Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-02-07
CROSSING 4 BEAR 2 gRlvER--sABRE
FL CHARGE AT MOUNT HOPE.

H. r.
i formed US that q brigade was stationed
at the ford Of Bear River with two
pieces OF artillery, and that they were
tenn porarily fortified and prepared to
resist our passage. This river is o mar
row, rapid and deep mountain stream
so that II can only be forded In few
places. Stationed as they were, 1t W as
plain to be seen that we could not
force passage so another ford or
crossing place must be found, and some
strategy was necessary In order to pre-
| vent their moving and heading us
OFF, x Near sunset our command
stopped, unsaddled and pretended to
be fee ding the horses and getting sup
per, (although there was almost moth.
Ing to either feed the horses
or eat ourselves.) Dark came
and nearly every man had
a large fire giving the appearance
of the company ground OF command
ten times larger than 1t was. Az soon
as 1t was entirely dark, the officers
passed through the command quietly,
ordered the horses saddled aud the
command to move out without noise.
Not . bugle was sounded. Leaving
the "old military road" We sought a
crossing at another place, some miles
below. Crossing In the dead hours of
| the night, the column was next headed
for the /" old military road'' again. 1t
was only a few miles until we came to
IL oh hal -
in the morning OF January 4.h we
stopped for little rest and SLEEP. max
ing Headquarters In q house by the
roadside. Colonel Prosser gave orders
for reveiue to be sounded at A O'clock,
and IL was important that this should
be done promptly, for we found the
enemy had been concentrating their
forces at the ford of the river, and all
their command had not yet come up,
and while we we're now In their rear, v
were between two bodies of the enc
my's forces. Having lost SO much
sleep, all were afraid that once falling
into nap, there would be no such
thing as waking, 30 the writer volun-
teered to sit up until that hour, then
to wake the bugler and then he should
sleep until the command was ready
ing, the woman residing there came
and asked permission to cook some
food for The PRISONERS we had. Per-
mission was not only granted, but she
was urged to cook aud prepare all she
could spare for them; that they had
Jared AS we had, but we had nothing
to eat ourselves. she went to work
with will, prom Using good break
fao To tnl IL
the privilege. -Four O'Clock came; II
woke the bugler aud laid down NY
self. knew nothing until Coz Pros
ser was aaking me and telling me
that break fast was ready. Instead of
keeping her promise, as soon as laid
down, she had mixed up some dough
without salt or anything else but water
and tiDur, dashed it inlo an oven, and
bad let quantity Of ashes fall on II,
then placing it on the fire andSco
ing il, went,off and let IL take care OF
itself. This stuff, having taken
something like the form of q
sofened morn, was what we had
for breakfast. We next started |
out, with Lieut. Shocks, of the |
Tenth Indiana commanding the adj
vance. He soon began sending back |
~
ing was kept up In front. Presently, |
an old, cOrpulent and white haired |
ban came out to the roadside, cursing |
ana gesticulating at a furious rate. |
Col. Prosser asked what the trouble
was. He replied. II fought for the
stars and stripes through the war of
1871 have stood by them ever since,
anu now these id rascsls have tab en-
my horse, that cost me fifteen hun
dred dollarsl' The Colonel asked
him If he was Union man. Raising
oae foot andgone fist, and bringing
them down togefh her with great force,
he replied: Eyes, by Cd, l am
The Colonel sent up and had the horse
restored to the old man. The firing
in front became heavier as the Lieu
tenant advanced until some additional
men were sent to his help. 1t con-
tinued for some distance, while we
kept In sweeping gallop behind. AT
length, we came to mountain. The
road ran up o hollow, and imme-
diately across the top of the mountaio,
and was dug out of the steep hillside
until we could not throw out Skin
mishers or form line of battle. Just
over the crest of the mountain the
rebel Colonel, Russell, with his regi-
ment of Alabama cavalry, made his
stand. 1t was q good selection. One
great reason why no more men are
killed in battle Ia that the soldiers
overshoot their foe. Here, being
stationed down on the side of the
mountain and shooting up the hill,
they were not 80 likely to oversboot,
while ours were more likely to do se
But that advantage was q dsadvant-
aye to them when sabers were used.
Lieutenant Shocks pressed them close
until he came to the top Of the noun.
tain, when he could advance no furth-
er. He threw his men ont on either
side and was standing fast when we
came up with the column. just as l
rode up by the eide of the brave Lieu
tenant heard apparently a very
large minnie ball strike him, making
a loud rap as 1t did go. He pressed his
arm to his side and doubled over the
pommei of his saddle, and lss
thought was sinking aud reeling off
his horse. There was no time to stay
there or watch men dying, So We
charged down upon their lima, and
broke 1t. They made hasty and pre-
cipitous retreat, In great confusion. Tue