on their
part, suffered no loss whatever.

But the end was not yet, and while fortune favored the cause of the
resisting faction in the skirmish of which we have given brief
particulars, they must have realized, from their knowledge of their
surroundings, that the blood which had been shed would be required at
their hands. The scene, moreover, was remote from any garrisoned point
whence they might have received aid from government troops in the event
that the attack was renewed.

The news of the affair, as was to have been expected, spread rapidly, and
as great excitement ensued, J., feeling the insecurity of his position,
fled by steamer to Memphis, at the same time counselling the negroes to
place themselves under the protection of the authorities. Troy, the seat
of justice of Obion, was distant from the scene of rencontre about twenty
miles, and thither, at an early hour of the day, the negroes, adopting
by-paths and unfrequented routes, turned their steps. But despite the
precautions against discovery which they adopted, their movements were
closely spied, and before they had proceeded many miles a large force of
their enemies was in pursuit. Riding at a break-neck speed, the pursuing
party gained on them rapidly, and as they kept out flankers, in order
that none of the party might be overran and thus suffered to escape, ten
of the refugees were overtaken and put to death ere the raiders were
warned that they were trespassing too far on neutral territory.

Eight of the eighteen succeeded in reaching Troy, and at their request
were placed in jail, and a strong guard detailed for their protection.
Even these extraordinary precautions, however, proved unavailing, and on
the first night of their incarceration a large force of disguised men
invested the prison, and having intimidated the guard, carried them away
prisoners. Further than this, no report has ever been given of the affair,
but it may be guessed, with tolerable assurance, that they shared the fate
of their companions.

This affair created a profound sensation throughout the entire country,
and to it, as much as any other single deed of the night-riders, are due
those prompt measures on the part of the general and State governments
which operated as such an emphatic check on their movements. Soon after
this the Congress of the United States passed a law virtually outlawing
the body; and later, in view of certain phases of the subject which best
adapted it