Brothers Bill and Daniel Cole, Confederate soldiers

William Richard “Bill” Cole and Daniel Francis Cole were uncles of my grandmother, Gertrude Elizabeth Thompson Croom (Mrs. William Cyrus Croom), of Sandy Bottom in Lenoir County.

Both Bill and Daniel lived in the eastern part of Coffee County near Douglas, GA. They were in the same company in the Confederate army.

One time one of them was running from some pursuing Yankee soldiers and hid in a hollow log. Shortly afterwards, one of the soldiers started to look in the log but saw that there was a spider’s web across the opening and didn’t look. (It’s an old story, but “it was told for the truth.”)

After the war ended, one of the brothers managed to come home. Nothing was heard of the other brother. One day, the brother who was home was sitting on the front steps with his sister Tabitha after they had finished the washing. In the distance they saw a thin, gaunt man in a uniform approaching. As he drew near, the brother looked closer and said, “I’ll eat the devil if that ain’t Cole!” They hurried to meet him and welcome him home.