Down in Tennessee, and back by way of Richmond

I. Among the Pines

ii.

My Southern Friends.

in.

Down in Tennessee.

*** Single cojries sent by mail, postage free, by

Carleton, Publisher,

New York.

DOWN

IN TENNESSEE,

BACK BY WAY OF RICHMOND.

EDMUND KHIKE,

AUTHOR OF "AJIONG THE PINES," " MT SOUTHERN FRIENDS," ETC,

NEW YORK: CABLET ON, PUBLISHER, 413 BROADWAY.

M.DCCC.LXV.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S64,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

SIDNEY HOWARD GAY,

THESE SKETCHES

ARE DEDICATED

WITH THE TRUE AND EARNEST REGARD

HIS FRIEND,

TIIE AUTHOR.

Chapter I. At Louisvelle

A desire to study the undercurrents of popular sentiment at the South, and to meet some of "my Southern friends," whom the fortunes of war had made our prisoners within sight of their homes, led me, early in May, 1863, to visit the Southwest. While there I came in contact with many intelligent men, of all shades of political opinion ; and from them gathered much that is illustrative of the real state of Southern feeling, and of the real purposes of the leaders of the Rebellion. In the hope that what I saw and heard may not be without interest to those who have not had the opportunity of personal observation, I propose to give in the following chapters some sketches of the men I met, and the scenes I witnessed, during a month's sojourn in a section which is being upheaved by the passions and desolated by the fires of our civil war.

Arriving at Louisville I at once sought out Colonel Mundy, the gentlemanly commandant of that post, to ascertain the whereabouts of my captive friends. He could give me no definite information, but presumed they were at Nashville. "However," he said, "prisoners are not kept there long. They 1* arc sent to Vicksburg for exchange as quickly as possible. If you desire to see them, you had better push on immediately."

This put me in a dilemma. The railroad below Bowling Green was infested with guerillas, and on several recent occasions, they had assailed the trains, and robbed and maltreated passengers. The cars were insufficiently guarded, and travelling was therefore attended with considerable personal hazard. In these circumstances I had gladly listened to the suggestion of Parson Brownlow — whom I had met at Cincinnati — to lie over at Louisville and accompany him and Governor Johnson to Nashville. They wolild be attended by a guard strong enough to beat off any roving band that ventured to attack the train ; but would, perhaps, not start for a week. In the mean time, my Secession friends might be sent to "parts unknown.". Therefore, if I waited, I was likely to miss one of the main objects of my journey, and if I went forward I ran the risk of getting a bullet under my waistcoat, or such an "inside view" of Rebeldom as might not be agreeable. Either horn of the dilemma seemed objectionable. While uncertain which one to choose, the small clock in the office of the Louisville Hotel sounded twice, and I walked up to the dining-room.

On my right at the table sat a tall, squarely built man, wearing the uniform of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry. He had a broad, open, resolute face — ridged and sun-browned, and a stiff, military air, but there was something about him that seemed to invite conversation, and after a while I said to him :

" Yo i are travelling, Sir ?"

" Yes, Sir, I am returning to my regiment at Triune."

" Is it entirely safe going down the Nashville road ?

" Not entirely so. When I came up, a week ago Monday, we were fired into by a band of forty -eight, but we beat them off."

"What were the circumstances?"

" It occurred just this side of Franklin. We heard there of a party being in the vicinity, and took on board a squad of thirty men. We had gone on about three miles, when the engineer discovered the track was torn up, where a wood lines the road, and at once reversed the engine. The guerillas were posted behind the trees, and as the train halted, poured a volley into us, and, yelling like devils, made a rush for the cars. I got this in readiness" — taking from his belt a large army repeater, and tapping it rather affectionately — " the moment I heard the train slacking-up, and when the leader came within fifteen feet of the platform I fired through the window and killed him. My second shot brought the next devil to his knees, and made the rest halt for an instant. In that instant the soldiers in the forward car, who had waited to cap their muskets, gave them a volley, and they skedaddled, leaving four dead and three wounded on the ground. We had on board three paymasters with over four hundred thousand dollars in money, and the fellows might have made a rich haul." ' "And they would have done so but for your prompt shots giving the soldiers time to fire. You saved the train !"

