nited States officer over the last
prostrate foe of this ever-glorious Union.

The cavalry left the town in a few hours, after erecting a
flag-staff and giving the Stars and Stripes to the breeze. Within a
few days a squad of Morgan's cavalry came in, cut down the staff,
and one of them rolling up the flag and strapping it behind his
saddle, left word where General Dumont could see the flag if he
chose to call.

I left soon after the Federals did, but in an opposite direction,
with my final plan perfected. Spending two or three days more with
my kind friends on the farm, I saddled my remaining horse, and
telling the family I might not return for some time, I rode through
McMinnville, and then direct for Murfreesboro, at that time in
possession of the Union forces. When hailed by the pickets, a mile
from the town, I told them I wished to see the officer in command.
They directed me where to find him, and allowed me to advance. They
knew far less of Southern cunning than I did, or they would not have
allowed me to ride into the town without a guard. When I found the
officer, I stated that some Federal cavalry had taken my horse in
McMinnville a few days ago, and I wished to recover him. He told me
he could give me no authority to secure my horse, unless I would
take the oath of allegiance to the United States. To this I made no
special objection. With a seeming hesitation, that I might wake up
no suspicion of being different from the masses of farmers in that
region, and yet with a joy that was almost too great to be
concealed, I solemnly subscribed the following oath:

"I, A---- B----, solemnly swear, without any mental reservation or
evasion, that I will support the Constitution of the United States
and the laws made in pursuance thereof; and that I will not take up
arms against the United States, or give aid or comfort, or furnish
information, directly or indirectly, to any person or persons
belonging to any of the so-styled Confederate States who are now or
may be in rebellion against the United States. So help me God."

The other side of the paper contained a military pass, by authority
of Lieutenant-colonel J.G. Parkhurst, Military Governor of
Murfreesboro. I regarded myself as free from any possible
obligation to the Confederates when discharged from their service on
account of my wounds at Corinth. In voluntarily taking this oath, I
trust I had some just sense of its awful solemnity, for I have never
been ab