Sunny South, Jan. 6, 1894 -- page 10

A Reminiscence of one of Terry's Texas Rangers.

About the time Hood's army left Palmetto Station for his Tennessee Campaign, I had the misfortune to have my horse crippled by braking through a bridge. The command of which I was a member, 8th Texas Cavalry, was then in march for North Georgia, and I was left behind with the wagons. As I always had the greatest contempt for a "wagon dog," as we called those who lagged behind, i went back to General Hood and reported the fix I was in. He told me to report to Captain A.M. Shannon, who commanded his headquarter scouts, which, by the way, were all from the regiment of which I was a member. The captain and the boys gave me a warm welcome, and I remained with that little crowd till the close of the war.

When General Hood pulled out from Palmetto Station for his Tennessee Campaign ,Captain Shannon was left in Atlanta to work on the foraging partied that might attempt to worry or harass the people in the immediate neighborhood of that place, and we made it warm for the yanks from that time till Sherman started South, and no doubt some of the old citizens, if still living, can testify.

The night that Atlanta was burned by Sherman, we were given a farewell dance. i forgotten the names of the good people, but I shall never forget the kindness and hospitality that was always extended to us wherever we might be, but especially down on South River, in the neighborhood of Bethel Chapel. we broke up the dance about midnight, and bidding our kind entertainers fair well, started out in search of "Sherman's Bummers." We struck our first lot at Conyers Station, and killed and captured a few. The next fight worth noting was at Covington, which we found a lot of bummers which we punished very severely, as well as capturing some good horses. I fitted myself with a pair of No.5 cavalry boots, being the lucky possessor of the only pair of feet among the scouts that could wear them.

The next exploit or note was the capture of sixty four men, the rear guard of the 20th Corps, if my memory serves me right. It was a company of the 107 new York in command of Captain Richardson. Our company consisted of about 16 men, and here was the rub, with sixty four men in our hands, and the nearest troops that new anything about us was at Macon. Fortunately we struck a lot of school boys at Rutledge, the school having been burnt that day, we armed the boys with guns captured from the yanks and turned the prisoners over to them to be taken to Macon. I would very much like to know whether the boys ever arrived at Macon with the prisoners. No doubt some of them are still living and could give the desired information.

This imperfect sketch is written by one of the few men who followed Sherman from Atlanta to Bentonville, N.C.
W.E.M.