| From the Chattanooga Rebel |
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| July 3, 1863 |
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The Raid on Decherd {The junction of the
Winchester & Alabama RR and the Nashville & Chattanooga RR}
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Rear of Bragg's Army, June 29, 1863
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Special Correspondence of the Rebel
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Stuart, Forrest and Morgan have learned the yankees bad
habits, but the attempt to imitation is sometimes ridiculous. The raid
to Decherd last night was one of the incidents of the war, and your
readers no doubt would like to hear about it. It is not known who
commanded on the abolition side, but the historian will no doubt find
out. With about fifteen hundred men, well mounted on stolen horses,
and four pieces of artillery, this gallant commander penetrated the
barrens near Manchester yesterday morning, and made the entire circuit
of Elk river, burning one blacksmith's shop, besides stealing all the
bacon on the way -- reaching Decherd, which is in the rear of Bragg's
army and twelve miles by railroad from Tullahoma, about ten o'clock
last night. The most interesting incident of the raid was the warm
reception given the raiders at Decherd by the Confederate forces at
that place. And were it not for a slight disparity in numbers, the
battle would doubtless have been one of the bloodiest of the war.
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Captain House, of the second Tennessee regiment, was in
command at Decherd with twenty-six men as good as ever
fluttered, and was reinforced during the fight by Mr. Leegree, the
operator at D., who being driven from his office without notice,
borrowed a gun and pitched in, swearing that he did not know much
about the writ of habeas corpus, but that he was familiar with
the writ of forcible entry and detainer, and that it could only
be a lawful writ after five days' notice, which had not been given,
and that he was going to fight for his lawful rights. Captain House
was also reinforced by Bill Hardin, an engineer on the Winchester
& Alabama railroad, who pitched in also, simply because he had
nothing else to do. These reinforcements swelled Captain House's
command up to twenty-eight men, not yet equal to the enemy in numbers,
for the enemy was at least fifteen hundred strong, claiming a much
larger force even than that; but nothing daunted by the disparity in
numbers, Captain House took position between the two railroads, and
for about one hour the battle raged furiously. Captain House proved to
be something of a strategist as well as a good fighter, and although
at times completely flanked on both sides, after firing upon the front
he would move rapidly to the right and fire a volley over the railroad
embankment, which was a good fortification, and then he would move as
rapidly to the left, protected to some extent by a high trestle-work,
(which it was his special business to defend,) and then his whole
command would turn loose upon the enemy, and thus, by a rapid and
strategic "change of base," he managed to make the enemy
believe his antagonist was giving it to him in regular army style --
fighting his centre and right and left wings all at the same time.
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Captain House thus held his ground for about one hour,
and until the enemy got his battery in position only about one hundred
yards from him, and commenced playing on him, and then he retreated in
"good order" losing only one man, who was captured after the
fighting was principally ended, by a Brigade, that had been
held in reserve. The enemy burnt the depot house and a cake shop close
by it, but utterly failed to destroy the trestle work on the railroad,
and in fact was so occupied by Captain House, that the only damage
done to the railroad, was fully repaired in three hours, and today the
trains are running over the road, and that noble soldier Gen'l ___ and
a large portion of his command passed down to join Gen. Bragg in the
great battle about to be fought at Tullahoma. The wires are up and
Leegree is in possession of another house and has a new instrument,
the abolitionists having stolen his, and is sending telegrams along
the wires both ways.
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I forgot to mention that the abolitionists burnt a water
tank, but upon the whole, the damage amounts to nothing, and it is
certain that the enemy lost several men killed and wounded. The
success shows what a few brave determined men may do, when standing
upon their own soil fighting for their own homes. Certainly in all
seriousness, a more gallant defence was never made, and though I have
no acquaintance with these men, I feel that it would only be a just
tribute to merit, that the commanding General by an order, should make
known the facts to the whole army. Such a spirit among our people will
whip all yankeedoom in short order.
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This large force had doubtless started to make the
circuit of Bragg's army, but such was the resistance by this handful
of men, and such the delay, that the whole force turned back the same
road they came, without destroying a single trestle or bridge, and in
fact without doing anything to interfere with the regular running of
the trains.
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One Who Has Investigated The Facts
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