Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-05-31
few days later, in one of our cabins.
The officers of Company A at this

Captain, L. Tisdale, First Lieutenant
and D. w. Ballinger, Second Lieu
tenant. Company I was ofIlcered as
follows II. Fl. Green, Captain, j.
#. Conway, First Lieutenant and
Orange Langford. Second Lieuten-
ant. Captain Davis was in COM
mand of the post and Capt. Green
second in command. This left me
in charge quite frequently dur
ing the absences of Captain Davis.
On one of these occasions reeeiv-
ed a communication from General
Dodge, who was in command Of the
left wing CT the Sixteenth Army
Corps, notifying me that a company
of guerrillas were tearing up the
track of the Memphis and Charles
ton railroad. and ordering me to
march at once with asforce sufficient
to destroy or capture them. | inn
mediately proceeded to carry out
lHlS CluSi. Leaving IiSuICh~hI ii0
dale at the Bridge with a force suffi-
cient to defend it in my, absence in
event of an attack. / made my way
with about fifty men to the railroad
where the enemy was supposed to
be getting in his work. My advance
guard discovered him and immedi-
ately returned and informed me of
his numbers and of his proceedings.
never knew whether General
Dodge had been misinformed as 20
the situation or whether it was
meant simply to ascertain whether
we at the Bridge were sufficiently
alert to be relied on in case of sud-
den great need. | only know the
enemy proved to be squad of
harmless negroes, who were at work
repairing a break in the road. In
my report of the affair to headquar-
ters at Corinth, which | made as
elaborate as possible, l treated it
quite as a practical joke and | was
afterward informed by Major How
ard, who was at Dodge's headquar-
ters in the capacity Of staff officer,
that my report created good deal
of amusement. 1t might have been
serious affair, however, for at that
time Grant had Pemberton Bottled
up in Vicksburg and Johnston, who
was supposed to be making efforts
to relieve him, might have attempt
ed a diversion by moving against
Corinth, which would have livened
up things at Smiths Bridge. Re-
ports of the presence of guerrillas
in the vicinity were generally we'll
founded as the death or capture of
straggler from camp occasionally
abundantly proved. We lost several
men in this way, while others, who
were pursued, escaped and came in
with their reports. Capt. Holmes OF
ompany G, who had come out to
the Bridge from Corinth, was cap
tured and taken to Andersonville
prison, and nothing was ever heard
of him afterward. Negroes and loyal
citizens, of whom there were few,
kept us well informed of the move
ments of these marauding bands
who were unattached, sometimes
enemies of both sides, though usual
ly they were in sympathy with the
South, as might naturally be expect
ed. 1t was their custom to annoy
our pickets, whose exact location
was disclosed by disloyal citizens
who made it their business to find
out just where our lines were locat-
ed and where each picket might be
found. Under cover of the darkness
they would steal up at night, shelf
cred and hidden by the timber, and
either shoot or knife our boys If
they were not discovered in time.
Knowing the country as thoroughly
as they did and having friends every
where in that section it became a
very difficult matter to get near them
in sufficient force to do them any
damage.
One evening in July, while l was
writing a letter home, l was inter-
rupted by report that the enemy
was approaching us in force. The
next night the letter was resumed
as follows: WAS compelled to stop
writing last evening. Was left in
command of the post yesterday. In
the morning sent out a company
of cavalry on a scout. They were
gone all day and returned at night.
They did not see any Rebs, but
Lieutenant Tisdale of Co. A was out
alone and the citizens told him that
there were fifteen guerrillas lying in
wait for him when he returned.
sent out about a dozen of my own
company after them and fully eX-
pected a skirmish before morning
but the Secesh could not be found
/ will tell you how j spend my