The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-21
Narrow Escape of Morgan's Brigade

shortly afterwards l met my mother
making her way home on foot She
,,,as not only angry, but thoroughly in
s,'.ia+ed She related briefly that i'm
-1-t,,rnino home she had discovered the
soiJiers before reaching the main road, d,
and had halted in the path until they
had supposedly all passed TO the south.
and then crossed the road and had
reached the home OF one of the neigh
bors. She was congratulating herse,G
mon her timely escape when two sol
diers, being the rear of the command.
discovered her and commanded her to
distTount and give up the horse This
she absolutely refused TO do until they
bad finally taken the bride from the
horse and unfastened the saddle.
up TO that time my bravery had con-
sisted mostly of fear; after this / was
bent on vengeance, and felt that ] was
lust about the size of Morgan's entire
brigade. l made up my mind at once
10 completely annihilate the whole com
mand and save WolfoTd' s cavalry and
further trouble in that direction.
Il returned home quickly, picked up
my Home Guard nusket, bright and in
good order. took three rounds Of am
m;Inition which I had on hand. and
proceeded hurriedly to point where my
uncle lived, a mile south and near the
main road. had considerable difficulty
in making fast time, as il was about an
even toss-up which was the heavier. my
gun or myself At this point Morgans
brigade was passing south ar Dug Hill
in plain sight and within gunshOt
range. ! raised the long-distance sight
on the gun and was just taking aim al
the moving column when my uncle dis
covered my movements and broke my
base line of operation by quickly TAX
ing the gun from my hands and secret
ing II in the underbrush. He advised
me TO seek shelter Immediately in the
woods lust to the east In the mean
time I had been spotted by the C0nfed-
crate cavalry. evidently from the gint
ON the gun barrel and one entire regi-
ment formed in line Of battle and began
to move cautiously in, my direction.
strong line of skirmishers was Throw
out. probably with the belief that some
! stubborn resistance would be encOun-
| tered. In the meantime / nad struck
/ for the tell timber and proceeded
through a wooded ravine to the opposite
slope of the hill, where l entrenchei
/ novself behind an oak rail fence. Armed
/ with q 30-cent jack-knife, ! held posi-
tion which / considered almost lnyui-
| nerable. From this strategic posiuon
watched the movements OF the enemy
! and awaited the attack. Sabers WeTe
drawn carbines unslung and hOaTse
| commands were passed along from one
end of the line TO the other. The re-
| lection of the MONDAY sun on the
bright sabers gave the column the ap-
| pearance of a sheet or nre- tences
| were destroyed, cornfields tramped
| down and stock stampeded in every d
rection.
Il had the advantage OF seeing all
| the movements of the enemy while
they. could not see me. It looked mo-
mentarily as if 1 would soon be the
sole target at the front of the firing
line 1t took every ounce Of courage az
my command to prevent me from beat
ing a hasty retreat, but held my
original position, crOuched. low down
| behind the fence. The Confederate
reached the timber line at the broS
of the hill. but were apparently afrall
to proceed further After remaining IN
line of battle for a short time and max
ing a feeble reconnaissance in front. IN
column fell back and Joined the SlaiF
force on the march south.
IF a single shot had been fired, on
of the important battles of the Wa
would have been fought on thos
grounds. and a monument would nov
mark the spot in silent memory OF III
last survivors of MOrgan's brigade