History of the Third Indiana Cavalry

Dedication

To the brave men of the Third Indiana Cavalry who served in the Civil War, whether now living or sleeping where loving hands have laid them, or in unknown and unmarked graves, in Southern lands, this volume is affectionately inscribed.

PKEFACE.

One hundred and thirty volumes, published by authority of Congress, and entitled "The War of the Eebellion, Official Kecords of the Union and Confederate Armies," are supposed to contain a history of every military organization serving on either side of the mighty conflict, known as the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865.

Chapter II

Neither one of the four companies, G, H, I and K, organized and mustered into the service, and designated as a part of the Third Indiana Cavalry, after the first six companies had been mustered and ordered to the Army of the Potomac, were ever permitted to join the battalion that had departed for the East Indiana troops, as organized, prior to the creation of the Department of Kentucky had been sent in about equal proportions to Gen. Fremont in Missouri and General McClellan in Virginia, were, after the formation of the Department of Kentucky, sent to this new department as fast as mustered. And thus it was that the four companies above mentioned and designated as a part of the Third Indiana Cavalry, when ready for the field were ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, and the men of the regiment who served in the Army of the Potomac never knew anything about the others until after the close of the war, and they began to meet in regimental reunions. And the only men who ever joined either one of the ten companies now in the field went as recruits to fill up the depleted ranks of the various companies.

Pursuant to this policy, according to the record (War of Rebellion Record, Vol. VII, page 467), on December 6, 1861, Company G, under Capt. Felix Graham, became a part of Brig. -Gen. George H. Thomas's division, Army of the Ohio, doing duty at his headquarters. Company H, commanded by Capt. Alfred Gaddis, was assigned to Gen. A. D. McCook's division for duty at his headquarters. Company I, under Capt. Will C. Moreau, ordered to report to General Buell, Louisville, reported to General McCook at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, but was ordered back to Louisville after a few days. General Nelson, commanding the Fourth Divi-

Major Charles Lemon— Killed at Getteysburg.

sion of the Army of the Ohio, at Paducah, Kentucky, on the 22d of February, 1862, reports that he had two companies of Indiana cavalry with him under Capt. Eobert Klein (Vol. VII, page 654). These two companies were Companies I and K of the Third Indiana Cavalry, Captain Klein being captain of the latter company.

These different companies, thus assigned, served with the commands to which they were assigned, and were with those different commands in their several movements in Kentucky, on Salt river, Green river and the Ohio, until our armies, numbering over one hundred thousand men, concentrated at Nashville, Tennessee, about the first of March, 1862. Under their several assignments these companies performed orderly duty, acted as scouts, pickets, and had numerous skirmishes at different times with small bodies of the enemy's cavalry that was always active on the front of our advancing armies. After the battle of Mills Springs, in which the rebel generals Payton and Zollicoffer were killed, Captain Gaddis, with one hundred picked men of Companies G and H, was sent into the rebel lines to escort and deliver the remains of these distinguished rebels to their friends. Generals Johnson and Negley, of the Union forces, with their respective staffs, accompanied this expedition, as well as reporters from Frank Leslie's Magazine and the Cincinnati Commercial. They were within the rebel lines a day and night.

On the march to Nashville, Tennessee, on the 25th of January, 1862, Capt. "Will C. Moreau, First Lieut. Tighlman Fish and Second Lieut. Oliver Childs, who were the commissioned officers of Company I, resigned, and on the 16th of February, 1862, Charles Hedrick, orderly sergeant of the company, was mustered as second lieutenant, promoted to first lieutenant, and on the 27th of February, 1862, Argus D. Vanarsdol was made captain and Thomas B. Wilkinson second lieutenant of that company. Captain Vanarsdol resigned on the 1st of May, 1863, and Lieutenants Hedrick and Wilkinson remained officers of the company until the close of its

42 Hl8TORY OF THE THIRD INDIANA CavaLBY.

term of service, the former being captain of the company at the date of its discharge.

After reaching Nashville Company I, of the Third Indiana Cavalry, was detailed as provost guards for the city, and was continued in the performance of this duty until Bragg's invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky in the summer of 1862, when it was withdrawn with our other forces and accompanied the armies northward to Louisville. The other three companies continued to perform duty at the respective headquarters to which they had been assigned, scouting and picketing the various roads leading out of Nashville. In one of these scouts on the Murfreesborough pike Captain Klein with his company, K, encountered a force of General Morgan's rebel cavalry, in which Captain Klein lost two horses and one man killed.

