380 Norto CaroLina Troops, 1861~’65.

 

EIGHTEENTH BATTALION. 381

notorious bushwhacker and partisan leader named George W.
Kirk, who afterwards became more notorious as Colonel of
Governor Holden’s First North Carolina Regiment in the
Klu-Klux campaign, this command proceeded by a forced

The whole battalion with a part of the Sixty-second, com-
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Clayton, operated on Big
Laurel and Shelton Laurel in Madison County, to the top of
the Bald and back to Warm Springs and Marshall.

 

march to Asheville and reported for duty to General Vance,
and the threatened attack upon Asheville being averted,
went on down the French Broad to Marshall and Paint Rock,
where it remained in bivouac for some time patrolling that
section and making occasional excursions into East Tennessee
for the protection of the people.

Later in the winter, headquarters were established at Ashe-
ville, from which point the different companies, or detach-

ments of them, were sent to such points from Yancey to Clay,
as required their service.

Once, some companies of this battalion relieved a company
of the Sixty-fourth which was on the island in the French
Broad near Marshall, surrounded by sharpshooting bush-
whackers, and drove off the bushwhackers. i

Captain Mallett operated for a time in Henderson an
Polk, and Captain Cole and afterwards Captain Hines were
stationed on the French Broad above Brevard near what
is now Toxaway and the beautiful Sapphire country ; and fs
the way, when Captain Hines was withdrawn from Transyl-

vania, many of the loyal people left their homes, where they
om ravag' der.
were no longer safe from ravage and mur
The whole command passed through Haywood, Jackson
and Macon to Franklin, and Captain Fines’ Company; find-
ing the road blocked by great stones, near Monday’s, crossed
>

the “Chunky Gal’ Mountains by a trail and went into Clay
e i ent some time on
General Vance made a brilliant movement with a portion County, that now peaceful Utopia, and spen

é f inappropriate one
of this battalion and other troops, crossed the Great Smoky Shooting Creek, whose name was not an inapprop
and dropped down into Tennessee in the neighborhood of then. er hieve-
; . ia orious achieve
Dandridge capturing a large wagon train which belonged The service, while it afforded . ‘tes pa cea
to the Federal army operating near Knoxville—but unfortu- ment, was arduous and oo jek pte wi and while: the
nately, before he could get out of the country with the train, fulness, quickness of pita that hi d com "kind which ad-
he was set upon by a large force of the enemy’s cavalry, and danger was not erent wap. 8 tay vein an exthodial ome
was himself captured with most of his command. mitted of no direct and eh aak OE sg ipso ta laying
Colonel John B. Palmer, of the Fifty-eighth North Car- emy, the bullet of the — #2 ar to have died upon the
olina, and Palmer’s Legion, succeeded to the command of the : low some gallant fellow who was worthy
district, the troops under him consisting of parts of the Sixty- field of battle. serine adventures and. brave aldover
second and Sixty-fourth North Carolina, a battery of artil- There were many stirring hose history ought to have bers
lery from Charleston, 8. C., Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Henry’s turesome acts by ria e anti sag wiialk T Gate ene
Cavalry (Fourteenth) Battalion and several companies of better preserved, but the eee : a2 ent upon the Blue Ridge
Thomas’ Legion of Cherokee Indians. tirely, of the details a pega e tes efn im the Balsam,
From the nature of the service these commands were placed and along the — 0 P “he A bade gee passed away like
at all important points in that section, and moved from place over the Oullowhee x Confederate soldier.
to place as occasion might require. the other dreams of the young

i i ‘ i i 7 d to do good service in protecting
Captain Haughton was for a time at Indian Grave Gap, in : This ie . nee Gate ieuy fiom marauding
3 hora
the Uneka Mountains. the people who

No general engagement between the whole force and the
enemy ever occurred, but there were frequent encounters be-
tween detached companies and parties of bushwhackers who

infested the mountains, the largest organized body of them
being Kirk’s command.