teele of the Third Kentucky
who was given one of the little howitzers. Jones reached the town after
dark, and just as he entered it a Michigan battalion came into it also
from the other side. Captain Jones encountered this battalion in the
center of the town, and in the skirmish which ensued he was mortally
wounded. He was an excellent officer and as brave as steel. Poor Will
Webb was also mortally wounded--only a private soldier, but a cultivated
and a thorough gentleman; brave, and kindly, and genial. A truer heart
never beat in a soldier's bosom, and a nobler soul was never released by
a soldier's death. First Lieutenant Samuel O. Peyton was severely
wounded--shot in the arm and in the thigh. He was surrounded by foes who
pressed him hard, after he was wounded, to capture him. He shot one
assailant, and grappling with another, brought him to the ground and
cut his throat with a pocket knife. Lieutenant Peyton was by birth,
education, and character a thorough gentleman. Perfectly good natured
and inoffensive--except when provoked or attacked--and then--he
dispatched his affair and his man in a quiet, expeditious and thorough
manner. The Federal cavalry retreated from the town by the Louisville
pike.

On the next morning--Christmas--the division moved by the Louisville
pike. Captain Quirk, supported by Lieutenant Hays with the advance-guard
of the first brigade, fifty strong, cleared the road of some Federal
cavalry, which tried to contest our advance, driving it so rapidly, that
the column had neither to delay its march, nor make any formation for
fight. In the course of the day, Quirk charged a battalion, dismounted,
and formed across the road. He went through them, and as he dashed back
again, with his head bent low, he caught two balls on the top of it,
which, singularly (coming from different directions), traced a neat and
accurate angle upon his scalp.

Although the wounds were not serious at all, they would have stunned
most men; but a head built in County Kerry, with especial reference to
shillelagh practice, scorned to be affected by such trifles.
Breckinridge sent Johnson's regiment during the day toward
Munfordsville, to induce the belief that we were going to attack that
place. Colonel Johnson executed his mission with perfect success. That
night we crossed Green river. The first brigade being in advance had
little trouble comparatively, although Captain Palmer had to exert
energy and skill to get his bat