GLORY II Afterword

AFTERWORD
                             

(June 10, 1880 - 16 years later)


  "Well, old friend," Hooker said, leaning his hand on the grave marker and talking to the ground.  "You're back where you asked to be."

  He turned and looked at Jenny Hodges standing next to him.  He hadn't seen her since just after the war.  Hooker and Monday had traveled to Illinois to talk to her about the friendship she shared with Laura and had developed a liking for her, in a sisterly sort of way.  She had gone back to Illinois and continued to hide her true identity.  They never asked her why she persisted in covering up the fact that she was a woman.  That was her personal business.  Monday and Hooker had dubbed her, "The Little Soldier of the 95th."

  Directly after the war, he and Sergeant Major Stiehl went to Santa Fe, out in New Mexico Territory.  For a few years they ran a small ranch, however, the Army was too much in the blood of both of them.

  Hooker signed on with the 10th United States Colored Cavalry, a black outfit that the Indians dubbed, "The Buffalo Soldiers," and quickly worked his way back up to Sergeant Major.  Ironically, his new commander was none other than General Benjamin Grierson himself, demoted back to Colonel due to the reduction of the size of the army after the war.  The music teacher turned soldier had decided to stay in the cavalry.

  Monday signed on as an Army Scout and served all over the frontier.  He was one of the few who had escaped the massacre that had befallen the arrogant General Custer.  He constantly refused to accept any rank even though they offered to make him a full bird Colonel.  His remark was always, "I ain't no damn prissy foot officer, especially no damn Yankee officer."

  A month or so ago, they  had been chasing some renegade Apaches out in New Mexico.  Monday had finally been killed after he saved the life of a young colored private when the Apaches ambushed them.  It was a fitting end to a universal soldier.  Hooker knew in his heart that Monday would eventually return, perhaps in another form, but he would always return to be a great soldier.

  Monday told him of General Nathan Bedford Forrest's promise to bury him at Brice's Crossroads.  The general had since died; however, with the help of some of the general's faithful old staff officers, Hooker saw to it that Monday's last wish was fulfilled.

  Monday said he wanted to be buried with the brave men who fought in Bedford's greatest victory, but most of all, he wanted to be where he could take care of Will and Laura.  The odd thing about his last request was the one Hooker could not understand.  Monday wanted his grave site marked, "Unknown Confederate Soldier."  He reckoned that even after death, Monday shied away from rank or titles of any kind.

  Hooker walked over to the headstone with Will's name on it.  Monday had eventually told him that both the youngsters were buried together and he had shared that knowledge with Jenny.

  "Sleep in peace young ones," Hooker muttered.  "Monday's back to take care of you now, for all eternity."

  "I never had a sister," Jenny whispered.  "You're the closest that I ever got, Laura.  I miss you and....." choked up with tears, she could not continue.

  He and Jenny then walked over to a depressed spot about twenty yards out into the thick bushes.  Hooker took his hat off and reached down and placed some wild flowers on the sunken spot.  Jenny was looking at him with a puzzled expression in her teary eyes.

  "My boy, TJ," Hooker whispered.  "Thomas Jefferson Selmer. He died that day, too."  He then stood and muttered a short prayer.  "Sleep well, son, Top Soldier is looking after you, too.  I don't think there be black and white where you're at now, just plain folks.  Mayhap, some day, it'll be that way down here, too."

  They stood for a while then slowly made their way out of the small cemetery.  As Hooker passed a marker, he remembered Monday saying something about the Young brothers.  Looking around, he spotted the tall stone marker.

  Written on it was; John F. Young, killed June 21, 1864, Kennesaw Mountain, Ga.  On the other side was written; Samuel T. Young, killed November 3, 1864, Franklin, Tn.

  "A sad time in the history of our people," Jenny muttered.  "So many good people died."  She glanced up to see a young teenaged boy and girl approaching the cemetery.  They were about the same age that Laura and Will's children would have been.  That thought brought more tears to her eyes.  Hooker looked at the front of the large stone.  Chiseled in deep letters was written, "On fame's eternal camping ground, their silent tents are spread."

  "Very appropriate," he muttered, looking back at Monday's grave.  "Keep the coffee hot Top Soldier, be seein' you soon."


Author’s notes:

All of the characters in this book are historical figures except, the Tyree family, Monday Stiehl, T. J. Selmer, and Booker D. Hooker. All actions described in this book other than some attributed to the fictional characters, are true to history in so far as historical documentation is available.