On the 15th of March, 1862, the army at Nashville began the march that finally brought it to Pittsburg Landing and the battlefield of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, 1862. Companies G, H and K were still with the headquarters commands, which they had accompanied from the Ohio river, and performing the same kind of duty they had performed from the first. They were with their respective commands at the great battle of Shiloh, but that was an infantry and artillery battle, and cavalry only performed escort, orderly and picket duty. At Shiloh, on the 9th of April, 1862, Capt. Felix W. Graham, of Company G, resigned and returned home to become colonel of the Fifth Indiana Cavalry, and on the 17th of May, 1862, George F. Ilerriott, the first lieutenant of that company, became captain. On the same date Sergt. Daniel Callahan was made second lieutenant, Lieut. William J. Lucas, of the same company, having been promoted from second to first lieutenant on the 30th of April, 1862.

Capt Alfred Gaddis, of Company H, with McCook's headquarters, in a letter dated April 10, 1862, "On the Battlefield, near Pittsburg Landing," wrote: "The battle was raging when we got here. We could hear the cannonading for miles, and on the army marched, leaving baggage and every incumbrance behind. When we reached the river the musketry firing had ceased and all was quiet, except the gunboats, three in number, that threw shells all night to keep the "secesh" off, for they had repulsed Grant's army of sixty-five thousand, which had got under cover of the gunboats for protection, the enemy having possession of their battlefield and camp, with all the tents and equipage.

"On Monday morning Buell's forces began the terrible slaughter, and on Wednesday it still continued; only the rebels are being driven back. My command was not in the fight. Cavalry could not be used to advantage in the woods. We were sent with the Nineteenth Regulars to guard the batteries belonging to McCook's division and were detained here for further orders. Next morning a number of prisoners were turned over to my charge as they were taken ; so many that I had to get other forces to help guard them.

"All our baggage trains are back with the whole division trains. None of the men have tents. We are quartered in a wheatfield and have our "secesh" guests on pasture. Many of them have relatives and friends that bring them food. It is quite cold and has rained four nights in succession. I rode over the battlefield with General McCook and his staff. It was a horrible sight. Our wounded had been taken off. The dead were being cared for, that is our own men. The dead seemed innumerable."

On this field Captain Gaddis was taken down with typhoid fever and sent to his home in the North, and was absent, sick and on detached service until April 7, 1863, when he rejoined his company, in camp near Murfreesborough, Tenn.

Company I, of the Third Indiana Cavalry, was with General Nelson on the battlefield of Shiloh, acting in the same capacity it had been acting at his headquarters, and accompanied him on the march and at the siege of Corinth, and was with him until the

44 IIlHTOEY OF THE TllIED INDIANA CaVAXBY.

first of J line, 1862, when it was detached and assigned to the cavalry corps commanded by General Thatcher.

The record (Series 1, Vol. XVI, Part 2, page 8) discloses that at this time the Second Indiana, Third Kentucky, Third Ohio and three companies of the Third Indiana Cavalry, Capt Robert Klein, formed an independent cavalry brigade of the troops in the district of the Ohio commanded by General Buell. These were Companies G, H and K, and we find the same companies at page 591 of the same volume noted as unattached with the Second Division of the First Army Corps, the latter commanded by Gen. A. D. McCook and the cavalry by Gen. Joshua W. Sill. At that time these companies were under the command of Robert Klein, who was promoted to major on the 20th of October, 1862.

After the Shiloh and Corinth campaign these three companies with Buell's army fell back to Louisville before Bragg's invading army, and at the latter city were joined by Company I, which had been doing provost duty in Nashville from early in March, 1862, and this was the first time the four companies of the Third Indiana Cavalry in the West had ever been together and under one command.

When Buell began his forward movement against Bragg in October, 1862, these four companies under the command of Major Klein formed part of Buell's advance cavalry and were with him at the battle of Perryville on the 8th of October, 1862. It continued with the advance of Buell's army to Nashville, and, according to a report of Colonel Buckland, of the Fifth Kentucky Cavalry, dated December 7, l!S(!2, Captain Vanarsdol with two companies of the Third Indiana was with him guarding General Sill's wai^on train, which was attacked by General Wheeler's rebel cavalry and a force of infantry, and was only saved by brisk fighting on the part of the Union forces guarding the train. This affair occurred on the road from Lebanon to Franklin, Tennessee, on the 6th of December, 1802. (Vol. XX, Part 1, page 35.)

