"Shorty, that lanky, two-fisted chump of Co. Q, who thinks hisself a bigger man than Gineral Rosecrans," Groundhog explained, "has writ a letter to a gal away off somewhere up North. How in the kingdom he ever come to git acquainted with her or any respectable woman "s more"n I kin tell. But he"s got cheek enough for anything. It"s sartin, though, that she"s never saw him, and don"t know nothin" about him, or she"d never let him write to her. Of course, he"s as ignorant as a mule. He skeercely got beyant pot-hooks when he wuz tryin" to larn writin", an"
he spells like a man with a wooden leg. Look here:
""Mi Dere Frend." Now, everybody knows that the way to spell dear is d-e-e-r. Then he goes on:
""I taik mi pen in hand to inform u that Ime well, tho I"ve lost about 15 pounds, and hoap that u air injoyin" the same blessin."
"Think o" the vulgarity o" a man writin" to a young lady "bout his losin" flesh. If a man should write sich a thing to my sister I"d hunt him up and wollop the life outen him. Then he goes on:
""I aint built to spare much meat, and the loss of 15 pounds leaves fallow lots in mi cloze. But it will grow it all back on me agin mitey quick, as soon as we kin hav another protracted meetin" with the Commissary Department."
"Did you ever hear sich vulgarity?" Groundhog groaned. "Now hear him brag and use langwidge unfit for any lady to see:
""We"ve jest went throo the gosh-almightiest campane that enny army ever done. It wuz rane and mud 48 ours outen the 24, with thunder and litenin" on the side. We got wettern Faro"s hosts done chasin" the Jews throo 50 foot of Red See. But we diddent stop for that till we"d hussled old Bragg outen his works, and started him on the keen jump for Chattynoogy, to put the c.u.mberland Mountings betwixt us and him."
"Think o" the conceit o" the feller. Wants to make that gal believe that he druv off Bragg a"most single-handed, and intends to foller him up and kick him some more. Sich gall. Sich fellers hurts us in the opinion o"
the people at home. They make "em think we"re all a set o" blowhards.
But this aint nothin" to what comes next. He tries to honeyfugle the gal, and he"s as clumsy "bout it as a brown b"ar robbin" a bee-hive.
Listen:
""mi dere frend, I can"t tell you how happy yore letters maik me. I"ve got so I look for the male a good dele more angshioussly than for the grub wagon."
"Think o" a man sayin" grub to a lady," said Groundhog, in a tone of deep disgust. "Awful coa.r.s.e. A gentleman allers says "peck," or "hash,"
or Vittels," when he"s speakin" to a lady, or before ladies. I licked a man onct for sayin" "gizzard-linen" before my mother, and gizzard-linin"
aint half as coa.r.s.e as grub. But he gits softer"n mush as he goes on.
Listen:
""I rede every wun of "em over till they"re cleane wore out, and then I save the pieces, bekaze they c.u.m from u. I rede them whenever Ime alone, and it seems to me that its yeres before another one comes. If I cood make anybody feel as good by ritin" to "em as u kin me Ide rite "em every day."
"Thar"s some more of his ignorant spellin"," said Groundhog. "Everybody but a blamed fool knows the way to spell write is w-r-i-g-h-t. I learnt that much before I wuz knee-high to a gra.s.shopper. But let me continner:
""I think Bad Ax, Wisconsin, must be the nicest plais in the world, bekaze u live there. I woodent want to live anywhair else, and Ime c.u.mmin up thar just as soon as the war is over to settle. I think of u every our in the day, and--"
"He thinks of her every hour. The idee," said Groundhog, with deep scorn, "that sich a galoot as Shorty thinks of anything more"n a minute, except triple-X, all-wool, indigo-dyed cussedness that he kin work off on some other feller and hurt him, that he don"t think"s as smart as he is. Think o" him gushin" out all this soft-solder to fool some poor girl."
"You infernal liar, you, give me that letter," shouted Si, bolting into the circle and making a clutch at the sheet. "I"ll pound your onery head off en you."
Si had come up unnoticed, and listened for a few minutes to Groundhog"s tirade before he discovered that his partner was its object. Then he sprang at the teamster, struck him with one hand, and s.n.a.t.c.hed at the letter with the other. The bystanders instinctively sided with the teamster, and Si became the center of a maelstrom of kicks and blows, when Shorty, seeing his partner"s predicament, bolted down the hill and began knocking down every body in reach until he cleared a way to Si"s side. By this time the attention of the Sergeant of the Guard was attracted, and he brought an energetic gun-barrel to the task of restoring the reign of law and order.
"How in thunder"d you come to git into a fracas with that herd o"
mavericks, Si?" asked Shorty, in a tone of rebuke, as the Sergeant was rounding up the crowd and trying to get at who was to blame. "Couldn"t you find somebody on your own level to fight, without startin" a fuss with a pa.s.sel o" low-down, rust-eaten roustabouts? What"s got into you?
Bin livin" so high lately that you had to have a fight to work off your fractiousness? I"m surprised at you."
"Groundhog" d got hold of a letter o" your"n to your girl up in Wisconsin," gasped Si, "and was readin" it to the crowd. Here"s a piece of it."
Shorty glanced at the fragment of torn paper in Si"s hand, and a deep blush suffused his sun-browned cheek. Then he gave a howl and made a rush for Groundhog.
"Here, let that man alone, or I"ll make you," shouted the Sergeant of the Guard.
"Sergeant," said Si, "that rat-faced teamster had got hold of a letter to his girl, and was reading it to this gang o" camp offal."
"O," said the Sergeant, in a changed tone; "hope he"ll baste the life out of him." And he jumped in before a crowd that was showing some disposition to go to Groundhog"s a.s.sistance, sharply ordered them to about-face, and drove them off before him.
