USA > New York > History of the Tenth regiment of cavalry New York state volunteers, August, 1861, to August, 1865, pt 2 > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
Yankee .- " Is this the Belle place ?"
Darky .- " Yes, sah."
Yank .- " Is there a man here by the name of Yawcup ?"
Darky .- " No such man yere like dat."
Yank .- " Yes, there is ; he's a little, short fellow ; he is watchman .* Who are you, and what are you doing here ?" (I saw he answered the description of the watchman that had been given me, so I addressed him in this way.)
Darky .- " My name is Jacob, an' I is de watchman on dis yer place."
Yank .- " Well, you are the very man I want." (It never occurred to me that a darky could talk or use the German accent so much as to say Yawcup for Jacob, consequently I mimicked him so exactly that the man I addressed myself to did not know who I meant.) "I want you to ferry me across the Cooper River, so I can get to the ocean beyond. Do you understand what I mean ?"
Darky .- " Oh, yes, sah ; but dun know how yo' can cross de riber, 'less yo' goes up to Strawberry Ferry."
Yank .- " But there are a lot of rebel soldiers up there, are there not ?"
Darky .- " No, sah ; I don't reckon der be any dar now. Dey was some dar while ago, but dey all ben sent up to Richmond, few weeks ago, an' dey dun gone an' broke up all de boats on de riber so to keep de cullud man from goin' down, so dar ain't no boat, 'cept at de ferry."
Yank .- " Which is the way to the ferry ?" He began to tell me how I should take this road, then through that plantation, across such a swamp, following such a hog-trail, until I cried out :
" Hold on ! I can never think of one half of that route. Can't you go and show me?"
Darky .- " Can't do it berry well, 'case I'se de watchman, an' it's right smart ways."
Yank .- " How far is it ?"
Darky .- " 'Bout six miles."
* The watchman was a slave employed to watch the fields during the night, to keep the cattle and hogs out; also to prevent the darkies from other planta- tions from stealing the corn.
634
HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
Yank .- " Well, then, go with me until you put me on a road that will lead me direct to the ferry. Then I can find the rest of the way. I am a Yankee, and have been a prisoner in Andersonville all the summer. I got away from your folks the other night, and now I want to get to the coast and find one of our gun- boats. Do you understand ?"
Darky .- "Oh, yes, sah. I'll go wid yo' and put yo' on de straight road, den yo' can get along yo'self."
Then, telling the other men to say he had gone out to the fields, if any one in- - quired for him, we started through rice swamps abounding with alligators, who went splashing into the water as we passed, together with reptiles of every de- scription-following a hog-trail, scarcely perceptible by daylight much less at night-on, on, on we went, until three miles of swamp and woods had been traversed, when we 'suddenly came to a plank road. My guide stopped and said :
"Now yo' 'bout free miles from de ferry ; yo' mus' keep straight on down dis road. Neber min' what yo' see on de side o' de road, yo' keep on 'til yo' come to & gate. Pass frew de gate ; den you'll fin' a large field o' co'n on one side o' de road an' a fiel' o' rice on de udder. Pass on till yo' come to de ferry. Now, mas'r, I mus' lebe yo'. May God bress yo'! I tink you'll get frew. We cullud people all prayin' for yo'."
I clasped his hand. There, on the roadside in a South Carolina swamp, at the hour of midnight, with the silent stars and the tall, swaying pines as mute wit- nesses, stood the bond and the free, the black and the white, the soldier and the slave-the black praying for the escape of the white ! Reader, do you think one placed in my position would not always have a warm nook in his heart for the black man of the South? With a last good-by he turned to the swamp and I to the road. With the croakings of frogs and hootings of owls to keep me com- pany I hurried on. I found the road just as he had described it. I soon came to the gate, and passed through it. I traveled across a field of corn to the left of the road and a field of rice on the right, when suddenly I halted. Right be- fore me, from under a rice bank, rolled the still rapid current of the Cooper River.
