USA > Mississippi > History of the Seventh Indiana cavalry volunteers, and the expeditions, campaigns, raids, marches, and battles of the armies with which it was connected. with biographical sketches of Brevet Major General John P. C. Shanks, and of Brever Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Browne, and other officers of the regiment; with an account of the burning of the steamer Sultana on the Mississippi river, and of the capture, trial conviction and execution fo Dick Davis, the Guerrilla > Part 18
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He then marched with his regiment into Mississippi and Alabama, and was with Buel's army, in its pursuit of Bragg, in the march of the latter, on Louisville.
He then returned to Nashville, Tennessee. From that place, his regiment followed John Morgan, into Kentucky, near Louis- . ville, and returned by forced marches, to Murfresborough, but arrived too late to participate in that battle.
The Major was employed most of the time in scouting. In February, 1863, he was captured by the rebels, near Ready- ville, Tennessee, and taken to MeMinnville. The next morning the rebels were attacked by the federal troops, and Skelton was sent to the rear, under guard of four men. The weather being
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cold, three of the men stopped at a house to warm, leaving but one man to guard the prisoner. When the other guards were out of sight, Skelton, to the great surprise of the remain- ing one, disarmed him and attempted to escape. But he was soon recaptured, and with a squad of other prisoners, placed under a guard of ten men.
The rebels were mounted, but Skelton was obliged to walk. When within about three miles of McMinnville, he attempted a · second time to escape. He leaped the fences and run for the woods, but in dodging around in them, he ran into a different squad of rebels, and was by them turned over to his fist captors.
The rebels thought such a slippery fellow was a fit subject to stretch hemp. They struck him in the face, and beat him with their revolvers till tired, then put a rope, with a noose, around his neck, and the other end of it over the limb of a tree, when the commanding officer, of the last party that captured him, at this critical juncture, stopped proceedings. But they stripped him of his clothing, except his shirt and pants, and were about to deprive him of his boots, when the same officer interfered and put a stop to it. The brutal quartermaster ordered Skelton to run the rest of the way to the town, a distance of three miles. He started on the double-quick, and went a short distance, but the road being rough, and being almost exhausted by his efforts to escape, it was impossible for him to keep up. The quarter- master cursed and swore at him, and struck him with his re- volver several times over the head. But it was impossible for him to proceed. The rebel then threatened to kill him, but Skelton, sitting down by the roadside, told him to kill; that Gen. Rosecrans would hear of it, and would amply retaliate. Find- ing that his prisoner could not be frightened, the rebel con- cluded to let him rest for half an hour ; at the expiration of which time, he was marched into MeMinnville and lodged in jail.
The next day he was taken to Tallahoma, and placed in the
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guard-house with a lot of rebels, confined for various mis- demeanors. Their rations consisted of a pint of corn meal per day, which was poured out of a sack on to the floor, in a corner of the room, of which, each man got what he could. In addition to this, the prisoners were kicked and cuffel about by the rebels in a most brutal manner. Skelton, unable longer to en- dure their insults, said to a young Georgian, who was constantly boasting of his worldly possessions, that there was one thing he did not and never would possess, and that was any principle of a gentleman, for no gentleman would abuse a man when he was disarmed and helpless. The rebel was greatly incensed at this remark, and regretted that there was no opportunity to fight a duel with Skelton.
The rebels were principally Missourians and Arkansans, and a duel, above all things, was what they loved to witness. They set to work, to devise means to let the duel come otf.
They were imprisoned in a long store room, with a smaller room cut off at one end. ?
One of the rebels suggested that the fight might take place in that small room. The suggestion was favorably received, and the young Georgian had no alternative but to challenge Skelton, which was formally done. Skelton stated to the rebels, that he, in common with northern men, was opposed, on principle, to duel- ing, but that under the circumstances, he thought that he would be justified in accepting the challenge, and that, if there was,one man present who would see fair play, he would accent. A dozen Missourians stepped forward, and said that they would see that the fight was conducted according to rule.
Skelton waved his right as the challenged party to choose the weapons. ITis adversary chose dirks, with blades fifteen inches in length.
Skelton took his position and awaited the appearance of his antagonist. He came to the door and said he would give half of what he was worth for Gen. Bragg's permission to fight, but that he could not think of such a thing, without such permission
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MAJOR JOSEPH W. SKELTON.
For, he said, he would surely kill Skelton, and if he did, Bragg would have him hung, and that he would not run that risk for any "d-d Yankee."
