Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/185

 Johnston's Last Voll'.y. 177

Davis across the Mississippi river and carry on guerrilla warfare; make raids back across the river, in the spring visit our old stamp- ing-grounds, strew flowers on the graves of our fallen comrades, and gather supplies for a winter campaign and skirmish on the prairies of Texas with rifle artillery, and, if we have to, will cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, for the enemy shall never have the head of the Confederacy."

HAMPTON'S WORDS.

Mr. Sadler says this band, travelling in a direct line, would have crossed the Catawba river at Beatty's Ferry, but in the night they took the road to Beatty's Ford, which delayed them a day or two. They saw Wade Hampton in Yorkville, S. C. When they mounted their horses to go he was standing in the door of a broad granary and said: " May God speed and bless you on your errand, and my prayers are that you may be successful in your undertaking."

" We went on towards Washington," said Mr. Sadler, "and on the morning of May 3d, about 10 o'clock, were within three miles of the place. Men were going in every direction; some paroled, some were not, but each one was making for home. Everybody in- quired of everybody for news, and we were fairly well posted as to movements, etc., and from them we learned that President Davis had left Washington nearly two days before and gone in a southerly direction, and that the enemy came the previous day about 3 P. M. We turned into a woods, along a fence, into what seemed a swamp in wet weather. We fed our horses and ate something ourselves. We had gotten some paroles from the soldiers. Writing material was gotten out, and several men went to writing or copying paroles. Each man got one. General Wheeler took parole as Lieutenant Sharp of Company C, Eleventh Georgia. He was mounted on a spotted stud that was captured from General Kilpatrick near Fayette- ville, on the Cape Fear river, North Carolina.

"Then General Wheeler gave us a few parting words, in which he said that we no longer owed allegiance to the Confederacy; that we were free to go and shift for ourselves; that our cause for the present was lost. Look for the worst, but hope for the best.

"Then camp began to break up; probably one man would shake hands with a few chums, mount his horse and go, or probably six, eight or ten would go together. In my squad there were seventeen,

and, after we got away from camp, we held a counsel of war. We 12