Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: FOUR YEARS A SCOUT AND SPY. CHAPTER I. Parentage?Early discipline ? Childhood incidents?Subsequent occupations?Driven from Mississippi?Works on rebel fortifications?Escape to Illinois?Enlists as a soldier?Supposed to have deserted?How he got his name?Examination by the Surgeon?Koster of the Regiment. I Was born in the town of Copley, in what is now known as Summit County, Ohio, on the 17th day of June, 1823, and at the time that I entered the army I was thirty-nine years of age. My father's name was Alfred Ruggles. At the time of his death he was living with his second wife. His family numbered twelve sons and seven daughters. I am the youngest of seven children by my father's second wife. My father was a blacksmith by trade, and all of his sons, except myself, were learned the trade, under his personal instruction. Lorenzo Ruggles, my father's second son by his first wife, after having finished his trade, was sent to college and educated. He is the General Ruggles of the Confederate army. When I was ten years of age my father died, leaving a large farm disposed of by a will. The children went to law, and spent the entire property in breaking the will and settling the estate. In consequence of that I was thrown upon my own labor for my support at a very early age. My father was an old-fashioned strict disciplinarian; in the government of his family "he ruled with an iron hand." His government was not only rigid but chilling. The deviation of a hair from the paternal command was usually followed by a whipping, and sometimes one was administered without proper investigation. People often ask me, " What is the essential qualification of a good spy ? " My answer is, " It requires an accomplished liar" I mean by that, a man that can successfully practice deception...