glimpse of
service at Corinth, and were fortunate enough to be in a few
skirmishes, where we distinguished ourselves by firing at nothing
whatever.

In the course of a few weeks General Maury was made commander of the
Department of the Gulf, with headquarters at Mobile, where we saw
service as clerks and accountants. For my part, the life suited me
passing well, but Harry Herndon fretted so that we were soon
transferred to the command of General Forrest, who was sadly in need of
men. As it happened, we had little difficulty in finding our man. We
had heard that he was in the neighborhood of Chattanooga, giving his
men and horses a much-needed rest; but on the way news came to us that,
in spite of his brilliant achievements in the field, he had been
deprived of the choicest regiments of his brigade--men whom he had
trained and seasoned to war. After this mutilation of his command, he
had been ordered to Murfreesborough to recruit and organize a new
brigade.

Toward Murfreesborough, therefore, we made our way, falling in with a
number of Forrest's men who had been on a brief visit to their homes in
Alabama and were now returning to their command. As we shortly
discovered, the Union commanders in Tennessee mistook General Forrest's
movement to the neighborhood of Chattanooga for a retreat; for, shortly
after he moved in that direction, an ambitious Federal officer asked
and received permission to enter Northern Alabama with a force large
enough to worry the Confederate leader if he could be found. The
organization and equipment of this force required a longer time than
the Federal commander had counted on, and by the time it was ready to
move General Forrest, with the remnant of his command, was on his way
to Murfreesborough.

In some way--the sources of his information were as mysterious as his
movements--General Forrest learned that a Federal force was making its
way toward Northern Alabama, and he did not hesitate to give it his
attention. Within a very short time he had followed and overtaken it,
passing it on a road that lay parallel to its line of march. Then it
was that the Federal commander began to hear rumors and reports all
along his route that Forrest was making a rapid retreat before him. It
was stated that his men were discontented and that the condition of his
horses was something terrible.

One day, along toward evening, the Federal commander went into camp in
the neighborhood of a wooded hill that co