The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-21

Half a dozen wat veterans SAT arou,lU
,ha can,n fire al Grand Army
,nson recounting their eApeiie
5,,ri,,s the war. Some of these Net
e~ans had seen service with Grant a.
Fort IJonnelson and Shiloh, ana otilels
with Mead and Hancock at GettS SUI,
and with sherman on his famous liia MAJ. |
to the sea. Many OF the srea. oa 49,,
of tha war had, netaphoricaliy, eeeu
sa,,.sht over again. Each had related
incidents of some great battles IN winch
they had taken an individual part
w F.. Vigus, who was non-coli
hatant in the war, was present, aHS
had listened to these stories win III NIa
interest At a late hour, Wnen the olI
soldiers were preparing TO break camp
one of them asked Vigus If he dfu hol
remember some of the stirring events
of the great conflict. He admitted !ndt
he had witnessed many of the minor
incidents of the war, but added that ne
was too young for enlistment al thd'
time. He said he had offered has setN-
ICES TO the government on more imam
one occasion, but had been reJecteu-
Being asked if he was ever in Datlie,
he replied: mo, l can't say that
was ever actually in a battle, but
remember a time when I came very
near being in an encounter, single
handed. with General Morgan's brigade
of Confederate cavalry. The incident
however. would scarcely be interesting
to old soldiers, who have faced death
on numerous battlefields.
All insisted that Vigus should relate
his experience, and after stirring up
the embers of the dying camp hre ana
settling down for another smoke, ne
began:
ut was during those exciting times
when General John II. Morgan, with
his cavalry brigade, made frequent
raids into the interior of Kentucky
sometimes penetrating even the north
| ern counties of the state. for the pur-
pose of incidentally harassinS the en-
envy and primarily to repienish his COM
missary department and carry south
as many good horses as possible. for the
use of the Confederate army.
Kentucky always had the best
horses, and at that time horse flesh
was a valuable asset to either army
| Morgan's habits and intentions were so
we'll known that whenever a rumor
( reached us that his command was in
the vicinity, horses disappeared from
the highways and byways, into deep
and obscure wooded hollows Of the
surrounding country, with a speed
something more than remarkable, and
were generally kept in hiding until
Morgan was safely on the south side
of the Cumberland river.
| MY two brothers were at the south,
/ with the Federal army. and as my ia
| Their was absent from home a good part
| of the time, l was practically the boss
! on the unpretentious farm on which
we lived. Among my very meagre as
| sets were several horses. one of them
| of more than ordinary qualities and
which up to that time I had kept well
| under cover through several of these
| periodical Morgan raids. On the spe-
| cific occasion to which l refer. a beau
tiful midsummer morning, my mother
had mounted this steed and gone TO
| visit my married sister, who lived some
two miles distant and west of the main
road leading from Columbia south
| ward. About 10 O'Clock in the forenoon
it was reported that Morgan's cavalry
! which had been on a raid through the
central part of the state, was APP
preaching from the north, closely fol-
| lowed by Colonel Wolford's First Ken
lucky cavalry and such auxiliary troops
as could be concentrated for quick ac-
ton II was almost certain that Nor
gan would take the old Crocus road
south and cross the Cumberland river
at or near Burkesville. The command
was somewhat handicapped by a large
accumulation of the spOils of war
/ picked up on the raid. and was not
moving at a very rapid gait. WheT
the first reports of Morgan's approach
were received, the whole community
was instantly in a commotion. Ny
first fear was that my mother NIGH
be caught in the skirmish line of Z
battle, and next that the horse would
fall into the hands of the enemy.
started at once to investigate the sit
uation, taking the country road closel!
I 1lalf he a
which was half mile to the west, anC
proceeded only a short distance whel
discovered Morgan's command
loaded up with provisions and all man
ner of miscellaneous loot, moving il
hurried and d;sorganized order alon,
the main road.