The National tribune., 1893-06-22
THE SAUNDERS RAID.

THE SAUNDERS RAID.
Sketch of the Part Taken by Two Guns o
Battery ID, LIST Ohio L. A.
TN the issue of May II notice an inter
esting sketch of the Saunders raid, from
- R. c. Rankin, Captain commanding de-
tachment, 7th Ohio Cav.
As TO exact dates of the burning of 9
woolen-mill at Lenoir, and the artillery
practice at Knoxville, the Captain is little
of. He says we crossed the Cumberland
River June 49, We captured Wortsbure
early in the morning of June 1S, which
village and post was at least 70 miles south
of the Cumberland River where we crossed.
The woolen-mill spoken of was 8 cotton
mill, and was not burned. ! saw the cotton
mill in April, 1864.
The Captain says at Knoxville, at day
light, the artillery fred three shots. Now,
/ helped to man one of the two guns, when
the guns were used at all on this raid, and
know that 10 to Is shots were fred from
each piece at Knoxville, when the attack
was made by us in the morning.
1t is now 80 years since the Saunders raid
| WAS made, and perhaps sketch of the raid
as / saw it would not be uninteresting.
The expedition OF raid, under command
| of Gen. Saunders, to destroy the East Ten
nessee & Georgia Railroad, commenced its
march from Mt. Vernon, KY, on Sunday
morning, June IA, 1863. We reached Worts-
burg soon after sunrise on the 18th. The
enemy was surprised, and surrendered over
100 men, with considerable supplies of ann
munition and provisions. We paroled the
prisoners, destroyed the ammunition, and
divided the provisions among the people of
the village, and those who came in from the
country.
By 10 o'clock we had completed our de-
struction and division and were again on the
march, intending to strike the railroad at
LoudOn, where the railroad crosses the Ten
nessee River.
Learning that the force at Loudon was
greater than we expected, we struck therail-
road at Lenoir, "a miles west of Knoxville
having to march much of the night of the
18th to reach Lenoir early in the morning.
Here the depot was burned, containing con-
siderable amount of fixed ammunition. We
withdrew to safe distance to witness the
pyrotechnic display.
On June 10, as we started from Lenoir,
detail was sent On the railroad running
nearly parallel with the wagon-Ioad to de-
stroy the railroad bridges, trestles, etc.,
while the main column pushed On for Knox
vile.
On the morning of the Goth, about
o'clock, a demonstration against Knoxville
was made. AS we advanced toward ridge
about q half mile northeast of the town, the
enemy's IA guns opened on Us. Our two
guns soon got into position on the ridge 10
the left of the Cumberland Gap road, and
began the unequal contest with the enemy.
We were satisfied before we Withdrew from
the ridge that our artillery practice had not
been in vain. But on our return to Ten
nessee under Gen. Burnside Sept. /, we
learned to certainty of our good work in
June.
A brother of one of the enemy's killed ap-
preached Lieut.. VIM. Lloyd (who was in
command of the section of artillery on the
Saunders raid) soon after we got back to
Knoxville, and complained that the artillery
he commanded in June had killed his
brother Capt. McClung) and several of his
friends. Lieut.. Lloyd told him he must
keep his friends away from the range of
his cannon if he did not want them hurt or
killed.
On June 20 we marched to Strawberry
Plains, capturing q number of prisoners,
cannon, and some supplies, and we burned
the railroad bridge across the Holston River
making destruction as complete as possible
of everything that would benefit the rebels.
Our next business was to get back to Ken
lucky, as we had completed the task assigned
us-the destruction of the railroad from
Lenoir to Messy Creek.
We found, after two days and nights of
return march, that all gaps and passes
through which artillery could cross the
mountains were strongly held by the enemy.
The order was given to destroy the artillery.
The guns were spiked, and gun-carriages
and wheels were cut down. Quick work was
done when the necessity came to abandon
those two pieces. The writer and his i'm
mediate comrades greatly regretted the
necessity for their abandonment and mutila-
ton, for on several occasions they had been
manned to make history for the Union
After the artillery was abandoned we
marched on ridge till opposite Chlder's
Gap, then across and over the Gap, camping
just over the mountain for the night.
In the morning we continued the march
via Boston, Williamsburg, Loudon, reaching
Mt. Vernon, our starting point, in the after
noon of June 81, tired but not dispirited.-
SAMUEL 8. KELso, Battery D, LIST Ohio L.
A., Muscle Fork, Mo.