"'Yes, Ham, I see. Well, it is all right. You stay with the headquarters and take care of my traps, and I will not ask you to take command of my troops in time of battle.'
"Ham laughed one of his peculiar guffaws.
"'Yah! yah! Massa Tom. I speck dat is de bes' way. Doz you want sumfin to eat? Got plenty of chicken. Dey git skeered at de fitin', and jes'
cum rite to de camp, sah. Yes, sah, dey am 'fraid of de Sesh, dey is; dey know der friends, dese chickens do.'
"The General laughed, saying, 'Ham, are you quite sure they came into camp alone?'
"'Well, sah, dey got in heah some way. I not fotched dem in. De fuss I seed dem, dey in de corner ob de tent all scrouched up, so I spose dey hidin' from de Sesh, and I jes' took 'em in to sabe dem. Yes, sah; dat's de way it war.'
"Ham retired behind a tent, and laughed immoderately, saying 'I spect he not keer bery much; I feels my way pretty good, I does.'
"The troops rested during the night, and next morning there were no rebels in sight, and they were ordered into camp, and no further pursuit of the enemy contemplated by the commanding General. They, however, were soon required in another direction, for the purpose of protecting the Capital of the Nation. Gen. Anderson's old wound re-opened, which caused him to turn over his splendid command. At the suggestion of his surgeon, he with his two Aides-de-camp and old Ham, returned to Allentown until such time as he could again recover sufficiently to perform his duty.
The President hearing of his skill in maneuvering troops, and his gallant conduct on the battlefield, at once promoted him to be a Major-General.
"Their return home, of course, made our family very happy again--only marred by the continued severe illness of Dr. James. He had lingered for months, sometimes improving, and then again suffering severely. He seemed to revive and gain strength on the return of his friends. Capt.
Day took up his abode at Young's Hotel, and Capt. Jackson remained at home with us. Peter returned in a few days, his foot being in a very bad condition, he fearing that an amputation might become necessary without great care and immediate rest. Thus our family were once more partly together, and although some were suffering greatly, we enjoyed the recital of the battle of Antler's Run, by both Capt. Jackson and the General The story of his lying on the bed and hearing the suggestions of a conspiracy by the superior officers of the Army of the East, caused me serious reflection. The details of this conversation he gave me in confidence, having never revealed it even to his staff officers. I at once repaired to the Capital, and saw the President and Secretary of War, and stated to them the whole of the conversation and the proposed scheme. They were almost dumbfounded. The President thanked me saying:
"'I have now declared the slaves free. We will see what we will see.'
"He then remarked:
"'I have my eye on the man the Lord I think is raising up in order to complete the work we have begun. These men must be held in our hands until the right time arrives;' which he thought would not be very long.
"The Secretary of War was not so mild. Under a promise that I would still prosecute my inquiries further into Canada and elsewhere I left for home. On my arrival I found the Doctor much worse, and the family greatly distressed. He lingered but a few days and passed away. You can see our household was again in deep gloom. I will not speak of our grief. We were a sorely stricken family."
CHAPTER X.
BATTLE OF MURPHY'S HILL.-THE MOST SANGUINARY FIGHTING OF THE WAR.---MURDER OF STEPHEN LYON.--UNCLE HAM GETS A STRONG DISLIKE TO WAR.
Generals 'gainst Generals grapple gracious God, How honors Heaven heroic hardihood!
Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill, Kindred kill kinsmen, kinsmen kindred kill, Labor laid levels, longest, loftiest lines; Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid molts, 'mid murderous mines, --FINLEY
"After the lapse of considerable time Gen. Anderson whether or not he had recovered sufficiently to again take the field. His staff officers and his wife were protesting that his strength was not sufficient.
"I said: 'Well, we will consider this matter at another time.'
"Aunt Martha called us; we all walked in and sat down to tea, Capt. Day with us, having been with Gen. Anderson almost daily since his return.
While at the table my wife spoke of the absence of Stephen and Peter, wishing them with us, and again alluded to her dream, saying that she had dreamed it all over again last night, and that she thought there must be some kind of a warning to her in it.
