3, Unsuccessful guerrilla attack on a passenger train near Bethel
BETHEL, TENN., October 3, 1862.
Maj.-Gen. GRANT:
Passenger train back here; freight train supposed safe through. Three hundred rebels came in to the railroad; freight got by them; rebels then took up rail and cut telegraph; our force, Seventeenth Wisconsin, ran them off. No killed reported as yet.
I. N. HAYNIE, Col., &c.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 17, pt. II, p. 257
3, Affair near La Fayette
OCTOBER 3, 1862.--Affair near La Fayette Landing, Tenn.
Report of Col. William W. Lowe, Fifth Iowa Cavalry.
FORT HENRY, October 5, 1862.
SIR: A scouting party from my command, under Maj. Brackett, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, when beyond La Fayette, during the night of the 3d instant, were fired upon by rebels and 1 man killed; the fire was returned, and 1 rebel lieutenant named Maddern killed. The rebels fled in confusion, but could not be followed owing to dense fog.
W. W. LOWE, Col., Comdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 17, pt. I, p. 150.
3, "Horrible State of Affairs in West Tennessee."
From a number of letters just received from prominent citizens of Henry and the surrounding counties in this State, and especially one form a well-informed gentleman residing at Paducah, Ky., we have statements of the outrages committed by guerrillas in those parts, well calculated to arouse the fiercest passions of wrath and revenge. No less than thirty citizens from Henry county, Tenn., are now at Paducah, fugitives from rebel violence. Among them are various persons known in Memphis, of whom we name John. W. Nance, John Cooney, Jr., J.P. Dunlap, B. .Polard, T. Cowan, H. P. Howard and George Billings. These report the land full of guerrilla bands. Murray county, Kentucky, was visited September 18th, by a gang of 100 of these miscreants, but whom several stores were pillaged. Troops are on the move from Paducah to redress these outrages, but the mischief done is irremediable.
This is the second or third raid into Henry county since the 1st of September, and the unfortunate citizens whose devotion to the Union flag has rendered them obnoxious to the Rebels, or who are singled out as victims to the conscriptions for the Confederate army, have often fled before them.
Carter Foster was killed by the guerrillas at Conyersville at their last visit to that place. He was murdered after his surrender. Many persons from Henry and Weakley counties have recently been conscripted; among them we name James Snider, Joseph Spence, John Booth and Thomas Snow.
A more desolate country than Henry county, as described by our informant, can scarcely be imagined. "The inhabitants are absolutely ruined. Many have left -- many more are preparing to go. In the county site [sic] Paris, there will soon be no one left to tell the tale of its former beauty, wealth and prosperity." The writer adds: "I would to God my family were in the wilds of Africa, rather than in that abandoned and desolate region!"
Nashville Dispatch, October 3, 1863.
3, Death of Major-General W. T. Sherman's son in Memphis
MEMPHIS, TENN., October 4, 1863.
[Via Cairo, 6th. Received 6.35 p. m.] Maj.-Gen. HALLECK, Gen.-in-Chief:
....My eldest boy Willie--my California boy--nine years old, died here yesterday, of fever and dysentery contracted at Vicksburg. His loss to me is more than words can express, but I would not let it divert my mind from the duty I owe mycountry....
W. T. SHERMAN, Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. IV, p. 73.
"Melancholy Affliction in Gen. Sherman's Family."
Many who visited General Sherman during his command here, observed with interest a bright-eyed, happy boy of nine years, whose cheerful ways gave an unwonted cheerfulness to headquarters. Such will learn with deep sympathy that that merry voice is still, and those active limbs are at rest forever. WILLIAM T. SHERMAN [sic] died at 6 P. M. yesterday, aged nine years, is the melancholy record of a life which promised to his parents honors and lengths of days.
William was a fine, stout, healthy lad. He was taken with a slight fever on the Atlantic, having come from his father's camp on the Big Black, the day before he boat left Vicksburg. He sank rapidly. Immediately on his father's arrival on Friday night he was brought to the Gayoso House, and every attention paid him, but in vain. His mother, with her remaining children, will have a melancholy journey home with the remains of little WILLIAM [sic] and his precious memory.
The military and citizens are invited to accompany the remains to-day at 10 1/2 A. M., as they are borne from the Gayoso House to the steamer War Eagle.
Memphis Bulletin, October 4, 1863.
"FUNERAL OF WILLIE SHERMAN."
No better evidence can be afforded of the popularity which the gallantry and amenity of Gen. Sherman have secured, than the appearance of the mourning group who attended the remains of his little con on Sunday from the hotel to the steamer. His staff officers and the regimental officers of the 13th regulars wore mourning badges and the countenances of all present gave token how much every one felt for the afflicted parents. Little Willie was a sergeant in fanciful appointment, of the 13th, and the roughest soldier of that regiment wept when his death was announced. The lad had shown great aptitude for military affairs accompanying the General on every occasion and taking part in all the concerns of the camp with an inquiring mind, that promised in future years a distinction rivaling the fame of his father. We tender our sympathies with those of the great number who mourn with him.
Memphis Bulletin, October 6, 1863.
October 3, 1863
3, "…we took and cleaned out the whole pile." Corporal George Hovey Cadman's experience at the Memphis Saturday night ball: an excerpt from a letter home
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….I don't think I told you in my last letter, but I went to a Ball last Saturday night. There were some six of our Company there. Unluckily the parties at the Ball were all Secesh and as saucy as the Devil. There were a few Soldiers there beside the Co B's and after they had paid a Dollar for admittance they were not allowed the privilege of dancing. They boys bore it patiently for about two hours, but finding that forbearance had ceased to be a Virtue, they or rather we took and cleaned out the whole pile. It aint often I mix in a fuss, but I thought the confounded rebels had gone far enough, for the reason assigned for not permitting the men to dance was because they were Union Soldiers. You never saw a place emptied so quick in you life. One fellow trying to get out in a hurry fell into the Wood Box stern first and got jammed, his head stuck out on one side and his heels on the other. We had to pull him out of the Box for he was a prisoner there.
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George Hovey Cadman Correspondence
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