It was nearly 3 A. M. when I reached the river. I found the ferryman lived on the other side, and was asleep. I called aloud to him, but could not make him hear. Fearing to arouse the people, I desisted. Being very faint and weary, I lay down on an old plank and tried to sleep, but, with the plunging of fish in the river and the biting of mosquitoes, I got very little sleep. I pulled the overcoat cape over my head, and tried to keep them out, but they would manage to find a vul- nerable spot to present their bills. Soon as day began to dawn I was up, pacing up and down the bank, watching the cabin door of the ferryman on the opposite bank. I had not long to wait before it opened, and a colored man came out. I shouted for him to come over and ferry me across. This he commenced to do, but, getting impatient at his slowness, I cried out, " Hurry up, I've no time to lose!" Reaching the shore, I sprang into the boat and ordered him to paddle rapidly, and I would explain my haste when I was safely inside his house. He evidently expected pay for taking me over, for he looked very wistful; but I said, " Come up to the house." As soon as we were up there, I told him who and what I was, and asked him if I could not hide somewhere inside the cabin. He said
635
PRISON LIFE AND ESCAPE OF R. H. FERGUSON.
there was no place, and if I stayed in that room I would be seen, for there would be a white man working in the front part of the yard all day long, and he would be apt to come in the room for a light for his pipe.
" Where shall I hide, then ?" I asked.
"I dun know, 'less yo' go 'hind de cabin."
Back of the cabin was a steep bank, and the rain had worn out a little gully. Down through on the east side there was a few berry-bushes and an old pine-tree ; behind this was the only place for me to go, and I went. I could hear the white man at work in front of the cabin, and see the overseer on the opposite side of the river, in the rice-field, as he hurried up the negroes in stacking their bundles of . rice. Soon the rain came, and so hard that it drove my front-door neighbor away from the house. It rained very hard for most of the afternoon, but toward three o'clock ceased. Soon as it had stopped I went round in front of the house to inquire about my roads, and the best way for me to go. The darky said that four miles from there I would find another river to cross, and as it was pretty late he did not think I would find any white men on the road. It was the cus- tom of the overseers down there to go down from the pine lands (the summer residences) to the plantations about 10 A. M., and return between 2 and 3 P. M., so that before and after that time one was not apt to meet a white man. I generally traveled in the night; in fact, I determined, when I started to escape, that I would not travel in the daytime. This afternoon would be my first exception. Mark the result! Every white man in the country, unless a cripple, was a soldier, either a home guard or on detailed service. And they were bound together to arrest every suspicious-looking man, unless he could give a satisfactory account of himself. Hence I would much prefer to travel five miles around to avoid a white man than to run the risk of meeting one. When the ferryman told me I had another river to cross four miles from there, I decided to try and get over before dark, and then I could make a good night's journey. Just then a young colored man came in and said, " Up yere, about two miles, at de forks o' de road, two more you'n soldiers stopped me." After asking him where they were, in order that I might avoid them, I started. Bidding my friend good-by, I got up on the higher ground, and was proceeding very quietly, when, on looking at the sun, I saw it was not as late as I had thought ; but not thinking I would meet any one, I kept on. Just at that moment I came to a portion of the road which had water on both sides, and at the same instant, coming round a turn in the road, not four rods in advance of me, was a rebel on horseback. I instantly saw my only chance for escape would be through coolness and sang-froid. If there had been a chance to escape I could not have run into the bushes, for that act would have confirmed the suspicion which I saw plainly depicted on his face, while if I remained on my guard I hoped to deceive him. I had a complete Yankee uniform on, consisting of a nicely braided officer's cap and blouse, blue cavalry pants, and a blue over- coat on a stick slung over my shoulder, and an old pair of rebel shoes, and I was very lame from my wound, which, although healed, pained me then, and did for ten years afterward. As soon as we came near I lifted my hat in salute, and at the same time said, " How are you, Captain ?"
Rebel .- " How' de'? Which way you going ?"
Yank .- " I'm going up to McClellansville."
Rebel .- " What ! 'way up there ?"
636
HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
Yank .- " That is no distance for a soldier to go."
Rebel .- " Where are you from ?"
Yank .- " From town."* -
Rebel .- " Did you come from there to-day ?"
Yank .- " Oh, no."
Rebel .- " Did you walk all the way ?"
It flashed through my mind that, if I told him I walked, he would ask why I did not come on the railroad ; and if I told him I came on the cars, I would not know what station to tell him I got off at. All this, and my line of procedure, passed instantly through my mind, and by the time he had finished his question, I promptly replied :
"No, I came on the cars, as far as this station down below here." Then hold- ing my head down, in a thinking attitude, I said, "Confound it, I never can think of a place when I want to!" But I was only waiting for him to name the proper station-and knew, by pretending to think of it, he would be apt to help me out by naming it, or asking if it was such a station; this he did by saying :
" Oh ! you mean Mount Holly Station !"
