Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1914-05-22
LOCAL HISTORY OF
TAzEWELL REBELS
Continued From Last week.)

of the Yankees had gotten away when
the charge was made, and that Capt
Moss was going to send the mounted
men into the mountain to capture
| them, if they could be found. I felt
as though l w one OF them. and
that it was my duty to go although /
do not think at that time thar / ever
had any acquaintance with any one of
the Troopers, as had only been n
citizen of the county about five
years, and my acquaintance was limit
ed to the boys who lived in my inme-
date neighborhood. So, | fell in line
with the Troopers and was soon i'm the
mountain. Orders were given to scat
ter out, SO as to cover as much terri
tory as possible. We had gone per-
haps two miles into the mountain
when we came to a sharp spur that
seemed to act as Il brace TO hold
some part of the m )unta;u in place.
l followed the spur "a short distance.
when it suddenly broke Off into u
beautiful bench, almost level, with
scarcely any underbrush, but covered
with large timber. The first thing
that here attracted my attention we're
two large trees that had been torn Ill
by tie roots by some disturbing force
OF nature. One was lying directly on
top of the other, with here and Their.
an opening between them. NJ vision
as thought at first. tool: in an pl,
pheasant, as he dropped off his beat
onto the farther side of the logs.
had never seen breastworks, but the
idea suggested itself to me as a mode
one, and that it was Yankees heac
that had ducked behind the logs in
stead of pheasant falling off hi
beat. 1t was then that the wor,
caution, that my mother had oftei
ground into my very being WREN ;
small child, struck me with greater
force than ever before. A larg,
tree that stood just to one side ap
peared to move up and plant itself
just in front so as to shield me from
the bullets Of the enemy. No sooner
than / found myself intrenched be
hind the big tree, thought OF my
fellow soldiers and reinforcements
looked and listened. l couldn't see
nor hear anyone. l thought whaz
was to be done must be done quickly.
so l stole a glance from behind my
own breastworks. / could see moth
ing but those two grand old trees, as
they lay one on top of the other, going
back to old mother earth. l then no.
ticed a tree standing just over the
turn of the bench, about thirty yards
to my right front. l saw from the
first glance if l could get to that
tree / could see behind the breast
works, and be in better range for my
buck shot. No sooner had this idea
presented itself than 1 fell to my ALI
fours and slid down over the brink
until l believed that l had the right
range then l raised to my feet and
with few bounds pulled up behind
the tree and cautiously peered in be-
hind the breastworks. Not a Yankee
was to be seen. l could scarcely be-
lieve my own eyes. The very atmos-
phere seemed to be dense with the
smell of Yankees. / even looked up
to see if they had climbed the trees.
then ventured to the breastworks
and sure enough there was plenty of
sign that they had stopped and rested
here. Perhaps they had not been gone
ten minutes. Just then the call to
fall back was sounded, and we were
soon back at the old shop on Hungry
Mother, where the prisoners were
confined. By this time the little val
ley around the old shop was full of
citizens, all anxious to see the prison
ers. had quietly made my way back
in front of the old shop. Just then
three gentlemen of fine appearance,
surged through the crowd and right
up in the door between the guards
and commenced talking to the prison
ers in rather sarcastic way, when
one of them handed back about the
same kind of medicine he was giving.
One of the men threw his hand tn his
breast and maze as though to do the
prisoner harm. The guards gave him
a backward shove, and his high hat
fell from his head. 1t was then that
one of the guards said: "rhat old
gentleman's cows are all dead.' An
other soldier said: "How do you
known" The others reply was:
Clocks like any fool ought to know
that, when, he sees a man with his
churn on his head. At this a big
laugh went round, even the prisoners
joining in it.
1t was the next evening just before
sunset when came in sight of my old
home, that saw a beautiful woman
of medium size and fair complexion,
step out on the front porch with her
face turned towards me. She made
no halt. can see her to this day, as