CHAPTER XIV.
Starts on a trip for General Lauman—His instructions—A Confederate widow—Discovers a squad of rebel soldiers—Captures part of their arms—Learns the whereabouts of guerrillas—Attempt to capture them—Guerrillas escape—Captures a prisoner—Cause of guerrillas' escape—The "General" and squad get arrested—The charges and specifications.
When General Hurlbut took command of the District of Jackson, with his head-quarters at Jackson, Tenn., Brigadier-General Lauman took command of the post at Bolivar.
On the 13th day of October, 1862, I reported to General Lauman for orders to go out on a scout. I received instructions to take with me a squad of ten men, and reconnoiter thoroughly a strip of country that lay south of Bolivar, between the road to Grand Junction, which would be on my right, and the road to Pocahontas, which would be on my left. I was ordered to kill all the guerrillas that I could find, bring in all that I had strong suspicions were guerrillas, and capture all the straggling rebel soldiers and arms that I could find. The General also told me that he would send out cavalry on my right, on the Grand Junction road, and, on my left, on the Pocahontas road. He did not limit me in time, or the distance to go, nor instruct me to take rations. I have usually, when out as a scout or spy, got my subsistence wherever I went.
The men that I selected to accompany me were Sergeants W. G. Downs and Thomas Watson, and eight privates, all of them from the 20th Ohio Infantry. It was nearly noon of the day I received my instructions before we were ready to march. The day was extremely warm, and we made but slow progress. We did not follow any road, but took our way across the fields and woods, and examined all the valleys that lay along our route for any signs that might exist of cavalry or guerrillas.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we called at a house about eight miles from Bolivar, which we found to be owned and occupied by a widow lady by the name of Cheshire, who, by the way, is what might be called a Confederate widow. Her husband had belonged to the Confederate army, but had deserted. He came home and took the oath of allegiance, but, unfortunately for him, was captured by the Confederate authorities, and the oath found in his pocket. He was carried back to the rebel army and hung. In my scouts in the Southern Confederacy, I found that widows were of frequent occurrence, and the proportion of them to the population remaining at home was astonishingly large. I am inclined to think that many of the ladies chose to call themselves widows, rather than admit to Union soldiers (if they knew them to be such) that their husbands were in the rebel army. I call them all, whether real or professed, that have become such on account of the war, Confederate widows.
At Mrs. Cheshire's we procured our supper, which was provided and served up by her with a cheerfulness and willingness not characteristic of an enmity to the Federal Government. I offered to pay her, but she positively refused to receive any compensation.
After we had finished our supper, we moved a mile and a half, to Mr. Campbell's, where we halted for the night. Mr. Campbell was absent from home, but his wife extended to us every assistance that she could to make us comfortable. She gave us a room in the house to occupy during the night, and in the morning a bountiful breakfast was prepared for us, of which sweet potatoes and chickens formed no inconsiderable part. I offered to pay her, but she refused to accept any remuneration, and expressed astonishment at the gentlemanly behavior of the whole party. She said that it was the first time that Federal soldiers had ever visited her house, and she had heard that they were nothing but a set of thieves and robbers, and, for that reason, she had been happily disappointed in our behavior.
Thanking her for her compliments and hospitality, we bade her a good morning, and resumed our march. We had proceeded only about two miles, when we discovered a small squad of rebel soldiers, in a large cotton-field, at some distance in advance of us and to our right. As soon as they saw us, they broke for the woods; the distance that they had in advance made it useless for us to pursue.
Near the road, and between where we saw them and ourselves, stood a dwelling-house. Having observed that but one of the rebs had arms, the thought occurred to me that the others might have left theirs at the house, and that our approach had been discovered too late to allow of a return for them; so I determined to institute a search. On entering, I inquired of an elderly man present if there were any arms about the house. He said there was not. I told him that I had reason to believe that there was. He insisted that there was not. A search was made, and three guns were found, which we carried with us.
At night we halted fourteen miles from Bolivar. On former trips, I had learned that a squad of guerrillas were stopping somewhere in that vicinity; during the day we had obtained a partial list of their names, and had learned that they were harbored by a Mr. W. S. Perry, who was also supposed to be one. This information we gathered from the people that we saw in our route.
At 3 o'clock the next morning we were again under way, on a road leading direct to Mr. Perry's. When we had gone about a mile, we came to a farm-house, where I halted my men, and aroused the inmates by rapping upon the door, which was answered by, "Who is there?"
"A friend," I replied.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to get up and come to the door." Hearing some one come to the door, I inquired where Mr. W. S. Perry lived, and was asked,
"Who are you?"
"I sha'n't tell you," was my reply.
"Then I sha'n't tell where Mr. Perry lives," was the response.
Fearing to make any disturbance that might spoil my plans, I proceeded on my way, without obtaining the desired information. At the next house I inquired again for Mr. Perry, but the occupant refused to inform me. These refusals increased my suspicions that he was not all right. Not knowing certainly but that I was already at his house, I distributed my men among the negro-quarters in the yard, to capture any persons that might attempt to escape. It was time for daylight to make its appearance, but a dense fog had arisen, which made it difficult to see.
