The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-02-09

Manono :lad only one peg TO hang
hope OH after putting me through
my PAGES for full two hours. My
terminate was sure J was John Wake
field, and yet was a bit strange
since my return to the company. l
did not use tobacco any longer, and
he had net heard me swear, though
I had been addicted to both vices be-
fore my capture. I claimed that I
had resolved to let tobacco alone, as
it was affecting my health, and l
had quit swearing in gratitude over
my escape.
The general was satisfied, and yet
unsaiistied. He acknowledged that
my officers and comrades ought to
know me after being together for
year, but added that there was no
great hurry TO dispose of the case
and sent me TO the guardhouse. At
the end Of two days I was escorted
back to his headquarters, and he
played his last card. In his tent was
a soldier dressed in Federal uniform,
whom I took to be deserter. There
were also two men dressed as civil
ians, but / believe they were Con-
federate soldiers temporarily dis
guised. The general had two letters
and a telegram before him, and as I
stood at attention he looked up and
said:
"Well, my Yankee lad, you are
pretty sharp and have stuck by your
story, but you might as we'll make
clean breast of it now. You see thi8
deserter from your lines, these citi-
zens from Montgomery, these writ
ten proofs that you are not John
Wakefeld?"
"Who do you want me to be?" I
asked.
IT want your right name and the
story of how you got into our lines.
You are spy, and hanging is the
penalty, but, owing to your youth,
we may decide to treat you as pris-
oner of war;
declared that was John Wake
field, asked him to remember that
all my company had fully identified
me and expressed my willingness to
face any new proofs he might have
to the contrary. He leaned back in
his chair and looked me straight in
the eyes for a moment, and knew
he was beaten man. He did not
call up the men or read the letters,
as they had been prepared for the
occasion and could not have helped
him out. After what seemed fully
ten minutes to me he quietly said:
"Well, perhaps mistake has been.
made. You can return to your regi-
ment.
My two arraisnments before Gen
eral Malone made me an object of
curiosity and gossip in my company,
and when returned it was to find
all the men anxious to quiz me and
two or three of them seeming ly sus-
picious. The captain called me into
his tent and questioned and cross
questioned me until he declared that
nobody but a fool could have taken
me for any one else. 1 put the men
off by pretending to be angry, and
three nights later, as we held a
breastwork at the front, slipped
away in thadarkness and re-entered
the Federal lines. Acting on the in
formation I brought, Grant was ham,
mering away on that portion of the
Confederate line at daybreak. Ten
years after the war, as smoked the
pipe of peace with General Malone
at hotel in Richmond, put the
inquiry:
General, suppose you had secur-
ed proofs that Twas not John Wake
field. What would have happeneds'
"Can't you guessi" he replied.
"Would you have had me shot?'
''No, sir. I'd have hung you by
theneck and made a good job of it!'