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and violence which in our history finds its parallel only in Indian atrocities. Houses and banks were broken into-women were stripped of their jewelry, and everything valuable that could be transported on horseback, was dragged forth and packed for removal on fresh horses gathered in the place. As fast as houses were pillaged, they were set on fire, and soon the crackling of flames mingled with the shouts and cries of the infuriated demons. "During all this time, citizens were being murdered everywhere. Germans and negroes, when caught, were shot immediately. Many persons were shot down after they had been taken prisoners and had been assured that they would not be hurt if they would surrender. Messrs. Trask and Baker, and two other citizens, were so taken, and while being marched towards the river as prisoners, were fired upon, and all four killed on the spot except Mr. Baker, who was not expected to live. Mr. Dix had been taken prisoner, and his house set on fire, when one of the fiends told him if he would give them his money he would not be killed; otherwise he would. Mr. Dix went into the burning house, and got a thousand dollars and handed it over. He was told to march towards the river, and had not proceeded twenty steps when he was shot dead from behind. Mr. Hampson, clerk of the ProvostMarshal had a revolver, and tried to defend the few things he had saved from the Johnson House. His wife interfered, and they told him if he would surrender he should be treated as a prisoner, and be safe from harm. He surrendered, and was immediately shot from behind-the ball entering near the spine, and coming out below the kidneys in front. In one instance, the wife and daughter of a man throw them. selves over his body, begging for his life; but one of the murderers deliberately thrust his revolver down between the two women, and killed the man.

"Before ten o'clock, the main body of the guerrillas

236

HORRIBLE ATROCITIES.

departed with their plunder, leaving a guard over the pris oners in town, and a few stragglers. The few persons wounded, were wounded at this time by the passing fiends. In the earlier part of the day, most of the persons were fired at from very near, and killed instantly.

"One of the first persons out was Colonel Deitzler. Mr. Williamson and myself helped him carry off the dead. The sight that met us when coming out, I cannot describe. I have read of outrages committed in the so-called dark ages, and, horrible as they appeared to me, they sink into insignificance in comparison with what I was then compelled to witness. Well-known citizens were lying, completely roasted, in front of the spot where their stores and residences had been. The bodies were crisp, and nearly black. We thought, at first, they were all negroes, till we recognized some of them. In handling the dead bodies, pieces of roasted flesh would remain in our hands. Soon, our strength failed us, in this horrible and sickening work. Many could not help crying like children, Women and little children. were all over town, hunting for their husbands and fathers, and sad indeed was the scene when they did finally find them among the corpses laid out for recognition. I cannot

describe the horrors; language fails me, and the recollection of the scenes I witnessed, makes me sick when I am compelled to repeat them."*

These, however, are but few of the details. Twenty colored soldiers were shot in cold blood, and in circumstances of fiendish atrocity. A hundred and forty unarmed men, in all, were murdered, and twenty-four wounded. The dead lined the streets everywhere, through which roamed weeping women and children, while the air was filled with the smoke and flames of a hundred and eighty-five burning buildings. Altogether, it was a scene one would never expect to see

* William Kempf, belonging to the Provost-Marshal's Office.

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in the Nineteenth Century, in a civilized and Christian land. It rivaled in atrocity the massacre of the whites in Minnesota by the Sioux Indians, and shows what desperate bands of men infested our frontiers. General Lane was in the place at the time, and narrowly escaped capture by the desperadoes. Enraged at being unable to find him, they burned his house. Many heroic deeds were performed by the women in protecting the lives of the men, and it must be said to the honor of the wretches, that they refrained from committing violence on them.

After quietly taking a lunch amid the smouldering ruins of the town, Quantrell ordered his men to mount, and lifting his hat mockingly to the ladies, bowed politely, and said, "Ladies, I now bid you good morning; I hope when we meet again, it will be under more favorable circumstances." He then put spurs to his horse, and rode away, followed by his murderous gang. He took the precaution to collect all the fresh horses he could lay his hands on, so as to be able to elude pursuit.

