The National tribune., 1893-07-13
PICKETING AND SCOUTING.
Incidents i'm the History of the Saber Bril-
gade, Army of the Cumberland.

-
Immediately after my conversation
with Mr. Walters, an officer handed me a
note from Mai. Mix, in which he said: "a
Union man has just informed me that he
heard Col. Basil Duke send the following
message to Gen. Morgan: Push strong
column up each side of the valley, so as to
get in rear of the enemy. know the exact
force of the Yankees, and we can take every
man of them"
/ Immediately sent orders to Col. Kline
and Maj. Mix to redOuble their vigilance,
and 10 keep me fully informed on all points.
About o'clock information came from
both Col. Kline and Maj. Mix that strong
columns were moving on both sides of the
valley. At $50 / sent the 4th u. S.,
9Th Iowa, and 9TH Pa. back, with orders TO
take the road from Shop Spring TO Boards
Mill.
With my staff and few OrderIies, / re-
manned near the mill until the rear of the
column had been gone about half an hour,
when ! sent orders 30 Col. Kline and Maj.
Mix to withdraw their men, and join NE
without delay.
On the arrival of the Sd Ind. and 4th
Mich, / at once followed the other regi-
ments. About half mile from Shop Spring,
as was passing large house standing back
from the road, on the right hand side, a
woman came running to the gate, calling as
she ran, "Gentlemenl Gentlemeni"
With a couple of my staff officers l rode
over to the gate. and, raising my hat, said:
"Can / do anything for you, madam ? :"
She replied:
:" wanted to tell you that those horrid
Yankees are about half mile beyond. You
will find them on the side of the hill to your
left, and l hope you viii kill every one of
them"
waited patiently until she got through,
and then said:
Thank you, madam; but you must al
low me to inform you that we are Yankees,
and that there are great many more Yam
KEGS behind us. And now land / am afraid
ripped out good, energetic oath or two
a thing / was very seldom guilty of go
back to your house as quickly as God will
let you, and if you show as much as the tip
of your ugly nose outside your door before
8 o'clock tomorrow morning your house
will be burned"
She was pretty badly frightened, and COM
menced to beg and apologize; but had no
time to waste with her. / told her if she
did not return to her house at once 1 would
burn it then and there She disappeared
very quickly, and have good reason TO be-
lieve that she religiously did as she was
told and did not leave her house until after
o o'clock.
/ arrived at Boards Mill at a. H., and
bivouacked for the remainder of the night
The brigade arrived at Murfreesboro at
p. M, having marched GA miles since leaving
there % hours before, and having sustained
loss Of two men killed, one 4th .. S. aud
one 9Th Iowa
Vale, in "Minty and the Cavalry" cen
I,
this occasion. On pages 166 and 167 he
says: The brigade being without artillery
and the horses badly fatigued by the long
march of So miles, Minty, knowing he was
Outnumbered three TO one, was certainly
justified by every consideration of a prudent
regard for the safety of his command and
the lives of his men, in declining TO fight at
such disadvantage; yet still the author be-
lieyes now, 20 years after the event. as he
did on the field, that vigorous attack at 8
.. NJ, after the three hours rest, would have
resulted in the defeat of Morgan at that
time and place, and saved the humiliation
and destruction of property inflicted by the
raid into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, upon
which he was then Oh the point of starting.
Morgan did not want 10 fight, and none of
his command, except Dukes Brigade, were
worth cent. Most of them being only de-
sirOus OF getting safely into Kentucky be-
yond the reach OF our organized cavalry,
would not have been likely TO have offered
avery desperate resistance; while Mintyis
men knowing, as every one of them did,
that they were pitted against large odds,
would have been nerved TO almost super
human efforts.
The decisive consideration, however with
the Colonel was that Gen. Rosecrans, being
on the eve of an advance against Bragg had
cautioned all his cavalry officers not TO risk
the serious Gripping Of their forces in any
minor encounter, and Minty's prudence
was highly satisfactory TO both Gen. Rose
Grams and Gen. Stanley
1t was not known at this time that John
Morgan was organizing force to make a
raid north.
Although Morgan personally was not g
fighter, he had under his command as good
soldiers as there were in the field, and many
of his officers were good fighters. COL Basil
Duke, for instance, was one of the best and
most dashing cavalry officers in the Con-
federate army. There did not appear to be
any good reason why / should take the
risk-the terrible risk-Of attacking. with
such enormous odds against me; with no
possibility OF securing either reinforcements
or support; where defeat meant, practically,
snnihilation. Here, i think, are sufficient
reasons for my declining to give battle, be-
sides the all-suficient reasons given by Vale
himself.
1t went very much against my grain to
reatreat, but then thought, and still think,
1t was my duty to do so.
The closing paragraph of my official re-
port Of this expedition reads as follows:
If / had had couple of pieces OF
artillery, John Morgan should have given
me battle or Alexandria but without them
felt that would be fighting at too great a
disadvantage, and wonld be uselessly sac
rihcipg the lives of my men. / therefore
considered IT my duty 10 retire"
] had unbounded confidence in the three
regiments that served under me for three
years-the 4th U. S., the 7th Pa, and my
own grand and noble regiment, the 4th
Mich. Not once had either Of these regi-
ments fallen back from position in which
had placed them, and not once had they
failed TO charge home when ] had given
them the order 10 do so. And the Sd Ind
and 9Th Iowa, whenever they were with me
had shown that they possessed unsurpassed
fighting qualities.
i therefore knew full well that the SOC
men who were then subject to my orders
could do ali or more than could be done by
any other 800, and if / had known of any
good and sufficient reason why / should al
IL