The National tribune., 1904-05-19
CHASED THE CHASERS.
Rebels and Yankees Wearing Out Shoe
Leather Chasing Each Other Over the
State of Mississippi.

Rebels and Yankees Wearing Out Shoe
Leather Chasing Each Other Over the
State of Mississippi.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: / see in
The National Tribune an account of an ex-
petition to Grand Junction, Miss. On
Sept 20, 1862, the First Brigade Fourth
Division, Sixteenth Corps, consisting Of
the Sd Iiwa, 2Sth, 32d and 41st Ill., a bat
terry and one or two companies of the &C
Ill. Cav, and, l think, either the SD Or
sd Ill.,, started south from Bolivar Oh a
scouting expedition under command Of
Gen. Lauman. A little after noon We
halted in a village, and some of my com
pany sat down on the edge of a porch.
when an old woman came out and ordered
them to get off. OF course the boys did
not obey her, and she gave them bits Of
her mind very freely, and said that we
would go back faster than we were going
down; which proved to be true. We
marched on till shutdown, then camped.
The next morning We moved on towards
Grand Junction. When within two miles
or less, the 32d being in the advance. with
Gen. Lauman and his staff in front of U.s.
not expecting danger, there were several
| shots fired just ahead. A Major on the
staff and few others were captured. the
Major being wounded. Lauman came rid
| ing back, waving his hat, and ordered Us
to bout face. The teams turned short
around and started off in a lope. We fol-
yards, halted, frOnted, loaded, then took a
double-quick and went all kinds Of gai.s
We had hot chase for 10 miles. Our cav
airy found that the rebels had force in
our rear, and had us cut off at both ends
Of our road-had force both in front and
| rear, ready to close up on us. Our cavalry
made the discovery in time to switch US
before we struck their line in our rear-or
our frOnt-as we then were on the retreat.
We completely gave them the dodge: but
the force following us kept pretty close on
our rear. Our men began to flag, and our
Captain, A. G. Campbell, gave orders 70
keep up if we could. and if not, to break
our guns or bend them round tree and
come ahead. At last we crossed field
through long lane, and struck strip OF
| timber just before we crossed the creek.
where we formed line of battle. firing 70
the right and left of the road. The enemy
was not to exceed a half mile off. and
coming up the lane in plain view. Our ar
tillery opened on them. The first shot
just in front of my company, scooped the
rails up and killed one Of the Generals
Aids. They began forming a line of bat
tie, and by the time they were ready to
quick, and the artillery held them back
| till we got strung out on the road, aud
then followed and We opened ranks and
let them through. When we crossed the
creek everybody was thirsty, and we
dipped water in our cups, caps or any way
| to get it to our lips as we went. We lost
| two men OF our company just before We
crossed the creek, which was perhaps two
| feet deep and three rods wide.
Upon climbing large hill on the north
| side We found our division awaiting u.s.
From that on to Bolivar we took our
| time; got into our camps probably from
10 to II p. M, and were out by 3 a. m.
were busy all night, either bringing in
troops from the north or pretending TO.
| probably little of both. The next morn
ing we began throwing up earthworks.
cutting across a large cotton field. just
southwest of Bolivar, facing the road the
| enemy would come in on if they came; but
they stopped at the creek, so some of them
told me later. They marched back 10
Grand Junction, struck the road to Iuka.
pushed on up there and got worsted: then
turned toward Corinth; got completely
done up there, and then started on retreat.
Our Division, in trying to reinforce
Corinth, started from Bolivar Oct. +. at
3 a. m, in light marching order, with 100
rounds of ammunition to the man-4O
pockets full. We marched southeast and
struck the Corinth and Grand Junction
road just before sundown@5 miles from
our starting point-one of the greatest
marches l ever heard of in the length of
| time. We came face to face with them in
the road and captured few of their ad-
vance, formed line of battle, lay on cur
arms all hight and found it pretty cool
after warming up SO through the day.
Twas frosty night, and we had no coats.
blankets or fires. Next morning, Sunday.
Oct. 5, we moved on them, drove them
about two miles, captured battery before
reaching the Davis house-the large
| white house on the east of the road-and
| when We came to the Hatchie River. a
quarter of a mile further, there were 500
of them captured at the bridge, and we
charged across and drove them to the top
of the hill north of the river, where we
| captured another battery and more pris-
oners-12 cannon and 800 prisoners. They
| broke and took up the river, through the
| woods, and didn't just run a little and
then quit. Part of our force followed
them away down in Mississippi; but we
marched back to Bolivar. The 41st III.
escorted the prisoners to Bolivar. They
were put into the Fair Grounds upon ar
rival. Some Of them were the same chaps
who chased the First Brigade back from
Grand Junction. One Of them told me
| that they had 800 men on the sick list
the next morning. My understanding AT
that time was that we had 1900 to / 600
men on that expedition. Prices, VanDorn's
and Villepiques forces were all after us. 1t
is very likely that we hurt them worse by
having them run after US than We could
have by fighting them. My understanding
was that our division had about $500 men
at Hatchie, including a few extras. l
may not have seen all or told of all that