Yank .- " Yes ; that's the one. I never can remember anything."
Rebel .- " Well, what are they doing down in town ?" This was a great ques- tion to ask a man who had never seen the place, and, if I had only known what he was trying to find out, I could have answered better, but I had never been there and knew nothing about what was going on there, so I replied at random, "Oh, they are kicking up the devil, there, generally."
Rebel .- " Yes, I hear they are around, picking up everybody." t
Yank .- " Yes, and they will be out here after you, in a day or two."
Rebel .- " Well, we had a meeting here last Saturday, to see about it, but I've got a detail."
Yank .- " That don't make any difference; they take detail and everything else now."
Rebel .- " I wonder what they are going to do with them? Send them out to Hood, I suppose."
Yank .- " Yes, he needs them bad enough, for I hear old Sherman has been giv- ing him a pretty bad licking lately ; I think that Sherman is just about as good a general as those Yankees have got. I never knew of a general keeping open such a long line of communication as well as he has done, did you ?" (I thought I would give him a poke every chance I got, for I saw that the suspicion was leav- ing him.)
Rebel .- " Yes, but we've got Forrest and Wheeler out there. I don't see what they are about."
Yank .- " Well, Sherman has got Kilpatrick, and he is a pretty wide-awake fellow. I guess he keeps them moving."
Rebel .- " Well, what do you think of this war, anyway ?"
* It was the habit of the people, when speaking of going to or coming from Charleston, to say " town," and I used the same terin for effect.
t This was September 15, 1864. Sherman had captured Atlanta on the 1st, and the rebs were around, taking all the inen left and sending them out to Hood to fight Sherman.
637
PRISON LIFE AND ESCAPE OF R. H. FERGUSON.
Yank .- " Now, confidentially, between you and I, I will tell you what I think of it : I think those Yankees are just going to give us a good thrashing. I hear old Abe Lincoln has just ordered another draft of five hundred thousand, or he has reduced it to three hundred thousand. If he has done that, they are going to beat us, for we haven't any more men to put in the field. When Sherman and Grant get Hood and Lee on the retreat, they will not stop until both our armies are annihilated, or scattered to the four quarters of the Confederacy. What do you think of it?" (This seemed to take him by surprise, for he turned and twisted round in his saddle several times, and then replied.)
Rebel .- " I can't tell ; I hope not."
Yank .- "So do I; but, nevertheless, I must look at it just as the facts seem to warrant." He then seemed to have a new suspicion come over him, and returning to the first part of our conversation he asked :
Rebel .- " Why did you not go around by Mount Pleasant? That is a nearer way to MeClellansville than this."
Yank .- " Well, I will tell you. I've not been to MeClellansville since I was a very small boy. You see, when the war broke out, I was living in Louisiana, and that portion of Louisiana which I lived in is now occupied by the Yankees. I was wounded a short time ago, and got a furlough to go and visit my friends. Not being able to go to my own home, I decided to come and see the friends of my early youth. I took this road to make sure, as it was the only road I was ac- quainted with."
Rebel .- " Oh ! that is the way ?"
I now determined to pump my rebel friend for my use and purposes, and try and find out if there were any rebel soldiers toward Mcclellansville, and the route I intended to take. This I had not been able to ascertain for a certainty from the darkies, but I felt my friend would know positively, so I said to him :
" Have we no troops stationed up and down Bull's Bay, Mcclellansville, and those places ? I should think we would have."
Rebel .- " Oh, yes; there is Captain Gaillard's battery. Colonel Smith's infant- ry, So-and-so's cavalry, all under command of General Blank." (The names he gave I have partly forgotten.)
Yank .- " Why don't we send cotton down the Santee and run the block- ade ?"
Rebel .- " Well, I'll tell you. The channel is very crooked, the current swift, and it makes it hard to get out. Then, again, the Yankee gunboats are blockad- ing off there ; so that, taking all things together, we can't get out very well."
We talked away for some time longer, until I had got all the suspicion talked out of him, and, being anxious to get rid of him while he felt happy, I decided to put a clincher on him as to my loyalty to the Confederacy. So I said to him, " Where do you live ?"
Rebel .- " Down the road, about six miles."
Yank .- " Well, my name is Seems, I am a cousin of Captain Seems, of the privateer 290. Do you know him ?"
Rebel .- (In a thinking attitude, repeating the name slowly.) "S-e-e-m-s, S-e-e-m-s-S-e-e-m-s."
