The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-05-20
good man will do. I'll take Buford.

line at one o'clock at night. The
vidette on the post could not speak
English and seemed at loss what to
do. The vidette on the next post
called out to him: Oh it, make
them dismount. We dismounted and
awaited the appearance Of the officer
who had been called to escort US,
when we renounted and accompanied
MIN to HEADQUARTERS. Gas indicating
.th9 .Hn'ine in the Federal army, |
afterward learned the vidette was ar
reste and punished for permitting US
to get so close before he halted u.s.
When we reached General Sher-
hans headquarters we were treated
very nicely. Soldiers were sent out to
hold our horses. Colonel Lowndes
went in, but stayed out and held my
own horse. When Colonel Lowndes
had delivered his message and we had
started back to our headquarters, he
said to me: '..Buford, why didn't you
let that soldier hold your .horse?'
My reply was: 81 don't let no Yam
kee hold my horse"
We had come now to the end OF
things. The war was over and the
Confederate soldiers, conquered by
overwhelming numbers, turned their
thoughts homeward, and many also
turned their faces thither. On the
26th of April l left the almost de-
serted camp for home, riding my cav
airy horse, which was very good
one. With me were Witherspoon of
Sumter and Sanford Welborn of
Union; perhaps others whom I cannot
now recall. As we rode out of Char
lotte, n. c., we met Gen Wade Hamp-
ton, who was going in the same direc-
ton, and we rode three or four miles
together, when he turned off into an
other road, saying he was going to
cross the Catawba river in a bateau,
and his horse would swim across. We
promised him we would meet him at
Due West, S. c., five weeks from that
day and go with him to join Gen.
Kirby Smiths army beyond the Miss
issippi, ne last remnant of the Con-
federatc armies that had not surren-
dered. But before the time appoint
ed rolled around everything had gone
to pieces, Kirby Smiths army includ
ed, and of course we did not meet at
Due West. General Hampton had not
surrendered, and neither had /; but
sometime in the summer of 1865 /
went to Columbia and took the oath
of allegiance. General Hampton also
must have taken the oath at the same
time, or he could not have taken his
seat in the United States senate to
which he was elected by the South
Carolina legislature and VII he
held many years, nor the office of ma
tional railroad commissioner, to which
he was laser appointed by President
Grover Cleveland.
When we reached the Catawba riv-
er the ferryman informed us that the
charge for ferrying man on horse
back was SIS or plug of tobacco. /
had a plug of tobacco, because had
drawn my share along with the others
though l did not chew; so I gave him
a plug Of tobacco, and my comrades,
Withersrcon and Welbcrn, gave him
S25 apiece. My n'ng o tobacco was
woltn more than the fifty dollars in
Confederate money.
l reached home on the 5th of May,
1865. Forty-6ve years after that !
was going out of Raleigh, N. c., on
the train, and as we approached Dur
ham l asked, so all in the coach could
hear, if there was any one on board
who could point out the Bennett
house An old man stood up and re-
piled that he could, and he pointed
out the house to me as we were pass
ing. 1t looked just about as it did
forty-fve years before, except that
the well sweep in the front yard was
gone.
In talking with Gen. Julian S. Carr
of Durham, N. c., at the Confederate
reunion at Tulsa, Okla, in 1913 he
told me ne owned land around the
Bennett house and that | was the only
person he had ever seen who was
present at the meeting there between
Generals Johnston and Sherman. He
further said that it became necessary
to cover the house completely with
corrugated iron in order to keep it
from being carried off piecemeal as
souvenirs. General Carr urged me to
write out my recollections of the