San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1884-11-06
A SOLDIERS SAD STORY.
Heart Rending Incident at Tullahomi

ucuTt hthuiuS iuCiucut ~ hush"a""s"
After the battle OF Stone River. ant
the Confederate force had fallen bacl
TO Tullahoma, Tenn, Gen. Rosecrans
then in command OF the Union army
opening in Tennessee, proceeded tc
fortify around Murfreesboro, Will,
the Confederates were engaged IL
strengthening the defence at Tulla
homa.
Our army, which had done but
little fighting after the battle of Stone
River, moved upon Tullahoma in
July, 1868, expecting to find the
"Johnnies" prepared to receive them
with open arms and bloody hands.
at was there that 1 witnessed the
saddest event of the war;" said
veteran soldier to us while talking ol
the trip from Murfreesboro to Talla
homa, and he proceeded to relate
substantially the following:
"The 39th Indiana was in the ad-
vance, and moved cautiously upon the
town, and found that the enemy had
evacuated, leaving nothing but a rear
guard to cover their retreat. The
regiment then pushed on into the
heart of the place driving the remain.
ing rebels out and across small
river beyond, at which our troops
came to halt; and seeing the enemy
on the opposite side of the river, they
awaited for our sharp-shooters to
come up before venturing across.
The confederates could be seen
riding around through the woods and
fields six or seven hundred yards
away, and just as they passed through
gap in fence near farm house, O
man was seen to cross the road and
and enter the house, but soon came
out again in plain view of our men
He was too far away to be reached
with any common gun and was not
fired upon.
at was not long before the sharp
shooters came up to the river with
their long range, globe-sight rifles
The man could yet plainly be seen
near the house, seeming to defy our
guns. One of the dead-shot sharp
shooters brought his gun up to his
shoulder and fired The man fell to
the ground, and in few minutes
time woman and several little chill
dren were seen about the fallen m0.
"The enemy had now disappeared,
and our troops crossed the river and
moved Oh down the road, feeling
their way. When they came up tc
the spot where the soldier had been
killed, there lay in deaths embrace
not Confederate soldier-but an
innocent little twelve-year boy,
and his poor heartbroken mother and
little brothers and sisters weeping
over him, and praying that God
might bring him back to them
again.
"The boy was engaged in putting
up the fence near his home that the
army had thrown down to pass
through in their retreat and was mis-
taken by our men for q Confederate
soldier.
s'It was sorrowful event; but the
soldier that killed the little fellow
would have laid down his own life Of
sacrifice if it would have brought
the boy back to life again to comfort
his mother, who had already robbed
of husband and an older son by the
cruel war.
"The regiment passed on in pur.
suit of the flying enemy, and left the
poor woman weeping and wailing
over the death of her dear boy,
"Several days afterwards, when the
soldiers of the 39th regiment re-
turned to Tullahoma and passed by
the house where the sad affair occur.
red, and saw q little mound in the
front yard near the road, feeling Of
sadness crept over the hardened
veterans, and could not keep back the
tears that chased each other down theil
bronzed cheeks.
Though twenty summers have
come and gone since the death of the
boy, that little mound near the dooi
of his home, where he had spent
many happy days, is still green in the
memory Of those who saw him shot.
PHELlx ADAIR.