Chapter VII: Part II (3)

"Look here, sojer--I dusent want any body in de sojer business to come in here; for d'oder day one of you sojer men--he cum'd in here, and he stole a testament from me--he did--a bran new one, too--and I don't like sich work--I don't!"

I told him I did not come to take anything from him.

"What did you cum for, den?"

"My dear sir," I replied, in a melo-dramatic tone, "I am a member of the press, and take an interest in your welfare."

"You is--you do? De press--wha-what press--de ex-press?"

"No--the printing press--for printing newspapers."

"Oh!--Is you a-gwine to print a paper? I tought you was a sojer!"

"And so I am, my friend; but I'm a printer also."

"Dus you make books like dis-a-one?" displaying a primer.

"Yes; I could print a book like that, or--a testament."

"Look here, sojer," he said, the remembrance of the loss he had sustained making him suspicious--"I tink you'm foolin' me. Now, sar, I dusent like to be fooled--I dusent!"

But I assured him I didn't want to fool him, and so pacified him that he became confidential, and told me his history. He was 'raised' in Plymouth, and had been taught to read by a nephew of his master's, who gave him lessons on Sundays, on the sly. None of his scholars had advanced beyond lessons in spelling, and most of them were in the alphabet. The girls seemed to make the most rapid progress; and two of these--named respectively Rosette and Melvina--could spell words of two syllables, after a tuition of only four weeks.

"Ise glad Ise free now--dat's so!" I one day heard a little curly-headed ebony urchin say to another. They had just been let out of school in Newbern. Struck by the oddity of the saying, I stopped and questioned the lad--

"Why are you glad you're free, my little fellow?"

"'Cause, sar, I can go to school, and learn to read; and den--"

"Well, what then?"

"Why, den de ole woman'll guv me heaps of sweet 'tater pies!"

When the Goldsboro expedition was about to start a requisition for thirty negroes was made upon Mr. Kimball. These, together with a like number from other camps, were to be used as auxiliaries to the pioneer corps. He called them together and stated that an expedition was going off, that Gen. Foster wanted thirty of them to go with it, and called for volunteers. Only six men stepped forward in answer to the call.

"What," said he, "only six! Is that all the men I have?"

When one of the delinquents stepped forward and asked--

"If we goes, Massa Kimball, will dey guv us guns?"

"Yes--you will have guns if you need them."

Upon this announcement they all came forward and offered to go, and he had no easy task to select the thirty men required from the eager crowd.

This was before Wild's brigade had an existence; but showed that the negroes had manhood enough to fight for their freedom--which they have since fully proved on many a bloody field.

* * * * *

My task is done--would I could think it well done; but as it is it must go forth, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, with 'all its imperfections on its head.' I might have made it better--but I did not. The world moves on rapidly--things get jumbled up strangely in these troublous times--and, I suppose, the minds of men get confused and jumbled up also, for sympathy is a law of nature;--life is short, and greater men than I have made mistakes; but no man who fights in the cause of mankind--of universal freedom--can greatly err in its advocacy. The soldier who braves the hardships and perils of the campaign and suffers in a good cause, holds that cause dearer the more he endures for it; and the remembrance of those scenes, filled with glowing and startling pictures, often serves to renew that patriotic fire which forever burns in a corner of his heart. The armies of the rebellion have been flanked--the Confederacy will also soon be flanked, and, like my book, must sooner or later come to an

END.

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Transcriber's Note:

_Underscores_ surround italicized text.

Obvious typographical errors were repaired, but valid archaic spellings were retained.

Handwritten "Thomas Kirwan" on title page was retained, although it is uncertain whether this is an actual author's signature.

Darkey (3) was standardized to the more frequent darky (6).

P. 124: "all the facts in his possession"--original omitted the word "facts."

End of Project Gutenberg's Soldiering in North Carolina, by Thomas Kirwan