ARMY OPERATIONS. 



79 



come, the Yankees come ! ' Never in the his- 

 tory of any military movement was surprise so 

 complete. " Men rushed into the streets almost 

 naked, the women fainted, the children scream- 

 ed, the darkies laughed, and for a short time 

 a scene of perfect terror reigned. This state 

 of affairs soon subsided." 



Col. Gazley, of the 37th Indiana regiment, 

 was appointed provost marshal, and his regi- 

 ment occupied the city as guard. Then com- 

 menced an examination of the results of this 

 bloodless capture. At the railroad depot were 

 found seventeen first-class locomotives and a 

 great quantity of passenger and freight cars, 

 and at the foundery two or three cannon, to- 

 gether with several small arms. Gen. Mitch- 

 ell soon made good use of the engines. Before 

 the close of day, one hundred miles of the 

 Memphis and Charleston railroad were in his 

 possession, stretching in one direction as far a3 

 Stevenson, and in the other as far as Decatur. 

 At the latter place, the entire camp equipage 

 of a regiment was captured. From Decatur 

 he pushed on at once to Tuscumbia. 



Thus, without the loss of a single life, 

 Gen. Mitchell placed his army midway be- 

 tween Corinth and Chattanooga, prevented 

 the destruction of a fine bridge at Decatur, 

 opened communication with Gen. Buell, and 

 also the navigation of the Tennessee. The 

 occupation of Huntsville also cut off all com- 

 munication between the east and west by the 

 Memphis and Charleston railroad. The ex- 

 pedition east on the railroad, under Col. Sill, 

 penetrated as far as Stevenson at the junction 

 of the Chattanooga road, at which place five 

 locomotives and an amount of rolling stock were 

 captured. An expedition went as far south from 

 Tuscumbia as Russelville. Lagrange and Flor- 

 ence were also visited, and Confederate proper- 

 ty of the military kind was found. 



This extension of Gen. Mitchell's lines to 

 hold the railroad rendered his situation pre- 

 carious. Soon the enemy began to gather in 

 force and threaten him. His course however 

 received the commendation of the War De- 

 partment. He was raised to the rank of a 

 major-general, and ordered to report directly 

 to the department, and his force was consti- 

 tuted an independent corps. But he got 



no reinforcements. He was left in such 

 a condition that he at first hardly had 

 anything to report but that he had been 

 gradually driven from those positions, 

 the gaining of which had made him a 

 major-general. On his right, the enemy 

 were now in force, and picket skirmish- 

 ing was constant. On his left, at Chat- 

 tanooga, a strong force threatened his 

 rear and the safety of Nashville. In his 

 front, cavalry came tip and attacked his 

 line at times. Gen. Halleck sent to him 

 100,000 rations under convoy of a gun- 

 boat. Of these 40,000 were burned to 

 prevent their capture. On the 24th 

 of April, the retreat from Tuscumbia com- 

 menced. On the 26th the bridge at Decatur 

 was crossed, when it was fired and burned. 

 It was the only crossing of the Tennessee east 

 of Florence, above the head of navigation, and 

 west of Bridgeport near Chattanooga. The 

 bridge was destroyed in an hour and a half, but 

 before its destruction was complete, the enemy's 

 cavalry appeared on the opposite side. Having 

 returned to Huntsville, the right wing of the force 

 commenced operations toward Chattanooga. 



On the 30th of April, an expedition was sent 

 to Bridgeport near Stevenson, the result of 

 which placed under the control of Gen. Mitchell 

 the bridge across the river. As there was no 

 bridge below his position since the destruction 

 of the one at Decatur, and as he had control 

 of the one above near Chattanooga, and as his 

 communication between the extremes of his 

 line was by railroad, which was in his posses- 

 sion, and the Tennessee river lay in front of 

 him, on the farther side of which was all the 

 enemy he anticipated, he thus closed his report 

 to the Secretary of War under date of May 1 : 

 " The campaign is ended, and I now occupy 

 Huntsville in perfect security, while all of Ala- 

 bama north of the Tennessee river floats no 

 flag but that of the Union." It was stated that 

 if Gen. Mitchell had been sustained with a suf- 

 ficient force, he would have crossed the Ten- 

 nessee river at its extreme southern point in 

 Alabama, and reached Gunter's Landing a 

 march of forty miles thence would have placed 

 in his possession Gadsden on the Coosa river, 

 where he could have destroyed the steamboats 

 on the river, or seized them and proceeded to 

 Rome and destroyed large armories and foun- 

 deries. From Gunter's Landing there is also a 

 fine road to Rome, eighty miles distant. In two 

 days his cavalry could have passed that distance, 

 destroyed the founderies at Rome, and cap- 

 tured engines and cars enough at that place 

 and Kingston to have enabled him to, proceed 

 np the road with an armed force to protect 

 them in burning the bridges. This movement 

 would have cut off Gen. E. Zirby Smith, then 

 advancing upon Huntsville, from reinforcements 

 or retreat. The Confederate forces in Knox- 

 ville, Greenville, and Cumberland Gap. in east 

 Tennessee, and even in western Virginia, 

 would all have been dangerously exposed by 



