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Four Years A Scout and Spy, by E. C. Downs

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Title: Four Years A Scout and Spy

Author: E. C. Downs

Release Date: February 21, 2012 [EBook #38948]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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[Illustration: "GENERAL BUNKER."]

FOUR YEARS A SCOUT AND SPY.

Four Years A Scout and Spy, by E. C. Downs 1

"GENERAL BUNKER," ONE OF LIEUT. GENERAL GRANT'S MOST DARING AND SUCCESSFUL

SCOUTS.

BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE THRILLING ADVENTURES, NARROW ESCAPES, NOBLE DARING,

AND AMUSING INCIDENTS IN THE EXPERIENCE OF CORPORAL RUGGLES DURING FOUR

YEARS' SERVICE AS A SCOUT AND SPY FOR THE FEDERAL ARMY;

EMBRACING HIS SERVICES FOR TWELVE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED GENERALS IN THE U.

S. ARMY.

By E. C. DOWNS, MAJOR OF THE TWENTIETH OHIO VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

Illustrated.

ZANESVILLE, OHIO: PUBLISHED BY HUGH DUNNE, NORTH FOURTH STREET, ADJOINING

COURT HOUSE. 1866.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by

E. C. DOWNS,

In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court, for the Southern District of Ohio.

STEREOTYPED AT THE FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY, CINCINNATI, O.

TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT, Whose undaunted energy, heroic valor, superior generalship,

and devotion to his country, have proved him

"THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE,"

And won for him

A WORLD-WIDE FAME;

And to the gallant Officers and Soldiers who have nobly assisted in sustaining our glorious nationality by

crushing the great rebellion,

THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

It was with much difficulty that I was induced to give to the public a narrative of my experience as a scout and

spy. It was the intense interest with which the people have listened to my narratives, whenever I have related

them, and their earnest entreaties to have them published, that have prevailed upon me to do so.

I entered the army from purely patriotic motives. I had no vain ambition to gratify, but simply a desire to

sustain and perpetuate the noble institutions that had been purchased by the blood of our fathers. I valued the

cause of liberty as well worth all the sacrifice that it might cost to save it. I saw at once that the conflict was to

be one involving great principles, and that in the end Truth and Justice must prevail.

The part that I have borne in putting down the great rebellion is the one that naturally fell to me by the force

Four Years A Scout and Spy, by E. C. Downs 2

of circumstances, and entirely unsolicited. My relation in the affairs of life seems to have been such as to have

just adapted me to that part that fell to my lot to act.

I have, without doubt, been indiscreet at times. Who has not? But the reader must remember that he who goes

from the peaceful pursuits of life, for the first time, to engage in the art of war, does so with a lack of

experience. Soldiering was not my trade. War is demoralizing in its tendency. This fact, I trust, will very

much lessen any feelings of prejudice that may arise, in the course of these narratives, from passages clothed

with the rough-and-tumble of army life.

Rough language and blunt manners are characteristics of war, because its tendency is to destroy the finer

feelings of our natures. Some of the language used is of that character, and it would fail to be a truthful

representation of the reality if rendered less so. The incidents that I have narrated are all of them facts that

have occurred in my experience, and, without further apology, I submit them to an indulgent public.

LORAIN RUGGLES.

CONTENTS.

Four Years A Scout and Spy, by E. C. Downs 3

CHAPTER I.

Parentage--Early discipline--Childhood incidents--Subsequent occupations--Driven from Mississippi--Works

on rebel fortifications--Escape to Illinois--Enlists as a soldier-- Supposed to have deserted--How he got his

name--Examination by the Surgeon--Roster of the Regiment 11

CHAPTER I. 4

CHAPTER II.

Moves to Cincinnati--Detailed to guard the forts--Meets a secesh lady--First scout--Unexpected visit of the

Colonel--The drill-- Bad report--The mischief investigated--Attempts to discover the rogues--Innocent man

accused--The accusers skedaddle--Who got the chickens 22

CHAPTER II. 5

CHAPTER III.

