Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-07-19

this raid and great cavalry battle.
I am compelled to attribute the
cause of the stampede mainly to
whisky. 1t is quite probable We
should have been defeated any way,
as the enemy were largely our
superior in numbers, but there
was no excuse for stam-
pede. Weems, in his life of Ma
rion, speaking of the intoxication of
soldiers. quotes: 1855
"Ohl Brandy Oil Brandy bane of life,
s pring of tumult, beginning of strife;
Gould L but half thy curses tell,
The wise would wish thee safe in hell"
Had the brigade been controlled by
a sober head aud the gallant Second
Tennessee been kept in the rear, or re-
inforced until a stand could be made,
or the Fourth Regulars received REIN
forcements before their lines Were liter
ally forced asunder, the story of the
battle at Okol0na would have been
different. AS soon as We arrived at
Germantown, it was telegraphad over
the country that 1.-THE Third TenDes.
see threw down their arms and fled
without firing shot!" Again, thai
was changed by reporting that il was
the Second Tennessee instead of the
| Third that ran, etc. Neither was true,
an added brain when it should
khave been clear, aud place the blame
| on other heads. The Fourth Regulars
was the first regiment to Tuo, but not
until they had lost some eighty men
b. r.; "A 1,A- tt
do TO lay the blame to them, since
theirs was regular regiment, com
manded by officers educated for tie
purpose of commanding. The simple
facts are, whisky did il"
A member of the Second was
shot by a long ball, centrally in the
forehead, where nature provided him
with the thickest part OF the skull, as
all our heads are prepared 10 protect
the brain from blows coming from the
front. Tue force Of the powder was
not sufficient to entirely penetrate
through the bone, so the ball only en-
tered part of the way and stopped with
the butt end remaining 10 the front.
He simply caught the ball with his
thumb and fingers, twisted it out of
his head and went on in peace.
Sergeant Saunders, of Company E."
OF the Third, was tall, awkward in
appearsnce.- aud , very droll in his
manners On the Aretrest he lost. his
hat, so he stopped at The house of q
weatthyo planter who had new
beaver hat on his head. The Sergeant
inquired, off he had any old hat
about the house worth abouta dime,
that he could spare ?" The planter
went off aud soon returnsd with an
| old one that had been cast away and
| handed it to The Sergeant, who exam
| ined it carefully as if to strike q trade
but to the planters surprise. instead
>of trading he drawled out in his own
inimitable way, Mister, my business
seaiis me out of doors great deal, and
I yours don't, so don't you think L had
better take the one you have on anC
I you take this one pa at the same time
! taking the new hat from the farmers
, head, placing the old enc in it's stead
and leaving with the new one on hi'
own head.
There was a very large Compliant
man in the Third, known through the
regiment, and the brigade, in fact a!
Dad Phelps" He was an excellent
soldier, ~kind-hearted and brave as {
lion, but extremely profane- He wa
so large and heavy. that he was sup
| piled with the largest horse in thereg'
Iment. He bought a fne Henry rife,
shooting with great accuracy and car
rying sixteen loads. In the stampede
at Okolona 8 Dad" was cut off, anC
had to save himself as best he could
A squad of rebels got after him, anC
vas following him up close, calm.
out, Halt! halt! you id Van
kee J" calling him by such names as
that But" Dad" on his big horse
paid no attention., and got away a
fast as possible. AT length one O
them called out, Halt! You d
pussly Quilted rascal, you ~ dad
couldn'G stand this. So he halted hi
horse, TUNED deliberately around, am
replied, "YOu called me a d
pnssly-gut. and I'll blow your d.,
brains out ~ And with his Henri!
riffs, went to work and soon laugh
tue rebels it was best to not com
too close to him.
After the hard fighting was over
two of our boys were riding along to
gether, and fell into discussion oil
the powers of Deity in connection
with what had just TRANSFERRED. On
said he couldn't see how God Almight,
] could separate the good from the bal
in the day of Judgment. Nov !,
said he, "here we are, fighting on th
: same fl, Id, different regiments ar
i throwuo together in confusion, rebt
and Union soldiers fall aud die tC
j qether3 and are buried in. the sam
grave-how will the Almighty sepal
ate them?" very easy,' was the re
ply, "there is nothing easier. Fl
will just order every man to re-join b
regiment, and there they are-seE
, arated.n 3 @s----@ -
I hope that I will be pardoned fC
giving an adventure of my own, ths
makes me shudder as l think of i
When we stopped at Burnt Hickor.
: it was late in the night, all wers wor