Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-01-10
Tense pine thicket lust as day was breaking,

cAAANAANo JAoo
It was only after I had seen blood on Pen
fields clothes that he explained that in scout
ing to the right his party had stumbled over
soldier wrapped in his blanket and the out
cry he had been about to make was prevented
by a thrust from a hunting knife which
reached his heart. This occurrence was to be
deplored, but no one could be blamed for it.
We retired into the thicket until there was
no danger of being seen and then four men
were posted as sentinels and the others ate
their bread and meat and lay down to sleep.
lie forenoon passed quietly away, and at 1
o'clock three others and myself relieved the
sentinels I at once made my way to the
northern edge of the thicket where I could
overlook the road descending into the valley
as well as part of the valley itself, and a.
brief observation satisfied me that we were
being pursued. I saw a score of mounted
men riding down the road, and another body
in the valley below, and their actions
showed them to be in state of excitement.
We had no doubt been tracked as far as the
picket post, but from that point our pursuers
were uncertain whether we had pushed on or
secreted ourselves.
At about o'clock body of about twenty
men, some on foot and some mounted,
searched the western half of the thicket, and
some of them came within fifty feet of us,
but they made no discoveries We heard sew
eral of them loudly declaring their belief that
we were miles away, and as they left our
thicket for the road the search seemed to be
given up. The major portion of our pursuers
were guerrillas, who would have shot us down
without mercy. When darkness came and
we were ready to move again, five of the men
came to me and declared their intention to
10 +1,o;, 81.
that lay before us their nerve gave way, and
they decided to return while it was yet safe
to do SO. was arguing with them when one
of the party who had secuted to the east on
his own hook returned and reported large
force of infantry going up the mountain
road. He believed there was full hundred,
and as it was plain that they would guard
every avenue of return the five changed their
minds and decided to keep on with the party.
That night we made fully twenty miles,
always in the fields or woods, and next day
was passed in the timber. We knew that
every road was guarded, and twice during
the day squads of cavalry were in sight. We
were undiscovered and undisturbed, however,
and by hard push on the third night we
reached the eastern slope Of the Cumberland
mountains. An hour before daybreak, as we
were about to Cross a road, and while two Of
the men were scouting ahead to see that all
was clear, one of them, named Saunders,
walked plump up to a man in citizens dress
who was patroling the highway with gun
on his shoulder. He took Saunders for far
mer living in the neighborhood, and ex-
planned that sixty men belonging to COM
pany recruited about Montgomery had been
sent up there to stop refugees. He said our
party was expected along that night, and
that every one would be shot down, no mat
ter whether they surrendered or resisted. He
had eighty rods of the road to patrol, and as
he was about midway Of his beat, Saunders
thrust a knife into him, believing this the
only alternative. He then took the body and
concealed it in ..thicket, and our party
crossed the highway without discovery.
When daylight came we went into hiding
among the rocks far up the mountain, and,
while no one came very near us during the.
day, we saw regular troops, bodies of irregu-
lars and citizens moving in every direction.
We moved on again as soon as darkness came,
Travelled all night without being interrupted,
and next day lay hidden almost at the west
ern base of the mountain. On this night,
after we had been afoot about three hours,
we reached the Kentucky line, but soon after
doing SO, and while moving cautiously upon
highway, we were challenged from front and
rear simultaneously, and we realized that we
had walked into trap. Fire was opened on
us at once, but we left the road, climbed
among some rocks to the right, and soon re-
turned the fire with spirit. The force op-
posed drew away to wait for daylight, and
after scouting in every direction and finding
ourselves surrounded we intrenched ourselves
and prepared for the fight we knew daylight
would bring. When morning came we found
ourselves hemmed in by force of about 800
men, portion Of whom were enlisted soldiers
acting under commissioned officers.
Then occurred what war history describes
as "a defense without its equal in the history
of the whole struggle They opened fire on
us from every side, and every one of our
party replied as fast as a sure shot could be
counted on. From o'clock in the morning
till there was no let up, but we were SO well
sheltered behind the rocks that not one of our
party was scratched. We were then sum-
moned to surrender, and upon returning a
defiant reply body of men numbering $50
charged our position. To get at us at all they
had to appear in the open road, and we broke
them three times before the real charge was
made Then as they tried to ascend the steep
side of the hill we had them at our mercy.
At noon we were again summoned to surren-
der, and when we refused they brought up a
six FOUNDER and opened on us The first shot
went ten feet above our heads, and at the
second the gun burst and killed four men. At
O'Clock they charged again, and were
driven back, and an hour later force Of
Union cavalry, out on reconnaissance,
swooped down and bagged the force to a
man, taking 17S prisoners, two army wagons,
and another field piece which had just come
up. We then had only three bullets per man
left, and must have soon been obliged to sur
render. We found, upon counting up, that
we had killed thirtyeight and wounded sixty
Of the mob, and the only casualty on our side
was flesh wound received by one Of the
Women.-New York Sun.