The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-03-14

y
iedera.e States
By command of the Secretary of
War Samuel W Melton, Major and
4 A G
S G Spann, present
Pursuant to the foregoing authori
ty. I first organized company IN
Mobile, with headquarters at Stone
Street Redoabts Lieu. Sd Keith as
drill master John G Ransom. a @;
Gen Dsbaey II Maury, department
commander then proceeded to
raise other companies to form bat
talon of mounted cavalry This !
succeeded in perfecting, with ) VI
Tindal as captain of Company A, 5
A D Steel as captain OF Company B,
N NJ Burke as captain of Company
G and John Harrison as captain OF
Company D
In the outse: this command was
gotten up with the expectation OF
operating, under orders cf Gen liar.
dee, as indicated above But Gen
Hardee vas transferred to the East
ern division. which changed the
nature of the service and opened new
territory for future operations. The
above named companies were oroered
to Tuscaloosa, Ala, where, in Sep
tember, 1868, the command was duly
organized, with s G Spann major
The musters rolls were formally made
out. copies of which were forwarded
to the secretary of war Tuscaloosa
was the gateway into Northwest
Alabama
It was at Tuscaloosa that the Con
federate States Military Academy
was established The chief cotton,
wool and shoe and net factories were
located there The iron bridge
across the Black Warrior River con
nected the western and eastern Sec
tions of Alaba ms at this point. The
enemy had made frequent raids in
that vicinity and the city was on
several occasions under imminent
danger of being captured. Gen n
B. Forrest was stationed at Okolona,
Miss, Gen G j Pillow was stationed
a: Montgomery, Ala. and l was
stationed at Tuscaloosa, Ala, with
instructions from Gen Maury to re
port ready fer duty to both
Gen Forrest and Gen Pillow,
who were about equally distant from
Tuscaloosa This was promptly
done My command up to this time
was known as Spann's battalion of
Independent scouts. Gen Pillow OBJ
!ected to the style as calculated to
mislead and prodace confusion. He
therefore advised that the command
should take some numerical designa
ton. No objection being interposed,
the command was called the 18th
Confederate cavalry, aud forwarded
Gen Pillows recommendations to S
Cooper, A and / General, Richmond,
that in future Spann's battalion of
iodependen. scouts shcuid be known
as the 18th Confederate Cavalry, and
it SO appears in my subsequent
reports
Now that the main forces of
Confederate troops had been transfer
red to Eastern field Of action, all
North Alabama was consequently
exposed to Federal raids and depre-
dations by deserters snd Union
sympathizers who had organized into
bandits and highway ro5oers gener-
ally
This battalion had hardly gotten
into fighting trim when a sorad OF
reconnoi:ering scouts dashed into
camp and reported two Federal raids
heading towards Tuscaloosa. one
under command of Federal Col
Grierson, and the other under com
mand of Federal Col Strait. Gen
Forrest had received simultaneous
notice of their approach and at once
intercepted them at Sand Mountain,
North Alabama, where he gained a
signal victory with ooly e!ight
casualties. himself receiving wound
iu the heel The 18th battalion, be
ing skillfu1ly deployed along the
atermelon Road. leading down to
Tuscaloosa from the direction OF the
fight rendered efficient service agaloss
detached squads of the enemy. The
thanks of the city officials. and pro.
fessors of the State cadets, and the
scperinteudents of the various fac
tories were cordially rendered this
battalion Gen Forests command,
after this engagement, moved to the
front, but this battalion continued 10
Tuscaloosa and in the immediate
support Of Gen G j. Pillows
orders
Foes the mere eHec,uai execution Of
the duties devolved upon me | issued