A conversation with Max Euliss, grandson of
John Euliss, about John's life during the war
John Romilius Euliss passed down many stories about his service in the Confederate army to his grandson, Max Euliss. Recently, Max was interviewed by one of his sons, William Euliss, to record Max's recollections for the family. We are pleased that the Euliss family has shared some of those conversations with us. This is the first portion of the interview; the rest will be included in the next issue of Cartersville Crossroads.
Max:John was looking after another teamster's team of mules, due to the teamster's absence. One day, General Daniels was holding an insepction of the teams when he came upon the mules John was attending. The General was so impressed at how well the mules looked that he wanted the person responsible sent to his tent.
John was told to report to the General's tent, not knowing the reason. He said he was scared to death; he just knew he had done something wrong and was in serious trouble.
When he got to the General's tent, he didn't know what to expect and General Daniels told him, he said, "I seen your care of the team. How would you like to come to work for me?" So, he did, he come and worked for him then and from then on, I guess 'till maybe the end of the war. It is my understanding that before that, he [John] was a wagoner. You know, hauling stuff, and I think that's the way it come up. Maybe he took this man's place that was killed or something.
William: What about the story that you told about them traveling on a train?
Max:Yeah, yeah. I figured that was maybe in the infantry. They was on a flat car, which was about all they had to ride on. They had the cooker and skillets and things on an old flat car and they stopped and got out and found a place and started a fire and got the skillets hot and the dough made up and the Yankees must have spotted 'em and they got to shelling 'em and they had to run with the skillets and the dough had got hot.
But they had to pick up and leave on the train, so they throwed all their skillets and cooking equipment on the flat car and they got on the thing and all of them hot skillets and stuff--I guess it was a wooden thing, the floor and all--anyhow, the air would get in that and fanned it and it set ablaze.
They had a fire. And he said they was going just as hard as they could go and that thing was a sight of blazes and I think it burnt it off. That was one incident.
The Second Part of this Conversation
