I was sent in command of one hundred men of Twenty-third and
one hundred of Twenty-sixth six miles towards Raleigh to Blake's to watch a
road on which it was thought Colonel Jenkins' Rebel cavalry might pass with
prisoners and plunder from Guyandotte. We bivouacked on the snow in fence
corners — ice half inch thick — and passed the night not uncomfortably at all.
A party of Rebels from Floyd's army met us here with a flag of truce. Had a
good little chat with several of them. They did not seem at all averse to
friendly approaches. It seemed absurd to be fighting such civil and friendly
fellows. I thought they were not so full of fight as our men — acted sick of
it. One youngster, a lieutenant in Phillips' Legion, T. H. Kennon of
Milledgeville, Georgia, wanted to buy back his little sorrel mare which we had
captured — a pleasant fellow. They were after Croghan's body.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 149
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