442 NortH Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

going on, though musket balls were flying pretty thick, and
some of the enemy’s shells must have passed near his head.
After witnessing this singular mancuver, and leaving the
Fifty-eighth Regiment “to look after those fellows” as or-
dered, the general leisurely rode off to some other part of his
brigade on the front line, where the business in hand was
not so dull and uninteresting. He did not have far to go.

The slender line without earthworks that so nearly en-
circled our position, held its ground against repeated assaults
of the enemy in heavy force until 8 o’clock at night, when
the firing ceased, and at midnight the army resumed the posi-
tion of the morning.

A more remarkable experience befell a detachment of
Tennesseeans of the brigade. In filling a gap in the front
line as stated, Colonel Searcey in command, found a flank of
the enemy which he proceeded at once to turn and attack in
reverse. Before the movement, which was being success-
fully accomplished, had proceeded very far, however, a Fed-
eral reserve appeared, closed the gap and cut off the return
of the Colonel with a part of his command. The detachment
thus cut off made its way successfully through Sherman’s
lines and near his trains, capturing as they went an officer
and forty men, to whom they were in the. act of surrender-
ing, but, discovering the small opposing force, the Tennessee-
ans seized the guns which had been thrown down and com-
pelled the surrender of their would-be captors. The detach-
ment marched with their prisoners through the woods and
over obscure roads to Raleigh, and rejoined the brigade near
Smithfield ten days after the battle, greatly to the surprise
and delight of their friends, who were ready to give them
up as lost.

The restoration of General Joseph E. Johnston to the com-
mand gave great confidence to the Army of Tennessee, and
the forward movement, as was generally the case, put the
men in fine spirits and willing to attempt any duty that he
would require of them. In illustration of the faith of the
men in their chief: two days after the principal battle, when
Sherman’s cavalry came so near seizing the bridge in the
rear, the firing attracted attention, and some one asking

Firry-E1eutH REGIMENT. 443

“what that fire in rear of the army meant,” the reply came
promptly from the ranks of the Fifty-eighth in the most un-
concerned manner, “Don’t be uneasy, my son. Old Joe has
a wagon train back there some where, and there is no danger
where HIT is.” The general had well earned in the At-
lanta campaign a reputation for taking care of his trains;
but for the opportune arrival here of Henderson’s little bri-
gade of Stevenson’s Division, en route for the army, his pres-
tige in that particular, and perhaps in some others, might
have been lost, together with our “spider wagons” and ord-
nance trains.

Referring to the published account of this incident Gen-
eral Johnston wrote 11 January, 1888, to the undersigned :

“The newspaper slip containing your article on Palmer’s
Brigade at Bentonville and the letter accompanying it were
duly received, but at a time when press of business compelled
me to postpone compliance with your request.

“T do not think, as you do, that the part taken by Cum-
ming’s Brigade, then commanded by Colonel Henderson, was
a matter of luck. That Brigade was a part of at least 1,000
men that joined us from Charlotte that morning, and was
made one of four little reserves, and was the nearest one to the
point of attack on the Federal division, in which part of
Hampton’s and all of Wheeler’s cavalry joined—defeating
that division in a few minutes—before Taliaferro’s Division
and the three other reserves had a chance to join in the action.
They were on the way to the place when it occurred. They
and all of our cavalry made the wagons you mention quite
safe, for they were fully able to dispose of one Federal
division.”

* * * * * * * *

The letter shows that the General was neither surprised
nor unprepared in this encounter, and the old veteran’s com-
placent feeling of trust and confidence in his chief was not
misplaced.

Tn the list of the killed was the name of a young recruit,
Augustin Greeen, from Watauga county, who came from his
home to the Fifty-eighth Regiment the day before the battle.
In the ranks near this unfortunate man marched a veteran of

* *