" No, Sir," replied the Colonel, pleasantly, as if not displeased with my compliment, "the General saved it."

"How so ? Was Rosecrans on board?"

" No ; but a little while ago he ordered all officers to wear side-arms when off duty. But for that my pistol would have been in my valise ; for it's a nuisance to carry ten pounds of iron all the while dangling at your side. The General foresaw just such emergencies. He thinks of every thing, Sir. I reckon he never sleeps."

" I suppose he is a vigilant officer."

" Yes, Sir ; I was all through the Mexican war, and have seen , something of generals. Rosecrans is the ablest one I ever knew."

" He certainly is successful."

" Always ; never was defeated, and never will be. He planned and won MeClellan's battles in Western Virginia ; did the same for Grant in Mississippi, and at Stone River — why, Sir, when we were thoroughly whipped, and every man in the army knew it, he, singly, regained the battle. There is not another man living who could have done it."

This was said with an enthusiasm that provoked a smile ; but I quietly remarked : " I am glad to hear such an account of him. I intend to visit him, but am undecided whether to go down at once, or to wait till the Governor arrives, and take advantage of his escort."

" It will be safer to go at once. The Governor will stay here a day or two, and as this place is full of rebels, every guerilla in Tennessee will know when he starts. If they can muster strong enough they'll surely attack kim. I go down by the next train, and will be glad to have your company."

" Thank you. Your revolver has acquitted itself so well, that I am disposed to trust it. I'll go with you, Sir ;" and rising, we left the table together.

The cars were not to start till the following morning, and the afternoon being on our hands, we seated ourselves in the smoking room, and resumed the conversation. I soon gleaned something of the Colonel's history. He had started in life with only a clear head and a strong pair of hands, but was then the owner of a well-stocked farm of three hundred and twenty acres, and in affluent circumstances. His experience in Mexico had given him a military education, and on the breaking out of the war, Governor Morton tendered him a colonel's commission. Having a young family growing up about him, and being past the age when love of adventure lures men into danger, he declined it. But when the new regiments were called for, and it seemed doubtful that his county would furnish her quota, he volunteered, to set, as he said, "the boys an example." His regiment, the 82d Indiana, at once filled up, and he was appointed its lieutenant-colonel. He had been in many small engagements, and at Stone River was in command of the six hundred skirmishers who, at the close of the last day's fight, in the darkness of midnight, advanced two miles, and for three hours " felt" a hostile force of five thousand. So long as the West sends such men to the war, the friends of the Union may be of good heart, for they cannot be beaten.

After a time the conversation turned upon politics, and my new acquaintance said to me : " A large majority of Rosecrans's men went into the war friendly to slavery ; but not one of them would now consent to any peace that did not destroy it root and branch. Nine months ago I left home a Breckinridge Democrat, and now, sir, I'm as black an Abolitionist as Wendell Phillips."

"And what, pray, turned you about so suddenly?"

" Seeing slavery as it is. One little incident convinced me

thaT a negro is a man — just as much of one as I am — and

therefore not fit to be a slave. It occurred at Triune', where

I am now stationed. Just outside of our lines* lives a planter who professes strong Union sentiments. He used to mix freely with our officers, keep open house for them, and was, apparently, a whole-souled, hospitable fellow. He owned a good many negroes, and among them a quiet, respectaful old darky of about sixty, who supplied my mess with eggs and poultry. Not long ago our pickets, stationed about one hundred yards from this planter's house, were fired upon several times from the woods near by. It was done regularly twice a week, and on each occasion occurred about two o'clock in the morning. At last one of our boys was hit, and, being in command of the pickets, I set about investigating the matter. There was nothing to point suspicion at the planter, except the fact of his being a slaveholder, but that convinced me he had a hand in it. I never knew one of them, however strong his professions of loyalty, who was not at heart a rebel.