Yank .- " Yes, yes, the captain of the privateer Alabama."
Rebel .- " Oh, yes. Semmes, you mean."
638
HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
1
Yank .- " Yes, that's the man."
Rebel .- " No, I don't know him, but I have heard of him often." Yank .- " Well, he's my cousin. Good-day, sir" (bowing and saluting him). Rebel .- " Oh, good-day-good-day " (bowing and saluting in return).
I passed on, upbraiding myself for breaking my resolution not to travel in the daytime, and feeling sure I should have bad luck if I continued. By this time the sun shone out so hotly that I found it almost impossible to walk, from the effect of the heat upon my wounded leg. So I sat down beneath a pine-tree to rest. While there I saw a man in a two-wheeled chaise or carriage coming up the road toward where I sat, but I did not feel able to get up or try to get out of his sight. So I remained sitting until he drove past ; as he did so, I saluted him and he bowed to me. After I had rested I proceeded on my way till I came to the forks of the road, where I had to turn to go toward the ferry. It was this point where the two Union soidiers had stopped the darky whom I saw at the ferry- man's. Turning down toward the ferry, I soon came up to two colored men, who were busy rolling logs upon a wagon. One of them, a very bright, intelligent- looking mulatto, came over where I was sitting and accosted me thus :
" Did you meet a man in a carriage ?"
" I met one on the other road, just before I turned off on this one. Why ?"
" Yo' see dat house up dere ? Well, my mas'r lives dar; he's a doctor, an' I 'spect him along yere ebry minute, an' he'll see yo'."
" What difference would that make, if he did ?" I asked
" Dun know ; I t'o't mebbe dat yo' wouldn't like to see him."
After joking him a little while I told him who I was. He said he knew it all the time. I then asked him how far it was to the ferry. He said it was about a mile, but I must keep a sharp lookout, for the doctor would come along. 1 reached the river, and found the ferryman, but concluded to wait until dark before crossing. I asked him if he could not give me something to eat; he baked me a hoe-cake, and put me into a back room where I could not be seen. I lay down and fell asleep. About dark some one came into the house and asked :
" Where is that Yankee ?"
I recognized the voice of my mulatto friend.
" Over in the back room." said the ferryman.
" I was afraid he had gone, and I wanted to put him on the right road." He then came to me and said :
"I t'o't I'd come an' ferry yo' ober de ribber, an' go wid yo' a piece."
We started; he paddled me over the river-from the bushes on the side we had left, two pairs of Yankee eyes were watching us as we went over. Ilow I knew this will appear later. After crossing, we journeyed together until we came to a plantation, where he requested me to go on ahead, so no one would suspect that we were together. I passed on through the plantation. and into the woods beyond. Here he overtook mne, and in a journey of five miles together, he told me that if I could reach the plantation of Carter Aiken, near Irishtown, I could stay there a whole week, as Carter was a free negro and owned his own place ; that he had a smart wife, and would take the best of care of me. This was the way the rebel deserters went, a sort of underground railroad. He also informed me he was going out some seven miles to see his girl. When he came to the forks
639
PRISON LIFE AND ESCAPE OF R. H. FERGUSON.
of the road, I went one way, and he another. "Now." he said, " down dis road 'bout free miles, jes' after yo" rise a little hill, you'll fin' some negro cabins; in one o' dese cabins lives a negro name' Paul. Paul makes ' pekins' (a cedar bucket for milk or water). Tell Paul yo' wan' him to show yo' de way to Carter Aiken's, an' he'll do so." Then, again came the "Good-by" and the "God bress yo'" I have so often mentioned. I left him, and was soon overtaken by a colored man who was going right to Paul's to attend a prayer-meeting. On reaching the house, I passed round to the rear and inquired for Paul, but he was not at home. While talking, a white woman came around. She supposed I was a rebel soldier trying to desert, and was glad of it. She wanted to know if I knew her husband. I asked her what his name was. She told me. I replied :
" I presume I have met him and know his face, but I would not know him by that name."
" Well, he was stationed in Fort Moultrie."
" I do not remember him, madam, but will make inquiries for him when I return."
She said : " I have not seen him for over two years, and I wish he would come home, for I know those Yankees are going to whip us in the end, and I don't see the use of our getting any more men killed off. I don't blame the soldiers for deserting and running home. I would, too."
I replied that I wished to go to Carter Aiken's, and asked who would show me the way.
