At the front

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The Blue amd The Gray— Afloat

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Preface

" At the Front " is the fifth of the series of "The Blue and the Gray — on Land," and tlie last but one of the six volumes. It is a continr nation of the narrative contained in the preceding books, wherein is given the history of the Riverlawn Regiment from the formation of the two companies as a squadron, in which it ren- .dered its first service for the preservation of the Union, till in the present volume it becomes a full cavalry regiment of twelve companies, with three battalions, a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, and three majors.

In July, 1862, about four months after the battle of Pittsburg Landing, General Buell, commanding the Army of the Ohio, wrote to headquarters at Washington as follows : "I cannot err in repeating to you the urgent importance of a larger cavalry force in this district. The

8 PREFACE

enemy is throwing an immense cavalry force on the four hundred miles of railroad communication upon which this army is dependent for supplies." As if in direct response to this urgent call, the people of Kentucky took up the matter. It used to be said many years ago that the genuine Kentuckian was "half horse and half alligator;" and however it may be in regard to the saurian portion of him, he is still rather more than half horse, for one of the principal industries of the State is the raising of the finest horses in the country.

The companies of the Riverlawns, with the battery attached, were sent back to the State where the command had been raised; and there was an urgent need for them, for the Confederacy had begun upon a desperate effort to recover the State of Kentucky, which might place the cities of Louisville and Cincinnati within the reach of the Southern armies, as well as the rich and fertile States to the north of the Ohio. While the armies of Bragg and Kirby Smith were invading the State, numerous bodies of guerillas came into Kentucky from Tennessee and elsewhere.

PREFACE 9

and began a war of plunder and rapine. The first business of the newly organized regiment, with the battery still attached to it, was to drive out these marauders. The command did some rapid marching, encountered the enemy on several occasions, and did its full share in removing the pests from the soil of Kentucky.

Perhaps the personal history of the characters before introduced may interest our younger readers more than the details of battles and skirmishes. In the enlargement of the regiment, most, if not all, of them have risen to higher rank. They have been engaged in some sharp engagements, and they have done credit to themselves ; and they owe their promotion to their conduct on the field of battle as well as to their strict adherence to the line of duty. But none of them have been permitted to do any impossible things. All of them have not escaped the perils of the field, and even the colonel had to lie some weeks upon his bed from the effects of a severe wound.

If Deck Lyon escaped in the several severe engagements in which he took a prominent part, it was not because he kept himself in a safe place ;

10 " PREFACE

for the most dangerous place on the field seemed to belong to him, and he always occupied it if his orders would permit. If he Avas the hero of any especial achievement, he gave the greater credit for it to the wonderful pluck, intelligence, and skill of Ceph, the horse he had trained from his ponyhood. He loved this animal as though he had been a human being; and he treated him as one of the famity, never failing to look out for him in camp or on the march. And the steed was as affectionate towards his master as though he perfectly understood the relation that subsisted between them. Deck regarded Ceph as part of himself, and he would not have thought of riding any other steed in an engagement; and whatever good fortune came to him, he attributed one-half of it to the intelligent animal.

When the guerillas were driven out of Kentucky, the regiment was sent to Nashville, which city it was believed that Bragg would attempt to capture ; and it was engaged in various services till ordered to Murfreesboro. The battle of Stone River soon followed ; but before the engagement the regiment was occupied in clearing the roads

PREFACE 11

in the vicinity, which had been fortified in many places by the enemy. When the force had been sent to the defence of Colnmbia before the command had been fully organized, Colonel Lyon, recalling the valuable services of the riflemen who had joined his command at the battle of Mill Spring, succeeded in enlisting a full company of these sharpshooters, noted throughout the county in which they resided as "dead shots ; " and in all the engagements in which they took part, they proved to be one of the most important arms of the service. The series of actions at Stone River resulted in the retreat of the enemy ; and for months our heroes were engaged in detached duty, serving in some of the battles which followed. Again returning my hearty thanks to those who have encouraged my work for over forty years, I say adieu in order to finish the series.

William T. Adams.

CHAPTER V. Preparations for the Defence 70

CHAPTER YI.

The Charge of the Enemy on the Hill ... 84

CHAPTER YII.

A Break in the Enemy's Columns 97

CHAPTER YIII.

The Final Result of the Battle Ill

14 CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX.

PAGE

CHAPTER X.

Preparing for the Invasion 138

CHAPTER XI.

Seeking Information of the Enemy 151

CHAPTER XII.

The Expedition of the Three Scouts 164

CHAPTER XIII.

Using the Telegraph at Night . 177

CHAPTER XIY.

