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he run off a b-a-a-ing, and Aunt Agnes
she said, “There now, that will teach
you better than to chaw up folks’ straw
bonnets next time.”
There is a great many other things
about a sidetrack that I could write,
but I will close for this time. Pa says
if I will study hard I may ride on the
sidetrack when vacation comes. lam
a studying hard and I wish vacation
had come now.
The Jigger.
From Minty and the Cavalry, a pub
lication which has just been issued, we
make the following extract, which will
be appreciated by every one who has
roamed through the woods during the
summer, and been attacked by the fe
rocious jigger, or chigger, as he is
known in this southern country.
We will only add that the jigger,
during the war between the States, as
may be seen by this extract, showed a
very nice discrimination in letting the
southern soldier boys alone and attack
ing only the Yankees.
It would have been very hard on
the Confederates, if, in addition to hav
ing Sherman’s one hundred and ten
thousand soldiers popping away at
them with rifles, or banging away with
big Parrott guns, they should also have
had the jigger assaulting them on their
flanks or in their rear.
It took Sherman’s one hundred and
ten thousand men about one hundred
days to push Johnston’s less than six
ty thousand men from the neighbor
hood of Dalton to Atlanta. During
this time, both armies used every ex
ertion to improve each opportunity
which lay in their way as brave and
skillful men.
We had always been ata loss to un
derstand why it was that Sherman’s
progress was so slow; but now it is
explained. The northern soldiers were
so busy scratching jiggers that they
could neither march nor fight all the
time.
For instance, after the Confederates
evacuated Cassville and fell back south
of the Etowah river, there was no of
fensive movement of special note for
several days. The public at that time
supposed that Sherman was bringing
forward his supply trains and taking
time to organize his forces for the hot
work which awaited him south of the
river, but we have now found out that
the apparent halt was caused by the
Confederates turning loose the jiggers
upon them.
Just imagine General Sherman sit
ting down in his tent scratching jig
gers with both hands, cursing the mis
hap which had overtaken his army.
Imagine the wise and sedate Thomas,
frantically cailingjo the scholarly and
genial McPherson —“Here Mac., for
gracious sake,’ come and help me, by
scratching these jiggers that have nip
ped me right in the small of the
back!”—and then, the latter’s reply, as
he sat with his pantaloons rolled up
above his knees, with his fingers racing
up and down each limb, “I would be
mighty glad to help you, Tommy, but
the truth of the matter is, I am in need
of eleven more fingers myself, just at
this minute. Confound them jiggers!”
■imeehh
THE GREAT KENNESAW ROUTE GAZETTE.
Then imagine the division command
ers, the brigade commanders and every
private soldier clawung away for dear
life at the invisible jigger.
It was a scene worthy of the brush
of Michael Angelo, or some other big
fellow with a brush and pot of paint;
and then, how the Confederates must
have laughed with fiendish glee over
the fact that they had temporarily
checked the advance of Sherman’s en
tire army by throwing forward the in
visible columns of jiggers.
“Oh, you jigger! you jigger!” How
mighty were your works, and how po
tent were your efforts in behalf of the
Southern Confederacy. But for your
aid, we can imagine that the war would
have been over in less than a year,
and the soldier boys would have come
marching home three years sooner than
they did.
“Oh, you jigger! You jigger’” But
here is the thrilling recital of your
mighty deeds as told by one of the
sufferers :
“A still more dreaded ambush was
laid in the briers and thick under
growth of the more open country into
which the unsuspecting ‘Yank.,’ if
avoiding, in wise though saddened ex
perience, the deserted camp, the de
ceitful shelter and the umbrageous for
est, sought safety in the tangled brush
or grassy hillside; for there in serried
millions lurked the invisible jigger;
the less, but not the least of all the aids
to the rebellion. The jigger was an
original secessionist, bitter, determined,
and unrelenting in his attacks upon
the Union army. He must certainly
have belonged to the secret service
branch of the Confederacy; lying in
wait in unsuspected places, and with
fiendish malignity sought rather to
torture than to kill his enemy. His
' favorite mode of warfare was to get
upon his enemy when unable to resist,
and burrowing under the epidermis,
raising the skin in great flakes from
the flesh, thus flaying his victim alive.
He delighted more in skinning a Yan
kee than ever did the lordly slavehold
er in ‘walloping a nigger.’ Oh, you
jigger! You jigger! You were the
least, but still the worst of all the pro
ducts of rebeldom. Your hated mem
ory is enough and so your portrait is
omitted.”
Apropos of the jigger, an amusing
incident occurred recently at a picnic
party at Iceville, a charming and well
known picnic resort on the line of the
Western & Atlantic railroad, near the
Chattahoochee river bridge. As the
party was going down on the train the
conversation turned on “jiggers,” and
some time thereafter, when the pic
nickers had been enjoying themselves,
roving through the beautiful grove, a
lovely and innocent young Miss from the
Northwest, who was visiting one of At
lanta’s fair belles, a former school
mate, came running up to one of the
chaperones of the party, her face all
flushed with the gentle exercise, her
■ beautiful eyes bright with youth’s ex
citement, and exclaimed, “Oh!
Mrs. , I’ve been looking everywhere
for some jiggers! Where can I find
them ?” The lady, much amused, look
ing toward her husband, replied:
“You ask Rob., he knows all about
them.” Rob. was appealed to. He
answered, “You haven’t searched in i
the right place.” “But where must I
look?” quickly persisted the fair girl.
