The simple but touching narratives of one who has survived the horrors of a rebel prison; or the little hillock which covers the remains of one of the murdered victims of rebel cruelty, are far more perfect illustrations of the civilization of the ruling classes in the South, and the malignity of their character, than the whole career of the ablest of our commanders.
Thousands of incidents in the life of every soldier, were they recorded, would be invaluable in illustrating the history of the late war; but the mass of these will soon be forgotten, and the actors themselves fill unknown graves. Men who, in any other era, would be singled out, and known as heroes to a whole nation for their gallant deeds, will pass through life as but one of millions, and must rest content with a general tribute to the great mass.
We are now to have a national literature, as well as a national existence. American writers of romance and the drama, will no longer seek the antiquated regions of Europe for scenes and heroes; America has supplied all that is necessary to the most vivid of pictures; and no pen, even though the plot be fiction, need ever exaggerate in incidents or descriptions. He who tells the simple truth, narrates more of the strange and the heroic, than could be conceived by the fertility of a Dickens, or a Dumas.
The writer of this narrative, throughout, has adhered strictly to facts, without any attempt at embellishment. The wild chases after the Comanches; the stern duties of war; and the hardships of prison life, have left him little time to cultivate elegant diction, and as he has an abiding conviction that unvarnished truth is ever more acceptable than high wrought fiction, he is content with the simple narrative, which is spread before the reader in the pages which follow.
The Author.
Hillsboro, Ohio, June 21, 1865.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| MY FIRST EFFORT AT SEEING LIFE—A TRIP TO TEXAS | [19] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| MY FIRST INDIAN CAMPAIGN | [33] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| MORE ADVENTURE—MUSTERED OUT | [57] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| WITH THE RANGERS AGAIN—BUFFALO HUNT—A LONELY JOURNEY | [63] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| ANOTHER LONELY RIDE—FRONTIER FEUDS | [82] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| MORE ADVENTURE—MEETING AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE | [86] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| KICKAPOO CAMPAIGN—INCIDENTS | [95] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| INDIAN WARFARE—SCALPING—CANNIBALISM | [101] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| SCOUTING—A WHITE CAPTIVE | [112] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| COL. JOHNSTON'S COMANCHE CAMPAIGN—A GREAT FAILURE—FRIGHTFUL | |
| SUFFERING OF THE RANGERS | [118] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE—SECESSION | [136] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| TYRANNY AND PERFIDY OF THE SECESSIONISTS | [145] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| OUT IN THE WILDERNESS | [151] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| FAREWELL TO DIXIE | [155] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| IN THE UNION SERVICE—THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN | [173] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| AFTER JOHN MORGAN | [189] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| RECONNOITERING MIDDLE TENNESSEE—SCOUTING AS CAPTAIN | |
| BONHAM OF THE FIRST LOUISIANA CAVALRY | [196] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| TRIP TO DECATUR—LIVELY ADVENTURES | [208] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| CARRYING AN IMPORTANT DISPATCH TO GENERAL BUELL | [227] |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| RECONNOITERING BRIDGEPORT—TAKEN PRISONER—MY TREATMENT—CRUELTY | |
| OF THE REBELS | [235] |
| CHAPTER XXI. | |
| ARRIVAL OF WOUNDED FROM FREDRICKSBURG | [249] |
| CHAPTER XXII. | |
| OUT OF THE HOSPITAL—OFF FOR HOME | [253] |
| CHAPTER XXIII. | |
| SCOUT TO WOODBURY—PLAYING REBEL SENTINEL—NARROW ESCAPES | [260] |
| CHAPTER XXIV. | |
| GEN. STANLEY'S GREAT RAID—PLAYING AID-DE-CAMP—SCOUTING | |
| AT HARPETH SHOALS | [265] |
| CHAPTER XXV. | |
| AFTER JOHN MORGAN IN OHIO—WAKING UP THE WRONG PASSENGER | [273] |
| CHAPTER XXVI. | |
| OFF TO THE HIAWASSEE IN SEARCH OF STEAMBOATS—A FAMILIAR | |
| NEIGHBORHOOD—FEARFUL LEAP—AFFECTING INCIDENT | [276] |
| CHAPTER XXVII. | |
| AFTER STEAMBOATS AGAIN—A MOUNTAIN NYMPH—BOB WHITE, | |
| THE UNION BUSHWHACKER | [286] |
| CHAPTER XXVIII. | |
| BATTLES OF DUG GAP AND CHICKAMAUGA | [300] |
| CHAPTER XXIX. | |
| PERSONAL ADVENTURES DURING THE BATTLE | [311] |
| CHAPTER XXX. | |
| WHEELER BADLY WHIPPED—A PERILOUS TRIP OVER THE MUSCLE SHOALS | [317] |
| CHAPTER XXXI. | |
| RAID IN NORTH CAROLINA—REBEL COLONEL WALKER KILLED | [329] |
| CHAPTER XXXII. | |
| BRIDGE BURNING EXPEDITION TO AUGUSTA | [336] |
| CHAPTER XXXIII. | |
| BLOODHOUND CHASE—TAKEN PRISONER—DRUNKEN AND EXCITED REBELS | [346] |
| CHAPTER XXXIV. | |
| THE WHIPPING POST—TORTURING NEGROES—STARVING OUR | |
| PRISONERS—THE CHARLESTON JAIL—OUR OFFICERS VINDICATED | [361] |
| CHAPTER XXXV. | |
| ADIEU TO CHARLESTON—ESCAPE FROM THE REBELS—ARRIVAL | |
| IN THE UNION LINES | [370] |
| CHAPTER XXXVI. | |
| THE NORTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN—DOWN TRIP TO WILMINGTON—AT | |
| SEA—DISCHARGED FROM THE SERVICE | [383] |
| CHAPTER XXXVII. | |
| PERSONAL—CONCLUSION | [391] |