The National tribune., 1906-03-15

, try. which they could do with good
, heart in Tory East Tennessee.
Therefore Gen. Thomas employed his
, Home Guard to cover Zoliicoffcr' S
front, watch his advance and ObStruct
, his progress. Right well did the Union
mountaineers with their squirrei-rifies
: discharge this duty. Cen Thomas
pushed forward a couple of regiments
To occupy the Rock Castle Hills at
i Wild Cat Gap. TO support the Home
, Guard. He called for reinforcements,
: and more regiments were sent him;
hut. like his present force, they were
deficient in equipment and particularly
transportation.
Upon ZolIicoffer renewing mis- activi-
~ and pushing out again across the
Cumberland, Gen. Thomas sent Gen.
Albian Schoepf, who had recently re
ported to him. to take command at
I Wild Cat Gap. Other troops Were
thrown out on the road To observe and
I check any flank movement. Col. Gar
rard had been in command at Wild Cat
! with part of his regiment. the 1th
Ky. and Gen. Schoepf reached there
on the afternoon Of oct. 20, 1862, with
! The 22d Ind. Col. John Coburn. and
! the fst Ky. Cav, Col. Frank Wolford
Col. Steedman was to follow the next
| day with the 14th Ohio and Standards
Battery.
The Battle of Wild Cat.
! Zollicoffer had met with n great deal
of annoyance as he pushed forward
| from Cumberland Ford The Home
| Guards, who knew the country thor
| oughly, lay in wait for his advance Mt
| convenient points, deliberately shot
| down with their unerring rifles 4 few
| of the foremost and then retired, un-
| harmed, to some other suitable spot TO
| repeat the performance. The effect of
I this was very demOralizing upon the
! confederateS, who marched forward
! with extreme caution and watched
| every possible ambuscade with painful
! circumspeCtiOn. In this way it took
| Zollicoffer several days to march from
Cumberland Ford TO Wild Cat Gan.
where he arrived on the forenoon of
Oct 81. The Union troops had yet
much TO learn in war, and they had
allowed Il dense growth TO stand but
little distance off from the light earth
works which they had thrown up. In
spite of the obstruction made by the
Home Guards the emergence of Zolli-
Golfers men from this curtain of woods
and the sharp firing they opened caused
some confusion among the Union SOL
diers, but Coils. COburn and Wolford
quickly steadied their men, reformed
their lines, and poured down the gulch
such sharp fire that Zolicoffer's men
could not resist it and fed precipitate
ly.
In the meanwhile Col. Connell of
the 18th, and Col. Steedman, of the
14th Ohio, came up with Standards
Battery, and when ZOllicoffer renewed
the attack in the afternoon he was Sc
verely repulsed at all points, and re-
treated to London with loss of 30
killed and a large number wounded,
while Schoepf's entire loss was but five
killed and 1S wounded. This brought
to failure the grand combined move
ment which Zollicoffer had planned,
a.
vancing on other roads simultaneously
with his movement upon Wild Cat Gap.
Gen. Thomas had in camp with him
a number of prominent East Tennessee
public men, who were urging him to a
forward movement, and their counsels
fell on willing ears. AS soon as he re-
ceived his promotion to Brigadier- !
General, and knew that he was to be |
assigned to duty in the West, he viS- |
tied Gen. Scott and urged that he be
given a sufficient force to penetrate in |
TO East Tennessee and cut the railroad. |
Gen. Scott had acquiesced In this, and
promised him an adequate force and
supplies, but the difficulties of arming
and supplying the force required were
next TO insuperable.
Gen. Sherman's Baseless Fears.
Great as Gen. Sherman afterward
became, he had much to learn of the
art of war when he succeeded Gen.
Anderson in command of the Depart
ment of the Cumberland. What Is most
singular is the way Sherman allowed
himself to be deceived by the exag-
gerated reports of Gen. Buckner's
forces at Bowling Green. A little later
in the war Sherman would have dis
posed of these men in buckram" in
short order He would within a day
or two have taken effective means to
ascertain the truth about the strength
of his enemy. After his advance toI
Muldraugh's Hill Sherman seemed to
have lost all his initiative, and was
seriously fearful that Buckner was
meditating an attack upon him with
Sherman's regiments were raw, undiS-
ciplined and poorly equipped, but they
were quite as we'll off In that respect
as Buckner's troops, and If Sherman
had possessed the traits of Grant or
Lyon he would have made good use of /,
them in dispensing the enemy at Bowl
ing Green. This lost opportunity seems
singular In a man who afterwards be-
came so enterprising and aggressive as
w. T. Sherman, but 1t shows that he.
as we'll as others, had to learn his
trade, and learn it from the beginning.
1t is TO Sherman's credit that he ap-
piled himself to hard study, and ac-
quired the necessary knowledge TO fit
him for the great and successful COM
mander more rapidly than those who
were associated with him. The enect
of Gen. Sherman's caution was shown
In orders to Gen. Thomas to advance
no further; that his line was already
too long and thin; that IL anything he
must retire nearer his base of supplies.
If he was not already engaged with
the enemy, he must take up a position
behind the Kentucky River, and await
attack there. Gen. Sher-
mans alarm increased, and the very 4
next day he sent the following extraor-
dinary letter to Gen. Thomas, at Crab
Orchard:
Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, Commanding.
Crab Orchard:
"Sir: l sent a special dispatch to you
ast night intimating the necessity of
your forces further back
am convinced from many facts that
A. Sidney Johnston is making hercu-
can efforts to strike a blow III Ken :
ucky; that he designs to move from
Bowling Green on Lexington, Louis
vile and Cincinnati. I may be in error,
out he has pressed into service some
500 wagons at and near Bowling
Green, and his force is not far short
If $4,000 men, with a large portion of
artillery.
1.-The movement may depend on new