Having arranged my men to my satisfaction, I returned to the door of the house, which I found open, and was met by an aged woman, who told me that her name was Tabitha Perry, and that she was grandmother of W. S. Perry, and that W. S. Perry lived in the next house.
While I was engaged in conversation with the old lady, two men were seen to run out of one of the out-buildings that stood in the yard; the density of the fog prevented shooting them, or observing whither they went; so, they made their escape. On examining the building they were seen to emerge from, it was found to have the appearance of being nearly filled with cotton-seed, but in the center of the building there was a large vacant space, and in it was a bed that was yet warm from the animal heat of the persons that had occupied it.
We then searched carefully all the buildings in the yard, but without success. From there we went to the residence of W. S. Perry, only a short distance from the residence of the old lady. We found Mr. Perry at home, and arrested him. In searching his house, we found considerable quantities of goods, that looked as if they might have been remnants from some dry goods store; or, what is more probable, the booty of some band of outlaws.
We captured at W. S. Perry's one horse and two mules, and at the old lady's house one horse and one mule. The bed that we found in the cotton-seed at the old lady's we gave to the niggers on the place, except two quilts that we used to put upon the mules' backs, to ride on.
Very much against Mr. Perry's wishes, I compelled him to furnish myself and men with breakfast, which was no more, perhaps, than he would have done willingly to as many guerrillas, if we had not been seen in the neighborhood.
When breakfast was over, we commenced our return to camp, taking with us our prisoner and captured property. The men were much in need of saddles and bridles, with which to ride the captured mules and horses, and requested the privilege of taking them if they could be found; to which I consented, providing they could be found on the premises of the man who refused to give me information about Perry. The man's name, I had learned, was Dougherty.
When we arrived at Dougherty's place, we halted, and the men commenced to search for saddles and bridles, and, in a few minutes, reported to me that they had found twelve United States army saddles and as many bridles. I told them to take five of them. Dougherty remonstrated, but the men told him that he had no business with that kind of property in his possession, and took them along.
On our way back to Bolivar, I learned the reason why we did not find any more guerrillas at Perry's. A colored boy, belonging to Mr. William Moore, of Van Buren, had been sent to mill, and, while on his way, he happened to see us. On his return, he told his master that he had seen some Yankee soldiers in the woods, and that they were going south. Dr. Tansey Russel, a man of disloyal proclivities, happened to be present, and heard what the colored boy said. The doctor had some Enfield and Whitney rifles in his possession, that he had managed to get of unprincipled Federal soldiers, which he had collected for the benefit of the guerrillas. As soon as he heard of the Yankee soldiers being in the woods, he concluded, readily enough, what their business was; so he took his guns, eight in all, and carried them over to Perry's, and gave them to the guerrillas, and warned them that there were Yankee scouts in the vicinity. There was eleven of them, besides W. S. Perry. On hearing about the scouts, they all left and went to Saulsbury, except W. S. Perry, John Shaw, and Gid. Galloway. The two latter were the persons that escaped from the out-building in the old lady's yard.
When we arrived within six miles of Bolivar, I sent the five men that were not mounted across the country, by the shortest route, to camp, and the rest of us went on by way of the road. At Mr. Lawhorn's, near Dunlap's Springs, we halted a short time, and three of us went into the house. Mr. Lawhorn was absent from home. One of the men asked Mrs. Lawhorn for some milk, which she refused, saying that she had none. From the colored people about the house the man learned that she had milk in abundance, and where it was, of which he helped himself, and then passed some to the rest of the squad. None was wasted and nothing else was disturbed.
Having rested ourselves, we went on to Bolivar. I immediately turned over my prisoner to the Provost-marshal, Lieutenant W. S. Dewey. I also gave him a list of the names of those that I had been informed were guerrillas. It was after noon when we arrived, and we had eaten nothing since breakfast, and, being very hungry, I took my men into camp to get my dinner, before reporting to General Lauman. On my arrival in camp, I told Colonel Force what property I had brought in, and asked him what I had better do with it, and was told to turn it over to the post Quartermaster. I told him that I would, as soon as I had eaten some dinner.
I had eaten my dinner, and was on my way to see about turning over the captured property, when I was met by some guards, with an order from Lieutenant W. S. Dewey, Provost-marshal, to arrest me. I accompanied them to the Provost-marshal's office, where I found Lieutenant Dewey, in a dreadful rage.
"What do you want of me?" I asked.
"I want to hang you, and all the rest of the G—d d—d robbers that were with you!" was his reply.
"What is that for?"
"For going through the country and deceiving the people, and representing yourself as a citizen of Tennessee."
"I have never been through the country, except as I have been sent on scouts by my commanding officer."
