A Chronicle of the Third Texas Cavalry

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THE LONE STAR DEFENDERS

THE LONE STARDEFENDERS

A CHRONICLE OF THE THIRD TEXASCAVALRY, ROSS' BRIGADE

BY

S. B. BARRONOF THE

THIRD TEXAS CAVALRY

New York and WashingtonTHE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY

1908

ROltOfl 337S5

HOUSTON PUBLIC UBRARf

Special Contents

Copyright

1964

7fa-02ft 500-7

txr

Printed in the United States of America

Limited 400 Copies

A complete facsimilefrom the press of

W. M. MorrisonWaco Texas

Box 32771964

Tomy comrades

Survivors of Ross' Brigade of Texas Cavalryand

to our children and grandchildreni affectionately dedicate

this Volume.

CONTENTSPAGE

Introduction 11

CHAPTER I

The Outbreak of the War

Journey to TexasJohn Brown's RaidMy SecessionResolutionPresidential ElectionLincoln ElectedExcitement in the SouthSecession Ordinances

" The Lone Star Defenders "Fort Sumter FiredOnCamp LifeThe Regiment CompleteCitizens'KindnessMustered InThe Third Texas CavalryRoster 15

CHAPTER II

Off for the Front

Organization of Regiment Officers AccoutermentOn the MarchTaming a Trouble-makerCrossingthe Red RiverIn the Indian TerritoryThe IndianMaidFort Smith The March to MissouriMcCul-loch's Headquarters

L

Tnder OrdersPreparation

for First Battle 26

CHAPTER III

Our First Battle

On the MarchLittle York RaidUnder FireOurFirst Battle-Oak Hill (Wilsons Creek)Death ofGeneral LyonOur First ChargeEnemy Retires

Impressions of First Battle Death of Youna: WillieHorrors of a BattlefieldTroops Engaged

Casualties 39

3

4 CONTENTS

CHAPTER IVThe War in Missouri

pagePersonal CharacteristicsTwo BraggartsJoe Welch

William HoodWe Enter SpringfieldBitter Feel-ing in MissouriCompany ElectionsMeasles andTyphoidCarthage, and My Illness ThereWe LeaveCarthageDeath of Captain TaylorWinter Quar-tersFurloughedHome Again 52

CHAPTER V

The War in MissouriContinued

I Rejoin the CommandSleeping in SnowAmbushed

Battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge)Capturinga BatteryDeaths of Generals McCulloch and Mc-intoshBattle ContinuedCasualtiesKeetsville

Official ReportsMarch SouthwardForagingLostArtilleryIllness Again 63

CHAPTER VI

The Siege of Corinth

Leave Winter QuartersThe PrairiesDuvalPs Bluff

Awaiting TransportationWhite RiverThe Missis-sippiMemphisAm DetailedEn Route to CorinthCorinthRed TapeSiege of Corinth" A Sol-dier's Grave "Digging for WaterSuffering andSickness Regiment Reorganized Evacuation ofCorinth 79

CHAPTER VII

Battle of Iuka

Camp at Tupelo, Miss.FurloughedReport for Duty

Camp Routine"The Sick Call"SaltilloPerson-nel of the BrigadeBaldwin " Contraband "On toIukaIukaBattle of IukaCasualtiesRetreat . 96

CONTENTS 5

CHAPTER VIII

Battle of CorinthPAGE

Captain Dunn, the " Mormon "ParolesBaldwinOnto CorinthConscriptionLooking for Breakfast

The Army TrappedA SkirmishEscapeHollySprings Battle of Corinth Casualties CavalryAgain Ill

CHAPTER IX

Holly Springs Raid

At GrenadaScoutingEngagement at OaklandChap-lain Thompson's AdventureHolly Springs Raid

JakeThe Bridge at Wolf RiverI Am Wounded

BolivarAttack on MiddleburgChristmas . . 127

CHAPTER X

The Engagement at Thompson's Station

January, 1863Jake ArrestedDetailedMy BrotherVisits MeElected Second LieutenantBattle ofThompson's StationDuck RiverCapture of theLegionThe " Sick Camp "Murder of GeneralVan Dorn 143

CHAPTER XI

The Surrender of Vicksburg

Moving SouthwardI Lose My HorseMeet Old Hunts-ville FriendsA New HorseIn Mississippi" SneezeWeed "Messenger's FerrySurrender of Vicks-burgArmy RetiresFighting at JacksonAfterSherman's MenA Sick HorseBlack Prince

" Tax in Kind "Ross' BrigadeTwo Desertions 156

6 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII

Battle at Yazoo Citypage

MidwinterThrough the SwampsGunboat Patrols

Crossing the MississippiThrough the IceFerry-ing GunsHardshipsEngagement at Yazoo City

Harrying ShermanUnder SuspicionA PracticalJokeBattle at Yazoo CityCasualtiesA SocialCallEastwoodDrowning AccidentA MilitarySurvey 173

CHAPTER XIII

Under Fire for One Hundred Days

Corduroy Breeches-Desolate CountryConscript Head-quartersAn " Arrest "Rome, Ga.Under Firefor One Hundred DaysBig and Little KenesawLost MountainRain, Rain, RainHazardousScoutingGreen TroopsShelledTruceAtlantaDeath of General MacPhersonEzra Church

McCook's RetreatBattle near NewmanResults . 190

CHAPTER XIV

Kilpatrick's Raid

Kilpatrick's Raid

At' ck on KilpatrickLee's Mill

Lovejoy's StationThe Brigade Demoralized

I

SurrenderPlaying 'Possum I EscapeThe Bri- .gade ReassemblesCasualties 205

CHAPTER XV

Union Soldier's Account of Kilpatrick's Raid

Kilpatrick's RaidOrdered to the FrontEnemy'sArtillery SilencedWe Destroy the RailroadHotWork at the RailroadPlan of Our Formation

Stampeding the HorsesThe Enemy ChargesSleep-ing on HorsebackSwimming the RiverCampedat Last 216

CONTENTS 7

CHAPTER XVI

Close of the Atlanta Campaignpage

Sherman Changes His TacticsHood DeceivedHeavyFightingAtlanta SurrendersEnd of the Cam-paignLossesScoutingAn Invader's DevastationRaiding the RaidersHood Crosses the Coosa

A

ReconnoissanceNegro SpiesRaiding the BlacksCrossing Indian CreekA Conversion .... 228

CHAPTER XVII

My Last Battle

Tories and DesertersA Tragic StoryA Brutal MurderThe Son's VowVengeanceA Southern HeroineSeeking Our CommandHuntsvilleA StrangeMeetingWe Find the DivisionThe Battle in theFogMy Last Battle 245

CHAPTER XVIII

Ross' Report of Brigade's Last Campaign

Ross' ReportRepulse a Reconnoitering PartyEffect-ive Fighting StrengthAdvance GuardThe Battleat CampbellsvilleResultsThompson's Station

Harpeth RiverMurfreesboroLynvillePulaski

Sugar CreekLosses During CampaignCapturesAcknowledgments 254

CHAPTER XIX

The End of the War

ChristmasI Lose All My BelongingsThe " OwlTrain "A WeddingFurloughedStart for TexasHospitalityA Night in the SwampThe FloodedCountrySwimming the RiversIn TexasHomeAgainSurrender of Lee, Johnston, and KirbySmithCopy of Leave of AbsenceRecapitulationValuation of Horses in 1864Finis 267

ILLUSTRATIONS

Battle Flag of the Third Texas Cavalry . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Lieutenant-Colonel P. F. Ross, Sixth Texas

Cavalry 24

Jiles S. Boggess, Captain, Major; Lieutenant-Colonel Third Texas Cavalry .... 50

Captain D. R. Gurley, Sixth Texas Cavalry, A.

A. G. Ross' Brigade 76

F. M. Taylor, first Captain of Company C, ThirdTexas Cavalry 100

John Germany, fourth and last Captain CompanyC, Third Texas Cavalry 126

Jesse W. Wynne, Captain Company B, ThirdTexas Cavalry 150

Captain H. L. Taylor, Commander Ross' BrigadeScouts 176

Leonidas Cartwright, Company E, Third TexasCavalry; Member of Taylor's Scouts, Ross'Brigade 200

G. A McKee, Private Company C, Third TexasCavalry 226

Lieutenant S. B. Barron, Third Texas Cavalry. 250

INTRODUCTION

As my recollections of the war between the States,or the Confederate War, in which four of the bestyears of my life (May, 1861, to May, 1865) weregiven to the service of the Confederate States ofAmerica, are to be written at the earnest request ofmy children, and mainly for their gratification, it is,perhaps, proper to preface the recital by goingback a few years in order to give a little familyhistory.

I was born in what is now the suburbs of the townof Gurley in Madison County, Alabama, on the 9thday of November, 1834. My father, Samuel BouldsBarron, was born in South Carolina in 1793. Hisfather, James Barron, as I understand, was a nativeof Ireland. My mother's maiden name was MarthaCotten, daughter of James Cotten, who was fromGuilford County, North Carolina, and who was inthe battle of Guilford Court House, at the age ofsixteen. His future wife, Nancy Johnson, was thena young girl living in hearing of the battle at theCourt House. About the beginning of the pastcentury, 1800, my Grandfather Cotten, with hiswife, her brother Abner Johnson, and their rela-tives, Gideon and William Pillow, and their sister,Mrs. Dew, moved out from North Carolina intoTennessee, stopping in Davidson County, nearNashville. Later Abner Johnson and the Pillows

12 INTRODUCTION

settled in Maury County, near Columbia, and aboutthe year 1808 my grandfather and his family cameon to Madison County, Alabama, and settled at whathas always been known as Cave Springs, about fif-teen miles east or southeast from Huntsville. Inthe second war with Great Britain (the War of1812) my Grandfather Cotten again answered thecall to arms, and as a captain he served his countrywith notable gallantry.