Rob., much amused, and with good
natured mischief dancing in his eyes,
replied : “The jigger has always been
considered as a wise and sagacious in"
sect, possessing fine discrimination in
his se’ection of the good things of life,
and when you go home to-night, be
fore retiring, if you don’t find any,
then the jigger is a bigger fool than I
take him to be, or have been led to be
lieve he was.”
The wiser and more experienced ones
of the party laughed heartily at this
sally, though the fair visitor was still
mystified, but it was said, later devel
opments proved the jigger was no fool.
The First Steamboat on the
Coosa wattee.
About 1870 the Oostanaula river,
from Rome up to east of the Western
A Atlantic railroad bridge at Resaca,
was opened for navigation by the
United States government, as also was
its principal southern tributary, the
Coosawattee —the latter from its junc
tion with the Connasauga, near Re
saca, to Carter’s Landing, about 40
miles eastward, immedately at the foot
of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The first steamboat that came up,
passed safely under the railroad bridge
and soon afterwards reached the Coos
awattee river, and proceeded towards
Carter’s Landing.
Within an hour or so, during the
forenoon, she arrived at Governor (now
Senator) Brown’s farm. A drove of
young mules seeing the new-comer
puffing and making other unusual
noises, as she came up the stream,
trotted down to the bluff to investi
gate. The engineer noticed them as
they stood shyly near the edge of the
bluff, pricking their ears, stretching
their necks forward, curiously, yet
somewhat timidly, looking at the boat
as it advanced towards them, and re
solved to have some fun. He gave a
long shrill blast with the whistle, and,
as quickly as a flash, the entire drove,
of nearly twenty, turned and darted
away. There was a rail fence about
twenty yards behind the bluff; but
they went right through this, scatter
in’! the rails in all directions, and stain
peded through the forest.
Not so, however, with a big bull
which was “lord of the brute creation”
on the farm. He had arrived at the
scene of action just as the mules left
it suddenly and precipitately. Hear
ing the sound of the whistle he set up
a counter bellow which amounted al
most to a roar. Coming to the brink
of the precipitous bluff, which is about
twenty-five feethigh, he glared fierce
ly at the boat, pawing the ground,
lashing his tail, tossing his head and
seeming determined to try conclus
ions with it.
The engineer gave another long
blast, but this only evoked a fresh
burst of defiance from the bull. See
ing that the monster was proceeding
up stream, he followed, roaring, paw
ing the ground and making every
demonstration of hostility and rage.
Within a short distance, however, he
arrived ata deep ditch, which had a
fence on the other side, which it was
impossible for him to cross. The
boat proceeded rapidly up stream, the
engineer tooting the whistle and the
bull standing on the edge of the preci
pice bellowing his wrathful challenge
at it. He remained until, as he con
sidered, it had fled from him, and then
came back into the field, shaking his
head, and showing other signs of un
appeased wrath.
An Amusing' Incident.
One of the train-hands on the West
ern A Atlantic railroad, whose mother
was, by the late advance of Sherman’s
forces on die line of the road, thrown
into the enemy’s lines, attempted, and
succeeded in paying a visit to the old
lady ; but on bis return, in passing
warily through the woods, he, at some
short distance before him, discovered
a stalwart Yankee with musket in
hand, who at once hailed him. Not
understanding what the Yankee said,
and not being armed to defend him
self from so formidable a foe, he “made
tracks,” that is, ran from the Yankee
as fast as his legs could carry him.
But Yankee was not to be outdone;
he, too, ran, pursuing our train-hand,
shouting at the top of his voice for him
to stop —but, “nary stop” did our fly
ing friend make, until “Yank” had
fairly run him down. (These Yanks
can run much faster than our boys.)
Terrified, he begged for his life. But
what was his surprise, when the Yan
kee told him to take his musket, and
lead him, as a deserter, into the Con
federate lines —that he was tired of
the war, and wished to surrender to.
the rebels. He was, therefore, march
ed into our lines at Big Shanty, where,
while “train-hand” was proudly nar
rating in the parlor of the hotel there,
the gallant feat he had performed in
bringing in the deserting prisoner,
“Yank” was amusing a number of per
sons in front of the house, with his ac
count of the capture and surrender,
which caused no little merriment at
the expense of our adventurous train
hand, who is still, we are told, not a lit
tle sore at his singular adventure,
though, perhaps, pleased at not being a
prisoner himself. — Atlanta Intelligencer >
June 14,1864.
From the Atlanta Intelligencer, April 27,
1864.
Female Yankee Surgeon.
Dr. Mary E. Walker, assistant
surgeon in the Yankee army of Ten
nessee, captured, a few days ago, near
Tunnel Hill, was received in this city
last evening, and was committed to
the female department of Castle Thun
der. She was dressed in male attire,
except a Gypsy bat, and wore a hand
some talma. As she passed down the
streets to the Castle, in charge of a de
tective, the odd figure she cut attracted
a great crowd of negroes and boys,
who beset her path to such a degree
as to much obstruct her progress. She
was very indignant at being taken
prisoner, protesting that at the time
of her capture she was on neutral
ground. Richmond, Dispatch.
The Kenesaw Route is the only first
class and reliable route to Chattanooga
from this place. Only line running
through cars to Memphis, Little Rock ;
connecting closely with trains for Ar
kansas and Texas points. Only Line
running sleeping cars from Atlanta to
Nashville, St. Louis and Chicago.
The Kennesaw route is the shortest.
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