Chapter III

Six Months' Encampment at Murfreesboro, Tennessee --- Sixty-eighth and One Hundred and First Indiana, and One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Regiments and Nineteenth Indiana Battery --- Reconnaissances to Woodbury, Liberty, Alexandria, Milton, Cathage, McMinnville, etc.

(January, February, March, April, May, June, 1863.)

Murfreesboro, in the winter and spring of 1863, was a handsome, educational town, built chiefly of brick, lighted by gas, containing 3500 inhabitants, half a dozen churches, two Female Colleges, a University and a Military Institute. It was located on an elevated plain, beautiful for situation, near the spurs of the Cumberland Mountains Stone's River, on the banks of which the great battle by the same name was fought, flowed on the west side of the town.

The encampment of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment at Murfreesboro -- stretching over a period of six months -- was the longest for one place in the history of the Regiment. Our camp was located on the east side of the town, near the Readyville and Woodbury turnpike. It was made very nice and cleanly and healthy by the removal of all rubbish and decaying vegetation. It was laid out city fashion, into company streets, by the formation of the tents into straight and regular rows. Up to this time, we used the "Sibley tent." Major H.H. Sibley, formerly of the U.S. Army, but during the war of the Rebellion a Brig.-Gen. in the Confederate Army, was the inventor of this huge and cumbrous tent. When stretched, the tent was conical in shape. The lower edge or base was a circle fastened to the ground by wooden pins. The top or apex was held perpendicular to the base or ground by an upright central pole set into an iron tripod. An aperture was left on the side next to the street for a doorway, with wide edges extending over each other for the purpose of opening and closing. The apex was left open for the smoke from the fire, upon the ground in the centre beneath the tripod to ascend and disappear in the clouds. These tents would hold from twenty-five to thirty men, who slept upon the ground beneath them with their heads to the circumference and their feet to the centre.

In the Regiment were some very good singers. While we were encamped here, our hearts were cheered by the voice of song around the camp fires in these tents. The songs were mostly of home and country. Often here, and on the long weary marches of subsequent campaigns, we reminded each other in song that,

"John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground,
As we go marching on,"

"The sour apple trees" were far from being enough to "hang Jeff. Davis on" if he had been hung as often as we repeated the words in rhyme.

The inspiring song of

"Rally round the flag boys;
Rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!"

And the rhythm of

"Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are matching."

were sung with a vim, that filled the air with music and almost shook the ground with the cadence of song. As we looked back at the vacant chair at home, we sang:

"Do they miss me at home, do they miss me?"

And as we looked forward to the battles before us, we sang:

"Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking, dear, of you."

And as we made a night raid upon the sutler's tent, we sang:

"We're coming, Father Abraham, 600,000 strong!"

After the lapse of a quarter of a century, taking a retrospective view of the men who sang with us at the camp fires of Murfreesboro, many of whom died there of disease, and others afterwards died in prisons and moved over battle-fields crimsoned with their own blood, the deathless elegy, written by Theodore O'Hara in commemoration of the Kentuckians who were killed in the Mexican war, seems very appropriate and applicable here:

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo ;
No more on life's parade shall meet
The brave and daring few.
On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread ,
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.

No answer of the foe's advance
Now swells upon the wind ;
No troubled thought at midnight haunts
Of loved ones left behind:
No vision of the morrow's strife
The warrior's dream alarms;
No braying horn nor screaming fife
At dawn shall call to arms.

Their shivered swords are red with rust,
Their plumed heads are bowed;
Their haughty banner trailed in dust
Is now their martial shroud,
The plenteous funeral tears have washed
The red stains from each brow,
And their proud forms in battle gashed
Are free from anguish now.

The neighing steed, the flashing blade,
The trumpet's stirring blast,
The charge, the dreadful cannonade,
The din and shout are past;
Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal,
Shall thrill with fierce delight
Those breasts that never more shall feel
The raptures of the fight.

Like the dread northern hurricane
That sweeps his broad plateau ,
Flushed with the triumph yet to gain,
Came down the serried foe;
Our heroes felt the shock, and leapt
To meet them on the plain;
And long the pitying sky hath wept
Above our gallant slain.

