h him. The young man protested no
one had been there, and Mrs. Starnes pledged her word, on the "_honor
of a Southern lady_," that there was no one else in the house. But
Tracy turned down the sheets, and, being a discerning man, discovered
the imprint of another person in the bed, and, from the distance they
had slept apart, he felt sure it was not a woman. So telling Mrs. S.
he hadn't much faith in the honor of a Southern woman, under such
circumstances, he thought he would take a peep through a dormer-window
that projected from the roof; there, sure enough, sat Major Starnes, a
son of the rebel general, in his shirt-tail, breeches and boots in
hand, afraid to stir. It was a bitter cold night, and the poor fellow
shook like an aspen leaf. He presented at once a pitiable yet
ludicrous aspect. After collecting some twenty or thirty horses, they
returned to their head-quarters, this side of the river. At night, not
relishing the thought of sleeping on a rail, I had the good fortune of
sharing a bed with Lieutenant Stevenson, who commanded the battery.

As we anticipated, an early "_reveille of musketry_" awoke the party,
and mounting my sorrel Rosenante, I proceeded to investigate "why we
do these things," or to learn what the _quarrel is all about_.
Crossing the river, I caught up with Major Tracy just as he was
returning from his expedition to General Starnes's house. It was about
eight o'clock as we came in sight of College Grove, a little village
about a mile beyond Harpeth River. Here we turned toward Triune, and
had left College Grove half a mile to the rear, when we heard the
rebels firing upon a few stragglers of the Tennessee Cavalry. Major
Tracy promptly countermarched his battalion, which was in the rear,
and double-quicked back to the school-house at the town, and within a
hundred yards of the rebel cavalry, who were drawn up in a line, in
the front and rear of some houses, on the right of the road. The
Major, seeing they outnumbered him two to one, halted, and sent word
back to Major Burkhardt to reinforce. He then formed a line of battle
across the road, awaiting the other battalion. Just as it arrived,
Major Tracy thought he saw signs of wavering in the rebel line, and
immediately ordered Squadron E to "Forward, by platoons! Double-quick!
Charge!" and galloping to the front, along with Lieutenant Thurman,
away they go. The rebels waver, break, and now comes the chase. The
Major gains upon their rear, and b