Loudon, Tenn. We left Knoxville yesterday at 3 a. m. and
took up our line of march for Kingston, forty miles distant, expecting to make
it in three days. We took it leisurely and halted at 1 o'clock for dinner,
having made twelve miles. We rested two hours and dined on hardtack and coffee.
In the afternoon we marched six miles further and encamped for the night. The
weather is delightful and roads good, which makes eighteen miles a day only
gentle exercise. Very much depends on this. It is more tiresome to march ten
miles when the roads are wet and slippery than twice that distance when dry and
firm. We had hardly arrived in camp before the report of a dozen rifles told us
the work of slaughter had begun.
Before dark good,
fat beef was issued, and we supped on coffee, hardtack and beef. We have drawn
nothing else, except sugar, since leaving Crab Orchard, and now we are getting
only half rations of coffee and sugar. This morning we were aroused at 3
o'clock, two hours earlier than the usual time when on the march, but we
"tumbled out," made coffee, fried beef, ate our breakfast, dried and
rolled up our tents and blankets, and at 4 o'clock were ready for business. At
5 o'clock the bugle sounded "fall in," and in fifteen minutes the
whole division was in motion. But not toward Kingston. I soon learned that
Colonel Wolford was in a "fix," and we were on the way to help him
out. Cannonading could be heard in the direction of Loudon Bridge, which served
as a stimulant, and away we dashed, making fifteen miles by 11 o'clock. We
were now within two miles of the bridge, and halted in a piece of timber. Here
we learned that the crisis had passed, and Colonel Leisure told us to make
ourselves comfortable as possible until morning.
Loudon bridge
crosses the Holston a short distance above its junction with the Clinch. These
two form the Tennessee. The railroad from Bristol to Loudon is entirely in our
possession. From this place to Cleveland the rebels have small forces at
different points. We have strong fortifications on this side the river,
occupied by the Twenty-third Corps, who have just completed a pontoon bridge.
Wolford, with a brigade of cavalry and mounted infantry crossed this bridge,
advanced about six miles and began to fortify. One regiment was sent out to
look for the enemy. Forage being scarce and hard to get, another was sent off
with a train to gather forage. Just at this critical moment, when he was least
prepared, the Rebels threw a force of five thousand troops between him and the
bridge, thus cutting off his retreat, and summoned him to surrender. To oppose
them Wolford had two regiments of cavalry, a battery of six pieces, but no
ammunition. What was to be done surrender? His case looked desperate; some
might have considered it hopeless; but "Wolf" was only indignant. He
bared his teeth and growled, "What! me surrender? Why, man, I'm here to
fight. Go back and tell your people I'll call on them directly." He spiked
his useless cannon and abandoned them; put himself at the head of his brave
followers and hurls them like an avalanche upon the enemy's center; cuts
his way through their line, taking ninety prisoners, reached the bridge with
little loss, while our artillery on this side made pursuit impossible. This
took place yesterday. This morning, having been reinforced, he crossed the
river to offer them battle. He found them but two miles away, and immediately
engaged them. When we arrived here the roar of artillery could be distinctly
heard, but gradually it grew faint and fainter, until at sundown it had died
away in the distance.
SOURCE: David
Lane, A Soldier's Diary: The Story of a Volunteer,
1862-1865, pp. 108-10
