THE RESCUED NEGROES.
On our march through Georgia and South Carolina, the negroes swarmed to our lines. Here they came in all styles and conditions, some of them presenting a pitiful sight, while the appearance of others was comical in the extreme. Here would be a mother, bare headed, and bare footed, her clothing in rags and tatters, carrying a babe in her arms, while two others were clinging to her dress, doing all they could to keep up with her. Here would be two, a man and a woman, probably his wife, in "ole massa's" carriage, dressed up in "ole massa's and misses'" clothes that had been left behind when "massa and misses" fled before the approach of our army. Hitched to this buggy or carriage would be an animal, either a horse or a mule, such an one as would be described as an architectural animal, with fluted sides, and a hand rail down its back. But what cared Pomp and Dinah for the appearance of the stud as long as he would bear them on to liberty? There they would sit, laughing and chatting together, dressed in finer clothes than they had ever before worn, as happy as happy could be, keeping up with us while on the march, and going into camp when we camped at night. Many of these negroes were put to serviceable uses as pioneers, others as cooks, etc., but employment could not be furnished for the half of them, and they were getting to be an incubus to the army. On our line of march we often had to cross bayous of great depth and considerable width. When we arrived at such places, the pontoon train would be ordered up and a bridge thrown across, over which the army marched. Gen. J. C. Davis, our corps commander, thought that by stopping the negroes as they came to the banks of the bayou, and holding them there until the army had crossed, and the pontoons had been taken up, they could be kept back.
So orders to that effect were issued. A guard under command of Major Lee, the provost general of the corps, was stationed on the bank of a bayou and every negro, unless an officer's servant, or in charge of a pack mule, was halted and held there until the rear guard of the corps had crossed, then the pontoons were taken up, and the darkies left behind. It seemed to be a cruel order, but it was necessary, for our rear was very generally followed at a safe distance, however, by roaming bands of guerillas and bushwhackers, and it is to be feared that their usage of these unfortunate creatures, whenever they fell into their hands, was cruel in the extreme, and they themselves dreaded falling into the hands of their old oppressors. The consequence was that the next day the darkies again made their appearance, seemingly stronger than before as to numbers. How they managed to cross the bayou, infested as these bayous were with alligators, we do not know, but cross they did, and again took up their line of march with us as before. They had outwitted the general and were bothered no more in their endeavors to obtain freedom from persecution and oppression.