The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1907-10-13
"REMINISCENCES
Of the War of 1864 Told by a Con-
federate Veteran, ]. w. Smith

After the fall of Vicksburg. July,
1865. the Federals had control of the
entire Mississippi river, and Vicks-
bur \ Natchez and Memphis were
heavily garrisoned Our armies un-
der Lee in Virginia and Johnson in
Tennessee, were lighting day and
night and every man possible was
ordered TO them, leaving only few
( cavalry commands to protect the en-
tire state OF Mississippi.
/ The Federals had any number of
gunboats and transports. They or
ganized what was known as the ma
rine cavalry. Being fully posted by
the negroes coming TO them daily as
to the location of the Confederate
( commands, they would take a boat
after night and the next morning land
many miles away, first on one side
( of the river and then on the other
/ The most dreaded OF these bands was
I led by Earl. said TO have been a Mis-
/ sissippian. He had one virtue linked
to thousand crimes, and that was a
high order of courage.
His hundred men were picked and
mounted on the very best horses, well
fed and rested They moved with
great rapidity The Confederates on
their overworked and haIf-fed horses
had as much chance of overhauling
him as they would a teal duck witt,
the wind at his back. They respecte i
nothing; age or sex; white or blacks ;
taking everything valuable. especial
+ ly horses.
/ On one of their expeditions he
/ landed at Luna, Ark, just across the
! river from Grcenvlle. and took a sad
/ die horse from young lady, Miss
/ Martin, now the wife OF Capt. Nc
Murry, OF Luna. BY a strange coin
tcis'eat lie WAS Killed sviiiIc riding 'ais
horse. The horse got away and was
taken by a Confederate soldier. Earl
was killed at Fayette, in Jefferson
coumy. Miss, on the night OF the
/ 10Th Of November, 1904
! Seven men from Co. K, Adams
/ regiment of Mississippi cavalry, were
sent down in that section on scout
/ ing expedition. Among the number
/ was Jim Smith. of Yazoo county He
was ON picker dirty alone. armed with
/ a double barrel shotgun and mounted
on his horse. About nine o'clock at
] ~I,,+ II,
and his command were coming. he
/ knew that Earl rode at the head OF
/ his command and he made up his
mind to kill him ii possible It was
( a case OF one hundred TO one, but
/ being favored by the darkness he
took the chances. He waited until
they were but a short distance away
| when he fired both barrels into the
front ranks. They returned the fire,
aiming at the flash OF his gun, but
/ failed to hit him
/ They at once retreated to Natchez
/ Smith killed two, and wounded sew
era1 others. among the number being
/ Earl His men attempted to carry
I him TO Natchez, but seeing that he
was dying. left him at the residence
/ OF Judge Wood. where he was careful
/ ly treated IN spite of the fact that he
! committed so many acts of wanton
cruelty TO the entire country. His
men reported they had been ann
bushed by a large number of Com
federates.
The death OF Earl put stop 10
night raids and gave relief to the wo-
men and children far and near. Jim
Smith is still living, now an old man
/ crutches. Mississippi never sent a
Drawer man or better soldier to- the
war. The Captain of the old Com
pany was w. S Yerger, a born sol
dier and an elegant gentleman, long
sif1se dead, peace to his ashes, having
served under him, knew him well
J. w. Smith.