In this report Colonel Buckland says: "The Third Indiana Cavalry of two companies, under Captain Vanarsdol, was ordered to the front, and here I would say that no men could have behaved better than those two companies, nor could any one have maneuvered them to better advantage than the captain in command."

The record (Vol. XX, page 176, December 26, 1862) shows that Companies G, H, I and K, Third Indiana Cavalry, formed part of Col. Philemon P. Baldwin's Second Brigade, Gen. Richard W. Johnson's Second Division, Army of the Cumberland, and with this command participated in the great Battle of Stone River on the 31st of December, 1862, and the 1st of January, 1863. According to official reports (Vol. XX, page 209) its casualties were four killed, six wounded, fifteen captured or missing, one ambulance and thirty cavalry horses.

General Johnson in his report (Vol. XX, page 295) says: "Major Klein and his battalion of the Third Indiana Cavalry deserve special mention. Under their gallant leader, the battalion was always in the front and rendered efficient service."

In the engagement of December 27, at Nolensville, Sergt. Richard Newell and Private Stephen Moore, of Company H, and Private Mack Dunn, of Company G, were three of the men killed, and Sergt. John S. Irvin and John A. Mason were among the badly wounded.

In his report dated January 9, 1863, Brig-Gen. David S. Stanley, U. S. Army, Chief of Cavalry (page 617, Series 1, Vol. XX, War of the Rebellion Official Records) gives his account of the skirmishes near La Vergne, December 27; Wilkinsons Cross Roads, December 29; Overalls Creek, December 31, and Lytles Creek, January 5. He says : "The reserve cavalry consisted of the new regiments, viz., Anderson Troop, or Fifteenth Pennsylvania, First Middle Tennessee, Second East Tennessee Cavalry and four companies of the Third Indiana. I commanded in person and preceded General McCook's corps on the Nolensville pike. On the morning of the 27th our cavalry first encountered the enemy on the Nolensville pike one mile in advance of Bole Jack Pass. Their cavalry was in large force and accompanied by a battery of artillery. Fighting continued from 10 o'clock until evening, during which time we had driven the enemy two miles beyond La Vergne.

"The Third Indiana and Anderson Troop behaved very gallantly, charging the enemy twice and bringing them to hand to hand encounters. The conduct of Majors Rosengarten and Ward, the former now deceased, was most heroic.

"On the 28th we made a reconnoissance to College Grove and found that Hardee's rebel corps had marched to Murfreesborough. On the 29th, Colonel Zahm's brigade having joined us, we were directed to march upon Murfreesborough by the Franklin road, the reserve cavalry moving on the Bole Jack road, the columns communicating at the crossing of Stewarts Creek. We encountered the enemy's cavalry and found them in strong force at Wilkinsons Cross Roads. Our cavalry drove them rapidly across Overalls Creek and within one-half mile of the enemy's line of battle. The Anderson Cavalry behaved most gallantly this day, pushing a full charge upon the enemy for six miles. Unfortunately their advance proved too reckless. Having dispersed their cavalry, the troop fell upon two regiments of rebel infantry in ambush, and, after a gallant struggle, were compelled to retire with the loss of Major Rosengarten and six men killed, and the brave Major Ward and five men desperately wounded."

Maj. Robert Klein, at page 646 of the same volume, officially reports his operations with the four companies, G, H, I and K, Third Indiana Cavalry, from December 26, 1862, to January 3, 1863, in a report dated near Murfreesborough, Tenn., January 7, 1863, including skirmishes at Triune, December 27, and near Overalls Creek, December 31. He says:

Histoby of the Thied Indiana Cavalby. 47

"The four companies under my command left camp on the 26th, as ordered, and, bringing up the rear of the Second Division, encamped beyond Nolensville. On the following morning, 27th, having orders, reported to General Stanley, the chief of cavalry, who, remarking he 'had understood the Third knew how to take these rebels/ ordered me to move forward and take the advance of the column of cavalry then moving towards Triune.

