ut a dozen men; also the cars of the train and considerable
supplies, all of which we were obliged to destroy, save some choice,
much-needed hams. These we loaded on a flat car, which we pushed
about ten miles to the east abutment of the broken bridge. This
raid caused great consternation at Chattanooga for several days.
The detachment was reported as 5000 strong at Shellmound, and
Leadbetter ordered "all bridges on the railroad and country roads"
burned, and a retreat to Lookout Mountain.(10) It would have been
easy then to have taken Chattanooga. A year and a half later it
cost many lives and became about the only Union trophy of the battle
of Chickamauga.

I learned on this raid, from prisoners, that Farragut and Butler
had, on April 29, 1862, obtained possession of New Orleans. This
was the first information of their success received at the
North.(11)

My expedition was the first armed one of the war upon the mainland
of Georgia.

On my return to the west side of the river I found my regiment,
with others, under orders to march at 9 o'clock at night for
Stevenson, destination Athens, Alabama. The enemy, under Colonel
J. S. Scott, attacked (May 1st) and drove out of Athens the 18th
Ohio, under Colonel T. R. Stanley. The affair was not a creditable
one to either side. The troops under Scott were said to have been
harbored in houses from which they fired on Stanley's men as the
latter fled through the streets, and it was claimed citizens aided
in shooting down Union soldiers, though this was never shown to be
true. Scott, in his report to Beauregard, dated the day of the
fight, boasted that the "boys took few prisoners, their shots
proving singularly fatal."(11)

The affair itself was of but little consequence, as Colonel Scott
was driven out of Athens the succeeding night, and the next day
across the Tennessee, he only having captured Stanley's baggage,
four wagons, and twenty men, having suffered in killed and wounded
a greater loss than he had inflicted.

Out of this incident arose one of the most exceptional occurrences
of the whole war.

Colonel John Basil Turchin, of the 19th Illinois, in command of a
brigade in Mitchel's division, reached Athens, May 2d, and, it was
said, in retaliation for the alleged bad conduct of its citizens
the day preceding, he retired to his tent and gave the place up
for two hours to be sacked by his command. It was asserted that
private houses were invaded during th