The National tribune., 1902-04-03
PICKET SHOTS
From Alert Comrades Along the Whole
Line.
mnAu.s cAvALRYnrN

J1oDSuD y men nave Grained all Int GTtuil
for the capture of Morgan This is an
injustice to the men of Gem Judah's com
mand. This force consisted of the 9th
Ind Cav, 1st NY. Cav. and 14th III. We
started from Glasgow, Ky, and followed
: Morgan until he had crossed the Ohio
River into Indiana, and then went on
board steamer. We stopped at Cincin.
natl, where we Crew fresh horses. We
next landed at GallipOlis, then started fol
Buhingtin Island. Co. G.. 9th Ind. Cav
had the advance ]. with others of Co
q, formed the extreme advance. We had
with us citizen who was acting as guide
Just at daylight we reached the Ohio
River at Burlington Island. There was
n dense fog. The road made a sharp turn
in the direction of the stream. We had
gone about Il rods up the river when
heard the command to halt. A short dis
tancc ahead | saw a man standing in the
road; | drew my revolver, but the guide
said not TO shoot, as the party were home
guards. Just then someone told the man
standing i'll the road not to shoot. We
rode up to the party. | inquired: Have
you seen anything of Morgan's men?'
They replied: Yes; here we are We
were their prisoners. We were thus pre-
vented from telling our company Morgan
| had been found, and Co. q rode into the
ambuscade. A cornfield was on one side
of the road, and we had run into a troop
of rebels. They had two lines of men in
the cornfield. Just as Co. g turned up
the river these two lines fired. 1t created
a panic, although only one man was killed
| and two wounded. Sixteen of Co. q were
captured; n piece of artillery closely fol-
| lowing Co. G. was captured and two ar
tillerymen killed. ! saw these two men
| lying in a corn-crib after the battle Maj.
McCook, the father of the famous McCoOk
| brothers, of Ohio, was mOrtally wounded
and died the next day. l saw him as he
! lay in the house on the battlefield. After
we had been taken prisoners we We're
marched to Gen. MOrGan's headquarters.
| We were in line and our names were be-
ing taken that we might be paroled, when
Lieut.. O'Neil, Co. l, 9th Ind. (the cav
airy mentioned by Mosgrove), charged
down the river road, driving the rebels
before him like chaff. The rebels tried
| to take their prisoners with them. Thos.
Williams and | jumped down the river
bank and escaped. / ran back through
a small settlement. AS / was passing a
house a lady came to the door and told me
a horse was tied back of the house. / Sc
cured the horse and mounted, and rode
in the direction Of the firing. Gen. Ju
dah's Cavalry Brigade drove MOrgan's
men from the battlefield at Burlington
Island before HobsOn's men came in sight,
and took 1.3OO prisoners. Co. q, 9TH Ind.
Cav, captured 81 of Morgan's men, just
as they were plunging their horses into
the river. \ few shots from our carbines
caused them to surrender There were
only AZ men of our company present, and
some of these had no arms. The pris-
oners said had they known our small num-
Der they would not have surrendered. Had
1t not been for .Judah's cavalry and the
gunboat, John Morgan would have safely
crossed the river and made his escape into
Virginia" SIS ~
CHALMERs's REPULsE AT coLLIERvILLE.
Wesley McAlister, Co. G; 7th III. Cav,
Carm, H., writes: ''In The National
Tribune of March read an account of
the battle of COllierYille, Tenn. Those
were the first rebel guns L ever heard. /
had joined CO. g, 9TH Ill. Cav, about
Sept. l, 1863; the fight took place Sun
about one mile north of ColIierville, near
Wolf River. Nearly the entire regiment
was on a scout, and with other regiments
had been fighting Chalmers near Salem,
Miss, but running short Of ammunition
had gone to La Grange for a supply. Chal-
mers gave them the slip and pressed on
to Collierville. | had not yet drawn my
uniform, but was in camp with the con-
valescents. | was on duty guarding lot
Of hay and grain; it was about IL o'clock
in the morning, perhaps earlier. l was
sitting on the hay; our Chaplain had com
menced his sermon; he had taken his text,
and had started on his discourse, when i
heard firing on the other side of the town,
and soon after more cannon shots, and the
soldiers present began to saddle up their
horses and secure guns and ammunition.
The Chaplain was left without an au-
dience. Maj. Forbes took all of the men
in camp and marched out to meet the reb-
els. He had not gone far before he was
attacked by large force of cavalry and
driven back through our camp. The reb-
els burned our tents and completely de-
stroyed the camp, taking several prison
ers, including our Chaplain, who was
taken to Libby Prison. The loss of our
records was serious to us: but we got even
with Chalmers & few days later, when
he made another attempt to take the place
Our regiment had moved over near the
depot and fort; the 66th Ind. had depart
ed and we were alone. Chalmers ad-
yanced from Coldwater. Co. l., 7th ILL.,
Cav, was well ont to the south and de-
layed the advance guard. They had just
come through our lines when Col. Hatch
afterwards GeneraD came up at double
quick with the I'd Iowa Cav. and the 9th
Ill. Cav; the Cd Iowa Cav dismounted
and their horses were taken behind the
town. The regiment lay down behind the
embankment making good breastwork
battery was just behind them in plain
view. Col. George, with a Mississippi
regiment, charged this battery. He had
almost reached the guns when the I'd Iowa
Cav. arose and poured volley into the
charging rebels. The I'd Iowa was armed
with repeating rifles. The rebels were
also within range of our regiment, sta
toned in the fort. Col George could not
stop his horse, and was carried through
the 2d Iowa Cav. and was taken prisoner.
The 9th Ill. Cav. fought east of the fort,
and were likewise successful. The Con
federate loss was heavy"
TIE EAGLE BRIGADE.
j. A. Krater, Wisconsin Veteran Home,
Waupaca, Wis, writes regarding the state
ment of COmrade Dan. A. Wilbur, 18th
ILL.,, in the issue of the 18th, relative to
the wOunding of Gen. Oglesby at Corinth,
Miss, Oct. 4, 1862: "Gen Oglesby never
commanded the Second Brigade, Second
Division, Sixteenth Corps. Col. Joe Mower
llth Mo, commanded the Second Bri-
gade at that time. The brigade men
toned was composed of the 47th ILL.,, Sth
Wis, 18th Mo-, 9th Minn. and the ID
Iowa Battery. These regiments were bri-
gadcd together over three years. Cen
Oglesby was not, to my knowledge, con
nected with the command in question at
any time. Col. Joe Mower was wounded
in that engagemcnt-shOt through the
mouth-by musket-ball, through both
cheeks, and was taken prisoner, but got
away the same day. He came back to our
lines on an old horse, the old horse with
out bride and Joe without hat. old
Joe, rs we used to call him, was lying
over the horses withcrs, guiding the horse
with his hands by slapping him on one
side of his head and then the Other rs