"I'll scout you, d—n you! I'll scalp you! What's the names of the men that belong to your band?"
"I haven't got any band."
"What's the names of the men that were out with you?"
I then gave him a list of the men that accompanied me, and was then ordered to be put in the guard-house. The court-room of the court-house was used as a guard-house. The Provost-marshal's office was in one of the lower rooms of the court house.
The Provost-marshal had all the men that had been with me arrested, and when he had got us all together in the guard-house, we were marched, under guard, into his office. Addressing us, he said:
"There has been a great deal of stealing and robbing going on in the country about here, lately, and I believe that you are the men that have done it, and I mean to make an example of you, and I shall use my utmost endeavors to have every man of you shot."
"What have we done," I inquired, "that you should have such an awful antipathy against us?"
"You will see when I make out my charges and specifications. Guards, take them back to the guard-house."
When back in the guard-house, and left to reflection, the words, "I shall use my utmost endeavors to have you shot," seemed to force themselves upon my mind with vivid impression. What could it mean, that an officer in the United States army should express himself so emphatically, as committed against us, when justice every-where holds a man to be innocent until he is proved to be guilty.
While I had been in camp getting my dinner, the Provost-marshal had released Mr. Perry, and had administered to him the oath of allegiance, and returned to him the property that we had taken. On being released, Mr. Perry found Doctor Russel Parson Hamers, and Mr. Lawhorn—who happened to be in town at the time—and, in company with them, went to the Provost-marshal, (who tolerated their complaints,) and fabricated such statements as they chose to make against us, and upon those statements the Provost-marshal based his charges and caused our arrest.
It was humiliating in the extreme, for us, after having served our country with devoted patriotism, and imperiled our lives for its preservation, to be thus made the victims of revenge by those whom we knew were at enmity with the Government.
Two days after our imprisonment, we received a copy of the charges against us, of which the following is an exact copy:
"CHARGES AGAINST CORPORAL RUGGLES, AND TEN OTHERS,
OF THE 20TH OHIO INFANTRY.
"Charge.—Indiscriminate plundering and pillaging of citizens in the country.
"Specification First.—That Corporal L. Ruggles, Corporal D. W. Huxley, Sergeants W. G. Downs and Thomas J. Watson, and privates John Lawrence, Jacob W. Snook, H. Chryst, S. Rosebaum, Granville Cassedy, John Sessler, and B. F. Wannamaker, did, on or about the 14th day of October, 1862, enter the house of one W. S. Perry and break the locks of two trunks, and take from them W. S. Perry's clothes; also, the clothing of his children, some finger-rings, some jaconet cloth for children's clothes, and rummaged through every part and portion of the house; also taking two mules, one horse and one saddle, and one double-barreled shotgun, both tubes being broken.
"Specification Second.—That Corporal L. Ruggles, and ten others, named in specification first, did, on or about the 14th day of October, 1862, enter the house of one Mrs. Tabitha Perry, took from her possession two bed-quilts, one sheet, a pair of pillows, and a bolster; also, one mule.
"Specification Third.—That Corporal L. Ruggles, and ten others, named in specification first, did enter the house of Mr. Lawhorn, break the door of the ladies' wardrobe, searched through the whole house, brandishing their pistols. Mrs. Milliken endeavoring to save her property, they threatened to shoot her, and used insulting and threatening language to the same; also, taking the milk in the house, prepared for sick and wounded Federal soldiers at Dunlap's Springs, of which they were notified.
"Specification Fourth.—That Corporal L. Ruggles, and ten others, named in specification first, did, on or about the 14th day of October, 1862, at the farm-house of W. S. Daugherty, enter his outhouse, and take therefrom three saddles and three bridles, threatening to take said Daugherty's life in case of his interfering.
"Specification Fifth.—That Corporal L. Ruggles, and ten others, named in specification first, approached the house of B. N. Hendricks, at which place Mrs. Goforth was staying, and demanded their dinner, frightening Mrs. Goforth to such an extent as to cause a miscarriage, after being enceinte seven months, her life placed in a very dangerous condition.
"Specification Sixth.—That Corporal L. Ruggles did forcibly take a pair of gloves from W. S. Perry and wear them to town. That Sergeant T. J. Watson did take from W. S. Perry's trunk one razor-strop and shaving-box. That Private B. F. Wannamaker did take from same one pair of men's shoes."
"All the above charges being calculated to destroy the good character of our army and soldiery, being contrary to the laws of war and army regulations, demoralizing in their tendency, I submit them."
"W. S. Dewey,
"Provost-marshal 4th Div., Bolivar, Tenn.
"The witnesses are as follows: Doctor Tanzy Russel, Parson Hamers, W. S. Perry, Mr. Lawhorn, W. S. Daugherty.
"Specification Seventh.—That Corporal L. Ruggles did, after being entertained gentlemanly for the night by Parson Hamers, take said Hamers' watch, which hung on the mantel-board."
This last specification occurred in the original in the same order in which it is here placed.