General Forrest next moved from Sparta to Woodbury, to the enemy’s rear, threatening Murfreesboro. From there the command moved up the railroad, destroying all the bridges and tearing up the railroad track near McMinnville.
Near Altamont the Federals had almost surrounded Forrest’s small force; but by superior strategy he escaped, leading his brigade back to Sparta, which place the advance of General Bragg’s army had already reached. This was early in September, 1862. After being reënforced by four companies of cavalry of his old regiment and a section of artillery, Forrest was assigned the duty of guarding General Bragg’s left flank and rear, he being now in full movement for Kentucky.
My command moved along the line of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad practically all the way from near Nashville to within about six miles of Louisville, destroying bridges and tearing up the track. After reaching Louisville, Forrest was ordered to report to General Polk. Under Polk’s orders we moved to Munfordville in time to prevent the escape of a large force of infantry (3,000 or 4,000 men) and artillery in the fort at that point. This movement of General Forrest compelled them to return to their fortifications, which soon afterwards were assailed by the Confederate infantry and artillery and compelled to surrender. I rode into the fort with the officers who received the capitulation. The whole of Bragg’s army came up in the meantime, and it was the general opinion that he ought to give battle to General Buell at that place, it being in his direct line of march to Louisville, and for many other reasons. But he thought differently and turned aside toward Bardstown. About the 25th of September General Forrest was ordered to turn his brigade over to Col. John A. Wharton, his senior colonel, of the Eighth Texas, and proceed at once to Murfreesboro to take command of the troops that might be raised in Middle Tennessee.
A summary of the operations and casualties of the brigade up to that time showed that its killed and wounded amounted to 200 men. We had killed and wounded of the enemy fully 350 and captured over 2,000 prisoners of war, including one brigadier general, four or five field officers, about sixty regimental officers, four pieces of artillery, two stands of colors, six hundred draft animals, and a large wagon train.
As the army of invasion under General Bragg entered Kentucky in the month of September, 1862, it soon became understood that Col. (afterwards General) Joseph Wheeler had the confidence of the general commanding in a very eminent degree, and that he would have the chief direction of the movements of the cavalry arm of General Bragg’s army in Kentucky, the arm of service with which I was connected. This was particularly so after General (then Colonel) Forrest returned from Bardstown, Ky., to Murfreesboro, Tenn., he having taken leave of his brigade at Bardstown, turning it over to Col. John A. Wharton, who was afterwards justly promoted to the offices of brigadier and major general.
No army ever marched forward with higher hopes of success and more eager for the fray than did the Army of Mississippi move into Kentucky. The forward movement from the swamps of Mississippi, to which General Beauregard had retreated from Corinth, seemed to inspire the troops with new life and to have imparted vigor and health to many a wasting form. Many a pale-faced and emaciated boy who had been reared in the lap of wealth in the blue-grass regions of Kentucky and Tennessee took heart when he turned his face homeward, and resolved that he would not die with the diseases that were so prevalent in the army at Tupelo at that time. It is too familiar to all to render it necessary to mention that the movement into Kentucky was accomplished by flanking General Buell, making a detour by way of Chattanooga and Knoxville, the right wing of the army, under Gen. E. K. Smith, moving by way of the latter place, and the remainder of the army, under the immediate command of General Bragg, by way of Sparta, Tenn., with a view of striking General Buell’s communications a short distance north of Nashville and of pushing as far as possible on that line toward Louisville. General Smith moved first. He made a most brilliant fight at Richmond, Ky., completely routing the Federals under General Nelson and capturing 5,000 prisoners. He moved on to Lexington and pushed on to Covington, opposite Cincinnati. The first that I saw of Colonel Wheeler on that campaign was near Franklin, Ky., when he was throwing every obstacle to be conceived in the way of the enemy’s march to check or hinder his progress. Every bridge on the road, however small or insignificant, was destroyed, and the railroad track was torn up all along the way.
The main army of General Bragg moved up the Louisville and Nashville Railroad as far as Elizabethtown, and there turned off to Bardstown, to the right. Here the infantry and artillery rested and recruited some two weeks, while the cavalry, under Colonels Wheeler and Wharton, pushed on as far as possible on all roads toward Louisville. I went within six miles of the city, and was there when, in view of an expected attack on the city, so great a panic prevailed as to cause a majority of the women and children to be sent across the Ohio River. When the main army left Bardstown, it moved in the direction of Perryville, and there it formed a junction with a portion of the forces of General Smith.
While the army rested at Bardstown the cavalry pushed as far forward as possible toward the enemy on all roads from that point, and skirmishes with the Federal cavalry were almost daily occurrences. General Bragg beat no hasty retreat from Bardstown, but left leisurely to join General Smith, and intended then to give battle or retire from Kentucky into Tennessee with the rich spoils accumulated in this “land of milk and honey.” As the Federal army advanced the cavalry gradually fell back until we were within a few miles of Bardstown. As a matter of strategy and as an illustration that some of our adversaries relied upon tricks and unfair advantages in their military operations, I will add that, while skirmishing with the enemy on the Louisville Pike, a flag of truce party appeared in my front, and I immediately ordered all firing to cease. As I understood it, the rule was that when either side sent a flag of truce and it was received it operated as an injunction upon all further movements of the army, pending the flag of truce. I received the officer with courtesy, and he presented an official communication addressed to General Bragg, sent for no other purpose, in my judgment, than to ascertain the movements of the army and General Bragg’s whereabouts. I forwarded the document to Colonel Wharton, commanding my brigade, who forwarded it to General Bragg. The captain in command of the flag of truce party said that he would wait for an answer, and did wait probably two hours.
During the time, however, I discovered, what I at first suspected, that his object and that of the Federal commanding general was not only to learn the whereabouts of General Bragg, but likewise to advance their whole army under cover of this flag. I had some men posted at some haystacks on the left, and there were some houses near by. The first we discovered of their treachery was that their skirmishers suddenly dashed forward to these houses, and I immediately opened fire upon them to prevent their reaching the houses. At the same time I placed the captain and his cavalry escort under arrest and informed the officer that I considered the truce violated, and that they were my prisoners until further orders. They readily yielded and affected great mortification that there should have been a change in the position of their army pending the flag of truce.
After some explanations from a General Smith, who commanded the Federal brigade in my immediate front, and who came down in person, the flag of truce party was released, and each side agreed to retire a certain distance. My orders were to retire to a certain point which would be the outpost for the present, and I was not to skirmish any in retiring. Notwithstanding this agreement, I was to witness the crowning act of perfidy on the part of the enemy, whose cavalry made a sudden dash in superior force on my left and captured Lieutenant Scruggs and ten men. I felt the loss of this brave officer and his trusty men keenly. It was now night and very dark, and nothing further could be done.