The crowd interpreted that into a back-down, and greeted him with jeers and derision.
Thus ended the duel. It, however, had a good effect for the federal prisoners. It won the respect of the Arkansas and Missouri rebels, who afterwards treated them well, and shared with them their rations.
From Tallahoma, Skelton was taken to Chattanooga. There the rebels threatened to make the prisoners work on the trenches. By the persuasion of Skelton, they refused to do so. To the threats of the rebels to kill them if they did not work, Skelton replied that Rosecrans knew how to retaliate.
While at Chattanooga, two Kentuckians, Union men, although in the rebel army, were brought in heavily ironed, and under sentence of death.
One dark night, during a hailstorm, Skelton, with the assist- ance of some of his fellow prisoners, let these men down from a window in the second story of the building in which they were confined.
As they were not brought back. it is supposed that they succeeded in making their escape. The next morning the rebel officers made great efforts, by threats and offered bribes, to learn "the names of the parties conniving at their escape, but utterly failed.
From Chattanooga, Skelton, with other prisoners, was sent to Libby prison, at Richmond, Virginia, and for three months endured the horrors of that filthy bastile.
He was paroled and sent to Indianapolis, where he was placed on duty as clerk at headquarters at Camp Carrington. But lounging around headquarters did not suit such a restless spirit.
He recruited one hundred men, and was commissioned let Lieutenant, and assigned to company F, of the Seventh Indiana
MAJOR JOSEPH W SKELTON.
Cavalry. He immediately entered on active duty with the regiment. He was a brave, daring, and reckless man, and Was nearly always selected for enterprises requiring shrewdness and dash. We have frequently, in the preceding pages of this book, referred to his exploits, and will not repeat them here. The particulars of two only of his greatest performances have been reserved for this sketch-the rout of six hundred rebels at Lamar Station, Miss., with only thi_ty men-and the capture of "Dick Davis."
In June, 1864, Capt. John W. Shoemaker resigned, and Lieut. Skelton was promoted Captain of company F to fill the vacancy.
In August, 1864, the regiment was with the army of General A. J. Smith, on his expedition to Oxford, Mississippi, On the 14th of August, 1861, Capt. Wright, of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, with a battalion of that regiment, pursuant to orders, marched from Holly Springs, north to Hudsonville, whence he dispatched Captain Skelton, with company F. numbering but thirty men, to Lamar, on the railroad, a few miles further north, to disperse any guerrilla parties that might interfere with the railroad. Captain Skelton bivouaced about sundown in the woods, about half a mile north of the latter town. About eleven o'clock, the Captain received information from a videlle stationel in the village, that an armed force was entering it from the south. Ile immediately awakened his men, and mounting thein, marched boldly to meet the enemy, who had reached the railroad northwest of the village, and halted. The night being rather dark, Capt. Skelton and his little band got nearly on to the rebels, before they saw the dark outlines of their forte. The Ar-t intimation the enemy had of the presence of Yankees, was a shot from Capt. Skelton's revolver, and his command to the company to "charge." With a yell, the " Captain and his men dished into the ranks of the rebels, firing their revolvers right and left into thein.
They were talon complody by surprise, and were totally unprepared for an attack. Some of their men had dismounted
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MAJOR JOSEPH W. SKELTON.
and thrown themselves on the ground to rest, and most of the rest were dozing in their saddles. The front of their column broke in wild confusion, and running through the ranks of the rear companies of their force, stampeded their entire command. They fled in wild confusion through the town, hotly pursued. Indeed, friend and foe were intermingled, the rebels too much confused to do anything but run, and Skelton's men rapidly emptying the saddles of the former, with their revolvers fired at · a distance of but a few feet, and in numerous instances, with the muzzles placed against the bodies of their adversaries. At the south edge of the village was a wide, deep ravine, behind which, the rebels made a stand. Captain Skelton, seeing the fearful odds against him, managed to withdraw all his men, ex- cept the Author, who was wounded and taken prisoner. When the company dashed through the rebel ranks, those of the ene- my left in the rear, surrendered. At one time, Serg't Aurand and Corporal F. J. M. Titus, had huddled together, and were guarding nearly one hundred prisoners. When the company was withdrawn from the pursuit, Corp'l Titus wanted to know what to do with the prisoners. Lient. Crane told him to " pa- role them and come on." Besides the Author, only one other man of the company was hurt. That one was John E. Kelley , who was shot through the right hand and permanently disabled. He came very near being taken prisoner. A rebel had hold of him, but John managel twice to breik loose from him; the last time he did so, he left in the hands of his enemy a good portion of his blouse.