It is like an almost forgotten dream, the recollec-tion of my paternal grandmother and my maternalgrandfather, for both of them died when I was asmall child. My maternal grandmother, however,who lived to the age of eighty-seven years, I remem-ber well. In my earliest recollection my father wasa school-teacher, teaching at a village then called" The Section," afterwards " Lowsville," beingnow the town of Maysville, twelve miles east ofHuntsville. He was well-educated and enjoyed thereputation of being an excellent teacher. He quitteaching, however, and settled on a small farm fourmiles east of Cave Springs, on what is known as the" Cove road," running from Huntsville to Belle-fonte. Here he died when I was about seven yearsof age, leaving my mother with five children : JohnAshworth, a son by her first husband ; my brother,William J. Barron, who now lives in Huntsville,Alabama ; two sisters, Tabitha and Nancy Jane ; andmyself. About nine years later our mother died.In the meantime our half-brother had arrived atman's estate and left home. Soon after ourmother's death we sold the homestead, and each onewent his or her way, as it were, the sisters living

INTRODUCTION 13

with our near-by relatives until they married. Mybrother and myself found employment in Huntsvilleand lived there. Our older sister and her husbandcame to Texas in about the year 1857, and settledfirst in Nacogdoches County. In the fall of 1859I came to Texas, to bring my then widowed sisterand her child to my sister already here. And so,as the old song went, " I am away here in Texas."

The Lone Star Defenders

CHAPTER ITHE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR

Journey to TexasJohn Brown's RaidMy SecessionResolutionPresidential ElectionLincoln ElectedExcite-ment in the SouthSecession Ordinances" The Lone StarDefenders "Fort Sumter Fired OnCamp LifeThe Regi-ment CompleteCitizens' Kindness Mustered InThe ThirdTexas CavalryRoster.

No, I am not going to write, or attempt to write,a history of the war, or even a detailed account ofany campaign or battle in which I participated, butonly mean to set forth the things which I witnessedor experienced myself in the four years of march-ing, camping, and fighting, as I can now recall themonly, or mainly, personal reminiscences. Incident-ally I will give the names of my comrades of Com-pany C, Third Texas Cavalry, and tell, so far as Ican remember, what became of the individuals whocomposed the company. I will not dwell on thecauses of the war or anything which has been sooften and so well told relating thereto, but willmerely state that I had always been very conserva-tive in my feelings in political matters, and was soall through the exciting times just preceding thewar while Abolitionism and Secession were so muchdiscussed by our statesmen, orators, newspapers, andperiodicals. I had witnessed the Kansas troubles,which might be called a skirmish before the battle,with much interest and anxiety, and without losing

16 THE LONE STAR DEFENDERS

faith in the ability and wisdom of our statesmen tosettle the existing troubles without disrupting thegovernment. But on my journey to Texas, as weglided down the Mississippi from Memphis to NewOrleans, on board the Lizzie Simmons, a new andbeautiful steamer, afterwards converted into a cot-ton-clad Confederate gunboat, we obtained NewOrleans papers from an up-river boat. The paperscontained an account of John Brown's raid onHarper's Ferry. I read this, and became a Seces-sionist. I saw, or thought I saw, that the stormwas coming, that it was inevitable, and it seemeduseless to shut my eyes longer to the fact.The year 1860, my first in Texas, was a memor-

able one in several respects, not only to the new-comers but to the oldest inhabitant. The severestdrouth ever known in eastern Texas prevailed untilafter the middle of August. It was the hottestsummer ever known in Texas, the temperature inJuly running up to 112 degrees in the shade. Itwas a Presidential election year, and political ex-citement was intense. The Democrats were divided,while the Abolitionists had nominated Abraham Lin-coln as their candidate for President, with a goodprospect of electing him by a sectional vote. Sev-eral towns in Texas being almost destroyed by fireduring the extreme heat of the summer, an impres-sion became generally prevalent that Northern in-cendiaries were prowling through the State burningproperty and endeavoring to incite the negroes toinsurrection. The excitement, apprehension, un-rest, and the vague fear of unseen danger pervad-ing the minds of the people of Texas cannot be un-

OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 17

derstood by persons who were not in the State atthat time. The citizens organized patrol forcesand armed men guarded the towns, day and night,for weeks. Every passing stranger was investi-gated and his credentials examined. The poor ped-dler, especially, was in imminent danger of beingmobbed at any time on mere suspicion.

At the November election Abraham Lincoln waselected President. This was considered by the Se-cessionists as an overt act on the part of the Norththat would justify secession. I was out in the coun-try when the news of the election came, and when,on my return, I rode into Rusk the Lone Star flagwas floating over the court-house and Abraham Lin-coln, in effigy, was hanging to the limb of a sweetgum tree that stood near the northwest corner ofthe court yard. From this time excitement ranhigh. Immediate steps were taken by the extremeSouthern States to secede from the LTnion, an actthat was consummated as soon as practicable by theassembling of State conventions and the passage ofordinances of secession. Now, too, volunteer com-panies began organizing in order to be ready forthe conflict which seemed to be inevitable.We soon raised a company in Rusk for the pur-

pose of drilling and placing ourselves in readinessfor the first call for troops from Texas. We or-ganized by electing General Joseph L. Hogg, fatherof Ex-Governor J. S. Hogg, as captain. The com-pany was named " The Lone Star Defenders," forevery company must needs have a name in thosedays. Early in 1861, however, when it appearednecessary to prepare for actual service, the company


was reorganized and the gallant Frank M. Taylormade captain, as General Hogg was not expectedto enter the army as captain. Several of the Stateshad already seceded, the military posts in the Southwere being captured by the Confederates and FortSumter, in Charleston Harbor, was fired upon byour General Beauregard on the 12th day of April,1861. The dogs of war were turned loose. Warnow became a stern reality, a war the magnitude ofwhich no one then had any conception. PresidentLincoln's first call for volunteers was for ninety-daymen, and the Confederate volunteers were musteredin for one year.Having learned that Elkanah Greer, of Marshall,

had been commissioned colonel and ordered to raisea regiment of Texas cavalry, we lost no time in re-porting ourselves ready to make one company ofthe regiment, and soon received instructions to re-port at Dallas, on a certain day in June, when aregiment would be formed. So on Monday morn-ing, June 10, in the year of our Lord, 1861, wewere to leave, and did leave, Rusk for Dallasandbeyond, as the exigencies of the war might deter-mine. The population of the town, men, women,and children, were on the streets, in tears, to bid usfarewell. Even rough, hard-faced men whose ap-pearance would lead one to believe they hadn't sheda tear since their boyhood, boo-hoo'd and were un-able to speak the word " good-by." This day ofleave-taking was the saddest of the war to manyof us.

After we had mounted our horses we assembledaround the front of the old Thompson Hotel, which

OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 19stood where the Acme Hotel now stands, when our oldfriend, General Hogg, standing on the front steps,delivered us a formal and a very tender farewell ad-dress. War was not unknown to him, for he hadbeen a soldier in the early days of Texas, as well asa member of the Texas Congress in the days of therepublic. He was a fine specimen of the best typeof Southern manhoodtall, slender, straight as anIndian, and exceedingly dignified in his manner. Asbrave as " Old Hickory," he often reminded me ofthe pictures I had seen of General Jackson, and hecertainly had many similar traits of character. Wevenerated, admired, and loved him, and he waswarmly attached to the company. In his addresshe gave us much good advice, even to the details ofmess duties and the treatment of our messmates.Among other things, he said, " Don't ever jeer at ormock any of your comrades who cannot stand thefire of the enemy. Some of you, perhaps, will findyourselves unable to do so. Some men are thusconstituted without knowing it, until they are tried.So you should be charitable towards such unfor-tunates." Later I found these words of our oldsoldier friend to be true. This ceremony ended, wesadly moved off by twos, over the hill, and up thestreet leading into the Jacksonville road.As we marched forward sadness was soon suc-

ceeded by merriment and good cheer. Some of theboys composed a little song, which was frequentlysung by I. K. Frazer and others as we went march-ing on. It began

:

"The Lone Star Defenders, a gallant little band,On the tenth of June left their native land."


Before leaving home we had spent two weeks in acamp of instruction, and learned something of theduties of camp life and the necessary art of rollingand unrolling our blankets. We camped the firstnight near Jorial Barnett's, between Jacksonvilleand Larissa. Two of the Barnett boys were goingwith us, and several from Larissa. When wereached Larissa next morning we there found ayoung man, Charley Watts, who was a bugler, andhad been in the Federal Army, he said. He waswilling and anxious to go with us, and we wantedhim, as he was young and active, but he was afoot,and seemed to own nothing beyond his wearing ap-parel. So we appealed to the citizens, as a goodlynumber had gathered into the little village to see thesoldiers pass, and in little more time than it takesto tell it, we had him rigged with horse, bridle, sad-dle, and blankets. Charley proved to be a finebugler, the finest bugler I ever heard in either army,and he was a most gallant young fellow. We movedon, bidding farewell to Captain Taylor's noble andpatriotic old mother, as we passed her residence.

Fearing we might be left out of the regiment, wedispatched Captain Taylor and one or two otherswell-mounted men to go ahead and secure and holdour place for us. The ladies of Cherokee Countyhaving presented us with a beautiful flag, this weunfurled and marched through the towns and vil-lages along the way in great style and militarypomp. At Kaufman we received quite an ovation.Arriving there about ten o'clock in the morning, wewere met by a deputation of citizens, who invited usto dine at the hotel at the expense of the town.


This was very reluctantly declined, for we wereafraid of losing time. Poor fellows, we often re-gretted missing that good dinner, and we really hadplenty of time, if we had only known it. To showour appreciation of their hospitality we marchedaround the public square, displaying the flag andsounding the bugle. When we had arrived in frontof a saloon we were halted and all invited to dis-mount and drink, without cost to us. We herespent perhaps an hour, during which time numbersof the boys entered stores to purchase small neces-sary articles, and in every instance pay was de-clined.

