The Tupelo journal., 1905-07-07
PEN-PICTURES OF THE OLDEN Time
Look on this Picture, then
BY col. w. [. CLAYTON.

AOOn ~ Las At ~
on that"
In December, 1864, the Caval
Try Command towhichI belonged.
being the 18th Miss. Cavalry,
Ferguson's Brigade, was follow
ing Sherman through Georgia tc
the sea. Our orders were to look
after straglers, and keep the Fed
erals closed up as much as pos
sible, 50 as to prevent the burn
ing Of property, such as gins,
mills, and cotton, not in the i'm
mediate path Of the army. Many
soldiers began to read final de-
feat between the lines, and squad
after squad had dropped out and
gone home, SO that the dispropo-
ton between privates and officers
was so great that when we got
within something like a hundred
miles Of Savannah following Sher-
man, by solicitation of a number
of the officers of our regiment, we
were detailed as scouts. At the
forty-fve mile station this side
of Savannah, the Federals made
a considerable halt, remaining in
camp about a week. In the squad
to which | was attached were
Capt. R. H. Allen, and Lieuts.
III. w. Buoy and Duke Martin
and a private from Texas by the
name Of Junior, who had gotten
lost from his command and fell
in with us. We thought we dis
covered late one evening that the
enemy was on the move. We
made a dash up close to their
camp and captured a prisoner,
from whom we learned that the
army would break camp the next
morning. Early next morning,
having sent off the prisoner by
Lieut.. Buoy, Capt. Allen, Lieut..
Martin and | cautiously EXAMINE
ed the situation, and discovered
that the Union army was moving
on toward the sea. We followed
for something like a couple OF
miles, found the rear gaurd too
strong and too compact to enable
us to do them any damage in
the way Of capturing straglers.
Hoping to follow on later in the
day, and have better success, we
returned to the camp which had
that morning been vacated by
the enemy. Capt. Allen,
who always had weakness for
anything fine or beautiful, hav-
ing discovered a fine and lovely
looking white horse in the de-
serted camp, which had been a
bandoned on account of some
deficiency in one of his hoofs,
was bridling and preparing to
place the horse in the care of
some residents near the old camp.
Lieut.. Martin and | were some
thing like a hundred yards from
Capt. Allen sitting on our horses
in general conversation, and es-
pecialIy making some structures
on Capt. Aliens craze for the
fine white lame horse. 1t had
been raining that morning, and
| had placed my navy in my boot
leg under my leggins in order to
keepit dry. | had in my lap a re
peating breech loading gun which
had been captured from the enc
my by some Of our boys. | my
self had become careless, as sol
diers will sometime do, and being
wearied with long sitting in my
saddle, had kinder stopped over
on the horn of my saddle. Lieut..
Martin had only a pistol, and be
ing erect on his saddle, and fac
ing toward the center of the old
camp, saw just in front Of him
and about fifty yards from us two
Federal soldiers sitting on their
horses and looking at US. Martin
said to me, Lieut.. Clayton,
what are those men doing yon-
der?' | glanced up in the direc-
ton he pointed, and saw the two
blue coats, and at once followed
out, halt and surrender. But in
stead of doing SO, they started
from us in asrun, going in the di'
rnction their army had gone,
Reaching for my pistol, and find.
ling it beneath my leggins, free
one shot with my repeating rifle
while pressing them at full speed
NV horse outran Martins though
he pressed with all the vigor anC
haste possible, firing all tho
while, his bullets screaming By
J my ears. One Of the men outrar
the other from the beginning, an(
! showed no disposition to contest
the field with us. The other one
very soon after the chase began
dropped his bride reins, turned
as far back square in his saddle
as he could, and took deliberate
aim at us, but the gun missed
fire. Having in the meantime
dropped my rifle into my lap AM
drawn my navy six, | was shoot
ling at the rear soldier as fast a
I could, pressing my horse to- hi
speed and gaining constantly o.
! him. and demanding his surrende
. with every shot. When | had got