"I succeeded in gaining the advance at about the point where the enemy's outposts were expected to be. I then threw out portions of Company H, Lieutenant Young commanding, on either side of the pike, and putting out an advance guard, moved smartly down the pike. Our advance soon encountered the enemy in considerable force drawn up in line of battle. The column now moved on to them at a gallop, receiving the whole of their fire into one company (Company G, Captain Herriott), the skirmishers on the flanks not being able to come up for some time on account of the soft nature of the ground and the fences intervening. Company G held its ground until Company I, Captain Vanarsdol, on the right, and Company K, Lieutenant Lieske, on the left, advanced gallantly to the rescue, and, despite superior force, drove them across the narrow valley to a position beyond, where their artillery covered them. Here we advanced with the remainder of our cavalry force and drove them from this hill, from which they fell back to Triune.

"We were ordered by General Stanley, with one company of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, to attack the enemy on the right side of the pike. They were posted behind a stone wall, heads only visible, one or more regiments strong. We advanced across the open fields and were pouring in a steady fire at easy range when two pieces of artillery, about 500 yards to our left, and two in front opened on us, obliging us to retire to the cover of the woods from where we advanced. This movement was done promptly but in good order. On the following morning my bat-

48 History of the Tiiikd Indiana Cavalby.

talion was in advance of the reconnoissance under General Willich ; we did no fighting, but captured some sixteen of the enemy's stragglers. On the Nolensville pike we had three killed and three wounded. We lost also a few horses, wounded and disabled, and one killed by cannon shot. On the 29th and 30th nothing of note occurred.

"On the morning of the 31st ultimo my battalion was posted with our cavalry force beyond Wilsons Cross Roads pike, on the rear and right of the Second Division. When our forces first gave way before overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the efficiency of my battalion was destroyed in being divided by one of our own cavalry regiments running through our ranks and scattering the men. This movement, had it been in the opposite direction, would have been a most gallant charge and, doubtless, from its determination, an efficient one. We kept falling back, forming and charging at intervals, until forced across the Murfreesborough pike, where one of my companies was first to form and drive the enemy from our train.

"We captured during the retreat eleven of the enemy. One of Company G, Corporal Justice, recaptured our ambulance, containing our surgeon, by shooting down one of its captors and frightening the other away. I regret to say that Corporal Justice was afterwards captured. We were formed near the center of our cavalry when the enemy in the afternoon again attempted to take our train. We participated in the fight and charge that followed. We lost one man on that morning, Private Daniel Gibbons, of Gen. Willich's escort, and two others wounded. On the following days of the fight my battalion was on provost duty. Our loss sums up : Killed four, wounded six, missing ten, captured five. Of the missing doubtless nearly all were captured. Our total loss is twenty-five men, thirty horses and one ambulance.

"Respectfully, your obedient servant, R. Klein,

"Major Commanding Battalion."

Daniel Gibbons was of Company G, Third Indiana Cavalry.

In an expedition covering four days, beginning with the 3d of February, 1863, the Fifth Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, from Murfreesborough, Maj.-Gen. J. J. Eeynolds commanding, reports the Third Indiana Cavalry under Capt. G. F. Herriott as constituting a part of his command. The expedition encountered rebel cavalry at various points, captured a number of prisoners, a number of animals and destroyed a large amount of rebel subsistence stores. (Vol. XXIII, Part 1, page 42.) Lieut- Col. Fielder A. Jones, commanding First Brigade, First Division, Twentieth Army Corps (same volume, page 137), reports a reconnoissance made by his command, March 6 and 7, 1863, on the old Shelbyville road to Middletown. Colonel Jones says: "We found the enemy posted in strong position four miles from Middletown, which position was handsomely carried by our troops. We drove the enemy through Middletown and out of his camp one and one-half miles beyond the town. He made four different stands, but was quickly dislodged by our men. I never saw finer nor more intrepid skirmishing than was done by the Thirty-second and Thirty-ninth Indiana, Forty-ninth Ohio and about seventy men of the Third Indiana Cavalry. Great credit is due both to officers and men of those commands."

