No. 227.
Reports of Col. William P. Lyon, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry,
of operations December 19-21 and 31, 1864.
HDQRS. MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON R. R. DEFENSES,
Huntsville, Ala., December 21, 1864.
SIR: I have the
honor to report to you that I left Stevenson on the afternoon of the 19th
instant with one train and arrived at Woodville a little before dark. I found
Colonel Prosser preparing to move to Brownsborough. He moved up the river about
four miles that night, and attempted to cross at the most shallow ford on that
stream, but the high water prevented him from doing so. He returned, and after
several hours labor planking the railroad bridge we got his command across. The
other trains arrived on the morning of 20th, and after leaving sixty infantry
and a piece of artillery at the bridge, together with the dismounted and twenty
mounted cavalry, we moved on to Brownsborough, arriving there at dark. The
railroad and bridges are unharmed, but all of the block-houses were burned on
the 19th. Colonel Prosser preceded us to Brownsborough, and at Maysville
surprised and scattered from 100 to 200 rebels, killing 3 and capturing 7;
several were drowned in attempting to swim Flint River. Hearing from a tolerably
authentic source that there were 700 rebels, infantry and artillery, in
Huntsville, besides their cavalry, I thought it prudent to send Colonel Prosser
ahead to reconnoiter before putting my trains across Flint River. He moved in
the night, arriving here at daybreak, and took quiet possession of Huntsville.
There have been but a few troops here, and they left last evening. I arrived
here with the trains soon after noon. I left 35 men at Hurricane Creek and 100
at Brownsborough. Captain Williams' command, which came here with Colonel
Prosser, is ordered to the latter place to-morrow morning. I also left a piece
of artillery there. When the trains left Larkinsville yesterday morning Captain
Givens' command had not arrived there, and, of course, no artillery was left
there; but I started a train back there this morning with the artillery and to
complete the repairs to the telegraph line, which is broken in several places.
I sent a guard of fifty men on this train. I learn here that the gun-boat fleet
passed down the river last night, and I therefore do not send the detachment of
the Seventy-third and One hundred and second Ohio Volunteer Infantry to Whitesburg.
We get but little intelligence here of the movements or intentions of the
enemy. A report, which I deem tolerably reliable, is, that orders were received
here yesterday from General Hood to hold Huntsville at all hazards, and,
further, that it was his intention to make Decatur his main position, with his
right resting at this place. The intelligence of Hood's defeat did not reach
here until yesterday.
The enemy did but
little damage in this vicinity. They carried off Judge Humphreys a prisoner,
and obtained some forty recruits. We arrived here too soon for their
conscription. I await intelligence from Decatur with considerable anxiety.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. P. LYON,
Colonel Thirteenth Wisconsin Veteran Vol. Infantry, Comdg.
Lieut. SAM. M. KNEELAND,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General._______________
HDQRS. MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON R. R. DEFENSES,
Huntsville, Ala., January 3, 1865.
SIR: I have the
honor to submit the following report of the capture and destruction of Paint
Rock bridge, on the 31st ultimo, the facts not having been obtained by me until
to-day:
When I left
Stevenson on the 19th ultimo, under orders from the general commanding to
reoccupy this place and the railroad, I received written orders to leave fifty
infantry and verbal orders to leave one piece of artillery and twenty mounted
cavalry at Paint Rock bridge. I reached there on the morning of the 20th
ultimo, and left the piece of artillery, the twenty cavalry, and Company G of
the Thirteenth Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Infantry, fifty-six strong, the
whole commanded by Second Lieut. Samuel C. Wagoner, Company G, Thirteenth
Wisconsin. I also left a corporal and one man of Battery D, First Missouri
Light Artillery, to drill a gun squad which I directed to be detailed from the
infantry to work the piece. These, together with Captain Kennimer's company of
home scouts, nominally about thirty strong, constituted the garrison of the
place. I spent considerable time with Lieutenant Wagoner, and gave him full and
explicit directions to place the gun upon an elevation northeast of the bridge,
to encamp his command near it on the same elevation, to immediately fortify his
position by throwing up a redoubt of logs, earth, and rock on the summit of the
elevation, giving him specific directions to carry up the face toward the
mountain, which approaches quite near the bridge at that point, sufficiently
high to protect the gunners in case of attack from sharpshooters in the mountain,
to put every team necessary, of which there were several at the place, and
every available man, upon this work immediately, and press it to an early
completion, and to picket thoroughly every approach to his camp, throwing out
his cavalry as vedettes. I endeavored to impress upon his mind that he was
liable to attack at any time, and that the utmost vigilance on his part was
required to save him from disaster. About a week afterward I received a note
from Lieutenant W[agoner] stating that he had information that there was a
large force of rebels in the vicinity of Claysville, on both sides of the
river, the substance of which I telegraphed to you, and the reply of the
general commanding, which was immediately forwarded to the lieutenant, reiterated
in the strongest language the instructions which I had already given him. I
deeply regret the necessity which compels me to state that Lieutenant Wagoner
entirely disregarded the most vital of the orders. He did not fortify his
position, and he put out no picket, except one man on the bridge, and had no
camp guard, except one sentinel at the gun, and, incredible as it seems,
although he had notice from several sources on Friday evening that the enemy
were within a few miles of him in force, he did not increase his pickets or
take a single precaution to guard against surprise. The attack was made by the
combined forces of Mead and Johnson, and that of Whitecotton from the other
side of the river, amounting in all, as nearly as I can learn, to about 400 men,
at 4 o'clock in the morning. The enemy came from the mountain east of the camp,
and was first discovered by the sentinel at the gun. He fired, and gave the
alarm, but before the camp could be aroused the whole force was in it, and the
garrison overpowered and most of it captured. The lieutenant and 37 men of
Company G and 1 artilleryman were captured. Nineteen of Company G, the other
artilleryman, the cavalry, and the home scouts escaped; only a few of the
latter were in camp, the balance being absent on a scout. The prisoners were
taken to the river by Whitecotton's command at Claysville, and were, doubtless,
sent to the other side. The balance of the attacking force went north. They
burned and cut the bridge so that it fell into the river, and they left the gun
unspiked, but mutilated the carriage.
I go there
to-morrow, and will then be able to give an account of the loss of arms, camp
and garrison equipage, &c.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. P. LYON,
Colonel Thirteenth Wisconsin Veteran Vol. Infantry, Comdg.
Lieut. SAM. M. KNEELAND,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,
Series I, Volume 45, Part 1 (Serial No. 93), p. 638-40