In due time we went into camp in a post oakgrove two miles east of Dallas, a locality, by theway, which is now well within the city limits. Andhere we remained for some time.

Eight other organized companies wTere sooncamped in different localities in the neighborhood,but we were still one company short. However, asthere wrere many men, including a large squad fromKaufman County, some from Cherokee and othercounties, on the ground wishing to go with us, andwho could not get into the organized companies be-cause they were all full, they organized themselvesinto a tenth company, which completed the neces-sary number for the regiment.We spent about four weeks in Dallas County,

a delay caused in good part by the necessity of wait-ing for the arrival of a train from San Antoniocarrying United States wagons and mules capturedat that post by the Confederates. The time, how-ever, was well spent in daily drills, in feeding, graz-


ing and attending to our horses ; and then, too, wewere learning valuable lessons in camp life. Whilehere we had plenty of rations for ourselves andplenty of forage for the horses.The citizens of Dallas County, as far as we came

in contact with them, were very kind to us. Ournearest neighbor was a German butcher by the nameof Nusbauman. We used water from the well inhis yard and were indebted to him and his familyfor many acts of kindness.On one occasion Mrs. Nusbauman complained to

Captain Taylor that one of his men had borrowedher shears to cut hair with, and would not bringthem back. No, she did not know the name of theoffender. The captain then said, " Madame, do youknow the man when you see him?" "Oh, yes."" Well, when he comes to draw water again yousprinkle flour on his back and I will find yourshears." In a few hours one of the men came outfrom the well with his back covered with flourandthe shears were promptly returned.Our next nearest neighbors were a family named

Sheppard, who lived a few hundred yards south ofour camp, and whose kindness was unbounded.Their house was our hospital for the time we werein their vicinity, and the three young ladies of thefamily, Misses Jennie Wood, Maggie, and another,were unremitting in their attentions to the sick. Onone damp, drizzly day when I had a chill they heardof it somehow, and in the afternoon two of themdrove up in a buggy and called for me to go homewith them, where I could be sheltered, as we yet hadno tents. I went, of course, recovered in one day,


convalesced in about three days, and reluctantly re-turned to camp. In an effort to do some washingfor myself, I had lost a plain gold ring from myfinger, a present from Miss Cattie Everett of Rusk,and Miss Jennie Wood Sheppard replaced it withone of her own. This ring was worn by me con-tinually, not only during the war, but for severalyears after its close.

I do not remember the date, but some day near theend of June " The Lone Star Defenders," that " gal-lant little band," were formally mustered into theservice of the Confederate States of America, forone year. We were subjected to no physical exam-ination, or other foolishness, but every fellow wastaken for better or for worse, and no questions wereasked, except the formal, " Do you solemnly swear,"etc. The company was lettered " C," Greer's Regi-ment, Texas Cavalryafterwards numbered andever afterwards known as the Third Texas Cavalry.We were mustered in, officers and men, as follows:

OfficersFrank M. Taylor, captain ; James J. A.Barker, first lieutenant ; Frank M. Daniel, secondlieutenant; James A. Jones, second lieutenant; Wal-lace M. Caldwell, orderly sergeant; John D. White,second sergeant; S. B. Barron, third sergeant; TomPetree, fourth sergeant; William Pennington, firstcorporal; Thomas F. Woodall, second corporal; C.C. Acker, third corporal; P. C. Coupland, fourthcorporal; Charles Watts, bugler; John A. Boyd,ensign.

PrivatesPeter Acker, John B. Armstrong,David H. Allen, James M. Brittain, R. L. Barnett,James Barnett, Severe D. Box, A. A. Box, William


P. Bowers, John W. Baker, C. C. Brigman, GeorgeF. Buxton, Jordan Bass, Carter Caldwell, WilliamP. Crawley, A. G. Carmichael, A. M. Croft, JamesP. Chester, Leander W. Cole, James W. Cooper,William H. Carr, W. J. Davis, James E. Dillard,F. M. Dodson, John E. Dunn, O. M. Doty, H. H.Donoho, B. C. Donald, Stock Ewin, John J. Felps,I. K. Frazer, John Germany, Luther Grimes, E. M.Grimes, J. H. Gum, L. F. Grisham, W. L. Gam-mage, W. D. Herndon, J. R. Halbert, W. T. Harris,D. B. Harris, Thomas E. Hogg, John Honson,Warren H. Higginbotham, R. H. Hendon, WilliamHammett, James B. Hardgrave, Felix G. Hard-grave, R. L. Hood, William Hood, James Ivy,Thomas J. Johnson, J. H. Jones, John B. Long,Ben A. Long, George C. Long, R. C. Lawrence,John Lambert, J. B. Murphy, William P. Mosely,John Meyers, Harvey N. Milligan, W. C. McCain,G. A. McKee, W. W. McDugald,, Dan McCaskill,Samuel W. Newberry, William A. Newton, GeorgeNoland, Baxter Newman, J. T. Park, T. A. Put-nam, Lemon R. Peacock, W. T. Phillips, Lemuel H.Reed, T. W. Roberts, Cythe Robertson, Calvin M.Roark, John B. Reagan, A. B. Summers, John W.Smith, Cicero H. Smith, Rufus Smith, Sam E. Scott,J. R. Starr, James R. Taylor, Reuben G. Thomp-son, Dan H. Turney, Robert F. Woodall, WoodsonO. Wade, F. M. Wade, E. S. Wallace, R. S. Wal-lace, John R. Watkins, C. C. Watkins, Joe L.Welch, Thomas H. Willson, N. J. Yates.

Total rank and file112 men.In addition to the above list of original members,

the following named recruits were added to the com-

Peter F. RossMajor and Lieutenant-Colonel Sixth Texas Cavalry


pany after we had lost several of our men by deathand discharge:

A. J. Gray, Charles B. Harris, J. T. Halbert,John E. Jones, Wm. H. Kellum, W. S. Keahey, S.N. Keahey, J. D. Miller, T. L. Newman, T. L. Nos-worthy, John W. Wade, Wyatt S. Williams, EugeneW. Williams.

Total125 men enlisted in the company.

Of these the killed numbered 14Died of disease 16Discharged 31Commissioned officers resigned 3Missing and never heard of 2Deserted 7Survived (commissioned and non-commis-

sioned officers, 12; privates, 40) 52

125

Of these recruits, six, the first on the list, came tous in February and March, 1862 ; the next threejoined us in April, 1862; the remaining four joinedus in 1863, while we were in Mississippi.The company consisted mainly of natives of the

different Southern States, with a few native Texans.Aside from these we had Buxton, from the Stateof Maine; Milligan, from Indiana, and threeforeigners, William Hood, an Englishman ; JohnDunn, Irish, and John Honson, a Swede. Milliganwas a printer, and being too poor to buy his outfitwhen he joined us, he was furnished with horse andaccouterments by our friend, B. Miller, a Germancitizen of Rusk.

CHAPTER IIOFF FOR THE FRONT

Organization of RegimentOfficersAccoutermentOnthe MarchTaming a Trouble-makerCrossing the Red RiverIn the Indian TerritoryThe Indian MaidFort Smith

>

The March to MissouriMcCulloch's HeadquartersUnderOrdersPreparation for First Battle.

After the companies were mustered into the serv-ice the regiment was organized. Colonel ElkanahGreer was commissioned by the Confederate WarDepartment. Walter P. Lane was elected lieuten-ant-colonel, and George W. Chilton, father ofUnited States Senator Horace Chilton, was mademajor. M. D. Ecton, first lieutenant of CompanyB, was made adjutant, Captain Harris,quartermaster, Jas. B. Armstrong, of Henderson,commissary, and our Dr. W. W. McDugald, sur-geon.

Thus was organized the first regiment to leavethe State of Texas, and one of the best regi-ments ever in the Confederate service. I would notsay that it was the best regiment, as in my opinionthe best regiment and the bravest man in the Con-federate Army were hard to find. That is to say,no one regiment was entitled to be designated " thebest regiment," as no one of our brave men couldrightly be designated " the bravest man in thearmy." Napoleon called Marshal Ney " the brav-est of the brave," but no one could single out a

26

OFF FOR THE FRONT 27

Confederate soldier and truthfully say, " He is thebravest man in the army." It was unfortunatelytrue that all our men were not brave and trustwor-thy, for we had men who were too cowardly to fight,and we had some men unprincipled enough to desert;but taken all in all, for gallantry and for fightingqualities under any and all circumstances, eitherin advance or retreat, the regiment deservedly stoodin the front rank in all our campaigning.The regiment was well officered, field staff, and

line. Colonel Greer was a gallant man, but unfor-tunately his mind was too much bent on a brigadier'sstars; Major Chilton, whenever an opportunity of-fered, showed himself to be brave and gallant ; butWalter P. Lane, our lieutenant-colonel, was the lifeof the regiment during our first year's service. Amore gallant man than he never wore a sword, be-strode a war horse, or led a regiment in battle. Hewas one of the heroes of San Jacinto, and a bornsoldier. In camps, in times when there was littleor nothing to do, he was not overly popular withthe men, but when the fighting time came he gainedthe admiration of everyone.

