Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-08

to rendezvous on the Bulls tap ROAD az
daylight the next morning, the General re-
tired. He occupied front room alone. At
daylight ON the morning of the 4th was
awakened by the sentinel on duty, and went
into the Generals room to awaken HIM.
Upon inquiry, finding that it was raining,
he instructed me to counterfnand the order
ff immediate movement, and fixing u
O'Clock as the hour. After receiving reports
from the different brigade commanders, l
returned to bed, and was awakened by the
heavy firing around the houses fastening
into the Generals room, ! found that he
had gone out, and on searching found him
In the garden. i, ~ JIamEia / u y
A description of the grounds will better
enable your readers to fully understand
subsequent events. The enclosure occu-
pied just one block, and therefore was sur
rounded by four streets; on the northern
side, and occupying almost the whole space,
stood the house-a large, substantial brick,
fronting SOUTH to the right and southwark
were the stables, and still further, and
reachingto the front street, was small
vineyard, of probably two hundred vines;
in the southeast corner of the lot stood
small frame church, raised on brick col
umns about three feet from the ground;
the remainder of the lot was filled with
flowers and shrubbery. 49,
l found the General in the vicinity of the
church, and we took shelter under it to con-
slit. He directed me to go to the top OF
the house to see if there was an opening
through which we could pass, and upon
reaching the upper rooms, went into each
opening in different directions, and found
every street blocked with cavalry, while
lines ofmen were riding around next the
fence, "a high plank fence,) shooting in all
directions through the grounds. could
also see squads of men at the terminus of
each street on the outskirts of the village.
Reporting these facts to the General,
urged him to go into the house and there
surrender, as it was our only chance, and
that growing momentarily less, as the fire
was growing heavy and at point blank
range. He replied:
at is useless;' they have sworn never to
take me prisoner"
Hearing the church being forced open, we
crossed over into the vineyard. 1t must
here be stated that all movements were
effected by almost crawling and taking adj
| vantage of each bush, as the enemy were
not over twenty yards from us; and crouch
ING down among the vines, Mr.. johnson
and myself again urged him to go up to
| the house This he refused, and told us
that we had better separate, as three to-
7 gether might be perceived. In leaving, the
General shook hands with me and re-
| marked:
"You will never see me again."
1 had gone but few steps when heard
| him call out:
"Dont shoot I surrender
Stopping Immediately, l looked around,
and upon the outside of the fence, almost
over the General, who had risen, and was
holding up his hands, sat a Yankee with
| gun presented, who replied:
"Surrender and be God damned; know
you,n and fired. was so close that to this
day firmly believe that can identify the
man,
AS soon as the shot was fired and the
General fallen, he commenced shouting,
sI've killed the damned horse thief, and
began tearing down the fence, in which he
was soon assisted by a large crowd Of his
| comrades.
| [ neglected to mention that while we
were lodging about in the garden some
fiends in the noble gIise of women were
calling to the Yankees from their upper
! windows: "Yonder he goes" "That's
| MN, " ldUS mOfBdit, eUC.
BENZ soon after captured and taken
some distance out of town, l saw nothing
of the Generals body until when, after re
peated solicitation, the sergeant who had
me in charge consented TO take me to Gen.
Gillem, the commander of the Federal
forces, and on my way there | was stopped
| by crowd of half drunken wretches who
made me dismount. "They wanted to
Il, FTbaf a c
the dead body of Gen Morgan, thrown in
a muddy ditch by the roadside, the features
almost undistinguishable from mud and
blood, and the body nude, save a pair Of
drawers, the clothing then being tora into
small pieces, as souvenirs Of the "Dead
Lion"
! Upon reaching the town, l found Gen.
GiIlem at Mrs. Williams house, and with
| him was the Mrs. Williams who had gone
| out the day before after sswatermelons' CD
and who had returned, strange to say, about
the same time, with the Yankees. | stated
to Gen. Gillem that my object in coming TO
him was for permission to get the Generals
body "as his men were treating it like a
dog a. -l. ..
CAV, sir, and it shall lie there and rot like
a dog" was his reply, and then followed a
series of abuse, which would scarcely be
palatable to your readers, or pertinent to
this statement. Sufiicit, he rejected every
proposition by which had hoped to have
succeeded in getting the Generals body tC
his friends. -
Our force having rallied. Gen. Gillem
was summoned to the front, and one of his
staff whom Ihave thought was Col Brown.
low, though my memory may be at fault
but who, nevertheless, seemed gentleman
offered to bring in the body, which was
done, and in a small back room Capt. Jas
Rogers and myself, with the assistance of q
negro man, washed and dressed it. The
wound was full in the breast, and seemed
to have glanced on the breast bone, passing
through the heart and coming out under
the left arm. The head was much bruised
and the skin broken in several places upon
the face and temples, seeming verifica,
ton of the statement that the body wa:
thrown over a horse, with the head dangling
against the stirrups.
Such, Mr.. Editor, is plain, unvarnishet
statement of facts, so far as my memory
goes, for | have no data upon which to re
". | sent similar statement to Col
Reedy. the father of Mrs. Morgan, imme
diately after my escape, and when | reach
ed Canada also wrote more fully to tht
Generals mother, in Lexington, KY, ant
to Col. Dick Morgan, then prisoner a
Fort Warren. This is another reason why
| have not given this statement sooner Il
/, the public, as | felt that as the Generals
immediate family were in possession of thu
, facts, they would publish them, if they
} thought best. Now, however, as Gen. Gil
| EN- has deemedIit prudent to make a state
ment, and as one of our own staff has in
, dorsed it, can no longer remain silent, no
only in justice to the holy cause, but to tn
sacred memory of one with whom it wa
my honor and privilege to serve, and thai
whom there never breathed more nobl
and gallant spirit, whose name viii be fond
: " cherished when those of his foul muir
; derers shall have persisted in oblivion.
, Very respectfully,
G. A. WITHERs,
, Formerly Adjutant General on the stai
! of Gen. John H. Morgan.
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