Blackshear, Ga.
— In with the same men whom I deserted on the cars. We are near the Florida
line. Was put in a passenger train at Doctortown and rode in style to this
place. On the train were two more Yanks named David and Eli S. Buck, who are
Michigan men. They were runaways who had been out in the woods nearly three
months and were in sight of our gunboats when recaptured. Belong to the 6th
Michigan Cavalry. David Buck was one of Kilpatrick's scouts; a very smart and
brave fellow, understands living in the woods, and thoroughly posted. We have
mutually agreed to get away the first chance, and shall get to our lines. David
Buck used to attend school at Leoni, Mich., and was educated for a preacher.
They are cousins. We three Yankees were quite a curiosity to the passengers on
the train that brought us to this place. Some of them had evidently never seen
a Yankee before, and we were stared at for all we were worth. Some smarties
were anxious to argue the point with us in a rather “we have got you” style.
David Buck is a good talker, and satisfactorily held up our end of the war
question; in fact, I thought talked them all out on their own grounds. The
ladies in particular sneered and stared at us. Occasionally we saw some faces
which looked as if they were Union, and we often got a kind word from some of
them. The railroads are in a broken down condition, out of decent repair, and
trains run very slow. The Confederacy is most assuredly hard up, and will go to
pieces some of these days. My out door life of the few days I roamed through
the woods, was just jolly. Being out from under rebel guard made me the
happiest chap imaginable. Knew that I couldn't escape to our lines, as I was
not able to travel much, and my sole business was to remain a tramp as long as
possible, and to get enough to eat, which I did The negroes, and especially the
field hands, are all Union darkys, and fed me all I wanted as a general thing. Made
a mistake in going to the house of a white woman for food.
SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p.
130-1
