The National tribune., 1898-05-12
CAPTURE OF THE 9th OHIO CAV.
Comrade j. L. Gamble Tells How 1t All
Happened.

|
! Happened.
! Editor National Tribune: Recently nv
| attention was called to articles by DR.. ] p.
| Cannon, and f. j. WentZ, of Little Falls,
| n. Y, with reference to the capture of Co.
| q, 9th Ohio Cav, during the civil war AS
one of the survivors of that event, was
| pleased TO read the articles.
The account OF the capture as given by DIR.
| Cannon is substantially as / recollect it.
However, do not remember that we were
| greatly " scared, " or that we thought the
| attacking party belonged to Forests com
mand. AS we had the previous day under
orders from Headquarters been fOraginC
| upon the citizens OF that section, we (that
| is, l at least at first supposed they had
| banded together and were trying TO drive us
| from our position, in order to recover their
| property. We could not blame them for
| that.
We had time to escape by fight, but did
not do so, for several reasons: We were
| sold ers; we didn't think of such thing;
we did not know the numbers or character
| of the enemy. We stood our ground and
| exchanged shots with them for about 10
minutes, thus giving them time wi h their
| superior force to swing around and com
| pletely surround us. They, being humane,
manfestly did not want to shoot us down
| unnecessarily and so called out to us to
| surrender
We now began to see by the dim glare of
our smouldering campfireS that we were
| greatly outnumbered by uniformed soldiers
in infantry dress and that to fight longer
would lie reckless and foolhardy. We did
the best thing that could be done at that
time-namely, surrendered.
Our captorS told us they belonged to the
9th and 18th Ala; their ranks were
greatly depleted by long, hard service at
hood just across the Tennessee River for
the purpose of resting and recruiting.
They sad they had all been prisoners at
one time or another, some OF them several
times, and that they had been treated well
by the Yankees.
Hetzler was openly denounced for the sur
render. and for rot putting a guard on tie
river side OF the plantation, etc. wish to
correct this fasSe and unjust impression
Wilen there wcS 20 one left to tell the StCTy,
on what ground could such Judgment be
Termed? After the hard work of the day,
t;.ll G2v long il the sadde), we would not
lave rcma Incd at that point Peters plan
tationl for the night, but for several
reaSCrS. as recOllect them. The men were
very tired from hard service for several Gays
and nights before this. The zoo or more
cattle gathered from all over the country
would naturally be hard TO drive away in
the night. In fOraging, we had divided into
squads of six or eight men each, and the
squad which commanded did not get in
WIN Ctttlt, nuleS anu DSiCOH uutlI aIter
II o'clock that night. a Captain and one
or two men belonging to regiment about
five niles back Of us, which was stationed
there to guard the river, reported to our
Captain that afternoon that the river, V hich
was very high, was ell-guarded and we
were perfectly safe, and need have no fear. !
think this regiment was the eth III. M't'd
Inf. Our Captain did put out two pickets
and stationed camp guard. One of the !
pickets, Geo. S. Vanmeter, and one of the |
camp guard, James Jones, were killed. IL |
anyone ever thought of attaching blame to |
our Captain, it was certainly without
reason, for he was a good soldier, and as |
myself know, he was always exceedingly |
kind to his men.
DR.. Cannons statements were very fair |
in substance and kind in spirit and am |
very glad to state that we found our Cap |
tors to be gentlemen and kind of heart. I |
remember not the least i'll treatment on /
their Fart. On the six days march to