One of Morgan's Men: Memoirs of Lieutenant John M. Porter of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry

9 This Was a Hard-Fought Field

129 9 THIS WAS A HARD-FOUGHT FIELD Probably none of John Hunt Morgan’s operations are more obscure than those that occurred during the winter of 1863. Basil W. Duke writes of those operations only in generalities in his History of Morgan’s Cavalry, as he was personally absent at times. Without a doubt, those operations represent some of Morgan’s most notable military achievements. John M. Porter remembered them, although they appear in his memoirs as one continuous fight, which in large measure they were. When General Bragg withdrew the Army of Tennessee to the Highland Rim after the Battle of Murfreesboro, Morgan’s division was given the task of screening the right flank of the army. Rosecrans’s Federal Army of the Cumberland occupied Nashville and Murfreesboro. Selecting a sector that included Liberty and Woodbury, Tennessee, both on direct routes to Murfreesboro , Morgan kept his command in the foothills and brought elements of it forward to attack outlying Federal positions in the darkness. Multiple times, between January 22 and the end of April 1863, Morgan seized Federal wagon trains and large numbers of officers and enlisted men and killed, wounded, or captured hundreds of other Federal troops. Each time Morgan struck a Federal position, Rosecrans ordered a retaliatory strike. At times, elements of Morgan’s command would be chased by two to three brigades of Federal infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Fighting occurred along the Murfreesboro Pike, between Milton, Tennessee, and Liberty , and along the Woodbury Pike between Murfreesboro and Woodbury. ONE OF MORGAN’S MEN 130 John M. Porter recounts the savagery of the fighting in January and March 1863 along the Murfreesboro Pike from Milton to Auburn to Prosperity , and along the Lebanon Pike to Liberty and Snow Hill. The actual details of each engagement are almost impossible to recount. Porter was detached on a special scouting mission between February 7 and February 28, 1863, the narrative of which is found in chapters 10 and 11. For the rest of the winter and spring of 1863, Porter presents the fighting in central Tennessee as one continuous stream of memory. Vividly do I call to mind the country in which we spent the Winter and Spring of 1863 in the most exciting and arduous duties. Every day was one of excitement and more or less danger. To write all that we did or all we saw of army life during this time would be merely a repetition of many things already written. It is enough to say that it was hard service, and I will only give the main items of interest, including an account of the most severe fights with the enemy. When we first came to Liberty, Tennessee, it was to drive from the vicinity a body of Federal cavalry, which we did after a skirmish. Liberty is situated about half a mile from the intersection of the turnpike from Murfreesboro and the turnpike from Lebanon. We moved out of Liberty to meet the enemy and had a brisk fight. The object of the enemy was to gain our rear. When we withdrew to Liberty, we took up positions just beyond the town, across the creek. Here, they again advanced upon us and we had a severe battle in which we were forced to fall still farther back in the direction of Snow Hill.1 During this retreat, for half a mile, we were terribly shelled by the artillery of the enemy. They had a raking fire at us. We formed a line at the base of Snow Hill and again waited their approach. Our company was dismounted and sent to the left of the road from Liberty to Snow Hill. From our position we had a fine fire at the enemy as they advanced THIS WAS A HARD-FOUGHT FIELD 131 up the valley, and we held our position, driving them from our immediate front till finally it became evident that they could not advance and drive us from our position. They made preparations to send a large force around us, one or two miles, and obtain possession of the road in our rear, and thus force us out in the hill country towards Carthage. To avoid this, we withdrew to the summit of Snow Hill just in time to engage the enemy and drive them from the road in great confusion. This repulse caused them to waver in their entire...