attended to by his negro, and the
men were rarely required to perform such duties. Colonel Morgan's groom,
however, had been captured. "When we dismounted," said the man who
related to me the story, "Colonel Morgan gave his horse to Ben Drake,
requesting him to unsaddle and feed him. As Ben had ridden twelve hours
longer than the rest of us, he thought this very unkind, to say the
least, in the Colonel. He, however, paid no attention to Ben's sour
looks, as the latter took the horse and obeyed the order. When Ben
returned to the house, Colonel Morgan had reserved a place by the fire
for him to sleep in. The next morning Ben was awakened by the Colonel,
who told him to get up and eat his breakfast, as the command was ready
to move. "Why did you not have me roused sooner, Colonel?" asked Ben,
"my horse has not been fed." "I wished you to sleep longer," answered
the Colonel, "and fed, curried and saddled your horse, myself." Would
any other Colonel in the army have done the same for a "poor private"?

Major Coffee was paroled, on condition that he would exert himself to
procure his own exchange for Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, and that he would
report again as prisoner if he failed.

Passing through Burkesville on county-court day, capturing a few
Federals, and making many horse trades, the command passed on to a ford
of the Cumberland, twelve miles from the little town, and crossed.
Sparta was reached on the next day, where the Tennessee companies were
left--and Colonel Morgan marched on toward Chattanooga, which place he
reached by easy marches. Some twenty or thirty more refugees and
survivors of the "Lebanon races" soon joined him here. Leaving these men
at Chattanooga--to recruit and refit as well as was possible there, he
immediately set out for Corinth to see what could be effected in the way
of obtaining guns and the necessary equipment for his men, and to obtain
permission to make another expedition into Kentucky--that he might
recruit his regiment. About the middle of May two fine companies of
Texas cavalry, commanded by Captains R.M. Gano and Jno. Huffman, both
native Kentuckians, arrived at Corinth, and requested to be assigned to
Morgan, that they might see service in Kentucky. Their application was
granted, and they at once marched for Chattanooga.

I had been severely wounded at Shiloh, and left behind when the command
started upon the expedition just described. Upon my return to Corinth, I
collected some thi