272 Norra Carorina Troops, 1861-’65.

puted territory and challenge the Federal outpost for a fight,
and generally got what we went after and sometimes more
than we contracted for. In addition to this kind of warfare,
the country was infested with bands of irregular troops known
to the army as “bushwhackers,” and the most dangerous en-
emy with which we were confronted. We had to be con-
stantly on the lookout for this irregular force, and exercising
all the diligence and precaution possible, we were often fired
upon and sometimes lost a brave soldier killed or wounded.

Tt does not require a great degree of personal bravery to
go into battle when one is confronted by an open foe, but to
be constantly expecting to be shot from a thicket or from the
top of every hill one passes, is a condition that tries the nerve
of the bravest soldier. This is the kind of duty the Exfth
Battalion was called upon to do during the winter of 1862- 63
and so continued up to July, 1863, and to give some idea of
the hardships of such service, I will add that while we had a
commissary and quartermaster’s department, we seldom had
a ration of bacon or saw a sack of flour, a blanket or a pair of
shoes, except such as we furnished ourselves. We were often
fifty miles from headquarters in a section of country where it
was impossible to carry army supplies in any other way than
in a haversack and that was not always supplied with the
necessaries of life. Sometimes we had something to eat and
sometimes we did not have anything to eat. Sometimes we
had a shelter over us and then sometimes our shelter was the
blue sky or the lowering clouds. Sometimes we slept under
a blanket and sometimes that blanket was the driven snow.
Many was the time that the command went into winter quar-
ters under an oil cloth in the jamb of the fence with a chunk
for a pillow, and awoke in the morning to find the earth cov-
ered with snow.

Company A (Lusk’s company) was ordered forward from
Knoxville sometime in November, 1862, and from that time
on never saw a tent or had a day’s rest. The entire command
remained on detached duty and was never together under
one commander until some time in June, 1863, on the occa
sion of the Saunder’s raid into East Tennessee, at which time
the several companies were hurriedly called in from outpost

“
ONE ERRAT TERE E er KOCTR S RR RT ESR e 7 eR NR RS  P SE E AE AI E INE SPO

Firtra Barration. 273

duty and joined in the pursuit of the invaders under the com-
mand of Major A. H. Baird. At this time the cavalry force
in the Department of East Tennessee was very light, scat-
tered from Bristol to Chattanooga, principally guarding the
several gaps of the Cumberland Mountains. The enemy was
known to be in force north of the Cumberland river and a
close watch was kept up all along the line.

Company A, of the Fifth Battalion, was stationed at Win-
ter’s Gap and being the only cavalry command between Big
Creek Gap and Kingston, was taxed beyond its capacity in
doing outpost duty along the south of the Cumberland river,
covering a territory extending from Barboursville to Monti-
cello. Being thus scattered, the cavalry force found them-
selves in bad condition to resist a well organized force of the
enemy of several thousand strong, consisting of cavalry,
mounted infantry and artillery. A detachment of Company
A (Lusk’s), Fifth Battalion, was the first to encounter the
enemy at Huntsville, on the south fork of the Cumberland
river. The outposts were called in as rapidly as possible and
couriers dispatched to headquarters at Knoxville, notifying
the General in command of the approach of the enemy by way
of Wortburgh and the Emory river road going in the diree-
tion of Kingston. It was thought then that the object was
the destruction of the railroad bridge at Loudon.

RAID BY THE ENEMY.

Samp at Winter’s Gap was abandoned by the company and
a vigorous pursuit of the raiding column was begun. The
company at that time numbered about one hundred fighting
men. We harrassed the rear and left flank of the enemy dur-
ing the entire night, retarding his progress all that it was
possible to do with the force under my command. It soon

‘became apparent that Knoxville was the objective point of

the enemy’s attack instead of the Loudon Bridge. The

raiding foree forded Clinch river below Clinton, swung

around by Lenoir Station on the East Tennessee and Georgia

Railroad, drew up on the north side of Knoxville and opened

a bombardment of the city. There were no defences to the

city, and the enemy took up a position north of the railroad
18