The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-28

march clear across Kentucky and get safely into Tennessee.
 General Bragg always allowed the full est credit to Colonel Wheeler for his safety in the retreat from Kentucky. The confederates moving out from Camp Dick Robinson divided their force on two roads that after running several miles apart for 100 miles converged north Of
 Cumberland Gap.
 Wheeler's part was to keep Buell. off
 the rear of both these columns. By cease
 less fighting day and night. he accom-
 plished this heroic and most masterly
 deliveranee. Bragg went at once to Rich mond to explain himself He there asked MT. Davis for the commission of briga-
 dier general for Wheeler. He is toe
 young a man for that rank" replied the
 President. Quoth Bragg, nothing daunted;
 Sir. Is not my chief of cavalry entitled
 to the rank?' Yes" The commission
 met Wheeler at Knoxville. So in one
 year after Bragg quarreled with the
 secretary of war on account of the pro-
 motion of Lieutenant Wheeler to colonel
 of infantry he almost upbraided the Pres
 ident himself for hesitating to appoint
 the same officer brigadier general and
 chief of cavalry.
 Tn recent weeks I received a letter
 from General Wheeler enclosing one to
 him in Brooklyn, from an officer of rank
 In the United States army. The army
 officer asked to have the particulars of
 Wheeler's Murfressboro campaign ex- plained. He wished specially to know how Wheeler managed to elude General Stan , ley, Rosecrans' cavalry chief The print cd reports on both sides show that
 Wheeler had about 4O00 cavalry to protect Bragg's front and Hanks at Murfressboro in December. 1862. They show that Stan ley had hfty-seven more men than Wheel
 CT to do whatever Roseerans could find
 for them to do General Roseerans says
 in his official report that Wheeler never once let Stanley get out of his infantry lines in All that campaign. That is the | serious and regretful testimoney of an
 enemy Standing face to face, Rosecrans had more than three times the infantry and artillery of Bragg at Murfreesboro
 and as we have seen practically the
 same cavalry forces
 Friday. December 2s 1862. General Roseerans started out from Nashville on
 several bikes to drive Bragg from the vicinity of Murfreesboro. about twenty
 five miles to the east. Forrest was away
 off in West Tennessee and John H. Nor
 gan raiding in middle Kentucky. Wheeler conmanded the cavalry left with Bragg,
 assisted by General John A Wharton,
 young Texan. Bragg put the categor- ieal question: General Wheeler, how long can you hold the enemy on the road from Nashville?" About four days, Gen eraL" was the soft answer, spoken very rapidly. Polk and Hardee were present. Bragg listened in faith, but his two lieu tenants secuted the reply. They will run right over you!' exclaimed the lieu tenant generals. Wheeler rode away. In the twilight of Monday, four days later | he rode back into Bragg's lines. The enemy were so close behind him his men following in columns of four, one was 1 shot dead by them at the moment. Wheel CT calling an orderly rode on to find the 1 general commanding In the early dark | ness they sat on their horses, Bragg and his staff. Polk and his staff TIardee | and his staff Bragg, Polk and Hardee were all tall men, West Pointers. and singularly martial in bearings. As the l little cavalry leader rode into the circle
 every hat was lifted in spontaneous con- | fession of the crown of glory he had | won For four days he had ridden into the enemys Hanks. Burned a thousand
 wagons, killed or driven off his teams, forced his 10000 to form line of battle and
 remain unemployed for hours lat time ] As they called up fresh supply trains | from Nashville, he waylaid them and l destroyed them. In all this time. Stanley, 1 with equal cavalry, was held inside the | Infantry lines for fear Wheeler would 1 gobble him up.
 The lesson of Wheeler's Murfressboro
 campaign is new taught in the United 1 States schools of army instruction ] Bragg held the field at Murfreesboro l after the battle for forty-eight hours
 He then retreated to Tulahoma. In a l few days after he reached Tullahoma he | sent Wheeler out to destroy the enemy's l stores at point below Nashville on the | Cumberland river. Wheeler took 500 men. l among them the Alabama regiment the
 Fifty-first. commanded by Col John T. 1 Morgan, and the Confederate regular
 regiment, commanded by Colonel Wade, I 1.l..
 nies This force swan the Cum berland 1 at high water attacked the commissary
 at Ashland, covering several acres of | land, and burned all. They captured sev-
 eral transports and burned them. They fired upon the iron-clad gunboat "Slidell' with such unerring aim as to force her | to haul down her flag and surrender. | Congress sitting in Richmond. hearing of ''Wheelers horse marines" passed a vote l of thanks and before the little com
 mander had got back to Tullahoma he
 was met by his commission as major l general.
 l After Chickamauga General Rosecrans l was suffering greatly for supplies in Chat
 tanooga, where he was fortified. His army had to be fed from Bridgeport, ! Ala, by wagon train or by the narrow l mountain wagon road through Sequatchie 1 valley. Bragg sent infantry to pick off l the wagon drivers on the Bridgeport line, and sent Wheeler with 27O0 men to break l up the Sequatche valley line. This work | of Wheeler's was superb. Rosecrans had
 5000 cavalry to protect the Sequatchie l valley line and thousands of infantry | Wheeler rode among the enemy at will | He struck a train of 500 wagons, each 1 wagon drawn by six of the finest mules. 1 The head of the train was led by more | cavalry than he had, the rear of the train
 was guarded by more cavalry than he
 had; the train was protected by infantry
 dispersed along the whole line. He struck | it just at daylight October 1, 1863, and | drove off or burned every wagon and
 drove off or shot and sabred every mule l of the 3600
 In this expedition General Wheeler de- | stroyed at various points on the Chatta- nooga and Nashville railroad many mil- lions of dollars of army stores, des troyed
 many miles of railroad tracks, captured | hundreds of prisoners, swan or forded
 thirty-seven rivers and creeks, and got | back to Courtland Ala, by fording the l Tennessee with more men than he started | with. Near Courtland he now for the first time met Mrs. Sherrod a widow at IS years of age and after the war married l her She was the mother of all his chill | dren.
 Gen. Joseph E. Johnston lived in Selma
 in 1866 engaged in business, and General
 Hardee lived there in the warehouse busi- ness. Associate Justice w. M. Byrd of the
 Alabama supreme court lived there, and
 in honor of these soldiers gave a pri-
 vate dinner. At the table Judge Byrd
 asked General Johnston to give some mar
 rative of Wheeler's military services as