"Just at this moment I discovered old Ham standing in the corner very much absorbed in counting his fingers. He seemed to be considerably bothered, however, in making up the proper count. Aunt Sarah discovered him, and said:
"'Ham, what are you doing?
"'Ham saw that his manner caused my wife (Aunt Sarah) to be disturbed, and the old fox (for he was very sly) said: "'es, missus, I's--I's jes'
seein'w many is here, and how many dey is wid de oder boys what goed away, so dat I know how many you is when you'uns is all togedder. I tell you, dis am a big family--dat's all.'
"Old Martha, who was attending the table, spoke to Ham in her usual way, saying:
"Ham, you jes' git out, you ole fool; go to de kitchen, whar you belongs.'
"When Ham left we finished our tea, but Aunt Sarah showed plainly that she was very much troubled. She soon retired for the night, and the rest of us conversed about the situation and Gen. Anderson's condition; he claiming that he was strong, the rest of us to the contrary. We concluded to settle it for the present by visiting the farm the next morning, which e did, taking Ham with us as driver of our wagon. When we arrived Joseph Dent invited us all into his house, and while making inquiries of him as to his health, the condition of his stock, etc., a man came to the gate and called for him. When he returned he said that this man was notifying him that he must come to a meeting that night of the Golden Circle; that the Circle had some very important business on hand. We encouraged him to go, and to report to us at Allentown the next morning. Bent consented, saying that the Circle had been exceedingly active; that an agent had been there from Canada and had required them to make a selection of agents of their Circle to be ready to do some particular work, which would be explained at the proper time. He also gave us the names of two men, one of whom resided in Allentown. This caused us to think seriously about the danger that we might be in, as men coming from Canada might discover us in some way and afterwards recognize any of us who should be in that country prying into their designs. We left for home, and on the way noticed that Ham was unusually quiet, but watchful. Finally, he concluded that it was his time to speak, and turn ing to Gen. Anderson, said:
"'Mssa Gen'l, did you see dat man out at de barn, sir?'
"'No,' said the General.
"'Well, sah! dat was the wussest lookin' Sesh I eber did see. He war lyin' in de hay, and when he look at me I lef; yes, sah, I lef. Somefin wrong dar, sah. You better ax Massa Joseph, when he be down to de house, 'bout dat.'
"We satisfied Ham by agreeing to find out on the next day; so we came home, and were sitting on my portico talking about what was best to do, when the General received a dispatch from Washington, stating that Gen. Rosenfelt, commanding the Army of the Center, had asked for Gen.
Anderson to be assigned to him, which would be done whenever he was well enough to take the field. The General was somewhat disappointed, as he wished to return to the Army of the East, for reasons that you can understand from what occurred in his hearing while at Gen. McGregor's headquarters. He was a true soldier, however, and said not a word, but promptly telegraphed, thanking them for the assignment, and saying he would report very soon. He felt that he would be able to attend to duty without very great danger to himself; so he directed Capt. Jackson, as we now called him, to get ready, also Capt. Day, who had come in a few moments after the receipt of the telegram. The young men seemed particularly well pleased. Capt. Jackson felt that he would be with Peter and Stephen. Stephen had been promoted and was now a Brigadier-General. So all seemed pleased, though I knew how Gen.
Anderson felt.
"The General sent a telegram to Gen. Rosenfelt, who was then encamped between Nashua and Stone Run, Tenn., informing him that he would start for his headquarters in about two days. He did not get away, however, as soon as he stated.
"The next day Joseph Dent came, and was greatly delighted at something.
So we gave him a seat and cleared the decks, as you must know that these secret matters about how information was obtained of which we were coming in possession, other than in the ordinary course of things, was not told to the whole household. Before proceeding, however, we asked him to tell us who was in the barn at the farm the day before, that had so alarmed Ham. He laughed and said it was his partner; so we dropped further inquiry, but did not tell Ham.
"Joseph Dent said he attended the Circle the night before, as he had promised, and that they were in great trouble. They had been advised that the agents would not be needed for the present; that some scheme that was on foot had been postponed, and that a consultation was to be held in order to come to an understanding as to what course was to be pursued. He said a man who was a stranger to him stated that two of their principal men who were to carry out the scheme (whatever it might be) had been sent to Europe, and that this left them in a condition so that they could not proceed until they could work up their plan; that their plan or scheme was being matured by the men, who were to obtain their material in England; that it could not be done here without suspicion being aroused. This, he said, was all that was said or done.
