ber was now ordered to bring that regiment forward, enter the
town and storm the buildings occupied by the enemy. The Second Kentucky
had tried that sort of work before, and advanced with serious mien, but
boldly and confidently. Major Webber skillfully aligned it and moved it
forward. The heavy volley it poured into the windows of the depot, drove
the defenders away from them before the regiment reached the building,
and Colonel Hanson surrendered. The other houses occupied by the enemy
were surrendered shortly afterward.

At the last moment of the fight, a sad loss befell us. Lieutenant Thomas
Morgan, younger brother of the General, was killed just before the enemy
surrendered. He was first Lieutenant of Company I, of the Second
Kentucky, but was serving at the time of his death upon my staff. He
habitually sought and exposed himself to danger, seeming to delight in
the excitement it afforded him. He had repeatedly been remonstrated with
on that day, regarding his reckless exposure of his person, and General
Morgan had once ordered him to leave the front. He was stricken by the
fate which his friends feared for him. When the Second Kentucky
advanced, he rushed in front of it, and, while firing his pistol at the
windows of the depot, was shot through the heart. He exclaimed to his
brother Calvin, that he was killed, and fell (a corpse) into the
latter's arms. He was but nineteen when killed, but was a veteran in
service and experience. The first of six brothers to join the
Confederate army, he had displayed his devotion to the cause he had
espoused in the field and the prison. I have never known a boy of so
much genius, and of so bright and winning a temper. His handsome, joyous
face and gallant, courteous bearing made him very popular. He was the
pet and idol of the Second Kentucky. General Morgan (whose love for the
members of his family was of the most devoted character) was compelled
to forego the indulgence of his own grief to restrain the Second
Kentucky, furious at the death of their favorite. When his death became
generally known, there was not a dry eye in the command.

Although our loss in killed and wounded was not heavy in numbers, it
included some valuable officers and some of our best men. We lost eight
or nine killed, and twenty-five or thirty wounded. In the early part of
the fight, Captain Franks led a party of the advance guard to the
southern end of the depot, and set it on fire. He was severely woun