Having finished that stanza I noticed she had quit playing and was crying; so I remarked, "Madam, had I known that my singing would have had such an effect I surely would not have sung." By way of explanation she remarked that her first husband was a composer and that the song I sang was his first effort and he received a prize on it. Oh those were happy days she said! Her husband talked very kindly to her and the general conversation turned on France and of days gone by. She had lived in Paris and knew many business houses that I knew and I passed a most pleasant night. The following morning I sat down to a substantial country breakfast. We had hardly finished when the negro servant ran in, saying, "Master the Yankees are coming. They are here." Looking up the road, sure enough, a few hundred yards beyond where the road turned, they were in view. I at once, on the first impulse, jumped into a closet. Hardly was I in, closing the door, when I thought of this being the first place they would examine. I opened the door, and not knowing where to go I went into the back yard, between the house and the smoke house. Hardly had I done so when a dozen or more Yankees left their column entered the house very boisterously. Being dressed somewhat like they were, in blue, lacking but the brass buttons, I entered the back door, unconcernedly, mixing among them without being detected or noticed. Some of the men had placed their guns in the corner of the room; when of a sudden my hostess run in by the back door, crying, "My God! They are taking all of my meat." I don't know what impelled me but I seized a gun from the corner, ran out of the back door, brought my weapon from a trail to a support, and ordered the two men to throw back the hams each of them had in their grasp, one of which acted at my command, and the other said, What in the h——l you got to do with it. Before I could reply his comrade said to him, "Throw it down, don't you see he is a safe guard;" he threw down the hams. I took the cue from what the Yankee said, although it was the first time I had heard of a safe-guard. The door of the dwelling wide open, those in the house saw me walk the post back and forth, made their exit and left the house, and as long as I was guarding, no more Yankees tarried on the premises; they came, looked about and left the premises as soon as they saw me standing guard, until the whole column had passed. My host came to me saying, Well, they are all gone, thank God, I said no, the rear guard has not passed. The dwelling house was constructed close to the ground, leaving only about a foot space in front while the rear end was about two and a half feet from the ground. I took my gun and crawled under the house. Presently there came what I thought to be about a regiment, and several stragglers. Finally I came from under the house. I gave my hostess the gun I'd taken, telling her, If I do not call for it it shall be yours. My host took my hands, shook them heartily, saying, "You are a hero;" I laughed, saying, Well, I saved your bacon; Good bye; I am much obliged to you for your kind hospitality, and if it had not been for those fellows we would have had a good time. I started on my philanthropic errand, not knowing if I would find the sick men dead or alive. I had gone but a few hundred yards when I met a Federal soldier marching hastily to catch up. He said, Are they far ahead; I said, No, about five hundred yards or a quarter of a mile. You are going the wrong way, said he. I answered, I am not going far, I lost something. Further on I met two more, who like the first, took me for a Federal. One said, Comrade you are going the wrong way. I said, I am not going far. How far behind are we? I said, Not far, a few hundred yards. And so within about one and a half mile I met a dozen stragglers, walking to catch up, all comparatively asking the same questions, and to which I replied alike. When about four hundred yards in front of me, and about alike in the rear of the last straggler I saw four horsemen, riding abreast, holding their carbines by the barrel and resting the butt on their thighs. I recognized them as Confederates. I walked up to them, asking, What troops do you belong to? Harvey's Scouts of Forrests' Cavalry, was their reply. Are there any others behind? Yes. How far? The rear of the enemy's column is about two miles ahead of you, said I, and there are about a dozen stragglers, some with guns, and some have none; they are separated several hundred yards apart, some single and some in pairs; if you spur up you can catch the whole gang; I'll tell those men ahead of me to hurry up. Where is Capt. Harvey? You'll find him in the Exchange Hotel, in town. They at once put spurs to their horses and galloped on, and I followed my course towards the city. I met the reinforcements some little distance ahead of me, and reported what I had seen and told their advance scouts. They all went at full speed, and later, I saw the whole gang of stragglers brought in. I asked Capt. Harvey what had become of the inmates at the hospital. He said he did not know for he had just arrived that morning. I went to the hospital, found things in rather bad shape and the inmates gone. After careful investigation I heard that the Ladies Relief Association had taken care of the sick and that they were well provided for.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Dr. Crawford followed General Hood's army and established headquarters at Corinth, Miss. I followed at once, as soon as I could locate him. I bought what provisions I could along the stations. At Columbus, Miss., some Federals who came there to tear up the track fired in the train as we passed; several of the passengers were wounded but General Forrest appeared at that moment on the scene and routed the enemy, killing and wounding quite a number of them, and thus preventing the wreckage of the railroad track. The car I rode in was riddled with bullets, but I escaped unhurt; several of the passengers had a close call.
While at Corinth I was deputized to carry a message to the front, this side of Franklin, Tennessee. I arrived in time where General Beauford's men had a brush with the enemy. A stray bullet hit me in the thigh, and for a time I thought I was seriously hurt. I was close to a little stream of water. I had my leg tied above the wound with my handkerchief and put it in the running stream. A surgeon came to probe my wound, but trembled like a man having the palsy, and I told him he must not touch me any further; he could hardly put his probe in the hole made by the bullet. After a while I was picked up and sent to the rear where I was cared for by Dr. Crawford, who was very sorry and regretted having sent me. My wound was doing so well and there was no inflammation taking place, and by keeping cold applications on it I was able to be about in less than two weeks. Dr. Crawford said I did the best thing that could be done by keeping inflammation down by putting my leg in the stream. The wound did so well that he would not bother it to extract the ball, and so I still carry it as a memento of the war. While at Corinth the ladies of Washington county sent me a box. The battle of Franklin was fought and a victory dearly bought. Two weeks later the battle of Nashville was fought, and General Hood's magnificent army nearly annihilated. They came through Corinth the worst conditioned men I ever laid my eyes upon. There I met Lieut. John T. Gross of this County and Capt. Joe Polhill of Louisville, Ga., and about twenty of their command. They were hungry and in rags; I said, "Boys, you are in a bad fix." Capt. Polhill said, "Ike, can you tell me where I can get something to eat; I am starved." I said I had just heard that there was a box in the depot for me, let us see what is in it. I took the crowd up to the hospital and all got something to eat. The hospital wagon went to the depot and got the box. It was a large box, and was filled to the top with clothes and eatables. Lieut. Gross, who was barefooted, I supplied with a pair of broken shoes. Many of the provisions were cooked. I took out some checked shirts and knit socks and a pair of pants and jacket and divided the rest among the boys, who were all from Jefferson and Washington counties, and even to this day Capt Polhill declares I saved his life. He is still one of the Vets. and a useful and honored citizen of Louisville, Ga.
Corinth at that time when I saw it, was only a railroad station with an improvised station house or warehouse. A few chimneys here and there indicated where had previously stood some houses. It is not far from the Tennessee river, about ten miles from Shiloh, where Albert Sidney Johnson, from Texas, was killed and General Beauregard saved the day. During my convalescence I walked over some of the battle ground. Being tired I sat down on a log. There were two logs touching each other lengthways. They had been large trees, about two and a half to three feet in diameter. Playing on the ground with my crutch I unearthed a bullet; presently I scratched up another. I noted that the logs were riddled with bullets. I picked up over one hundred pounds of musket balls in a space not over twenty-five feet square. How any escaped such a shower of lead in such a small place can't be possible. Undoubtedly those logs had served as a protection behind which those brave fellows sent forth in the ranks of their adversaries a similar amount of death dealing missiles.