This Volume XXIII of the official records, from which we have been quoting, indicates that the Western battalion of the Third Indiana Cavalry was a busy body of men from the time they left Louisville with the army in September, 1862. We have given their movements up to and through the Murfreesborough campaign, and up to the 6th of March, 1863. According to a report of Brig.-Gen. Jeff. C. Davis (page 145) we find a part of the battalion at Eagleville, Tenn., who were ordered by him to the headquarters of the general commanding the corps. This was on the 11th of March. On the 9th of April, 1863, they were part of a command of 1,600 men under Major-General Stanley which left

50 History ok the Tiiikd Indiana Cavalky.

Murfreesborough to scout the country to Triune, and thence to Franklin and to give General Granger such assistance as he might need in his operations against VanDoran, in command of 4,000 rebels (Vol. XXIII, page 230). Lieutenant-Colonel Klein, from Camp Drake, Tenn., under date of April 16, 1863 (page 238), makes the following report of his part in that affair:

"Sir — I have the honor to report the following as the part taken by the detachment of the Third Indiana Cavalry, 170 strong, under my command, during the late scout to Franklin, Tenn. Nothing worthy of note occurred until on the 10th instant, when, halted four miles from Franklin I was placed under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robie, commanding Second Brigade, with which brigade we acted during the entire engagement and remainder of the scout. Early in the afternoon we were ordered to proceed to Harpeth river at Hughes Mill, where our brigade crossed at lower ford, opposite the bluff. We moved across the open field and woods to the Lewisburg pike, driving the enemy's sentinels towards Franklin, in which direction we observed them in considerable mounted force. The brigade was formed across the pike, facing towards Franklin, my battalion being in the center, where we were to await their approach.

"The Fourth Regulars becoming engaged in our rear, towards Lewisburg, we were ordered to face about and move down the Lewisburg end of the pike, which we did in fine order, and had laid down the last fence between us and the reserves of the force engaging the Fourth Regulars, and would soon have captured them and the horses of their dismounted men, the guard being inconsiderable, but orders were given to fall back, as they were advancing from Franklin in our rear. We fell back with the promptness characteristic of cavalry movements, and formed in the field and woods near the bluff at the crossing, our line being at an acute angle with the pike and bluff, our left nearest the pike and our right nearest the bluff, with my battalion again in the

HlSTOEY OF THE ThIKD INDIANA CaVALKY. 51

center of the Second Brigade. The enemy made two attacks on this position, and were both times . repulsed ; but coming through the woods in force and attacking our left vigorously, doubled it on the center, obliging us to fall back. We again formed parallel to the bluff, which position we held until the enemy retired. We were in advance of the reconnoitering force which went out in the evening, but nothing worthy of note occurred. Our loss in the whole scout was very small, being two mortally and two slightly wounded ; also twelve horses killed, disabled and abandoned. I take pleasure in testifying to the general good conduct of my officers and men, their actions meeting my full approbation. I am, Captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"K. Klein, Lieutenant-Colonel, "Commanding Third Indiana Cavalry.

"Capt. W. H. Sinclair, Assistant Adjutant-General."

On May 22, 1863, Colonel Klein makes the following report (Vol. XXIII, page 344) :

"Sir — I have the honor to report the following as the part taken by the Third Indiana Cavalry under my command, in the descent on Middletown this instant: My battalion, being in the rear of the [Fourth Michigan Cavalry, brought up the rear of the First Brigade, and in the charge on the rebel camps followed the Fourth Michigan close up, deploying on the left of the same and charging through the woods in the direction of Fosterville. We met very little resistance, exchanging only a few shots. We captured twelve prisoners, three Sharp's carbines, eight horses and one mule. No casualties to my battalion.

"Your obedient servant,

"R. Klein, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."

The volume from which we have been quoting (page 356) shows the battalion of the Third Indiana, under Colonel Klein, went with the brigade of Colonel Minty from their camp near Murfreesborough on the 3d of June, 1863, out on the Wartrace road, where

52 History op thk Third Indiana Cavalry.

it crosses Stone river, and engaged the enemy in force at that point And on June 10 the battalion was engaged in a scout and skirmish with the enemy's pickets on the Middletown road (page 373). On June 15 the same command went on a raid to Lebanon, Tenn. (page 394). On the 3d of July, 1863, Colonel Watkins' command, consisting of the Fifth and Sixth Kentucky and Third Indiana Cavalry, reported to General Sheridan for duty (page 467).

