The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-24
CAPTURE OF HOLLY SPRINGS
An Incident of the War Which Pro-
loIged 1t Fully Six Months.
Base of Supplies and Destroyed Million
and a Half Dollars Worth Of Stores

Written for the Journal by a Confederate officer.
In General Grants book. Ton PIP. 432 and 433)
he briefly says General Van Dorm appeared
at Holly Springs, my secondary base of supplies.
| captured the garrison of 1900 men, commanded
by Colonel Murphy. of the Eighth Wisconsin
Regiment. and destroyed all our munitions of
war, food and forage The capture was dis
graceful one to the officer commanding. but not
| to the troops under him. At the same time
Forrest got on our line of railroad between Jack
son, Tenu.. and Columbus, KY. doing much
damage to it. This cut me off from all commu-
nication with the North for more than week.
and it was more than two weeks before rations
and forage could be issued from stores obtained
in the regular way
This extract brings wildly to my mind the do
ings in Mississippi twenty three years ago last
Christmas season, in which it was my lot to par
ticipate I was an officer under General Earl
Van Dorm, beau sabreur, commanding cavalry
in the army of General Pemberton, then at
Grenada, Miss. This town is on the Yalobusha
river, and at the junction of the two railroads
known now the Chicago, ST. Louis & New Or
leans and the Mississippi & Tennessee. The
town of Holly Springs is on the former road, in
the county of Marshall, and not far from the
northern boundary of the State. Here General
Grant had gathered an enormous quantity of
supplies of various kinds, preparatory to his
contemplated movement by land on Vicksburg.
The General himself was at Oxford. engaged
in repairing the railroads and bridges 1t was
determined to make attempt to reach Holly
Springs with flying column, and capture and
destroy the wealth of supplies just mentioned
With this end in view. General Van Dorm or
ganized force of just 1900 cavalry. Il am par
ticular in specifying this exact number In view
of statement which will appear later on.) we
had not with as a piece of artillery. an amou-
lance. or wheeled vehicle of any sort. and we
took just three days rations. Just then General
Grant had sent East force comprising las he
says in his report ''half his available cavalry"
under Colonel Dickey. to destroy portion
of the Mobile s. Ohio railroad, and our
line of march. when we turned to the north, after
first going we'll to the east, was at right angles
to theirs. General Grant says that we passed
in front of them. but this is not correcs it was
in their rear. According to his report, too. we
moved very rapidly from the Yalobusha, and we
most certainly did. He says that he was ad-
vised of our coming and sent force to Pontotoc,
bat that we travelled just as fast as the scouts
who brought him the news; that our departure
| from Portotoc, gong north, was then reported.
| and that he sent all available cavalry in pursuit
of us, but did not expect much" as we outnum-
| bered them three to one At all events they
| gave us no trouble.
About Dec. 10 we arrived at point fifteen
| miles distant from Holly Springs There. stop
| ping at a farm house, / met an honest farmer
| who took our force for a federal one. He told
Ia 49,, - IIo1lx oy1A
| quite an account of affairs and doings there He
also showed me- with considerable pride, pass
| which had been given him by the provost mar
| shall. and which would enable him to enter and
| leave the town as he pleased / examined this
| pass with considerable show of interest. Then
l looked at him sharply-he, of course, still tax
| ing me for federal oficer-and told him that
| he might be ''all right" but that as l
had some doubts about him l would re-
tain the pass for awhile. On the back of
| this pass there as usual description of the
person to whom it was issued. l went to an Off
Ger in whose command were many Mississippi
men acquainted with the region, and asked him
if he could find who in the first place, looked
or could be made to look enough like our friend
the farmer to use his pass; and, in the second
place, quite willing to go into the town, de-
| spite the fact that, if detected. he would most
surely be hanged as a spy. He assured me that
he had plenty of such men, and one soon made
his appearance borrowed a coat and hat from
| the husbandman and arrayed my volunteer in
| them; then he started for Holly Springs
General Grant says that warning sent Of
| our raid to all threatened points, and this is
| doubtless the case; but said warning had very
| little effect at Holly Springs, to judge from the
| report brought us by our disguised cavalryman.
| He was told that, entering, he must tell the
| pckets that he would probably be late in coming
| out, and arrange with them to pass him, which
| they did, We learned from him just how mat
| tiers stood in the place; where the troops were,
etc.. and we had no hesitation in proceeding at
I M <~1xx
marched that night, and, very early in the morn
| ing of the 10th of December. 1862, we were ready
| to effect our entry. should mention that in our
| advance the Second Missouri Cavalry, Colo
| mel Mccullough. This regiment wore federal
overcoats. and have no doubt that our column
| was at first supposed not to to be confederate
| one. At all events. we ran over the pickets
/ and made our way quickly and easily into the
town. We rode through the camp of a consider
| able body of infantry, but they made no appre-
ciable resistance, never formed line and IN
| deed never beat the alarm. In General Orders,
| No. H." from the Adjutapt generals Office in
| Washington, issued JAM 10. 1868, add dismiss
ing Colonel Murphy from the service, it is stated,
as one reason for this action. that he allowed
| his mon to be surprised Sin bed" We
reached the main square without the least diff
| Guilty and without our movements being general
| lv known, and we might have gone further under
the same conditions but for the fact that some of
| our men could not refrain from emitting what
| are commonly and rightly known as 'yells. I"
| They said they could not help it.
| We were not to have it wholly our own way,
however. North of the town were the fair
! grounds surrounded by board fence. Here
were some of the Second Illinois Cavalry. Col.
| John j. Mudd. They heard the alarm, rallied
at once. and gave us sharp encounter. OF
course we were far too many for them, but
| good portion managed to get away; and
| it is beyond question that, had all the
4 federal troops been handled as were they. it
would have been quite impossible for US to &C
| complish what we did. General Grant in his
special field order" of Dec. g. 1862. said that
| a successful resistance could have been made
and that statement may stand unchallenged.
| About two hours after our first entry We found
Colonel Murphy hidden in citizens clothes In
his report of the affair he made two most curl
Gus statements One was to the effect that he was