The National tribune., 1898-05-26
4 pRIVATE FORGING EXPEDITION.
In Which another Goose" and . Few
Guerrillas Had q Part.

In Which "Mother Goose" and . Few
GuerrilIas Had q Part.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: In the
Summer of 1864 our regiment was encamped
for a time in Louisiana on the banks of the
Mississippi. One night, after taps, my chum
and l 1--WE were BOYS in our teens) held
| council, and concluded that change of diet
from bareback and salt pork was decided
necessity to our physical welfare.
Early next morning we saddled our horses,
and each with revolver stuck in his bootleg
started out in search of chickens, pigs,
turkeys, or anything else that would give us
q square meal.
We had gone six or eight miles from camp,
when, just after crossing small stream, we
heard the familiar and welcome quack OF
geese from the large cornfeld to the right OF
the road. The fowls had evidently just came
from their morning bath in the creek. We
concluded not to fire at them, as it would
attract the attention of the residents of the
house, farther up the road. Giving the reins
of my horse to my comrade / dismounted,
and, after getting stake from the fence, 9 Lit
out " for the geese
OF course they made Decline for the
house, half running, half flying, and keeping
up squawking. / singled out one that APP
peared to be less lively than the Others, but
she proved to be like the Irshman's flea
every time ! put my hand on her she wasn't
there, and every time hit her | missed her.
Finally, at the edge of the cornfeld, near
the house, got in a stroke with my stake
that topped Mother Goose over, and was
just tying an extra knot in her neck to stop
her continual squawking, when heard voices,
and looking up saw two white men, followed
hv
corner of the house.
They took in the situation at n glance,
and so did /. One of the men darted through
the open doorway into the house. / well
knew what that meant. He was after his
gun. For moment | was in guandary.
| could not very well surround them, and as
the officers used to say, :" did not want to
bring on a general engagement so far from
my reserves -; so | turned and ran. j think
| made one of the most disorderly retreats
through that corneld that occurred on either
side during the war; but | hung on to the
goose.
Much out of breath l reached my comrade,
and handing him the goose sprang into the
saddle. At this moment my chum i'll some
manner lost his grip on the goose and it fell
to the ground. He dismounted to secure it,
and was i'll the act OF remounting when we
heard connection in the field close by, |
and the two aforementioned men emerged |
and to our CONSERVATION one |
aimed a double-barreled shotgun directly |
at MS. They were typical guerrillas with |
the regulation long, yellow hair and beard,
and were ugly-loollipg customers We felt |
that gun was loaded for Yankees, and that it |
wouldn't miss fire.
The man who held 1t called us all the hard
were not and wound up by telling us we
must drop that fowl = and pay for it besides,
or he would blow us off the face of the earth. ,
This he would undoubtedly have done had he
known we were entirely alone.
whispered to my chum that we must pay /
for the goose, or make a show toward doing
so, but if there was chance we must make a
flank movement on Johnny with the gun.
We were in such a position that they could |
not see the revolyer+butts protruding from /
our bootlegs. We began talking good |
with them about the price of the |
goose, which caused Mr.. Reb TO lower his gun. |
and after awhile he dropped the butt of 1T to |
the ground. / winked at my chum, when, |
quick as q fash, our levoiyers were whipped |
from our bootlegs and leyeled point blank at /
his breast
Drop that gum" yelled my chum, cor /
We'll drop YOU" He dropped it. The
slightest hostile demonstration on his part |
would have resulted disastrously to him.
1t was now our turn to sass back" We
accused them of many things, among which
was that of belonging to the gang that almost
nightly fired on our pickets, killing and
wounding men and horses. This, OF course
they denied, but we had and still have our
opinion.
My chum dismounted and picked up the
gun, and after removing the caps smashed it
across the fence before their eyes, which
caused a handful of buckshot to roll from the
barrels. We then gathered up Mother Goose
and went our way rejoicing, and for the next
two or three. days Toasted on goose pot-pie.-
G. X. BARBER, Co. ID, 1lth n. Y. Cav.
SCOTS 900, Watertown, n. Y.