is a member
ob de Church! Well! well! well! Why, look heah, my Men', when de rebs
was here only a few weeks ago--when dey was here, dat ole man got on
his white hoss, and took de seceshum flag, and rode, and rode, and
waved dat rebel flag and shouted, and more dan hollered for Jeff
Davis, and _now_ he Union man! He wants de Gineral to gib up dese here
colored people--_dat's what's de matter wid him_!"

In an hour after we arrived in camp, sure enough, the old Kidd and
other parties were there, expecting or hoping to get their darkeys
back; but General Steadman told them if the negroes _wished_ to
return, they could do so, but, if they chose rather to work for "UNCLE
SAM," why, his orders were to use them.

"Well, _Gineral_, you just tell my niggers that they can go home with
me," said Kidd.

"O! they can if they want to." So, out goes Kidd, smiling as a "basket
of chips."

"Boys, the Gineral says you can all go home _with me_."

"IF YOU WANT TO," was my addition _to his sentence_.

Not a negro stirred from the line. After a brief consultation, in an
under tone, at which Kidd, I noticed, was becoming very impatient,
Kidd broke the quietude by saying:

"Come on, boys--come, Jim."

Jim looked over to Bob and said: "Bob, what are you going to do?"

"Me! Ise gwine to stay for de UNION!"

Old man Kidd looked beaten. "Well, Jim, what will _you_ do?"

"O! I does what Bob does!"

_This same old Kidd_ had been in the habit of going over the country
enlisting recruits for the rebel service--telling them that he was an
old man, or he would go himself; that the old folks expected to be
taxed to take care of the soldiers' families; that if they wanted corn
or any thing from his mill, while they were in the army, to come and
get it. By such language he induced several men, who had only small
families, to enlist. One of them was indebted to Kidd about thirteen
dollars, and after he had been in the army a month or two, Kidd dunned
him for the old bill, remarking:

"Well, John, you're in the army now, gittin' your regular pay
now--guess you can pay that little bill now, can't you?"

CHAPTER V.

Cutting Down a Rebel's Reserved Timber -- Home again --
Loomis and his Coldwater Battery -- Secession Poetry --
Heavy Joke on an "Egyptian" Regiment.

Just after General Schofield took command of the Third Division, Roddy
Patterson, aided by a division of infantry, made his appearance near
our camp, and