Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-06-22
THE BOOMING CANNON
RECITALS OF CAMP AND BAT
TILE INCIDENTS.
Survivors of the Rebellion Relate
Many Amusing and Startling Incl
dents of Marches, Camp Life, Forag-

!
is my first visit to Chicago in fifty
years. I was here in 1856, and I came
! in this morning. AS everybody comes
| to Chicago, 1 decided to come over and
/ inspect the town as a regular assign
ment. Nearly everybody seems to be
here, but, do you know, 1 am disap-
pointed l had a sneaking notion that
| would meet John Folsom on the
streets, recognize him, and have a long
chat with him.
John was a Reb, and / was YanR
in the great Buell-Bragg foot race from
East Tennessee to Louisville in the fall
of 1862 We struck up an acquaint~
ance under the most extraordinary cir
cumstances, and 1 would like to COM
pare notes with him now. The two
armies marched for month on nearly
parallel roads. Neither general wanted
to fight, but each wanted to reach Lou
isville before the other. In the feints,
bluffs and covering maneuvers there
was liable to be at any time general
mix-up.
I'm this particular case l hurt my
self coming down Muldraugh's hill, and
the next night, finding could not keep
up with my company, l dropped out
and, completely Frustrated, crept into a
cornfeld and lay down under a tree.
| knew the Confederates were hanging
OH our flank, but l didn't care. | went
to sleep and slept through the night.
In the morning, when | opened my
eyes, | saw not far from me a leg
trousered in gray. l OWNED that the
Confederates had passed along the road
and that straggler had shared my
| quarters.
This looked serious, and l realized
that my safety depended on quick ac-
ton. The Reb was still asleep, with
his gun alongside of him. In five sec
| Onds | was sitting astride of him and
was holding his arms to the ground. l
weighed over 200 then, and the Reb in
formed me before he opened his eyes
that a horse had fallen Oh him. When
| he did open his eyes l nercely demand
ed his surrender. He said there was
no need of making so much fuss about
| it. He would surrender.
Il at once removed the pressure, as
sisted my prisoner to his feet, patted
| him into shape, introduced myself,
learned that his name was John Fol
som, and we proceeded to get break
! fast. We felt better after that, and in
friendly spirit discussed the situation.
! oln TO that if wont To-
| ward Louisville on the road before us,
we were just as liable to meet Con-
| federates as UnioniSts. Therefore, we
agreed that we would go forward, each
one carrying his own gun. If we struck
! a detachment of Unionists he was my
prisoner; if we came upon Confed-
crate picket line, l was his prisoner.
'sThis seemed to both of us a very
! good plan. But the times were out of
| Joint, and the first man we met was a
| suspicious civilian hitching his horse
| to q light wagon. He wanted to know
why in thunder we were going about
! together that way. I explained that
the Reb was my prisoner. He wanted
to know why in Sam Hill l didn't take
his gun away from him. Then he Or
| dered the Reb to take my gun away
| from me- He would not listen to any
| explanation, and we Joined teams on
! him, tied him to a tree, and, taking
| his horse and wagon, cut out for Louis
vile.
I'VE made good time and had just
agreed to modify our protocol so as to
permit quick journey to Louisville as
Joint partners in the outfit when we
saw three Confederate cavalrymen
guarding a bridge in front By this
time the clause in the protocol provid-
inc that in case we met Confederates
/ was to be John Folsom's prisoner was
a dead letter. | didn't want to be cap
tured, and John, having friends in
Louisville, didn't want me to be cap
tured.
80 we took to the woods, and max
ing a great racket with our guns and
our horse and wagon and calling out,
Here they are, boys, at last We
caused the cayalrymen to retreat, and
went on pelI NELL toward Louisville. In
due time we reached the Union lines
near that city, where fresh trouble
awaited us. The pickets were in a
state Of excitiment, and they would not
let us in. | wanted to go forward and
explain, but they threatened to shoot
me if I moved an inch. Finally, as
luck would have it, the officer of the
day, a cool headed fellow, rode out to
investigate us.
1--WE were in the middle of the road,
seated in our wagon, when the officer
and a squad of cavalry rode up. They
all laughed when they saw us, and the