detached one of Hurlbut’s regiments to guard the cross-roads at Decatur till the head of McPherson’s column should come in sight.  Intending to spend the night in Decatur, I went to a double log-house, and arranged with the lady for some supper.  We unsaddled our horses, tied them to the fence inside the yard, and, being tired, I lay down on a bed and fell asleep.  Presently I heard shouts and hallooing, and then heard pistol-shots close to the house.  My aide, Major Audenried, called me and said we were attacked by rebel cavalry, who were all around us.  I jumped up and inquired where was the regiment of infantry I had myself posted at the cross-roads.  He said a few moments before it had marched past the house, following the road by which General Hurlbut had gone, and I told him to run, overtake it, and bring it back.  Meantime, I went out into the back-yard, saw wagons passing at a run down the road, and horsemen dashing about in a cloud of dust, firing their pistols, their shots reaching the house in which we were.  Gathering the few orderlies and clerks that were about, I was preparing to get into a corn-crib at the back side of the lot, wherein to defend ourselves, when I saw Audenried coming back with the regiment, on a run, deploying forward as they came.  This regiment soon cleared the place and drove the rebel cavalry back toward the south, whence they had come.

It transpired that the colonel of this infantry regiment, whose name I do not recall, had seen some officers of McPherson’s staff (among them Inspector-General Strong) coming up the road at a gallop, raising a cloud of duet; supposing them to be the head of McPherson’s column, and being anxious to get into camp before dark, he had called in his pickets and started down the road, leaving me perfectly exposed.  Some straggling wagons, escorted by a New Jersey regiment, were passing at the time, and composed the rear of Hurlbut’s train.  The rebel cavalry, seeing the road clear of troops, and these wagons passing, struck them in flank, shot down the mules of three or four wagons, broke the column, and began a general skirmish.  The escort defended their wagons as well as they could, and thus diverted their attention; otherwise I would surely have been captured.  In a short time the head of McPherson’s column came up, went into camp, and we spent the night in Decatur.

The next day we pushed on, and on the 14th entered Meridian, the enemy retreating before us toward Demopolis, Alabama.  We at once set to work to destroy an arsenal, immense storehouses, and the railroad in every direction.  We staid in Meridian five days, expecting every hour to hear of General Sooy Smith, but could get no tidings of him whatever.  A large force of infantry was kept at work all the time in breaking up the Mobile & Ohio Railroad south and north; also the Jackson & Selma Railroad, east and west.  I was determined to damage these roads so that they could not be used again for hostile purposes