General Orders
No. 4.
Colonel R. C. Murphy was dismissed from the service, to take effect from the 20th day of December, 1862, the day of his cowardly and disgraceful conduct.
By order of
Major General U.S. Grant.
John A. Rawlins,
Assistant Adjutant General.
A large sum of money had been sent to Holly Springs for the army pay-roll. This was captured and diverted to a like use by the confederates.
The men who escaped to Memphis, being without money or rations and having lost their camp equipage, following the motto that "all is fair in love or war," fixed upon a ruse whereby they might recoup in part from the rebel citizens. Good arms at high prices were in active demand throughout the South. A standard revolver was valued at from fifty to seventy-five dollars in "greenbacks." Southern citizens were always ready to buy arms from any of our men who were willing to sell. Knowing this, one of the officers sent out several men to sell their arms and with each was sent a guard to watch. Upon the completion of a sale the guard would arrest the citizen and confiscate his purchase. In this way they collected about one thousand dollars, which was credited against losses at Holly Springs.
At the time our comrades were undergoing the experiences described, Company A was at Water Valley wading in mud and snow in an effort to rebuild the bridges which had been destroyed by the enemy.
The appearance of Forrest upon the line of railroad between Jackson, Tennessee, and Columbus, Kentucky, cut off communication from the North for more than a week. This, in conjunction with the loss of supplies at Holly Springs, compelled the entire army to subsist upon the country. Our company was sent out with wagon-trains and detachments of infantry who loaded the wagons while we fought bushwhackers. Sometimes it was necessary to go fifteen or sixteen miles and we were invariably late in returning. Our diet was corn roasted or burnt, usually the latter, inasmuch as we were constantly harassed by the enemy and were given no chance to forage for other things. We soon became so worn and exhausted from this onerous work and meager diet that our haggard appearance was noted by those of the army who were in position to fare better. One night when we came in unusually late and had eaten our corn and turned in, there was an unusual commotion in the camp which at once aroused the entire company. We were not long in realizing and appreciating the cause of the disturbance. The 45th Illinois, knowing our scarcity and that we had been fighting constantly to protect the train, had brought over four fine porkers which they hung up at our headquarters with an invitation to make the most of the opportunity. In an incredibly short time each man had a piece of pork impaled upon a stick and was roasting it by the embers of his camp-fire. No chef ever prepared a more savory banquet and no hungry men ever appreciated one more than we did that. Tired and worn as we were, it was four o'clock in the morning before the camp became quiet.
In the morning we received marching orders and started through mud and rain for Memphis. Our clothes were wet and our boots so sodden and shrunken that we dared not take them off for fear we could not get them on again. In a few days we reached Memphis and went into camp in the eastern part of the town. Mud was omnipresent. It was not only the quintessence of that well known compound, but the most persistent in its attachments of any that I have ever seen outside of Carrollton, Louisiana, which is second to no place in the universe in the quantity and quality of that annoying material.