OMISSIONS IN PRECEDING CHAPTERS
After leaving Cumberland Gap our army again moved into Middle Tennessee,
with headquarters at Murfreesboro. Our cavalry in the advance camped
near La Vergne, at Nolandsville and Triune. The enemy concentrated at
Nashville, from whence they sent out foraging parties, supported by
large infantry forces with which we had daily engagements, restricting
their foraging within a small area of country. At Nolandsville, where
General Wharton made his headquarters, we camped nearly a month, when
Lieutenant Decherd was instructed to select about fifteen men and cross
the Cumberland Mountain, for the purpose of buying fresh horses, which
were very much needed. I was ordered to go with this party.
While camped near Winchester, Tennessee, intending to cross the mountain
the next day, we heard the distant roaring of the guns of the battle of
Murfreesboro, which was not expected so soon when we left the command,
and which proved a great disappointment to our party, as we felt that
every man was needed for such an event. We, therefore, hastened back to
the army, which we found evacuating Murfreesboro, and reported. Of the
Rangers’ part in that great battle I will not mention in this, as that
is of record in the general reports of General Bragg and others, and
will only say that they fully sustained their character as one of the
leading regiments in this army, capturing prisoners, artillery, wagon
trains, etc., and finally covering the retreat of the army off the
field.
Our army then continued its retreat through Shelbyville to Tullahoma,
our cavalry still operating on the north side of Elk River. Before
crossing Elk River a courier reached General Wheeler from General
Forrest, after Wheeler had crossed the bridge, requesting him to hold
the bridge until he (Forrest) could cross with his command. Promptly on
receipt of this information, General Wheeler, with a portion of his
command, notably the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, recrossed the bridge to the
north side, determined to hold the same until General Forrest had
crossed with his command. Before Forrest reached Shelbyville, however,
General Stanley, with a heavy force of cavalry, outnumbering Wheeler’s
little force ten to one, charged and forced them back across the river,
cutting General Wheeler off from the bridge. General Wheeler spurred his
horse to the bank and over it, into the dangerous river, which had been
swollen by excessive rains, making a leap of not less than twenty feet,
with Stanley’s cavalry shooting after him and continuously firing on him
until he reached the opposite bank. This was, perhaps, the most
miraculous escape he had during the war.
Before reaching Tullahoma, a Captain Gordon, who had distinguished
himself near Bardstown, where he held in check a whole brigade of the
enemy’s infantry on the Bloomfield Road for a whole day with only twenty
men, was ordered to select twenty men from the Rangers and enter
Kentucky, for the purpose of gaining information of the disposition of
the enemy’s forces, preparatory to a general raid by our cavalry. The
history of this trip, which resulted in my being wounded and captured
and held a prisoner just one year, lacking a day, I have already
recorded, and by an oversight, it crept into this history ahead of the
proper time.
Recurring to the hard service sustained by us in the mountains between
Crab Orchard and Cumberland Gap: The last night we were on picket duty
our company had dwindled down to seven men and I happened to be on
vidette with a messmate, John Cochran. Just at daylight, when the enemy
usually made its appearance, we were relieved by two others of the
command and when we reached the reserve picket, discovering a grassy
spot in the middle of the road, I told Cochran I must try to steal a
little nap, and laid down on this grassy spot, holding my horse by the
bridle, when I was awakened, only about ten minutes after, by Cochran
stooping down from his horse and jabbing me with his pistol. The reserve
picket had formed a line across the road, just a little back of where I
was sleeping and were firing on the enemy’s advancing skirmish line, the
noise of which failed to awake me and it was only his prodding me with
the end of his six-shooter that got me awake. I had just time enough to
swing on to my horse and get out of there. Here Cochran’s prediction,
frequently made, that he would bet Graber would wake up some fine
morning with a Yankee bayonet sticking in him, came very near being
verified. I merely mention this to give the reader a fair idea of our
complete exhaustion for the want of sleep, continuous hunger and arduous
duties.