"Here, Sergeant," shouted the Officer of the Guard, who came running up; "what are you fooling around with these fellows for? They"re not doing any thing. Don"t you see that man"s killing that team ster?"
"Teamster had got hold of a letter to his girl," explained the Sergeant, "and was reading it to these whelps."
"O," said the Officer of the Guard in a different tone. "Run these rascals down there in front of the Quartermaster"s and set them to work digging those stumps out. Keep them at it till midnight, without anything to eat. I"ll teach them to raise disturbances in camp."
CHAPTER X. AFTER BRAGG AGAIN
RESTFUL SUMMER DAYS END--THE UNION PEOPLE OF EAST TENNESSEE.
THOUGH every man in the Army of the c.u.mberland felt completely worn out at the end of the Tullahoma campaign, it needed but a few days" rest in pleasant camps on the foothills of the c.u.mberland Mountains, with plenty of rations and supplies of clothing, to beget a restlessness for another advance.
They felt envious of their comrades of the Army of the Tennessee, who had cornered their enemy in Vicksburg and forced him to complete surrender.
On the other hand, their enemy had evaded battle when they offered it to him on the place he had himself chosen, had eluded their vigorous pursuit, and now had his army in full possession of the great objective upon which the eyes of the Army of the c.u.mberland had been fixed for two years Chattanooga.
It was to Chattanooga that Gen. Scott ultimately looked when he began the organization of forces north of the Ohio River. It was to Chattanooga that Gens. Anderson, Sherman and Buell looked when they were building up the Army of the Ohio. It was nearly to Chattanooga that Gen.
Mitchel made his memorable dash after the fall of Nashville, when he took Huntsville, Bridgeport, Stevenson and other outlying places. It was for Chattanooga that the "Engine Thieves" made their thrilling venture, that cost eight of their lives. It was to Chattanooga that Buell was ordered with the Army of the Ohio, after the "siege of Corinth," and from which he was run back by Bragg"s flank movement into Kentucky. It was again toward Chattanooga that Rosecrans had started the Army of the c.u.mberland from Nashville, in December, 1862, and the battle of Stone River and the Tullahoma campaign were but stages in the journey.
President Lincoln wanted Chattanooga to relieve the sorely persecuted Unionists of East Tennessee. Military men wanted Chattanooga for its immense strategic importance, second only to that of Vicksburg.
The men of the Army of the c.u.mberland wanted Chattanooga, as those of the Army of the Potomac wanted Richmond, and those of the Army of the Tennessee had wanted Vicksburg, as the victor"s guerdon which would crown all their marches, skirmishes and battles.
But between them and Chattanooga still lay three great ranges of mountains and a broad, navigable river. Where amid all these fortifications of appalling strength would Bragg offer them battle for the Confederacy"s vitals?
"I don"t care what Bragg"s got over there," said Si, looking up at the lofty mountain peaks, as he and Shorty discussed the probabilities. "He can"t git nothing worse than the works at War Trace and Shelbyville, that he took six months to build, and was just goin" to slaughter us with. And if we go ahead now he won"t have the rain on his side. It looks as if it has set in for a long dry spell; the country "ll be so we kin git around in it without trouble. If the walkin" only stays good we"ll find a way to make Mr. Bragg hump out of Chattanooga, or stay in there and git captured."
"Yes," a.s.sented Shorty, knocking the ashes out of his brierwood pipe, and beginning to shave down a plug of bright navy to refill it, "and I"ll put old Rosey"s brains and git-there agin all the mountains and rivers and forts, and breastworks and thingama-jigs that Bragg kin git up. Old Rosecrans is smarter any day in the week than Bragg is on Sunday. He kin give the rebels cards and spades and run "em out before the fourth round is played. Only I hope he won"t study about it as long as he did after Stone River. I want to finish up the job in warm, dry weather, and git home."
And his eyes took on a far-away look, which Si had no difficulty interpreting that "home" meant a place with a queer name in distant Wisconsin.
"Well," said Si reflectively, "old Rosecrans didn"t study long after he took command of us at Nashville, before plunking us squarely at the Johnnies on Stone River. I think he"s out for a fight now, and bound to git it in short meter."
But the impatient boys had to wait a long Summer month, until the railroads to the rear could be repaired to bring up supplies, and for the corn to ripen so as to furnish forage for the cavalry.
But when, on the 16th of August, 1863, Rosecrans began his campaign of magnificant strategy for the possession of Chattanooga, the 200th Ind. had the supreme satisfaction of leading the advance up into the mountains of living green to find the enemy and bring him to bay.
A few days" march brought them up onto the c.u.mberland Plateau. They had now left the country of big plantations with cottonfields, and come upon one of small farms and poor people. Si, with a squad, had been marching far ahead all day as an advance-guard. They had seen no rebels, but all the same kept a constant and vigilant outlook for the enemy. They were approaching a log house of rather better cla.s.s than any they had seen since ascending the mountain. As they raised the crest of a hill they heard a horn at the house give a signal, which set them keenly alert, and they pushed forward rapidly, with their guns ready. Then they saw a tall, slender young woman, scarcely more than a girl, dart out of the house and attempt to cross the road and open ground to the dense woods.
Si sprang forward in pursuit. She ran like a young deer, but Si was swift of foot, and had taken the correct angle to cut her off. He caught her flying skirts and then grasped her wrist.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SHE RAN LIKE A DEER, BUT SI CUT HER OFF 123]
"Where are you goin", and what for?" he asked sternly, as he held her fast and looked into her frightened eyes, while her breast heaved with exertion and fear.