The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-18
SOLDERING WITH WHEELER


Il -lif'fntH .jONIHE(.
! around the rear Of the Federal army
and partially Il third, which was not
altogether successful a. the yankees
had prepared for u. and wc were re-
pulsed
| was also with the second raid in
which wc lost some men but captured
more prisoners than at the first. |
! started with the third raid but was
/ compelled 10 return on account of a
tame horse the third had rode down
in that campaign, for Wheeler s crit
ter company didn know much about
walking horses in those days. a gallop
being our usual gait On the second
raid among the prisoners was fellow
we had mounted on az old gray mare.
which had belonged to one Of our com
! pany who hal been killed in the melee.
She was Il very rough gated crttcr,
and while the other horses were in an
easy lopc the old mare was in a long,
swinging trot, and the poor yankee
with his feet out Of the stirrups cling
ing for dear life to the saddle and
bouncing about inches from his scat
at every jump the old mare made was
ridiculous in the extreme rode up
by his side and remarked "My friend.
ii seems that ynIi are not accustomed
to riding. Tho poor fellow replied
between rasps: ''Ycs I'vc rode in
a buggy and in carriage but
never rode like this before
1t is not safe to trust memory after
all these years, but my recollection is
that the results Of this campaign Of
General Whcclcr's were the dcstruc-
ton and capture Of one thousand and
ten wagons and contents, nearly a
thousand prisoners. rcmounting many
OF his men who needed fresh horses.
and the capture and destruction Of q
gun boat on the Cumberland river
We had the whole Federal army with
out rations for nearly three DAYS.
There is a citizen Of Atlanta who was
a raymastcr in the Federal army, and
one day he remarked to me that at the
battle Of "Stonc River Chat being
the name the I'cdcrals called the bat
tlc) he had 100000 in his safe and
couldn't buy ponc Of corn bread.
OF cnursc | reminded him that was
one Of the boys who had helped destroy
his rations.
AS said before can tell but little
about General WhccIer's subsequent
campaigns, but the above is fair
sample. should scarcely have fiat
tered myself that am remembered by
him, but at Nashville last summer he
assured my son tina: he had not for.
gotten the Pelham boys and Dodson
of the Fifty-first Alabama, and Colonel
Jack Prathcr of the Eighth Confcdc-
rate. There was slight disparity
between the positions held by General
Wheeler and myself, the one being
i'lajor General and the other high
private in the rear rank But never
met him that he did not seem to try to
show BY his salutation that he re-
spcctcd the private as much as the
private respected the General. 70 nc
he was and is the ideal cavalry com
mandcr, and can not help feeling
personal pride in tho fact that my old
commander is one Of the first for
nclc Sam to call into service. In
my youthful eyes such men rs Wheel
or, Stuart and Wade Hampton "sccm-
cd giants, and manhood $ more dis
eliminating gaze see them undimin-
| ishcd.
General Wheeler never asked his
men to go where he would not lead,
and for this We loved him, and gladly
rode with him into places where We
knew all could not come out alive.
| -e-------