The Opening of the Engagement 190

CHAPTER XY.

Some Details of the Battle 203

CHAPTER XYI.

Major Bornwood's Prediction 217

CHAPTER XYII.

The Final Retreat of the Enemy 230

CHAPTER XYIII.

A Guerilla Raid from over the River .... 243

CHAPTER XIX.

Grace Morgan and the Guerilla 256

CONTENTS 15

CHAPTER XX.

PAGE

CHAPTER XXI.

The Capture of the First Guerii.l,as .... 281

CHAPTER XXII.

Surrender of the Guerilla Chief 293

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Disposal, of the Prisoners 304

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Boot on the Other Leo 317

CHAPTER XXV.

The Obnoxious Citizen on the Hill 330

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Search for Greeger Lake 343

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Lake and the Guerillas found 350

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The Engagement at Greegek Lake 369

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Gibbet-Tree by the Knob 383

CHAPTER XXX.

Disciplining the Guerilla Chief 396

16 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXXI.

PAGE

Major Lyon's Maech into Tennessee 409

CHAPTER XXXII.

Deck kesoets to a "Yankee Trick" 422

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Before the Battle of Stone River 435

CHAPTER XXXIY.

The Opening of the Great Battle 448

CHAPTER XXXV.

Warm Praise for the Riflemen 461

CHAPTER XXXYI.

The Result of the Great Battle 474

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

" The fikst one burst in the very midst of the

COMPANY " Frontispiece

PAGE

"He rose from the ground" 136

"I'll tell you all I know" 166

" The son kneeled at the side of his father," 240

"What be you gwine to do about it?" . . . 264

" He was hit in the head " 319

"They threw a rope over one of the limbs" . 378

AT THE FROISTT

Chapter I

It was the middle of August when Lieutenant- Colonel Noah Lyon, commanding the Riverlawn Cavalry, to which Major Batterson's battery of light artillery was attached, encamped for the night at Barcreek, on the jDl^^tation from which the battalion had derived its name. The command had been a portion of General Woodbine's brigade, which had taken an active part in the bloody battle of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh as it was called in the South, and had been kept exceedingly busy in the division of General Nelson at the siege of Corinth, even to the last minute when the enemy had suddenly blown up their works, and fled m hot haste farther south.

The brigade had been engaged while it was still a part of General Nelson's division in building bridges destroyed by the enemy, and repairing railroads torn up, until the State of Kentucky was menaced by large bodies of Confederate forces in the east, and it was believed that Generals Bragg and Kirby Smith were moving in the direction of the Ohio River, either for the recovery of the State, or the capture of Cincinnati, or for both of these objects. These grand operations seemed to be foreshadowed by the appearance of many bodies of guerillas, larger in numbers and better organized than most of those with which the Riverlawn Cavalry had before contended, in Kentucky and in various sections of Tennessee. Morgan had made an extensive raid through the border State, destroying vast amounts of United States property, capturing towns, plundering plantations of stock and provisions. This vigorous leader was a genius in this kind of work, and the Federal stores taken by him or destroyed were estimated at over a million dollars in value.

The history of his raid and subsequent operations, even on the north side of the Ohio, was romantic in its boldness and daring.

At about the same time, Forrest was operating on a smaller scale in Tennessee, though with not less vigor and daring. It was evident enough that Kentucky, to say nothing of the States on the other side of the Ohio, was in imminent peril. Inspired by the example of these vigorous and daring leaders, many sections of country between the Ohio and the Tennessee were raided by less spirited bodies of guerillas. Nelson Avas taken from his division, and sent to the interior of the State of Kentucky to organize troops for the defence of the region, and to protect Cincinnati from the approach of Generals Bragg and Kirby Smith.

It was evident that the Riverlawn Cavalry was needed at home. It was plain that there was an abundance of just such work as that in which it had been largely engaged before the battle of Mill Spring, and in the interim between that affair and the departure of Nelson's division to take part in the battle of Pittsburg Landing and the operations at Corinth. Evidently with the intention of increasing the force of the battalion, Major Lyon had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; and his command, with the battery attached, were ordered to Kentucky, and directed to report at Munfordville, on Green River, about thirty miles from the plantation of Colonel Lyon, where he had encamped for the night. In the expectation that important events were about to occur, the commander marched at daylight the next morning, and hurried his force so that he arrived at his destination early in the forenoon.

" Colonel Lyon, I am glad to see you," said an officer, wearing the uniform of the staff, as he extended his hand to the commander. " You have made good time from MacMinnville, and I did not expect to see you so soon."

