The National tribune., 1903-06-25

you will not escape without taking me
ity offered, he could escape as well as /.
He said: "No, you have been n prisoner
twice and escaped, and you understand it
better than /. / know you will get away,
| and l want your promise to not go with
out me-" l said: "All right; I'll promise ~
By this time the rebs had rode up to
us and hastily mounting us behind some
of their own men, struck out south, and
crossed the dirt road between the advance
guard and our regiment, picking up few
more men. No time was lost. and while
our regiment was probably forming for
action, we were five miles away, going
south like the devil beating tanbark.''
This was the near guard of Forrest s
forces. Our captors had taken our guns,
equipments, knapsacks, blankets, over
coats, haversacks and canteens, as well
as my S13 boots, leaving us in extremely
| light marching order One young impu-
dent rascal demanded of me my money.
but l pretended not to hear him. He then
turned to White, demanding his pocket
book. White looked at me and then at
| him, with look which seemed to say:
''What shall l dog Just then the com
manding officer rode up, and | Appealed
to him, demanding the treatment due Il
prisoner of war. He in response ordered
his men to not disturb or take from Us
our private effects. This young would-bc
robber, soon learned, was the butt of all
of the. jokes Of his company. Many Of
them seemed to be amused at the guy.ng
we gave him when occasion offered.
learned that his name was Leggett, and
told him that after the war if / ever met
man named Leggett, there would be 4
| funeral. These men were, to q certain eS-
| tent, strangers to one another, and were
undoubtedly new soldiers, as they address
ed each other as "Mr." Jones, or "Mr."
Leggett, as the case might be. To this
day think it would be unsafe to address
Leggett." We frequently heard the com
mand given: Forward up, gentlemen;
| forward up," meaning ''clOse up"
After getting a few miles south, tenn
| porary halt was made and an account Of
stock, so to speak. was taken, when it
was found that they had II prisoners.
among whom were two Captains.
| From this point, as they had no extra
! Ecrses, and as two men on one horse was
one too many, they required the prisoners
/ to walk. or rather run, as the gait Of
about five miles an hour was kept up for
! some time. On the whole, however, we
were treated rather better than the aver
age prisoner is reported to have been
! treated.
! Every indication pointed to the fact
| that they were under orders to march rap
! idly to point 30 or 60 miles south, where
the whole force were to rendezvous, To
! prepare for the next campaign.
! We probably made % miles that day,
! possibly more, and camped at n planta-
ton, wh,re the prisoners were housed in
an abandoned negro house, with a guard
stationed inside near the door, and re-
| lief guard outside.
We Jared as well as did our guards,
they dividing equally with us such food
as they obtained. No harsh or abusive
| language was used toward us.
We had noticed that Forrest did not
march his men in large bodies, but divided
them up into small parties, and marched
| on as many roads as possible. We saw
| no wagon trains or ambulances whatever.
| On Dec. 80 we got late start, the en-
| emy apparently not being in any hurry,
or were waiting for the closing up of
other columns. Extra horses had been
procured and the prisoners were permit
ted to ride at the proper place for pris-
| oners-the rear Of the column-but in
advance Of the guard and rear guard.
NY FIRST MEETING WITH GEN. FORREST
On this day, while OH the march, n
| mddle-aged gentleman, with broad
brimmed. light-colored hat-with long fur
on it-rode leisurely up alongside of me-
and after pleasantly saluting, inquired
where / was captured, my age, regiment
and few other unimportant questions
and then asked how much property was
destroyed at Lafayette. / answered his
questions freely, and when he asked il
the cord wood was ali destroyed, l told
him that our forces arrived in time to
distinguish" the fire and save the wood
l discovered my mistake as soon as spoll.
en-, but before l could correct it he turned
the conversation and apparently took nc
notice of my Mrs. Partingtonism." He
soon rode on, and the Lieutenant in
charge of the guard asked me il l knew
with whom / was talking. On being an.
swered in the negative, he informed me il
was Gen. Forrest.
There were 10 guards, commanded by
Lieut.. Cherry, who were detailed to lool
out for the prisoners.
A more kind and gentlemanly man could
not be found than this Lieutenant. In