nd Kentucky began to think that their friends were tired of
them, and were plotting to put them out of the way. Gano's men stated,
however, that shots were first fired at them from some quarter. My
Adjutant, Captain Pat Thorpe, as gallant a man as ever breathed, came to
me after this affair was over, with a serious complaint against Gano.
Thorpe always dressed with some taste, and great brilliancy, and on this
occasion he was wearing a beautiful Zouave jacket, thickly studded, upon
the sleeves, with red coral buttons. He justly believed that every man
in the brigade was well acquainted with that jacket. He stated with
considerable heat that, while he was standing in front of the regiment
calling, gesticulating, and trying in every way to stop the firing,
Colonel Gano, "an officer for whom he entertained the most profound
respect and the warmest friendship," had deliberately shot twice at him.
I bade him not to think hard of it--that it was barely light at the
time, and that, of course, Gano did not know him. "Ah, Colonel," he
answered, "I held up my arms full in his sight, and although he might
not have recognized my face, he couldn't have failed to know these
buttons." Just before this occurred, Major Wash Morgan was mortally
wounded by the last shot fired by the enemy. The man who hit him, was
galloping toward town, and fired when within a few paces of him. This
man was killed by one of the Second Kentucky, immediately afterward. All
of the enemy who made their escape from the camp were intercepted by
Bowles. The provost-guard made some show of fight, but were soon induced
to surrender. Our force was too superior, and our attack, on all sides,
too sudden, for much resistance to be offered, either at the camp or in
the town. Between five and six hundred prisoners were taken, very few
were killed or wounded. The most valuable capture was of army Colt's
pistols, of which a large supply was obtained. Our horses were so much
better than those which were captured, that few of the latter were
carried off. Such of the men who had not good saddles, and blankets,
provided themselves with both, in the camp.

Lexington was thrown by this affair into a state of extreme excitement
and equal bewilderment; no one could exactly understand what it meant.
The Union people feared, and our people hoped that it portended the
return of the Confederate army. There lived (and still lives) in
Lexington, an old gentleman, who was Union and loyal