the wives and daughters of officers, were with the army, to share its perils and its fortunes. Morgan marched by two parallel roads, and so rapidly, that by morning his advance brigade was at Flat Lick, twenty miles from the Gap, which he had left the night before. By evening, the army was at Manchester. Here Morgan halted a day, to complete the organization of his forces, and gird himself for the long and doubtful race before him. Before he was ready to start, the enemy's bugles were sounding in his rear, while the scouts brought in the tidings that a brigade of cavalry, under the notorious Morgan, was hovering around his line of march. He learned also that Humphrey Marshall was moving to cut his line of march to the north. In fact, so perilous was his condition, that Gen. Jones, afterwards taken prisoner by us, confessed, that had Morgan delayed his retreat but a single day, his last avenue of escape would have been closed. The storm was rapidly gathering, on every side of him, and nothing but swift marching could save him. A single inefficient or negligent officer might work his ruin; but a truer set of subordinates, or a more devoted body of soldiers, never closed around a brave Commander. Generals Spears, Carter and Baird, and Colonel De Coucy, led their respective commands, with a skill that won the admiration and praise of all. It was fortunate that he had, as topographical engineer with him, Captain Sidney Lyons, who, as State Geologist of Kentucky, had surveyed this whole region. He knew it so well, that he told Morgan that he doubted, even if he could succeed in getting his artillery trains over the terrible roads he must travel, whether he could subsist the army in such a country, during the short time it would take to traverse it. It is impossible to give a detailed account of this extraordinary retreat. The army moved in a lengthened line, winding over the rocky, broken, sterile region like a huge serpent; the heavy rumbling of the trains and guns, the only music 112 SUFFERING OF THE ARMY. of the march. When it came to a cross-road, it would rap idly concentrate, to prevent flank attacks of the enemy's cavalry, and as soon as the dangerous point was passed, unwind again, and press forward. The streams were all dry, mocking with their stony beds the thirst of the weary soldiers. Sometimes, water could be got only by pulling it up from crevices in the cliffs, eighty or a hundred feet deep; and one day, the army was compelled to march thirty-four miles in order to reach water. So constantly and dreadfully did the soldiers suffer for want of it, that they began to talk of the distant Ohio, as the end of all human desires. They suffered, too, from want of food, as the enemy destroyed everything before them on which they could lay their hands. Even the officers and women grew faint as they marched along, gnawed by the pangs of hunger. One day, all that Morgan had to sustain life was a single ear of parched corn, and on another day, all that he and his staff together had, was a dozen potatoes. Occasionally, a field of standing corn was passed, which sufficed to keep them from starvation. On one occasion, as Morgan was riding along the column, he passed the wife of one of his colonels, sitting on a log, looking faint and pale. Stopping a moment, he said: "I hope you are not ill." "Oh, no," she replied, "I am well, General." "But," she added, with a wan smile, "I have eaten but once in forty-eight hours." Famine was staring him and his gallant army in the face, but there was no murmuring, no complaint. The roads were blockaded with fallen trees and rocks, which had to be removed, or a new road cut around them; and the crack of rifles from the thickets along their line of march, and from barricades in front, and the report of forces gathering in advance, kept them ever on the alert, and hard at work, and constantly even would probably have sealed the fate of the army; but the moving. The usual September storm, a little delay, A THRILLING SHOUT. 