Year: 1866




was surrendered to Morgan l wasn't
among the number killed or wounded,
but was found missing" | made my
way to the Ohio river, but not without
suffering greatly with thirst and hunger.
Water was plentiful, but it hadn't the
body and didn' stimulate worth "snap."
| succeeded in reaching Camp Dennison,
but not without suffering great privations.
l found most of the regiment there, and
when we wese gathered together, a more
used up looking set, perhaps, never was
seen. 1t was cause for great rejoicing
among ourselves, that we were living in
stead of dead paroled instead of prison
ers on our way to Richmond, and the
members of Co "a" there resolved to
celebrate the Anniversary with becoming
honors.


From Dennison we went to JOhnson's
Island, and those of us who hadn't paroles
were put on duty, an outrageous proceed
ing on the part of the commanding Off
Ger. Soon after we were mustered out of
the service and sent home. When the
train arrived at the depot, we found that
the citizens had turned out to give US a
hearty welcome. But what cheered US
most of all was the happy faces of our
wives and little ones. Mrs X and
the children were there of course, and
the happiest woman in town that day,
was she, who has the honor to be my
wife. Oh how affectionate and tender
was her greeting. 1 forgave her for all
past injury. After embracing my wife,
and bestowing a fatherly kiss upon the
little ones, 1 took Darius and Angela by
the hand and thankfully led the way
home.


Twas unable to take part in the cele-
bration of the Anniversary in 1865, but
this year determined to 60. The battle
of Cynthiana was fought on the eleventh
of June, 1864. This year the eleventh
came on Monday, on which day balloon
ascension was advertised to take place in
town. We couldn't miss seeing that, so
we concluded to celebrate the tenth,
which happened to be Sunday. A COM
mittee of arrangements had been appoin-
ted beforehand, whose business it was to
procure bread and butter, cheese, cucum-
bers, hams, sardines, lemons, sugar, &C.,
and FIVE hundred pounds of ice, to keep
the cucumbers from spelling, to cool the
butter, &c. Carriages were engaged to
carry the party to Brooks farm, few
miles out of town. Every preparation
was complete.


Mrs. k is eccentric, and has very
peculiar notions about some things.
concluded it would be best to say nothing
to her about what we proposed to do. l
went home early Saturday evening, much
to the astonishment of my wife, who in
sisted there must be something wrong
with me, but upon discoveringI was sober
she was much pleased. Retiring about
ten o'clock, l awoke soon after sunrise,
and quietly slipped from the bed so as
not to disturb Mrs. k, who, poor soul,
had been up the greater part of the night
with our youngest child, who happened
to be sick. Dressing myself, l took my
boots in hand, and tip-toed out of the
house; sat down on the door step and
pulled them on opened and shut the
gate carefully, then boldly and rapidly
walked to the livery stable, where l found
one of the carriages waiting for me-
Getting into it, we drove rapidly out of
town. On the road a friendly bottle
was placed tony lips, and drank serenely.


In due time we arrived at the appoin-
ted place, and found that those who had
gone before had erected a table upon
which was spread the eatables, and had
fixed board upon a convenient log to
be used while making lemonade.


Soon after our arrival, we heard
strange cry /: "fresh tap fresh tap! come
up lively" Turning to see what was the
cause of this noise, found that some one
had discovered half barrel of beer that
had been brought out, against orders
Some were in favor of letting the ground
drink it up, while others were in favor
of drinking it themselves. This party
succeeded in having their way, and the
barrel was tapped. After considerable
urging was induced to imbibe a glass or
two in order to get it out of the way
That half barrel was not finished until
about noon, when another was discovered,
and L again heard the cry: "fresh tap
fresh tap !" and was again induced to
assist in disposing of it. Not long after /
became sensible of an extraordinary in
crease of the number of the party. Ny
friends were duplicated, likewise were the
trees. l heard a little fellow singing
81 bort er forty or irty pianer." One
young man said: Kemp, Pm 'slame l
can't see yer" Three others were taking
a little bare back exercise on a horse
One stood on stump and sang a nice
song, called 1.-The Charming Young Wild
ow l met on the Train" One of the boys
drank glass of salt and water by mis-
take, and soon after insisted upon "going
home" Another said he could whip the
man that stole his wind instrument, and
l guess he could. One lusty fellow killed
a squirrel with stick, and declared it was
n Aunfha.a cfnn1 OF Ea ,,1
kept up continuous cry of fresh tap
fresh tap Seeing an influential young
man stretched full length upon the
ground, concluded to follow his exam
pie. Finding suitable place with a
nice root upon which to lay my head,
sunk gently down upon the bed of leaves,
and soon was fast asleep. l slept until
sundown; awoke with an unpleasant
sensation in my mouth, and violent
headache. Hearing a noise l rolled over
aud sat upright, and saw the party were
making preparations to go home. Gath
ering myself up l went forward and Join
ed in our song of parting g-"Asper's Raid"
While we were filling the air with sweet
music the owner of the farm made his
appearance, and objected to our proceed
ings. One of our guests catching sight
of the proprietor, and being afraid of
legal consequences, picked himself up,
and carried himself out of the field in
very short space of time. over logs,
through creeks, over fences, across lots
and up the rail road track he went, and
never stopped running until he reached
Warren.


Getting into the carriage we came to
town, arriving here after dark. Coming
in l made up my mind that l would wait
until Mrs. k had got to sleep before
would go home. Accordingly l staid
down street until midnight, drinking a
little occasionally in order to keep up my
courage so 1 could face Mrs k, in the
event of her awaking. Reaching the
house between twelve and one o'clock, 1
found that had lost my night key. Ho-
ping to find one of the doors unlocked 1
proceeded to examine them, but found
them fast 1 next tried the windows,
hoping she might have missed fastening
one of them, but no. Mrs X is a
very cautious and discreet woman in some
things; having looked under the bed and
in the clothes closet every night before
retiring, for twenty years and more to see
if a man was not there hidden, she would


- IL II-aI,y 70 1aova q door Op window