It was my duty, while the brigade remained at Grand Junction, to watch for any demonstrations of General Van Dorn's, Wheeler's, or Jackson's cavalry. For that purpose I used to ride out on a road running east and west, that lay three miles to the south of Grand Junction. I used to scout that road for about ten miles regularly every day. One morning, before going out, I called upon Captain Jacobs, Provost-marshal of the post, on business. While I was there, an overseer that I had frequently seen in my scouts came in, and requested a renewal of his pass, and a permit to carry out certain articles that he wished to purchase. He had with him the oath of allegiance. As soon as my business was completed, I started out on my scout, as usual, leaving the overseer there. I made the trip out, and had returned to within a few yards of the overseer's house, when he stepped out from a fence-corner, with a squirrel-rifle in his hands, and said to me, "Are you a Yankee soldier?" "No, sir, I'm not a Yankee soldier, I'm a Federal soldier." "What are you doing out here?" "I'm watching for rebel cavalry." "I'll soon stop your watching Confederate cavalry." "Are you going to shoot me?" He said nothing, but the click of his gun, as he cocked it, said "Yes." As he was bringing it to his face, I put the spurs to my horse, and as I passed, he fired, but missed me. I went in and reported to General Leggett, who replied, "You had better look out, or some of those _good Union men will kill you_." He issued no order to have the man arrested; and perhaps it would have done no good if he had, for such characters, with their oily tongues, are as slippery as eels. As a general thing, they manage to evade justice, and get released from the Federal authorities. I well knew that if the overseer was allowed to live undisturbed my own life was in jeopardy, so I telegraphed to General Grant, then at Jackson, Tennessee, to know what to do with such a man. His reply was, "If you are a scout for the Government, _you ought to know yourself_." That night I went to the 20th Ohio Infantry and got two Sergeants, whose real names I shall not give, but designate them as the "big Sergeant" and the "little Sergeant"--both of them belonged to company H--to assist me in bringing the overseer to justice. Knowing that if we accomplished our purpose there would be complaints entered at head-quarters the next day, I resolved to proceed as noiselessly about it as possible. Instead of getting the countersign, and thus letting it be known that we were going out, we stole through the picket line, and nobody knew that we had left camp.