o undertake the
offensive, and that the country was traced in every direction by
innumerable practicable roads, it will be clear that sleepless vigilance
and the soundest judgment were necessary to the protection of the
Confederate forces stationed in it. The three regiments encamped in the
vicinity of Liberty numbered about one thousand effectives, and the
other regiments under Colonel Gano, including all which were not
detached in Kentucky, under Colonels Cluke and Chenault, were posted in
the neighborhood of Woodbury and McMinnville, and were about the same
aggregate strength.

During the latter part of January and in February and March, the entire
command was kept constantly and busily employed. Scouts and expeditions
of all kinds--dashes at the enemy and fights between reconnoitering
parties were of almost daily occurrence, and when Colonels Gano and
Breckinridge were not harassing the enemy, they were recipients of like
attention from him. Perhaps no period in the history of Morgan's cavalry
of equal duration can be cited, in which more exciting and arduous
service was performed. I regret that my absence from it at that time,
and consequent want of familiarity with these events, renders it
impossible that I shall describe them with the minuteness and accuracy
which belong only to the personal observer. It has been said, in
allusion to this period and the action then of Morgan's command, "If all
the events of that winter could be told, it would form a book of daring
personal adventures, of patient endurance, of great and continued
hardship, and heroic resistance against fearful odds." The narration of
these scenes in the simple language of the men who were actors in them,
the description by the private soldiers of what they dared then, and
endured, the recital of men (unconsciously telling their own heroism)
would be the proper record of these stirring and memorable months. They
could tell how, worn out with days and nights of toil, the brief repose
was at length welcome with so much joy. Frequently the rain and sleet
would beat in their faces as they slept, and the ice would thicken in
their very beds. Happy were the men who had blankets in which to wrap
their limbs, other than those which protected their horses' backs from
the saddle. Thrice lucky those who could find something to eat when they
lay down, and another meal when they arose. It oftenest happened that
before the chill, bleak winter's day had broken, t