At last the long-looked-for train cameUnitedStates wagons drawn by six-mule teams, poor littleSpanish or Mexican mules, driven by Mexicans.They brought us tents, camp kettles, mess pans andsuch things, and for arms, holster pistols. We werefurnished with two wagons to the company and weregiven Sibley tents,large round tents that wouldprotect sixteen men with their arms and accouter-ments,a pair of holster pistols apiece, and a fairoutfit of " cooking tricks." We were then formed


into messes of sixteen men each, and each mess wasprovided with the Sibley tent, the officers beingprovided with wall tents. Fairly mounted, we werepretty well equipped now, our chief deficiency beingthe very poor condition of the mules and the lack ofproper arms, for the men, in mustering, had gatheredup shotguns, rifles, and any kind of gun obtainableat home, many of them being without a firearm ofany kind. A large number had had huge knivesmade in the blacksmith shops, with blade eighteento twenty-four inches long, shaped something like abutcher's cleaver, keen-edged, with a stout handle, aweapon after the order of a Cuban machete. Thesewere carried in leather scabbards, hung to the sad-dle, and with these deadly weapons the boys expectedto ride through the ranks of the Federal armies andchop down the men right and left. Now, however,to this equipment were added the pair of holster pis-tols. These very large, brass-mounted, single-bar-reled pistolswith barrels about a foot longcar-ried a large musket ball, and were suspended in hol-sters that fitted over the horn of the saddle, thusplacing them in a convenient position for use. Inaddition to all this, every fellow carried a grassrope at least forty feet long and an iron stake pin.These latter were for staking out the horses tograze, and many was the untrained horse that paiddear for learning the art of " walking the rope,"for an educated animal would never injure himselfin the least.

All things being ready, we now started on ourlong march, accompanied by Captain J. J. Goode'sbattery, which had been organized at Dallas, to join


General Ben McCulloch in northwestern Arkansas,where he, with what forces he had been able togather, was guarding our Arkansas frontier. Leav-ing Dallas on the day of July, we moved viaMcKinney and Sherman, crossing Red River at Col-bert's ferry, thence by the overland mail routethrough the Indian Territory to Fort Smith, Ark.,and beyond. We made moderate marches, theweather being very warm, and we then had no ap-parent reason for rapid movements.When near McKinney we stopped two or three

days. Here our man from the State of Maine be-gan to give us trouble. When sober, Buxton wasmanageable and a useful man to the company, butwhen he was in liquor, which was any time he couldget whisky, he was troublesome, quarrelsome, anddangerous, especially to citizens. One afternoonCaptain Taylor and myself rode into McKinney,where we found Buxton drunk and making trouble.The captain ordered him to camp, but he contuma-ciously refused to go. We managed to get him backto the rear of a livery stable, near a well, and Cap-tain Taylor forced him down across a mound offertilizerholding him there. Then he ordered meto pour water on Buxton, which I did most copi-ously. I drew bucket after bucket of cold waterfrom the well and poured it upon Buxton's prostrate,soldierly form, until he was thoroughly cooled andpartially sobered, when the captain let him up andagain ordered him to campand he went, cursingand swearing vengeance. This man, after giving usa good deal of trouble from time to time until afterthe battle of Elkhorn in the spring of 1862, was


jailed in Fort Smith for shooting a citizen in thestreet, and here we left him and crossed the Missis-sippi River. He made his escape from jail and fol-lowed us to the State of Mississippi, when Lieuten-ant-Colonel Lane ordered him out of camp. Heafterwards returned to Rusk, where he was killedone day by a gunshot wound, but by whom no oneseemed to know.We passed through Sherman early in the morn-

ing, and I stopped to have my horse shod, over-taking the command at Colbert's ferry in the after-noon, when they were crossing Red River. The daywas fair, the weather dry and hot. The river, verylow now, had high banks, and in riding down fromthe south side you came on to a wide sandbar extend-ing to a narrow channel running against the northbank, where a small ferryboat was carrying thewagons and artillery across. A few yards above theferry the river was easily fordable, so the horsemenhad all crossed and gone into camp a mile beyond theriver, as had most of the wagons. I rode to theother side and stopped on the north bank to watchoperations.

All the wagons but one had been ferried over, andthis last one had been driven down on the sandbarnear the ferry landing, waiting for the boat's re-turn, while two pieces of artillery were standingnear by on the sandbar. Suddenly I heard a roar-ing sound up the river, as if a wind storm was com-ing. I looked in that direction and saw a veritableflood rushing down like a mighty wave of the sea,roaring and foaming as it came. The driver of theteam standing near the water saw it and instinctively


began turning his team to drive out, but, realizingthat this would be impossible, he detached his mulesand with his utmost efforts was only able to save theteam, while every available man had to lend assist-ance in order to save the two pieces of artillery.In five minutes' time, perhaps, the water had risenfifteen to eighteen feet, and the banks were full ofmuddy, rushing water, and remained so as long aswe were there. The wagon, which belonged to thequartermaster, was swept off by the tide and lost,with all its contents. It stood in its position untilthe water rose to the top of the cover, when itfloated off.

After camping for the night, we moved on. Aswe were now in the Indian Territory, the young menwere all on the look-out for the beautiful Indiangirls of whom they had read so much, and I thinksome of them had waived the matter of engage-ment before leaving home until they could determinewhether they would prefer marrying some of thepretty girls that were so numerous in this Indiancountry. We had not gone far on our march whenwe met a Chickasaw damsel. She was rather youngin appearance, of medium height, black unkempthair, black eyes, high cheekbones, and was bare-headed and bare-footed. Her dress was of somewell-worn cotton fabric, of a color hard to define,rather an earthy color. In style it was of the ex-treme low neck and short kind, and a semi-bloomer.Of other wearing apparel it is unnecessary to speak,unless you wish a description of another Indian.This one was too sensible to weight herself with amultiplicity of garments in July. She was a regu-


lar middle of the roader, as she stuck close to thatpart of the Territory strictly. As we were march-ing' by twos we separated and left her to that partof the highway which she seemed to like best. Shecontinued her walk westwardly as we continued ourmarch eastwardly, turning her head right and left,to see what manner of white soldiers the Confeder-ate Government was sending out. This gave allan opportunity to glimpse at her charms. Modestlyshe walked along without speaking to any of us, aswe had never been introduced to her. Only one timedid I hear her speak a word, and that was appar-ently to herself. As Lieutenant Daniel passed herwith his long saber rattling, she exclaimed, in goodEnglish : " Pretty white man!got big knife ! "

As we went marching on the conversation becamemore general ; that is, more was said about thebeautiful country, the rich lands and fine cattle,and not so much about beautiful Indian girls. Butevery fellow kept his eye to the front, expectingwe would meet scores of girls, perhaps hundreds,but all were disappointed, as this was the only full-blooded Indian we met in the highway from Col-bert's ferry to Fort Smith. The fact is, the In-dians shun white people who travel the main road.Away out in the prairie some two hundred yardsyou will find Indian trails running parallel withthe road, and the Indians keep to these trails toavoid meeting the whites. If they chance to livein a hut near the road you find no opening towardthe road, and, if approached, they will deny thatthey can speak English, when, in fact, they speak itreadily and plainly.


One day I came up with one of our teamsters introuble. He needed an ax to cut down a sapling,so I galloped back to an Indian's hut near by, andas there was no enclosure, rode around to the door.The Indian came out and I asked him to lend mean ax a few minutes. He shook his head and said," Me no intender," again and again, and this was theonly word I could get out of him until I dismountedand picked up the ax, which was lying on the groundnear the door. He then began, in good English,to beg me not to take his ax. I carried it to theteamster, however, but returned it to the Indian ina few minutes.

There are, or were then, people of mixed bloodliving along the road in good houses and in goodstyle, where travelers could find entertainment.Numbers of these had small Confederate flags fly-ing over the front gatepostsand all seemed to beloyal to our cause. Two young Choctaws joinedone of our companies and went with us, one ofthem remaining with us during the war, and anexcellent soldier he was, too.At Boggy Depot the ladies presented us with a

beautiful flag, which was carried until it was manytimes pierced with bullets, the staff shot in two, andthe flag itself torn into shreds. Arriving at Bi^gBlue River, we lost one or two horses in crossing,by drowning. But finally we reached Fort Smith,on a Saturday, remaining there until Monday morn-ing '

While in the Choctaw Nation our men had the op-portunity of attending an Indian war dance, andadded to their fitness for soldiers by learning the


warwhoop, which many of them were soon able togive just as real Indians do.

Fort Smith, a city of no mean proportions, issituated on the south bank of the Arkansas River,very near the line of the Indian Territory. Anothergood town, Van Buren, is situated on the north bankof the river, five miles below Fort Smith. Whilewe were at Fort Smith orders came from GeneralMcCulloch, then in southwest Missouri, to cut loosefrom all incumbrances and hasten to his assistanceas rapidly as possible, as a battle was imminent.Consequently, leaving all trains, baggage, artillery,all sick and disabled men and horses to follow usas best they could, we left on Monday morning inthe lightest possible marching order, for a forcedmarch into Missouri. Our road led across BostonMountain, through Fayetteville and Cassville, ontowards Springfield. Crossing the river at Van Bu-ren, we began the march over the long, hot, dry, andfearfully dusty road. As we passed through VanBuren I heard " Dixie " for the first time, playedby a brass band. Some of the boys obtained thewords of the song, and then the singers gave us" Dixie " morning, noon, and night, and sometimesbetween meals. This march taxed my physical en-durance to the utmost, and in the evening, whenorders came to break ranks and camp, I sometimesfelt as if I could not march one mile farther. Thefirst or orderly sergeant and second sergeant havingbeen left behind with the train, the orderly sergeant'sduties fell upon me, which involved looking afterforage and rations, and other offices, after the day'smarch.


