The emergency which had occasioned this long march seems to have been of double origin. Our movement to New Market had been occasioned by a reported raid of the rebels of Southwestern Virginia upon Gen. Scannon, with the view of driving him out of West Virginia, and our movement had been made with the intention of leading the rebel commander to believe that we were about to move upon him from the rear.
The occasion of our quick return was a dispatch from Gen. Halleck to Gen. Burnside, notifying him that three divisions of Lee's army had been sent to reinforce Bragg, and he desired him to go to Gen. Rosecrans' assistance as soon as possible.
September 23d the battery was ordered to cross the river at Loudon. Our crossing upon this occasion was a long, tedious work, occasioned by the fact that it had to be accomplished by the use of one flat-boat, just large enough to accommodate one carriage and the team at a time, and the first streaks of day were appearing before it was fully accomplished.
As soon as everything was across, the battery started for Sweet Water, a station sixteen miles south of Loudon, on the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad. We had just arrived at that place, when we were ordered to countermarch and return as rapidly as possible to Loudon. We were all night upon the road, arriving at our destination at daylight, when the troops were ordered into position upon the south side of the river. Our battery was placed in a fort commanding the approach by the road.
The 20th was a day of excitement among the citizens, who flocked to us in great numbers for protection. It was reported that the rebel Gen. Forrest was coming up the railroad from Athens via Cleveland, with a large body of men, and it was also rumored that a large force of rebels had crossed the Little Tennessee at Meyerton, a village about fifteen miles to the left of Loudon, which it was supposed would unite with the main column at or near this place. Skirmishing in our front was continued all day; desultory firing to the left of our position, but at considerable distance, was heard, convincing us that the rumors which had been circulated had considerable merit of truth in them.
Early in the morning of the 27th we hitched up, expecting an attack. A pontoon bridge had been completed during the night, and at daylight troops began crossing the river from the north bank and moved to the front, but it soon quieted down, and the day passed without further incident.
Next morning cannonading could be heard from a distance, and our troops fell back, forming three lines, making elaborate preparations for a battle; but, as on the previous day, the cannonading soon ceased, and everything became quiet.
On the 29th it was reported that the rebels had fallen back. Our cavalry moved to the front, while our battery remained in position upon Loudon Heights, with the three lines of infantry in front.
All excitement had subsided by the 30th, and although cannonading could be heard occasionally, it was at such a great distance that it had no terrors for the citizens, and they began slowly to return home. Several regiments of cavalry and mounted infantry passed our position on their way to the front.
It will be of service for a fuller understanding of our situation if we spend a few moments in explanation. It was expected by Gen. Burnside when he entered East Tennessee with the Twenty-third Corps, that the Ninth would soon follow; but the surgeons' reports convinced him that this would be impossible, fifty per cent., perhaps more, of the men of that command were down with malarial fever. The commander, Gen. Parks, was very sick, and could not be expected to do duty for a month at least; Gen. Welch, the second in command—a man much admired by the members of the Ninth—had died from the disease, at Cairo. Regiments had been reduced until many of them could not muster more than a hundred men for duty; while the batteries could hardly find men enough to take care of the horses. Truly, the swamps around Vicksburg had proved to be a more destructive enemy than the rebels.