Colonel Betts Interesting War Experiences
Narrow Escape #35
Ironton Register – July 14, 1887
Submitted by Peggy A. Wells
Our old friend, Colonel Betts, was sitting in an armchair in front of the Ironton Hotel, watching the sun go behind the Kentucky hills, its golden rays building along the horizon great resplendent castles and adorning the stretches of blue sky with the forms and fancies of youthful dreams when the Register man tapped him on the shoulder and called his poetic fancies back to the realities of life.
“Ah, Colonel!” said the reporter, “a glorious sunset, indeed, but let me call your thoughts back from dreams of even tide to the heroic memories of the war days —— a “Narrow Escape” from you.
“Oh no,” said the Colonel, “let me escape that. There are too many people living for me to venture on too racy a description of my experiences.”
“Modesty is a rare virtue for a soldier, Colonel.” Said the reporter, “but then the trumpet of fame much sound. Couldn’t you favor me with that little stampede on Cheat Mountain? That had a richness about that should not be allowed to escape.”
“I will tell you that, but you must draw it mild.”
“Alright, go ahead.”
“That was in the summer of 1861. My Regiment, the Guthrie Grays of Cincinnati, was sent to West Virginia and save that state and repel the invader who was coming in the person of Bobby Lee and several thousand rebs. We were on Cheat Mountain, and one day, our Company was sent down on the Elkwater to do picket duty. It was a lovely day in early Fall.
“It was before green corn and string beans had entirely faded from sight, for these things figure in the story. As you know, and every old soldier knows, on picket is a great time for a fellow to eat. Then he is hungry. He will eat anything he can lay his mouth on. Eating is the great and absorbing thought on the picket post. The attack of the rebs enters into the problem very little.”
“Well, that day, we were in the act of having something to eat – great feast, a rich and dainty feast, fit for a King. Sam Shattuck had shot a secesh hog, and the rest of our mess had gathered in some secesh corn and string beans, sat around, enjoyed the odor as it escaped from the pot, and floated in a teasing sort of manner all around our picket post.
“We enjoyed the flavor for a while but soon saw that the hog was an antiquated animal and wasn’t getting done as fast as our gloating anticipations would desire. So, it was arranged that we should all sleep in the adjacent shade while Sam Shattuck watched the pot and urged the cooking of the porker.
“So, Ben Terry, Jack Simmonds, and I went off to the shade of a big oak tree to nap. When the feast was ready, Sam was supposed to rouse us. We soon fell asleep. How long it lasted, I do not know. We were suddenly aroused by chaos, rushing at us vigorously and widely. He shook us up and most thoroughly awakened us by an exhibition of the most violent concern for our welfare.
“We thought the hog was done and the glad feast about to begin, for what else would cause the lively alarm with which we were aroused. We jumped from our slumber, and started ravenously, helter-skelter, heads over heels for the festival pot, Jack Simmons in the lead. But before we got there, Shattuck succeeded in making himself better understood, for looking up the road, we saw Lee’s advance guard right on us.
“Never was happiness so suddenly changed to despair, and never did a fellow about-face with greater rapidity than we. That flesh post lost its charms, and we swiftly abandoned it, taking the opposite direction as speedily as our legs could carry us. We never stopped till we got back into the center of the main body. Lee’s advance didn’t follow us. They caught sight of that steaming pot of unadulterated richness and stopped to devour it. That’s how we escaped.
“…. Months ran on. Our Regiment was sent to Tennessee to crush the Rebellion. One day, near McMinnville, I was put in charge of two reb prisoners: one staff officer and the other a private. That private and I got somewhat intimate, and we talked together.
“The funniest affair I experienced since I went into the army,” said the rebel prisoners, “was just at the beginning of the war, when I was in Lee’s army, the time he advanced on Cheat Mountain. I was with the advance, and one afternoon we struck a Yank picket post, where the boys had just got done and ready to eat a big kettle of fresh pork, corn, and beans. The yanks scampered in every direction, leaving their pot to out tender mercies. My, how we did enjoy that dinner! I don’t think I ever had such a feast!”
Colonel Betts gazed at his prisoner with amazement and scorn. He was about ready to run his bright bayonet through the fellow’s traitorous body. Still, he desisted and only said, in a trembling voice: “I could forgive you for attempting to tear down the flag and determine the pillars of the Union, but never while reason holds her throne, can I forgive you for eating my hog and beans.”
With this, the Colonel turned his gaze from the conscience-stricken reb and mused on the strange vicissitudes of life.
0 Comments