Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-07-21
ODD NOTES ON EARLY DAYS
SOUTH AFTER THE WAR

The war between the states
has ben ended. The Union
soldiers have come home and
are trying to again adjust them
| selves to home-life after living in
the army from one to four years.
| Those of us who recall the adjust
ments necessary after the recent
| World war will have some little idea
of what the returned soldier had to
face, though those who returned
from the Union army, were, in so
many instances, coming home to
farm that there can be but little
comparison between their problem
and that faced by the soldier re-
turning from the World war.
And in the south. Very few OF us
who live in the north have any idea
of the problems and difficulties that
were faced by the soldier of the
Confederacy after the close OF the
war. | must again ask your indulg-
ence to be personal that l may
bring to you some idea of conditions
in the south. You who have read
Gone With the Wind" have some
little idea of what happened in one
locality, and as chance would have
it, I know something of the same
neighborhood.
My father-inlaw was lad of but
IA, when he ran away from homo
and joined the Confederate army.
He took with him a young negro
boy, who had been his ''body SER
want" as they used to call them.
before the war, and, being so young
he was put to work driving mule
teams. He has sat many evenings
on the lawn in front of his home on
the plantation on the BraZos river
and related to me his experiences,
then 1 would drive him into town
to a meeting of the camp and lis
ten to the "old boys tell their
tales.
1t was a rare experience and well
worth all the time l put to il, as in
no other way would / have learned
as much as I did, and from those
who had experienced the events.
He, like all southern men. felt that
driving a mule team was the work
Of a negro and beneath the dignity
of southern man, but, he was out
to help in what ever way he could,
so he did as ordered, resolving to
get to carrying gun as soon as pos
sible In a short time he did get
promoted and finally wound up AS
colonel in the Confederate army.
His fathers plantation was near
little town called Cedartown. not
far from Rome, Georgia, which is
near Atlanta. 1t was not man
sion, as might be pictured by some,
as most people think of southern
home, before the war, as big
house with a double gallery, or
porch, across the front, with slave
quarters in the rear 1t was just
big old time brick house, the brick
having been burned on the ground
near where the house was built.
There were about 700 acres in the
plantation and nearly all of it rails
ed cotton. Some corn and a veg
etable garden, with the usual as
raised. They prided themselves on
their horses and always had several
fine ones. Most of the furniture in
the house had been made by hand
by some cabinet maker in the neigh
borhood, and having been secured
piece at time was not in ''suites"
as we have it today. All the house
hold goods were home made, most
of them on the plantation by some
of the slaves. Different slaves were
taught certain trades and became
quite skillful workmen, and the
women made all the linen and wove
all the cloth used.
1t was just good average south
ern plantation. The colonel came
through the war without being SER
iously wounded and at the close had
with him the negro who started out