" I sent for the old darky, to question him, and, learning of it, the planter came to my quarters, and insisted that he had a right to hear what his negro said. I was satisfied I couldn't get the truth out of the slave in the master's presence, but I consented to go on with the examination. I put some leading questions to the old man, and in a quiet, straightforward way he told me that an officer of Bragg's army had been in the habit of visiting the mansion every few nights for several weeks. He said he came about midnight, left his horse and orderly concealed in the woods, and went up to the mistress's room 3 soon as he entered the house. There the master would join him, and remain with him generally for an hour or two. And he added, with perfect coolness : ' D'rec'ly af'er de cap'n wud leab, Sar, I'd allers yere de shootin' 'mong de trees. I reckoned dat wus-bery quar, till finarly, one day, I yered Massa a tellin'

Missus dat de Cap'n war bound to wing one ob dem Yankees anyhow.' I asked him why the officer went there, and the old fellow, scratching his wool, and assuming a very stupid look, said :

" ' 1 doesn't knows, Cunnel. It allers 'peared bery quar ter me dat he shud come, but I reckons de Secesh wants ter larn whot's gwine on in de camps. Massa, heseff, wus allers bery curous 'bout dat, Sar, an' he sot me, ober an' ober agin, ter fine out — tole me I muss keep my yeres wide open wheneber I toted you de truck; but, you allers hab your moufh shet so bery close, Cunnel, dat I neber could fine out a ting — not a ting, Sar.' "

Here the Colonel burst into a fit of laughter. As soon as he could readjust the muscles of his mouth to the English dialect, he continued :

" Through the whole of this, the planter threatened him, and he finally stormed, and raved at him like a madman, but the old Christian went on as quiet as a Quaker meeting, only once in a while answering his master, with — ' You knows it'm de Lord's trufh, massa. I karn't say nuffin else, massa ; I'se bery sorry, massa — 'pears like I'd die fur you, massa, 'case I toted you when you's a chile, an I'se allers lubed you ; but I karn't say nuffin else — de Lord woant leff me say nuffin else, massa. No, He woant !'

" The darky knew we might march at any moment, and that, when we did, there were ninety-nine chances in a hundred of his being whipped to death by his master, or by some of the neighbors, if his master wasn't left to do it ; and yet he was as cool as I am. Martin Luther, when he went into Worms, expecting to meet the devil himself, didn't show the moral courage of that old negro. He convinced me that the black is altogether too much of a man to be a slave."

" And what did you do with the master ?"

" Nothing. Our Brigadier, who had been a frequent guest at his house, thought it not exactly the thing to hang a white man on a ' nigger's' testimony, and so let him off. If I had had my way, he would have hung higher than Hainan."

" And what became of the negro ?"

" Not many days after his master was released, he came to my tent one evening, and with a little hesitation, said : ' Cunnel, I don't want ter 'sturb you, but de Lord come ter me lass night, Sar, an' he telled me ter leff you know what's a gwine on.'

" And what is a going on ?" I asked.

" ' Wall, you see, Cunnel, de debil hab got inter massa ; an' he swar he'm gwine ter kill me fur tellin' you 'bout de Secesh cap'n.'

" I assured him I would protect him, and accordingly, in a day or two, I packed him off, with his traps and family, to the Free States. It wasn't exactly according to Tennessee law, and his owner protested warmly against it, but I advised him to prove his loyalty and claim his property of Uncle Sara.

" The old darky lived in a little log cabin near his master's house, and the day he was to leave I rode out to see him safely off. His small amount of personal property was stowed away in the ambulance, which was to take him to Nashville ; and his wife, a good-looking mulatto (the old fellow himself was blacker than ink) had already mounted the wagon. A pretty quadroon woman of about thirty, who passed as his daughter — though she couldn't have been of his blood — was helping on to the

AT LOUISVILLE.

seat one of the most beautiful white children I ever saw. She was well dressed, and had a fair, clear, rosy skin, and an eye as blue as indigo. Supposing she was the master's child, I asked her where she was going. ' Way up Norf h, massa, 'long wid gran'dad,' she answered.