On Saturday noon we were at Cassville, Mo.That night we marched nearly all night, lying downin a stubble field awhile before daylight, where weslept two or three hours. About ten o'clock Sundaymorning, tired, dusty, hungry, and sleepy, we wentinto camp in the neighborhood of General McCul-loch's headquarters, in a grove of timber near abeautiful, clear, little stream. The first thing wedid was to look after something to eat for ourselvesand horses, as we had had no food since passingCassville, and only a very light lunch then. Thenext thing was to go in bathing, and wash ourclothes, as we had had no change, and then to getsome longed-for sleep. In the meantime ColonelGreer had gone up to General McCulloch's head-quarters to report our arrival. I was not presentat the interview, but I imagine it ran something likethis, as they knew each other well. Colonel Greerwould say "Hello, General! How do you do, sir?Well, I am here to inform you that I am on theground, here in the enemy's country, with my regi-ment of Texas cavalry, eleven hundred strong, wellmounted and armed to the teeth with United Statesholster pistols, a good many chop knives, and severaldouble-barreled shotguns. Send Lyons word to turnout his Dutch regulars, Kansas jayhawkers and Mis-souri home guards, and we'll clean 'em up and drive'em from the State of Missouri."

" Very well, very well, Colonel ; go back and orderyour men to cook up three days' rations, get all theammunition they can scrape up in the neighborhood,and be in their saddles at eleven o'clock to-night,and I will have them at Dug Springs at daylight


to-morrow morning and turn them loose on the gen-tlemen you speak of."Any way, whatever the interview was, we had

barely stretched out our weary limbs and foldedour arms to sleep when the sergeant-major, that fel-low that so often brings bad news, came trippingalong through the encampment, hurrying from onecompany's headquarters to another, saying: "Cap-tain, it's General McCulloch's order that you haveyour men cook up three days' rations, distribute allthe ammunition they can get and be in their saddles,ready to march on the enemy, at eleven o'clock to-night."

Sleep? Oh, no! Where's the man who said hewas sleepy? Cook three days' rations? Oh, my!And not a cooking vessel in the regiment! Butnever mind about that, it's a soldier's duty to obeyorders without asking questions. I drew and dis-tributed the flour and meat, and left the men to dothe cooking while I looked after the ammunition.Here the men learned to roll out biscuit dough aboutthe size and shape of a snake, coil it around a ram-rod or a small wooden stick, and bake it before thefire.

This Sunday afternoon and night, August 4, wasa busy time in our camp. Some were cooking therations, some writing letters, some one thing, andsome another; all were busy until orders came tosaddle up. We were camped on the main Spring-field road, and General Lyon, with his army, wasat Dug Springs, a few miles farther up the sameroad. We were to march at eleven o'clock and at-tack him at daylight Monday morning. There al-


ready had been some skirmishing between our out-posts and his scouts. We had never been in battle,and we were nervous, restless, sleepless for the re-mainder of the day and night after receiving theorders.Some of the things that occurred during the af-

ternoon and night would have been ludicrous hadnot the whole occasion been so serious. In my effortsto obtain and distribute all the ammunition I couldprocure I was around among the men from messto mess during all this busy time. Scores of letterswere being written by firelight to loved ones athome, said letters running something like this

:

Camp , Mo., Aug. 4, 1861.My Dear :We arrived at General McCulloch's headquarters

about 10 a. m. to-day, tired, dusty, hungry, andsleepy, after a long, forced march from Fort Smith,Ark. We are now preparing for our first battle.We are under orders to march at eleven o'clock toattack General Lyon's army at daylight in themorning. All the boys are busy cooking up threedays' rations. I am very well. If I survive to-mor-row's battle I will write a postscript, giving youthe result. Otherwise this will be mailed to you asit is.

Yours affectionately,

Numbers of the boys said to me: "Now, Barron,if I am killed to-morrow please mail this letter forme." One said: "Barron, here is my gold watch.


Take it, and if I am killed to-morrow please sendit to my mother." Another said : " Barron, hereis a gold ring. Please take care of it, and if I amkilled to-morrow I want you to send it to my sis-ter." Another one said : " Barron, if I am killedto-morrow I want you to send this back to myfather." At last it became funny to me that eachseemed to believe in- the probability of his being killedthe next day, and were making nuncupative wills,naming me as executor in every case, without seem-ing to think of the possibility of my being killed.

During the remainder of our four years' service,with all the fighting we had to do, I never again wit-nessed similar preparations for battle.

CHAPTER IIIOUR FIRST BATTLE

On the MarchLittle York RaidUnder FireOur FirstBattleOak Hill (Wilson's Creek)Death of General LyonOur First ChargeEnemy RetiresImpressions of First Bat-tleDeath of Young WillieHorrors of a BattlefieldTroopsEngagedCasualties.

Well, eleven o'clock came, we mounted our horsesand rode out on the road to Dug Springs, underorders to move very quietly, and to observe thestrictest silenceand, when necessary, we were noteven to talk above a whisper. The night was darkand we moved very slowly. About three o'clock inthe morning an orderly came down the column car-rying a long sheet of white muslin, tearing off nar-row strips, and handing them to the men, one ofwhich each man was required to tie around his leftarm. From our slow, silent movement I felt as ifwe were in a funeral procession, and the white sheetreminded me of a winding sheet for the dead. Aswe were not uniformed these strips were intended asa mark of the Confederate soldiers, so we mightavoid killing our own men in the heat and confusionof battle.At daylight we were halted and informed that

General Lyon's forces had withdrawn from DugSprings. After some little delay our army movedon in the direction of Springfield, infantry and ar-tillery in the road and the cavalry on the flank,

39


that is, we horsemen took the brush and marchedparallel with the road, in order to guard againstambush and surprises. We moved slowly in thismanner nearly all day without coming up with theenemyat noon we took a short rest, and dinner,and here many of us consumed the last of our threedays' rations.Along in the afternoon, as we were considerably

ahead of the infantry, we filed into the road andwere moving slowly along, when suddenly we heardfiring in our rear. Of course every one supposed theinfantry had come up with the enemy and they werefighting. We were immediately halted, and Lieu-tenant-Colonel Lane came galloping back down thecolumn shouting, " Turn your horses around, men,and go like h 1 the other way." Instantly thecolumn was reversed, and the next minute we werefollowing Colonel Lane at full speed. For two orthree miles we ran our tired horses down the dustyroad, only to learn that some of the infantry, whohad stopped to camp, were firing off their guns sim-ply to unload them.We then retraced our steps and moved on up the

road to Wilson's Creek, nine miles from Springfield,and camped on the ground that was to be our firstbattlefield. We came to the premises of a Mr.Sharp, situated on the right hand or east side ofthe road. Just beyond his house, down the hill,the creek crossed the road and ran down through hisplace, back of his house and lot. On the left handor west side of the road were rough hills coveredwith black jack trees, rocks, and considerable un-derbrush. Before coming to his dwelling we passed

OUR FIRST BATTLE 41

through his lot gates down in the rear of his barnand premises, and camped in a strip of small tim-ber growing along the creek. In the same enclosure,in front and south of us, was a wide, uncultivatedfield, with a gradual upgrade all the way to thetimber back of the field. Here we lived on ourmeager rations for several days. In the meantimethe whole army then in Missouri, including GeneralSterling Price's command, was concentrated in theimmediate vicinity.

One day during the week we heard that a com-pany of Missouri home guards, well armed, were atLittle York, a small village six or seven miles westfrom our camps. Now, the home guards wereNorthern sympathizers, so one afternoon our com-pany and another of the regiment, by permission,marched to Little York on a raid, intending to cap-ture the company and secure their arms. Wecharged into the town, but the enemy we soughtwas not there, and we could find but four or five sup-posed members of the company. Anyway, we chasedand captured every man in town who ran from us,including the surgeon of the command, who wasmounted on a good horse, being the only manmounted in the company. Several of the boys hada chase after him, capturing his horse, which wasawarded to John B. Long, who, however, did notenjoy his ownership very long, for the animal waskilled in our first battle. We then searched forarms, but found none.

In one of the storehouses we found a large lot ofpig lead, estimated at 15,000 pounds. This weconfiscated for the use of the Confederate Army.


In order to move it, we pressed into service the onlytwo wagons we could find with teams, but so over-loaded one of them that the wheels broke down whenwe started off. We then carried the lead on ourhorses,except what we thought could be hauledin the remaining wagon,out some distance andhid it in a thicket of hazelnut bushes. We then,with our prisoners and the one wagon, returned tocamp. When the prisoners were marched up toregimental headquarters Lieutenant-Colonel Lanesaid, " Turn them out of the lines and let them go.I would rather fight them than feed them."

This raiding party of two companies that madethe descent upon Little York was commanded byCaptain Taylor, and the raid resulted, substantially,as I have stated. Nevertheless, even the next daywild, exaggerated stories of the affair were told, andbelieved by many members of our own regiment aswell as other portions of the army, and in VictorRose's " History of Ross's Brigade," the followingversion of the little exploit may be read : " CaptainFrank Taylor, of Company C, made a gallant dashinto a detachment guarding a train loaded with sup-plies for Lyon, routing the detachment, taking anumber of prisoners, and capturing the entiretrain." And " the historian " was a member ofCompany A, Third Texas Cavalry! From this lan-guage one would infer that Captain Taylor, aloneand unaided, had captured a supply train with itsescort

!

On Friday, August 9, the determination wasreached to move on Springfield and attack GeneralLyon. We received orders to cook rations, have

OUR FIRST BATTLE 43

our horses saddled and be ready to march at nineo'clock p. m. At nine o'clock we were ready tomount, but by this time a slight rain was falling,and the night was very dark and threatening. We" stood to horse," as it were, all night, waiting fororders that never came. The infantry, also undersimilar orders, slept on their arms. Of course ourmen, becoming weary with standing and waiting,lay down at the feet of their horses, reins in hand,and slept. Daylight found some of the men up,starting little fires to prepare coffee for breakfast,while the majority were sleeping on the ground, andnumbers of our horses, having slipped their reinsfrom the hands of the sleeping soldiers, were grazingin the field in front of the camp.