"I understood that the State was in peril, and I have lost no time on the road," replied Colonel Lyon, taking the extended hand of the staff-officer, whose shoulder-straps indicated that he was a major. "May I ask whom I have the honor of addressing ? "

" Pardon me for not introducing myself before ; but I was so much pleased to see you here so soon, that I neglected the formalities of the occasion. Allow me to make myself known as Major Richard Bornwood, of the staff of Major- General Buell," continued the officer, extending his hand again.

"I am very happy to know you. Major Bornwood," replied the colonel, taking the offered hand, and pressing it warmly. "I suppose you are the bearer of orders for me ; and I am particularly glad to see you, for I do not wish to lose any time in entering upon my mission in my own State, and I feared that I might be kept waiting for my orders."

" The general is in as much of a hurry to have you and your brilliant command in the field as you can possibly be, though there will be some delay in reorganizing your force, in which some considerable changes will be made ; and I have the pleasure of presenting to you this document from the War Department," added Major Bornwood, taking from a satchel suspended over his shoulder an official document, as the envelope indicated, and presenting it to the commander of the battalion.

Colonel Lyon looked at the ponderous envelope, and read his name upon it. He was a modest man, and he could not imagine the nature of its contents. He had very recently been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and he did not hope for or expect any further advancement. He had been faithful in the discharge of his duties as major in command of the battalion; and when promoted two weeks before, he honestly believed that his rank exceeded his military merit.

"Do you happen to know the contents of this envelope. Major Bornwood ? " he asked, very much like a schoolgirl who wishes to know what is in her letter before she opens it.

"I do know its contents, and by opening it you will be as wise as I am," replied the staff-officer, laughing at the hesitation of the colonel.

The recipient of the document tore open the envelope, and found that it contained a commission as a colonel of cavalry. He was absolutely amazed ; and he could not see why he should receive the full rank of the commander of a regiment, when he was in charge of only three companies of cavalry.

" I cannot accept this commission," said he, after he had meditated for a few minutes. "It should be given to a better man than I am, a more competent commander."

"There is no such man in the army!" exclaimed the major with a great deal of energy. "General Nelson says more than this of you."

Colonel Lyon bit his lips, and seemed to be very much embarrassed. He had certainly never turned his back to the enemy in battle, or hesitated to lead his command into the most perilous portions of the field. As a strategist he had always manifested decided ability ; and if not brilliant, he had more than once distinguished himself by his successful results.

"I can point to one in my command who is more worthy of this position than I am," added the colonel, when he had considered the matter still more.

'' Who is he ? " demanded the staff-officer.

" Captain Gordon, in command of my first company," replied the colonel.

"A very able and meritorious officer; and he lias not been forgotten, as j^ou will learn before your command is newly organized. If I should tell you what others say of you, men of elevated rank, who have seen you at Pittsburg Landing and at Corinth, you would not hesitate to accept this commission. Let me add, that if you decline to take the rank to which you are clearly entitled, I cannot carry out the mission on which I am sent into Kentucky, and that will involve a delay of at least two weeks, if not a month. I have three companies of cavalry recruits here, and they are to be mustered into the service to-day or to-morrow. They are fully equal to the men in your ranl^ now."

" I accept the commission after what you say ; for I cannot subject the service to the delay which you indicate," replied Colonel Lyon, fixing his gaze on the ground, as though he was ashamed to yield the point.

" You are as honest as you are modest, Colonel, and I thank you for relieving me from the embarrassment to which your declension would subject me."

"If I consulted my own feelings only, I should persist in declining this promotion ; but I cannot do anything to embarrass the service," added the commander. " I yield to your eloquence, Major, rather than to my own judgment."

"I thank you for the compliment, and I am greatly obliged to you for opening the way for me to discharge the duty which brought me to Kentucky ; and I am confident that the State will be benefited by your final decision in this matter."

"You say that you have three companies here ready to be mustered into the service. Major Bornwood," continued Colonel Lyon, anxious to bring the business of the day to a head.

" Three companies here, and another on the way, the last from the home of one of your lieutenants and its vicinity; and let me add that Lieutenant Knox raised the company himself."

" Then it was for this service that he had two weefe' leave of absence," added the colonel, with a smile.

"Precisely so. General Buell has made very strong representations to the War Department of his absolute need of more and better cavalry than he has had in the past, and an earnest effort has been made to enlist more men in this arm. The belief that the State is to be invaded by an army of the enemy has stimulated recruiting of both cavalry and infantry. You will have seven companies in the course of two or three days, and we hope to add three more in the course of a month. Now, Colonel Lyon, if you will form your battalion, including the battery, I will read to the men the orders I have brought from the general," said Major Born wood, as he took a number of papers from his satchel, several of which were in envelopes, and looked as though they might contain commissions.