On leaving the field, Capt. Skelton's command got separated, a part returning with him to Holly Springs, and a part under Lieut. Crane going to Lagrange Tenn. The rebels retreated to Oko- lona. The next day the men with Crane, not having ma.le their appearance at camp, Capt. Skelton, with fifty men returned to Lamar, to learn if possible the fate of his missing men. He found in the different houses of the town a large number of bad- ly wounded rebel soldiers, and learned that the citizens had
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MAJOR JOSEPH W. SKEETON.
buried several dead ones. The force attacked by Capt. Skelton on that night, was the old regiment raised and commanded by the rebel Gen. N. B. Forrest, when he was a Colonel. It num- bered six hundred picked men, commanded by Col. Kelley, and was at that time on its way to Memphis, carrying out a part of Forrest's plan for the capture of that place. Its inglorious re- pulse and retreat, for the time being, frustrated Forrest's pur- pose to capture one of the most important depots of supplies ou the Mississippi river.
The guerrillas about the Nonconnah creek were bold in their depredations on citizens, and attacks on federal patrole and scouting parties. Capt. Skelton had recently lost seven mem- bers of his company, who had been captured and murdered by Dick Davis, and was burning for an apportunity to capture that guerrilla chieftain. He got permission to take his company and go in quest of him, supposed to be somewhere in the bottoms of the Coldwater. On the evening of October 1st, 1864, a little after dark, the Captain left camp at White Station, and proceed- ed towards Cockrum's cross-roads in Mississippi. He avoided the roads, and marched through the fields and woods. He had made the habits of the guerrillas a study. Heknew it was im- possible to surprise their camp by following the highways. Some of their band were always along the line of march, loung- ing about the houses pretending to be citizens, while a command was passing; but when it was out of sight, would mount their horses concealed behind the house, or in the woods close by, and taking the by-paths, with which they were perfectly familiar, get ahead of the scouting party, and warn their comrades in time to escape or to form an ambuscade. Not only that, but the genuine citi- zens, to save their property or their lives, by conciliating the ontlaws, would voluntarily officiate as messengers of warning. At day-break the next morning, Capt. Skelton, after a difficult march reached the Coldwater, and effected a crossing. At the first house he came to after crossing, he captured ;four prisoners. Continuing his march some distance further, his advance was
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MAJOR. JOSEPH W. SKELTON.
fired on, from a house situated quite a distance from the road. The advance immediately charged up to the house, and prevent- ed the guerrillas from getting to their horses tied in the woods several rols from the house. The rest of the command follow- ing Capt. Skelton, dashed up on the run. The guerrillas were escaping through the fields to the woods. When Captain Skel- ton came up, he saw two men running through the garden to- wards the woods. Without waiting for the bars across the lane leading to the house, to be thrown down, he put spurs to his horse, and cleared them at a bound. But there was still a high fence between himself and the flying guerrillas. He noticed thein slacken their pace to load their carbines. He conjectured that their intention was after reloading, to wheel and shoot him. To prevent that he must capture them before they succeeded in loading. To wait for the fence to be thrown down would take too long. There was not an instant to be lost. His only alter- untive was to leap his horse over the fence and be on them in a moment. Striking the rollers deep into the flanks of his horse, the animal cleared the fence without touching it; and in a min- nte after, he was by the side of Dick Davis, with his cocked revol- ver at his head. Davis had just replaced the cylinder contain- ing the cartridges, in his carbine. The muzzle was pointing towards the ground. All he had to do to be ready for battle, was to raise the muzzle, wheel and fire. Had Captain Skelton been an instant later, he would have, in all probability, been killed. . But he was at the side of Davis, ready to blow his braius out if he moved his weapon a hair's breadth. The Cap- tain demanded of Davis his surrender. The latter hesitated, and glancing at his companion, saw that he had not reloaded. The Captain again asked him if he would surrender, when Davis coolly replied: "I guess I will have to, seeing there is no help for it." Skelton said: "Then drop that carbine d-n quick." Davis saw in the flashing eye of the little man before him, that he stood in the presence of his in ister and dropped his carbine on the ground. An ominous movement of the Captain's revol-
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MAJOR. JOSEPH W. SKELTON.
