our wagon would go no further, and
once more we trudged along afoot.

At noon we stopped for dinner at a house belonging to one of the
"sand-hillers." This is the general name applied to the poor class of
whites at the South. They have no property of their own, and live in
small hovels, on the worst portions of the lands of the rich. Here
they lead an ignorant, lazy life, devoting most of their time to
hunting and fishing; only raising a little patch of corn to furnish
their bread. They are almost as completely owned by their landlords as
the slaves, and are compelled to vote as their masters choose. In the
social scale they are no higher than any slave, nor do they deserve to
be, for their intelligence is less. The term "sand-hiller," or
"clay-eater," is a terrible one of reproach, and is applied
unsparingly by the aristocrats. Of course, our entertainment here was
composed of rather rude fare, but we ate the half-ground and
half-baked corn bread, with the strong pork, and went on our way
rejoicing.

CHAPTER III.

Crossing the Mountains--Playing Hypocrite--Legend of Battle-Creek
Valley--Lodged with a Secessionist--Strategy--A Welcome but Fatal
Delay--Exaggerated Accounts of Shiloh--Prevented from Crossing the
Tennessee--In the Mountains Again--Amusing Rebel Story--To the River
Again--Perilous Crossing--Success--Chattanooga--On the Cars--Night--Arrive
at Marietta.

We were near the foot of the Cumberland Mountains, and addressed
ourselves to the task of crossing them. Just as we were mounting the
first spur, we fell in with a Confederate soldier, who was at home on
a furlough. He had been in a number of battles, and among others the
first Manassas, which he described very minutely to me. Little did he
think that I, too, had been there, as we laughed together at the wild
panic of the Yankees. He was greatly delighted to see so many
Kentuckians coming out on the right side, and contrasted our noble
conduct with that of some persons of his own neighborhood, who still
sympathized with the Abolitionists.

When we parted, he grasped my hand with tears in his eyes, and said he
hoped "the time would soon come when we would be comrades, fighting
side by side in one glorious cause." My heart revolted from the
hypocrisy I was compelled to use; but having commenced, there was no
possibility of turning back.

On we clambered up the mountain till the top was reached; then across
the summit, which was a tolerably leve