The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-02-28

captured the plckctS, no alarm vas
given, and the surprise was SO
complete that no resistance was
offered. Most Of the officers were in
bed.
The cavalry stationed at the Fair
Grounds vanished away. the Confcd-
crates parollcd $500 infantry, most of
whom could have made their cscapc if
they had SO desired. Al Illinois reg
imcnt sent word to Gen. Van Dorm that
they wished to be parolled, but he re-
piled that he would accept no pledge Of
them, as men who wanted to be pa
rolled were scrviccable in the enemy s
camp.
1t IS evident that Gen. Grant count
cd too confidently on the weakness of
his enemy. An attack in the rear was
contingency for which no provision
had been made. Millions Of dollars
worth Of valuable stores had been piled
up at Holly Springs, but not 81 lie
brca>twork had been thrown up, not
one bale Of cotton had been piled on
another in case Of attack. There
we're thousands Of soldiers in the
town, but they evidently never cx-
pcctcd to be awakened by the Rebel
yell.
The casualties were ridiculously
small; SO far us | could learn there
was but one man killed. a Federal
soldier running from Confederate
looked back with his mouth wide open.
The Rebel took aim and fired right
into it. There were many officers
wives i'll the town, but, though terri
bly, shocked and frightened, they were
entirely unmolestcd. Gen. Grant S
family were boarding at Mrs. Hugh
Govan, beautiful and cultured wo-
man, daughter of Bishop Hawks, of
New York. Mrs. Grant had gone to
Oxford to spend the day with the
General, but she returned to find all
OF her belongings safe with her hos
tess; only her carriage had been burn
cd along with other munitions Of
war 1t is said that when the Con-
fedcrate soldiers came rushing in,
hoping to capture Gen. Grant's war
papers, Mrs. Govan met them at the
head of the stairs and said, Soldiers,
it doesn't become Southern gentlemen
to enter a lady's bedroom" and they
all turned back, leaving the coveted
prize in bureau drawer.
The Confederate soldiers formed
In line about 4 clock in the after
noon and vanished as suddenly as they
had appeared, leaving nothing but
the smouldering ruins aud taking only
the consciousness Of glorious victo-
ry. Penetrating still farther into the
enemys lines, they broke up the Mem
phis and Charleston Railroad at La
grange, Tenn, and proceeded north on
the Illinois Central as far as Bolivar,
burning bridges and trestles, and in
every possible way obstructing the
operations of Grants army. These
men were in the saddle seventeen
days, alternating ride Of eight hours
with rest of four, day and night.
They carried their ammunition on
their person, slept on the ground with
out blankets, and shared their scanty
rations OF corn only with their hor-
ses.
Never vas there greater vicissi.
tudc Of fortune, from the height Of
triumph to the depth Of despair, than
befell border town as night closed in
on that goth of December, 1863. The
twenty-five hundred paroled soldiers
swarmed like a hive of angry bees.
Defeated, hungry and houseless, they
declared they would burn the town,
and they were only prevented by the
instructive generosity Of the people.
Seeing the sad plight Of these men,
the citizens, to the utmost of their
capacity, took them into their homes,
and these soldiers rewarded their hos
pitelity by atfording chem much nced-
ed protection in the dark days that
followed.
The burning Of millions of dollars
worth Of government stores was hea-
w blow, but the consequences Of their
destruction were far more disastrous.
That splendid army had been gotten
together at great expense and many
weeks had been consumed in car
rying them into the heart Of Missis-
sippi.
Now the railroad was broken up and
the stores burned, the country
through which they had come was de-
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