The National tribune., 1901-08-08
WASHINGTON g. THURSDAY AUGUST s. 1901

search or FOOD, with ne thought OF de
sorting at ALL Many others folloyed tn
example of the Government and fed; bu
the singularly large proportion of the littl
whole stayed and starved to the last AM
1t was no technical or metephorical star
walton which we had to endure, either
as brief statement OF my own exper
iencs will show.
The battery to which I was attached
was captured near Amelia Court House
and within a mile or two of my home
Seven men only escaped, and as knew
intimately everybody in the neighborhoot
had no trouble in getting horses fol
these to ride. Applying to Gen. Lee II
person for instructions, / was ordered t
march on, using my own judgment, anC
rendering what service l could in tht
event of a battle. In this independent
fashion | marched with much bettI
chances than most of the men had, to ge
food, and yet during three days and nights
our total supply consisted OF one ear Of
corn to the man, and we divided that witt
our horses.
The end came, technically, at Appomat
toI, but of the real difficulties of the wal
the end was not yet. The trials and thu
perils of utter disorganization were still
to be endured, and as the condition il
which many parts of the South were left
by the fall of the Confederate Govern
ment was an anomalous one, some 40
count Of it seems necessary to the com
| pleteness of this narrative.
SOUTH WITHOUT CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
Our principal danger was from the law.
less bands of marauders who infested the
country, and our greatest difficulty in deal
ing with them lay IN the utter absence OF
constituted authority of any sort. Our
country was full of highwaymen-not the
| picturesque bighwaymen of whom fiction
and questionable history tell us, those gal
liant, generous fellows whose purse-cut-
ting procliyities seem mere peccadilioes in
the midst of SO many virtues; not these,
by any means, but plain highwaymen of
the most brutal description possible, and
destitute even of the merit Of presenting
respectable appearance. They We're
simply the ofScourings of the TWO armies
and Of the suddenly freed negro popula-
uon-deserters from fighting regiments on
both sides, and negro desperadoes, who
found common ground upon which to fra
icrnIZe IN their common depravity. They
moved about in bands, from two 10 20
strong, cutting horses out of plows. plum
dering helpless people, and wantonly de-
stroying valuables which they could not
carry away.
AT the house of one of my friends
where only ladies iive6 n body of
these men demanded dinner, which was
given them. They then required the mis-
tress of the mansion to fill their canteens
with sorghum mOlasses, which they i'm
mediately proceeded to pour over the car
pets and furniture of the parlor. Oat-
RACES were of everyday enactment, and
there was no remedy. There was no
State, County or Municipal Government
in existence among us. We had no courts,
no Justices of the Peace, no Sheriffs, no
officers of any kind invested with shad-
NJ u
enough in the community, at first, to re-
sist the marauders, comparatively few of
the surrendered soldiers having found
their way home as yet. Those districts
IN which the Federal armies We're sta
toned were peculiarly fortunate The
troops gave protection to the people, and
the commandments of posts constituted
Government able to enforce order, to
which outraged or threatened people
could appeal. But these favored sections
were only small part of the whole. The
troops were not distributed in detached
bodies over the country, but were lent
IN considerable masses at strategic
points, lest a guerrilla war should sue
coed regular hostilities; and so the great
er part Of the country was left wholly
without law, at q time when law was
most imperatiyely needed. ] mention this, /
not TO the discredit of the victorious army
or OF its officers. They could not have
wisely done otherwise. If the disbanded
Confederates had seen fit to inauglrate
Il partisan warfare, as many of ehe Fed !
cral commanders believed they would. |
they could have annoyed the army Of &C
cupatlOn no little; and so long as the tenn :
per OF the country in this matter was I'm.
known, II would have been in the last !
degree improper to station small bodies !
Of troops in exposed situations. Common
military prudence dictated the massing Of /
Inc troops, and as soon as it became evil |
dent that we had no disposition TO re-
Slst further, but were disposed rather to |
render such assistance as we could in re- /
storing and maintaining order, everything |
was done which could be done to protect |
Is.
1t is with good deal of pleasure that
bear witness to the Uniform diSpo-
lition shown by such Federal officers as |
came in contact with at this time. to
protect all quiet citizens, to restore or
Ter, and to forward the interests of the |
they were called upon to gov
.rn. In one case / went with a fellow
confederate to the headquarters nearest
ne-lS miles away-and reported the do
ngs of some marauders in my neighbor-
hood, which had been especially out
'ageous. The General in command AT
'nce made detail of cavalry and in
'tructed Its chief to go in pursuit of the
lighWaymen and to bring them to him.
lead or alive. They were captured,
marched at a double-quick to the camp,
md shot forthwith, by sentence of a
court-martial, proceeding
which did more than almost anything else
ould have done, to intimidate other bands
# like kind. At another time / took
o the same officers camp n number of
tolen horses which a party of us had
to recapture from n sleeping
and Of desperadoes. Some of the horses
We recognized as the property of our
lelghbors, some we did not know at all,
md one or two were branded sc. S."
md u. s." The General promptly re-
urned all the identified horses, and lent
IL the others to farmers in need of them.
MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER.
After a little time most Of the ey-sol
liers returned to their homes, and find
Ii; that there were enough of us in the
o Inty in which | lived to exercise n
nuch-needed police supervision if we had
he necessary authority, we sent com
nittee of citizens to Richmond to report
he facts to the General in command of
he district. He received our committee
cry cordially, expressed great pleasure in
he discovery that citizens were anxious
o maintain order until a reign of law
ould be restored, and granted us leave
0 organize ourselves into military force
WITH officers acting under written au-
horIty from him; to patrol the country.
dlsarm all improper or suspicious per-
ons: to arrest and turn over TO the near
st Provost Marshal all wrongdoers. and
TO preserve order by armed sur-
enhance. 10 this he attached but one
NM