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead!
Dear as the blood you gave ,
No impius footsteps here shall tread
The herbage of your grave;
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While Fame her record keeps,
Or Honor points the hallowed spot
Where Valor proudly sleeps.

You marble minstrel's voiceful stone
In deathless songs shall tell,
When many a vanished age hath flown,
The story how ye fell;
Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight,
Nor Time's remorseless doom,
Shall dim one ray of holy light
That gilds your glorious tomb.

Here at Murfreesboro, Chaplain Orville B. Boyden , Assistant Surgeon Robert H. Buck, and Lieutenant William H. Wilson of A Company, Noah W. Parker and Jefferson H. Montgomery of B Company, George W. Goode of E Company, Jesse T. Uderwood of F Company, Samuel H. Carr of G Company, John B. Collins of H Company, and James W. Richardson of I Company, tendered their resignations and returned to their homes. Here also disease and death played havoc in the ranks of the Regiment. As many as thirty-four men with various diseases succumbed to the inevitable hand of death.

The defeated Confederate Army, under Bragg, after the battle of Stone's River, went into winter quarters about Shelbyville and Tullahoma, on the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad, whilst our army occupied Murfreesboro. The Seventy-fifth Regiment was by no means idle during its encampment here. The six months were passed in reconnaissance and scouting duty, and unimportant skirmishes.

The first reconnaissance and fight in which the Regiment participated after its arrival at Murfreesboro, was on the 24th of January, at Woodbury, in Cannon county, Tennessee.

The Regiment with its Brigade, in command of Col. John T. Wilder, and the Third Brigade of the Second Division, left wing, under command of Col. William Grose, acted jointly in the movement. It was three or four o'clock in the afternoon of the 23d, when the two Brigades moved out. The Seventy-fifth Regiment, however, did not start until 9 o'clock. The night was intensely dark. We took the Bradyville pike, east of the town of Murfreesboro, and bivouacked at Cedar Run, eight miles from camp. Early on the morning of the 24th, the two Brigades moved forward very rapidly, and soon came in contact with Buford's Confederate Cavalry, which retreated through Bradyville to Beech Grove. From the location of our Brigade at this time, the road leading to Woodbury was impracticable for Artillery. We endeavored to reach Woodbury from the south, but the rough hills and broken country, which abound in that section, prevented us. We were, therefore, compelled to turn back and take the pike from Bradyville . In the meantime, Wilder sent a small detachment of Minty's Cavalry to strike the McMinnville road beyond Woodbury.

Our forces under Grose and Wilder now encountered the Confederate Infantry about three miles from Woodbury, under command of Lieutenant Colonel J.R.Hitcheson, who together with a Captain and three men, was found killed on the field. Others killed and wounded were carried off. Or forces lost no men.

Our Brigade bivouacked within three miles of Woodbury, and waited for the Cavalry under Minty to return. During the night they came, with a Captain and four privates of Buford's Cavalry as prisoners of war.

The Regiment, with the Brigade, returned to Murfreesboro next day, arriving at 4 p.m. The rough, hilly country covered with timber, and the roads impracticable for conveying Artillery, over which we were ordered to pass in our advance upon Woodbury, prevented us from getting to the town in time to capture the entire garrison.

The second expedition was made to Liberty and Alexandria in DeKalb county, by way of the Auburn pike. Our force comprised the whole Fifth Division and detachments of several Cavalry Regiments -- in all about 3600 men, General Reynolds commanding in person. We were five days -- from February the 3d to the 7th -- on the reconnaissance . We left camp on the Auburn pike, and when about eight miles out, a detachment of Confederate Cavalry was met. They were a scouting party, who retired rapidly without exchanging shots with us as we advanced. Our Regiment bivouacked for the night at Auburn, about twenty-two miles from Murfreesboro. Early on the morning of the 4th, after marching a few miles, a Confederate Cavalry outpost was encountered. We skirmished for two miles with this force, one of whom we wounded. As this cavalry force retired before us, they destroyed the bridge over Smith's Fork, but its destruction did not impede our progress, as the creek was fordable. We passed through Alexandria and encamped beyond. Here many loyal people were found --- men, women and children marching along with the column of troops, encouraging the men. Much flour and bacon belonging to the Confederates were confiscated here. At New Middleton, on the Carthage pike, the machinery of a large mill, in use for the Confederates, was destroyed by us. On the 5th a large quantity of bacon, flour and sundries, loaded on wagons, and being transported thus to the Confederate camp, was taken by us and destroyed. In the evening, we encamped on Spring Creek, within four miles of Lebanon. On the 6th, we passed through Lebanon and bivouacked at Baird's mills. At Lebanon, we captured 8000 lbs of bacon, which had been secreted there for the use of the Confederacy. On the 7th, we marched from Baird's mills to our camp at Murfreesboro, a distance of nineteen miles, after arriving after dark.