" I was thunderstruck. She was the old woman's grandchild, the planter's own child, and a slave ! I never till then realized what an accursed thing slavery is."

While sauntering about the hotel during the day, I had noticed a placard which read somewhat as follows :

" Passengers for the Louisville and Nashville road are notified that the wagon will be in readiness to take baggage to the Examiner's Office at four p. m."

As this notice applied to us, I suggested, as the Colonel finished his story, that we should repair to the "Custom House."

We found it on a side street, a dingy room about twenty feet square. It was densely crowded with carpet bags, portmanteaus, packing trunks, and a score of German Israelites, each one of whom was soliciting the immediate attention of the single examining official to the general assortment of dry goods and groceries which his particular trunk contained. Another official was behind the counter affixing to the " passed " packages, a strip of white muslin, and two mammoth daubs of red sealing wax. The office was advertised to close at five o'clock, and it then wanted but ten minutes of that hour. As our luggage could not leave the State without having two of those red seals upon it, each duly stamped U. S., the prospect of its going in the morning seemed decidedly dubious. With a little

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Uiward trepidation, I said to the coatless official: "Is there any probability of our turn coming this evening, sir?"

" Are you an ' Israelite indeed ?' "

" No, sir, neither in name nor in deed. Fin a gentleman at large ; my friend here, is a Union officer."

" Ah, Colonel ! how are you ?" exclaimed the official, looking up and touching his cap to my companion. The Colonel returned his salutation, and in a moment the other was at the bottom of my trunk, taking an inventory of the spare waistcoats, extra socks, and under-garments which it contained. In five minutes the ceremonies were over, and we left the " receipt of customs" devoutly thankful that we were not of the wandering tribes of Israel. The whole scene was decidedly suggestive of a landing among the French or Austrian officials ; and it was with difficulty I realized that I was in an inland American town, and merely passing from one State of the Union to another.

As I was seated, after supper, in the porch of the hotel, enjoying a fragrant Havana, and the cool evening hreezc, a lean, elongated " native" approached me. He had a thin, haggard face ; a tawny red skin ; and a mass of coarse hlack hair, which fell round his neck, like hemp round a mop-handle. His butternut clothes were much the worse for wear, and torn in many places ; and the legs of his pantaloons, which made no effort to reach the coarse brocjans that encased his feet, disclosed a skin so scratched and furrowed that it seemed to have been g over with a harrow. I had seen thousands of his class, bn. there was a look of such intense wildness in his gray eyes, which moved in their sockets with the unsteady glare of a wild beast's, that I involuntarily started and turned toward him. Seeing my movement, he said, in a quiet, civil tone :

" How dy'ge, stranger ? Dy'ge b'long fere ?"

" No, Sir."

" B'long ter the army ?" (I wore a suit of regimental blue, minns shoulder-straps and brass buttons.)

" No, Sir, I'm a peace man."

" Peace man ! — Copperhead ?" and his eyes glared a little more wildly than before.

" No, Sir, not exactly that, but I let others do the fighting."

" Ye does ! Wall, Sir, you uns is a cuss ter the kentry. Yc orter be druv out uv hit. The man thet woant fight voio haint fit ter live."

" You're right, my friend. Sit down ;" and I motioned him to a vacant chair beside me. He continued standing, evidently not inclined to approach nearer to a man of peace principle.-. Observing this, I added : •

" You misunderstand me — I'm a peace man, but I fight in my way — with a pen."

"Oh! thet's hit? Wall, thet'll do, ef ye gwo hit powerful strong."

u And how do you fight ?"

" Ary how ? The rebs '11 tell ye thet."

