The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-02-27

commanded by Gen. jeff c. Davis,
which occupied the extreme left wing
of the army with the exception OF
Cen. Kilpatrick's cavalry. We crossed
the Savannah river at Sisters ferry,
our destination unknown to the pri-
vate soldier, but the only question oi
any concern was, where and how am
[ to get something to eat?" We
the burning city being visible to us,
and when we reached the Little Con
garee river we found the bridge on
fire, but Uncle Billy" anticipating
something OF this kind, had provided
the pontoon, which was ordered up
The mule force being very much di-
minishcd, our colonel ordered detail
of rs men to search the country to
supply this want. This detail was
soon fe%sied over the river, and wher
on the other side struck out for the
nearest house II sight. Here we
found n fine plan. ,on residence, al
most surrounded with colored shan.
ties, cut of which came negroes of all
ages, sexes, sizes and shades of
black and brown, who welcomed us
joyfully. On our way up to this house
we had met detachment of the One
Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio, who
said: Better not go up there;
WheeIcr's men are there" and our
colored friends corroborated this by
saying: "Wheeler's men here jus
Zen minutes ago" l was the sergeant
# the detail, and made rush to the
barn, where l found the captain in
:hargc. We each helped ourselves to
horse, but he, more fortunate than
I, got q saddle also. We came out,
mounted our horses, and l, finding
must have something to sit on, rode
up to colored woman who stood on
the doorsteps, and asked her for a
blanket. She went in, and soon
brought me out the finest blanket
have ever seen. l now felt equipped
for any emergency, and the captain
proposed we should call at the next
LlUuoC, dbOuL a u1lC Wy
1ne of our colored friends along a
cowpath through the woods, a short
cut to the house, we applied at the
mouse for a glass of milk. The woman
who appeared in answer to our knock
begged for mercy, but we assured her
she was safe, and she brought the
milk. A crowd of darkies had then
gathered around US, who repeated the
warning we had already twice re-
ceived that Wheeler's men had been
around only ten minutes before, and
that we had better look out. We sent
Gbese darkies to get some mules for
as. and they returned with ten fine
looking ones, which we told them to
mold while we went down the road to
the next house, which was in sight.
Here we found two horses and one
mule. One of the horses was caught,
which took in charge, and leaving
the colored boys yelling at the tops
of their voices in their attempts to
bride the other, we passed on to the
next house, about 20 rods off the main
road. Coming along this road was a
man riding a very fine mare. He was
politely requested to dismount, which
he firmly refused to do, but upon
the presentation of my Springfield he
vacated the saddle. The captain then
said to me: "As you have not had any
supper, perhaps you had better go
down to this house and get something
while | hold the horses" ] was met
at the door by colored woman, who
said: "For the Lawd sake, yo' Yankee,
Wheeler here ten minutes ago" My
answer was: Bring me two hams, tie
the shanks together, and do it quick.
She soon appeared with the hams,
which | threw across my horse. and
the captain and l then concluded we
had better return and gather up our
possessions. We each had horse to
lead, and had not gone more than
ten rods when I looked back, and to
my surprise saw squad of cavalry
coming over the hill The three ad
Vanced files were dressed in union
uniforms; then followed gray, or
rather, yellowish- clad soldiers. They
were engaged in conversation, and did
not appear to have seen us. pre-
sumo their object was to quietly over
take US as union soldiers, which they
could easily have done had they kept
the grayhacks out Of sight. The cap