113 bright autumnal weather enabled them to march steadily, and thus keep the advantage they had gained at the start, to the last. The rebel Morgan and Marshall were both in his front, and an overwhelming force in his rear, but the latter could not overtake him, while he moved so rapidly that the former had no time to concentrate a sufficient force to arrest his progress. Occasional conflicts with small bodies occurred, in which a few of his men fell, and were hastily buried in the sterile fields past which they marched. Thus, day after day, for nearly a fortnight, this wonderful retreat was kept up, until at length, on the 3d of October, the advance brigade, as it reached a lofty swell, caught a glimpse of the lordly Ohio, rolling its glittering flood through the distant landscape. At the glad sight, a thrilling shout went up, and "The Ohio! The Ohio!" rolled like thunder down the excited line. Each regiment and brigade took it up in turn, turn, till "The Ohio! The Ohio!" rose and fell in prolonged and jubilant acclamation for miles away, along the weary column. It recalled the time when the German army sent up in a wild shout, "The Rhine! The Rhine!" as they once more came in sight of their native stream, and joy and gladness filled every heart. Morgan was at last safe. Right nobly had he won the race. By his foresight, energy and indomitable perseverance, he had escaped from the trap in which an inefficient General-in-Chief had allowed him to be caught. He had saved his entire train, and lost but eighty men since he moved out of the Gap. Instead, however, of congratulating him on his skill and success, in his report sent into Congress the following Winter, Halleck had the injustice to censure him for evacuating the Gap, saying that "an investigation had been ordered." No one, however, was deceived by it. The public had long known the situation of Morgan, and, that unless his communications were opened, and supplies. sent him, he and his army were lost; and hence, instead 114 GROSS INJUSTICE. of condemning him, felt unbounded gratitude, that he had outwitted the enemy, and saved his army and guns. But the General-in-Chief was guilty of deception, as well as injustice. When he said that "an investigation had been ordered," it had not only been ordered but finished, and the report laid on his table six weeks previous. He himself had directed Major-General Wright to make this investigation; and, in his report, the latter said he "did not see how, with starvation staring him (Morgan) in the face, and with no certainty of relief being afforded, he could have come to any other conclusion than the one he arrived at," &c. He stated also that it was unanimously decided, in a council of war, to be the only course left, if he would avoid a surrender of his army. When Morgan, who was at Memphis, saw Halleck's report, stung by its gross injustice, he immediately wrote to him, demanding a court of inquiry or court-martial, at once, before which he could be heard. Halleck, in reply, said “that General Wright was directed some time since to investigate and report the facts concerning that affair, and if that report shall be satisfactory, no further proceedings will be required, and you will be relieved from all blame." Morgan immediately wrote to General Wright, and found to his astonishment, that he had sent in his report the October previous, exonerating him from all blame, and that this report was in Halleck's hands when he made out his own report. That the latter should be guilty of the gross injustice of casting censure on a brave officer, in order to cover up his own short-comings, is perhaps not surprising; but that he should put on record statements, which, placed side by side, present him in such a painful aspect to the public, is certainly very remarkable. The whole campaign as planned,, was a palpable blunder, and it was natural that he should put the blame of failure upon some one else; but this mode of doing it admits of no excuse. CHAPTER VII. STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE WEST-EAST TENNESSEE-ARKANSAS-BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE-FORREST'S RAID IN KENTUCKY-SURRENDER OF HARTSVILLE, TENNESSEE-BUTLER'S DEPARTMENT-EXPEDITION AGAINST VICKS-SURRENDER OF HOLLY SPRINGS-ASSAULT UPON VICKSBURG- -GAL BURG LANTRY OF GENERAL BLAIR-SHERMAN SUPERSEDED BY MC CLERNAND- DUR URING this month, October, while East Tennessee had again fallen into the hands of the enemy, General Blunt, by a vigorous attack on the rebel Hindman, at Fort Wayne, Arkansas, had routed him, capturing his artillery, and thus relieved South-western Missouri from rebel depredations. In the latter part of the month, General Herron dispersed a large band of guerrillas, near Fayetteville, in Missouri. November passed without any battles of moment, though throughout the West, constant fighting was going on between detached forces. But in the last of this month, Gen. Blunt, who was fast rising into distinction, was pressing hard against the rebel forces under Hindman and Marmaduke in Arkansas. At Cane Hill, after a sharp contest, he forced the enemy to retreat. A few days after, however, learning that Hindman and Marmaduke, in conjunction, were moving from different points in heavy force to attack him, he immediately began to concentrate his troops, and on Friday, the 7th of December, gave him battle at Prairie Grove. |