orps at Blue Springs, in the valley of the
Holston, distant about ninety-eight miles from Loudon. The enemy were
reported to be threatening our communications with Cumberland Gap, and
the Ninth Corps had been ordered to prevent all interference with this
line. The infantry were transported by rail, but the battery was sent
forward on foot. In order that the battery should arrive as soon as
possible after the infantry it was forced along at the rate of about
thirty miles per day. We found the roads in very fair condition. At
dark, on the 9th, we arrived at Bull Gap, a gorge in one of those spur
ranges of mountains that extend out from the main chain, and which, at a
distance, resembles somewhat a large windrow of hay. On the next day we
passed through the gap and soon came up with our division, posted in
lines of battle along Lick Creek.

Our arrival was duly reported and we were ordered to hold ourselves
ready to take position and open upon the enemy. Here we found General
Burnside, and he gave us a hearty greeting, calling us his Rhode Island
boys. We responded sincerely and vociferously. Soon after this the
general gave the order for our line to advance, as the enemy made no
diversion against us. Someone facetiously said that probably the general
had waited for our battery before he ordered the attack. We replied to
such remarks by retorting that this showed the general's good judgment.
A Colonel Foster was in command of a brigade of cavalry, and General
Burnside sent him around by the enemy's right flank to seize and hold
his lines of retreat. As soon as it was probable that Colonel Foster had
reached the desired position, a charge was made upon the enemy's
position. A sharp and hotly contested fight ensued. We drove the enemy
from his position about dark. We here formed a new line and lay upon our
arms for a renewal of the fight at dawn. The advance was duly made, but
the enemy had fled, and Colonel Foster, as it usually happens in such
cases, had not got into position to intercept them. Our battery had been
in position all day, but was not called upon at all until about dark to
fire a few shots at a battery of the enemy that soon withdrew. We
pursued the enemy twenty miles up the valley. At noon, we passed through
the village of Greenville, and read the sign over a building, with the
simple legend, "A. Johnson, Tailor." A mile beyond Rhea Town we went
into camp. On the 12th, the cavalry reported the enemy to be so