Albert D. J. Cashier

Was an Irish immigrant girl, Jennie Hodges, (Hodgers) who came to the United States in the years following the Great Potato Famine. She served for three years in the 95th Illinois Infantry of the Union army under the name Albert Cashier and fought in the battles of Brice’s Crossroads, Nashville, Mobile, and Vicksburg. No one ever guessed that she was really a woman, and accounts by her fellow comrades indicate that they just assumed Albert was a small, somewhat shy man. In the years following the Civil War, Jennie took on the life of a bachelor and worked a number of jobs from janitor to handyman. Her secret was not discovered until the early 1900s, when an automobile accident broke her leg and she needed medical attention.
 

Samuel Davis Sturgis
Brevet Major General and Colonel
United States Army          

  Born at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1822, he entered West Point at age 20 and graduated in the class of 1846.
During the Mexican War, he served as a Lieutenant of Dragoons and was captured and held for eight days as a prisoner of war while making a reconnaissance near Buena Vista, Mexico. After the war, he served in the West, was promoted to First Lieutenant and Captain, took part in a number of Indian campaigns.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he was in command of Fort Smith, Arkansas, with part of his regiment, the 1st U.S. Cavalry. Many of his fellow officers defected to the South; however, he refused to surrender and managed to march his remaining troops with much of their government property to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was promoted to Major and at Wilson's Creek in August he succeeded to command of the Federal forces after the fall of General Nathaniel Lyon. The following March he was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers to rank from August 10, 1861, the day of the battle. After a tour of duty in the Washington defenses, he was ordered to the front to support General John Pope's Army of Virginia just prior to the Battle of Second Manassas. While attempting to secure priority for movement of his troops on the railroad, he was told that he must wait his turn as other troops and supplies were going forward to support Pope. His reaction was his now-famous remark, "I don't care for John Pope one pinch of owl dung."
He fought in the Maryland campaign, at Fredericksburg in charge of a IX Corps Division, and Sharpsburg, where Ferero's Brigade of his Division finally carried Burnside's Brigade. He went west with IX Corps in 1863 and later had a number of relatively unimportant commands in Tennessee and Mississippi. He also served as Chief of Cavalry of the Department of the Ohio. In June 1864 he was routed by Nathan Bedford Forrest at the Battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, an encounter which terminated his Civil War service.
He was breveted Brigadier General and Major General, U.S. Army, in March 1865 and mustered out of the volunteer service in August. He reverted to his regular rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 6th U.S. Cavalry. On May 6, 1869 be became Colonel of the 7th U.S. Cavalry and his Lieutenant Colonel Was George Armstrong Custer. He was stationed at a number of Western forts during the two decades that followed the war and for four years he was Governor of the Soldiers Home in Washington. He was retired for age in 1886 and died at St. Paul, Minnesota, September 28, 1889. He was apparently on recruiting duty when Custer and the 7th Cavalry were literally destroyed at the Little Big Horn. One of Sturgis' sons was an officer with the 7th and was killed in that battle.
He is buried among other family members in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery.
His son, James Garland Sturgis, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 24 January, 1854, was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1875, and was killed in the Indian massacre on Little Big Horn river, 25 June, 1876.


Benjamin Henry Grierson (July 8, 1826 – August 31, 1911) was U.S. Army cavalry general in the American Civil War and in the American West.