Captain Taylor had ridden up to regimental head-quarters to ask for instructions or orders, when theenemy opened fire upon us with a battery stationedin the timber just back of the field in our front, andthe shells came crashing through the small timberabove our heads. And as if this were a signal, al-most instantly another battery opened fire on Gen-eral Price's camp. Who was responsible for theblunder that made it possible for us to be thus sur-prised in camp, I cannot say. It was said thatthe pickets were ordered in, in view of our moving,at nine o'clock the night before, and were not sentout again ; but this was afterwards denied. If wehad any pickets on duty they were certainly veryinefficient. But there is no time now to inquire ofthe whys and wherefores.

Captain Taylor now came galloping back, shout-ing: "Mount your horses and get into line*"


There was a hustling for loose horses, a rapidmounting and very soon the regiment was in lineby companies in the open field in front of the camps.It was my duty now to " form the company," thesame as if we were going out to drill; that is, be-ginning on the right, I rode down the line requiringeach man to call out his number, counting, one, two,three, four; one, two, three, four, until the left wasreached. This gave every man his place for theday, and every man was required to keep his place.If ordered to march by twos, the horses werewheeled to the right, number 2 forming on the rightof number 1 ; if order, to for fours, numbers 3and 4 moved rapidly up on the right of numbers1 and 2, and so on. This being done in the faceof the aforesaid battery, with no undue haste, wasquite a trying ordeal to new troops who had neverbefore been under fire, but the men stood it ad-mirably.

As soon as we were formed we moved out by twos,with orders to cross the Springfield road to the hillsbeyond, where General Ben McCulloeh's infantry,consisting of the noble Third Louisiana and theArkansas troops, some three thousand in all, werehotly engaged with General Lyon's command. Gen-eral Lyon was personally in front of General Ster-ling Price's army of Missouri State Guards, beingpersonally in command of one wing of the FederalArmy (three brigades), and Sigel, who was seniorcolonel, commanded the other wing (one brigade).General McCulloch was in command of the Confed-erate troops and General Price of the Missourians.We moved out through Mr. Sharp's premises as

OUR FIRST BATTLE 45

we had come in, but coming to the road we were de-layed by the moving trains and the hundreds ofunarmed men who were along with General Price'sarmy, rushing in great haste from the battlefield.The road being so completely filled with the massof moving trains and men rushing pell-mell south-ward, it cost us a heroic effort to make our wayacross. In this movement the rear battalion of theregiment, under Major Chilton, was cut off fromus, and while they performed good service duringpart of the day, we saw no more of them until thebattle ended.By the time we crossed the road the battle had

become general, and the fire of both artillery andmusketry was constant and terrific. The morningwas bright and clear and the weather excessivelywarm, and as we had been rushed into battle withouthaving time to get breakfast or to fill our canteens,we consequently suffered from both hunger andthirst. After crossing the road we moved up justin the rear of our line of infantry, and for fivehours or more were thus held in reserve, slowly mov-ing up in column as the infantry lines surged to theleft, while the brave Louisiana and Arkansas troopsstood their ground manfully against the heavy fireof musketry and artillery. As our position wasfarther down the hill than that occupied by the lineof infantry, we were in no very great danger, asthe enemy's shot and shell usually passed over us,but, nevertheless, during the whole time the shotswere passing very unpleasantly near our heads, withsome damage, too, as a number of the men werewounded about the head. One member of Company


C was clipped across the back of the neck with aminie ball. After hours of a most stubborn contestour infantry showed some signs of wavering. Col-onel Greer at this critical moment led us up rapidlypast their extreme left,had us wheel into line, andthen ordered us to charge the enemy's infantry inour front. With a yell all along the line, a yelllargely mixed with the Indian warwhoop, we dasheddown that rough, rocky hillside at a full gallopright into the face of that solid line of well-armedand disciplined infantry. It was evidently a greatsurprise to them, for though they emptied theirguns at us, we moved so rapidly that they had notime to reload, and broke their lines and fled in con-fusion. The battery that had been playing on ourinfantry all day was now suddenly turned upon us,otherwise we could have ridden their infantry downand killed or captured many of them, but we werehalted, and moved out by the left flank from underthe fire of their battery. Their guns were now lim-bered up and moved off, and their whole commandwas soon in full retreat towards Springfield. Dur-ing the engagement General Nathaniel Lyon hadbeen killed, and the battle, after about seven hours'hard fighting, was at an end. The field was ours.Thus ended our first battle. Would to God it

had been our last, and the last of the war! GeneralMcCulloch called it " The Rattle of Oak Hill." butthe Federals called it "The Rattle of Wilson'sCreek."

This first battle was interesting to me in manyways. I had been reading of them since my child-hood and looking at pictures of battlefields during

OUR FIRST BATTLE 47

and after the conflict, but to see a battle in progress,to hear the deafening roar of artillery, and the ter-rible, ceaseless rattle of musketry ; to see the rapidmovements of troops, hear the shouts of men en-gaged in mortal combat, and to realize the sensa-tion of being a participant, and then after hours ofdoubtful contest to see the enemy fleeing from thefieldall this was grand and terrible. But whilethere is a grandeur in a battle, there are many hor-rors, and unfortunately the horrors are wide-spreadthey go home to the wives, fathers, mothers, andjisters of the slain.

After the battle was over we were slowly movingin column across the field unmolested, but beingfired on by some of the enemy's sharpshooters,who were keeping up a desultory fire at long range,when young Mr. Willie, son of Judge A. H. Willie,a member of Company A, which was in advance ofus, came riding up the column, passing us. I wasriding with Captain Taylor at the head of ourcompany, and just as Willie was passing us a ballfrom one of the sharpshooters' rifles struck him inthe left temple, and killed him. But for his posi-tion the ball would have struck me in another in-stant.

After all the Federals capable of locomotion hadleft the field, we were moved up the road on whichSigel had retreated, as far as a mill some five milesaway, where we had ample witness of the executiondone by our cavalrydead men in blue were strewnalong the road in a horrible manner. On returning,late in the afternoon, we were ordered back to thecamp we had left in the morning. As we had wit-


nessed the grandeur of the battle, Felps and my-self concluded to ride over the field and see some ofits horrors. So we rode leisurely over the field andreviewed the numerous dead, both men and horses,and the few wounded who had not been carried tothe field hospitals. General Lyon's body had beenplaced in an ambulance by order of General McCul-loch, and was on its way to Springfield, where itwas left at the house of Colonel Phelps. His horselay dead on the field, and every lock of his graymane and tail was clipped off by our men and car-ried off as souvenirs.

Further on we found one poor old Missouri homeguard who was wounded. He had dragged himselfup against a black jack tree and was waiting pa-tiently for some chance of being cared for. Wehalted and were speaking to him, when one of hisneighbors, a Southern sympathizer, came up, rec-ognized him and began to abuse him in a shamefulmanner. " Oh, you d d old scoundrel," he said," if you had been where you ought to have been,you wouldn't be in the fix you are in now." Theywere both elderly men, and evidently lived only afew miles away, as the Southerner had had time tocome from his home to see the result of the battle.I felt tempted to shoot the old coward, and thus putthem on an equality, and let them quarrel it out.But as it seemed enough men had been shot for oneday, we could only shame him and tell him that if hehad had the manliness to take up his gun and fightfor what he thought was right, as his neighbor haddone, he would not be there to curse and abuse ahelpless and wounded man, and that he should not

OUR FIRST BATTLE 49

insult him or abuse him any more while we werethere. We continued our ride until satisfied for thattime, and for all time, so far as I was concerned,with viewing a battlefield just after the battle, un-less duty demands it.Our train came up at night, bringing us, oh, so

many letters from our post office at Fort Smith, butthe day's doings, the fatigue, hunger, thirst, heat,and excitement had overcome me so completely thatI opened not a letter until the morning. Reckoningup the day's casualties in Company C, we foundfour men and fifteen horses had been shot ; LeanderW. Cole was mortally wounded, and died in Spring-field a few days later; J. E. Dillard was shot in theleg and in allusion to his long-leggcdness it was saidhe was shot two and one half feet below the kneeand one and one half feet above the ankle ; T. WileyRoberts was slightly wounded in the back of thehead, and P. C. Coupland slightly wounded. Someof the horses were killed and others wounded. RogerQ. Mills and Dr. Malloy, two citizens ofCorsicana, were with us in this battle, having over-taken us on the march, and remained with us untilit was over, then returning home. Roger Q. Millswas afterwards colonel of the Tenth Texas Infan-try. Dr. Malloy was captain of a company, andfell while gallantly fighting at the head of his com-pany in one of the battles west of the MississippiRiver.

I will not attempt to give the number of troopsengaged, as the official reports of the battle writ-ten by the officers in command fail to settle thatquestion. General Price reported that he had 5221


effective men with 15 pieces of artillery. GeneralMcCulloch's brigade has been estimated at 4000 men,with no artillery, and this officer's conclusion wasthat the enemy had 9000 to 10,000 men, and thatthe forces of the two armies were about equal. TheFederal officers in their reports greatly exaggeratedour strength, and, I think, greatly underestimatedtheirs, especially so since, General Lyon being killed,it devolved upon the subordinates to make the re-ports. Major S. D. Sturgis, who commanded oneof Lyon's brigades, says their 3700 men attackedan army of 23,000 rebels under Price and McCul-loch, that their loss in killed, wounded, and missingwas 1235, and he supposed the rebel loss was 3000.Major J. M. Schofield, General Lyon's adjutant,says their 5000 men attacked the rebel army of20,000. General Fremont, afterwards, in congratu-lating the army on their splendid conduct in thisbattle, says their 4300 men met the rebel army of20,000. They give the organization of their armywithout giving the numbers. General Lyon hadfour brigades, consisting, as they report, of six reg-iments, three battalions, seven companies, 200 Mis-souri home guards and three batteries of artillery,many of their troops being regulars. Their armycame against us in two columns. General Lyon,with three brigades and two batteries, Totten's sixpieces, and Dubois, with four, came down the Spring-field road and attacked our main army in front.Colonel Franz Sigel, with one brigade and one lightbattery, marched down to the left, or east of theroad and into our rear, and attacked the cavalrycamp with his artillery, as has already been stated.

