"'Like most of your contemptible Yankee crew, I believe you to be a lying scoundrel, and you shall answer to the charge of spy.'
"'Very well, sir, I am compelled to await your pleasure; but you have heard nothing but the truth.'
"'Guard! take the prisoners to the jail, place them in a cell, and keep them in close confinement until further orders.'"
The above colloquy between Wheeler and his prisoners reflects small credit upon him as a leader of "Southern Chivalry."
CHAPTER XXV.
FINAL ESCAPE FROM CAPTIVITY.
In jail. — White trash. — Yankees. — Off to Waynesboro. — No rations. Calling the roll. — Sylvania. — Plan for escape. — Lieutenant John W. Wright. — A desperate project. — Escaped! — Giving chase. — The pursuers baffled. — Old Richard. — "Pooty hard case, massa." — Rebel deserters. — The sound of cannon. — Personating a rebel officer. — Mrs. Keyton. — Renewed hope. — A Confederate outpost. — Bloodhounds. — Uncle Philip. — March Dasher. — Suspicion disarmed. — "Now I'ze ready, gemmen." — Stars and stripes. — Glorious freedom. — Home!
In obedience to orders, Glazier and his comrade were at once marched off to the county jail at Springfield, Georgia, then in the hands of the military authorities. They were the only military prisoners confined there, and were allowed the privilege of leaving their cell and going into the yard for fresh air. They were not a little amused by the crowds of wondering citizens who visited the jail to view the "two live Yanks."
These worthy citizens were greatly exercised that the prisoners should be permitted to leave their cells, and called on the jailer to remove them from the yard or they would take the keys into their own hands; but the officer in command told them that he was personally responsible for their safe-custody, and refused to remove them. These white Georgians were a very primitive class of people. Utterly illiterate and uninformed, their mode of speech was as bad as that of the most ignorant slaves on the plantations. The term "white trash," whatever its origin, was a most appropriate designation. No care had been taken to educate them—no school-houses built; education being confined to the few whose wealth enabled them to send their children to Northern schools, or to engage a private tutor. Discovering that the prisoners were harmless, many of these people asked them questions of a curious and comical nature. They thought Yankees were imps of darkness, possessed of horns and hoof, and, seeing that the prisoners were formed not unlike themselves, were with difficulty persuaded that they were "Yankees." Their idea of the causes and character of the war was ludicrous in the extreme, and will hardly bear description—the negroes themselves being far better informed upon this, as they were upon most other subjects.
A very brief examination before a hastily convened board of officers resulted in a finding that the captives were "escaped prisoners of war," and not "spies." They were accordingly asked, where they were captured, where imprisoned, when they escaped, etc.; and then a strong guard from the Second Georgia Cavalry was detailed to convey them, with fifteen other prisoners from the Fourteenth Army Corps, to Waynesboro.