, gracious, what II little
rebel she w;ls---Rbout as one OF my girls
would have been under the samc circum
stanoesl
"There were Union men there. We saw
some of them. An old mnn of so edged up
close to the prisoners and quietly asked
squad of them If they would he good
enough to sing While they were in far
better trim for formandizing than testing
their vocal organs, a leader of the SOUND
asked the old gentleman what he would
have
Anything, Misunderstanding TINT
you are In the habit of singing to your
army or at the north. I'm as hungry for
real, patriotic songs rs you arc for food.
My good wife Inns gone TO bring you what
food we have cooked. 1t will be here soon,
Let's give him "Rally Round the
Fiag," boys, said sergeant
"Ihen their clear young voices rang out
with the dear old song which never hear
without thinking OF thnt Atlanta scene.
q, Al first only few SING, but when tho
second verse began all of those 600 pris-
oners who could sing, and You know most
of MS could sing in those days, were swell
ing the chorus. We all forgot our hunger
and our desire to clean up, our unhappy
state and sang as never before,
Sing 1t again; please sing 10 again,
pleaded the old man. and II was repeated.
After that came The star Spanglcd Ban
ner. While this was being rendered saw
many face in that throng of citizen on
lockers lose It's scornful look and become
serious. | saw tears ON the checks of soy.
er,ll old men and women Our particular
old friend wopt like child, and when
pompous young second lieutenant of tho
guard force gave an order to stop the mu-
sic, he said: No. Let them sing. It's the
sweetest sound I've heard for more than
two years i say stop It, responded the
snip with shoulder straps.
"At that moment u general officer rode
up. The old mnn went up TO him and Nc.
ported the order Of the lieutenant and
asked that It he couutcrmandctl.
1t shall be- Let them sing. II does
them good and don't hurt us, The Lieu
tenant has been doing guard duty too
long. Wen let him go 10 the front where
he can hear different music, Maybe he
will like that better ] didn't, and the
general tapped T. cork leg with his gloyed
hand
''whnt of the old gentleman who wanted
some United States songsg Oh, he
guess, was the happiest man in Atlanta
His wife came up with q basket Of proyi-
sions. Her corn bread. pickles and cooked
rice were awfully good.
" guess yo' alls had better keep yo'
vittlics for We ais, said Georgia home
guard when men and women moved up 10
pass 10 the prisoners bread and meat
"'Won sec about that too, said tho old
Union man, and he started TO hunt up the
one legged general again, but before he got
back an order had been given to move over
20 two trains bound for Richmond Dan
willie and other towns noted for their ho-
tells for the accommodation OF such as We
Some stopped at Danvllle, more at Rich
mond and Belle isle, and many OF them
are there yet. AS / said at the outset that
was my unhappiest lroment'-the time
they grabbed us Mt ChiclSnmauga -. A.
Wuffous in ChicngD Tribnpp