AN INCIDENT OF THE CIVIL WAR 
The following incident was related to me by an old gentle¬ 
man, a veteran of the Confederate Army, who declared that 
he was influenced to enter the ministry by reason of an en¬ 
counter with a diamond-back rattlesnake during the Civil War 
days. It is not recalled definitely to what command he be¬ 
longed, but if our memory is not in error he was attached to 
the cavalry of General Joe Wheeler, that dashing and spec¬ 
tacular leader of the Southern cavalry, whose sudden and 
stinging blows against General Sherman in the vicinity of 
Augusta, Georgia (the city of his birth) caused that Northern 
leader to turn aside from the city rather than suffer the losses 
that Wheeler was inflicting upon his troops. 
My old Confederate friend had been assigned to perform 
some spy duty within the lines of General Sherman. He, to¬ 
gether with a companion, had been quite successful with their 
assignment, but had been detected and were forced to run for 
their lives. In the midst of a hail of bullets they entered a 
great river swamp, well in the lead of their closest pursuers. 
They reached the swamp unharmed, aside from having their 
clothing riddled with bullets. They penetrated deep into the 
swamp, which was practically surrounded by the enemy. Their 
hope of escape was practically reduced to nothing, but two 
factors happily combined to provide a ray of hope. Darkness 
would soon envelop them; then, too, the ground over which 
they were retreating from the scene was covered deeply with 
creeping vines, thus leaving no tracks for their pursuers to 
follow. 
Deep in the river swamp they found a great hollow cypress 
log. My old gentleman friend entered first with his com¬ 
panion close on his heels. As the former crawled farther into 
the hollow of the log, his ears caught the sound of the rattles 
of a big rattlesnake only a few feet beyond him. He paused 
and realized that he could not incur the risk of approaching 
any nearer. Just then his companion called to him, urging him 
to move on since his feet were still outside the log and sure 
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