Grierson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the youngest of five siblings. He became afraid of horses when at age eight he was kicked and nearly killed by a horse. In 1851, he became music teacher and band leader in Jacksonville, Illinois. He married Alice Kirk of Youngstown, Ohio, on September 24, 1854. The couple had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Alice died August 14, 1888; Grierson later married Lillian Atwood King, a widow, July 28, 1897. During his life, he had homes in Jacksonville, Illinois, Fort Concho, and a summer home at Omena, Michigan. In 1907 he suffered a debilitating stroke; he died in 1911 in Omena, and is buried in Jacksonville Cemetery (East Cemetery), Jacksonville, Illinois.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Grierson enlisted as a volunteer aide-de-camp to General Benjamin M. Prentiss. Promoted to major on October 24, 1861, he joined the 6th Illinois Cavalry and was promoted to Colonel of that regiment on April 12, 1862. His regiment was engaged in a number of small skirmishes and raids on railroads and facilities in Tennessee and Mississippi that spring and summer. In November, he became a brigade commander in the Cavalry Division of the Army of the Tennessee. In December, he participated in the pursuit of Confederate Earl Van Dorn after his Holly Springs raid against the supply lines of General Ulysses S. Grant.
Grierson led Grierson's Raid in 1863, a major diversionary thrust deep into the Confederacy, ordered by Grant as part of his Vicksburg Campaign. He departed from La Grange, Tennessee, on April 17, in command of 1,700 men of the 6th and 7th Illinois and the 2nd Iowa Cavalry regiments. Over 17 days, his command marched 800 miles, repeatedly engaged the Confederates, disabled two railroads, and destroyed vast amounts of property, finally ending in Baton Rouge on May 2, but more importantly, he diverged the attention of the Confederate defenders of Vicksburg away from General Grant's main thrust. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in June. In 1864 he was assigned to the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Mississippi and in 1865 he took part in the campaign against Mobile.
On March 2, 1867, Grierson received a brevet promotion to the rank of major general in the Regular Army for his famous raid.
Grierson decided to remain in the regular army after the war and received the rank of colonel. His lack of West Point credentials made him suspect to many fellow officers. He organized the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of two mounted regiments composed of black enlisted men and white officers, called the Buffalo Soldiers. This assignment also made him unpopular with other officers, including his superior, General Philip Henry Sheridan, because of his support for and trust in his troops. His sympathy and courtesy to Native American tribes also led to questions about his judgment.
"The only White officer who supports the unit is Regimental Commanding Officer Colonel Benjamin Grierson. Ostracized by other officers for his enthusiastic command of the African-American troops, Grierson believes in the abilities, dedication, and record of performance of the Buffalo Soldiers and declines offers to lead at any other post. General Pike offers to relieve Grierson "of this self-imposed exile and have him commanding a real cavalry regiment within a month," but Grierson refuses" — Turner Network Television's documentary, "Buffalo Soldiers".
The part of Colonel Marlowe, played by John Wayne in the movie The Horse Soldiers, is loosely based on Grierson.

59Th U. S. COLORED INFANTRY REGIMENT
Originally 1st U.S. Tennessee Volunteers (African Descent):
Also called 1st West Tennessee Infantry Regiment (African Descent)
Mustered in at La Grange, Tennessee, June 6 and June 27, 1863.

FIELD OFFICERS

*          Colonels-Edward Bouton (to Brevet Brigadier General)
*          Lieutenant Colonels-Robert E. Phillips, Robert Cowden
*          Majors-Robert Cowden, James C. Foster

