The National tribune., 1893-07-06
PICKETING AND SCOUTING.
Incidents in the History of the Saber Bri-
r-a.ln Army Of tire Cumberland.


7ICKETING from one to three miles
- in advance of the infantry, as we
l. did, the cavalry was almost daily
engaged with the enemy. At times
had to take my entire brigade to the front
TO support the pickets and prevent their
being driven in.
On June 3, 1863, my pickets on the Man
chester and Wartrace roads were vigorously
attacked by large force.
At this time my camp was close to the
infantry line of pickets; indeed, couple o.
weeks prior, when moved camp, the imam
try line ran through the center of the new
camps Of the 4th Mich and 18th Pa, and had
TO be thrown forward a couple of hundred
yards to get outside my camp-guard.
Within five minutes after being notified
of the attack, / was moving to the front with
the 4th Mich, 9TH Pa, Sd Ind, ard Lieut..
Newelfs section Of artillery on 4 sharp trot.
/ met one brigade Of cavalry and one of
mounted infantry with seven pieces of artil
lery. the latter in position near Col Nor
mans house. on rising ground, TO the right
or west of the Wartrace road.
The 4th Mich. dismOunteG, and, pressing
forward in sllirmishing order, soon forced
the artillery back. l advanced with my
entire force, ard in a couple Of hours had
driven the enemy from the field. Ireturued
to camp with loss Of three men wounded;
before doing so, however, l ordered all OF
Col. Normans outbuildings burned, IS they
had been used as cover by the enemy !
also cautioned Col. Norman that if his friends
used his house in the same manner it also
would be burned. l had no further trouble
in that direction.
During the night of June Gen. Rosecrans
Ia h. 1y,r,,-
nation that heavy force Of the enemy was
moving toward Triune.
At O'Clock on the morning Of the 10th I
received orders TO push forward on the Salem
road, ascertain what force, if any, was NOV
ing, and 10 report by courier direct to Gen.
Roseerans from the bridge on the Salem
pike, from Salem, and from such other points
as ! might deem advisable.
] dispatched my first courier from the
bridge at 3:45 a. M, ana my second from
Salem at 4:30 a. m. At this point / de-
tached Lieut.-Col. Kline with the Sd Ind.
and 4th Mich. toward Middleton, and pre-
ceeded with the 4th Z. S. and 9TH Pa. to
Versailles. At Versailles / struck cavalry
picket, which quickly retreated toward Ro-
YER From here / sent scout of so men to
Eaglesville, and dispat ched my third courier
to Gen. Rosecrans at $50 a. m.
At Rover / found two regiments of cav
airy, which were quickly driven through
and beyond UDionville.
From Rover l made my fourth report TO
Headquarters at Z a. NJ. At UniOnyille
I halted, and, being fully satisfied that there
was no force of the enemy moving, ] so
reported to Gen. Rosecrans at a. ~, and
started on my return TO Murlreesboro.
At Versailles / was joined by my Eagles
S-,1, i =
his command, neither force having encoun-
tered the enemy. We arrived at Murlrees-
boro at about 2 p. N.
On the 18th it was reported that Col
Basil Duke, one of the best officers in Gen.
John Morgan's Division, was in Lebanon
with his brigade. At p. m, with 1900
men, left Murfreesboro on the Lebanon
pike, with the object if possible, of cap
turing the force.
At Stone River, fed horses, had The men
get their suppers, and made every prepare
tiOn for an all-night march.
By a. ID. on the 10th the town of Leba-
non was surrounded, and my gallant troop
ers moved in on every road leading into the
city. We met in the square only to learn
that Basil Duke had left the town about the
same time / left Murfreesboro. Oar bird
had flown; he had gone out on the Sparta
road. followed him as far as Spring Creek,
where, finding plenty of corn, halted to
feed horses and TO give my weary men
much needed rest. The horses were enjoy
ing their corn, and more than one-half Of
the men were already asleep, when the
videts were driven in. We were in a narrow
valley, with bold, rugged hills on both sides
To horse sounded, and every man was
soon in his saddle and ready for the fray.
he "a De Id l. Il
moved down the right side of the valley,
and the 4th Mich, commanded by Mai.
Mix, down the left side, both officers having
received orders TO keep slightly in advance
Of the column On the pike, which consisted
Of the zth q. s., 9Th Iowa, and Sd Ind, in
the order named. The enemy fell back as
We advanced until near Shop Spring, the
junction Of the road leading TO Boards Mill,
where Col. Duke made a stand, his men dis
mounting and taking position behind the
fences.
One squadron Of the 4th Regulars, com
manded by Lieut.. O'Connel, charged and
captured over 20 Of the enemy before they
could get back TO their horses.
The horses of the Confederates were
fresh, while ours were tired from their long
night march; so when they were mounted
we could not get near them.
At II o'clock, having secured possession
Of geard's Mill road, halted to rest orses,
and directed the men to get their breakfasts
but there was no forage for our animals
At half past II we again advanced the
entire force on the turnpike, the 18th Pa. in
advance, followed by the 4th Mich and the
other regiments IN the cid order. We adj
vanced steadily, the enemy, which had been
considerably reinforced, falling back before
us. At about 2 p. m. ] halted at Waters's
Mill, near the foot Of the valley. / sent
Col. Sipes with the 7th Pa and part OF the
= 9th Iowa TO make a reconnaissance towards
Alexandria, now only four miles distant;
picketed strongly in front and on the TANKS,
and proceeded TO unsaddle and feed horses.
At Lebanon, and at all points along my
line of march, ] received information that
Gen. John Morgan was at Alexandria with
5000 men and is pieces of artillery.
When horses were unsaddIed, Mr. Wal
tiers, whom 1 knew to be good Union man.
appeared TO be extremely nervous and
seemed DESTROYS of securing my attention
After little time / walked towards him,
and he moved away, looking back occasion
ally to see that l followed; passing round
the corner of building he stopped and
waited for me- and as Joined him he said,
excitedly: I" My God, Colonel, what are you
dOing?" / replied CAS- you see; feeding
horses" Walters rejoined: Don't you
know that John Morgan, with 5000 men