The National tribune., 1899-07-20

That thar little Yankee cuSS is an officer
in q nigger regiment | had never made
any retort, until one day a woman made
the remark, He 'un had sorter be hung for
maxim the niggers fight we 'Hns, when
turned and said, yes, Madam; | am an
officer of a nigger regiment, and am proud
of it. The time will come when the black
est nigger who wears blue will be IL better
man than any rebel who ever wore gray!
The woman flushed, furious with anger.
IF | had my way, I'd kill all you Yankees
who came down-here to fightwe 'uns, and
steal we 'unS niggers-niggerS we brung
up jes' like our own children-an' teach
'em to fight we 'uns, she said.
Il hayen't the least doubt of it, Madam
| said, and my friends hustled me away,
fearing that my tongue would get me into
trouble:
ANDERSONvILLE PRISONERS.
A half dozen prisoners who had escaped
from Andersonville were brought in. They
were ragged and dirty, anc from them we
learned. of the fearful death rate at Ander-
sonviIle, and of the horrors of that place.
One of their number was strong, wiry-
looking man, with sharp, black eyes and
square Jaw. He said nothing to any one,
but | saw him and the Kentucky officers
exchange glances and / knew that they
were acquainted. The Andersonyilie men
were placed on the cars to be sent back to
Georgia. In a day or two the papers had
an account of how some Yankee prisoners
had knocked down the guards, leaped from
the running train and successfully made
their escape. Then the Kentucky officer
told me that the black-eyed man was one
of Kilpatrick's most daring and desperate
scouts. Had the Confederates known
whom their prisoner was, he would have
been hung at once.
In September the naval officers left us,
special exchange having been arranged for
them. This exchange was arranged by
Lieut.-Com. Williams, the senior officer of
the naval prisoners. He was paroled by
the Confederates, to arrange the exchange.
He gave his parole to proceed to Washing
ton and endeavOr to arrange an exchange
of naval prisoners. Should he fail to effect
the exchange, he promised to return and
surrender himself Il prisoner again. How
anxiorisIy the blue jackets awaited the re-
suit of his mission.
One evening we heard them cheering and
we knew that Capt. Williams had succeed
ed. They went off gaily enough the next
morning. Before they left they gave us
everything that they could possibly part
with Thanks to their generosity, my
wardrobe was somewhat replenished. Two
Of their number. Lieuts. Preston and Porter,
were afterwards killed in the assault on
Fort Fisher.
FALL OF ATLANTA.
The ugly rumor that prevailed on the
streets that Atlanta had fallen, proved to
he founded on fact The newspapers
franticalIy called upon the Confederate
authorities to fortify Columbia.
Every man was ordered to report for
military duty, and the widest excitement
prevailed in the city. The Senior Reserves,
old men between 30 and 90 years, and the
Junior Reserves, young boys from IA to 16
years of age, We're both called out
The SDpctacla of praDtfather and grand
son both under arms was not an uncom-
mon one. We watched the unwilling re-
crliits come in, each man loaded down with
cotton haversacks stuffed with corn bread
and sweet potatoes, and over each mans
shoulders a big roll of cotton bed quilts
If possible, our "Kaintuck' and Tennessee
Union officers would yell at the conscripts
and, inform them that "Sherman's men
would walk through them like eating piew'
TYPICAL SENIOR RESERVE.
One poor old "Senior Reserve" came into
town on a little old two-wheeled cart
drawn by rat-tailed mule. His wife, in
driving the mule. They stopped directly
in front of the Jail. Both were smoking
corncob pipes. The old man took his old
smoothbore musket, four well-filled haver-
sacks and big roll Of bed quilts off the
wagon. They both took their pipes out of
tnelT UnOubIIS anu hlSStu cttCll OlItT. linen
the old woman drove off, crying, whipping
the mule, smoking and eXpectorating right
and left. Instead of being touched by this
affecting scene, the Yanks roared with
laughter, and some of them started the
song:
"Our Johnny has gone to live in a tent,
| They've grated him into the army;
He finally puckered up courage and went,
When they grated him into the armyr'
Some of the best men of our post guard
were detached and sent to the front. So
| much was the home guards force reduced
that the men guarding the Jail were doing
almost continuous duty, four hours on and
| four hours off.
| Again the plan for escape was agitated,
| and this time general break was planned.
When not on duty the guards always piled
| their muSketS in a corner of the guard
room and were generally lying down out
side of the building in the shade. Under
the stairway of the Jail were a dozen or more
large boxes filled with cartridges. We
could see the marks "Millidgeville Arsenal,
b1ck-and-ball cartridge" on the ends of
them. A mile away was the Columbia
Arsenal, where there were plenty of arms.
| The only guards there were three men and
a Corporal, and we even knew their names,
and had very poor opinion of their cour-
age. Our plan was to jump the guards in
the back yard and in the jail-hall and
those guarding the front entrance; then half
| q dozen men were 10 daSl through the open
window of the guard-house and secure the
arms of the guards off duty. With these
| in our possession We could quickly drive
away the guards on the side of the Jail and
release our enlisted men. This would
augment our force to $50 men, and dash
would be made for the arsenal, where arms
could be obtained for all. The telegraph
wires ran past the Jail and were to be cut as
soon as the guards were driven off. With
| arms in our hands, we would capture the
railroad shops and disable all the engines.
By seizing every horse and mule in the
city and country we could mount our entire
party and then we would make an attempt
to reach Sherman's army.
| 1t was a most desperate and daring
scheme. but we were desperate men.
might as well die fighting, as starve like
rats in hole," said big Lieutenant Of the
"Six Kaintuck. Union," and SO we all
thought. Three men, each with half
brick in stocking for slungshot, and
with a keenly-sharpened case-knife, were
detailed to "iump" each sentinel. The
Tennessee officers were to dash through
the open window into the guard-room
and secure the guns. The time Sc
lected was to be in the afternoon when
we went down into the yard. My part
was to climb the telegraph pole and cut
| the wires. The plot was exposed by one of
our own number. We had believed him to
be a cavalry officer but probably he was a
spy confined with us for the express purpose