CAPTAINS

*          James C. Foster, Co. "A". Enrolled at La Grange, Fayette County, in May, 1863; mustered in June 6, 1863.
*          Henry W. Johnson, Co. "B". Enrolled at Moscow, Fayette County, May 17, 1863; mustered in June 6, 1863.
*          Henry Fox, Co. "C". Enrolled at Bolivar, Hardeman County, June 1, 1863; mustered in June 6, 1863.
*          Christopher Fox, Co. "D". La Grange May, 1863; mustered in June 6, 1863.
*          Noah R. Smock, Co. "E". La Grange May, 1863; mustered in June 6, 1863.
*          Albert O. Marsh, Co. "F". Grange May, 1863; mustered in June 6, 1863.
*          Samuel Martin, Co. "G". Enrolled at La Grange in May and June; mustered in June 27, 1863.
*          Jesse H. Darnell, Co. "I". Enrolled at La Grange and at Germantown, Shelby County, in June; mustered in June 27, 1863.
*          Henry W. Hobbs, Co. "K". Enrolled at La Grange in May and June; mustered in June 27, 1863.
This regiment was first reported in the Official Records on October 31, 1863, as the 1st Tennessee Infantry (African Descent), with 815 men, under Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Phillips, as an unattached regiment in the XVI Corps commanded by Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut, but spent its entire term of service in West Tennessee and North Mississippi.
On November 8, 1863, Brigadier General John D. Stevenson, at Corinth, Mississippi, reported it as part of the troops under his command. On December 31, 1863, under Major Robert Cowden, as the 1st West Tennessee Infantry (African Descent) it was still at Corinth.
On January 31, 1864, under Colonel Edward Bouton, it was reported in the 1st Colored Brigade, District of Memphis, composed of the 1st Alabama, and 1st and 2nd Tennessee Colored Regiments. On March 11, 1864, in accordance with the policy adopted of no longer listing colored troops under state names, the official designation was changed to 59th U. S. Infantry Regiment (Colored). On April 11, this was changed to 59th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment.
By April 30, Colonel Bouton was in command of the brigade, and Major Cowden of the regiment. The Memphis Light Battery had replaced the 1st Alabama Infantry in the brigade. By May 31, Major Cowden had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, and the report bore a note that the regiment had been at Memphis since May 9, 1864.
In June 1864, the regiment went with Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis on his expedition into North Mississippi culminating in the Battle of Brice's Cross Roads on June 10, where he was disastrously defeated by Major General Nathan B. Forrest. In this campaign, Colonel Bouton commanded the 3rd Brigade of Colonel W. L. McMillan's 1st Division. The brigade consisted of the 55th and 59th Infantry Regiments, and the Memphis Light Battery, now called Company "F" 2nd U. S. Colored Light Artillery Regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Cowden was severely wounded, and command of the regiment fell upon Captain James C. Foster. Colonel Bouton reported the regiment entered the campaign with 27 officers and 580 men; casualties were three officers, 143 men killed, wounded and missing.
The next expedition of note was with Major General Andrew J. Smith, from July ~21, during which the battle of Harrisburg was fought on July 14, with Confederate forces under Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee and Major General N. B. Forrest. In this campaign Colonel Bouton commanded the 1st Brigade, and Major (formerly Captain) James C. Foster the regiment. Casualties were one killed, ten wounded, three missing.
The regiment returned to Memphis, remaining in the same brigade until January 7, 1865. Lieutenant Colonel Cowden had resumed command by September 30, 1864. On January 7, 1865, in the organization of the Post and Defenses of Memphis, the 46th, 55th, 59th and 61st U S. Colored Infantry Regiments formed the 2nd Brigade, under Colonel Frank A. Kendrick. On February 23, this brigade, with the exception of the 59th was ordered to New Orleans, and the 59th was sent to Fort Pickering, Defenses of Memphis, where Colonel Ignatz P. Kappner was in command. On March 7, the regiment reported 725 effectives, aggregate present and absent 869. The regiment remained at Fort Pickering until July 14, 1865, when, in the organization of the District of West Tennessee,
Colonel Kappner was given command of the 2nd Brigade, of which the 59th was a member, with orders to report to Brevet Major General Augustus L. Chetlain, Commanding the Post and Defenses of Memphis. On August 18, 1865, Brevet Major General John E. Smith, commanding the District of West Tennessee, listed the 59th as one of the regiments on duty in his district. This was the last record found in the Official Records, but Dyer's Compendium states the regiment was mustered out January 31, 1866.


Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, perhaps the most controversial leader on either side during the war, died in 1876 in Memphis, TN, where he is buried with his wife.



UNION ORDER OF BATTLE FOR BRICE'S CROSSROADS


Department of the Tennessee, Major General James B. McPherson

District of West Tennessee, Major General Cadwallader C. Washburn

Expeditionary force, Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis

Infantry Division Commander, Colonel William L. McMillen

First Brigade, Colonel Alexander Wilkin

114th Illinois Infantry, Lt Colonel J.K. King

93rd Indiana Infantry, Colonel DeWitt C. Thomas

9th Minnesota Infantry, Lt Colonel J.F. Marsh

72nd Ohio Infantry, Lt Colonel C. G. Eaton

95th Ohio Infantry, Lt Colonel J. Brumback

Company E, 1st Ill. Light Artillery (4 guns) Captain J.A. Fitch

Section, 6th Indiana Battery (2 guns) Captain M. Mueller

Second Brigade, Colonel George B. Hoge

81st Illinois Infantry, Colonel F. Campbell & Lt Col A. W. Rogers

95th Illinois Infantry, Colonel T. W. Humphrey (K), Captain W. H. Stewart (W), Captain E. W. Bush (K), Captain A. Shellenburger (Private Cashier)

108th Illinois Infantry, Lt Colonel R.L. Sidwell

113th Illinois Infantry, Lt Colonel G.R. Clarke

120th Illinois Infantry, Colonel G. W. McKeaig (W & C), Lt Colonel S. B. Floyd

Company B, 2d Illinois Light Artillery (4 guns) Captain F. H. Chapman.

Third Brigade, Colonel Edward Bouton

55th U.S. Colored Infantry, Major E. W. Lowe (W) Captain A.T. Reeves

59th U.S. Colored Infantry, Lt Colonel R. Cowden (W) Captain J.C. Foster

Company F, 2d U.S. Colored artillery (2 guns), Captain C.A. Lamberg

Cavalry Division Commander, Brigadier General Benjamin H. Grierson

First Brigade, Colonel George E. Waring

7th Indiana Cavalry, Lt Colonel T.M. Browne

A detachment of 3d and 9th Illinois Cavalry, Captain A. A. Mock

4th Missouri Cavalry, (4 mountain howitzers) Lt. Colonel G. Von Heimrich (W & C).