ver, quickly decided the other to follow the example of his chieftain, and "ground arms." Skelton then compelled them to march backwards until he was between them and their arms. He then stood guard over them until some of his men returned from the pursuit of the other guerrillas, and took them in charge. Davis then said to Skelton : " If you had been a moment later I would have saved your bacon." Skelton did not know at that time, that he had captured the scourge of Northern Mississippi. and Southwestern Tennessee. His distinguished captive care- fully concealed his name, which was not learned until he was marched into the Irving Block at Memphis, where he was recogniz- ed by the officers, who had had him in charge once before. Bu: he knew that he had waked up the guerrillas, who, in all prob- ability, would rally and attempt to release their comrades. He was forty miles from camp, and having several prisoners, deem . ed it prudent to return before they could unite against him. Before he hal crossed the river, a body of guerrillas, attractel by the firing, came dashing upon his rear guard. He wheeled a portion of his command to the rear and charged the rebels and put them to flight. By the time he returned, the rest of his command had crossed the river, and were engaged on the opposite side. Hastily crossing, the Captain orderel a Sergeant to take ten men and charge the guerrillas, who were dismount- ed and posted behind the trees. The Sergeant and his men were driven back on the main command. Capt. Skelton then . selected a trusty sergeant and ten men, and directed him to take charge of the prisoners, proceed down the river and get to camp with them if possible, but if the worst came, not to let one of them escape, while he with the rest of the command fought the enemy back. Placing himself at the head of his men, Skelton led them in the charge upon the guerrillas, and put them to flight, and pursued them in a wild chase through the woods for over a mile. The Sergeant in charge of the prisoners, seeing the rebels routed, concluded his best course would be to follow up Skelton, and did so.
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LIEUT. ELIJAHI S. BLACKFORD.
Capt. Skelton had proceeded but a mile further, when he dis- covered in his front a body of rebels, greatly out-numbering his entire command, drawn up to oppose his further advance. He was expecting, every moment, the guerrillas he had driven on the opposite side of the river, to rally and come upon the rear. Not a moment was to be lost. He deployed as skirmishers, while on the run, twenty of his men, and led them in a charge on the rebels. The latter stood long enough to fire one volley, when they broke and fled in all directions. The Captain then pro- ceeded without further interruption, to camp, arriving there be- fore dark. Although under fire a part of the time, not a mon of Skelton's command was hurt. In this little expedition Capt. Skelton displayed great tact and undaunted courage. The ser- vice he had rendered humanity and the federal army, was al- most incalculable.
Captain Skelton was peculiarly fitted for such enterprises just described. He was ingenious, quick to form his plans, and possessed courage that shrank from no danger. At times his courage partook of the character of rashness. In every fight or battle, he was always in advance of his men. He did the most of the fighting himself. It was invariably his practice on com- ing in sight of an enemy, to charge. The enemy invariably ran, and separating into small squals, scatter in the woods. Skelton singling out the largest squad, would pursue it until he had captured one or more prisoners. He participated with the regiment in all its raids, expeditions, marches anl battles, ex- cept those of the Missouri campaign. On the consolidation of the regiment, he was assigned to company C, but was soon pro- moted Major, and served as such till the muster out of the regiment.
LIEUTENANT ELLGAH S. BLACKFORD.
Elijah S. Blackfor l reses one and a half miles from Warsaw. in Kosciusko county, In liana. He is a farmer by occupation. He was born in Butier county, Ohio, on the 7th of March, 1-25. In 1-13, he came with his father to Fayette County, Indiana. .
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LIEUT. ELIJAH S. BLACKFORD.
and in 1852, he went to Kosciusko county, his present home. In 1863, he enlisted as a private in company I, of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, under James H. Carpenter, of Warsaw, Indiana, but was mustered with the company September 3.1. 1863, as First Sergeant. He served in that capacity with the regiment, until November, 1804, when he was promoted to 21 Lieutenant. On the Ist of March, 1865, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, vice Lieut. Chas. H. Hare, dismissed. He was frequently sent on scouting expeditions, in which he displayed good judgment and pluck. Especially was this the case, when with twenty-five men, on the 14th of May, 1835. he was sent from Lagrange, Tennessee, toward Corinth, to protect workmen employed in repairing the telegraph on the Memphis and Char- leston railroad. At Middletown, on the 2241 of May, 1545, while on that duty, a " Night Hawk," so called in that country, because they were Union men, compelled to hide themselves in the daytime, but who roamed about at night, and killed guer- rillas, came to his camp. with the information. that Bont Rogers, a notorious guerrilla, was at his house, three miles distant, and offered his assistance in capturing him. The next morning, the Lieutenant, with four trusty inen, with the "night hawk " for a guide, proceeded to the residence of Rogers, where they found him in bel. His wife appeared at the door in answer to the Lieutenant's rap, and declared that her husband was not at home. The Lieutenant pushed the door open, went into the bed-room, and found Rogers hastily dressing himself. arrested him and took him to his camp, and from there to Lagrange. On the way there, at a house, he saw hitched to the fence, a splendid white horse, with an officer's saddle, with a pair of navy revolvers in the hol-tors. He asked Rogers what that meant. The latter. il that it was a horse belonging to "one of our m. n." At that moment, a tall, fine-looking man, came out of the house, walked leisurely to the horse, mounted it, and sold out into the inghiway, just as the Lieutenant and his party came un. Rogers introduced the stranger as " Capt,
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LIEUT. ELIJAH S. BLACKFORD.
