286 Norta Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

the war I am ignorant of the fact. On this occasion, how-
ever, I came nearer doing so than at any time during my
whole experience as a soldier. One of the enemy, a cavalry-
man, with deliberate aim, had just shot down right by my
side one of the Louisiana cavalry. I saw the blood gush from
his mouth. He fell forward on his horse and with a groan
fell to the ground. Some how the sight so affected me
that I lost sight of the fact that the same man was in close
proximity with a deadly revolver in his hand bent on a mis-
sion of death to others. I raised my eyes to look right into
the muzzle of a gleaming pistol barrel. His horse plunged
forward and he missed his intended victim. I was next at
the score with a Colt’s navy. If the poor man is not dead he
certainly is a pensioner on account of wounds received in bat-
tle. I have always regretted this episode in my war expe-
rience, but I console my feelings when I reflect that he had
made it necessary for one of us to conclude our military op-
erations for a time at least. It was a fight to the death.
Those of the enemy who were left alive discovered their mis-
take and beat a quick retreat to the main body of the enemy.
By the time we got across the river close by, the enemy fairly
swarmed on the opposite bank. The enemy was on one side of
the river and we were on the other. We had a battery of four
guns, two howitzers and two rifle pieces, captured from the en-
emy in Powell’s Valley. Our battery took up a position on an
eminence south of the town, while the enemy occupied a posi-
tion on the north of the river. An artillery duel was kept
up until the middle of the afternoon, the enemy occupying
one bank of the river and our force occupying the other bank.
Our force was finally withdrawn in order to avoid a flanking
column on our right and fell back in the direction of Lancas-
ter. We saw no more of the enemy until about midnight,
when we were again attacked in force, and a fight kept up all
the remainder of the night. The next morning about sun
up, it became necessary to check the enemy and a stand was
made at a place somewhere between Lancaster and Mt. Ver-
non, Ky.
CAPTURED.

Just at what place the fight took place, or what was the

Frrru Batraion. 287

final result of the fight, I never knew. I had rallied
the remnant of the Fifth North Carolina Battalion, which
together with detachments from other commands, constituted
the rear guard. Just at daylight the rear guard was charged
by an overwhelming force of the enemy and my horse shot
dead under me. In the fall one of my feet was pinned down
and before I was able to extricate myself, I was surrounded
and captured. Here my connection with the Fifth Battalion
ceased. I was never with the command afterwards, as I re-
mained in prison until the close of the war, during which
time (two years) I was imprisoned in six common jails and
one penitentiary. The principal part of the imprisonment,
however, was on Johnson’s Island, in Lake Erie, off San-
dusky, Ohio. The incidents connected with the two years
of imprisonment during the war would form an interesting
chapter in this narrative, but as I am dealing with the history
of the Fifth North Carolina Battalion of Cavalry, the narra-
tive must stop here so far as I am concerned.*

ESCAPE OF FIFTEEN MEN.

From C. T. Garrett, of Hot Springs, N. C., First Lieuten-
ant of Company A, who took command of the battalion as
senior officer after my capture in Kentucky, and remained
with the battalion until after the consolidation, I have learned
the following facts connected with the history of the remnant
of the battalion that survived the Kentucky expedition. Pre-
ceding the fight at Mt. Vernon, and subsequent to the capture
of Captain Lusk, Lieutenant Garrett rallied the survivors of
the battalion, amounting in all to fifteen men, and was as-
signed to the command of the rear guard, as the senior officer
of the battalion. The enemy fairly swarmed in all direc-
tions. Every converging road seemed to be held by a strong
force of the enemy. Driven back on one road, they would
appear in force on the flank. ‘Thus the fight was kept up for
some time against a greatly superior force, until finally a
strong force of the enemy succeeded in getting between Lieu-

*Colonel John S. Scott’s interesting report will be found in 34 Off.
Rec Union and Confed. Armies 839—842 wherein he names Captain
Virgil S. Lusk among those he thanks for ‘‘most gallant conduct.”—Ep,