Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-22
ALMOST A PRISONER.


A Scrap OF UnWriften HIstOry-HeW |
Near Grant Came beaEs< Capau-sA.
A correspondent of the Cincin-
natl Times narrates the following in.
eident of the late war;
In the summer of 1866, business
Of an important character called me
to Louisa, KY, a small county town,
located some thirty miles up the Big
Sandy river On arriving there /
presented to Col. Mimms, the COM
mander of the place, my recon-
mendations, which were of such
character as to cause me to be placed
in one of the incest rooms in the
only hotel of the burg, which was
also the headquarters of all officers.
One day noticed Col Mimms talk
ing with an officer of the Rebel army
who had come in and given himself
up. Mimms, seeing me, called me
up and introduced the stranger as
Gen. Horns, lately in command of
Jenkins famous Virginia Cavalry.
A few minutes conversation was
enough to recall quite number of
battles in which we had been mutu
ally engaged, though with our faces
turned toward each other. Learning
that he was without accommodations
cordially invited him to share my
room with me, an invitation that he
was not slow in accepting, as his
quiet demeanor and natural modesty
led him to avoid being an object of
curiosity for the many blue coats
who had never had the pleasure of
seeinga " Johnny" before. After
arriving in my room and drinking
several glasses of water { p together,
we again sat down and recalled our
hardships and efforts in behalf of
our respective causes.
After musing for a moment to
himself, the General looked up and
said, Il came very near giving this
war a different termination" Such
| an assertion from a man whom /
knew of few words, excited my
greatest curiosity, and | told him
| that q rehearsal of that important
affair would be peculiarly interest
ing; and, to show that l was not
far out of the way, have concluded
to give, as nearly as possible, his
own version of the matter:
| "You remember in the latter part
of 1868, after Grant had knocked
daylight out of Bragg's army by
capturing Lookout Mountain, for
which he was promoted to a Lieu
tenant Genaralship, he took tour
of inspection through East Tennes
see. At this time was with my old
command in that section of country,
and early one morning l started my
men off on long march, remaining
behind short time to arrange some
of my private papers.
ain a few moments / heard
horsemen coming up the road, and
to avoid being seen / stepped into q
| AcANy buiCktb, anu hau OdRCAJ NOAO
so when q Union officer wearing a
Major Generals uniform, accompa-
MED by three or four orderlies, came
riding past Being alone, ofcourse
could not do anything, and before
/ could have had time to have
reached my command and returned,
the officer would have reached the
Union camp, which was only about
three quarters of q mile from where
l was. Thus the game slipped
through my hands, and / soon after
ward learned that the officer was
Grant"
The recital was enough. l agreed
with him, and the query naturally
passed my mind as to what would
have been the result if Gen. Grant
had been captured, and l was pre-
vented from having fitof mysteries
by remembering that we still had
| Sherman, Thomas and Sheri dan
I