·Higgs." The Captain rode by the side of Lieutenant Blackford for quite a distance and chatted pleasantly. In a hollow by the side of the road, were three men dismounted and holding their horses. When opposite, one of them said: "Well, Bent, they have got you at last." Rogers replied: "Yes, they have got me." Captain Higgs turned out of the road to the men in the hollow. politely excusing himself as he did so, while Lieutenant Blackford proceeded toward Lagrange. Both sides being equal in strength, neither dared to make an attack. . Rogers made no effort to escape. He heard the order given to the men, betore starting, to shoot him dead if he made such an attempt. He undoubtedly deemed it prudent to go quietly along. He in- formed Lieut. Blackford that Higgs was a notorious guerrilla chief in that country, and that the men in the hollow were mem- bers of his band.
Rogers was safely delivered to the military authorities at Lagrange, sent to Memphis, tried by a military commission, con- victed of robbery, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary at Alton, Illinois.
On the 7th of June, 1865, Lieutenant Blackford was detailed to serve on a military commission at Memphis, Tennessee, of which Colonel George W. MeKeaig was president. Before that commission, Mat Laxton, a notorious guerrilla, and a half brother of the rebel General N. B. Forrest, was brought for trial for his crimes. Owing to the difficulty the Government had in getting witnesses, the trial dragged along for eighty days. But at last he was convicted of murder and of being a guerrilla, and sentenced to suffer death. He, however, managed to escape, probably by bribing the jailor.
ITis friends offeret thousands of dollars for his release, His mother, and Col. Forrest, his half brother, attended his trial almost daily. He was ably defended. by Captain Henry Lee, a Chion officer.
While waiting for witnesses in Luxton's case, the Lieutenant went to Sanatobia, Miss., with another commission to collect the
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CAPTAIN ROBERT G. SMITHER.
evidence relating to the ownership of certain cotton, in the possession of W. T. Avant, of Fayette county, Miss. On the 5th of July. 1865, he was detailed on another military com- mission, and served on it, at Memphis, until the close of the war. He was therefore prevented from going with the regi- ment to Texas.
Capt. Bales being dismissed from the service, the Lieutenant , was commissioned Captain of company I, but as the war was over, and being anxious to return to his family, he declined to muster. He soon resigned and returned to his home in Kości- usko county, Indiana.
CAPTAIN ROBERT G. SMITHER.
Robert G. Smither was born in Marion county, Indiana, September 27th, 1846. On the 28th of July, ISO1. At the early age of fourteen, he entered the military service, during the rebellion, as a private of company I, of the 20th Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He served in that regiment until the 4th of November, 1862, when he was discharged from the service on -macolis certificate of disability. He re-enlisted in company H, of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, of which com- pany he was soon after appointed First Sergeant. On the 80 :: of September, Isot, he was in tered as 2d Lieutenant of the company. On the Ist of June, 1865, he was commissioned Captain, and after the consolidation of the regiment, assigned to company A; and mustered as its Captain on the promotion of Captain Moore to Major. He was with the regiment in all its raids, expedbions, campaigns and battles. Ile was severe- ly woundel in the neck, in the sabre charge, at the battle of Okolona. February 221, 1461. In a charge of the regiment, at the battle of Event Station, Mississippi, on General Grierson's raid, on the Esth . E December, Isst, he was severely wound? ! in the right thich. For the last three months he was connecte I with the Seventh In lang Cavalry, he served on the staff of General George A. Cu ber, as commander of his escort, consistin. .f toso computa.
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