son. Naturally, we scanned
them with great curiosity, and the boys soon began to joke and chaff
them in a perfectly good natured way. They took this silently, with no
other manifestation than an occasional dry grin. But finally, a rather
good looking young fellow cocked his eyes toward us and in a soft,
drawling tone called out, "You-all will sing a different tune by next
summah." Our boys responded to this with bursts of laughter and some
derisive whoops; but later we found out that the young Confederate
soldier was a true prophet.

Our halt at Cairo was brief; the boat soon cast off and proceeded up
the Ohio to the mouth of the Tennessee, and from thence up that river.
Some time the next day we passed Fort Henry. We had read of its capture
the month previous by the joint operations of our army and navy, and
were all curious to see this Confederate stronghold, where a mere
handful of men had put up such a plucky fight. My ideas of forts at
that time had all been drawn from pictures in books which depicted
old-time fortresses, and from descriptions in Scott's "Marmion" of
ancient feudal castles like "Tantallon strong," and the like. And when
we approached Fort Henry I fully expected to see some grand, imposing
structure with "battled towers," "donjon keep," "portcullis,"
"drawbridges," and what not, and perhaps some officer of high rank with
a drawn sword, strutting about on the ramparts and occasionally
shouting, at the top of his voice, "What, warder, ho!" or words to that
effect. But, to my utter amazement and disgust, when we steamed up
opposite Fort Henry I saw only a little squatty, insignificant looking
mud affair, without the slightest feature of any of the "pride, pomp,
and circumstance of glorious war." It had been built on the low bottom
ground near the bank of the Tennessee river, the stream was now high,
and the adjacent land was largely covered with water, while the inside
of the fort looked a good deal like a hog pen. I couldn't imagine how
such a contemptible looking thing had stood off our gunboats as long as
it did. But I did not know then that just such works, with earthen
walls, were the strongest and best defenses against modern artillery
that could be constructed. In fact, what I didn't know about war, at
that stage of the proceedings, was broad and comprehensive, and covered
the whole field.

As we journeyed up the Tennessee we began to notice queer-looking green
bunches of something on the tree