"Marching orders"--Arrives at Fort Donelson--The surrender--Goes North with prisoners--Meets an old friend

as a rebel Captain-- The Captain attempts to bribe him--Expedition up the Tennessee River--Touching

incident--Battle of Shiloh--Captures an Enfield --Recommended as a scout 30

CHAPTER III. 6

CHAPTER IV.

Rumored attack upon Grand Junction--"General Bunker" sent out as spy--Passes himself as a rebel

soldier--Falls in with rebel cavalry--Visits a rebel camp--Attempts to deprive him of his revolver--Discovers a

Yankee forage party--Undertakes to return --Captured by Yankees, and robbed of his revolver and money--

Passes as a rebel spy--Sent to the Provost-marshal--Sent to General Hurlbut--Returned to Grand Junction 38

CHAPTER IV. 7

CHAPTER V.

Fired at by a citizen--The sick overseer--How he was cured-- Pickets fired on--Trip to White Church--Visits

General Van Dorn --Meets a rebel spy--Reports to General Leggett--Grand Junction evacuated--Again sees

the rebel spy--Attempt to arrest him-- Drinks wine with the rebel General Jackson--Discovers a hole in the

fence 53

CHAPTER V. 8

CHAPTER VI.

The value of the Oath--Attempt to take "Bunker's" life--Sent to Grand Junction--The hazardous ride--Shoots

the picket--The chase--Unfortunate occurrence--The chase abandoned--Meets with guerrillas--They invite him

to drink--Renewed vigilance--The battle of Middleburg 69

CHAPTER VI. 9

CHAPTER VII.

Attempts to visit the enemy's camp--Learns the strength and position of the enemy--Return

intercepted--Perilous situation-- Loses his mule--Frightened by men of his own regiment--The plan to capture

the enemy--The negro's report--The forces discovered --Disposes of a rebel picket--Reports his discovery 76

CHAPTER VII. 10

CHAPTER VIII.

Sent to find the enemy's pickets--Suspicious circumstance--Sick child--Captures three citizens standing

picket--Releases them-- Falls asleep--Perilous situation--Fortunate turn of affairs-- Attack on the pickets--A

very pious man--He proves a rebel spy 85

CHAPTER VIII. 11

CHAPTER IX.

Sent to Somerville--Finds himself a prisoner--Taken to Cold Water--Meets with old acquaintances--Is

paroled--Runs with the 2d Arkansas Cavalry--Goes to Lumpkins' Mills--Interview with General Price--Stays

all night with his brother, the rebel General--Return to Bolivar--Reports to General Ross--"Steals the

Colonel's horse," and returns to the enemy--Runs away from the enemy 93

CHAPTER IX. 12

CHAPTER X.

Sent to Grand Junction to capture guerrillas--Suspicious incident--Strategy to get out the guerrillas--Orders

disobeyed --The rebel flag--The very kind secesh lady--The mistake--Out of the frying-pan into the

fire--Guerrillas watching for them --The attack--The prisoner--Result of the trio 103

CHAPTER X. 13

CHAPTER XI.

Sent to Lagrange--Observes two cavalrymen--Arrival at Lagrange--Waits for the cavalry--Accompanies them

out--Takes his departure--Is pursued--Evades the pursuit--Finds himself cornered--Crosses the Cypress

Swamp--Robbed by outlaws-- Disloyal citizen--The fate of the robbers 115

CHAPTER XI. 14

CHAPTER XII.

Starts to find General Bragg's forces--"Wools" the secesh farmer --Receives a bottle of rum--Guerrillas

washing stockings--Finds Bragg's advance--Recognized as a Yankee spy--Ordered off his mule to be

shot--The clamor of the crowd--Recognized as a Confederate spy--Rebel Surgeon vouches for him--Is

released-- Gray-headed rebel brought to justice--The Sutler of the 2d Arkansas Cavalry a prisoner--What

became of the guerrillas that were washing stockings 127

CHAPTER XII. 15