1863.] KINDNESS FROM SOUTHERN EDITORS. 355 we were allowed to take our meals at a boarding-house several squares from the prison, and to visit the office of The Appeal. This journal, originally published at Memphis, was removed to Grenada upon the approach of our forces; Grenada being threatened, it was transferred to Jackson; thence to Atlanta, and finally to Montgomery, Alabama. It was emphatically a moving Appeal. Its editors very kindly supplied us with clothing and money. They seemed to be sick of the war, and to retain little faith in the Rebel cause, for which they had sacrificed so much, abandoning property in Memphis to the amount of thirty thousand dollars. They now published the most enterprising and readable newspaper in the South. It was noticeably free from vituperation, calling the President "Mr. Lincoln," instead of the "Illinois Baboon," and characterizing us not as Yankee scoundrels, but as "unwilling guests". "Gentlemen who attempted to run the batteries on Sunday night, and after escaping death from shot and shell, from being scalded by the rushing steam, from roasting by the lively flames that enveloped their craft, were found in the river by a rescuing party, each clinging tenaciously to a bale of hay for safety." We Grant's army was moving toward Jackson. longed for his approach, straining our ears for the booming of his guns. The Rebels, in their usual strain, declared that the city could not be captured, and would be defended to the last drop of blood. But on the night before our departure, we were confidentially told that the Federal advance was already within twenty-five miles, and certain to take the town. With forty-five unarmed prisoners, we were placed on an ammunition train, which had not more than a 356 A PROJECT FOR ESCAPE. [1863. dozen guards. The privates begged Captain Ward to lead them, and permit them to capture the train. We all deemed the project feasible. Ten minutes would suffice to blow up the cars. With twelve guns, we could easily march twenty miles through those sparse settlements to Grant's forces. But there were our paroles! A careful reading convinced us that if we failed in the attempt, the enemy would be justified, under the laws of war, in punishing us with death; and, after much debate, we abandoned the project. Rebel officers in Vicksburg had assured us that crossing the Confederacy from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, upon the Southern railroads, was a more hazardous undertaking than running the river batteries. The rolling stock was in wretched condition, and fatal accidents frequently occurred; but we traveled at a leisurely, old-fashioned rate, averaging eight miles per hour, making long stops, and seldom running by night. 1863.] A WORD WITH A UNION WOMAN. 357 CHAPTER XXX. A kind of excellent, dumb discourse.-TEMPEST. Ir did not require many days of captivity to teach us the infinite expressiveness and trustworthiness of the human eye. We began to recognize Union people by their friendly look before they spoke a word. Our train stopped for dinner at a secluded Mississippi tavern. At the door of the long dining-room stood the landlady, an intelligent woman of about thirty-five. When I handed her a twenty-dollar Rebel note, she inquired"Have you nothing smaller than this?" "No Confederate money," I answered. "I have none of that-nothing but this bill and United States Treasury Notes." The indifferent face instantly kindled into friendliness and sympathy. "Are you one of the prisoners?" "What do you think of the prospect !" "Grant is certain to capture the city." "Of course he will" (with great earnestness), "if he only tries! The force there is incapable of resisting him." Other passengers coming within hearing, I moved 358 GRIERSON'S GREAT MISSISSIPPI RAID. [1863. away, but I would unhesitatingly have trusted that woman with my liberty or my life. Grierson's raid, then in progress, was the universal theme of conversation and wonder. That dashing cavalier, selecting his route with excellent judgment, evaded all the large forces which opposed him, and defeated all the small ones, while he rode leisurely the entire length of Mississippi, tearing up railroads and burning bridges. Occasionally he addressed the people in humorous harangues. To one old lady, who tremblingly begged that her property might not be destroyed, he replied :— "You shall certainly be protected, madam. It is not my object to hurt any body. It is not generally known, but the truth is, I am a candidate for Governor, and am stumping the State." Our slow progress enabled us to converse much with the people, constantly preaching to them the gospel of the Union. But they had so long heard only the gospel according to Jefferson Davis, that they paid little heed to our threatenings of the judgment which was certain to come. In the dense woods which the railways traversed, the pine, the palm and the magnolia, grew side by side, festooned with long, hairy tufts of Spanish moss. On the plantations, the young cotton, three inches high, looked like sprouting beans. Colburn's solemn waggery was constantly cropping out. In our car one day he had a long discussion with a brawny Texan officer, who declared with great bitterness that he had assisted in hanging three Abolitionists upon a single blackjack,* in sight of his own door. He concluded with the usual assertion : * A species of Southern oak. 1863.] AN ENRAGED TEXAN OFFICER. 359 "We will fight to the last man! We will die in the last ditch!" 'Well, sir," replied Colburn, with the utmost gravity, "if you should do that and all be killed, we should regret it extremely!" Like most Southerners, the Texan was insensible to satire. Understanding this to be perfectly sincere, he reiterated : "We shall do it, sir! We shall do it!" "Well, sir, as I said before, if you do, and all happen to get killed, including the very last man himself, of course we of the North shall be quite heart-broken!" Once comprehended, the mock condolence enraged the huge Texan fearfully. For a few seconds his eyes were the most wicked I ever saw. He looked ready to spring upon Colburn and tear him in pieces; but it was the last we heard of his bravado. One of our fellow-prisoners had manifested great trepidation while we lay disabled in front of Vicksburg. He was probably no more frightened than the rest of us, but had less self-control, running to and fro on the burning barge, wringing his hands, and shrieking: "My God! my God! We shall all be killed!" Three or four days later, Colburn asked him— "Were you ever under fire before Sunday night?" looks. "Well, sir," solemnly continued the satirist, "I think, in view of that fact, that you behaved with more coolness than any man I ever saw!" While we preserved our gravity with the utmost difficulty, the victim scrutinized his tormentor very suspiciously. But that serious, immovable face told no tales, and he finally received the compliment as serious. From |