steam necessary to run the train, the uses of the various parts of
the engine, and had actually had the handling of the locomotive much
of the way. When we reached Humboldt, where we took the Memphis and
Clarksville railroad for Paris and Bowling Green, the engineer,
Charles Little, refused to run the train on during the night, as he
was not well acquainted with the road, and thought it dangerous. In
addition, the head-light of the locomotive being out of order, and
the oil frozen, he could not make it burn, and he could not possibly
run without it. Colonel Williams grew angry, probably suspecting him
of Union sentiments, and of wishing to delay the train, cursed him
rather roundly, and at length told him he should run it under a
guard; adding, to the guard already on the engine, "If any accident
occurs, shoot the cursed Yankee." Little was a Northern man. Upon
the threat thus enforced, the engineer seemed to yield, and prepared
to start the train. As if having forgotten an important matter, he
said, hastily, "Oh, I must have some oil," and stepping down off the
locomotive, walked toward the engine-house. When he was about twenty
yards from the cars, the guard thought of their duty, and one of
them followed Little, and called upon him to halt; but in a moment
he was behind the machine-shop, and off in the dense woods, in the
deep darkness. The commotion soon brought the colonel and a crowd,
and while they were cursing each other all round, the firemen and
most of the brakemen slipped off, and here we were with no means of
getting ahead. All this time I had stood on the engine, rather
enjoying the _mêlée_, but taking no part in it, when Colonel
Williams, turning to me, said,

"Can not you run the engine?"

I replied, "No, sir."