The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-11-20
"GEN. THOMAS"
The Gunboat That Did Great Service at Decatur.


To THE EDITOR: see but few of our navy
comrades take hand, and as l served nearly
four years in the Mississippi squadron l will
endeavor occasionally to give some of my re-
membranes. When the rebel Gen. Hood
started back for Nashville commanded the
gunboat Gen. Thomas on the Tennessee River,
and was stationed on the first 60 miles above
Decatur, where we had large supplies for the
army commanded by Gen. Granger | had on
board some of Gen. Thomas's scouts, whom I
would land at dark with one of my officers,
Cassius M. Booth. who volunteered to help
rcconnoiter the rebel movements as / had
orders from Gen. Thomas to be vigilant in
patroling the river so as TO give him early in
formation of where Hood intended to cross the
river. After a long week of sleepless nights
(for we were under way all night our scouts
brought the news that Hoods whole army was
on the march down the river, and we soon
heard the roar of his cannon attacking Decatur,
and | was tightening the ship to get over shoal
water to hurry down there when dispatches
arrived from Gen. Thomas to go to Decatur as
fast rs possible, and thanking me for the valu-
able information sent in the morning. AS
had to land the coal, and after we got over the
shoal waterstakc on rails for fuel, it was p IN.
before we reached the bend four miles above
Decatur, where we met all army transport, the
Captain of which told me that we could not go
down there for Hoods whole army was posted
along the banks, and in fact they commenced
to fire on us from one of his batteries as he was
reporting to me. l simply said: Captain, 1
am ordered by Gen. Thomas to go to Gen.
Changers assistance, and l am going. You
follow mel" Which he nOby did. also said
"a man has one chance during life and this is
Ours" l ordered full steam, and told the en-
gineer all depended on our clean heels, and
down past Hoods army we went, close to the
bank, at the rate of ID or 90 miles an hour and
ct 1,f Tha ,bnJo
bank was ablaze, but, flying past them so rap
idly, they did not keep our range, and in about
the time it takes to write it we were past all
the rebels, heading up stream in front of our
dear old flag on Gen. Changers works. We
soon slenced Hoods lower earthworks, and all
the enemy's guns along the banks of the river
we had Just passed ceased firing. Ireported to
Gen. Granger on the top of the large brick house
north of the town. The General said to me:
captain, if you had been sent from heaven
you couldn't have come in q more oppOrtune
moment, for all my outer works are taken!"
And while l was at Gen. Changers side one of
his Aids reported to him that the enemy had
ceased firing, and seemed to be moving down
the river. Hood says in his report that the
enemy having at p. m. received re enforce
ments Of his gunbOats, / deemed it would cost
too dearly to force crossing at this point" Our
prompt action saved our valuable stores from
falling into the enemys hands Those stores
were just what the Johnnies needed, for the
poor fellows were in Sorry condition.
barefooted Oh the frozen ground. We captured
and paroled many one of them when they came
back after their failure at Nashville They
had awful long faces, and said: But for your
miserable gunboats we would have whipped
you After the fight all was quiet as we lay at
anchor off Decatur We were expecting good
nights Sleep which we all much needed, when,
about p. M. orders came from Gen. Granger
to proceed up the river four miles to the mouth
of Lime Stone Creek, where it was reported the
rebs were getting a pontoOn ready to cross the
river. We weighed anchor and obeyed orders;
found everything dark and still no sign of an
enemy,-and / anchored close over under the
thick underbrush on the north side of the
river. All hands lay down by their guns. 1
was lying on my berth, when, about midnight,
there came volley of small-arms, the balls
rafting against the inch-iron like hail, and |
sang out Give 'en the broadside" and the
8-inch guns, loaded with grape and canister,
blazed away. The way these bushes ratified
was caution. When the report of our guns
died away we could hear cavalry galloping
down the river. What it all meant we could
not tell, as we supposed no enemy had crossed
the river. About an hourafter the mystery was
cleared up by the arrival of one of Gen. Gran
gers staff officers, who said this cavalry had come
in on the train after dark, and were ordered up
the river to see what was going on. The country
was new to them, and all sorts of stories being
afoat of what had became of the rebs, of course
they crept up carefully, and at last got the
outlines Of a black something on the water. OF
course, our lights were all shut in with closed
ports, so they took shot at us. They must
have opened their eyes when up went our ports,
showing lights at quarters. Lucky for them
theL were SO far astern before we fired, or some
body would have got iiurt / would like to hear
from somebody who belonged to that squad of
cavalry.-G. NORTON, Essex, vt.