The command was formed in a hollow square. Colonel Lyon dismounted, and took a position with the staff-officer within the square. The commander then introduced Major Bornwood, of the staff of General Buell, who would announce certain changes to be made in the command. The men cheered him lustily, and the officer acknowledged the compliment gracefully. The staff-officer then proceeded to give the command all the information which he had communicated to the colonel concerning the forming of a new regiment, stating that three companies were present which would be immediately mustered in, and that another would arrive at Munfordville within twenty-four hours.

" Your commander is now a colonel, promoted from the rank of lieutenant-colonel," continued the staff-officer. '' I have already had the pleasure of presenting to him his commission ; and I am confident that such a promotion could not have been tendered to a more worthy, brave, and skilful officer."

The command could wait to hear no more, but broke out into the most lusty volleys of applause, which was continued some time, and then ended in a vigorous clapping of hands, the members of the battery being as demonstrative as the cavalry.

"Will Captain Batterson of the battery oblige me by stepping forward ? " the speaker proceeded.

The commander of the artillery dismounted, and walked to the front of the staff-officer.

'' Captain Batterson, your merit in command of the artillery v\^liile attached to the cavalry command of Colonel Lyon has been neither forgotten nor overlooked; and I have the pleasure of addressing you as Major Batterson, and of handing to you this commission, which raises you to that rank."

The major took the envelope, bowed and thanked the officer, retiring to his comm^and amid the generous applause of the entire body.

" Will Captain Gordon step to the front ? " continued Major Bornwood.

The captain presented himself, and appeared to be quite as much astonished at the calling of his name as Major Batterson had been.

"Captain Gordon, if Colonel Lyon had insisted upon having his own way, you would have been the colonel of the new regiment," said the staff-officer; "and he accepted his commission against his own inclination. As it is, I have the pleasure of presenting to you your commission as lieutenant-colonel of the regiment."

Colonel Gordon took the envelope amid the applause of the command, bowing low to the

OEGANIZING THE NEW REGIMENT 29

officer, and, with his thanks, retired to the head of his company.

" Captain Dexter Lyon, late of General Woodbine's staff, will oblige me by coming this way," added Major Bornwood.

Deck had been utterly astounded when he was made a captain; and he^ believed he had rank enough to last him till the end of the war, and he could not understand why he was called forward.

" Captain Lyon, I have heard of you before, and I saw you at Pittsburg Landing. Though you are young in years, you are old in ability; and I assure you, and your father at my side, that it affords me peculiar pleasure to be able to address you as Major Lyon, for which the commission I now hand to you will afford me full justification. I congratulate you on the promotion that now comes to you, and I congratulate the new regiment on having such a brave and skilful officer."

Deck took the envelope, and tried to say something, but burst into tears, completely overcome by the new honor which had come to him unsonglit by himself or by his father. If it were possible, the cheers and the applause were more vigorous and longer continued than at any time before. He could do nothing but weep, and his father had to wipe away his tears.

Chapter II

Everybody present on the field where Major Bornwood was engaged in reorganizing the command knew that Deck Lyon was not a baby, and that he "was no chicken." But they were astonished to see one who had always been the bravest of the brave, and always in the foremost of the battle, whom they had been in the habit of seeing in hand-to-hand encounters with the enemy, — they were astonished to see him weeping as though his heart were broken, instead of rejoicing at the latest of the rapid promotions which had attended his career in the army. The young officer could not have explained why he wept if he had tried'; why his feelings had overcome him at the very moment of his greatest triumph. He had become a captain, and he had not the remotest suspicion that he could be promoted again. He was verging on his nineteenth year; but he believed he had gone as high in rank as he could go, and, like his father, he believed that he had already obtained more than he deserved.

While he wept, the entire command cheered and applauded to the extent of every man's capacity. The cavalrymen who had fought with him in many actions, who had been inspired by his heroism and daring, believed that he deserved his promotion, and would have deserved it if he had been made a colonel instead of a major. Some of his followers declared that it made brave men of cowards when they saw the young lieutenant engaged in single combat with Confederate officers. Three times at least they had seen him ride over his opponent, as it were, and bring both horse and rider to the ground. But the young soldier always insisted that it was his horse that accomplished these daring feats of arms ; for he had trained Ceph, as Alexander the Great had broken in Bucephalus, whose name, in abbreviated form, he had given to his favorite steed. The horse had been taught to leap over any obstruction in his path; and he would obey the mandate of Deck, or at least attempt to obey it, whether the object was a log, a four-rail fence, or a mounted trooper. Deck had been advised by his superior officers not to resort to this perilous expedient, and he had determined not to do so unless in a case of emergency. Near the close of the first day at Pittsburg Landing, he had been ordered by the commander of the brigade to take the place of Captain Gordon, who had been seriously wounded, and had dropped from his horse. Deck rallied the men, and placed himself at the head of the company, confronting a cavalry command led by a daring young officer, mounted on a small horse, who attacked him with all the vigor of a fiery nature.

