The National tribune., 1901-01-31
THE TOWN OF JACKSONVILLE.

At 2 o'clock we came in sight Of Madi-
| sonville. 1t was little, oldfashioned
! sort of town, and Its quiet and undls-
| turbed appearance, as well as that Of the
country around, reminded me Of the up
| stairs bedroom Of house. If the State
of Tennessee were house just now Chat
! tanooga and Nashville would. represent
| the kitchen and sittingrooms- busy
part of house.
The people about here live an undis-
| turbed kind of a life, and only know what
| is going on in the world from hearsay and
| from the fact that many of their young
men have been recruited and taken off to
the war.
In Madisonville there were one or two
nice houses, where the richest men in
town lived" The old tavern and the bal
| ance of the town looked rather seedy.
The Court House was a sorry old affair,
| and looked hundred years old, and was
| fast crumbling away. 1t was built of
brick, and surrounded by a slab fence,
upon which were sitting some dilapidatcd
| old fellows, whom we took to be the City
Fathers" Our troops passed briskly
| through the town, and nothing was dis
| turbed.
We stopped four miles from town, on
a farm. having made ID miles during the
day. A camp site is usually selected near
the edge of a woods, where there is water.
The infantry go into the woods and build
fires of brush and from all rails they can
get, while the artillery and wagons stay
in the open fields.
PREPARING SUPPER IN CAMP.
Not having stopped for dinner today we
were hungry; but it was o'clock before
the wagons came up, and we had to wait
for them to come with the cornmeal, and
from the scarcity of skillets for baking
cakes more delay is occasioned, and you
can imagine how we have to wait for
supper"
/ mixed my cornmeal in a tin, like /
used to make chicken feed, and without
salt or grease cooked a hoecake on the side
of rail. In this way camp was lively
all night, some singing soldering Down
in Tennessee" Johnny, Get Your Hoe
| cake Done" etc.
Tuesday, Dec. s.-We were up at 4
o'clock baking cakes for breakfast, and
were ready to move at daylight. The
road was good, and we hoped to make
Columbus, on the Hiawassee River, by
night. 20 miles distant.
After travelling along a while we began
to get tired, and would ask the people
along the road, How far is it ahead to
ColumhusF" Then would follow conflict
ing answers. One old man said it was 10
miles, when we knew we had already trav-
| eled four: the next person said it was 90
miles. We would sometimes think we
were travelling away from the place, in
stead of toward It.
/ house, and the people would Say at was
20-odd;" going on we meet a boy on q
mule with a sack Of meal, and he says "it
isn't very far'-all the time we marching
as hard as we could.
About noon ] saw a chance TO get of to
a house, so l fell out of the ranks and
made my way toward It. 1 found neat
little home, with everything comfortable
around il. j went in on the carpeted floor,
nassed clean beds, bureau, and went into
the kitchen. The folks were all out, ex-
| cept an old woman, who was mixing
dough for bread, and not knowing of our
passing troops was frightened at seeing
me.
| asked first for socks, as ! had very
sore feet, and was soon supplied with a
pair. Noticing some frying pans, / per-
suaded her to let me have one, for which
paid her dollar.
A UNION MAN IN TENNESSEE.
Anxious to catch up with the regiment,
i started at once. Passing the barn,
saw one of the men who lived there. He
was an old man, and as came up he ap-
| preached and grasped my hand before |
spoke. 1t was the warm greeting of a
Usion man, and l was the first ''blue
coat" he had yet seen. He said he had
heard of our coming, and thanked God we
were among them. He inquired for news,
and / told him of the recent events at
Chattanooga and Knoxville, which he had
heard nothing of.
The rebel cavalry had been securing this
country, conscripting, and his two sons
were then hiding In the mountains, and