The Confederates followed us on our return trip, and fired into our wagon train. We returned the fire, and wounded several and took some prisoners.

During the expedition, we captured 43 prisoners, among whom was a mail carrier with the mail from Bragg's army at Tullahoma. The letters were from some of the soldiers to their families, expressing the sentiments, that the writers were tired of the war, and wanted to return home. We also captured 300 horses and mules, 50 head of beef cattle, and destroyed many thousands of pounds of bacon and flour, wagons and other useful articles belonging to the Confederate army. Our casualties were five captured and one wounded.

This expedition, made during very inclement weather and over a very tough country, was of the utmost importance to the Government. It enabled the Government to ascertain the correct sentiments of the citizens in that country at the time. The report, which Gen. Reynolds made concerning the expedition, was considered of such importance at Washington , as to call forth a vigorous communication from the Commander-in-Chief, approving the recommendations in the report, and setting forth a system of stringent laws for the punishment of disloyalists and protection of loyalists, wherever found.

We deem the reports and correspondence of sufficient importance for insertion of a part in this history:

Hdqrs. Fifth Division, Fourteenth Army Corps.
Murfreesboro, Tenn., February 10, 1863.Major: It has occurred to me that some facts not strictly belonging to the military report of the recent expedition of the Fifth Division should be made known, and I have accordingly prepared the following narrative:

Left Murfreesboro on the morning of February 3d, and bivouacked that night at Auburn, about 22 miles by the southern road. The inhabitants generally on this day's march kept aloof from us, and evinced no pleasure at our coming. Auburn, a small village, was nearly deserted, and most of the houses unoccupied, and the people who were there remained in their houses. We noticed an occasional farm deserted, and everything that could subsist man and beast gone. Such places belonged to loyal men whose property had been taken by the rebel army, and whose families were refugees, the sons in many cases being conscripts in the rebel service. Where a farm presented any appearance of life and prosperity, forage, animals, and people would be found, the property belonging to rebels and the forage and animals spared by the rebel army.

On the morning of the 4th, we started early on the road to Liberty. Soon after leaving Auburn and entering a more broken country, I discovered small bodies on the hills. These bodies did not act in any concert. Some were armed, and others not. We at once discovered the armed men to be the enemy's scouts, and took means to brush them away. The unarmed parties ran and concealed themselves, apparently as anxious to be out of sight of the armed parties as of our own force. After the armed parties were driven back, the others rushed into the road and joined our column, expressing the greatest delight at our coming, and at beholding again what they emphatically called "our flag." These men had been driven to the hills to escape conscription, and were daily being hunted up by the conscription agents, aided by mounted men. Food was carried to them by women, children and old men. As the column passed the houses of these persecuted loyal men, their women and children crowded the doors to bid us welcome and beg us to stay. As we approached Alexandria , the loyal sentiment increased, and men and women marched along with our column, staring at the old flag, and conversing about the good clothes and general good appearance of the men. These people were generally illiterate and somewhat timid, and did not seem to understand much about the present troubles, except that their more wealthy and better-informed neighbors insisted upon the poor people taking up arms to oppose the Government that they had bee taught to love, and which had never oppressed them to support a so-called Government which they knew only by the fact that they had been oppressed by it from its very beginning, and had been torn from their families to fight against their real friends, and for those whom they only knew by name and sight, as wealthy and overbearing, and for the defense, as they were told, of a species of property with the possession of which they had never been burdened, and were not likely to be. Liberty and Alexandria both exhibited much loyal feeling. Lebanon had been quite a stronghold for the rebels --- though not without its devoted loyal inhabitants.

