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

"reminiscences OF UeDerdl w NeSltI: luy
old commander, I will say that | was
captured in 1868, just preceding the
battle Of Chickamauga, [ cannot tell
you from personal kno~ledge anything
of his campaigns after that date.
AS, however, was with General
Wheeler before and after the battle of
Murfreesboro, it has occurred to me
that possibly some Of his doings dur
ing that memorable engagement might
be Of some interest to your readers.
OF course the recollections Of a private
must be more personal than historical,
and I trust Twill not be accused Of
egotism if I am compelled to use the
pronoun sI" rather frequently.
The battle of Murfreesboro has al
ways seemed to me the most deliber-
ately planned of any during the war
and should have resulted in greater
victory than we achieved. General
Bragg seemed to have selected his own
ground, intrenched himself, and then
sent his cavalry under General Wheel
er to bring on the engagement. We
skirmished with the Federals for sew
eral days, gradually falling back and
sstollipg" them on to the battle-ground
already selected. Toward the last the
enemy sstolled" rather too freely for
comfort, and on the afternoon before
the battle we were glad to gallop
through the infantry lines to escape
shower Of bullets.
The night preceding the battle we
were marched little distance from
Murfreesboro and encamped. We
we're allowed to feed our horses,
snatched bite to eat and a little rest
for ourselves, but no saddles were
removed and profound silence was
commanded. At about midnight we
were mounted and on the march, but
what our destination was we had not
the slightest idea. The camp fires OF
the enemy were in plain view, and it
seemed that we were marching directly
toward them. [ remember thinking
that if we were to charge the enemy S
4 line what q mess we would make of it
in the darkness, not being able to dis
tinguish yankee from rebel. In
fact it was the darkest night | remem-
ber before or since. We literally
could scarcely see our hands before
our faces. We forded Stone river and
I could not see the water, but could
hear it gurgling and kissing, and could
feel it half way up my horses sides.
We rode on during the night, and as
day began to dawn commenced look
ing for some landmark to indicate
where we were. Imagine my amaze
ment when I discovered we were in
the outskirts of Luvergne, which l
knew to be fifteen miles in the rear OF
Federal army.
Our regiment John T. Morgan 81
rode second in the command, and it
was not long before we heard music
ahead. (Any old soldier will know
that by music I mean the clatter Of
musketry, punctured with an occasional
boom of cannon). Presently courier
came back to order up another regi-
ment, which was ours, and We went in
with whoop. The fighting was about
over, for there was but small force
to oppose us, which we brushed
away with scarcely halt. But the
fun had just commenced. Prisoners
running this way and that, hunting
somebody to surrender to, army wag-
ons blazing, guns popping, mules
braying, etc. Some of the wagons
we're loaded with ammunition, and
some were set fire to while the teams
Of four 30 six mules were yet hltched
to them, and as the fire commenced to
scorch the wheelers, and the ammu-
milton to explode, you can imagine
about as wild stampede as you can
conceive Of. When I first rode into
the circus / noticed pair Of mules
that had broken loose from a wagon.
They were ssill hitched to the double
tree; one had got entangled with the
harness and was down, with the other
dragging him. AS l rode out | en-
countered the same pair Of mules, one
having dragged the other nearly 8
mile. One of US dismounted and cut
the hame strings, when muly jumped
up as nimbly as if he had just beer
taking that sort Of ride for hi:
health, and was not in the least in
jured.
Twas riding borrowed horse, anc
my first care was to provide one o.
my own at Uncle Sans expense
Th,s did oot him safely TO camp