Our battalion
returned to Camp Hall, and the detachment that went down the north side of the
river returned with eleven prisoners. They reported that three of the enemy
were killed, and that one of our men was drowned in attempting to cross the
river.
When the news
reached Columbia last night that the Confederates were at Rowena, General Boyle
ordered a part of Wolford's and a part of Haggard's cavalry to Rowena and
Creelsborough.1 The latter place is between Rowena and Burkesville.
Wolford followed as far as Jamestown, and reported that our men left that place
between midnight and daylight this morning,2 but Colonel Haggard
reported thus:
Creelsborough, December 13, 1861, 1 A. M.
General Boyle:
DEAR
SIR: We reached this place at dark, expecting an attack. every moment since our
arrival. I placed pickets out upon every road reaching this place.
Our
pickets from the Rowena road have just come in, bringing us information that is
reliable that three hundred men had crossed the river at that point this
evening, and a large force on the opposite bank were crossing (said to be three
thousand at least).
D.
R. HAGGARD,
Colonel
Cavalry.3
Our men had all
returned to their camps several hours before Colonel Haggard penned the above
"reliable information.”
On the 12th General
Boyle wrote to General Thomas thus:
The
rebel cavalry who crossed the Cumberland into Russell County (at Rowena) have,
it is reported, killed fifty or sixty of the loyal and defenseless citizens.4
Though he wrote as
follows to Thomas the next day:
The
people, even the good Union people, circulate the most devilish lies in regard
to the enemy, and our own scouts, without they are selected with care, are not
reliable.
The
rebels were at Rowena and shot two or three men, but killed none.5
1 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 494.
3 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 497.
4 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 494.
5 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 498.
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