So you see, this meeting evidently had reference to some desperate undertaking, of which their leaders in Indiana seemed to be posted as to the fact that something was to be done, without knowing the details.
This proved to us that they had communication one lodge with another all over the country, and also with the heads of the conspiracy, and therefore we would have to take every precaution in all of our movements; but as we acted only through persons that we could trust with our lives, we considered the matter comparatively safe, and were very sure that we would be able to post the President at all times as to what might be danger in the way of our success.
"The next day, when the family were informed that the General, Capt.
Jackson and Capt. Day must leave us, our house again became a scene of distress. My wife cried all day long. Mary Anderson was nearer breaking down than I had ever seen her since we heard that the General (then a Colonel) was killed at Dolensburg. Jennie also nearly gave way. The two children begged them most piteously not to go away to fight (as they termed it) any more.
"Ham seemed rather serious, and did not relish the renewal of his acquaintance with the Sesh, The next morning, all matters being arranged, the General and his two aides, with old Ham, after taking leave of all the family, left. The scene that followed in my household I will not attempt to describe. Ham lingered a little behind, but finally he embraced Aunt Martha, and said:
"'Good-by, Marfa; I guess I'se a gone darky dis time. I tell you I do not like de dream what I had.'
"'Go long, you ole fool; dreams 'mount to nuffin. You eats too much cabbage las' night. Dats all what ails you. Dar's no danger you git kill. You jes' go long wid Massa Tom. Dat's what you do.' "'All right, Marfa, I do it. Good-by.'
"They arrived at Gen. Rosenfelt's headquarters (which were with his army) and reported. Gen. Rosenfelt was very glad to see the General, and told him that he would assign him to the command of a first-class division under Gen. Papson, his army then being divided into three full corps, commanded respectively by Papson, Gen. Critsinger and Gen.
McCabe. His army numbered, embracing all arms of the service, some 56,000 effective men, and was well supplied with all necessary material for any kind of movement.
"On the next morning Gen. Anderson was assigned to the command of such a division as mentioned. He was well pleased with his corps commander, who was a fine-looking man of middle age, very quiet and unostentatious. The whole army seemed to be in splendid condition for a campaign. On looking through his division that day he found Stephen Lyon in command of his Third brigade, and Peter in command of one of Stephen's regiments. This delighted the General, and he quickly said to Capt. Jackson:
"'Gen. Rosenfelt and Gen. Papson both being old friends of Uncle Daniel, I suspect one of his letters might be found amongst the papers of both Rosenfelt and Papson.' "'Capt. Jackson laughed and said:
"'Well, father has nothing else to do except to keep the President posted and look after his children, which he faithfully does.'
"'Yes,' said Gen. Anderson; 'he does his duty in all respects.'
"That afternoon Gen. Stephen Lyon and Col. Peter Lyon (being their respective rank at that time) visited Gen. Anderson's headquarters, and of course enjoyed themselves, each thanking the good fortune that had brought them together. They discussed the situation, and Stephen was decidedly of the opinion that unless we advanced at once and gave battle that the enemy would do so, and the position we occupied not being a favorable one for defense, he thought we could force a battle where our position would be better.
"The enemy at this time were also in good condition, and were commanded by Gen. Biggs, with three full corps, commanded respectively by Gen.
Polkhorn, Gen. Chatham and Gen. Harding. Biggs's command was disposed as follows: Polkhorn's corps and three brigades of Harding's were at Murphy's Hill; the remainder of Harding's corps to the southwest some twenty miles, forming the left flank; the remainder of Biggs's army lay some twenty miles to the south and east; on and in advance of his extreme left was one division on the Nashua and Franktown road. In this position lay the rebel army, in easy supporting distance to the center and main line, it having been selected by Biggs as a good position on which to make his stand against.our forces, his outposts being ordered to fall back should our forces advance. The position was a good one, as it forced our army to cross Stone Run in his front in any direction that our troops might approach him.