Reminiscences

15–16 December 1864

Battle of Nashville

REMINISCENCES. 7

were boarding- with a farmer (E. L. Sanderson, who had an excellent wife, two manly boys, and two pretty, charming- daughters) engaged in the con- struction of what was then known as the Alabama & Florida Railroad (now Louisville & Nashville) from Montgomery to Pensacola. Had I been a son and brother I could not have been more tenderly and kindly nursed. In my room was a very larg-e clock; on its face were these words: "Eig-ht-day repeat- ing brass clock, made by C. & N. Jerome, Bristol, Connecticut, 1835." Many thousand times did I count the ever-present tick-tock as the pendulum vibrated to and fro, wondering if that clock would sound the last trump of time on a life that seemed to be fast ebbing away on the shores of Eternity. My Aunt Gary, who w^as then spending the summer at Butler Springs, about fifty miles away, sent her carriage for me when she heard I was sick; but I was too sick to be moved and remained with my good friends until I was strong enough to stand the trip from there to Columbus, Ga., and my father's home in Russell County, Ala.

REMINISCENCES. 45

On the nig-ht of December 16, 1864, when Hood's army was utterly routed in the battle of Nashville, a reg-iment of Yankee cavalry dashed into the rear of our company and at once there was a g-eneral mix up of both friends and foe. The next morning, Hub Walker, a g-allant, fearless soldier, a unique Sui Generi.i amused the boys very much as he told the tale of Dud's woe of the nig"ht before about as follows: "Gentlemen, it was a rupturous and terri- ble nig-ht and a scandalous shame the way the damn Yankees beat up old man Dud Gary on his bald head with their sabres, and every lick they hit him he'd holler, 'I surrender, I'm already wounded,' and gfentlemen, old Dud's lame mule with his head up and his tail in the bushes sure did outrun everything-

REMINISCENCES. 47

The morningf after General Hood's crushing" defeat at Nashville General Clayton's division covered our rear. Just before reaching" Franklin, he formed in line of battle on both sides of the pike with one cannon on each side. There was an excavation throug"li the hill from two to three hundred j^ards long" and about twenty feet deep, and into this death-trap soon rode a reg"iment of Federal cavalry at full speed. An instantaneous volley from both sides of the pike emptied many saddles. The entire command surrendered at once; upon which Bill Ferg"uson, of our company, rushed in amongf them a-nd had just unbuckled the belt of a Yankee captain

REMINISCENCES. 47

The morning after the battle of Nashville, just after passing Franklin, I saw five wounded Con-