[CHAP. XLII.

cow I released them and promised to report him. I ordered the quartermaster in charge of the train to take possession of the beef, issue it to the men, and give receipts for it to the owner. Going out on this expedition we met loaded trains returning, in many of which it would have been difficult to determine from the contents of the wagon whether the object of their trip had been to obtain hogs, wagon whether the object of their trip had been to obtain hogs, sheep, chickens, and geese, or to load the wagon with corn.

To show how loosely business is frequently conducted, even by authorized quartermasters who are sent out with forage trains, I insert here a copy of a receipt given to John A. Heard (a Union man) for thirty acres of corn. This case is aggravated by the fact that the officer promised to leave Mr. Heard a few acres, in consideration of his loyalty, but afterward took all his corn and consoled him with the following voucher, which as you will observe neither acknowledges the amount taken nor the name of the party from whom taken. It is written at foot of an old pass:

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH DIVISION, FOURTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Chattanooga, October 7, 1863.

GUARDS:

Pass detail over the river.

By command of Major-General Reynolds:

C. O. HOWARD,

Captain and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

OCTOBER 9, 1863.

Pass the bearer to headquarters of this division to get papers for his corn.

JAMES T. CLARK,

Eighteenth Kentucky, and Acting Assistant Quartermaster, Third Brigade.

While Mr. H. was watching the depletion of his corn-field, some fellow attached to the train discovered his yoke of oxen and started with them over the ridge. Mr. H. did not know of his loss for some hours. On learning it he started in pursuit, and after traveling 8 or 10 miles overtook his cattle and brought them back.

A party with another train took six hogs from Burt Barker in same neighborhood, giving him following receipt for them. It does not state what was taken or what amount:

SEQUATCHIE VALLEY, October 10, 1863.

Taken from Burt Barker by the guards of forage train, First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps.

M. P. FOLLETT,

First Lieutenant, Q. M. Twenty-first Regt. Michigan Infty., In Command of Train.

Of course every forage or supply train that now makes its appearance in the valley, suggests to Mr. H., Mr. B., and many others, those assurances of deliverance and protection which the Federal army was to bring to the loyal and persecuted inhabitants of East Tennessee. I am satisfied from what officers and privates told me while on this expedition, that teamsters and guards of forage trains are often furnished with but one day's rations of meat, with the understanding that they will supply themselves on the road for the other three or five days they remain out. This of course might be well enough if officers were sent with them authorized to purchase or give vouchers for beef, and even then it might be difficult to furnish the fresh meat when wanted, without depriving a poor family of the cattle upon which they themselves rely for their winter sup-