There were loyal men living here and there on our route for whom I sent, and conversed freely with. The observations of one day would serve as a sample for all ---the property of loyal men despoiled, that of rebels protected.

The mode of precedure generally seems to have been for the rebels to call upon their friends to contribute supplies and forage for their camps; the rebels assent, and haul to their camps (they say) all they can spare; more is wanted, the loyal men are visited, and, without consulting them as to quantity, their provisions, corn, wheat, forage and animals are taken without limit, until they are left in a condition that is rapidly becoming one of absolute want.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

We captured during our recent expeditions a rebel mail-carrier and mail just from Tuscaloosa . The mail was principally made up of letters from the soldiers in the rebel army to their families in the neighborhood of Lebanon. These letters breathed but one sentiment -- all tired of the war, and wanted to return home and remain there. Many said they would not go any farther south, and expressed a desire to desert, but feared in that case the Argus eyes of the rebel inhabitants at home, who would watch them and report them to the conscript agents, by whom they would be seized and sent back to their regiments and to death. Thee letters stated most positively that deserters from the rebel army were shot, in various instances, and that citizens who had guided the Federal army were hanged.

Here we have the sentiments of these conscripts from their very hearts, for they are writing to their wives and children, and can have no inducement to deceive. These men would doubtless desert but for fear of being returned by those who remain at home to guard their own property and watch these oppressed men.

The remedy for this state of affairs appears very simple: Despoil the rebels as the rebel army has despoiled the Union men. Send the rebels out of the country, and make safe room for the return of loyal men. Let these loyal men feel that the country is once in their possession instead of being possessed by their oppressors. Aid them in its possession for awhile, and they will soon acquire confidence to hold it.

J.J. Reynolds.
Major-General, Commanding Division
Maj. George E. Flynt , Chief of Staff.

[Endorsements]

Headquarters Fourteenth Army Corps
Murfreesboro, Tenn., February 11, 1863
Respectfully referred for the consideration of the Government.
This report exhibits a state of affairs by no means peculiar to Tennessee . The State of Kentucky is in the same condition. The question is what policy to adopt --- the conciliatory or the rigid. The conciliatory has failed and however much we may regret the necessity, we shall be compelled to send disloyal people of all ages and sexes to the south, or beyond our lines. Secessionism has so degraded their sense of honor that it is next to impossible to find one tinctured with it who can be trusted.
Geo. H. Thomas
Major-General U. S. Volunteers Commanding

Headquarters Department of the Cumberland
Murfreesboro, Tenn., February 18, 1863.
Respectfully forwarded for the information and consideration of the War Department.
W.S. Rosecrans
Major-General

Washington D.C., March 5, 1863
Maj -Gen. W.S. Rosecrans , Commanding etc., Murfreesboro Tenn.:
General: I have just received Maj -Gen. J.J. Reynolds' letter of February 10, with your endorsement of February 18.
The suggestions of General Reynolds and General Thomas in regard to a more rigid treatment of all disloyal persons within the lines of your army are approved. No additional instructions from these headquarters are deemed necessary. You already have been urged to procure your subsistence, forage, and means of transportation, so far as possible, in the country occupied. This you had a right to do without any instructions. As the commanding general in the field, you have power to enforce all laws and usages of war, however rigid and severe those may be, unless there be some act of Congress, regulation, order, or instruction forbidding or restricting such enforcement.
************************************************
The foregoing remarks have reference only to military status and to military offenses under the laws of war. They are not applicable to civil offenses under the Constitution and general laws of the land. The laws and usages of civilized war must be your guide in the treatment of all classes of persons of the country in which your army may operate, or which it may occupy; and you will be permitted to decide for yourself where it is best to act with rigor, and where best to be more lenient. You will not be trammeled with minute instructions.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H.W. Halleck
General-in-Chief

The third expedition in which the Seventy-fifth Regiment participated, was made the second time to Woodbury. In this exploit, the whole Fifth Division also participated. Reynolds led in person. It lasted five days, beginning on March 3d.

