schoolhouse the smouldering fire was fanned into a blaze. The ruffians,
led on by their captain, marched upon Riverlawn, proposing to burn the
mansion and hang its owner to a tree on the lawn, though Titus denied
that he had any such intention, and declared that he had prevented his
followers from committing this outrage.

Major Lyon had heard of the threats against him and his property, and
he was prepared for the marauders. With the aid of his neighbors, and
arming his negroes, he fought the "Battle of Riverlawn," defeating and
dispersing the ruffians. Then, as arranged at the Union meeting, he
proceeded to raise a company of cavalry. The enthusiasm among the loyal
people was immense, and two companies were enlisted and mustered in.
Against his wishes he was chosen major of the battalion.

Levi Bedford was his overseer. He was a Tennessee Unionist in whom the
planter had unbounded confidence. When the major left his home in
command of the squadron of two companies, Levi took charge of his
family and estate. This family consisted of a daughter Hope, and a son
Dexter, now a lieutenant at eighteen. Noah had brought up in his family
from their early childhood the children of a brother who died penniless
in Vermont. Artemas, always called Artie, was sixteen, and a soldier in
one of the companies. Dorcas, the adopted daughter, was eighteen. They
had always been a happy family; and all the young people called Noah
and his wife, who treated them as their own, father and mother.

The squadron had been on detached duty. Their first service was to
protect a railroad bridge which Captain Titus's company and a troop of
Texan cavalry had been sent to destroy in order to prevent the
transportation of Union forces to Bowling Green. The Texans were
thoroughly defeated, and the Home Guards surrounded, beaten, and
captured. The major's brother was sent with them to the North, where he
had the opportunity to repent and get sober. His two sons, Alexander
and Orlando, half starved and disgusted, had fled from Bowling Green;
and when their mother and sisters went back to the North, the two boys
had enlisted in the Riverlawn Cavalry.

The next service of the squadron was in repressing guerilla outrages;
and they took part in the small battle of Munfordsville. When it was
known that the Confederates were marching into Kentucky from the south
and east, the squadron was sent to take part in the operations in this
quarter. The command arriv