The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-05-03

render at Greensboro others az Dur
ham: Capt Buford locates it at Tie
Eennett house. four miles wcst Of
Durham. The Observer
The Story Of The Surrender
"Our last battle was at Benton
Vile. said Capt Buford. where two
Of our company were Killed.. {.
Eison Of Union, and c. c. Casey OF
Laurens I belonged to the oth
South Carolina cavalry.
'.On March 24th Gen. f. NJ. Law,
now living in Florida. had been put in
ry including our regiment. There
were Yankee marauders not far awaE.
Gen. Law sent portion Of our raSi-
ment including my company. TO stop
them. We ran upon about two or
three hundred Of them in a woo1y
place. They deployed, and thcae
was a little skirmish.. While ] WIS
sitting on my horse | saw Yankee
iunp from his horse and take delib-
tioa. He fired. and l heard the bull
let strike with dull thud close TO
me. and turned to see that Lieut.. Ber-
w Richards my nearest comrade, who
was in command Of my company had
been hit. He turned deathly sick;
told me he was mortally wounded,
and asked me TO carry him to his
brother, Jno c. Richards and to
ask his brother to carry his body
s4J 7
around him and held him on his
horse We had 60 a short distance
when we met his brother. The wound
ed man died three days later. or
March eth, and his brother carried
his body home as requested.
After leaving Raleigh. my com
mand fell back toward Greensboro,
tired and hungary and depending or
their own eXertions to get something
to eat. AS an illustration Of the
straits to which we were put for food,
I will relate this little incident:
While out foraging a great big husky
fellow and / were chasing the same
chicken and caught it at the same
time. I weighed only about 120, but
was holding on to the chicken with
all my might, when he said-and he
meant it too-.If you don't let it go,
d-n you, I'll Kill YOU and l let it
go and went hungry.
1t was about the middle Of April
that the correspondence began be-
tween Gen. Jos. E. Johnston and Gen.
W. T. Sherman in regard to an arm
istice. Johnston sent communlca-
ton to Sherman about that date.
When Shernans messenger consist
inc Of q lieutentant and some petty
officers with a flag Of truce. were
on the way to Johnson's headquar-
ters they came to the place where Joe
Hargrove and I had been posted; one
was to stay there, and the other was
to conduct Shern1an'S messengers 10
Johnston's headquarters. somewhere
between Durham and Hillsboro. joe
had slipped away on a forasins ex-
pedition, and l had to escort the
messengers. | noticed that one Or
the Yanks was riding very fine bay
horse that he had captured from
Charley Barnett of our company only
few days before. I wanted Very
much to take the horse from him. bur
Of course I couldn't.
On the 18th Of April Generals John
ston and Sherman, with their stafrs'
met in plain little farm house.
known as the Bennett House, with
two or three rooms in it. TO discuss
terms Of an armistice. This house
was lust four miles west of Durham.
They did not complete the negotla-
tons that day, and met at the same
place the next day, the 18th. Gen.
Johnston's escort was the 5th South
Carolina cavalry and with him were
Gen. Wade Hampton of South Caro-
lima. Gen J. c. Breckenridge Of Ken
lucky and Gen. J. II. ReaSen of
Texas. as I remember. With Gen.
Sherman were Gen. Fitzpatrick of the
Yankee cavalry and others. While
the conference was going on the re-
spective escorts on the outside fra
ternizcd and cracked jokes. The
Yanks were in resplendent and hand
some uniforms Of blue. the Johnny !
Rcbs' in torn and sodden suits Of
grey.
Tho terms were agreed upon that
day, the 18th. Gen. Sherman had to
submit them TO the government at
Washington. President Lincoln had !
been assassinated by John Wilkes |
Booth, the night Of the IA Of April. .
and Vice President Andrew Johnson {
had succeeded him. He refused To
accept the terms and returned Them
to Gen. sherman.
"Or the morning Of the 25th of
April, Gen. Sherman notified Gen.
Johnston that the terms had been re-
jected and demanded surrender. That
night ut one O'Clock Gen. Johnston
sent dispatch under a flag of truce
to Cen. sherman This dispatch
was entrusted to Col. Rawlins
Lowndes Of Gen. Hampton's Staff.
Asked if he wanted an escort of
Gen. Lowndes said No. one