LlEUTENANT-COLONEX JlI,ES S. BoGGESSThird Texas Cavalry

OUR FIRST BATTLE 51

Poor Sigel ! it would be sufficient to describe his dis-astrous defeat to merely repeat their official reports.But I would only say that his battery was lost andhis command scattered and driven from the field inutter confusion and demoralization in the early partof the day and that it was followed some five milesby our cavalry and badly cut up, he himself escap-ing capture narrowly by abandoning his carriageand colors and taking to a cornfield. It was saidby the Federals that he reached Springfield with oneman before the battle was ended. But the forcesled by the brave and gallant Lyon fought bravely.The losses are given officially as follows : Federals

:

killed, 223; wounded, 721 ; missing, 291. Total,1235. Confederates: killed, 265; wounded, 800;missing, 30. Total, 1095.

CHAPTER IVTHE WAR IN MISSOURI

Personal CharacteristicsTwo BraggartsJoe Welch

William HoodWe Enter SpringfieldBitter Feeling in Mis-souriCompany ElectionsMeasles and TyphoidCarthage,and My Illness ThereWe Leave CarthageDeath of CaptainTaylorWinter QuartersFurloughedHome Again.

A battleor dangerwill often develop somecharacteristics that nothing else will bring out.

One Gum was a shabby little man, mounted ona shabby little mustang pony ; in fact his horse wasso shabby that he would tie him, while we were atDallas, away off in the brush in a ravine and carryhis forage half a mile to feed him rather than havehim laughed at. Gum was a Missourian, and gotinto the company somehow, with his fiddle, and asidefrom his fiddling he was of little use in camps.During the time we were kept slowly moving alongin the rear of our infantry, engaged mainly in theunprofitable business of dodging balls and shellsthat were constantly whizzing near our heads, Cap-tain Taylor was very anxious that his companyshould act well under fire and would frequentlyglance back, saying: "Keep your places, men."Gum, however, was out of place so often he finallybecame personal, " Keep in your place, Gum." Atthis Gum broke ranks and came trotting up onhis little pony, looking like a monkey with a redcap on, for, having lost his hat, he had tied a red

THE WAR IN MISSOURI 53

cotton handkerchief around his head. When oppo-site the captain he reined up, and with a tremblingframe and in a quivering voice, almost crying, hesaid : " Captain, I can't keep my place. I am acoward, and I can't help it." Captain Taylor said,sympathetically : " Very well, Gum ; go where youplease." It so happened that a few days later wepassed his father's house, near Mount Vernon, andthe captain allowed him to stop and remain with hisfather. And thus he was discharged. At this stageof the war we had no army regulations, no " redtape " in our business. If a captain saw fit to dis-charge one of his men lie told him to go, and hewent without reference to army headquarters or theWar Department. I met Gum in November, flee-ing from the wrath of the home guards, as a man whohad been in the Confederate Army could not livein safety in Missouri.

One of our men, in the morning when I was form-ing the company, was so agitated that it was a dif-ficult matter to get him to call his number. Duringthe day a ball cut a gash about skin deep and twoinches in length across the back of his neck, justat the edge of his hair. As a result of this we weretwo years in getting this man under fire again,though he would not make an honest confession likeGum, but would manage in some mysterious way tokeep out of danger. When at last we succeeded ingetting him in battle at Thompson's Station in1863, he ran his iron ramrod through the palm ofhis right hand and went to the rear. Rather thanrisk himself in another engagement he deserted, inthe fall of that year, and went into the Federal


breastworks in front of Vicksburg and surrendered.This man was named Wiley Roberts.

Captain Hale, of Company D, was rather rough-hewn, but a brave, patriotic old man, having not theleast patience with a thief, a coward, or a braggart.While he had some of the bravest men in his com-pany that any army could boast of, he had one ortwo, at .least, that were not among these, as the twostalwart bullies who were exceedingly boastful oftheir prowess, of the ease with which Southern mencould whip Northerners, five to one being about aslittle odds as they cared to meet. This type of brag-gart was no novelty, for every soldier had heardthat kind of talk at the beginning of the war. Whilewe were moving out in the morning when Sigel'sbattery was firing and Captain Hale was coollyriding along at the head of his company, these twomen came riding rapidly up, one hand holding theirreins while the other was pressed across the stomach,as if they were in great misery, saying, when theysighted their commander : " Captain Hale, wheremust we go? we are sick." Captain Hale lookedaround without uttering a word for a moment, hiscountenance speaking more indignation than lan-guage could express. At last he said, in his charac-teristic, emphatic manner : " Go to h 1, youd d cowards! You were the only two fightingmen I had until now we are in a battle, and you'reboth sick. I don't care when you go." Other inci-dents could be given where men in the regiment weretried and found wanting, but the great majoritywere brave and gallant men who never shirked dutyor flinched from danger.


An instance of the opposite character may betold of Joe Welch. Joe was a blacksmith, almosta giant in stature. Roughly guessing, I would sayhe was six feet two inches in height, weighing about240 pounds, broad-shouldered, raw-boned, with mus-cles that would laugh at a sledge. Joe had incurredthe contempt of the company by acting in a verycowardly manner, as they thought, in one or twolittle personal affairs before we reached Missouri.But when we went into battle Joe was there, as un-concerned and cool, apparently, as if he was onlygoing into his shop to do a day's work ; and whenwe made our charge down that rough hillside whenthe enemy's bullets were coming as thick as hail-stones, one of Joe's pistols jolted out of its holsterand fell to the ground. Joe reined in his horse, de-liberately dismounted, recovered the pistol, re-mounted, and rapidly moved up to his place in theranks. Those who witnessed the coolness and ap-parent disregard of danger with which he performedthis little feat felt their contempt suddenly con-verted into admiration.

Another one of our men was found wanting, butthrough no fault of his own, as he was faithful as faras able. This was William Hood. Hood was anEnglishman, quite small, considerably advanced inyears, destitute of physical endurance and totallyunfit for the hardships of a soldier's life. He was anold-womanish kind of a man, good for cooking, wash-ing dishes, scouring tin plates, and keeping every-thing nice around the mess headquarters, but was un-suited for any other part of a soldier's duty. Hoodstrayed off from us somehow during the day, and


for some part of the day was a prisoner, losing hishorse, but managed to get back to camp afoot atnight, very much depressed in spirits. The nextmorning he was very proud to discover his horse graz-ing out in the field two or three hundred yards fromthe camp. He almost flew to him, but found he waswounded. He came back to Captain Taylor with avery sad countenance, and said : " Captain Taylor,me little 'orse is wounded right were the 'air girthgoes on 'im." The wound was only slight and assoon as the little 'orse was in proper traveling con-dition little Hood was discharged and allowed toreturn home.As already stated, we returned late in the evening

to the camp we had left in the morning to restand sleep for the night, for after the excitement ofthe day was over bodily fatigue was very much inevidence. Our train came up about nightfall, butas I was very tired, and our only chance for lightswas in building up little brush fires, the opening ofmy letters was postponed until the bright Sundaymorning, August 11, especially as my mail packetwas quite bulky. One large envelope from Hunts-ville, Ala., contained a letter and an exquisite littleConfederate flag some ten or twelve inches long. Thiswas from a valued young lady friend who, in theletter, gave me much good advice, among otherthings warning me against being shot in the back.And I never was. During the day the commandmarched into Springfield, to find that the FederalArmy had pushed forward Saturday night. Theyhad retreated to Rolla, the terminus of the railroad,and thence returned to St. Louis, leaving us for a


long time in undisputed possession of southwestMissouri, where we had but little to do for threemonths but gather forage and care for our horsesand teams and perform the routine duties incident toa permanent camp.From Springfield we moved out west a few miles,

camping for a few days at a large spring calledCave Spring. Here several of our men were dis-charged and returned home. Among them JamesR. Taylor, brother of Captain, subsequently Colonel,Taylor of the Seventeenth Texas Cavalry, who waskilled at the battle of Mansfield, La.

Southwest Missouri is a splendid country, abound-ing in rich lands, fine springs of pure water, andthis year, 1861, an abundant crop of corn, oats,hay, and such staples had been raised. Neverthe-less, a very unhappy state of things existed thereduring the war, for the population was very muchdivided in sentiment and sympathysome being forthe North and some for the South, and the antago-nism between the factions was very bitter. Indeed,so intense had the feeling run, the man of one sideseemed to long to see his neighbor of the other sidelooted and his property destroyed. Men of South-ern sympathy have stealthily crept into our campsat midnight and in whispers told us where some Unionmen were to be found in the neighborhood, evidentlywishing and expecting that we would raid them andkill or capture, rob, plunder or do them damage insome terrible manner. Such reporters seemed to bedisappointed when we would tell them that we werenot there to make war on citizens, and the Unionmen themselves seemed to think we were ready to


do violence to all who were not loyal to the SouthernConfederacy. When we chanced to go to one oftheir houses for forage, as frequently happened,we could never see the man of the house, unless wecaught a glimpse of him as he was running tosome place to hide, and no assurance to his familythat we would not in any manner mistreat himwould overcome the deep conviction that we would.This bitter feeling and animosity among the citi-zens grew to such intensity, as the war advanced,that life became a misery to the citizen of Mis-souri.

