Chapter I I I Marriage brings romance first, which is more or less intense, according to the temperment of the contracting parties, and its continuance, and endurance, is largely governed by the situation, and opertunities of the victimes. In our case our opertunities were very limited. There was no wedding tour for us, save a few dinners at the houses of relatives, in the immediate neighborhood, which consumed about a week, and then to business. We both had much to lern and we lerned it in the hardest way possible. I had a crop already in, and of course my immediate attention was needed, and as my wife (girl wife I should say) had to take charge of the home, and do the things that had been done by an older head. I took an inventory of my indebtedness, and the assets that I had to meet it, and found that the former was in excess of the possibilities of the latter, but I was young and full of optimism, and I took hold with a detrimination to winn out in the end. Of course the inevitable happened, in a little over a year a boy was born unto us. That event was not expected so soon, but it did happen, and we had to accept and make the best of it. That would not have been so bad if the same thing had not happened again in a little over a year, when a little sister came to visit the brother, but as they were both very proper specimens of the human race, we concluded that it was about the proper thing to have one of each gender, we again accepted the responsibilities, and went forward in the line of duty. As before hinted this was the hardest year that this country had ever seen, but inspite of the financial straits of the country, I succeede{d} in getting out of debt, and laid up provisions for another year, so that I commenced the business of 1862 with bright prospects for the future. But I have learned several times, by bitter experience, that in this life one never knows what is before them. In life, as in nature, the day dawns bright, and balmy, but closes cold and stormy. Factional mutterings between the north and the south had at last culminated in actual war, and by the first of July, much blood had been spild, and it was evident that there was more to come. The first proposition was that none but the younger men would be called upon to go to war, and I had not felt it to be my duty to enlist, but a raid into our river town, which destroyed much property, called for a new suming up of the situation, which resulted in the conclussion for us farmers to go ahead, and raise produce to be carried of{f} by the gorrilas, to support the southern army. It was argued and conceeded by evry one, that it was the duty of evry able bodied man to keep the war on southern soil. The raid refered to was a band of gorrilas organized across the river in KY and led by one Adam Johnson. This band thogh insignificant in numbers, succeede{d} in surprising our river town, Newburgh, and besids carrying off much valuable property, captured a government hospital, and a lot of muskets, parolled the soldiers, and escaped across the river unharmed in any way. This raid had been planed by two citizens of the town who were running a sawmill in what was known as the Greenbriar hills, across the river, both of whom were killed by the citizens, one that evening, and the other the next day. This rade was worth a great deal to the government in recruiting new regiments for the army, under the calls of three hundred thousand more troops. The excitement caused by this rade was so great that more than the quoto for Ind{iana} and Ill{inois}was raised at once, and hurried across the river. Men with famalies now came forward, and offered their services. Some who were near the age limit for military duty were enlisted. I attended a meeting held near my home, not with any serious intention of enlisting, for I did not feel that the call ment me; for I did not think that the inniatory step that finally made me a soldier which I fully realized the next day. The influence that urged me on was most substle, and overpowering, which evry one who has gone through with it fully understand. Throgh its recruiting officers, the Government made very flattering offers to the recruits as to what privilegs would be granted in settling up ones business, and private affares, but in our case our immediate services were indispensable, but we would be allowed to return ion a short time, or as soon as we could subdue the armed forces across the river, which was still quite demonstrative, besids we were promised that the war would soon be over, as the new levy 300,000 when mustered in, would so discourage the rebels, that they would be willing to quit. We were assured that we would be at home in time to raise the next crop. While that clause that made our enlistment three years, or during the war, did not sound incouragingly, we construed that part of it as a kind of a scare crow, to be flaunted in the faces of the rebels. Suffice it to say that some never got home to fix up their business, and none under three months. As I have before stated, we were hurried into camp at Evansville and mustered as quickly as possible, and arms placed in our hands and in a few days we were hurried across the river, and in less than three weeks we were fighting the Gorrilas near Madisonville, some forty miles south of the Ohio river. There are two obligations that men may take upon themselves, that are considered very binding: one is civil and very solemn, to which onley two parties are imenible, the other is heroic and considered very patriotic. The government of ones country is the central figure, and has unlimited power to inforce its contracts, and demands. It is claimed, and it is true, that one owes alegiance to the government under which he lives, and it is suposed that that alegiance is paramount, to which all other alegiances are secondary. But where a man has married a loving wife, who has born for him of{f}springs, that he is in duty bound to suport and has obligations to family to care for. His obligation is solemn. Take the two propositions now, and weigh them, as the soldier had to do, and say where the line of duty begins, and where it ends. I think that this was the tightes{t} proposition that I ever had to meet, and I will at this late date confess that I have never been able to decide that matter satisfactorialy as it relates to my own case, but will admit that I may be a little selfish in my conclussions. To the man that makes up his mind to be a soldier from choice he is prepared to submit to the most streneous conditions, but to the man that goes out in the defense of his country, under stress of great National peril, he is quite prone to resent what he considers undue famaliarity with his personal priveleges. For instance, when the government insisted on striping us to the skin in order that some fop of a doctor might make a personal examination of evry part of our anatomy, we naturaly felt that we were being imposed upon, and we had no personal right that we could defend without orders from our superior officers. We did not as yet understand that it was our duty to obey orders, and ask no questions. Just think of John Doe, a respectable farmer, and unquestion{ed} athority on all import and questions that are paramount in a civilized community having to submit to the orders, and opinions of some young upstart, who had been luckey enough to be permitted to put on shoulderstraps, and command his superiors in age, and experience. When I realized that I was no longer J B Carter, farmer and a respectable citizen of the commonwealth of the state of Ind, I set about adjusting myself to the new environments, and made up my mind to make the best of evrything, and get all the good out of the new situation that individual effort could command. I soon learned that as compared with the majority of the men enlisted in the company, my ability, and qualifications were far above the average, and I concluded to take a noncommission, and get in line of promotion, and wait for opertunities to advance, and accordingly I was mustered in as 3{rd} duty sergeant, which kept me out of the rank and file of the company, and gave me a small degree of authority which in a short time increased beyon{d} my expectations. to be continued - Sandi SCKY Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=south-central-kentucky Barren Co Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=kybarren GGP: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/