Look how he rides, and the ranks of the blue coats open.
Hurrah for the brave rebel boy! He has passed and is seen to regain his
regiment. I afterwards learned that that brave Rebel boy was my own
brother, Dave, who at that time was not more than sixteen years old.
The one who was killed was named Grimes, and the one captured was named
Houser, and the regiment was the First Tennessee Cavalry, then commanded
by Colonel J. H. Lewis. You could have heard the cheers from both sides,
it seemed, for miles.
John Branch raised the tune, in which the whole First and Twenty-seventh
Regiments joined in:
"Cheer, boys, cheer, we are marching on to battle!
Cheer, boys, cheer, for our sweethearts and our wives!
Cheer, boys, cheer, we'll nobly do our duty,
And give to the South our hearts, our arms, our lives.
Old Lincoln, with his hireling hosts,
Will never whip the South,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
All this is taking place while the Yankees are fully one thousand yards
off. We can see every movement that is made, and we know that Sherman's
incendiaries are already hacked. Sherman himself is a coward, and dares
not try his strength with old Joe. Sherman never fights; all that he
is after is marching to the sea, while the world looks on and wonders:
"What a flank movement!" Yes, Sherman is afraid of minnie balls, and
tries the flank movement.
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