The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-11-05

one end like flag of truce and his eyes
glazed. He was caught by the greatest
twhg in the CONFERENCE.-The celebrated JEFF.
Stetritt. With a loofsef sppalling ferocity,
the captor exclaimed: I don't know wheth-
| er to kill you now, or TO wait until the
fights. over For Uod& sake said the
Captain, don't kill ne n all. I'm dis
sipated character, andlno, prepared to die
when our whole 'kneowas pressed for
ward after the retrtatihg enemy, l took
immediate command of Co. A and the reg
ular advance guard, With had been held
in reserve, and led ssstliefh rapidly in ad.
vance Of the rest Of the, line. and through
a woods, which concealed the movement
upon the flank Of the snemy,s new " line line
fire. delivered Mt shortl range, was de-
cisive, and the ensniys instantly broke
again, and this time smade, at full speed
for the road, going off in ,full retreat. The
main body Of our command was too far
from the line of horses to mount and pur,
sue promptly, but Gano pressed them
closely, again. Adj't Wyncoop. sen of the
Colonel of that name, was killed in this re-
treat, while trying to rally his men. His
body was removed to the side of the road
and lay there as we passed, with coat
thrown over his face as if he We're unwill
ing to look upon the rout of his com
rades.
'sThe enemy fell back about three miles
and halted again. Their loss had been
heavy, and perhaps 200 of their horses
had been killed, nearly all of men thus
dismounted being made prisoners.
| "Col. Morgan now learned that the of
| fcer in command Of the troops he had been
! lighting was Brig Gen. johnson, and be
came satisfied that the infantry and artil
lery, with which the force had been al
| first provided, was not in supporting dis
/ N hat
had been sent back to McMinnville a day
or two before.
THE MISTAKES OF JOHNSON.
"Just as the horses were brought up
and the men were mounted, flag of truce
came from Gen. johnson proposing an
armistice in order that he might bury his
dead. Col. Morgan answered that he could
entertain no proposition except uncondi
tional surrender, but shortly afterward he
sent word to Johnson that officers and men
would be paroled if n surrender were made
Gen. johnson replied that Catching came
before hanging Morgan then determined
to catch him. and believing that in the
broken and demoralized condition of the
enemy he could safely attempt such q
plan, he divided his force into three col
direction, in order to more certain
ly encounter the enemy. who had
now more than three miles the start of us
Five companies were placed upon the left
of the road under Maj. Morgan. Col
Morgan himself kept the road with Gano's
squadron, while l had the right, with com
panies A, B and Il. and the advance
guard, in all about 225 men. The road
bends to the left at about the point where
Gen. johnson had last halted, and as he
turned off just there, in order to make fol
the river, the other two columns missed
him altogether, and mine pressing on rapid.
| ly in the direction indicated, was so for
| tunate as to soon overtake him.
1.-The three companies were formed in
parallel columns of tours. with full dis
| lance between them, and the advance
guard thrown out as skirmishers in front.
When we came near the enemy the whole
force was thrown into line, and advanced
at a gallop. We were not more than 80
yards from the enemy when this was done,
but there was high stone wall between
us, which our horses could not leap. This
prevented us from closing with them, and
enabled them to get some distance ahead
of us. AS we passed the wall, the origi-
| nal formation was resumed and we fol-
lowed at good speed.
Go be continued)