Our Brigade, partly mounted, under Wilder, while foraging, encountered the enemy's pickets, about four miles from Woodbury. They were driven before us, and in our attempt to surround them they got information of our intentions and kept retreating rapidly towards McMinnville. We returned to Murfreesboro on the 8th, having killed a Major and a private and captured 25 prisoners and obtained 100 wagon loads of forage. Our loss was six missing, and one from the Seventeenth Indiana severely wounded in the arm. The country was broken and hilly, and nearly every citizen whom we met was a spy for the Confederacy, which made it next to impossibility to surprise and capture the Confederates.

On the 20th of March, the Seventy-fifth Regiment made a double quick march to Milton to reinforce the Second Brigade of our Division under Col. Hall, who, on the above date, with a force of 1300 men, handsomely conquered the Confederate Gen. John H. Morgan at Vaught's Hill, near Milton . Hall's Brigade, to which alone the credit of gloriously defeating the greatly superior forces under Morgan is due, lost six killed, including a Captain, and forty-two wounded, including a Lieutenant. Morgan's forces, which numbered 2,250, lost forty killed, including three officers, and one hundred and fifty wounded, including three officers, and twelve prisoners were taken. In this affair at Vaught's Hill Morgan received the completest thrashing he had yet gotten.

The fourth reconnaissance, which the Seventy-fifth Regiment made in company with the First Brigade, under Wilder, began April 1st. The objective of the expedition was Carthage, on the Cumberland River, in Smith county. Wilder moved his Brigade northward, taking the Lebanon turnpike and crossing Stone's River on pontoon bridges, after which he bivouacked for the night. The next morning the Brigade, which numbered 2,500 men, was divided into two parts. The Infantry, including the Seventy-fifth Regiment, with the Artillery, under command of Colonel Monroe, took the pike for Carthage, via Lebanon and Rome. The mounted force, under Wilder, went via Las Casas and Cainsville . Several times the enemy was met, whom we drove before us and captured ---a part of whom was Gen. Wharton's Cavalry. We arrived at Carthage on the 5th.

On the morning of the 8th, with 400 captured horses and mules and 88 prisoners, having lost only one man of our own, the Brigade returned to Murfreesboro.

The fifth expedition of the Regiment during our encampment here occurred on the 20th of April. It was the reconnaissance to McMinnville in Warren county. We scoured the country, southeast and northeast of Murfreesboro.

This expedition was by far the most extensive and important in its results of any in which the Regiment had the honor of participating from our camp at Murfreesboro. It was the most fruitful reconnaissance sent out by Gen. Rosecrans from Murfreesboro during the encampment of the army there. It lasted ten days, and consisted of our Division and a Brigade from the First Division of our Corps, the Second Brigade from the Second Division of the Twenty-first Corps and Minty's Cavalry --- a force of 6,600 strong --- all under command of Gen. Reynolds.

The following is the order from Gen. Rosecrans for the expedition:

Headquarters Department of the Cumberland
Murfreesboro, April 18, 1863.
Major-General Joseph J. Reynolds, Commanding Fifth Division, Fourteenth Corps:
The general commanding has determined to drive the enemy's forces from the country between Stone's River, Caney Fork, and the Cumberland, and has designated you for that duty, and has placed under your command for that purpose the following forces, in addition to your own division: First, Second Brigade, Second Division, Twenty-first Army Corps, Brigadier-General Wagner commanding; second, Third Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, Colonel Humbright commanding; third, 1,500 cavalry, Colonel Minty commanding. With this force you will proceed to Readyville on Monday, the 20th instant. From there you will march rapidly to McMinnville, leaving two infantry brigades at Glasscock's, with orders to proceed from there to Half-Acre, and subsequently to join you at or near Mrs. Beckwith's, on the Smithville and Liberty pike. With your cavalry, mounted infantry, and one brigade of infantry, you will push forward directly to McMinnville, destroying or capturing any rebel forces you may find there, and destroy the cotton mills and railroad trains, as well as all depots of supplies for the rebel army. From Glasscock's you will send such a force of cavalry as you may judge sufficient for the purpose, to move southward by way of Jacksborough, and cut the railroad near Vervilla and rejoin you at McMinnville or on your journey northward. Your work at McMinnville and vicinity being accomplished, you will proceed to Liberty, having on the route formed a junction with the infantry force sent out by way of Half-Acre,

You are expected to reach Liberty on the 24th instant, at which time and place provisions will reach you from here, under guard of one brigade of infantry. General Crook will also communicate with you at that place from Carthage.

