The Florence daily tribune., 1899-10-30
IurersoiI In the war.

From the Washington Post: Robert
G. Ingersoll. when IN Washington some
years ago. sought out Hon n. n. Cox
OF Tennessee. and expressed his graft
tude for the preservation of his life by
that gentleman thirty-odd years before.
I. is quite an interesting story. thrill
ing episode OF the great war between
the states. One morning. the winter OF
lS62-63, Gen Forest had ordered Ma
I jor Cox to take 250 men and go into
Trenton. Tenn. ito see what he could
find there" There had been a rain the
day before followed by a severe frost
The roads were in wretched condition
and Cox made rather slow progress in
his journey of fifteen miles When he
had gone about half the distance he
met a countryman who had just come
/ from Trenton. Cox at once discovered
that he was a southern man, and plac-
ed implicit reliance upon what he said,
I The countryman represented to him
/ that there was full regiment of feder-
al infantry in the stockade around the
railroad depot and that they could
whip thousand men. Cox sent an or
derly back to Forrest with note ex-
planning the situation, and proceeded
slowly on his march to Trenton. When
about a mile from town he heard a
great clatter of horses hoofs behind,
and up rode Forrest like a thunderbolt
at the head of sixty men. "I'll show
you how to take this d--d town" he
roared, and so they bolted into Gren-
ton at Gilpin pace. and yelling like
mad They charged in front and we're
/ repulsed. Forrest then made a flank
movement, charged again. and the fed
eral commander surrendered. Forrest,
Cox and half a dozen other confeder-
ates entered the stockade, and the fed
eral soldiers proceeded to ground their
arms. They were sullen about 1t and
let go their arms with much reluctance.
| They felt that it was a most unnecessa-
ry sur ander. and that honor. too had
been s. erificed. 1t came into Forests
mind thar they might renew the fight
and take him prisoner Turning to Cox
he said; Major Cox. order Gen. Bu-
ford to march into town with his divi-
sion" Cox knew that Buford was ff-
teen miles away, but he saluted and
started to execute the order. The fed
erals were bluffed and in a very few
minutes they were almost without
arms Among the prisoners Cox found
Robert G. Ingersoll. He walked up to
him and said: Are you not that Yam
kee colonel we captured day before yes
terday?" 81 am" was the reply.
What are you doing in here?" said
Cox Il came here to take the train
for north to await my exchange
Great God" said Cox. 'if Forrest
finds you in here with his parole in
your pocket he will stand you up and
order a squad out and shoot you full
of holes"
II can't help that" answered Inger-
soil. "The facts are as l told you Cox
said that he believed him, and would
smuggle him through and so he did
Forrest never knew of it. Cox said it
would have been just like Forrest to-
have Ingersoll shot and investigate af-
forwards. good store is told of Aow
Ingersolrs wit saved his life when he
was first captured. A great big rebel
had a double barreled shotgun leveled
upon him at less than ten PAGES. In
gersoll threw mp his hands and ex-
claimed. Don't shoot, my friend; don't
shoot; l have been anxious to recognize
the independence of your confederacy
for the last half an hour" The rebel
threw up his gun and exploded in
laughter. Ingersoll surrendered to him
and he was known in Forests COM
mard as that Yankee colonel whose
wit saved his life