The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South
Alexander Kelly McClure, Ed.

“ [371] sort of a man is Dr. B.?” referring to a physician of the neighborhood. “Why, sir, he is a gentleman,” was the reply. “Oh, that don't signify anything,” said the pillager. “I'm a gentleman; I meant what is his politics?” Our neighbor, although badly frightened, could not help laughing at the pillager's opinion of what constituted a gentleman.

The Confederates were fierce in their pursuit of conscripts. All able-bodied men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, were held to military service, and those who did not enter voluntarily were caught, if possible, and put in. To prevent this the Union men, who had not left the country, used to hide out in the woods and mountains. A gentleman of my acquaintance, hearing that the conscript officers were to make a raid in his neighborhood on a certain night, went into the woods. It was pitch dark, and he wandered about until he came to a tree top. He crawled into that, and went to sleep. In the morning he found that the tree top was in the centre of the road by which the conscript officers would approach! The position was about the most dangerous he could have selected in the whole neighborhood. Two other men went far up the side of the mountain, built a fire, and went to sleep. The fire could be plainly seen from town, and the conscript officers went to it and bagged their men. Two others hid in a cave, and built a fire, feeling great security. The heat from the fire loosened the rocks above, which fell down, breaking a leg for each of the men. They crawled out, and gave themselves up, saying that they might as well go to war at once as to have their legs snapped off in that style.

I could write much of the humors of the war, but these few anecdotes will show to the reader that, horrible as war is, it has its comical and ridiculous features.