The next day we all started across the mountain again, and we all thought we were on our way to Knoxville, but it seemed that these Union men wanted some satisfaction, for as soon as we got over into Sullivan county where all of the rebels lived, and who had been over so many times to capture them, they were bent on taking all of the home guards that they could and make them take the oath of allegiance to our government.
It seemed that the home of the old colonel of the home guards, or guerillas, was the first place that I came to. It was about eight o’clock at night. Here we found a double log block house and in the west end of this house sat the old colonel on the floor, playing with a young grandchild. There were five or six of our men at the door and several at the windows, and before we gave the old man any warning the men broke the door in and took the old man by surprise, but just as soon as the colonel got to his feet he had a gun in hand, that hung on a couple of pegs, and there were several other guns hanging around the house and standing in the corners. The old man struggled to avoid being taken, but at last submitted. The pleading on the part of his wife and daughter was pitiful and heart-rending, but in spite of their tears and pleadings we started in the direction of the mountain. We securely tied the old man’s hands behind him with a rope, and then tied another some ten feet long to that, and they had the Andersonville prisoner, as they chose to call me, lead the old man. He swore a good deal and was very surly about being led, but he had to go just the same. When we came to a piece of woods the scouts came to a halt and run the old man under a large low-limbed tree. The rope that was tied to his hands was untied and a noose placed around his neck. The rope was then thrown over a large limb and the rebel was commanded to say his prayers before they strung him up. Then it was that the old man knew his time was short. Well, to tell the truth, this made me feel sad and almost sick to see an enemy hung after taking him prisoner, although it was often done by the rebels to our men. As soon as the old man began to plead very hard they gave him his choice of either taking the oath of allegiance or dangle at the end of the rope, so he took the oath of allegiance. Then we all went to others of the home guards and got hold of a large number of them and made them all take the oath of allegiance to our government.