Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-20
SHOT BY HIS COMRADES.
The First Man In GEN. Leonidas
PoIk's Army TO FAN.
Phaadelphia TYmee.


Ex-Gov. James d. Porter, of Tennes-
see, who was on the staff of Gen. B. F.
Cheatham, in the army of Gen. Leonidas
Polk, has given Nashville correspond
ent of the Weekly Times an account Of
the first skirmish that occurred in the
fighting Bishops command, just after he
took possession of Belmont and Colum-
bus, KY, in 1861.
On the morning of the 9th of October
of that year, Lieut. Col. Logwood, with
eighty men of the Seventh Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, composed of what
had been known as the Memphis Light
Dragons, under the immediate CON-
mand of Capt Taylor and Lieut.. Arm
strong, left Columbus on a reconnoiter-
ing expedition to Paducah. The distance
to be marched was about forty-five
miles. The capture of the pfckets
around Paducah had been determined
upon, and to accomplish the object a
roundabout course had to be taken so as
to come upon the pickets in the rear.
The night was dark and gloomy, and the
intense solemnity of the forest caused
strange and weird fancies to linger in the
breasts of the men, all unused to such
expeditions. An occasional star showed
between the riffs in the clouds, but only
seemed the more lonely from the absence
of the companions of the armament.
Silently and stealthily the troops moved
to their point of destination.
j. 9. Fleming, afterward secretary to
State Treasurer Marsh I. Polk, of Ten.
nessee, was with the command, ranking
as Third Sergeant with Captain Taylor
and First Sergeant at the head of the
squad to attack the pickets. The so.
lemnity weighed upon him, and as he
left his command he remarked, du-
biously, to one of his men:
81 will undoubtedly be shot to night
| feel dreadful misgiving. | will be
wounded--and by our own men. Some
of them are raw recruits, and at the first
fire they will have no better sense than
to advance and shoot at random regard
less of friend or foe"
Fleming, with ten or fifteen men,
came upon the pickets, who, weary with
long vigils. they found fast asleep. The
noise of the advance suddenly awakened
the slumbering pickcts, who sprang has
tily to arms and rang out the wild night
cry:
"Who comes there9" The cracking
of innumerable shots was the answer.
The smell of gunpowder and the sound
of the guns caused the utmost ex-
element A rear guard of the Con-
federates had been left behind. and
when they were convinced that ac-
tive work had actually begun, they
let forth their volley, and, as Fleming
had predicted, he was the first man to
fall. Just previous to that critical mo-
ment Fleming was in hand-to- hand
fight with one of the now thoroughly
awakened and affrighted pickets. The
latter's revolver was against Flemiug's
breast, while Fleming's pistol rested on
the piCket's chest The shot from the
Confederate gun entering tleming's hip
caused him to leap wildly into the air
and fall heavily to the ground, firing his
pistol at the picket as he went down.
His limbs were paralyzed, and Fleming
was unable to rise from his helpless con.
dition.
The pickets, not knowing the strength
of the enemy, took flight, and as they
ran Lieutenant Colonel LOgwood's com
mand Immediately rushed to the front.
Bullets pierced the air as thick as hail.
A Confederate named Gallagher, hoping
to secure better horse than his own,
the wild horse of
Federal soldier. That moment sealed
his fate; several of his companions in
arms taking him for one of the enemy
trying to escape riddled him with bull
lets. He fell from the horse almost as
quickly as he had mounted him--a
corpse. All the Confederates by this
time had moved up to the point of con-
flct. Fleming, though badly wounded,
managed to raise himself upon his elbow
in order to take in review his perilous
situation. Just then a revolver was
placed in his breast, and voice ex-
claimed:
Nov, I'll fix you for good. Another
moment and it would be his last, but
all the presence of mind at
his command Fleming threw up his arm
aud exclaimed.
"Good God, Wiley Jonesp
His would-be slayer recoiled as he
the voice, and calculated a
hearty thanksgiving that he had been
from killing one of his best
friends
Fleming was subsequently elected
but was never able, after
his wound, to re.enter the
army. He is constantly and painfully
by the severe aches of his
limbs, that he was the first man in Polk's
army to be wounded.