The National tribune., 1902-12-11

From Salisbury to Greensboro the dis
tance is about 30 miles, and be it remem-
bered that on the same day that Adj't
Jones gave me the above information. we
started on onr journey by rail to Goidsboro
by way of Greensboro.
CHASTITY ROAD FROM SALISBURY TO
GREENSBORO.
1t seems that these Salisbury prisoners
who were to make the march to Goidsboro
ON foot followed the railroad, of which
fact was not aware until We began to
overtake them, and as truly as there is Il
God in Heaven we began to oyertake them
within an hour after leaving Salisbury.
verify believe we had not proceeded five
miles on our journey before we came ~
with the first lot As we proceeded their
numbers increased, and all that afternoon
and all the next day until we reached
them by scores and by hundreds, complete
ly tired -out, disabled, exhausted, fallen
here and there by the wayside. in the
fence-cOners, under the trees. i'll every
sheltered nook, dying and dead!
l pray God l may never travel such a
ghastly road again. These men were but
as walking skeletons when they started
ont on that journey of hundred miles
or more to GoldsborO, without food or
shelter ON the way, and there could be
but one result-they died by hundreds if
not by thousands along that hOrrid road.
As the Confederate Lieutenant had said,
''The Confederate authorities wanted them
to die, and planned the march to accom-
plish that purpose"
We who were better clothed and had
been better fed might have endured such a
march ourselves, but to our starving and
dying comrades We could offer no assist
ance. We passed the most pitifnl sight
that mortal eyes ever beheld, in silence.
What could we do? How could a man
even speak to a comrade under such awful
conditions? What word of hope, comfort
or encouragement might one utter to stary
ing and dying men on every hand for miles
and miles along that dreary, ghastly
track?
These boys left the stockade at Sails
bury with bright hopes of home and the
future, believing that they were able to
march as of old. How cruel the disa,,
pointment, how inkuman the method. All
along. that awful road. upon the faces Of
the thousands that we passed there were
two sentiments plainly depicted, the one
or the other on every face-hope and de-
spair. Hope beamed from the eyes and
frightened the features OF every face of
every man as long as he was able To
tramp that weary road toward home and
freedom. Despair was as plainly stamped
by the wayside, for the moment that his
strength failed he knew for certainty
that the bitter end of his bitter captivity
was near. No man asked assistance of n
comrade. for all knew that no one could
assist even brother; so, when mans
strength failed. he crawled into the near
est nook and died without a murmur.
No horrible tale of olden time when all
mankind were savages. that / ever read.
could equal the awful reality of that road
from Salisbury to Greensboro in Febru-
ary, 1860. From Greensboro to Colds
boro we were ahead of the marching col
umn and saw no more of those ghastly
sights which. during all the years that
have followed, have never been able to
exclude from memory and from my vision.
CLOSING DAYS OF THE CoNFEDERAcY.
Along this same road, abont six weeks
later, Jefferson Davis. with his Cabinet
staff, and escort, fed southward from
Danville, Va, after learning of the sur
render of Lees army, seeking safety and
finding none His bloody and inhuman
policy, which had made this road the high
way Of horrors that no pen can picture, in
the last days of February when l passed
over it, failed utterly to establish the des-
pOtism of slavery, which was the dream Of
his cruel and crafty ambition.
On the night of April Davis and his
party reached the same old North Caro-
lima town OF Greensboro, where We were
paroled ON Feb. %. in their official
car, where they remained for nearly
a week. On the evening Of April 10, Da-
Wis and his Cabinet held their last council
Of war with Gems. Joe Johnston and Beau
regard. More properly speaking it was a
council Of surrender rather than q council
of war, and Davis himself dictated the let
ter written on that occasion by Johnston
to Sherman, which finally resulted in the
surrender Of Johnston's army. On April
i6 the Davis party left Green's
boro-not by rail in their official car, as
they came, but in train of wagons and
ambulances, with a mounted escort. They
passed through High Point, Salisbury, and
Charlotte. SO familiar to my memory in
connection with this horrid road of death,
and thence southwark until captured by
limited StataS eavalrv