The National tribune., 1910-04-21

removed for several hours. A member
of Forests command, who undoubtedly
had enough of the Confederacy and
who was attempting to scale Q high
board fence surrounding corral just
opposite the Gayoso House, was shot
dead, and he lay there until in the
afternoon. The raiders broke in the
doors with the butts of their guns. and
when they left they even took the pro-
prietor's horse" ,Ax
The 137th Ill. Was Armed.
G. w. (Perry) Ware, Co. K, 137th
ILL.,, McAlister, Okla, writes:
"Comrade Rankin made some bad
mistakes in his reference to Forests
raid, bat that is not to be wondered at
after 46 years. Forrest came into Men,
phis Sunday morning, Aug. 21, 1864, at
ILL.,, was camped on the fernando road,
and the Sd Ill. Cav. was next. Our COM
pany OS) was camped opposite house
on the road. Mark Treadway had been
stationed there as a guard to protect an
orchard against our boys. When For
rest came the lady of the house secreted
Comrade Treadway in an upstairs room
until Forrest and his soldiers left. While
upstairs Treadway peeped out of a win
dow, and saw Gen. Forrest sitting on
the fence in front of the house. He
said he could have shot Forrest easily,
but his life would have been taken had
he done so.
"Comrade Fields is mistaken about
our regiment having given up our arms.
We had not turned our EnfieldS in, but
used them that morning, doing our level
best to scare the Johnnies as badly as
they scared us. Some three weeks later
we were sent to Camp Butler, and mus
tered out Sept. "a. 1854. Comrade
Fields perhaps has our regiment and
the Sd III. Cav. mixed, as they turned
their arms over, and intended to start
for home the day of the fight.
During the first of the fight Capt.
Smith, of Co. b, and as many of his
company as he could muster and others,
along with our Colonel. ex-Gov. Wood.
Leut.-Col. Roach and Major Payne, all
took refuge in a large brick building not
far away. l think it was a seminary or
school building of some kind. The reb-
els tried to take the building, but were
repulsed every time. Shortly after the
tight / passed that way, and noticed
number of the enemy killed just outside
of the fence. Some women were there,
covering their faces with handkerchiefs.
also noticed where cannon ball had
gone thru the upper rooms of the build
ing"
Gen. \. j. Smiths Movements.
L,
Decatur. Ind, writes:
oscar Rankin, Co. G, 7th Ind. Cav,
is wrong about Gen. A. ]. Smith, In
February, 1864, Smith was in command
of the Third Division, Sixteenth Corps
in Sherman's expedition to Meridian,
Miss, and started March 10 from Vicks-
burg to the Red River with two divi-
sions of Sherman's army. On March IA
Smiths command captured Fort De
Russy, La. On April it fought the
battle at Pleasant Hill, La. On May 18
it fought the battle of Yellow Bayou,
La, at the mouth of Red River, La.
''On May 20 Smiths command took
transports for Vicksburg They went to
Memphis June 81; fought Forrest at
Tupeio, Miss, July IA, and then re-
turned to Memphis. On Aug. 1 Smith
started in pursuit of Forrest, and at Ok
ford, Miss, tried to bring on AN engage
ment. but instead Forrest left a small
detachment to play with our cavalry
while he made his dash into Memphis.
My regiment was in Smiths COM
maId from Jan. 1, 1864, until mustered
out Juiy 10, 1865, and l was with my
regiment"
just Who Was There.
Robert Fl. Butler, 1922 Sixth street,
San Diego. Cal, writes:
1T Is astonishing how the boys are
RtttinS fHiNSu IN tneiF GdteS, ana as re-
CARDS the troops that were at Memphis
a: the time of the Forrest raid. These
regiments We're there: The 39th, 10th
and 41st Wis. and the 137th Ill. Gall
four regiments OF 100-days men), the Sd
Ill. Cav, who had been disarmed to go
home, several detachments of cavalry
and part of the 7th Wis. Battery, that
finally routed them mt the Cotton Patch,
but no colofed troops. George Fl. Sar-
gent SAYS the 137th Wis, his regiment,
and TIE 13Sth and AID Wis. were
there. That cannot be, as Wisccnsn's
highest regiment was 81, and the 37th,
3Sth and 42d were not there according
to commanding officers reports
Had n Cousin With Forrest.
S. T. Maxey, Captain, Co II, 9Th Ill.
CaT., Mount Vernon, ILL.,. writes:
"Comrade Elsey, in his account of the
Forrest raid into Memphis. is badly off
when he gets Forrest into Memphis in
April, 1864 | was in a squad of re-
cruits for the 9Th III. Cav, and was on
the first steamer (Mary f. FOrsythe)
down the river after the Fort Pillow
massacre. ! saw the burning mass of
the fcrt and some Of the bodies that
had heen left unburiea from the deck of
our steamer. l got to Memphis that
afternoon, and was assigned to duty in
Oil fo"t Pickering. | heard nothing of
f''i i'tat : Tdtu. IS ln3,ter OF fact, he
'"as rot there till the latter part of
August. Then he came wiki $500 picked
men and horses.
On Aug. 13 we had Il sharp contest
with Forrest On hurricane Creek,
northwest of oxford. Miss. and drove
\ S forces back a few miles We finally
made flank movement and got Forrest
to stand, but il didn't last long, and
We returned to our bivouac. The next
morning Forrest attacked our pickets.
We had Il lot Of new Spencer carbines
(seven shots) that had never been un-
boxed, and Col. Starr ordered them
used. a line was formed of our con-
.alcscents and men from our regimental
hospital, commanded by Capt. Daniel
VI. Naulding, Co. II, 9th ILL., Cav Mauld-
nS moved his line forward to the State
Female Seminary grounds and held the
.nemy, but they proved to be our fell
oWs they were firing into from the rear
and not. the enemy.
our camp was in beautiful grove
uSt north of the seminary Our con-
ialescentS and horses were between the
amp and the seminary building, which
-ronted on the next street south. When
Col. Starr got his men under Capt
command he. with his Act
ng OrderlySergeant. VIM. Pollard (our
'egimental Commissary- -Sergcant). went
With all possible speed to Gen Wash
Durn's headquarters to report and re-
'eiVer orders. They found him asleep,
ind he would not believe the place was
attacked. He ordered Starr to go back,
md take command of all the cavalry
last of the fernando road. When Starr
got to Elmwood road he found a line
'ormed across the road and started to-
ward them. They had not gone far