" But you don't wear the clothes ; how is that '?"

" Why, me an' twelve right smart uns hes been beatin' the bushes — keepin' the deestrict clar; but they's grow'd ter nmch fur us."

" Oh ! bushwaclring."

"Yas, but I hed ter put out. I'se gwine inter the army now — but I muss sell my mars fust. Dy'ge know whot Government '11 pay fur a right smart chunk uv a mar ?"

" A hundred and five dollars, I believe, is the regular price."

" Taint 'nuff fur*mine. They's powerful good brutes. I must git niore'n thet, case my 'ooman '11 hev nothin' else, an' she's sickly like."

" But if you go into the army you can save a part of your pay for her."

" No, I karn't. I'll be shot — I feel hit — I'se made up my mind ter hit." As he said this, he seated himself in the chair I had offered him, and stared at me with a still wilder, crazier look. I saw that some terrible calamity had unsettled his intellect, and I said, in a sympathizing tone :

" You're not well : you're not fit to go into the army now."

" Yas, I is, Sir. I kin fight as hard as ary man ye knows. I'se a little gin out jest now, 'case I'se rid nigh outer a hundred an' fifty mile, an' hed ter tote my 'ooman a powerful piece o' the way." •

" Where have you come from ?"

" Clay county, nigh on ter Manchester. I lived thar. I'se plumb from thar this evenin'."

" And were you driven away ?"

" Yes, Sir; druv away — robbed — hous'n burned — every thing burned, an' my ole mother — killed — killed ! killed !" He bent down his head while he spoke, and as he repeated the last words they seemed to well nigh strangle him.

" It can't be possible !" I exclaimed; "human beings don't do such things !"

"But they haint human bein's — they's fien's — devils from hell— from hell, Sir."

" I know their passions are roused, but I did not know they murdered women"

" They does, Sir. I'll tell ye 'bout hit ;" and grasping one arm of my chair, and leaning forward with his unsteady, blazing eye looking into mine, he told me the following story :

" 'Bout a mile from whar I b'long thar lived a ole man by the name of Begley — Squire Begley we called him, though he didn't own no slaves. He wus nigh on ter seventy, but wus a right peart ole man, an' Union ter the core — two on his boys — Sam an' John, is in the army now — 8th loyal Kaintuck. Wall, 'bout a fortnit gone, on the mornin' uv the fifteenth uv April, three men, dressed in Union does, comes ter the ole gentleman's house, an' telled him they wus round raisin' a company ter put down the rebs thet wus poreing inter the county. The ole man wus mighty pleased, an' I reckon he wus unprudent in his talk ; fur when they'd drawed him out, they telled him they wus raally Secesh soldiers. Then he ordered 'em ter leave, but they trottled him, an' dragged him off ter the edge uv a branch, 'bout half a mile away, an' thar hung him ter the limb uv a tree. A ole nig thet war passin' 'long the road heerd the ole Squire's cries, as he begged 'em ter hev marcy on his gray hars ; an' knowin' I war ter home, he put fur my house, and telled me on it. I axed him ter tote my mars ter the bush, fur I know'd thar wus more on 'em round, an' feared they'd be arter the nags, and then I put off ter save the ole man. I war too late. He war dead, an' the infernal devils bed got nigh back ter his house, meanin' to steal his fillies an* what plunder he hed thet could be toted. I follered' 'em an' so soon as I come in distance, I drapped one on 'em. Then me an' tothers tuk ahind trees, an' blazed away ter one another fur more'n a hour. I winged one, but I got a ball yere," showing an ugly wound in his shoulder. " Alter a while six more on 'em rid up the road an' come at me. I seed it warnt

