The property found at W. S. Perry's was evidently plunder that had been seized by himself and band. Very much of the specifications against us were grossly false. What property we did take, I was making arrangements to turn over to the Quartermaster when I was arrested, showing conclusively that I did not take it for my personal benefit.
The lady that we were charged with having frightened not one of us had ever seen; neither had we ever been nearer than three-quarters of a mile of Mr. Hendrick's house. Mrs. C—— visited us twice while we were confined at Bolivar, and spoke very complimentary of our behavior while at her house, and assured us that we need not feel at all uneasy about the charge of frightening Mrs. Goforth, because that it could easily be proven that "her husband was in the rebel army, and had not been home for more than a year!" Doctor Russel was the man that trumped up the charges about Mrs. Goforth. A soldier by the name of William Goodhart, of the 20th Ohio Regiment, visited Dr. Russel, one day, and, in the course of conversation, remarked, "Doctor, you have got some of the Yankee soldiers in rather a tight place, hav'n't you?"
"Yes, I have had some of them shut up awhile."
"Well, it will be apt to go pretty hard with them, won't it?"
"No, I think not. I don't expect to prove any thing against them. They will probably get clear in the end; but it will keep Ruggles from running all over the country and representing himself as a citizen of the State of Tennessee."
Parson Hamers, in specification seventh, accuses me of stealing his watch, but neglects to fix the date of theft. He afterward fixed the date as the 30th of September. My company commander was able to show that I was in camp on the 29th and 30th of September and on the 1st of October. In a conversation with Parson Hamers, had in the presence of Sergeant E. W. Quackenbush, of the 20th Ohio Regiment, a few days before I was arrested, he spoke of having had his watch stolen, and said that he was so sick at the time that he did not know who took it.
During our confinement we were under the custody of four different Provost-marshals. As a general thing, we met with kind treatment from those that were guarding us, and oftentimes, through the kindness of officers and men, we received favors not usually given to soldiers under arrest. There were a few exceptions to our kind treatment, and I will narrate an incident illustrative of it:
The whole number of prisoners confined in the guard-house at the time I allude to, including my own squad, was forty-three, and we all occupied the same room. Among the prisoners confined with us was a very young soldier—a mere boy—by the name of George S——, of the 18th Ohio. He had been in confinement much longer than myself and squad, and was noted for being decidedly a "hard case." His recklessness sometimes caused restrictions to be placed upon all confined, thereby causing the innocent to suffer for the guilty.
One night, George took a rail from off the banisters that surrounded the stairway and placed it from the portico in front of the court-house into a tree that stood close by, and, by that means, got out of the guard-house, unobserved by the guard, and spent the evening in town. On his return, he neglected to take the rail away. In the morning the officer of the guard discovered it, and concluded correctly what it had been placed there for. He commenced an inquiry of the prisoners to find out who put it there. None of the boys would acknowledge having done it. Several told him that they supposed George had done it. George denied it, and nobody had seen him do it.
The officer would not take suppositions as to who did it, but told us that he should hold us all responsible for a correct report of who did it, and would give us till roll-call at night to find out; and at that time, if we did not report, we should all live on nothing but bread and water until we did.