fantry could do but little against the superior numbers of the
cavalry, although fighting valorously, and in the end Morgan gained his
point and began a march along the railroad, destroying everything in
sight as he advanced.

It had been hoped by Bragg that Morgan's raid would help the cause of
the South a great deal; but the sudden movement of Rosecrans from
Nashville to Murfreesboro dimmed the glory considerably. On the 29th of
December Morgan was attacked at Rolling Fork on Salt River and driven to
Bardstown, from which point he began to make his slow but certain
retreat from the State.

Captain Ripley, Deck's friend of the sharpshooters, had called Morgan's
cavalry cut-throats. This was an appellation common in those days, but
it is hardly justifiable. But there is no doubt that a portion of the
raiders were men of low moral character, and these fellows, when
foraging, thought it no more than right to confiscate everything in
sight. In the neighborhoods strong in Union sentiment whole plantations
were laid waste, and the women and children made to suffer untold
indignities.

It has been said that Morgan himself had left the State. This was true,
but numerous detachments of the cavalrymen remained, some under captains
and lieutenants who held no commissions in the Confederate army, and
these were mixed up with guerillas,--lawless bodies,--who, while
pretending to fight for the Southern cause, thought only of murder and
plunder. For these latter bodies Morgan was not responsible, yet they
were spoken of everywhere as Morgan's Raiders.

From the very start of hostilities there had been a strong sentiment in
Barcreek and vicinity against the dwellers at Riverlawn. Here the first
Union cavalry companies had been formed, and from this house a father
and two sons (Artie was always called the colonel's son) had gone forth.
More than this, Colonel Lyon had declared that all he possessed should
go to uphold the Union cause were it needed. Those of Confederate
tendencies had muttered against this, and ever since the first attack on
Riverlawn had been repulsed, numerous "fire-eaters" had longed for a
chance to "get square."

Deck thought of all these things as he moved from the shelter of the
clearing along the creek in the direction of the bridge. From one source
and another he had learned of a score of men of the vicinity joining
Morgan's Raiders, and he felt certain now that these fellows would be
found among those be