swamp that night, and amidst all the firing there was not one hurt that I
ever heard of. After Cady and Masters jumped, the guard at the opposite
door was so watchful that Hock and Eastman could not get a chance to
escape.

Had I not promised to stay on board and take care of the baggage, I should
have taken the gun and followed Cady and Masters, which I think would more
than ever convince my reb friend that I was zealous in the performance of
military duty. I could see from my position in the door, dark objects
leaping from the car in front, followed by a streak of fire from the gun
of one of the guards, showing that the caps had not all been replaced with
pine plugs, though I was told afterwards that a number of caps had been
removed. I think the safest way, however, to prevent a gun going off, is
when you remove the cap, to insert a plug into the tube. We were a jolly
crowd that night, that passed through the swampy country between
Charleston and Columbia, for it was fun to see our comrades getting away,
and witness the frantic efforts of the guard to prevent them. Officers
were shouting to their men to shoot the d--n Yankees, and the guards were
doing their level best to obey orders.

But they had been deceived by the apparent submissiveness of the Yankees,
and as I heard the fellow say whose gun I had fixed, "I didn't think they
would do such a dog gone trick on me, when I'd used them so well." He
seemed to lose confidence in all but me, and was mad all through, to think
that the fellows he had treated like gentlemen should thus abuse his
confidence.

We could have easily captured the whole force and taken the train if we
had made an organized effort. But the great trouble was to get officers to
obey orders and follow instructions; all wanted to be bosses. I would
rather go into action with one regiment of enlisted men than with a whole
division of brigadiers.

This fact probably accounts for the rebs always keeping the officers and
enlisted men in separate prisons.

We arrived at Columbia October 6th, about 4 p. m., and were at once turned
into a field of about five acres, on a sort of side hill. We had not drawn
any rations during the day, and having had no opportunity to cook the raw
rations we brought from Charleston, or buy anything to eat on the road, we
were half starved.

There had been no preparation made for our coming, and the bakers were
obliged to fire up and bake bread to feed this unexpected