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no use, so I put fur the thick timber, an' finarly, oeein' they couldn't kotch me, they guv up the chase. T know'd t wouldn't do ter gwo home, so I made a long spell round, ahiud a hill, an' put for the bushes whar I thort the ole darky'd be with the mars. It hed got ter be nigh onter dark, an' I'd grow'd powerful weak, on 'count uv the blood I'd let, so I sot down an' tried ter stop it. I hedn't sot long 'fore I thort I heerd a 'ooman schreechin', an' lookin' round I seed my own wife. She'd jest lost bar baby, an' hedn't been out uv bed fur nigh a month, but she'd come six mile through the brush arter me. She couldn't speak, but she brung me a short piece from ahind the hill, an' show'd me my hous'n an' barn — all I bed in the world — a heap uv black an' ashes ! They'd burn'd 'em, Sir, an' druv my sick wife, an' my ole mother, who'd been bedrid for more'n two year, out uv doors !"

He paused for a moment, and then in a slow, broken voice, added : " Thet night she died. Died — thar — in the dark, an' the cold — nothin' under bar but the yerth — nothin' over bar but the ole gown thet my 'ooman helt up to keep the rain off har face ; an' when I kneeled down thar on the ground ter yere har last words, I swore, Sir, I'd never rest till I'd drunk thar blood — the heart's blood uv every rebel in Kaintuck !

" The next day the darky buried har. I couldn't be thar. Tbey wus huntin' me like a wild beast. For more'n a week me an' my sick wife lay out in the woods ; but we're yere now, an' all I ax is ter sell my mars, an' git my 'ooman ter a safe place, an' then I'll guv 'em — whot they's guv'n me !"

From various sources I afterward received confirmation of the native's story ; but it needed none ; for in the fierce passion which blazed in his eyes, and lit up his haggard face, there was uothina; but truth.

Chapter II. On The Road

The next morning I started for Nashville. At the railwaydepot i was again reminded that I might be entering the French or Austrian dominions. At every turn my military passport was called for. I offered to pay my fare, and, "Please show your pass, Sir," greeted me from the small opening in the ticket office. I tried to force my way through the crowd which blocked the inner gateway of the station-house, and, " Please show your pass, Sir," arrested my footsteps. I applied for a check to my trunk, aud, " Please show your pass, Sir," sounded from the lungs of the luggage department. I attempted to get upon the train, and, "Please show your pass, Sir," was echoed by a slim gentleman in shoulder-straps at the foot of the platform ; and, finally, when congratulating myself that at least one-fourth of my perilous passage was accomplished, " Please show your pass, Sir," was smilingly repeated by a young man in military cap and citizen's nether garments, who had halted abreast of me in the aisle of the car. I drew it forth in despair.

" Will this never end ?" I exclaimed, in evident ill-nature.

" Oh yes, Sir. "We'll not trouble you again — till we reach Nashville. It is annoying, Sir ; but absolutely necessary."

The car, when we entered, was already packed with a general assortment of Kentucky jeans, butternut linseys, regimental blues, regulation buttons, and. shoulder straps ; but a single, timid-looking woman in the corner, and a small sprinkling of civilians among the soldiery, told plainly that none of our fellow-travellers were leaving home on a pleasure excursion.

Near the forward door were a number of citizens, who, politely displacing some pieces of Juggage, invited the Colonel and myself to squeeze ourselves into seats by the side of two fat men in secession gray, who turned out to be planters from Western Tennessee. They were of a party of neighbors, who had been to Louisville together, and were then returning to their homes.

As the train moved off from the station, one of them said to me :

"You're from the North, Sir?"

"Yes, Sir."

" Things are rather disturbed with ye jest now — aren't they? That Vallandigham affair is creating some trouble ?"

" Not much, Sir — the best ale will foam ; it is only a little froth on the surface."

" It seems to me it's more than froth," said my right-hand neighbor. " I reckon your people are about tired of the war. If the Democrats were in power, they'd stop it."

" How would they stop it ?"

" By letting the South go. I'm a Union man, Sir, but I've bad enough of the war — I want peace. You people at the North know nothing about it. We're robbed by both sides ; we can't stir out of our houses in safety ; I never wake in the morning but I fear the day will be my last."