Explore "Fighting Joe" by Oliver Optic on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE side door of the house opened into the hall, where Somers stood as sentinel for the hungry guerillas, and from which a flight of stairs led to the second floor. The prisoner had carefully noted all the surroundings, for he had learned from "Fighting Joe" that the battle was gained only by good strategy, which must depend upon a thorough knowledge of the ground.
When the precious plan of his captors was first developed, Somers regarded it as the means of his deliverance, though he could not then tell precisely in what manner it was to be accomplished. He knew that an important bridge on the railroad, not far from Colonel Roman's house, was guarded by a squad of cavalry, and he readily perceived that this force would be brought up by the planter for the protection of his family and the capture of the guerillas. These wretches were by no means an anomalous class on the flanks of Sherman's grand march to the sea; and Colonel Roman readily understood who and what they were. They were nominally southern partisans, organized, protected, and encouraged by the president of the Confederate States; but they were as willing to plunder one party in the strife as the other.