The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1906-05-11

CautiOning his men TO maintain ST.
lence and to advance as quickly as pos
sible, he got them into position and
suddenly rushed upon the first OF the
four or five negro quarters. Knowing
barricaded, he had instructed some Of
the negroes to bring a pole with them
which might be used as a battering
ram. With rush, but without any
hurrah, for Duncan had ordered quiet
as a part Of his plan OF campaign, the
negroes carried the great pole forward
and instantly crushed i'm the door.
Within ten seconds afterward Dun
cans ex-Confederate soldiers, with
their pistols i'm use. were within the
house. and the company OF narauders
there surrendered-those OF them who
had not fallen before the pistol shots.
This first flush OF victory encouraged
the negroes under his command so far
that what had been their enthusiasm
became positive battle madness.
Without waiting for orders from him
they rushed with their battering ram
upon the other houses occupied by the
marauders, as did also his men, who
were not accustomed to follow, but
rather to lead. and within few min
utes all OF those negro huts were In his
possession, and all their occupants
were in effect his prisoners.
At this moment Guilford Duncan,
who had now no legal or military au-
thority over his men. lost control of
them Both the negroes and the white
men seemed TO go mad. They recog-
nized i'm the marauders no rights of a
military kind, no title TO be regarded as
fighting men and no conceivable claim
upon their conquerors' consideration.
Both the negroes and the white men
were merciess in their slaughter of the
marauding highwaymen. once in the
melee, Guilford Duncan endeavored to
check their enthusiasm as barbarity,
but his men responded i'm quick, bullet
like words, indicating their idea that
these men were not soldiers entitled to
be taken prisoners. but were beasts of
prey, rattlesnakes. mad dogs, enemies
of the human race, whose eXtermina-
ton it was the duty of every honest
man to seek ana to accomplish as
quickly as possible.
The contest lasted for n very brief
while The number of the slaughtered
in proportion to the total number of
men engaged was appalling But this
was not all. To il was Immediately
added the hasty hanging of men 10 the
nearest trees, and Guilford Duncan
was powerless to prevent that. The
negroes, loyal to the mistresses whom
they had served from infancy, had
gone wild in their enthusiasm Of de-
Tense. They ran amuck, and when the
morning came there was not one man
of all those maraudely left alive 10 tell
the story of the conflict
In the meanwhile Guilford Duncan
by means Of his men, had gathered in.
formation in every direction. He knew
now Hat all hope was gone of his join.
ing Johnston's army, even If that army
had not surrendered, as by this time il
probably had done. He therefore
brought his men together. Most of
them lived In those mountains round
about or in the lower country east OF
them, so he said TO them:
Men, the war is over Most of you
as | understand 1t, live somewhere
I near here or within fifty miles OF
here. AS the last order that i shall
ever issue TO you as o captain, | direct
! you now to return to your homes al
! once. My advice to you is TO go tC
work and rebuild your fortunes as best
you can. We've had our last fight
We've done our duty like men. We
must now do the best that we can fol
ourselves under extremely adverse cir
cumstances. Go home, cultivate your
fields, take care of your families and
be as good citizens in peace as yor
have been good soldiers In war"
There was a hurried consultation
among the men. Presently Sergeant
Garrett spoke for the rest and said:
eve will not go home, Captain Dun
can, until each one of us has writer
orders from you to do so. Some OF u:
fellows have children in our homes
and the rest of us may have children
hereafter. We want them TO know, aS
the years go by, that we did not deser
our cause even in its dying hours; tina
we did not quit the army until we wer,
ordered to quit. We ask of you, FOL
each of us, written order to go home
or to go wherever else you may order
us to GO"
The captain fully understood the 10y
atty of feeling which underlay this re
quest, and he promptly responded to il
Taking from his pocket a number Of
old letters and envelopes, he searched
out whatever scraps there might be OF
blank paper. Upon these scraps h'
issued to each man of his little com
pany a peremptory order TO return t,
his home, with an added statement il
the case of each that he had SERVED
loyalty, bravely and well even unit,
the end"
That night, before their final part
ing, the little company slept togethe
in the midst of a cluster of pine tree
with only one sentry on duty.
The next day came the parting. Tn
captain, with tears dimming his vi
sion. shook hands with each Of his mel