The troops, under Major Plumb, reached the place only to find it in ruins, and the enemy gone. Although they had pressed rapidly forward, having made more than sixty-five miles, without rest or food, since the morning before-filled with rage at the sight which met their gaze, they immediately wheeled and started in pursuit. Lane, assembling a hundred and fifty of the citizens, joined them, and all day long they pressed on the flying track of the foe. Quantrell kept a hundred of his best-mounted men as a rear-guard, who the moment our men, scattered over the prairies, came in sight, would form in line of battle. This would compel a halt of the most advanced pursuers, and by the time the main body could get up, Quantrell's gang, with the booty, would be far ahead. The rear-guard, the moment Plumb was ready to commence an attack, would pour in one volley, then break into column and gallop off at a rate that defied pur

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suit. Thus the chase was kept up till eight o'clock at night, when the rear-guard made a stand, and a skirmish followed. The guerrillas, however, finding another force, under Lieut.Colonel Clark, crossing their line of retreat, broke and scattered in the darkness, so that the trail could not be followed.

Quantrell, seeing that he had baffled his pursuers, halted to rest; but at midnight, a body of militia broke up his camp. Aided, however, by the darkness and the uneven surface of the prairie, he got safely off, and, continuing his flight, crossed the Kansas border, and at noon the next day reached the timber near the middle fork of the Grand River, Missouri, an hour in advance of his pursuers. Here, his forces scattered. About a hundred, with Quantrell at their head, moved down the river. Lieutenant-Colonel Lazear, with two hundred men, continued to press him so closely that he was compelled to abandon most of his horses and much of the plunder he had taken from the Lawrence stores.

There had been, in the pursuit, frequent engagements with detached parties, and Ewing reported about a hundred of the miscreants killed. Though the pursuers traveled a hundred miles in the first twenty-four hours-killing many of their horses by exhaustion, and some of the men themselves died from the effect of the sun, and want of restyet Quantrell, by desperate riding, succeeded in escaping. Never did bloodhounds hang more unflinchingly on the track of a poor fugitive, than did these gallant soldiers and enraged citizens on the flying footsteps of this desperado, until their horses gave out. No prisoners were capturedevery man being shot remorselessly down when overtaken. The perfect knowledge of the fate that awaited him, imparted a desperation to Quantrell's efforts to elude his pursuers; and, mounted on the best horse the country could furnish, he pushed him to the limit of his endurance, and thus escaped a short shrift and a quick passage to the next world-to drag out a miserable life in this.

CHAPTER XIX.

SEPTEMBER, 1863.

ROSECRANS BEFORE CHATTANOOGA-RESOLVES TO FLANK IT-HAZEN LEFT TO GUARD THE RIVER BRAGG

EVACUATES

CHATTANOOGA-ROSECRANS RE

SOLVES TO CUT OFF HIS RETREAT-SCATTERING

OF HIS CORPS-BRAGG

RAPID CONCEN

MARCHES BACK ON CHATTANOOGA-PERIL OF ROSECRANS
TRATION OF HIS ARMY-FIRST DAY'S BATTLE-SECOND DAY'S BATTLE-
ROUT OF OUR ARMY-STEADFASTNESS OF THE LEFT WING-DESPERATE

DELIVERANCE-THE

FIGHTING OF THOMAS-THE CRISIS-UNEXPECTED
GALLANT STEEDMAN-A DESPERATE CHARGE-THE BATTLE SAVED THE
ARMY FALLS BACK TO CHATTANOOGA-CAUSES

OF DEFEAT.

HILE these stirring events were occurring in Ohio and Kansas, Rosecrans, with his magnificent

WHILE theseas, army

well in hand, was pressing victoriously forward towards Chattanooga, and, the last week in August, drew up his columns on the banks of the Tennessee, in front of the place. It being a strong position by nature, and made more so by art, it was well-nigh impregnable against any direct attack. Rosecrans therefore determined to flank it by the west and south, and, if possible, get in Bragg's rear and cut him off from his base of supplies, so that if he did not retreat he would be forced to a decisive battle in the open field. In carrying out this plan, he took his main army over the Tennessee, a few miles below Chattanooga, and marched up the Lookout Valley, lying west of the Lookout Mountain. On the 3rd of September, he put the troops left behindabout seven thousand in number-under Brigadier-General Hazen, with orders to watch the movements of the enemy at all the crossings, and make Bragg believe that a large army was still on the north shore of the river. This force

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