Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1878-12-27
"reminiscences of the Second Tennes-
see Cavalry.
BY JNO. w. ANDES
NO. IL,

I
/ from the time Fort Sumter was fired
upon great and continued excitement
prevailed. Throughout the year 1867
/ Union scouts and Federal recruiting
officers were busi!y engaged, in clan
destine way, in organizing companies
to cross the mountains into hentVc&y
and enter the Federal service. Wheh
a company was organized, ana the
pilot or recruiting officer was ready TO
start. a signal was given by kindlir g a
big fire on tie top Of Bluff mountain a.
1.-THE wav was clear this was respond
I'd TO by fires on the blgher PEAKS u
the ridges between there and the Cum
barIsnd mOuntains. The pilots came
/ i'm secretly and did all their travelling
/ after night. They knew the Union
! men and whom to trust, the men VITO
! then took sides with the Union being
/ as true a. steel to each other. Their
! pIans were all laid before MAX
Inv start, and the place
/ for RENDEZVOUS invariably approached
under cover of night. Every man
was armed, and the character of some
Of the weapons, in many instances,
affords Amusement now when we look
back upon them. The COnfedeTateS
had we'll nigh taken all the private
arms ia the country, not sparlDg tEe
rusty firel0Ck that had been Kept for
long years as an heir loom IN the
family. The weapons improvised for
The occasion were Of the rudest kind.
They consisted largely Of knives, fif-
teen 10 twenty inches long, made Of
asyihing that could be so converted at
. hst9 to .,ssl- ? n q
By the latter part Of the summer ard
autumn, 1862, the mountains v ere full
OF Union men, who were fleeing from
the Confederate cOnscTiptiDg officers.
Several hundred were on Bluff Noun
tain, and were supplied with provis
ions through the hospitality of the
good people residing on Walden's
Creek, who PACKED Tations to them on
horseback. The Confederales were
scouting in every part of the country
aud pressing meu into Their service,
whether they sympalhized with them
or NOT.
o. the % day of September 1862,
the writer made his first attempt to go
to Kentucky, but owing to the fact
that TIE FedeTals a. Cum berland Gap,
under Gen. Morgan, had fallen back to
the OHIO river, ana Bragg's army was
invading Kentucky, it WAS given up,
aud postponed until October l6 h. |
Our pilot, Mr.. Bowlinger, was from
POwelI's Valley. He rallied his forces
on the night of the day mentioned
three miles above Savierviile, on q
bluff on the farm of Jesse Stafford.
We numbered about 450 men, most If
whom were furnished with four or i've
days ratiOns. That night we went to
the French Broad river, and the next
day were concealed in a cedar thicket
OH the farm OF Mr.. L. TrOtter. When
night came on We crossed the river
and before daylight reached a point
not far from Strawberry Plains, and
near the East Tennessee and Virginia
Railroad, over which numerous
trains were laundering, carrying
Confederate soldiers and supplies
for the army. No one betrayed US and |
everything was quiet. When dark |
came on we started again on our peril |
GUS journey, and that night crossed |
ClinCh river.
On the 1913, Saturday, we went into |
P0welfs Valley, where we remained |
over Sunday, aud until Monday night. |
Just before reaching Cumberland /
Mountain an alarm was raised and o |
stampede occurred, which was at the |
time a serious thing, but after il was |
all over exceedingly iaug able. A |
short distance below Cum beII4nd |
Gap and between where we were and |
the Gap, large portion OfGen. BTagg's |
army lay enCamped. We cOul see
huudreis of their camp fires. Our /
plot, Mr.. BoWlinger, took about TWO |
dozen armed men out OF the front /
rams aud placed them as pickles on a
road which we had to cross On either
size OF the moving Column, with or
deTs TO hold their position until the
rear of the column had crossed, and
then fall ia behind. They followed
Instructions, bal The rear Of the col
umn il no. understand the order that
had been given and the disposition
made of the tickets. When they saw
them closing ID, they supposed they
We're Con teuGrajr so d:efs, aud rushed |
ppiI NELL towards Tie head of The col
umn. As they dashed forward, ex-
CT emeHJ Hrcame general, and all sup
posed that i was really an attack from
the CONCENTRATES. Then every man
uud-TtOoF 10 take care Of himself. We |
were Just eGterIug al Old field marked |
by numerous deep gullies running |
parallel with cur line. The bottoms /
Of these gul.ies were easily found, il
being CaTk, and the way We moved |
!GtD Llem WAS perhaps more vigorous
lbaD graceful. Men lost their KNAPP
SACHS aud bayersacks, and almost |
every hing else, except the clothes
they had on. a few of our men were
mounted, but the horses were Jeff !
without riders in those gul!ies, aud |
they weDtiniO them heels higher than
their heads. Some Of the boys had
pr, sepce Of niUd when the mistake |
WAS understood, TO get the hOrses, but |
their riders went on af0ot until the |
next evening. We soUn arrived at |
the foot OF the mountain, where most |
Of tue command came up aud we |
went on cur way rtjOicing. By day |
light we were on the top Of the noun |
tain, on one OF its highest |
peaks, overlooking he entire |
country, as far as the |
eye could see, but the then most inter-
esting object to us was Gen. Bragg's
army in the valley south of Us. The
sun shOne out beautifully, aud we
cast last lingering look behind to our
beloved East Tennessee, where we
were bound by so many sacred ties.
Many of our com mand from this point
looked for the last Tina on the land
they loved so well, for exposure and
sickness incident TO camp life, and the
bullets Of the enemy were destined TO
soon thin their ranks.