The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-03-13

EARLY in the winter OF 1So4-0 General
StOnenan set out from Tennessee to raid
southwest Virginia. That region had
never been touched by the large armies,
hut the Confederates maintained show
of force there which varied with tho for
tunes of their side in territory adjoining
Shut in by the mountains, it was good
refuge after defeat and when fighting was
going on near its borders troops and bat
talions poured forth to the conflict 1t
was in southwest Virginia that Morgan'S
escaping raiders reformed ranks after their
wild ride through Ohio. The Kentucky
troopers, to the number of 800, chung to-
gether in a so called brigade. General
Basil w. Duke, the noted Kentuckian
Morgan's right hand man when the di-
vision was in its glory, commanded this
remnant.
Three other brigades belonged ito the
forces occupying the region. 1t was called
the military department. of southwest Vir-
ginia. Breckenridge, also Kentuckian,
commanded the department. The troops
under him numbered 3, 500. The men
were all Tennesseeans or KentuckianS, in
ured to war in its hardest phases by their
campaigns in the mountains. The briga-
diers besides Duke, were Giltner, Vaughn
and Cosby. Stoneman led 6, 1000 men, and
his first stroke was TO cut off Vaughn's
brigade of L. 400 men, thus robbing Brock
But the prize at stake called for forIorn
hope Defense and the handful remaining
included fighters, from generals to privates,
who would stand and die with Spartan
courage in the last pass. The prize was
the famous Kings salt works and the lead
mines, which furnished the Confederacy
with two of it's Indispensable supplies.
Breckenridge held his troopers in hand
at Saltville, awaiting Stoneman's first
I'm no of
brought W ord that the raiders were strik
ing out for Wytheville, where the lead
works were located. Duke Immediately
started with $50 picked men TO harass the
enemy's column. With a farmer for a
guide he rode off in the night and speedily
came upon Union picket. At the first
shot the guide bounded from his horse and
disappeared. In the enemy's camps there
was a martial stir and sound Of bugles
calling ''boots and saddles 1t was plain
that the $50 rash raiders had fallen upon
Stoneman's main camp. 1t was very
dark, and after posting line OF pickets
Duke bivouaoked in a oornfeld with his
men. With cornstalks for couches the
weary troopers slept soundly until aroused,
just before daybreak, by the sentinels.
Looking across the field, they beheld in
the dim light long line of gigantic fig
ures, enveloped in cavalry overcoats, sitting
on their horses like grim warders before
the palace of q mediaeval king. There
were 1, 900 or more in the column, and
they might have circled about the sleeping
Confederates, bagging the whole command,
but evidently had overlooked them because
they were so close. Duke couldn't hazard
fight, and his foes evidently believed that
his force was too strong for them to deal
with. The troopers banded words across
the "bloody chasm' for an hour; then the
Kentuckians rode back to their comrades
at Saltville.
Breckenridge was 1oath to grant Stone
man an open road to the lead works and
threw his entire force across his path at a
point called Marion heights. While wait
ing for the raiders to appear the tedium Of
idleness was relieved by couple of Incl
dents peculiar to wild warfare. Duke s
men had picked up three deserters on their
ride toward Stoneman's camps, and Il
drumhead court martial had sentenced
them to death They were executed with
due ceremony as a warning to others. The
proceedings were interrupted by courier
who dashed into camp with dispatches
from the front. A self constituted defender
of the sacred soil, Colonel Wycher-col-
onel, of course although he commanded
but go men-had let loose his battalion of
independents" upon the TANKS of Stone
mans raiders. Wycher's first message
read, I'VE are pushing them hard and Civ
ing 1t TO them at every jump" Soon fol-
lowed one written evidently after the first
blood had been spilled. 1t said, II am OBJ
serving Stoneman's column" More and
more subdued in tone, several messages
followed until finally the colonel con-
fessed that he was retiring toward the lines
of his hackers at Marion and in need OF
help. This message was followed by a