Captain Lyon defended himself bravely and skilfully; but his opponent seemed determined to kill him as the only step by which he could make any further progress in repelling the charge. Deck regarded the situation as the emergency which justified him in disregarding the advice of his friends and superiors ; and he drew back, giving Ceph his signals. The horse was as brave and daring as his rider; and he made a desperate spring forward, mounted high in the air on his hind feet, as the young officer advanced again, and then came down upon the captain, as Deck struck him on the head with his sabre. Horse and rider went down, and the Confederate never rose again. The second company struck the enemy on the opposite flank, and the two swept their o^Dponents from the field.

The movement on the part of the enemy was a flank movement, by which a large force was to turn the left of the Union army, and cover the ground for which they had been fighting all day. Not a few declared that this brave charge had saved the day in its waning hour to the nation, and was the prelude of the victory won the following day when General Buell brought his divisions upon the field. General Woodbine had witnessed the charge of the Riverlawn Cavalry, and especially the affray at single hand which had turned the tide of battle. He was filled with admiration at the heroic conduct of Captain Lyon, and it was the key to his latest promotion.

General Buell, after the siege of Corinth, when

THE VETEEANS AND THE RECRUITS 35

the brigade was at MacMinnville, had sent for the general, for consultation in regard to the situation in Kentucky. More cavalry was the pressing need there, and the brigadier had suggested all that had been done at Munfordville on the arrival of the force under Colonel Lyon. He was entirely familiar with all the affairs of the battalion, and knew the merits of all the officers, even to the sergeants and corporals. He had furnished all the names for promotion. There had been from the first appearance in the field of the Riverlawn Cavalry a long list of applicants for enrolment as privates in the two companies, so that the ranks had always kept full.

Soon after the retreat of the enemy from Corinth, officers had been sent into Kentucky by General Buell to recruit for cavalry service. The men gathered at Munfordville were the fruit of their exertions. When it was understood that the recruits were needed to make the Riverlawns into a regiment, men of the better class, the farmers, mechanics, and even those of wealth and influence, came forward, and formed the three companies that were waiting to be mustered in at the capital of Hart Count}^ ]Major Born wood had been sent with full powers to organize the regiment ; and his satchel was well filled with commissions for the new officers, some of them filled out, and others in blank, the names to be written in at the discretion of the staff-officer, in consultation with the new colonel and other officers.

After the major of the regiment had been commissioned. Colonel Lyon suggested to the staff-officer, who was really in command as such, that his men had marched thirty miles since daylight, and needed their dinner. The haversacks of the troopers had been filled with provisions, and possibly some of them had broken their fast on the march ; but the men were dismissed till afternoon, when the work of the forenoon would be completed. The wagons had not yet. arrived, for the mules were slower than the horses, and there was no grain for the latter ; but the grass was fresh and green on the field chosen for the parade, and the animals were permitted to feed while the men took their dinner. It was two o'clock in the afternoon then ; and the men were hungry, so that they could forget it was not a Delmonico feast they took from their haversacks.

Deck had recovered his self-possession, and all the officers and most of the men congratulated him, and took him by the hand ; for all of them believed that his promotion was the most deserved, worthy as all the others were of the advancement they had received. The new major had become even jolly by this time, and he was as happy as though he had been in the room with Miss Kate Belthorpe at her father's mansion at Lyndliall. Colonel Lyon and Lieutenant- Colonel Gordon did not escape the felicitations of the other officers and the men; and if everybody was not as happy as Major Lyon, they were all in a high state of rejoicing that those who had deserved it had received the reward of their bravery and skill in the field.

Major Bornwood invited the field-officers of the regiment to visit the camp of the three companies of recruits, which was about half a mile from the place where the commissions had been given out. As they were about to leave, they were informed that a company of troopers was coming up the road from the west. This announcement created no little excitement ; as it was not yet known whether the force approaching were friends or enemies. The staff-officer and the others had mounted their horses, and they rode out into the road. Deck surveyed the company as well as the distance would permit ; and he soon satisfied himself that they were not enemies, for he recognized the tall form at the head of the party.