After our return from this raid, we rejoined Bragg’s army near Murfreesboro, Tenn.; and Generals Wheeler and Forrest took all the cavalry and made a raid on Fort Donelson. Against General Forrest’s judgment, General Wheeler, the senior in command, decided to attack the garrison. With heavy loss, we were repulsed, and retired without accomplishing anything. Our next move was to join the forces of General Van Dorn in Middle Tennessee; and on March 5, 1863, we surrounded Thompson’s Station, on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and, after a sharp fight, captured the garrison and 1,306 men, including the two commanders, Colonels Coburn and W. R. Shafter. The latter was a conspicuous general in the Spanish-American War of 1898. We spent March fighting detachments in and around Franklin, Tenn. On March 25 we captured Brentwood and destroyed the bridge over Harpeth River between Franklin and Nashville. Here I had another close call. The Union Army had sent out a large force after us, and had succeeded in getting between a part of our command and the river, forcing us to ford at a point extremely dangerous. We were fighting as we ran, and were compelled to jump our horses from a high embankment into the river. My horse carried me under to a great depth; but he was not disabled, and, by great exertion, came up and swam across. Some of our men were drowned, and many were shot by the enemy as the mass of men and horses struggled in the river. I had read, as a boy, the thrilling story of Israel Putnam’s reckless ride over a precipice, but I never dreamed that I would one day be forced to the same extremity. In the hard school of war I learned that, under the stress of great danger, a man, in mind and body, will perform the unbelievable. After making our get-away from Harpeth River, on April 10, we had another fight at Franklin, Tenn., capturing the enemy’s wagon train, two cannon, and a number of prisoners. We then returned to Bragg’s army in the vicinity of Chattanooga. [Illustration: text decoration] CHAPTER XIII PURSUIT OF THE STREIGHT RAIDERS Late in April came news that the Union Army around Corinth was making a demonstration into North Alabama. Forrest’s genius had already become known, and he was sent with 800 men to uncover the design of the enemy. When we arrived in the vicinity of Tuscumbia, Ala., we found a part of General Roddy’s Confederate command fighting and retreating before the advancing enemy from near Cherokee. On reaching Tuscumbia, Forrest sent out scouts in all directions to ascertain the purpose of the enemy. Upon the reports of these scouts, Forrest understood the general plan of the foe. Col. A. D. Streight, in command of an Indiana regiment of infantry, was to raid [Illustration: MRS. JULIETTE ELGIN DUNCAN Wife of Thomas D. Duncan] through Alabama and on to Rome, Ga., cutting the railway and destroying factories.