At daylight on the morning of August 21 we rode into the suburbs of the city of Memphis, Tenn. It was as if we had come down out of the sky on winged horses, so great was the surprise to Generals Washburn and Hurlbut; and these commanders, by a margin of two minutes, escaped from their headquarters in night attire, leaving uniforms and paraphernalia of every kind. The boldness of the stroke saved us. There were enough Union troops in Memphis to have surrounded and captured us, but they fled to shelter, and we had possession of the town for three or four hours. We captured several cannon and a number of prisoners, but the swiftness of our mission made it necessary that we leave all of these behind. In leaving the city we fought everything that made the slightest show of resistance, but there was no organized effort to interfere with us. When we reached the city limits, General Forrest returned General Washburn’s uniform and other clothing taken from his headquarters in the early dawn, and some time afterwards General Washburn had a new Confederate uniform made and sent to General Forrest. This expedition had the desired effect. The headquarters knew not what designs lay behind the strange and startling raid into the very heart of the military government of that department, and the army of invasion was hurriedly recalled to protect Memphis. Thus again had the untutored Forrest, with the strategy of a Hannibal or a Frederick, substituted his wits for guns and soldiers and chased an army with his genius. We wended our way back to Mississippi [Illustration: THOMAS D. DUNCAN At the age of fourteen, two years before he rode with Forrest’s famous troop] and to our command, men and horses weary, worn, sleepy, hungry, and tired, but with the happy consciousness that we had vanquished the foe from the gates of Oxford without the loss of a man. “Up the broad valley, fast and far, The troubled enemy had sped. Up rose the glorious morning star, And the mighty host had fled.” [Illustration: text decoration] CHAPTER XXII RAID INTO NORTH ALABAMA AND MIDDLE TENNESSEE In a short while after the Memphis raid our commander decided to go east and break the line that was furnishing Sherman’s supplies while on his advance into Georgia and the Carolinas. About the first of September, 1864, we marched east to the Tennessee River, crossing at Florence and Bainbridge, Ala.; and after several small fights and skirmishes, we appeared before Athens, Ala., on September 16, 1864. At this place the Union Army had a strong garrison, defended by a fort and blockhouses. The latter defense was impregnable to the assaults of infantry and cavalry, but an easy mark for artillery.