The farmer and mechanic., 1906-10-02

1atigued. SO as / had just passed over
| tnat road, / threw the reins over my
horses neck, and took some relaxation
/ When we had reached the little clurnp
or pines hardly - yards from Long
streets fOrCe-SOme twenty men
/ sprang from either side Of the road
ana seized our bridles-saying, hush
not Il word. 1t was most cleVerly done
/ Ihey turned our horses ana led US
back. The captain in command told
me that he had heard US conversing
with LOngstreet's men. ana supposed
/ that We We're u general and staff re-
! conhoitering-an he had allowed US
| TO pass, knowing that we would be ia
/ ken II we Proceeded, an ! if not on our
return, he would capture us-as he
had done. This picket-guard soon re-
joined theIf company in their rear, but
| the captain was indignant at finding
| that the brigade to which he was at
Itached had been WithtraWn-witE
iany information to him. It was a
! cavalry company, and he made his
| way to u little church, | think on the
turnpike-Where we fell in with the
| bulk Of POpe's army then in full re-
treat. The pike was denSely packed,
land our progress was greatly impeded
| Immediately behind lis was a German
! brigade-and | was told they could not
speak English; and the native troops
We're profuse and prOfane in cursing
them. 1 imagined that the Dutchmen
gave them as good as they sent. Be
fore morning we arrived at Centre
vile and l was carried to the head
quarters of General Birney-Who oc-
/ cupied u log building, With several
rooms. There was a tent near the
/ door, and being assigned to that /
was soon asleep. The sun was high
/ up when | aWCke the next morning.
| ! was called into the house, where
m Ip
! was 4 QaShing looking officer, blonde
| long, light hair. All L recall Of our
conversation was to this effect: II am
! going to hang half q dozen of you fell
! lows" what for, General?' For
wearing our uniforms to deceive US
and carrying our flag to entrap us"
/ I expressed some surprise at that say
| ing that doubtless some Of our men
might have worn some of their cloth
ing, if they needed it, ana that some
of our flags were company flags pre-
scented by ladies and were of irregu-
lar design-but that l did not believe
! there was any attempt at deception
! such as he meant ON this General
Birney became rather warm, and [
inquired what were the particulars H
said the incident happened only two
or three days earlier. in that vicinity.
when some Confederate cavalry by
such ruses led some of his command
better of them.
| then adVerted to the fact that
President Davis had declared his pur-
pose to conduct the war on the high
est plane of civilized warfare, and If
there had been any departure from
that, he would punish it. And then |
asked if he had made any report OF
the circumstances SO that the matter
might be brought to the attention of
President Davis.
To this he replfed-nO, he had not
done so. And, why not? You know
President Davis Will enforce obedience
to his orders and if there has been
matter, he will punish it,
General Birney seemed some what
embarrassed. and replied-''Well, the
truth is the Confederate officer in COM
mand is a kinsman of mine-and |
did not wish to report it,
Indignant at his threat ''tO hang
half-a-do or so of you men, and
still more indignant at this disclosure.
| Said-''And do you tell me, sir, that
you would Wreak your vengeance on
half-a-dOZen men innocent of this
transaction, and hang them, while un-
willing to have the guilty officer pun
ished because he is q kinsman of
yours 2"
The General turned very red-and |
without answering moved away. There |
were perhaps a dozen persons in the
them some old men
from Maine who had come down to
look after the wounded soldiers one |
of these men asked the general if he |
might ask me some questiOns-and |
General Birney said "Yes-so that |
they were not improper question: |
interrupted with: "Why, General, | |
shall not answer any improper ques- |
tions" The conversation with the |
enough.
Later in the day. I was told that I |
was to be conducted to General Pope's
headquarters. Our way led from one |
end of the biVOuac to the other. There
were huddled together en- masse, per-
haps 10000 men-SO thick that one |
with difficulty avoided touching them.
For the most part they were sitting
or living down. on my way L heard /
two or three men, at some Httle DIS
tance say. SOttO-VOice, "SeceSh, but / |
was addressed by only one man. He
was directly in my Path-and rose rose
when I approached: You are Con-
federate." he said. Yes" From
what State? ''North Carolina" ''Do
Won know anything of Wilmington?'' ?''
..Yes.'' DO you happen to knoW-a
man there-Johnson-a locomotive
engineer-an old man me FORM OF
old Johnson-of medium size, some
what bent with age, and gray beard,
came at once to my recollection: Yes.
7 know Johnson. 1t has not been
very long since [ saw him-two
months. He was Well-at his work.
He Is NV father. We are from Massa-
chusetts. He moved to Wilmington
some years ago. My brother and my
self used to go there and work in the
winter and return and work IN Massa-
chusetts in the summer. Fan before
last. affairs We're so eXclted at the
south. that we thought it best not to
90 We remained at home and
Worked Then the war fever took the
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