s command at La Vergne, a
station upon the railroad, about half way between Nashville and
Murfreesboro'. This little place became quite famous in the subsequent
annals of the war. Morgan first brought its name into men's mouths,
Forrest and Wheeler kept it notorious.

Here, for the first time, we met the Fourth Ohio Cavalry--our
acquaintance afterward became more intimate, and lasted as long as that
gallant regiment was in the field. The Fourth was encamped at the
"Lunatic Asylum"--I asked one of the officers of the regiment
(subsequently) why they were sent _there_, but he did not seem to
know--eight miles from Nashville, on the Murfreesboro' pike, and seven
miles from La Vergne. Our respective "bases" were consequently pretty
close to each other. Our pickets used to stand in sight of theirs during
the day, and in hearing distance at night. The videttes treated each
other with respect and consideration, but the scouts were continually
slipping around through the woods and shooting some one. On one occasion
an officer of the Fourth placed some men in ambush in a thicket upon the
side of the road, and then with a small party rode down near to our
pickets, fired, turned and galloped away again, hoping that some of us
would be induced to follow and receive the fire of his ambuscade. The
night was dark, and by an unaccountable mistake the men in ambush fired
into their own friends as they passed--no damage was done, I believe,
except to horses.

One morning our pickets came rushing in with a party of the enemy in
pursuit (no unusual occurrence), and as we stood to arms, we
noticed--they were three or four hundred yards off--one of the pickets
some distance in the rear of the others, and almost in the clutches of
the enemy, who were peppering away at him. It was private Sam Murrill,
of Co. C., (afterward chief of my couriers, and a first rate soldier to
the end of the war), his horse was slow and blown, and the foremost
pursuer had gotten along side of him and presented his pistol at his
head. Murrill, too quick for him, fired first, and as his enemy dropped
dead from the saddle, seized pistol and horse, and, although closely
pushed, until the guns of his comrades drove back his daring pursuers,
brought both in triumph into camp. These small affairs were of daily
occurrence, but at last our opponents became more wary and circumspect,
and to obtain decided advantages, we had to go far into their lines. We
noticed finally th