The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-09-09
THEY WERE 1T NO BLOODY HNGLES
But Che 9Th Ind. Cav. Performed C0nscien.
tious and Effective Service.

tious and Effective Service.
EDITGR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The first
year OF service of the 9th Ind. Cav was
as infantry and wiIIle we were yet raw
and entirely without experience as soldiers
knowing little of the drill OF tactics we
were hurried TO the field and took part In
the battle of Richmond, KY, and were
defeated by Kirby Smith, and a considerable
part of the regiment were taken prisoners.
A l1ttle later, after being exchanged, we
were sent TO guard the railread trestle
at NIuldraugh's Hill, about 81 miles south of
Louisville; and In day or two john Nor
gan came along with about 1900 cavalry
and took US all III, except u few of the boys
who made their way out And one of the
few VINO escEped being captured was Serg't
Case, OF Co. K, who had the regimental
flag IN ms keeping, and saved it by taking
it from the staff and wrapping IT about his
person and putting his clothes On over It.
In this MuIdraugf1's Hill affair little less
than half the regiment were concerned.
The balance were IN Indiana. We were
again paroled and returned to indianapolis,
where we remained for some time, and be-
fore being sent to the field again were
mounted and armed with carbines, and two
more companies were added, one of which
was Capt. Thompsons (Co. NJ J. and were
henceforward called the 9Th Ind. Cav.
For long time L have been wondering
how the 9th Cav. compared with other
Indiana regiments. Did we accomplish
anything? Did we do any thing worthy of
mention? After being converted into cav
airy and mounted on horses we went
through the rough campaigns in Kentucky
and East Tennessee during the Winter of
1663-64, hunting guerrillas and bushwhack-
ers and putting them to rOut. We Joined
Sherman's army early in May near Dalton,
Ga, and were in all the campaign to At
lanta, participating in fight near Varneli's
Station, and had a hand in the battles of
Resaca, Cassyille, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw
Mountain, MitchelPs Crossroads, Chatta-
hoOchee River, and then, returning to Ten
nesSee, joined In the cam paign against For
rest, fought him at Pulaski and fol-
lowed him in hot pursuit when he
left that place, and took no rest till he
left the Stale This was an exhausting
campaign of 2l days, most of the time in
the saddle. Then when Hood, while Sher-
man was marching to the sea, came to Ten
nessee and invested the city of Nashville,
we were there and took part in that two
days battle that resulted IN one of the great
est victories Of the war.
This isan outline or skeleton sketch of what
the 9th Ind. Cav. did while in the service :;
and, while it was not our luck to encounter
any bloody angles" such as the old 14lh
did in Virginia, or any hornets nests"
such as were found at Shiloh, it must be
conceded that it had its ups and downs
about the same as others, and that in no
sense was it dress-parade regiment simply.
/ wanted to see in figures how we stood,
so / took the official reports, as published by
the Adjutant-General of the State, and |
went through our regiment man by man TO
see just how many men we had lost by the
casualties of battle, and in the figures given
| count the killed outright, died OF wounds,
and the missing in action not afterward ac
counted for And this is the result given
by companies: In the first place, we lost
two field officers-Col. Topping and Maj.
Conklin. Then follows Co. A with one Off
Ger and eight men: Co. 3, 10; Co. c, seven !;
Co. d, four; Co. L, IL; Co. F, nine; Co. G,
six; Co. H, one officer and II men; Co. /,
four; Co. X, nine; Co l., =; Co. NJ, four !;
footing up four officers and 81 men-a total
of SO for the regiment.-T. NJ. ROBERTSON,
Brazil, Ind.