The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-07-29
DEATH OF GEN. zoLLIcaFFER.
Circumstances Attending IL .-.Statc-
Inent Of q Prominent Actor In the
AHafr

DEATH OF GEN. ZOLLIC0FFER.
Circumstances Attending IL state |
ment Of u Prominent Actor In the
Affair.
The fanciful story about the young
soldier who went crazy out of remorse
for having killed Gen. Zollicoffer,
when lac might have captured him,
has revived interest in the circumstan-
ces attending the death Of that distin-
guished gentleman, AS the name OF
Gen. Fry, now Internal Revenue Su-
pcrvisor of Kentucky, and at the bat
lie of Mill Springs, or Fishing Creek,
where Gen. Zollicoffer was killed, in
command of the Fourth regiment of
kentucky infantry, has been promi-
ncntly connected with this affair, we
took occasion to call upon him during
visit he made to the city few days
ago, and get from Lin the facts in
relation to it. General Fry, who il
one of the most modest and unassum-
ing gentlemen in the world, has no
disposition to claim any merit for the
part he played i'm casualty of the war
in which he was merely discbarging
his duty. 1t was with some difficulty
that we induced him to enter upon
the subject at all, knowing as he did
that we wanted to publish his state
ment, but we finally prevailed on him
to crafty us and our readers. All
who know General Fry will accept
his statement as conclusive of what
ever nc gives as within his personal
knowledge. His account of the oc-
currcncc is as follows, word for word,
as we are able 10 reproduce what he
said:
Just before this occurrence took
place, l was on the extreme right of
my regiment, the Fourth Kentucky
infantry, on horseback, near the fence
on the north side of the old Logan
field, JUST in the edge of the woods.
1t will be recollected by these who
were present, that once or twice du-
ring the battle the fire ceased for q
short time. During one of these in
tcrvals L turned around and rode to-
ward the road which ran parallel
with the fence, approaching it at right
angles. just before reaching the road,
| saw an officer on horseback slowly
riding down toward me from the di-
rection of the Confederate lines. His
uniform being entirely concealed by
awhile gum overcoat, and there be-
ing nothing by which l could distin-
guish him as q Confederate, I, of
course, came to the conclusion that he
was Federal officer.
This conviction was for awhile
strengthened by his near approach to
the Federal lines, and also by the
manner in which he approached me.
lido not see how he could have been
deceived as to who L was-I mean as
TO whether was Federal or Confed-
crate officer, for L had on nothing to
TO conceal my uniform.
He reached the spot at which en-
tered the road just as did, our hors-
cs' heads coming very near together.
turned my horse little TO the right,
so that we sat side by side, being so
near to each other that our knees
touched. / did not at that moment
see any Confederate soldiers near us,
which was an additional reason for
believing that he was a Federal Off
GER. 1t is proper here to state that
there were number of Federal Off
GERS i'm our army, who arrived during
3nd just after the battle, whom had
never seen, and L supposed one of
them had been sent to The front to as
certain the condition of affairs, and
was returning. -
Cd" As we met he said to me, awe
must not shoot our own men," To
which / replied, 81 would not, of
course, do SO Intentionally" He then
pointed over to our left, toward some
men standing in the woods, but whom
1 could Lot see from my then position,
and said, "Those are our men," !
Immediately turned my horse and
rode off down the road toward the
right of my regiment; and after NOV
ing some fifteen or twenty PAGES, /
stopped, turning about half around,
with my left side toward him, to see
what was going OH. The first thing
which attracted my attention was an
other officer coming out into the road
from behind large oak tree, who
riding up in close proximity 10 the
officer with whom l had met and con-
yersed, fired at me, missing me, how
ever, and hitting my horse just above
the left thigh bone, causing a flesh
wound.
/ Immediately drew my pistol with
view of paying my best respects to
this officer, but was prevented from
doing so by his making good his es-
cape and taking refuge behind his oak
tree. Then, and not till then, did the
thought flash through my mind that
the officer whom / had met was q
Confederate. / also feel assured that
he had attempted to deceive me i'm
regard to this position and finding l
could not return the compliment of
my friend who had taken such pains
to take my life, at once determined
to try my hand Oh the other. He was
standing precisely in the position i'm
which had left him, with his face
toward me. He seemed not to have
moved foot. lraised my pistol and
fired. His horse turned and he fell,
within five feet of where he had stood,
upon the right of the road and at right
angles to il.
The surgeon who examined the
wound informed me that the ball by
which it was inflicted was mimic
ball. 1 had cleaned and loaded my
pistols (navy revolvers) with mimic
balls the previous morning. lie also
informed me that the wound was in
the left breast, passing through the
top of the heart.
1t is not true that / galloped down
the road toward this officer. My
horse was not in a gallop that day. /
had very little occasion for going out
of walk that day, except when We
started from the camp 10 meet the
enemy. 1t is not true that pointed
out this officer to some of my skirm-
ishers who were standing close by on
The contrary, the skirmishers after
ward told me that they were just in
the act of calling upon me not to shoot
as they fell satisfied that the officer at
whom my pistol was aimed was
Federal officer. ...-s.
Ii was not discovered until after The
Confcderates were driven from .he
field who this officer was. NV i'm
preston now is that Gen. Carter, of
East Tennessee, was the first TO in
form us that il was General Zolliocf-
fer.
1t has been reported, or was immc-
diately after the battle, that General
Zollicotler and myself had been old
schoolmatcs, and that he appealed to
4