On the following day send a portion of your cavalry back to Smithville, to ascertain if the enemy be following you, and, if possible, draw him into an ambuscade. This done, you will send to their respective camps such portions of the force under your command as you may not need for the prosecution of your work, and with the remainder proceed to Lebanon, where you will establish your temporary headquarters, and completely scour the country in the Peninsula, secure or destroy the supplies of rebels, and arrest and bring into camp all persons whom you may regard as dangerous to the interests of this army. You are authorized to modify any particulars in these general instructions whenever circumstances shall render it clearly necessary, or any considerable advantage is to be gained by a departure from them.

The general commanding desires you to do this work so thoroughly that another expedition will not be needed in that direction. Report your progress as often as practicable. The commanding officers of the forces place under your command have been ordered to report to you in person for orders. Make a report on the number of rations and amount of ammunition you will require to be sent to you at Liberty. The brigade sent to escort you are authorized to assume command of, if you need it. You can also take the wagon train with you to Lebanon, if you think proper. Finish your work in that direction, and return to camp as soon as possible.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J.A. Garfield,
Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff

Armed with this authority, Reynolds proceeded upon this expedition. We had a skirmish with Confederates almost every day. The Regiment passed through the towns of Readyville , Woodbury, Smithville, and encamped one night at Pine Flats on a branch of the Clear Fork. From this point, we rapidly moved northward, passing through Liberty and Alexandria, reaching Lebanon by the 26th. The most of the country through which we passed was barren and unproductive. From Lebanon, the Regiment took a southerly course for McMinnville, passing through Alexandria, Cainsville and Statesville.

We destroyed the McMinnville and Manchester railroad, which was the first but not the last experience of the Seventy-fifth Regiment in this line of destruction. We burned the bridges and trestle works on the road between the two towns above named. We burned an engine, train of cars and the depot at McMinnville. We captured and destroyed 600 blankets, 2 hogsheads of sugar, and 3 of rice, 200 bales of cotton, 8 barrels of liquor. and 30,000 pounds of bacon. We burned a large cotton factory and two mills on Charley Creek, and a mill at Liberty. We captured 180 prisoners, including five officers, among whom was the notorious Major Dick McCann, who made his escape. R.M. Martin, a Lieutenant Colonel of Johnson's (Confederate) Kentucky Cavalry, was mortally wounded. 613 animals were capture.

Our loss was almost nothing in comparison to the results accomplished -- only one wounded and one died with disease.

The Confederate forces with which we skirmished almost daily were composed of Cavalry under Brig. Gen. J.H. Morgan and Brig. Gen. William T. Martin of Wheeler's Cavalry Corps. The following is the Confederate Gen. Morgan's report of our raid:

Headquarters Morgan's Division
Sparta, April 23, 1863. (Received April 26, 3 a.m.)
Col. George William Brent, Asst. Adjt . Gen. and Chief of Staff , Army of Tennessee :
Colonel: I have the honor to enclose copy of a dispatch from Colonel Chenault , at Monticello , received on the morning of the 21st, copy of which was forwarded by train the same morning from McMinnville.

I also received a dispatch at 6 a.m. 21st instant, from Major Bullitt, commanding regiment on Woodbury road, 12 miles from McMinnville , stating that the enemy was advancing in force -- cavalry, infantry, and artillery -- on the Woodbury road. I immediately ordered him to hold his position as long as possible , and, in the event of the enemy pressing him, to fall back slowly toward McMinnville, reporting to me by courier every half hour the movements of the enemy. I also sent out a small scout to gain all possible information, who reported from time to time that a large force of the enemy's cavalry was advancing on the Petty Gap road, and another large force of infantry advancing at the same time on the Woodbury road. I sent a courier to order back the train from Tullahoma , not being able to telegraph, the operator informing me that the line was not working.

