Surrounded by rebel forces—Undiscovered—Skirmishing for food—Sambo—Sambo's schemes—Sambo brings succor—At headquarters—Sambo's reward.
The seventeenth came and found us alone and hungry. The brush piles were secure and we spent another quiet day. When night came we could see the city of Columbia burning and we felt that our forces had been victorious. But we were hungry and something had to be done. It was finally decided that Lieutenant Morgan should cross the main road and the railroad, go to the house on the plantation where we had previously been, and seek aid of the negroes there; at the same time Captain Underdown should take a westerly course to a place where we had heard dogs barking and roosters crowing. They both started on their missions. When Morgan got to the road the first thing that caught his eye was the vanguard of the rebel army standing still, but fortunately he escaped discovery and hid where he could hear some rebel officers talking. He gathered from their conversation that they expected to have a big battle at Winsboro, about fifteen miles north of us, but the orders were to camp where they were for the night. Morgan then hustled himself back with the report of his discovery. The rebel army then began to move around on the little flat that lay between us and the road, not over a hundred and twenty-five yards from us, and prepare for camp. In a very short time the little flat along the sides of that little creek was ablaze with fires of an army cooking their hoecakes, while the mules brayed and the drums sounded the tattoo of the drummers. We were in close quarters, but as long as they did not come any closer we were safe.
Now we will follow Captain Underdown: He was an East Tennessean, the oldest of our party, dressed in butternut and thoroughly at home with the Southern dialect. On arriving at the plantation (Gwyn's) he found a man standing by the roadside holding some saddled horses. After watching him for a few moments and being convinced that he was a negro, he approached him. He told him who he was and what he wanted, which was something for five men to eat. The negro at once fell in with the idea, and told him as soon as he could dispose of the horses he would see to obeying the order and request.
In a few moments a man came out of the house with a lantern, which he gave to the negro and ordered him to put the horses, which belonged to some rebel officers, in the barn. The horses were taken care of as ordered, after which the negro took the lantern back to the main house, then went to his own hut, where he stated the case to his "old woman." He then returned to Underdown with the information that there were five rebel soldiers at his house and three rebel officers at the master's. The wife would bake us something as soon as she could, but would have to supply the rebel soldiers first, for as soon as she got a hoecake baked a soldier would take it and put it in his haversack. The rebel soldiers were finally satisfied and took their departure.
The old lady then baked some hoecake and yams and fried some bacon for us. Sambo fetched it out, gave it to Underdown and told him to come back the next night, when he would get something better, as they would cook some chickens for us during the day. Captain Underdown returned to us with the warm "snack," which relieved us very materially from our two days' fasting. We remained outside, watching, the remainder of the night, while the rebel army slept. As soon as daylight appeared we crawled into our hiding places, leaving the field to the enemy, who soon packed up and started off. All day the road was full of marching soldiers, and when night came the banks of the little stream were again occupied with the camp fires of the rebel army.
As soon as it grew dark both Underdown and Morgan went after the promised chicken from Sambo, but there was no Sambo there. His wife came out, however, filled the baskets and delivered them over, saying that if God spared her another day she would cook more and for them to come again; but her heart was full of grief for she said they had taken her Sambo and all the rest of the boys up to Winsboro to work on the fortifications, and that she never expected to see her Sambo again. Underdown and Morgan returned safely to us after passing a number of rebs in the old road; their baskets were full, so after eating a good hearty meal of chicken and other delicacies prepared by the good old darky woman, we promoted Captain Underdown to brevet colonel and quartermaster.
The next morning the rebel army continued to pass along the road and kept it up during the day. We could plainly hear the tramp and talk of the passing column, but kept ourselves carefully concealed. When night came the campers were few in number, and we started our foraging party out again. When they arrived at Master Gwyn's they found that old Sambo had returned. He said that they took him with the rest to Winsboro to work on the fortifications, and, while they were detained in an old warehouse over night, he managed to crawl up through the chimney, out on the roof, then down to another roof, and finally to the ground, after which he took the long walk home and "was mighty tired." Master Gwyn told him he was very glad to see him back, as he needed him, that he had always been a faithful servant and he wanted to keep him as long as he lived.