She said, " I will, if there is no one else to do so." I finally found a colored boy who volunteered his services. Bidding them all good-night, my guide and myself set out for Carter Aiken's.
Our road was a cart-path, or trail, through the woods. My guide was very anxious to get back as soon as possible, as he was barefooted and was afraid of the moccasin snakes. He was also inclined to be treacherous; wanted to know what I would give him for going, and, without exception, was the poorest and worst specimen of a negro that I ever met in the South. Suddenly my guide pointed to an opening through the trees, and said that just beyond that I would come to Carter Aiken's plantation. " But," he said, "I t'ink yo' might gim'me suthin' fur my trouble." " What will you have ?" I said. " I have no money," but, putting my hand in my pocket, pulled out a new silk necktie, which I gave him. Going to the opening, I found two paths, one leading south and the other north. I took the one leading south, and after going some ways found I was wrong. I then turned round and undertook to retrace my steps, but I lost my way again. So I determined to go on as at first, and see where it would lead to. I started, and soon came to a low, swampy piece of woods, and it grew so dark and dense that I could not see my path, being compelled to get down on my hands and knees in order to ascertain if I was in the path or out of it. I found I had gone astray, and in all probability was going away from the place instead of toward it. So I took another path, running at right angles with the one I was on. This seemed to be better, and I found out to my great joy that there was a clearing in front of me. Then I came to a corn-field, and, jumping over a fence, I went to a cabin and knocked at the door. A voice, sounding like that of a small boy about seven years old, asked :
1
" Who's dar ?"
640
HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
Answer .- " Does Carter Aiken live here?"
The boy (stammering) .- " N-n-o-o-no. Jo-jo-jo-John Aiken lives yere." Yank .- " Where does Carter Aiken live?"
Boy .- " D-do-do-down frou' de field."
I then went in quest of his place. Passing through one or two fields of corn, I came to a yard and saw a small cabin. Putting my ear at one of the crevices I listened, but could hear nothing to indicate life within. Going around to the back of the house I found a door, and knocking against it very hard I aroused some people within, and soon I was aware I was being inspected through the cracks by them. I heard a woman's voice say, "Mr. Aiken, dar's a gemman at the door wants to see yo'." Then to me, "Go to de front doah, sir." I went round, and entering the house, found Carter Aiken sick in bed-his wife, a bright mulatto woman, being the one who admitted me to the house. This was about 2 A. M. of Friday, the 16th of September, 1864. I introduced myself to Carter, telling him who I was, and inquired of him how the guards were placed about Bull's Bay and Mcclellansville ; also as to what would be my chances for escape if I went that way. He replied that my chances were very poor, for the guards were thick up and down the river; that the only possible chance for me would be to go around by Georgetown, and he was not sure but what that route was full of guards also.
While this conversation was taking place, his good wife had been getting sup- per ready, and she now called me to the repast. It consisted of coffee, made from grits, which is very coarse corn-meal roasted or burned, sweetened with mo- lasses and containing milk, boiled rice, with clava (this is thick, sour milk). Reader, think of this hospitality ! Here at two o'clock in the morning I arouse a family from slumber ; they set about preparing me a meal, and giving me the best the house afforded. How many Northern families would have done as much ? I sat down to that warm supper, after my hard night's journey with a better relish than the most fastidious epicure could have enjoyed at a table loaded with the most expensive luxuries. After supper I lay down on the floor and was soon lost in the deep sleep of the just and weary. The next day I met a colored man by the name of Butler, who was originally from New York. This man had been employed in Charleston Harbor as a fireman and engineer. He was now teaching the children of the neighborhood to read and write, and was living with John Aiken. They could read or write. I asked them for paper, pen, and ink. I found Tom Paine's Common Sense, and read that through, and received much en- couragement from the patriotism shown therein by our forefathers in the dark days of the Revolution. I concluded there was a day dawning for me not very far distant. I spent a whole week with Carter Aiken. On the 19th of Septem- ber I helped Carter kill a beef. Then he fed me on beef soup and plenty of meat. This was very acceptable to one so reduced as I was, and it helped to recuperate me very much I felt stronger as each day passed, therefore concluded I would remain until I had gained more of my strength. I now began to think of chang- ing my Yankee cap and blouse for a rebel coat and cap, and to forge papers for myself as belonging to the Confederate army. I saw John Aiken, and he said he would get me a coat and cap. I then prepared the following furlough, which will explain itself, and which was destined to play a most desperate and important part in the success of my escape, although I did not know it when I wrote it :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.