"You seem to know more about it, General, than either Halleck or Grant. Halleck telegraphed me that there is no danger of the force at Pittsburg Landing being attacked."
"I don't care what Halleck telegraphs," roared Nelson, now thoroughly aroused. "I tell you there is; I feel it, I know it."
"How do you know it?" asked Buell, showing considerable interest.
"Why sense tells me. Look at the situation. A small force encamped only twenty miles from Corinth, where Johnston is concentrating his army. Johnston is a fool if he doesn't attack, and no one yet has ever accused him of being one. General, give my division the advance; let me ford Duck river."
Buell was really fond of Nelson, despite his rough, overbearing ways, and after some hesitation gave him the required permission. The life of General Grant might not read as it does now, if that permission had been withheld.
On the morning of March 29th Nelson's division forded Duck river, and started on its forced march for Savannah, on the Tennessee river. On this march Nelson showed no mercy to stragglers, and many were the curses heaped upon his head. He was no favorite with his troops.
One day Fred found a boy, no older than himself, lashed behind a cannon. The lad belonged to an Indiana regiment that in some manner had incurred the displeasure of the general, and he was particularly severe on members of this regiment if found straggling. The boy in question had been found away from his command, and had been tied by his wrists to a cannon. Behind this gun he had to march through the mud, every jolt sending sharp pain through his wrists and arms, and if he should fall life itself would be imperiled. It was a heartless, and in this case, cruel punishment. Fred noticed the boy, and rode up to him and asked him his name, and he gave it as Hugh Raymond. He was a fine-looking fellow, and seemed to feel deeply his humiliation. He was covered with mud, and the tears that he could not hold back had left their dirty trail down his cheeks. Fred went to Nelson, begged for the boy's release, and got it. It was but few requests that Nelson would not grant Fred.
When Nelson started on his march to Savannah he expected to reach that place on April 7th. But once on the march his eagerness increased, and he resolved to reach Savannah, if possible, by the 4th, or at least the 5th of the month.
On the morning of the third day's march Fred met with an adventure that haunted him for years afterward. He never thought of it without a shudder, and over and over again he lived it in his dreams, awaking with a cry of agony that sounded unearthly to those who heard it.
General Nelson and staff had put up at the commodious house of a planter named Lane. They were most hospitably entertained, although Mr. Lane made no secret of the fact that he was an ardent sympathizer with the South.