The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-05-21

at scheming, and when he found himself
compelled, after Murfreesboro, to remain IN
front of Rosecrans and the Army OF the
Cumberland in middle Tennessee, in order
to protect Chattanooga, and saw the gath
ering of the clans of Mcpherson, Sher-
man and McClernand, to menace the
strongholds on the lower Mississippi, he
resorted to those tactics for which the
| country and his military resources were
we'll adapted, namely, cavalry raids be-
hind. his enemies camps. Two of his
brigadiers, with their commands, were as
good as expressly made for the purpose OF
! the hour. Gen. John Morgan and his men
| were Kentuckians, and Gen. Forrest and
his followers were Tennesseeans. Morgan
was sent to Kentucky to shake up things
| in Rosecrans' bailiwick, and Forrest went
| to make things lively for Grant.
Forrest had just been relieved from the
command of Bragg's cavalry and assigned
| to a brigade consisting of four regiments
| and battery. The men were for the most
part new to the service, were armed with
! shotguns and flint lock muskets and were
in other respects poorly equipped. When
| Forrest complained to headquarters of the
condition of his equipments Bragg didn't
answer him precisely as jeff Davis did
| Lee in 1868, when the latter wanted ratlons,
| $50 find them in the northern states" but
| it amounted to that, for he promised to
forward the supplies, and left Forrest to
! capture them from his enemies or 90 with
| out.
| The raiding column, 800 strong, start
ed from Columbia Dec II, 1862 In front
of them lay the Tennessee river, stripped
of all means of crossing by the vigilant
union forces that had controlled it for
months.
BY means of an old fiat boat picked up
at Clifton the artillery and wagons were
| ferried over and the horses were swum
across. Tho weather was cold and a pelt-
ing rain was falling. The men had no
! shelter, and when they came together
across the river on the 18th halt was
made to dry out clothing and ammunition.
The gun caps had been spoiled by wetting
at the river, but fortunately a citizen
agent, whom Forrest had sent into the
union lines to get a supply, reached camp
! that night with $4,000 of the needful arti-
cles, and early on the morning of the 18th
the raiders moved toward Lexington.
AS q matter of course Forests move.
ment had not been concealed from the
Union eyes. Less than fifty miles west of
the Tennessee, where he crossed, was the
town Of Jackson, where the Mobile and
Ohio railway from Columbus, KY, united
with the Mississippi Central, which ran to
| Jackson, Miss, and along which Grant was
moving with the land column threatening
| Vicksburg. Jackson, Tenn, was the head
| quarters of a military district commanded
| By Gen. J. G. Sullivan, and the outlying
points east, north and south were gar
risoned by small bodies of infantry with
cavalry outposts. Lexington, just east of
Jackson, was cavalry post. The news OF
Forests crossing of the Tennessee reached
the Union camps on the 18th, and immedi-
| ately the telegraph was set to work all
along the line between Columbus, KY,
and Grants headquarters at Oxford, Miss,
to order troops to the threatened points.
Col Robert G. Ingersoll, Sullivan's chief
of cavalry, Immediately started to meet
Forrest with 200 of his own regiment, the
| Eleventh Illinois, about 800 of the Second
West Tennessee, and 300 of the Fifth Ohio.
| Forrest was encountered outside of Lexing-
ton, and the first dash of the raiders scat
tered the Second West Tennessee, and in a
short time Ingersoll and over a hundred
men were made prisoners.
Two cannon and seventy horses GLADLY
needed and Immediately put into service"
were among Forests prizes. This fight
occurred early on the 18th, and news of the
result Travelled rapidly in the Union camps.
Gen. Sullivan telegraphed Grant that the