t
into town. He lost only one man, but he was a capital soldier, Peter
Atherton by name.

He got back to La Vergne about twelve at night. After the thorough and
final evacuation of Murfreesboro', Captain Morgan withdrew to that place
with his command. He almost directly afterward sent the bulk of it to
the Shelbyville and Nashville road, with instructions to encamp about
twenty miles from Nashville, and picket and scout the adjacent country,
and all the neighboring roads. He retained with him at Murfreesboro',
about forty of his own men, and some fifty of Colonel Wirt Adams'
regiment of cavalry, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Wood, of that
regiment. This officer was exceedingly fond of the sort of service which
Morgan was performing, and had been with him constantly for ten or
twelve days. He preferred to remain with and report to him, although his
superior in rank, rather than accompany his own regiment on the retreat
of the army, and see no active work.

A day or two after he had made this disposition of this command, Captain
Morgan taking with him thirty-two of the men he had kept at
Murfreesboro', penetrated by bridle paths and traces through the woods,
to the immediate vicinity of the enemy's encampments at the Lunatic
Asylum.

At this time, Mitchell's entire brigade was encamped there. Stationing
his men in the thickets along the road, at various points, Captain
Morgan went systematically to work to catch every thing that should come
into sight. There was, of course, a great deal of passing to and from
the headquarters of the commanding officers and between the various
camps. No one anticipated danger there, and stragglers, couriers,
escorts, and guards, went carelessly and unsuspectingly along, into the
same bag. In the course of an hour or two eighty odd prisoners were
taken. Colonel Wood went off with twenty-eight of them, and, by some
oversight, sixty were started to Murfreesboro', later, guarded by only
ten men. A number of wagons had been also captured and burned. The teams
were used to mount the prisoners. One staff officer was captured and
sent off with the large hatch of prisoners. Captain Morgan remained
behind with one man, after he had sent off all the others. This sort of
service always gave him great pleasure, and he was loth to give it up.
As the number of passengers fell off, he rode down the road with his
companion, dressed like himself in a blue overcoat, to a point where a
guard of ten