nswer
questions in such circumstances, I instantly ordered them to "Halt,"
and asked, "Who comes there?" Their commander was equally
non-committal, and demanded, "Who comes there?"

"If you are friends, advance and give the countersign," said I; but
scarcely was the word uttered when the buckshot from the shot-guns
of the head of the column came whistling past us in dangerous but
not fatal proximity. Thus challenged, I instantly ordered, "Draw
saber--Charge!" and with a wild yell we dashed at them, determined
to keep our course toward our camp, whoever they might be. To our
surprise, they broke and ran in disorder, and we after them, yelling
with all the voice we could command. I soon saw, from their mode of
riding and glimpses of their dress, that they were Confederates; but
as we had routed them, though seven times our number,--there were
sixty-five of them,--we determined to give them a race. Keeping my
men together, yelling in unison, and firing in the air occasionally,
we pressed them closely six or seven miles. When within three miles
of camp, I drew my men up and told them we must get in by another
route, and, if possible, as soon as they. A rapid ride by a longer
road brought us to the lines in a few minutes, and we found the
whole force of over a thousand cavalrymen mounting to repel an
attack from a formidable force of Federal cavalry, which had driven
in the scouting party of sixty-five men, after a desperate
encounter. I immediately reported the whole affair to Morgan, when,
with a spice of humor which never forsakes him, he told me to keep
quiet; and, calling up the lieutenant who was in charge of the
scouting party, ordered him to narrate the whole affair. The
lieutenant could not say how many Federal cavalry there were, but
there must have been from three to five hundred, from the rattling
of sabers and the volume of sound embodied in their unearthly yells.
At all events, their charge was terrific, and his wonder was that
any of his men escaped. How many of the Federals had fallen it was
impossible to estimate, but some were seen to fall, &c.

When Morgan had learned the whole story, with the embellishments,
he dismissed the lieutenant. But the story was too good to keep, and
by morning the scare and its cause were fully ventilated, greatly to
the chagrin of Major Bennett's battalion, to which the routed men
belonged. They were questioned daily about "those three hundred
Yankees who made that terrific