General Sheridan, reporting his operations from June 24 to July 5, 1863 (page 516), after leaving Murfreesborough, says: "Just before reaching Cowan, July 3, I was joined by Colonel Watkins with 1,200 cavalry. I learned during the night that the enemy had taken up a position at or near University, near the top of the mountain about seven miles from this place, and had covered his front with General Wharton's cavalry. To ascertain the truth of this I directed Colonel Watkins with the Fifth and Sixth Kentucky and Third Indiana Cavalry of his command, on the morning of the 4th of July, to feel the enemy and drive him until he was satisfied he was there in force. This reconnoissance was very handsomely executed by Colonel Watkins, who drove the enemy about three miles, inflicting severe loss. Our own casualties were fourteen. On the morning of the 5th of July I directed Colonel Watkins to feel the enemy again, to ascertain if his position was a permanent one, at the same time sending the Third Indiana Cavalry to Mount Top, on my right and down the road in the direction of Stephenson. Colonel Watkins found the enemy had fled. Lieutenant-Colonel Klein, Third Indiana Cavalry, found that a small portion of the enemy had crossed on that road. He captured forty-one head of beef cattle from the enemy's rear guard and brought them into camp."

In Volume XXIIT, Part 2, page 556, Col. R. G. Minty, commanding the First Brigade, Second Cavalry Division, on July 10, 1863, made a report of the engagement at Shelbyville, Tenn., on the 27th of June, 1863, of which affair Lieutenant-Colonel Klein gives an account in the foregoing report. In Volume LII, Part 1, page 425, in a supplemental report dated Camp near Salem, Tenn., July 29, 1863, he says :

"Sir — Referring to my report of July 8, I hand you the following list of officers and men deserving of special mention for gallant conduct at Shelbyville on the 27th of June ultimo. First Lieutenant Thompson, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, led the grand charge on the rebel battery. He rode into the very teeth of the guns in most gallant and fearless manner and captured the entire battery. (Observation: He personally captured one piece, and with Lieutenant Vale, of the same regiment, captured another piece near the railroad station after a personal encounter with the officer commanding the battery.) Lieutenant McCafferty, Fourth

U. S. Cavalry, was conspicuous for his gallant conduct in the charge on the battery, and is honorably mentioned by Captain Davis. Captain Burns, acting assistant adjutant-general of the brigade, who is always at his post of duty, had his horse shot under him while among the foremost in the charge on the battery. Lieut. Callahan, Third Indiana, exhibited great gallantry in the charge of the battalion of his regiment made near Skull Camp Bridge. Lieutenant Young, Third Indiana Cavalry, was conspicuous in the same charge; he received two slight saber wounds. Sergt. Thomas Sheaffer, Third Indiana Cavalry, in same charge, after being wounded in the face with a saber continued to hew his way through the rebel ranks.

"All the regimental commanders, viz., Lieutenant-Colonel G-albraith, First Middle Tennessee; Captain Mclntyre, Fourth United States; Major Mix, Fourth Michigan; Colonel Klein, Third Indiana, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sipes, Seventh Pennsylvania, are deserving of special mention for their promptness and manner in which they handled their respective commands.

"I am respectfully, your obedient servant,

54 History of THK Third Indiana Cavalry.

At page .r).r)9, Vol. XXIII, Colonel Klein makes this report:

"Headquarters Third Battalion, Third Indiana Cavalry,

"Six Miles from Winchester, Tenn., July 7, 1863.

"Sir — I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of my command since leaving Murfreesborough on the 24th of Juno : Nothing of interest occurred until the 27th, when our forces advanced on Shelbyville, when the first determined opposition was found, four miles from that place. When the artillery opened upon us, Colonel Minty ordered my command to proceed to the left, with orders if we met the enemy to charge them, saying he would send us a guide to show us where to go. The guide never came. We proceeded through thick woods, dense undergrowth and tangled vines to the left until we reached the enemy's abatis and rifle pits, where no horseman could go forward, and the firing having ceased, we knew not our exact position. I sent for orders, and on receiving them turned to the right to a point where I could cross the abatis and pits. Here the roads, cut through the woods, led to the left, following which, we reached the Fairfield and Bellbuckle pike, two and one-half miles from the city. We moved down this smartly to a point, when a citizen told us it turned to the Murfreesborough pike. We then left it and passing fields, orchards and woods, reached the outskirts of the town, nearly half a mile from the Murfreesborough road.