and then send word to our commanding
officer, and he would take such action as he thought fit and proper. On
reaching the post, I sent in one of the guards to the station to report
to Lieut. Armstrong, in command of our detachment, that there was a
flag of truce party at my post who desired an interview with the
officer in command at Carroll Station. The Lieutenant soon arrived with
an armed party of our men, and he and the Confederate leader drew apart
and talked awhile. This bunch of Confederates were all young men, armed
with double-barreled shot-guns, and a decidedly tough-looking outfit.
They finally left my post, escorted by Lieut. Armstrong and his guard,
and I understood in a general way that he passed them on to someone
higher in authority at some other point in our vicinity, possibly at
Jackson. They may have been acting in good faith, but from the manner
of their leader, and the story he told me, I have always believed that
their use of a flag of truce was principally a device to obtain some
military intelligence,--but, of course, I do not know. My responsibility
ended when Lieut. Armstrong reached my picket post in response to the
message sent him.

We remained at Carroll Station until January 27, 1863, were then
relieved by a detachment of the 62nd Illinois Infantry, and were sent
by rail back to Bolivar, where we rejoined the balance of the regiment.
We then resumed our former duty of guarding the railroad north to
Toone's Station, and continued at this until the last of May, 1863. But
before taking up what happened then, it will be in order to speak of
some of the changes that in the meantime had occurred among the
commissioned officers of my company and of the regiment. Capt. Reddish
resigned April 3rd, 1863, First Lieutenant Daniel S. Keeley was
promoted Captain in his place, and Thomas J. Warren, the sergeant-major
of the regiment, was commissioned as First Lieutenant in Keeley's
stead. Lieut. Col. Fry resigned May 14, 1863. His place was taken by
Major Simon P. Ohr, and Daniel Grass, Captain of Co. H, was made Major.
The resignations of both Fry and Reddish, as I always have understood,
were because of ill-health. They were good and brave men, and their
hearts were in the cause, but they simply were too old to endure the
fatigue and hardships of a soldier's life. But they each lived to a
good old age. Col. Fry died in Greene county, Illinois, January 27th,
1881, aged nearly 82 years; and Capt. Reddish