e
railroad, but Forrest captured them about December 20th, so on our
arrival we found nothing but a crude sort of stockade, and the usual
rubbish of an old camp. There was no town there, it consisted only of a
platform and a switch. Our life here was somewhat uneventful, and I
recall now only two incidents which, possibly, are worth noticing. It
has heretofore been mentioned how I happened to learn when on picket at
night something about the nocturnal habits of different animals and
birds. I had a somewhat comical experience in this respect while on
guard one night near Carroll Station. But it should be preceded by a
brief explanation. It was no part of the duty of a non-commissioned
officer to stand a regular tour of guard duty, with his musket in his
hands. It was his province simply to exercise a general supervisory
control over the men at his post, and especially to see that they
relieved each other at the proper time. But it frequently happened in
our regiment that our numbers present for duty were so diminished, and
the guard details were so heavy, that the sergeants and corporals had
to stand as sentries just the same as the privates, and this was
especially so at Carroll Station.

On the occasion of the incident about to be mentioned, the picket post
was on the crest of a low ridge, or slight elevation, and under some
big oak trees by an old tumble-down deserted building which had at one
time been a blacksmith shop. There were three of us on this post, and
one of my turns came at midnight. I was standing by one of the trees,
listening, looking, and meditating. The night was calm, with a full
moon. The space in our front, sloping down to a little hollow, was
bare, but the ascending ground beyond was covered with a dense growth
of young oaks which had not yet shed their leaves. We had orders to be
extremely watchful and vigilant, as parties of the enemy were supposed
to be in our vicinity. Suddenly I heard in front, and seemingly in the
farther edge of the oak forest, a rustling sound that soon increased in
volume. Whatever was making the noise was coming my way, through the
trees, and down the slope of the opposite ridge. The noise grew louder,
and louder, until it sounded just like the steady tramp, over the
leaves and dead twigs, of a line of marching men, with a front a
hundred yards in width. I just knew there must be trouble ahead, and
that the Philistines were upon me. But a sentinel who made a false
alarm