Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-03-20


were almost a unit-all supporters G.
the new confederacy. Comrades.
will remember that wherever We cap
tured town we found the women
the most bitter rebels The few men
in the south who had the nerve 10
branded as traitors, and watched anu
guarded every turn. My father, his
brother and two other men in our
neighborhood belonged to TINS class
My uncle had small Inheritance
which he kept invested with his
neighbors. This being known he was
visited by emissaries of the new gov
eminent and asked to contribute to-
ward the equipment of the first mill
tary company raised in our county.
he fatty refused with reply which
was misinterpreted and calculated to
anger the hot-heads; and they mad
their revenge. or tried
A few days later, while at work
with my father in cotton field, a
friend came to us in great haste %
announce that my uncle, Samu Il
Richardson. had been taken into Gus
tody by the zouayes and that at
first they had decided to hang him for
being an abolitionist, but that at ais
request and at the demand of son!e
Of his old neighDors who were mem
hers of the company they had deeid
ed TO give him trial at Society Hill,
post-office town about three mliss
away. Father hurriedly dropped his
work, armed himself as best he
could as did everybody at that time,
and thus made his way into the mob
of half-drunken fire-eaters. After a
deal of talk OF Cancellation. and a
promise on the part of my uncle to
stife his freedom of speech for the
time, he was released.
Later followed the CONSUMPTION.
Ny uncle was caught in the net; nay
father would have been had he not
been beyond the prescribed age.
After a week or so in camp and on
the eve of being ordered to the front,
my uncle deserted the confederate
/ army Our house was surrounded ny
the confedera tie soldiery at night with
the hope of catching him but he haa
fed through the mountain wilds {.
northern Alabama Months after
ward he returned to the swamps on
our farm and made himself known TO
me, my father and one or wo other
trusty friends.
This was in the summer Or autumn
of 1862 and as long as l remained at
home thereafter / carried him fool
almost daily as he lay secreted in the
woods or cotton-houses on the planta-
ton. BY the spring of 1863 the
, woods were full of deserters, who
| for various reasons had left the con
| federate army and who emboldened
by numbers and desperation, ran
sacked the neighboring country fer
food.
Just after the fall Of Vicksburg in
1868 the state of Alabama called upon
| boys between 16 and IS, and men
over So to enroll in the state militia
to serve as a home guard-a train
| ing school for the cofederate army.
| As / was over 16 / was enrolled and
attended two drills. It was then that
an effort was made by my uncle and
his comrades of the woods to reach
the Union lines at Huntsville Ala
bama, as they realized that they could
not much longer keep themselves con
cealed from the confederat cavalry,
who were securing the country for re-
cruits and incidentally picking up de
serters, when they could be found.
Before the expedition set out |
promised one of them, Mr.. James
| Summerford, a brother of my very
dear friend and private tutor, Or.
| Summerford that If theY failed
would join him in an effort to reach
the Union lines by going south to the
gulf coast.
The expedition northward failed !;
| the men returned to their haunts. d.
termined to stick it out to the end of
the war, which we all believed must
come very soon.
Without consulting my father | de-
cided to make my promise good to
my friend. We made our plans to go
south. travel by night so as to evsde
pursuit, if pursuit there should be,
change oul names and apparel every
day and, IL apprehended, to claim
! that we were IN our way to the salt
works ON the gulf coast. To carry
out our plan we We're each provided
with an old hand-satchel containing
two suits Of cotton clothes. a cotton
cloth cap like the confederate uni
form, a homemade straw hat, and
about three days provision OF corn
| bread chicken anu l@n. which my
friends good old mother had cooked
up for the occasion. Besides all this
we had a pocketful of confederate
money worth il purchasing power at
that time from one to five per cent Of
our present silver certificate,
Thus equipped. August 3, 1863,
about o'clock at night my frienl
and babe goodbye to his family AMI
set out towards the south. We tcag-
eled pretty hard that night in the q
fort to put as many miles as possible
between lis and home. We lay quiet
" in the woods part OF the next day.