“'Jes' see, Massa Tom, de Gen'l dar. Whar he bin if he lef wid de mans when he got shotted at dat fight at Dolins-burg? He done bin dead sho. Dars whar he bin. I tell you de good Laud know who he trus' him wid; yes sah, he do. So he put him wid me and den he make my ole head cifer out de cures what fotched him out. Jes' kase he want Marsa for good work, dat's why. What would Ham do curin' him up? No, sah, he not know how, and de Laud no trus' him.'
“Peter said: 'Aunt Martha, you rather like the Lord, I take it.'
“'Yes, sah, I do. He be good. He fotched de poor darkies out ob workin' all de time for nuffin for dem Sesh, and he know what he doin'. He goin' to let dem Sesh 'spect dat dey whip dem Yanks affer while, but he not let dem do it. He jes' coaxin' dem on till he git good men hold of de army, den dey all git smash up. Jes' like Genl Tom, de Laud save him for dat. Don't you see dat? My! when Marsa Tom git after dem Sesh, dey done gits ebry time, dey do; don't dey, Marsa Lyon.'
“I agreed with her and the rest laughed. She finally cut her speech short and retired to the kitchen.
“After tea Gen. Anderson gave us quite an amusing account of his little improvised army that followed Morgan-son. He said no braver set of men ever marched, but that it was very hard to tell his men from the raiders when they got together; that some were riding in saddles and some without, substituting a doubled up blanket or quilt; some were on old and some were on young horses; some were on ponies and some on mules, some wore 'stove-pipe' hats, some caps, some straw hats, and some were without either. Some had on frock, some dress, and some round-coats, and many entirely without coats of any kind; some with boots, some with shoes, and some entirely barefoot. Take them all in all, they were in dress à la Falstaff's troop, but they were a success, and did what the Army of the Center, under Rosenfelt, had failed to do, and that was to capture the rebel cavalry. This raid of Morganson was an audacious adventure, doubtless encouraged by the Knights of the Golden Circle, and had he waited long enough I have no doubt that we would have had an uprising in Indiana that would have been very troublesome to put down. It was quite fortunate that it occurred when it did.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Adams; “I have no doubt that plans were being perfected about that time and later on for a general raiding and plunder of many cities, as well as portions of the North outside of cities, where we could be seriously damaged.”
Uncle Daniel resumed, saying: “During that evening we discussed matters generally, but Peter felt very much disappointed at his being absent in Canada while Gen. Anderson was bagging Morganson. He said that it was just his luck to miss everything of this kind, but that he always had the luck to get into some hard place in front of the enemy, and usually get hurt in some way or other, but that when it came to getting rebels into a place where they could be easily whipped or captured or chased out of the country, the luck seemed always to fall to Gen. Anderson. He turned to the General, and with a twinkle of the eye asked him if he had Ham with him to assist in hiving these Sesh. The General laughed and said no; that Ham was back watching out for the Army of the Center and keeping Gen. Forrester from coming in some morning and taking away our trunks and camp equipage. At this they both laughed.
“Peter said: 'Ham will not have quite the trouble that we have all had heretofore since Forrester's command has been depleted by Morganson's capture.'
“'No,' replied the General; 'he will only need to watch one of them now.' The conversation then turned on Peter's trip into Canada.
“I inquired if he saw Mr. and Mrs. Whitcomb. He said that he spent one night at their house; said they were nice old people, very religious, and lovely in every respect; that they were very proud of their children and spoke of James as a brave and good boy. They knew nothing whatever about his having been in trouble. When he told them that he knew him and that he was on duty with Gen. Anderson, they were delighted, and asked many questions about the army, our prospects, etc. They spoke of Seraine as their lovely daughter; knew about her mission, her fondness for Henry, and, in fact, gave him much information about Henry prior to the war that we did not know. Altogether his stay with them was very pleasant. After hearing about these good people, in whom we all felt an interest, I insisted on his now giving us a full report of what he had found out about the situation in Canada in reference to the conspiracy and conspirators.