The National tribune., 1897-05-20

marching on y; the men caught up the
strain, and never before or since have |
heard the chorus of GLORY, glory, hal
leluiah !" done with more spirit, or In
better harmony of time and place.
Then we turned our horses heads to
the east; Atlanta was lost behind the
screen of trees, and became thing OF
the past. Around it clings many a
thought of desperate battle, of hope and
fear, that now seem like the memory OF
a dream; and | have never seen the
place since The day was extremely
beautiful, clear sunlight, with bracng
air, and an unusual feeling of exhllara-
tion seemed to pervade all minds-a
feeling of something to come, vague and
underlined, still full of venture and IN
terest. Even the common soldiers
caught the inspiration, and many a
group called out to me as 4 worked my
way past them:
Uncle Billy, i guess Grant is wait
ing for us at Richmond"
Indeed, the general sentiment was
that we were marching for Richmond,
and that there we should end the war,
but how and when they seemed to care
not, nor did they measure the distance
or count the cost in life, or bother their
brains about the great rivers to be
crossed and the food required for man
and beast that had to be gathered by the
way.
There was "devil-may-care" feeling
pervading officers and men that made
me feel the full load of responsibility,
for success would be accepted as mat
Ter of course; whereas should we fail,
this march" would be adjudged the
wild adventure of crazy fool. L had
no purpose to march direct for Rich
mond by way of Augusta and Char
lotte, but always designed to reach the
seacoast first at Savannah or Port Royal,
S. c., and even kept in mind the alter
native of Pensacola.
The first night out we camped by the
roadside near Lithonia. Stone Mount
ain, a mass of granite, was in plain view,
cut out in clear outline against the blue
sky; the whole horizon was lurid with
The bonfires of rail-ties, and groups OF
men all night were carrying the heated
rails to the nearest trees, and bending
them around the trunks.
Col. Poe had provided tools for rip
ping up the rails and twisting them
when hot; but the best and easiest way
is the one I have described, of heating
the middle of the iron rails on bonfires
made of the cross-ties, and then winding
them around "a telegraph-pole or the
trunk of some convenient sapling. L
attached much importance to this de-
struction of the railroad, gave it my per-
sonal attention, and made reiterated
orders to others on the subject.
The next day we passed through the
handsome town of Covington, the SOL
diers closing up their ranks, the color
bearers unfurling their flags, and the
bands striking up patriotic airs. The
white people came out of their houses to
behold the sight, spite of their deep
hatred Of the invaders and the negroes
were simply frantic with JOY.
Whenever they heard my name they
clustered about my horse, shouted and
prayed in their peculiar style, which had
a natural eloquence that would have
moved stone. / have witnessed hun
dreds, if not thousands, of such scenes,
and can now see a poor girl, in the very
ecstacy of the Methodist "shout," hug
ging the banner of one of the regiments,
and jumping up to the feet of Jesus"
] remember, when riding around by a
by-street in Covington, to avoid the
crowd that followed the marching COL
umn, that some one brought me an in
vitation to dine with a sister of Sam
Anderson, who was Cadet at West
Point with me; but the messenger
reached me after we had passed the
main part of the town. | asked to be
excused, and rode on to place desig-
mated for camp, at the crossing of the
Ulcofauhachee River, about four miles
to the east of the town.
Here we made our bivouac, and /
walked up to plantation house close
by, where were assembled many negroes,
among them an old, gray-haired man, of
as fine head as ! ever saw. / asked
him If lie understood about the war and
Its progress. He said he did I; that. he
had been looking for the
ANGEL OF THE LoRDn
ever since he was knee-high, and, though
We professed TO be fighting for the Union,
he supposed that slavery was the cause,
and that our success was to be his free
dom.
i asked him If all the negro slaves
comprehended this fact, and he said they
surely did. / then explained to him
that We wanted the slaves to remain
where they were, and not to load us down
with useless mouths, which would eat
no the food needed for our fighting
men; that our success was their assured
freedom that we could receive a few
of their young, hearty men as pioneers
but that, if they followed us in swarms
of old and young, feeble and helpless,