Nabb Research Center General Resources - People & Cultures

Brother Against Brother

Civil War - Army Deserter - John Long
From the Salisbury Wicomico News, 27 May 1920

. . . This story brought vividly to my mind a similar case which occurred in Salisbury during the Civil War, only that the man instead of being a deserter from the Union Army was a strong Southern sympathizer and had incurred the displeasure of the "Yankees" that a price was set upon his head. He, like the Ohio man, lived in a cave near Salisbury and for nearly four years eluded the "Yankees."

This man's name was John Long, who long since has passed to the silent majority.

Well do I remember when but a boy I heard "Uncle John" recount the thrilling experiences through which he passed in those stormy days of the Civil War. Having made up his mind that he would not obey the call of his country to duty, his chief thought was to find some place where he could hide until the "unpleasantness," as he termed it, "had blown over." So he finally decided on living in caves and set about to building two or three somewhere along the edge of Polk's Pond, between the dam and Middle Neck Bridge. These caves were roomy, finished inside with lumber, and had pleasant bunks to sleep in. Portholes enabled Long to scan the ground in every direction for soldiers who were constantly on the search for him. Hundreds of times, he said, the soldiers were within a few feet of his hiding place, but by good luck he escaped.

During these years Long was supplied with food by friends who visited the cave at night, and occasionally he would disguise himself and go home for something to replenish his larder.

His narrative of thrilling escapes while on some of his night prowlings will never be forgotten by the Man About Town.

Disguised, he frequently visited the liquor saloon of "Old Man Hawkins" which stood on East Camden Street, about where the big brick garage of D.W. Perdue & Co., now stands. Here the friends of the north and of the south often met and many a wordy conflict finally terminated in a "knock down and drag out" fight.

It was on just such an occasion as this that Long became involved in a difficulty with several Federal soldiers. Disguised as a Negro woman, Long, who was a powerful man weighing about 240 pounds, drifted into the Hawkins saloon. It was not long before a fight started and Long struck several of the soldiers, one in particular being an officer who fell to the floor like a dead man. After a great deal of work on the soldier he was finally revived averring that he had been struck many a time but never so hard as that Negro woman struck him.

Uncle John usual to tell this story as well as many other of a similar character-- and chuckle about the manner he eluded the "Yankees."