Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-12
SHOT BY HIS COMRADES.
The First Man in General Leonfdas
Folks Army 10 Fall.
Philadelphia Weekly Times.

Fx-CIovernor James d. Porter, of Tennessee.
who was on the staf of General B. F. Cheat
ham in the army of Gene raj Leonidas Polk
has given Nashville correspondent of the
Weekly Times an account of the first skirmish
that occurred in the fighting bishops COM
mand, just after he took possession of Bel
mont and Columbus, KY, in 1861.
On the morning of the 9th of October of
that year, Colonel Logwood, with
eighty men of the Seventh Tennessee Con-
federate cavalry, composed of what had been
known as the Memphis Light Dragons,
under the immediate command of Captain
Taylor and Lieutenant Armstrong, left CO.
lumbBs on a accommodating expedition to
Paducsh. The distance te be marched was
about f0rty-fve miles. The capture of the
pickets around Paducah had been determined
upon, AID to accomplish the object a round
about 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 lipger 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 steallhily the troops
moved TO their point of destination.
j. c. Fleming, sfterward secretary to State
Treasurer Marsh T. Polk, of Tennessee, was
Will Tue cODutDdHU. as IHlru ser
geant with Captain Taylor and first sergeant
at the head of the squad to attack the pickets.
The solemnity weighed upon him, and as he
left his command he remarked, obviously, to
one of his men:
81 will undoubtedly be shot tonight. !
feel dreadful misgiving. will be wound
ed, 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, regardless of friend or foe."
Fleming, with ten fifteen men, came
upon the pickets, who, weary with long
vigils, they found fast asleep. The noise of
the advance suddenly awakened the slumber-
ing pickets, who sprang hastily to arms and
rang out the wild night cry:
"Who comes there?" The cracking of in
Vulnerable shots was the answer. The smell
of gunpowder and the sound of the guns
caused the utmost excitement. A rear guard
of the Confederates had been left behind, and
when they were convinced that active work
had actually begun they let forth their vol
ley, and as Fleming had predicted he was the
first man to fall. Just previous to that criti-
cal moment Fleming was in hand -to-hand
fight with one of the now thoroughly awak-
enend and affrighted pickets. The latter's
revolver was against Fleming's breast, while
Fleming's pistol rest on the pickets chest.
The shot from the Confederate gun entering
Flemine'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 una
bic to rise from his helpless condition.
The pickets, not knowing the strength of
the enemy, took fight, and as they ran
aforementioned Logwood's command i'm
mediately rushed to the front. Bullets
pierced the air as thick rs hail. A Confed-
crate named Gallagher, hoping to secure
better horse than his own, mounted the wild
horse of Federal soldier. That moment
sealed his fate; several of his companions in
arms taking him for one of the enemy try
ing to escape riddled him with bullets. He
fell from the horse almost as quickly as he
had mounted him-a corpse. All the Con-
federates by this time had moved up to the
point of conflict. 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 a voice exclaimed:
"Now Phi fix you for good" Another mo-
ment and it would be his last, but summon
ing all the presence OF mind at his command
Fleming threw up his arm and exclaimed:
Good God, Wiley jones'"
His would-be slayer recoiled as he recog-
nized the voice, and calculated a hearty
thanksgiving that he had been withheld from
killing one of his best friends.
Fleming was subsequently elected lieuten-
ant, but was never able, after receiving his
wound, to re-enter the army. He ia con-
stantly and painfdlly reminded, by the severe
aches of his limbs, that he was the first man
in Folks army to be wounded.