The National tribune., 1903-06-25

usual for him to become active; in fact,
he was nearly always active. Gen. Grant
has said in his Memoirs that Gen. For.
rest was the most able cavalry General
the enemy had. Our forces had been try
ing to hold open the line of the Memphis
& Charleston Railroad from Memphis east
or beyond Corinth, Miss. This required Il
large force of men, scattered along at
the different stations. My regiment had
from time to time been stationed at va
rious points. being moved from place 10
place as was necessary, the aim being to
keep the largest force opposite to the
main body of Gen. Forests Cavalry.
To the north of this line of road was 4
large territory occupied by Il prosperous
farming Community, who were wholly III
sympathy with the South.
All of the young men were supposed TO
be in the rebel army, but as matter "f
fact large numbers of them would steal
away from their commands and return to
their homes. to rest up, obtain new CLOTH
ing and visit their sweethearts. Occa-
sionally Forrest would break through oui
lines and scatter his forces throughout
that region. gather up these deserterS.
conscript others, so.ze large numbers CT
horses and return South. well equipped
for another raid into Middle or East Ten
nessee or North Alabama; thereby, with
n few thousand men, making it necessary
for us to keep Il force Of more than five
times their number to even hold the prin-
cipal stations.
FORREST DESTROYS LAFAYETTE.
About Dec. IL. 1868. Forrest again
crossed to the north of the railroad and re-
mained there 10 days or more. In the
meantime scouts were sent out to keep in
touch with him and report his where
abouts to our commanders along he
railroad. As Forrest was continually
moving about and daily changing his loca-
ton, our infantry was kept busy moving
back and forth along the road to try to
capture him on his return.
In passing north he had destroyed por-
tions of the railroad, SO that troops could
not be moved by train to intercept him
on his return; hence, it was a
question Of counting ties. During these
10 days we had marched from Lafayette
to Moscow Moscow to La Grange, La
Grange to Grand Junction, back and forth,
back and forth, till we knew every tie on
the road.
On Dec % we lay under arms at Mos
cow, expecting every minute to be attack
ed in force. The pickets had been driven
in, but nothing further came of it. This
was only n device of Forrest TO cause rs
to concentrate our forces at some point,
thensslip through the lines at another one.
So it proved ON this occasion, for about
noon we got word that he had struck La
fayette some eight or 10 miles west of
us, and was destroying the road and the
place. We were Immediately ordered to
count the ties to Lafayette
A hard rain fell all that afternoon,
drenching us to the skin. When we ar
rived at Lafayette darkness had set iii.
and Forrest had accomplished his pur-
pose and departed.
All buildings, except a depot shed had
been burned, and pile of about AGO cords
of wood, belonging to the Government.
was on fire. A detail was left to put ont
this fire, and the regiment moved by the
left flank, regimental frCnt, to dirt road
half mile away, running parallel to the
railroad. Although it was quite dark, our
regiment, having several times camped at
this town, were sufficiently familiar with
the ground to enable us to gain the ridge,
from which, if light enough. one could look
down on to the dirt road, u reds away.
Here a halt was ordered, and immedi
ately, as soon as the noise of our foot
steps had ceased, we heard large force
of cavalry marching along the dirt road,
a stones throw from US. OF course, we
could not see them, but had it been day
light we could have killed every one of
them at the first voley.
Instantly every man in the regiment
cooked his rife. and, had any one man
fired, it would have been signal for all
to fire. We were at this moment within
an ace of a terrible calamity. There was
not an officer in the regiment who raised
his voice to give a command or word of
caution. All seemed for the moment TO be
stupefed. If ever a set of officers. as
whole, showed incompetency, justifying
their being cashiered, it was this batch
stupefed. | had an indistinct or
innate feeling that the unknown force
were our own men, and without waiting
till it would be too late, called out: 'Who
are youT Instantly the reply caIne back {:
'.The til Ill. Cav" q have now forgotten
the numberl. or course, that settled it,
and our men recovered their arms; but,
had just one shot been fired. undoubtedly
all would have taken it for granted that it
was so ordered, and undoubtedly, hun
dreds of innocent men would have been
killed or wounded.
After explanations between the officers
of the cavalry and infantry, our regiment
was moved back TO the depot, where all
hands lay down as best they could. to
wait for daylight, some under the she'd
some under the depot platform, and others
wherever they could get out of the mud,
but all in i dismal, soaked condition.
TRADE BOOTS.
L must now go back 4 little in my story
Our regiment had a few days previously
received about $50 new recruits, among
whom was one who had brought new
pair Of boots, which had cost him at home,
SO. These were strapped TO his KNAPP
sack. | had taken a great fancy to them,
and tried to buy them of him. but he
could not be induced TO part with them
but on this occasion his knapsack. like
that of all new recruits. had begun to
bear heavily on his shoulders and he con-
sented to sell them for the SIS. This was
at Moscow On that morning. The bargain
was soon closed and | had thrown away
my old shoes and crowded my No. 8 feet
into the No. boots This was viela-
tion of n rule in arithmetic. that the
greater will not go into the lesscr'--with-
out trouble.
The boots were. of course, thoroughly
watersoaked by the time we camprd
down for the night, and my feet felt as
though they had been encased in the iron
boots of the Spanish Inquisition.
After much trouble my bunk mate,
John A. White, succeeded in pulling of
the boots, and we were soon in deep slum-
Der.
Long before daylight the next morning
all hands were silently awakened and or
dercd to fail in quietly and march. Then
the fun commenced between my feet and
my boots. The boots had shrunk TO about
No. 6, and my feet had swollen to about
No. IL, or y. / tugged, pulled, sweated-
and White says l swOre-but the boots