eady as wet as we
could be, it did not make much difference whether we were in the water or
on dry land.

We soon came upon some teams that were camped beside the road, being on
their way back from Walhalla to Cherokee County, North Carolina. There
were two rebel soldiers acting as guard for the teams, and the owner was a
Doctor Washburn, formerly from Livingston County, N. Y., as he informed
me. They were cooking their breakfast, but did not say anything about our
taking breakfast with them. They, however, directed us to the house of a
widow, a little farther on, where we could be accommodated. We stopped
there, and she got us up a nice breakfast of corn bread, sweet potatoes
and fried mutton, and I guess she thought by the way we eat that we had
not had anything before in some days, and did not know when we would get
anything again. This widow was quite bitter towards the Confederacy on
account of her son having been conscripted, and she left alone, with no
one to work her little farm or care for her children. She was too poor to
hire the work done, and was obliged to do all that was done towards
supporting herself and children; as her son's pay scarcely amounted to
enough to keep him in tobacco, and left nothing towards the support of his
mother and a family of small children. Having eaten and paid for our
breakfast, we waited for the teams to come along, and then we concluded to
travel with them, as it would give us the appearance of being all right,
if we should meet any soldiers on the road.

We soon made ourselves at home in their company and I found Dr. Washburn a
very kind-hearted gentleman, and I think that he more than half suspected
our true characters, though he did not pretend to doubt that we were
Confederate soldiers, belonging to the 32d Georgia. He offered to loan me
all the money I needed, which, as he was a perfect stranger, seemed to me
pretty good evidence that he knew I was an escaped prisoner and wanted to
help me to get home. He inquired whether there were any prisoners at
Columbia who were from Livingston County, N. Y., which he said was his
native place; and I said I didn't know where any of them were from, except
I had heard Captain Cady say that he was from Rochester, N. Y., but I did
not know what part of the North that was. I was more than once on the
point of revealing myself to him, and now believe that had I done so, he
would have assisted me. We traveled in company with them two days,