e Colonel Scott sent a portion of our command, on foot, to
reconnoiter the enemy's position. The reconnoitering party drove in the
pickets, took the outside rifle pits, and forced the enemy to their
breastworks and forts.

"This closed the battle of Chickamauga--Morgan's men firing the _first_
and _last_ shot in that terrible struggle.

"General Forrest and Colonel Scott, both complimented our little command
more than once during the battle. Immediately after the battle, the
entire cavalry of the Army of Tennessee was actively employed. The two
battalions of our command were separated. Dortch going with Forrest up
the Chattanooga and Knoxville railroad. Kirkpatrick went with Wheeler on
his raid through Middle Tennessee. Dortch was in the fight (against
Woolford) at Philadelphia--in the skirmishes at Loudon and Marysville,
and was at the siege of Knoxville. Kirkpatrick's battalion was at the
fights at McMinnville, Murfreesboro', Shelbyville and Sugar creek. In
the latter fight, Wheeler's whole force fell back rapidly, and
Kirkpatrick was kept in the rear until we reached the Tennessee river.
When we returned to the army, Kirkpatrick's battalion was placed on
severe picket duty--its line extending from the mouth of the Chickamauga
up the Tennessee some three miles, where it connected with the line of
the First Kentucky cavalry.

"This duty was exceedingly heavy. The pickets stood in squads of three
every four hundred yards, with mounted patrols to ride the length of the
whole line. One would suppose that men who had ridden through the States
of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and Georgia, and been in
as many as twenty-five or thirty engagements, in the space of three
months, would be completely worn out, discouraged, and disheartened. Not
so, however, the few left were willing and anxious to thoroughly do
soldier's duty."

The writer goes on to narrate how after all these trials, came the order
to dismount Morgan's men--generous reward for their toil and
sacrifices. He speaks of Forrest's gallant stand against it--preventing
the execution of the order, but costing the high-souled chief his own
command, forcing him to seek other fields of enterprise, and with an
organization of conscripts and absentees win fights that a romancer
would not dare to imagine. He speaks, too, of unhappy dissensions among
officers which added to the discouraging condition of the little
command.

But the brave fellows patiently