Murphy, N. C.,
November 1, 1863.
Sir : On October 27, General Vaughn, with a detachment of his mounted men, overtook Goldman Bryson, with his company of mounted robbers, in Cherokee County, N. C., attacked him, killing 2 and capturing 17 men and 30 horses.
On the 28th, I left Murphy with 19 men, taking Bryson's trail through the mountains; followed him 25 miles, when I came upon him and fired on him, killing him and capturing 1 man with him. I found in his possession his orders from General Burnside and his roll and other papers.
My men all acted nobly; marched two days, and without anything to eat.
Yours, respectfully,
C. H. TAYLOR,
Lieutenant Comdg. Co. B, Infantry Regt., Thomas' Legion. Lieutenant-Colonel Walker,
Commanding Battalion, Thomas' Legion.
[Enclosure.]
Special Field Orders, ) Hdqrs. Army Op The Ohio,
No. 56. J Knoxville, East Tenn., October 22,1863.
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VI. Capt. G. Bryson, First Tennessee National Guard, is hereby ordered to proceed with his command to North Carolina and vicinity, for the purpose of recruiting, and will return here within a fortnight, •when he will report in person at these headquarters. By order of Major-General Burnside:
EDWARD M. NEILL, Major, and Assistant Adjutant-General.
[Indorsement.]
[General Bragg:]
Permit me, general, to recommend to your notice C. H. Taylor, lieutenant, who commanded the Indians at the killing of Captain Bryson. You will pardon me, general, in not sending this through the proper channel, as we have no mails.
W. C. WALKER, Lieutenant-Colonel, Comdg. Battalion, Thomas' Legion.
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Also try---
[Lincoln's loyalists: Union soldiers from the Confederacy] - Page 53
Richard Nelson Current - 1992 - 253 pages
"On the same day that Burnside reported his numbers to Lincoln, he ordered Captain Goldman Bryson of the First Tennessee National Guard to "proceed with his command to North Carolina and vicinity, for the purpose of recruiting. ..."
[The Last Confederate General: John C. Vaughn] - Page 77
Larry Gordon - 2009 - 272 pages - Preview
"The massacre was the end of the First Tennessee National Guard, ... Despite the sudden demise of Goldman Bryson and the First Tennessee, the bushwhacking continued unabated. Through a campaign of murder, intimidation, and destruction, ..."
[Bushwhackers!: the mountains] - Page 91
"A local rowdy named Goldman Bryson was fingered, by a mixed-blood witness, as the perpetrator of this senseless deed. ... taking a commission as captain of a Unionist partisan outfit called the First Tennessee National Guard. ..."
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David Upton