Ralph, I have no doubt what you say is so, and especially the oral history part. I can well recall as an eight or nine year listening to my great-grandfather, a veteran of Spam Am war as a saddler in the 1st Vol. Cavalry, talking about the disagreeable nature of his father, a former soldier in the 4th Tenn Infantry who was badly wounded at Perryville Ky and captured. It was these stories that I remember as a child told by my elders which left a very lasting impression. When I grew older and began to check out the stories that I learn that indeed what I heard was substantively accurate.

I don't doubt the girls memories of either her own direct recollection or those told by a family member. What strikes me is that her story directly involves Col. Phillips. If this is true then we have testimony of an event that places Phillips directly participating in burning and looting (impressing is the word used but looting by any other definition)which does not fit the mold of Phillips prior to the summer of 1863. We see a change in attitude, what and how was this caused? Why was a full Colonel directly involved in this sort of destruction. What I am after is the temper of Phillips as well as his subordinate commanders such as Major John Foreman during this period.