The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-08-24

to my comrades. And we never reach
ed Goshen that night. Our little party
was suddenly brought to a stop by the
sharp challenge of the rebel pickets,
which it seemed had been thrown out
a mile or so north of the town, and as
we had no business in that neighbor
hood at that time and under such cir
cumstances, we made a hasty return
trip.
"a company of the rebel cavalry
acted al our undesirable escort up the
valley, which made our homeWard trip
one of greater haste<than it otherwise
might have been. All the same, when
passing the little grove near the man
sion I stole nj hasty glance in the di
rection of the three trees, and there, as
before, I saw the CLEAN of the bright
campfire.
1.-The aggreesivenes Of General Early
at once opened up active operations
and in less than a week after the night
referred to above, a regiment Of Union
cavalry was sent down the valley, in
the regiment being my company. Ii
so happened that we encamped on that
particular plantation, and NY company
was near the grove. Hardly knowing
why l did so, I made my way to the
triangle Of trees where I had seen the
campfire and dog but a week previous.
and what was my surprise then to see
that there was not the least sign of
there having at any time been q fire
there. The ground was covered with
dry leaves and grass, and in brief pre-
sented the appearance of having been
untouched for years, perhaps.
Here was an enigma. I pondered
over the matter and tried hard to solve
the problem, but in vain. No amount
of reasoning 1 could do gave me an
inkling as to the mystery. Within
tW~enty-four hours thereafter the Shen-
sndoah campaign opened up in earnest
and ended only with the glorious battle
Of Winchester.
I'm our company was an old sailor
who, in the quiet of camp life, was all
the time spinning yarns to the amuse-
ment of the entire mess. It happened
on one occasion, while yet encamped
in that valley, that Dan Greegan, the
sailor, began recounting ghost stories
for the amusement of the boys. As
everybody knows there is not another
class of people 80 superstitious as sail
ors, and Dams stories were all related
with such a conviction of their truth
a to make them quite interesting.
by way Of diversion, I related my
experience as told above, without Civ
ing the exact location of its happening.
Dan listened attentively, more so than
any other, and when / had finished he
beckoned me to one side. In high spir-
its Dan told me that what l had seen
was the ghost of money buried beneath
the ground, and that the dog alongside
the apparent fire was the devil watch
ing his own. Dan proposed a trip to
the place of my strange vision, but the
necessities of war made that impossible
at that time.
six months passed away, and it was
the spring of 1864. Ihad been wound
ed in a skirmish and had just been dis
charged from the hospital with a three
month"; furlough. My condition was
such that / could travel with comfort
and was fairly well able to take care of
myself, though not yet fit for duty.
From the various sources of informa
ton I learned that everything was iust
then quiet In the Shenandoah valley,
and I determined to make a trip there
and ende0vor to solve the mystery Of
my campfire, according to old Dams
version, especially as the thing has been
more or less in my thoughts ever since
its occurrence; and then, being a poor
man myself, naturally the thoughts of
finding a fortune, or the possibility
thereof, WA the greater reason for my
going. Be that as it may, / went.
lit Yves late one evening in May
when I reached the plantation and
found to my Rpprt citation, that the
place was still deserted. From a shed
l procured a pick and shovel and made
my way to the triangle of trees, pre-
ferring to do the work at night. Scrap
ing away the dead and dry leaves, I
discovered that at some time not very
distant the earth had been disturbed.
1t required little effort on my part to
scoop out the hole three feet equare.
when I had scooped out the earth
to a depth of three feet my shovel
struch a hard foreign substance. Hast
lily as I could, in my righteousness, l