Well, now, since I have explained the cave, I must tell you that my stay in Carter county must have an end. So the report came that the rebel army had left Sullivan Station. This was on the railroad. They had retreated way beyond the lead mines and salt works. The time had come for us—myself and all of these Union boys—to leave for Knoxville, so we all started in the direction of the mountain trail. The night before we started the people all met at the house of one of the Union boys, and it was as sad a parting as I ever want to witness in my misspent life. I saw here mothers, fathers and sisters parting with each other, probably never to meet again. Oh, such a sad sight! Finally my time came to bid farewell to friends. It seemed in so short a time, only about three weeks, I had gained such an attachment with these people that it seemed as though I was parting with near and dear friends of longer acquaintance. When I came to Lieutenant Housley’s family it seemed I had to pass them by, for I had been at their table and had been treated very well by them. This is an incident that I will speak of later. Now when I came to bid Angeline, the daughter of Lieutenant Housley, good bye I could not do so without showing more than common feeling, for without thought I had learned to have a great deal of affection for this girl. When we left all these good people we did not think we would ever return—at least I never thought that I would see any of them again in this world of sin. We started for the mountain and as soon as we got to it it was said the lieutenant wanted two men to volunteer to go across the mountain, about nine miles, and find out for sure if the rebel army had gone from Sullivan Station. I stepped forward with a young fellow by the name of Rogen Anderson. The lieutenant told us where we would find one of our spies over the mountain near Sullivan Station. We started armed with a brace of good revolvers and a fine shooting revolving carbine. It was in the afternoon, and we were to be back by night if nothing prevented us. We started on our way and that night we arrived at a Union spy’s place. We intended to go back just as soon as we found out that the rebel army was gone, but the old man told us where there was a blue overcoat which he claimed was about two miles from where he was staying. So my friend Rogen and I thought we would go and see the man where the coat was. He was a Presbyterian minister. There was also a breech loading rifle here. We intended to get it if we could. The old pilot went as far as a small piece of woods and Rogen and I started in the direction of a large house that was about three-quarters of a mile away. When we got within about forty rods of the house, what was our surprise to see seven armed rebels come out of the east side and form a line, and on the back of the spokesman was the blue coat I have spoken of. This leader called to us to surrender. I did the talking,