2nd New Jersey Cavalry, Colonel J. Karge

19th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Lt Colonel J.C. Hess

Second Brigade, Colonel Edward F. Winslow

7th Illinois Cavalry, detachment.

3rd Iowa Cavalry, Lt Colonel John W. Noble

4th Iowa Cavalry, Major Abial R. Pierce

10th Missouri Cavalry detachement (2 guns) Major W.H. Williams

Section 7th Wisconsin Battery (2 guns) Captain H.S. Lee


CONFEDERATE ORDER OF BATTLE FOR BRICE'S CROSSROADS


Department of Alabama, Mississippi & East Louisiana Major General Stephen Dill Lee

Forrest's Cavalry Corps, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest

Division Commander, Brigadier General Abraham Buford

Third Brigade, Colonel Hylan B. Lyon

3rd Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Lt Colonel G.A.C. Holt

7th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Lt Colonel L.J. Sherrill

8th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Lt Colonel A.R. Shackett

12th Kentucky Cavalry, Major T.S. Tate

Fourth Brigade, Colonel Tyree H. Bell

2d Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel C.R. Barteau

16th Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel A.N. Wilson

19th Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel J.F. Newsom

20th Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel R.M. Russell


Sixth Brigade, Colonel Edmund Rucker

8th Mississippi Cavalry, Colonel W.L. Duff

18th Mississippi Cavalry Battalion, Lt Colonel A.H. Chalmers

7th Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel W.L. Duckworth

Johnson's Brigade, Colonel William A. Johnson

4th Alabama Cavalry, Lt Colonel F.M. Windes

Moreland's Alabama Cavalry Regiment, Major J.N. George

William's Alabama Cavalry Battalion, Captain J. F. Doan

Warren's Alabama Cavalry Battalion, Captain W. H. Warren

Artillery, Captain John W. Morton

Morton's Tennessee Battery (4 guns) Lieutenant T. Saunders Sale

Rice's Tennessee Battery, (4 guns) Captain T. W. Rice


APPENDIX A


Soldiers buried at Brice's Crossroads National Battlefield Confederate Cemetery

Under the sod and dew of the evening,
Waiting for the judgment day,
The remembered graves of the Blue,
And the forgotten graves of the Gray.

3rd Kentucky Mounted Infantry (Lt. Col. Holt's Command)

W. Stahl                              Michael McMorris                    G. S. Jones

William H. Cooper          Lt. S. B. Edwards                              Sgt. Robert L. Peck

W.S. Wyatt                    Aaron Nichols                              H. C. Haley


8th Kentucky Mounted Infantry (Lt. Col. Shackett's Command)

Simeon Veazey                    J. D. Pryor


18th Mississippi Cavalry Battery (Lt. Col. Chalmer's Command)

M. C. Saunders                    George H. Bost                              R. C. Bean


18th Tennessee Cavalry (Under Col. Duckworth)

Lt. E. P. Hoover                    R. F. Walker                              B. Wash C. Spencer

John Autrey                    Cpl. R. A. Camp


19th Tennessee Cavalry (Col. Newsom's Command)

W. H. L. Spencer                    W. M. F Spencer


12th Kentucky Cavalry (Major Tate's Command)

R. C. Casey                    B. F. Norman                              Lt. E. P. Nailing

J. B. Gilbert                    P. G. Tyson                              W. Jackson

Cpt. J. J. Wilson                    Sgt. J. W. Cole                              F. M. Klapp

R. L. Hamilton                    Aaron Arant                              G. S. Carroll

Joseph Williamson          J. T. Harrison                              Harden Gilbert

C. W. Whitworth


15th Tennessee Cavalry (Under Col. Duckworth's Command)

Cpt. J. R. Hibbit                    H. C. McCorkle                              James T. Everett

A. L. Potts


7th Kentucky Mounted Infantry (Lt. Col. Sherrill's Command)

Cpt. Robert M. Seay          W. M. Chambers                              T. W. Bazzell

Richard Harris                    William H. Thorn                              Cpl. T. S. McCrosky

J. B. Stovall


7th Tennessee Cavalry (Col. Duckworth's Command)

Edward Wardlow                    Samuel Y. Nolley                              Sgt. James R. Summerville

