The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-05

Sincinnati, would make his escape im-
 possIpie, while an attack by him on the nehtucky side might or might not have
 been successful. Subsequent events showed that Colonel wolford's military
 forecast was well made, so far as 1t 1-{elated exclusively to Morgan's cap- | ture, but 1t is due to the truth of hIs-.
 tory as we'll as to Morgan's sagacity,
 to say that his final overthrow was
 caused not so much by the conditions
 which Colonel Wolford foresaw. and
 which were equally within the contem- piatlon of Morgan, as by rise in wa
 ters of the upper Ohio--an event with
 out known precedent in the usually dry month of July.
 l yOn the Indiana shore near the town or Corydon, formidable force of mi iitia with one or two pieces of artillery had assembled to resist our crossing Morgan first ordered Colonel Wards 1 regiment of Tennesseans to leave their
 horses on the Kentucky side and cross | the river lower down in canoes, ferry
 boats and such other river craft as
 they could find, and to strike the ene- my in the rear. This was hazard
 ous undertaking. but successfully ac-
 complished by that superb officer. Col
 onel Ward. than whom General Morgan 1 mad no better. The cavalry in our rear followed closely, their numbers auE-
 menting while ours diminished by the casualties of daily fighting. The fa- 1 tigue of the march and these many en-
 gagements began to tell with serious l effect. The night we passed around | and eight miles north of Cincinnati the l men suffered their greatest exhaustion. Many fell from their horses while fast l asleep in the saddle. It was estimated l that in Cincinnati there were 10000
 regular troops under orders to throw
 themselves across our line of march. or l to defend the city should Morgan at- | tack. My information has always been
 that the Federal authorities rather in- l clined to the opinion that Morgan | would attack and that for this reason they did not take position in our inl- 1 mediate front. It is my opinion that | our safe passage may be ascribed to | the mistaken calculations of the com | manding Federal officer. In making | this circuit around the city we covered
 ninety miles in thirty two hours. When
 daylight dawned we were confronted by a garrison force which moved out from Camp Dennison. It was not Nor gan's purpose because 1t was not to his interest to engage this force. We l were too hard pressed in the rear to
 lose the necessary time. He simply
 moved on. It fell to my lot to be put | in command of the skirmish line, and | threw out a detachment to skirmish l with the garrison whhe the main body l moving rapidly on foot I deployed my
 men along the line of a worm fence. directing each man to lie down in the
 inner angle and to wait the near ap- proach of the enemy who was mov- ing towards us. I give this incident l and its sequel only to show the ex- | haustion of the men. Tn a brief mo- I ment after taking my own fecumbent position. I awak ened and at once be- came conscious that I had fallen asleep
 for a few seconds, Instantly the thought occurred to me, If I, who am n -Nl1 a md q ad rfFa1 Tor
 the success of the feint. can't keep
 awake, what are my men doing? I
 crawled along the ground ans found | each man sound asleep with his gun 1 protruding through the crack of the 1 lower rails. I aroused them, We stood 1 the enemy off until the main tody had | passed, then beating hasty retreat.
 mounted our Jaded horses and Joined
 the moving column. From this point | on, each day was a repetition of each | preceding day, with added difficulties | and a rougher experience. The DOT ton of Ohio we were in is rugged and hilly. In almost every defile and
 on every hilltop the militia of the State took position. and from these points of comparative security, they peppered us with all manner of guns | Dozens of times a day attachments were dismounted to dislodge them from places inaccessible to cavalry. My | | is rather indistinct Fatigue and the loss of sleep so dulled my capacity l for thoughtful observation, made, me | so callous to the influence of any sort | of environment, that I was almost
 unimpressionable. But now and then an awak ening would come. recall one afternoon when we halted for | few hours rest mS whole company being placed on picket in the rear: a clear stream of water running near. | One of my comrades named CruJch- | field and I concluded to take bath. I had not washed my face since cross ing the Cumberland. We had but fair | ly gotten into the water when a dozen l quick. sharp reports rang out near the videttes. Simultaneously we jumped from the stream. I jerked on my l trousers. jacket and boots. leaving the rest of my wardrobe, a calico shirt and so-called pair of socks, on the ground, | and jumping on my horse. dashed to- ward the videttes. I found that the shots had been fired, not by regular
 troops as had feared. but by a squad of militia which had slipped on the videttes trough the undergrowth.
 Vidette Cowan and I gave chase for
 about two miles when they eluded us. By this time it was near sundown. videttes through the undergrowth.
 inviting looking whiter house wIIn
 
 for something to eat. we rode 10 1t.
 We saw a little way up valley an ably, "in the-~name and by the au- thority of the Confederate States" but the door and shutters faithfully and Loyalty held their own against the peace and dignity of that government. Cowan used a large rock as bat tering ram against the door and we entered. Searching through the house. we were unable to find a mouthful to eat. We did, however. capture two workman shirts-one red and one blue. 1 Cowan put on the blue, and the red. | As we were not going into society | that summer, shirts were regarded as | luxuries rather than necessities and 1 would have been readily exchanged | for ''pone" of corn bread. Prescott ing our search CTS a little further we | found at the back of the house a fold ing trap door that opened into the best arranged and furnished cellar I had | ever seen. It makes me feel fat and l comfortable to this day to think of 1 how I went for all that was in sight. We confiscated all the loose sacks and | baskets that lay around in criminal | negligence, filled them to their ca pacity. and caught up with our people about 10 o'clock that night with more rations for our company than if had drawn from the commissary since we 1 began service under Morgan, For the truth to tell, General Morgan. | while hard rider an6 a prize" fight er was a poor provider. He never had