We moved around leisurely over the country fromplace to place, foraging and feeding a few dayshere and a few days there, and in the early days ofSeptember, passing by way of Mount Vernon andCarthage, we found ourselves at Scott's Mill, onCowskin River, near the border of the CherokeeNation. At Mount Vernon we witnessed a farce en-acted by Company D. Dan Dupree was their firstlieutenant, and a very nice, worthy fellow he was,too, but some of his men fell out with him aboutsome trivial matter, and petitioned him to resign,which he did. Captain Hale, supposing possiblythey might also be opposed to him, and too diffi-dent to say so, he resigned too, and the other officersfollowed suit, even down to the fourth and last cor-poral, and for the time the company was withoutan officer, either commissioned or non-commissioned.At this early stage of the war, for an officer toresign was a very simple and easy thing. He hadonly to say publicly to his company, " I resign,"and it was so. The company was now formed into


line to prepare for the election of officers, and themode of procedure was as follows : The candidateswould stand a few paces in front of the line, theirback to the men. The men were then instructed todeclare their choice, by standing behind him, one be-hind the other, and when all votes were counted theresult was declared. The outcome on this occasionwas that Captain Hale and all the old officers werere-elected, except Dupree. Later in the year mem-bers of Company A petitioned their captain to re-sign, but he respectfully declined, and though manyof his men were very indignant, we heard no moreof petitioning officers to resign.

While we were camped on the beautiful little Cow-skin River measles attacked our men, and we movedup to Carthage, where we remained about eightweeks, during which time we passed through a ter-rible scourge of measles and typhoid fever. As aresult Company C lost five men, including CaptainTaylor. Fortunately we were in a high, healthycountry, and met in Carthage a warm-hearted, gen-erous people. In addition to our competent and effi-cient surgeon and his assistant during this affliction,we had a number of good physicians, privates in theregiment, who rendered all the assistance in theirpower in caring for the sick. The court house wasappropriated as a hospital, and, soon filled to itscapacity, the generous citizens received the sick meninto their houses and had them cared for there.How many of the regiment were sick at one time Ido not know, but there were a great many ; the num-ber of dead I never knew. Our surgeon went fromhouse to house visiting and prescribing for the sick


both day and night, until it seemed sometimes asif he could not make another round.The day after we reached Carthage I was taken

down with a severe case of measles, and glided easilyinto a case of typhoid fever. Dr. McDugald wentpersonally to find a home for me, and had me con-veyed to the residence of Mr. John J. Scott, a mer-chant and farmer, where for seven weeks I wastedaway with the fever, during all of which time I wasas kindly and tenderly cared for by Mrs. Scott asif I had been one of her family ; and her little girlOlympia, then about eleven years old, was as kindand attentive to me as a little sister could have been.My messmate and chum, Thomas J. Johnson, re-mained with me to wait on me day and night duringthe entire time, and Dr. McDugald, and also Dr.Dan Shaw, of Rusk County, were unremitting intheir attention. A. B. Summers took charge of myhorse, and gave him better attention than he did hisown. Captain Taylor was also very low at the sametime, and was taken care of at the house of ColonelWard. The fever had left me and I had been ableto sit up in a rocking chair by the fire a little whileat a time for a few days, when General Fremont, whohad been placed in command of the Federal Army inMissouri, began a movement from Springfield in thedirection of Fayetteville, Ark., and we were suddenlyordered away from Carthage. All the availabletransportation had to be used to remove the sick, whowere taken to Scott's Mill. A buggy being pro-cured for Captain Taylor and myself, our horseswere hitched to it and, with the assistance of TomJohnson and John A. Boyd, we moved out, following


the march of the command into Arkansas. Thecommand moved south, via Neosho and Pineville, anddropped down on Sugar Creek, near Cross Hollows,confronting General Fremont, who soon retired toSpringfield, and never returned. At Sugar Creekwe stole Ben A. Long out of camp, and made ourway to Fayetteville, where we stopped at the houseof Martin D. Frazier, by whose family we were mosthospitably treated. Here Captain Taylor relapsed,and died.

Captain Francis Marion Taylor was a noble,brave, and patriotic man, and we were all muchgrieved at his death. He had been at death's doorin Carthage, and Dr. McDugald then thought hewas going to die, telling him so, but he rallied, andwhen we left there he was much stronger than I was,being able to drive, while that would have been im-possible with me. When he relapsed he did not seemto have much hope of recovering, and after the sur-geon, at his own request, had told him his illnesswould terminate fatally, he talked very freely of hisapproaching death. He had two little children, amother, and a mother-in-law, Mrs. Wiggins, all ofwhom he loved very much, and said he loved hismother-in-law as much as he loved his mother. Hegave me messages for them, placed everything hehad with him (his horse, gold watch, gold rings,sword, and his trunk of clothes) in my charge, withspecific instructions as to whom to give themhismother, his mother-in-law and his two little chil-dren.

I continued to improve, but recovered very slowlyindeed, and remained in Favetteville until the early


days of December. The regiment was ordered togo into winter quarters at the mouth of FrogBayou, on the north bank of the Arkansas River,twelve miles below Van Buren, and when they hadpassed through Fayetteville on their way to the des-ignated point, I followed, as I was now able to rideon horseback. Cabins were soon erected for the menand stalls for the horses, and here the main com-mand was at home for the winter. I was furlougheduntil March 1, but as the weather was fine I remainedin the camp for two weeks before starting on thelong home journey to Rusk. Many other convales-cents were furloughed at this time, so finally, incompany with Dr. W. L. Gammage, who, by theway, had been made surgeon of an Arkansas regi-ment, and two or three members of Company F wholived in Cherokee County, I started to Rusk, reach-ing the end of my journey just before Christmas.My first night in Cherokee County was spent at

the home of Captain Taylor's noble mother, near La-rissa, where I delivered her son's last messages to her,and told her of his last days. The next day I wenton to Rusk and delivered the messages, horse, watch,etc., to the mother-in-law and children. Mr. Wig-gins's family offered me a home for the winter, andas I had greatly improved and the winter was ex-ceedingly mild, I spent the time very pleasantlyuntil ready to return to the army. Among otherthings I brought home the ball that killed LeanderCole, and sent it to his mother.

CHAPTER VTHE WAR IX MISSOURIContinued

I Rejoin the CommandSleeping; in SnowAmbushed

Battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge)Capturing a BatteryDeaths of Generals MeCulloeh and Mcintosh Battle Con-tinuedCasualties KeetsvilleOfficial ReportsMarch South-wardForagingLost Artillery Illness Again.

In the latter part of February, 1862, I left Rusk incompany with Tom Hogg, John Germany, and per-haps one or two more of our furloughed men, forour winter quarters on the Arkansas River. Wecrossed Red River and took the road running alongthe line between Arkansas and the Indian Territoryto Fort Smith. After crossing Red River we beganmeeting refugees from Missouri and north Arkansas,on their way to Texas, who told us that our army wasmoving northward, and a battle was expected verysoon. This caused us to push on more rapidly, as wewere due to return March 1, and were anxious to bein our places with the command. When we reachedVan Buren we learned that our whole army was inmotion, that a battle was imminent and might oc-cur any day. By this time the weather had grownquite cold, and leaving Van Buren at 9 a. m., we hadto cross Boston Mountain, facing a north wind blow-ing snow in our faces all day. Nevertheless, we sleptfifty miles from there that night, camping with somecommissary wagons on the road, a few miles fromFayetteville. Here we learned that the army was

63

64* THE LONE STAR DEFENDERS

camped along the road between there and Fayette-ville. The next morning we started on at a briskgait, but before we could pass the infantry they werefiling into the road. We took to the brush and gal-loped our horses about six miles and overtook theThird Texas, which was in the advance, now pass-ing out of the northern suburbs of Fayetteville, andfound Company C in the advance guard on the Ben-tonville road.We advanced slowly that day, without coming in

contact with the enemy, and camped that night atElm Springs, where the snow fell on us all night.Of course we had no tents, but slept on the groundwithout shelter. This seemed pretty tough to a fel-low who, except for a few fine days in December,had not spent a day in camp since September, dur-ing all that time occupying warm, comfortablerooms. Up to this time I had never learned to sleepwith my head covered, but finding it now necessary,I would first cover my head and face to keep thesnow out, stand that as long as I could, then throwthe blanket off, when the snow would flutter down inmy face, chilling me so that I could not sleep. Sobetween the two unpleasant conditions I was unableto get any rest at all. Some time before daybreakwe saddled up and moved on, the snow being threeor four inches deep, and early in the morning wepassed the burning fires of the Federal pickets. Bynine o'clock the storm had passed, the sun shiningbrightly, and about ten o'clock we came in sight ofBentonville, a distance said to be two miles. Wecould plainly see the Federal troops moving aboutthe streets, their bright guns glistening in the sun-

THE WAR IN MISSOURI 65shine, afterwards ascertained to have been Sigel'scolumn of General Curtis' army. We were drawn upin line and ordered to prepare for a charge. Toillustrate what a magic influence an order to chargeupon the enemy has, how it sends the sluggish bloodrushing through the veins and livens up the newforces, I will say that while we were standing in linepreparing to charge those fellows, I was so benumbedwith cold that I could not cap my pistols. I triedever so hard to do so, but had my life depended uponit I could not have succeeded^ We were thrown intocolumns of fours and ordered to charge, which wedid at a brisk gallop, and before we had gone exceed-ing one-half mile I had perfect use of my hands,was comfortably warm, and did not suffer in the leastwith cold at any time during the rest of the day.We charged into the town, but the enemy had all

moved out. I suppose it was the rear of the com-mand that we had seen moving out. That after-noon we were ambushed by a strong force, andwere fired on in the right flank from a steep, roughhill. We were ordered to charge, which order weattempted to obey by wheeling and charging inline up a hill so steep and rough that only a goatcould have made any progress, only to find our linebroken into the utmost confusion and under a mur-derous fire of infantry and artillery from an in-visible enemy behind rocks and trees. In the con-fusion I recognized the order " dismount and fallinto line ! " I dismounted, but when I fell into whatI suppo

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A Chronicle of the Third Texas Cavalry