Sgt. Richard H. Harper          Isaac H. Pipken                              Thomas P. Boucher

Sgt. William C. Hardy          Sgt. William T. Robertson          T. C. Simmons

H. Frank Wakeland          John W. Spencer                              William A. Adams

William H. Cagle                    William S. Rayner                    Lt. William S. Pope


8th Mississippi Cavalry (Col. W. L. Duff's Command)

Samuel Davis Hawkins          M. L. Stahl                              R. B. White

Robert Owens                    Frank M. Mosely                              J. A. Peel

2Lt. W. R. Welch*          George T. Lee                              C. H. Luther

Lt. W. H. Govan                    Sgt. George W. Williams                    Samuel Horne


16th Tennessee Cavalry (Col. A. N. Wilson's Command)

Allen K. Sewell                    William S. Trice                              Lt. J.J. Arrandale

Isaiah Barham                    H.C. Kendrick                              Zacke Dobbs

Lt. Joseph P. Revely          Alexander E. McMillion                    Robert W. James

John T. Davis                    Daniel Coleman                              Coleman E. Ellis

Thomas K. Powell          Joe Smart                               William Edwards

J. W. Smith                    J. S. M. Wetto                              Joseph Stewart

Lt. J. Robert Arnold


5th Alabama Cavalry (Col. Johnson's Command)

Sgt. G. C. Christian


11th Alabama Cavalry (Col. Johnson's Command)

A. J. Smith


Rice's Tennessee battery (Cpt. T. W. Rice's Command)

J. H. King


Moreland's Alabama Cavalry Battery (Maj. J.J. George's Command)

Joe Bishop



APPENDIX B

Brice’s

There is a place not far away where no silent tears will fall, of these men who answered fates' demand, few people can recall.
Their glorious deeds and daring acts and tears of joy and pride, lies beneath the cold damp earth, on the land where they fought and died.
Among their ranks were men of age and children barely grown, and in their brightest time of youth, their seeds were barely sown.
For why they fought and for what they died was the shadow of a dream, beneath a tattered battle flag, near a cold and bitter stream.
They fought like men with angel's wrath and devils from Hades below, and on this field of bloody strife, they met the Union foe.
From dawn til dusk on through the night their glorious deeds were shed, and in the early morning light, they mourned their honored dead.
For so few to have done so much to a tough and mighty foe, oer the months and years that pass, their legend must surely grow.
But this I fear is not the case for their names and deeds lie dead, beneath a veil of false pretense, their enemies have shed.
For in this place not far away where no mourners tears are shed, lies the hopes and dreams of a hundred men, that Bedford Forrest led.
A hundred men gave up their dreams on this field of bloody strife, for a cause and for a land, worth more to them than life.
Of all the battles they fought and bled not one did they ever lose, but to the victors come the spoils, and the history that they choose.
These valiant men of Southern birth and patriotic lust, rest on fame's eternal camping ground, but their deeds have gone to dust.

(On Fame's Eternal Camping Ground their silent tents are spread)



References

The following references were used in researching the historical background of the Civil War Battle of Brice's Crossroads for inclusion in the novel, "Fame's Eternal Camping Ground."

1.  War of the Rebellion - 1897 Government Printing Office

2.  Forrest at Brice's Crossroads - By Edward Bearss

3.  That Devil Forrest - By John A. Wyeth, 1959 Harper & Brothers.

4.  General Forrest, 7th Tennessee Cavalry, Company D. - By Captain J. Harvey Mathes, CSA, D. Appleton & Company 1902.  With references from Lt. Colonel John W. Morton, CSA.

5.  Bedford Forrest and his Critter Company - By Andrew Lytle, McDowell & Oblenski, NY

6.  Confederate Military History Volume VIII - By Thomas Yoselof, Barnes and Company, 1962.

7.  A Brief Sketch of the 59th Regiment of US Colored Infantry – By Robert Cowden, 1883, Fisk University Library Negro Collection.

8.  A Battle from the Start - By Brian Steelwills, 1992.  Harper & Colins, NY.

9.  Military History of Mississippi - By Dunbar Rowland, From the official State register of the State of Mississippi, 1908.

10. First With the Most - By Robert Selph Henry, Greenwood Press, CN, 1944.

11. Extracts from the diaries of Lt. William Witherspoon, 7th Tenn. Cavalry; Pvt. Hord, 3rd Kentucky Mounted Infantry; Pvt. W.B. Halsey, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and Doctor Samuel Agnew.