| 'We took the train for Greenfield where we arrived at 1 p.m. Your grandpa and grandma Curry, and Bell were there with a wagon to meet us. When I cam to the place where I left them to go home, Bell asked here mother where I was going. When I told her I was going home she said, "Why, aint it our Marshall?" She thought that I belonged to their family. She was only three or four months old when we enlisted. When I got home I found that George had beaten me home. He was sick and left us at Goldsboro, and took shipping to New York, and was discharged before I was. So there were four of the original family together again. Uncle Tom had enlisted, and was guarding on the Baltimore and Ohio road when we passed. He was discharged and returned home soon after we did, and then there were three boys at home again, which was a great consolation to mother. But it was hard to see us come home without Sam. I enlisted as a private and was discharged as a First Lieutenant. It seemed so strange to be allowed to go and come as we pleased, without passes, that we hardly knew how to behave ourselves.' -- John Marshall Alley |
God bless our guys who'll likely see some action before the end of the day. I'm sure they'll have some stories to tell, too.