A secession account.
A correspondent of the Nashville
Banner gives a spirited account of the fight at
Sacramento, Ky., between a number of Confederate cavalry, headed by
Colonel Forrest, of
Mississippi, and three hundred Hessian cavalry, under
Major Murray.
The writer, after detailing a few preliminaries, says:
Our men immediately put off in pursuit toward
Calhoun, and in a short time came up with the enemy and opened fire upon his rear.
The enemy wheeled and fired, but in a few moments fled in the wildest confusion, with our gallant band in hot pursuit.
Never were men more terribly in earnest than was this
Lincoln cavalry in their efforts to get away, and never were men more terribly in earnest than were our men in the pursuit.
“Over the hills and far away” they flew, the capes of their large blue overcoats flying in the breeze, and reminding the pursuers of a flock of buzzards suddenly scared up from their feast.
At first, their horses being fresh, they gained on us, but pretty soon it became evident that we were nearing them.
Pistols loaded, sabres, and over-coats were strewn along the road.
Ichabod Crane on his redoubtable steed Gunpowder, or Tam O'Shanter on his old
gray mare when the witches got after him, never came so near flying as did these valorous
Kentucky Yankees.
Here they went, helter-skelter, our men after them, and here and there passing in the road men whom the unerring aim of our gallant boys had caused to bite the dust.
The race through
Sacramento was beautiful.
As we went through that village in hot pursuit, the men of the village threw up their hats and shouted, “Go it, boys — catch 'em and give 'em hell.”
The women, God bless them, waved their handkerchiefs, and shouted our gallant boys on to the charge.
Lieut.-Col. Love, who had gone out as a guide to the expedition, it is said had to run through
Sacramento, and bets of two to one were freely offered that he would be the first to
Calhoun.
What became of the gallant
Major Murray, who commanded the expedition, we couldn't tell, but it is supposed that he was outdistanced in the race, and must have made fine time.
The gallant and dashing
Starnes was in front of the charge, and
Capt. Bacon fell from his well-directed pistol shot.
Bacon shot at
Starnes several times and made a pass at him with his sabre, leaving a mark on
Starnes' hat; but, leveling
[
518]
a pistol at him,
Starnes soon brought him to the ground.
Bacon died like a man, and, to his credit be it spoken, used every effort to rally his flying men. He is the only man of the enemy who behaved with any gallantry in the fight.
On our return, having chased the
Kentucky Hessians within four miles of their camp,
Bacon was lying on the road side, not yet dead, but it was evident that he must soon breathe his last.
He asked for some water, which was given, and he was kindly removed to a neigh-boring house, when he exclaimed, “Well, could I have expected such kindness under the circumstances?”
He was a gallant man, and deserved a better fate than to have fallen in the vain attempt to rally such a crowd of cowards.
In the charge,
Col. Starnes was several times in the very midst of the retreating enemy, heedless of danger and insensible to fear.
Col. Forrest fought with reckless intrepidity and daring, laying several of the enemy low with his own arm. He and
Starnes in the very front of the charge, dealt their blows right and left with telling effect.
The enemy lost some twenty killed, and about the same number wounded and taken prisoners — among the latter
Capt. Davis, of
Louisville, Kentucky, formerly of
Robertson County, Tennessee.
We lost only two killed--
Capt. Merriweather, while gallantly leading the charge at the head of his company, and
W. H. Terry, a private in
Capt. McLemore's company from
Williamson County, who fell by a sabre thrust while fighting gallantly.
We had three wounded. Altogether, it was a brilliant affair.
Our men behaved with great gallantry.
The enemy's force consisted of about three hundred picked men who had volunteered on the expedition to capture
Starnes.
To cover their shameful and disgraceful and cowardly retreat, I have no doubt they reported when they got back to camp that they were pursued by at least a thousand men. I have no doubt they thought so, for they were certainly too much alarmed to compute numbers calmly, and evidently thought the very devil was after them, from the way they ran.--
Raleigh (N. C.) Spirit of the Age, Jan. 15.
