The National tribune., 1910-08-18

gether with the rebel battery in action
during the night, made a terrific noise
and illumination. To make the situa-
ton more terrifying, the rebels called
10 us that they would be over in the
and finish the job by cutting
our throats. Morning came, but all was
quiet, Forrest and his command having
gone up the river and joined Hoods
army, which was marching on Nash
vile. We evacuated the place and
went to Nashville. and were there a
month or more. during which time the
battle of Nashville occurred. We helped
to throw up breastworks for Thomas's
army, and had the satisfaction of see
ing Hoods army completely defeated
and broken up
Incidents of the Campaign.
VIM. G. LIE Due, Hastings, Minn.,
writes:
II find among my old army records
some memoranda taken at the time of
our pursuit of Gen. Hood thru Tennes-
see after the battle of Nashville that
may be interesting to any who were
with Thomas. When Hood came up at
Franklin and saw the light line of de-
fense thrown up by the Union troops
he said to each brigade as they came
up: Those lines must be broken. II
we whip them here. Nashville is ours,
and we go to the Ohio River After
the bloody repulse, when he lost seven
Generals and 5000 men, he came to
where Cleburne, with his horse, lay
dead across the little embankment the
Union troops had thrown up with their
bayonets and tincups, he wept bitterly,
and wished a bullet might strike him
dead.
Bob Tooms, a native, remained in
Franklin during the fight. About 2
o'clock the rebels commenced to fire back
of his house on the hill. A shell came
thru the outbuilding and thru the door,
struck the chimney mantle, knocking
the brick and wood out, struck the wall
over the bed, rebounded and fell on the
bed at the foot, in which were the chill
dren, without injuring anyone. He did
not find the shell until next morning;
fortunately it did not explode.
Mrs Laurie told me that Gen.
Stephen d. Lee stopped at her place on
not expect the Federals to fall back
from Columbia, but hoped they would
make a stand there and fight; that the
COnfederates did not want to go up any
higher in Tennessee unless the Federal
army was whipped, but now that they
would have to pursue. He said that
war was uncertain, and the Yankees
again, and it would be a bad thing for
them to be whipped 60 far away from
their base. However, they would have
to go on, even to Nashville, if the Fed
erals fell back that far.
AT Pulaski the 4th u. S. Cav. were
in advance, and charged on a gallOp
thru the town up to the bridge. It was
a saber fight hand to hand, and at the
bridge end rough-and-tumble one, in
which several were killed and wounded
and one flag taken. A Sergeant of the
4th sabered one man, was himself shot,
but ran the man thru who shot him
before he fell from his horse. An eye
and ear witness at Pulaski told me that
she saw Gen. Hood standing in a crowd
of men, who were cursing hinI most bit
terly, while he cried like a child. Sol
Yankees had got one of his legs, and he
wished they had got Hoods whole body.
guard stationed at the bridge stopped
all rebel soldiers passing who had nc
arms. and sent them to the depot for
muSketS, where thousands of muskets
were that had been picked up on the
battlefield of Franklin. The men would
get muskets, pass the guard at the
bridge and throw them in the river
Drs. MCGEE and Abernathy, rebel Sur
geonS, left in charge of the wounded al
Pulaski, said that Hoods army is utter
ly ruined and that the men will never
fight under him again. They say that
the charge at the bridge and thru Pu.
laski of the 4th u. s. Cav. was the most
gallant thing possible, and that it does
not matter how many arms the soldiers
throw away, they have plenty more at
Selma.
The pursuit terminated at the Pu-
laski Bridge. The rebel army of Gen.
Hood had been annihilated. They were
fleeing across the Tennessee bottoms as
mob, destitute of supplies. many of
them barefooted. The mud roads of
the bottoms had been frozen enough to
carry their few wheeled vehicles over
and Forests cavalry, which was pro-
tecting the rear. The turnpike ended
there. A thaw had set in, and the mud
road was impossible. Gen. Thomas
halted for two days. and gave orders to
stop pursuit, and we returned to head
quarters at Nashville