182 WHIP AND SPUR. 



regiments of cavalry in active service. Some- 

 times our Methodist friend acted under definite 

 orders, but more often only according to his 

 own judgment of what was necessary. 



A few days before Christmas we received word 

 that Forrest in person was in Jackson, with a 

 large force, and we moved against him with 

 nearly the whole body of our troops, under the 

 command of old A. J. himself. We reached 

 Jackson at night, after three days' hard march- 

 ing, only to find that Forrest's army had left 

 that morning, destroying the bridges over the 

 swollen rivers and making organized pursuit im- 

 possible. We took up quarters for some days 

 in the town, where we enjoyed the peculiarly 

 lovely climate of the "sunny South" with the 

 thermometer seven degrees below zero, six inches 

 of snow on the ground, and a howling wind 

 blowing. Our own mess was very snugly en- 

 tertained at the house of a magnate, where we 

 had an opportunity to study the fitness of even 

 the best Southern architecture for an Arctic win- 

 ter climate. 