At 2 p.m. I received a dispatch from Colonel Bullitt, stating that the enemy had fallen back a short distance on the Woodbury road. At about the same time one of my scouts came in, reporting that the enemy was then within a mile or two of town, driving my videttes and pickets in before them.

The enemy destroyed the railroad depot, factory, two railroad bridges, together with the train that was on this side of Morrison's, besides some two or three other buildings at McMinnville. They left McMinnville about 12 o'clock on the 22d, proceeding in the direction of Smithville, and from thence to Liberty, the force being estimated at from 3,000 to 5,000 strong, consisting of cavalry and mounted infantry and seven pieces of artillery.

About 12,000 infantry crossed from Woodbury road to Blue's, near Mechanicsville. From there they joined the cavalry who had been at McMinnville, and moved down Snow Hill upon Liberty . I had sent courier after courier giving information to the forces at Liberty of approach of the enemy. I have also received information from Celina, stating that the enemy, between 1,200 and 1,500 strong, crossed the river at that point on the 19h instant, shelled and burned the town, together with the churches, not even giving the citizens any warning of their intention. Major Hamilton had to fall back some 4 or 5 miles, but, being re- inforced by Colonel Johnston's regiment, attacked and drove the enemy back across the river.

I understand that General Wheeler is now crossing Caney Fork at Lancaster with his forces. A small detachment of my forces are now occupying McMinnville. General Wheeler will probably be at this point to-morrow. Knowing that it is very important that all information from this direction should reach you at once, I send this without its going through the regular channel.

I have just received a dispatch from Colonel Chenault , at Monticello , who states that there is no immediate danger from this direction, as the enemy are reported moving toward Bowling Green, Ky.

I have the honor to remain , very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN H. MORGAN,
Brigadier-General

[p.80]In his report of the operations in the Department of the Cumberland from February 3d to July 26th, 1863, Gen. Halleck , the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, says:

Maj. Gen. Joseph Reynolds made a raid upon the Manchester and McMinnville Railroad, destroying depots, rolling stock, supplies, and other property, and capturing 180 prisoners.

At the conclusion of his report, Gen. Reynolds comments upon the status of the Tennessee citizens. As it has some bearing upon the importance of the McMinnville raid, the conclusion of Reynolds' report, together with Gen. Thomas' endorsement, is herewith submitted:

The inhabitants may be divided into three classes: First, the wealthy; second, those of medium means or well-to-do; and third, the poor. The first class, with a few noble exceptions, are decided rebels, their farms having furnished rebel supplies, and their houses have been made stopping places for rebel commanders, conscript agents, spies, etc. Without the aid of these men, the raids upon the railroad from Murfreesboro to Nashville, and from Nashville to Gallitin, and even beyond, could not be made. With the supplies furnished by these quiet citizens, the rebels are enabled to move almost without transportation or provisions, knowing just where forage and sustenance await them.

The tone of this class in February, when we made our first expedition into that part of the country was quite defiant; they were determined to persevere in their rebellion until they secured their rights. They have since that time lost no little property in forage and animals to supply both armies, and, in addition, their negro men have run away, and the wagons that were driven, about February 1, by soldiers detailed for that purpose, were, about the last of April, just as well driven by the negroes that formerly lived in that section of country, and the strength of the companies were increased by the same number of able-bodied soldiers.

The tone of this class has now changed. They have discovered their mistake. They had been misled. They have found their rights, and they are now anxious to take the non-combatant oath, give bonds, and stay at home. The question arises here, Shall they be allowed to do so? At the risk of being officious, I respectfully answer no. If the leading men of the neighborhoods are allowed to remain, although they may give bonds, when the rebels run into their neighborhoods they will be forced to aid them. If they are sent away, their presence and their influence are gone. A few of this class returned with us, a step preliminary, I trust, to a longer journey.

The second class have generally been well-meaning citizens, but without much influence politically; they have become from wavering men loyal [p.81]