The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-10-10

When the train was about to return
force of several hundred cavalry wa
seen advancing on our cavalry rear guard
apparently with the intention of making
charge, but our brass bulldogs" CAV
them n few warning shots, which the.
needed. One of our cayalrymen wa!
wounded in exchanging -carbine shots witt
the rebels.
During the afternoon of Dec. % part!
of Confederates made a dash on Squat
of pickets attached to the Odd Ill. ant
captured six men. Co. A of our regl
ment. which joined the pickets of the Do
ILL., on our right, had an opportunity t
fire Il few rounds, and they claim to have
killed horse and wounded the rider.
Our regiment was relieved from picket
duty and returned to camp at 8 a. m. Dec
"a. Shortly after, the bugles sounded the
general" from Brigade Headquarters
the call to strike tents and pack baggage
ready for immediate march. We obeyeC
the order with our usual promptneSS. Oul
baggage was loaded on the wagons, and
they were ordered back to Nashville
Shelter tents were distributed to each
man, and with full preparation for an ac-
tive campaign, and full expectation of it,
we marched off with orr faces toward the
enemy; but did not go far enough to meet
him, for we We're soon halted and ordered
back to camp, where we unpacked our
baggage and tents and remained all night.
CHRISTMAS IN CAMP.
Christmas dawned upon us without any
promise of merriment or good cheer. Our
first move was to strike tents and pack
baggage, in preparation for the march, but
after few hours the order was counter
manded, and we again pitched our tents.
We sat down to crackers and coffee for
dinner, as turkey and champagne were not
Oh j hon
full to be allowed even those in peace;
for if we had marched early in the morn
ing, as our preparations indicated, we
might have arrived in time to dine with
the Confederates, provided they had not
considered their absence better than our
company.
Dec. 26, for the third and last time,
we packed our Sibley tents on the wagons
ready to be sent back to Nashville. In
their stead we very reluctantly folded our
new-fangled ''pup-tents' on our backs,
and, with knapsacks, guns, 40 rounds of
ammunition in cartridge boxes, and three
days cooked rations in hayersacks, We
marched out of camp at s a. m, with our
faces to the south. Here began the
'tStone River Campaign" destined to end
with great battle at Murfreesboro.)
Our line of march. with the Right Wing
under command of Gen. McCook, was on
Dayis'S Division took the lead, Phil Sher-
idan's second, and our division third. The
Left Wing, under Crittenden, and Center,
under Thomas. also marched at the same
time toward Stone River by the Murfrees-
boro and the Franklin Turnpikes, parallel
with our line of march.
DIsPUTING THE ADVANCE.
We had marched but few miles when
the popping of muskets in front gave no
tice that the enemy's pickets had been
posted close to ours, in order to discover
our forward movement at the earliest mo-
ment. The skirnishing grew more Wig
Orous until presently the cannon joined in
with loud and sharp reports, apparently
so near to us that we could imagine that
we could hear the shrek of shot or shell,
and momentarily we expected the order to
deploy into line of battle. But our division
was not within range, and our march was
only retarded for a short time, while
Davis's Division, in advance, charged a
small force of the enemy and dislodged it
from chosen position at Knobs Gap,
where our road was thanked on either side
by q range of rocky hills
After this little brush there was a ces-
satiOn of cannonading in our 'front.' but
the cracking Of musketry still indicated
that the enemys skirmishers were disput-
ing every step of our advance. Notwith-
standing their resistance and a very heavy
rain nearly all day, we accomplished IA
miles, passing through NOlensville and
camping south of the town in a large,
open field, where we spread our shelter
tents for the first time and crawled under
them, thankful for the protection they
afforded us from the rain, which con-
tinued all night.
We marched at 7:30 Dec. %, our divi-
sion in advance and our regiment leading
the division in the direction of Triune.
A heavy fog almost hid the road from
our view, and we fairly walked into the
enemy without seeing him before we had
gone mile from camp. Our first notice,
just as we turned a bend of the road. was
the explosion of two shells in quick sue
cession at the head Of our regiment, where
Gen. Kirk and staff were riding We could
not see through the fog whence they
came, and naturally expected Il few more
Of the same sort
Before the smoke of the shells had
blown away Gen. Kirk gave us the order
to deploy into line of battle in an omen
held to the left. We obeyed with unusual
promptness, so glad were we to get out of
the road before another discharge came.
Five of our companies were thrown for
ward as skirmishers, and iii this position
we waited for the remaining regiments Of
our brigade to form their lines in rear of
US.
At the same time Edgerton's Battery
came up the road with u furious gallon
and quickly turned their brass muzzIes
toward the enemy, belching forth a YolIey
of shells, TO which no reply was made.
We then moved forward with loaded
guns ready for instant firing, and up the
slope Of a hill, where We supposed the
enemy to be awaiting us. We had fine
view of our brigade from our place in the
ranks, and the scene was very spirited.
Just ahead Of us one-half our regiment
was extended in single line as skirmish-
ers. We followed with five companies in
line of battle
Behind us at intervals sen echelon" the
other regiments of our brigade moved
slowly forward within supporting dis
tance. Much to our surprise we reached
the top Of the hill without resistance and
there halted, as the fog hid the valley
beyond from our view-where, in fact tho
Confederate Gen. Hardee had his entire
corps in position.
At i p. III. the fog lifted. and our Skin
mishers moved upon Triune. followed nv
our entire division and Sheridan's. Dre
pared for action. Hardee retired as we
advanced, exchanging but few shots with
our skirmishers and contenting himself
with burning the bridge over Wilson's
Greek, leaving some cavalry and bat
terry TO contest the crossing These. how
ever, retired after a few rounds. and we
entered Triune without further opposition.
We passed through the camps where
Hardee's Corps had lain in line of battle
the night previous, and we bivouacked a
mile beyond the TOWN naviS,. opd CT;