fell out of the line to take a
nap, and ended by finding himself and his horses in hostile hands.

The value of the property destroyed at Chambersburg, public and
railroad, was estimated at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; a few
hundred sick and wounded soldiers were paroled, and about thirty
officials and prominent citizens were brought off as prisoners, to be
held as hostages for imprisoned citizens of the Confederacy.

On the whole, it was eminently a dare-devil enterprise of the type of
the knightly forays of old, its results far less in importance than the
risk of loss to the Confederacy had that fine body of cavalry been
captured. Yet it was of the kind of ventures calculated to improve the
morale of an army, and inspire its men to similar deeds of daring and
success. Doubtless it gave the cue to Morgan's later and much less
fortunate invasion of the North.

_FORREST'S CHASE OF THE RAIDERS._

Foremost in dash and daring among the cavalry leaders of the Confederacy
was Lieutenant-General Nathan B. Forrest, a hero in the saddle, some of
whose exploits were like the marvels of romance. There is one of his
doings in particular which General Lord Wolseley says "reads like a
romance." This was his relentless pursuit and final capture of the
expedition under Colonel Abel D. Streight, one of the most brilliant
deeds in the cavalry history of the war. Accepting Wolseley's opinion,
we give the story of this exploit.

In General Rosecrans's campaign against General Bragg, it was a matter
of importance to him to cut the railroad lines and destroy bridges,
arsenals, etc., in Bragg's rear. He wished particularly to cut the
railroads leading from Chattanooga to Atlanta and Nashville, and thus
prevent the free movement of troops. The celebrated Andrews expedition
of scouts, described in a previous volume of this series, failed in an
effort to do this work. Colonel Streight, a stalwart, daring cavalry
leader, made a second effort to accomplish it, and would doubtless have
succeeded but for the bulldog-like persistence with which "that devil,
Forrest" clung to his heels.

Colonel Streight's expedition was made up of four regiments of mounted
infantry and two companies of cavalry, about two thousand men in all.
Rome, Georgia, an important point on the railroad from Chattanooga to
Atlanta, was its objective point. The route to be traversed included a
barren, mountainous track of country, chosen from the fact tha