The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-02-21
How He Became
Chief of Scouts

several vets OF the civil war were
comparing notes as to the why and
wherefore of their advancement dur
ing their term Of active service. All
gave accounts creditable to themselves
till it was the last mans turn, when he
told the following story:
enlisted In the ranks with the rest
Of the boys I knew in 1861. didn't
seem to have been cut out for SOL
der. l was not easily disciplined.
was always struggling and drills were
to me intolerable. The only time
could be relied on to show up for duty
was when there was fighting, and then
it was not because liked it, for didn't,
but because dreaded the sneers of my
comrades. Nobody ever thought for
moment Of my even being made non
CON-, much less decorated with shout
der strap.
Well, one day when we were cavort-
ing around in Virginia, marching in
one direction one day, another the next,
never still forty-eight consecutive hours,
not having had regular rations for some
time, l got hungry and took the first
opportunity to drop out and do little
foraging. l passed house beside the
road with door leading down into
cellar. tried it and found it un-
locked. So opened it and went in.
There was nothing in the place but
girl, one of the southern girls of the
period with an olive complexion and
hair cut square around her neck She
was washing something.
"What d'y want?" she asked.
'I'm looking for something to eat"
1 replied. 81 saw the door opening on
to the road very convenient, so l
thought I'd just step in and see what
l could find"
''That's just the way that door has
looked to all the stragglers in the
army" she replied. There's not been
less than 5000 men come In here At
first we had some provisions, but
they were soon eaten up by soldiers,
SO we didn't put any more here. We
don't keep the door locked because it
would be kicked open. Are there any
Of your men near by!'
"Guess not" I said.
"Well, If there amt don't mind
showing you where we keep our eat
ables. Do you see that wall? That
shuts off part of the cellar. Come
upstairs and I'll show you how to get
into it,"
went up to the floor above, and the
girl opened trapdoor. l went down
and was looking about for snack
when l heard the door shut and locked.
There was no getting out, so after
awhile l stretched myself on a table
and went to sleep. was awakened
by a tramping. above. The cellar was
dark, so knew it was night. Hear
ing the clank of saber, listened to
discover if some of our men hadn't
come in. They were not Federals, but
Confederates Of high rank. could
hear every word they said. 1t was a
council of war. When at last they set
tied on a plan to concentrate and at
tack our forces, they went over each
detail again and again to be sure there
should be no mistake. While they
We're doing it l was fixing it all in
my memory so that if l got out in
time could warn our general.
In the morning the trap was opened
and a couple Of Confederate soldiers
took me in charge. The girl wasn't
there, but an old man and woman
seemed to know all about my having
been trapped doubt if either Of them
knew that their living room and kitch-
en- had been used for conference. I'm
| not sure they knew was there when
the conference was held The soldiers
| took me away, and on the road we met
the girl who had trapped me. I asked
| to speak to her and told her had a
watch in one Of my pockets and would
| give it to her If she would get me off.
Her eyes sparkled, and she agreed to
| try. She sent one Of my guards to a
| house where she said they had stock
| Of hams and while he was gone man
aged to get the other ones musket,
WHICH, DIG pluJAu1ly AlCO " u IiCO'
ran up and took it from her, she only
| pretending to resist. The owner, see
ing that had the advantage Of him,
ran away. Then gave the girl my
watch, as had promised, and took to
the woods till ran across some of our
| men.
While was on my way to the gen
eral with my information 1 wondered
how would explain my being made a
prisoner without giving away the fact
that had been struggling. Then 1t
occurred to me that my story wasn't
very probable anyway. Why didn't the
old folks tell the generals that Yam
kee soldier was imprisoned in the eel
lar? Why didn't the girl ask the SOL
diers to take my watch instead Of get
ting me away from them in order to
get it? can't to this day explain the
first, and the only explanation can
| give Of the second is that the girl didn't
want any other claimant for it.