The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1912-05-30
War Recollections


The time for which | had en-
listed in the 18th Miss. Infantry
expired in September, 1862; and
being under the conscript age was
entitled to a discharge if wished
it. | wanted to come home any
way and availed myself of the OPP
portunity and babe adieu to the
Army of Northern Virginia. |
reached home in October and re-
manned there until February, 1868
at which time it became necessary
to enlist again. ! had had enough
of infantry soldering and decided
to enter the cavalry. Capt Isaac
N George was organizing COM
pany of cavalry at the time and
as | knew most of the members o.
this company | enlisted with it. |
found the company at Rock
Springs, 4 miles north of luka
There were about 40 men in the
company. Capt George at that
time was about 80 years of age,
tall and slender, with dark COM
plexion, black hair and eyes, He
was a quick, active, restless man,
full of energy and determination.
He was a man of few words and
absolutely fearless, as was shown
by his after conduct. The first
Lieutenant was ] B Brown. after
wards Captain of the company.
His home was at that time at East
port. He was the father OF DR..
Brown, of Iuka, Prof J E Brown,
of Blue Mountain. Mrs E A Payne
Mrs Luker, Mrs J r'Robinson and
Miss Kate Brown, of Iuka, and Of
Mrs Efie Rodgers, of New Albany
Miss. Lieut. Brown was then
about IS years of age, small but
active. The name of the Senior
I'd Lieutenant was r B Long
father of II C Long and A B Long
of this county. Lieut. Long, aftei
the war, was chancery clerk fol
several years. The Junior &c
Lieutenant was named Sam Z
Dean, an unmarried young mar
about 20 years of age, who wa:
killed in a skirmish, as will be
related later in this narrative The
orderly sergeant was Joseph M
Gurley who lived near Highland
at that time. The second sergeant
was named William Deaton who
lived near what is now called Den
mis-. l was elected 3rd sergeant.
The 4th sergeant's name was
Frank Driver. / cannot remen-
Der the names of the corporals of
he company. After my enlist
nent we marched across Bear
Creek to the Oats place and re-
NAMED there for about month,
all the roads crossing
Bear Greek from the Payne place
(now Alsobrook' 81 to the Tennes-
see river. From here we marched
to Dickson station and were quar-
tered there for a month or two.
Here we were joined by Dickson S
Burgess Smiths and Chafn's
companies, making five companies
in ali. Of these five companies
was formed a battalion. M. D.
Moreland was elected Lieutenant
Colonel and took command of the
battalion. Our Captain, Isaac N
George, was promoted to Major
and Lieut. J B Brown promoted to
Captain of our company. This
caused the promotion of the other
commissioned officers of the COM
pany and made it necessary to
elect another Junior I'd Lieuten-
ant who was ] Newton Brown, a
brother of the captain. The rank
of the non-comnissioned officers
was not changed. Col Moreland
had been a soldier in the Mexican
war. belonging to the 1st Miss.
Rifles, commanded by Col Jeffer-
son Davis. At the battle of Buena
Vista he was in the thick of the
fight and was wounded in the leg.
At the time he took command of
our battalion he was abor 40
years of age, small, not weighing
over 135 pounds, a'splendid horse
man and cool in the hour of dan
ger. From Dicksou's we made
several excursions or raids into
Mississippi in the direction of Cor
NTH. l remember that on one of
these raids we captured two mem
bers of the 18th Ill. Yankee infan-
try. We found them at the home
of J M Patrick, about two miles
west of huntsville. 1t seemed
that they had called there to see
two of Mr. Patrick S daughters.
We rode up on them unexpectedly
Some of our boys, led by Lieut.
Dean, went in the house, saw
them and captured them. They
made no resistance, having no
arms. They had walked over
from Their camp at Glendale. They