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Maryland State Archives Adam Goodheart Collection MSA SC 5826 msa_sc5826_3_1-0041 Enlarge and print image (888K) |
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Maryland State Archives Adam Goodheart Collection MSA SC 5826 msa_sc5826_3_1-0041 Enlarge and print image (888K) |
| msa_sc5826_3_l-0041 ©Maryland State Archives - 41 - Our march to Columbus was on foot, and in a very short time we averaged nearly thirty miles a day, but we were a single company of 65 men unencumbered with baggage or the movements of any body of men in front or rear, Tho' not the proper season for game, I kept our little mess of two, pretty well supplied, so that on our arrival in Columbus, when I asked Henrici our caterer and cook for his account, it was ridiculously small, and I should have felt well pleased, but for an incident that occurred on the road, which made me think he had sometimes obtained things without paying. One day having fallen behind the column in pursuit of game, and coining up rapidly near one of the many log cabins dotting the way, I saw in the middle of the road, just be- yond the cabin, what appeared to be a woman, on a man's back, and the most frantic yells issued from the party. As I approached, the apparition dissolved, and turned into a furious old woman carrying a churn into the house, and our man Henrici, striding towards Camp. He had stopped to buy a glass of buttermilk, which the old woman refused to sell or give, and to teaze her, he took the churn under his arm intending to return it, when the woman jumped on his back, and tried to choke him, and he walked off with both. How far she would have ridden this giant forager, had I not interfered, it is hard to say. My suspicions were further moved by recollecting I had disturbed him and the Hospital Steward in a fight with a sow who appeared to be defending her litter of pigs. My innocent mind had not then become accustomed to the usages of soldiers on a campaign, and I was shocked at the least appearance of aggression on other people's property. We were the first Troops to reach Columbus, and were pushed straight down into the Indian Country, for the ostensible purpose of guarding an important Ferry on the Chattahoochie, but in reality to protect the magnificent plantation of a wealthy citizen, whom I at once recognized as a negro-trader in Maryland for- merly, but who was, here a very influential citizen. |