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360 Series I Volume XX-II Serial 30 - Murfreesborough Part II

Page 360 KY.,MID. AND E. TENN.,N. ALA.,AND SW. VA. Chapter XXXII.

[Inclosure M.]


HEADQUARTERS TENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY, Nashville, Tenn., January 24, 1863.

Lieutenant THEODORE WISEMAN,
A. A. A. G., Fourth Div., Center, Fourteenth Army Corps:

LIEUTENANT: For the information of the general commanding, I have the honor to submit the following report in relation to the arrest, &c., of a portion of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania, or Anderson Cavalry:

Pursuant to orders from brigade headquarters, I reported with my regiment to General Morgan, at division headquarters, at 6 a. m. December 30, 1862, and was ordered to march to the camp of the Anderson Cavalry, between Murfreesborough and Lebanon pike, near Nashville. Formed my command when within 50 yards of, and fronting, their camp, and, under orders from the general, the cavalry formed into two ranks fronting my regiment. General Morgan informed them that he was there with the troops to compel their obedience to an order to go to the front. Eighty soon were ready, and started. The others were allowed until 8.30 o'clock to prepare for the march, but they were not ready at the expiration of the time specified. They then asked that I might be permitted to accompany and report their case to General Rosecrans, promising in that case to go without further trouble. The general consenting, I left sufficient men to guard their camp, and with the others (near 170) started to the front. Near La Vergne one or two small parties of our troops, disarmed, were met returning, having been captured and paroled by a brigade of the enemy's cavalry, under General Wheeler, who had also captured and were burning a large train loaded with subsistence and other stores. The force under my command being too limited and illy supplied with ammunition to justify an attempt to cut our way through, I fell back to the asylum, and selected a camp for the night. All except 70, however, fell back to their former camp, near Nashville, but expressed their readiness to start again for the front at any time. I gave them orders to be prepared for the march at 1 a. m. December 31, 1862. At the time specified I returned to their camp, but they refused all orders or attempts to induce them to go forward. In justice to Lieutenant Fobes, their quartermaster, I must say he was an honorable exception, as he gave me all the assistance in his power. As they could not be moved, I requested Colonel Gillem, who, in charge of a supply train, was going to the front, to take charge of those camped at the asylum, and report them to General Rosecrans. I then returned to the city and reported to General Morgan the facts in the case. General Morgan then gave me orders to move them, with all their camp equipage, within the breastworks surrounding the city, and to arrest and confine all who refused to obey orders or do duty. By vote, 70 avowed their willingness to do duty. The rest (two hundred and

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) I caused, pursuant to the orders of the general, to be arrested and confined in the city work-house.

Very respectfully, yours, &c.,

M. F. WOOD,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Tenth Illinois.

[Inclosure N.]

List of the names of men of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, on Anderson Cavalry, who started for headquarters of Major-General Rosecrans, with Colonel Wood and Captain Atkinson, on the 30th


Page 360 KY.,MID. AND E. TENN.,N. ALA.,AND SW. VA. Chapter XXXII.