The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-08-06
Civil War Stories



1888, so that he was In his twenty
eighth year when our Civil War began
He had fair common school education,
and learned the trade of machinist, at
which he was an expert. When %
years Of age Walker was offered the
position Of master mechanic il the rail-
road machine shops in Atlanta, c.. Be
Ing single man, he accepted offer,
though, like all East Tennesseeans. his
devotion TO the mountains of his native
State was one Of the strongest i'm
pulses Of his life
Walker was a strong Union man, as
were all his mountain kinsmen, but
when Georgia seeded he found it would
be dangerous to express his views, so
he kept them to himself, resolving In
the meantime to escape to the North
and join the Union forces at the first
opportunity. The conscript laws were
early enforced il the South. Planters
with large estates, professional men and
mechanics. although forced Into the
service, where they did not volunteer
as most Of them CALAMITY did-were ex
empted, under the impression that their
services would be more valuable to the
Confederacy If they were permitted to
remain back at their usual tocations.
In this way Walker, although sworn
into the service Of the Confederacy, was
detailed to Icmain in charge of the
same shop.
The war had been going on for eight
months when Walker, who had care
fully prepared his plans, escaped from
Atlanta one Saturday night, and before
his flight was discovered he had reached
friends In the Cumberland Mountains.
Within a month, for the man was a
born leader, Walker had recruited 127
mountainecrs, and, without any war
| rant, swore them into the Union serv-
ice. With these men, dressed In butter
hut, ald armed with old-fashioned
hunting rifles, Walker Travelled by
night through the lines of Kirby Smith
and succeeded in reaching the Union
forces under Nelson, in Central Ken
lucky.
Walker received a captains commits
| sion, and he and his men were regularly
mustered into the service, but, instead
Of being consolidated into one of the
mauy East tennessee Union regiments
they remained separate command,
known as Walkers scouts. Because Of
their great familiarity with the cou1-
try over which the armies of East Ten
nessee and of the Cumberland were then
operating, Walker and his men were of
the greatest service, and, it may be
added, it would be impossible to find
in either army harder, handsomer,
or more desperate body of mounted
men,
/ first met Walker at Chattanooga a
| few weeks before the effective battles
of Lookout and Missionary Ridge. He
had come through the enemy's lines
alone, with message for help from
Burnside, then starving In Knoxville.
Walker stood about six feet two His
hair and beard were light brown and
his were the only gray eyes l ever saw
the only eyes Of any color, indeed
that seemed to fash fire when he be-
came earnest. Although his voice was
low and his manner almost effemInate,
the veriest tyro in physlog1omy could
not be in Walkers company ten min
utes without feeling the magnetism of
his unflinching courage and superb man.
hood. Walker and / became decidedly
chummy during the short time he spent
at Chattanooga. Three weeks after he
had started back to Burnside we had
our big fights, and in the hot pursuit
of Bragg that followed l was captured,
with some sixty men. All the Union
prisoners were sent on to "the Bull
Pen" an unroofed enclosure in Atlanta,
from which point the officers were for
warded to Libby Prison and the enlist
ed men to Belle Isle, in the James
River.
1t was a cold, sleety evening, in early
December when we were marched from
the cars at Atlanta to the Bull Pen at
the edge of the town. The enclosure
was than ankle deep In mud. In less
than the space of half an acre 1900
shivering men were packed. About the
center Of the enclosure there were two
brick piles, remnants of the chimneys
of house that had been burned down.
As 1 was stiff. my horse having fallen
| on me when he was shot, my comrades
70, a1,f
seat of some OF the bricks.
| sat down, and had just uttered a
groan caused by mental rather than
physical suffering, when my attention
was attracted by the clanki1g of a
chain near by. Looking quickly up,
was surprised and shocked to see the
tall form Of Captain Walker bending
over me. About his right ankle there
was heavy iron ring, and fastened to
this .og chain. at the other end Of
which was an iron ball that looked like
a UNDERGROUND shot. This ball the
captain carried on his shoulder with the
greatest ease, but he dropped it beside
me and made a seat of 1t, when he
took my hand in both of his, and whis-
pered, as he wrung it:
my. Cap, but 1 am glad to see you
here!'
"Glad to see me here, Walker?" 1 re-
peated.
That's what said, old fellow"
"Well, don't think that / hate any
man SO much that I'd like to see him
in this pen," and l waved my hands at
the guards on the high platform about
| the stockade and the poor fellows trudg-
ing through the mud to keep warm.
Bending nearer and sinking his voice to
the low, soft pitch that seemed so out
of keeping with his character, Walker
said:
God knows, I'm not glad to see you a